In true Kiwi fashion, small-town company – Cromwell’s Masterwood Joinery – staffers were elated and somewhat surprised when announced as winners of a prestigious, international design award in London.
The Society of British and International Interior Design’s (SBID) International Design Awards named Masterwood Joinery’s kitchen the winner in the KBB Design category (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) on Friday (October 25, 2019).
Masterwood Joinery’s General Manager Jim Cleveland, who attended the high-end ceremony at JW Marriott Grosvenor House, said being proud was an understatement.
“The quality of our competitors was very high and to be honest we thought we would be outclassed, albeit extremely happy just to be finalists,” Jim says.
“When they announced Masterwood as the winner it was a feeling of elation unlike any I’d felt before – we are world champions in the design sector!”
The kitchen in a Lake Hayes home near Queenstown fuses Oriental and commercial chic to create a beautiful, cohesive space, which flawlessly interpreted the design brief of the owners.
“Apparently we were the most excited winners of the night and were crowd and organiser favourites,” Jim says.
“I think the small town joinery shop from a small country beating the big guns from all around the world was the catalyst for that feeling.”
SBID Founder and CEO, Dr Vanessa Brady OBE says the awards continue to grow from strength to strength.
“With a sell-out ceremony and more countries represented this year than any other, it truly is held as the premier interior design awards by the global industry and SBID is proud to present it each year.”
Finalists were chosen by a technical panel of judges which accounted for 70% of marks, while the remaining 30% was via public vote.
Masterwood’s inhouse designer Stefan Sonntag, who also attended the awards, designed the kitchen alongside Stuart Bateman of SB Design, who did the preliminary design and brief.
This is not the first time this kitchen has been in the limelight having has also claimed five major awards at the National Kitchen & Bathroom Association Awards in Melbourne earlier this year.
About the kitchen
Clean, straight lines, natural materials and earthy tones set the scene for the stunning kitchen. Heavy-duty powder coated steel box section legs support two islands, with an unapologetically commercial stainless-steel kitchen extractor suspended above the chef’s island.
At one end of the chef’s island is a cantilevered teppanyaki grill mounted in Ceasarstone, an engineered stone that is also the island’s work surface.
A favourite place in the kitchen for the lucky owners is the self-contained coffee-making area with sweeping views that include The Remarkables mountain range.
While many functional elements are hidden behind six-coat Ameron-lacquered soft close doors and panels, the owners were very definite about having as a ‘feature wall’ – in this case an impressive six door glass-fronted display cabinet.
This effectively distracts the eye from two pantry areas, one being a plumbed and fully equipped butler’s pantry. True to the Oriental theme, form and function are in perfect harmony in these pantries.
About the Awards
The SBID International Design Awards are awarded purely on the quality of the design, innovation, aesthetic and value-added to the project.
Each entry undergoes an exhaustive two-tier judging process by panels of leading industry experts for both technical content and aesthetic creativity. evaluating essential elements such as compliance with the brief, budget, health and safety and fit-for-purpose design.
The Public Vote is the final tier of scoring.
Masterwood’s Queenstown kitchen was a finalist in one of 14 categories from across 48 countries.
All winners for each category received a bespoke crystal trophy crafted by Sans Souci glass deco. Winners are also been featured in the SBID Global Interior Design 2019 coffee table book, which is available to purchase online at www.sbidawards.com