56 | DESIGN Modi Design T T Karen Phelps Top award helps propel business The Modi Design difference can be seen clearly in the award-winning kitchen and bathroom design project Ethereal Marine, says Georgia Langridge. The Emerging Designer Grand Winner at the 2023 APT innovation in Design Awards, Georgia Langridge, says the accolade has helped propel her business Modi Design forward. In February she plans to open a showroom at 98 Victoria Street Christchurch showcasing predominantly local custom designed furniture and home accessories. “We’re really honing in on locally made products with all pieces designed or commissioned by us. It will be about focusing on statement pieces that are a real celebration to the home and can be used for multiple functions, craftsmanship that is second to none and really exciting high quality materials,” she says. Georgia, who has around ten years experience as an interior designer, started Modi Design six years ago and now employs two staff. She says the Modi Design difference can be seen clearly in her award winning kitchen and bathroom design project Ethereal Marine. “I think our biggest company ethos with design, which is prevalent in this project, is that we lean into our client brief. We have this really cool almost unspoken set up with our clients where they feel like their brief is not only listened to but becomes the springboard of the design. In turn they trust and allow us to interpret that from a design perspective. It’s a really nice balance of client and designer cohesion and gives each of our client projects sentiment and originality,” she says. The client on this particular project loved rimu and Modi Design leaned into this by creating frames of rimu with the Corian Dune Prima surface product to create a layering that wasn’t all about the rimu (which Georgia says is quite a loud timber) but a celebration of rimu with tonal progression in the materiality to give a new design life on the timber product. “Rather than shy away from what can be viewed as quite an old fashioned timber choice, we wanted to reinvent this timber and bring it into a modern environment,” says Georgia. The client, who is a successful female in the property development industry, had studied and loved marine biology in earlier years. “The Corian Dune Prima was also the perfect abstract material to communicate this love of marine biology,” explains Georgia, “as it feels like sand dunes through geology and oceanology. We wanted a material that sat quietly confident next to the rimu. We felt it was crucial for any material that sat next to the rimu to be of the same undertone and have a harmonious balance- not being too loud and compete with the rimu but also not to be diluted and lack lustre alongside this bold timber.” She says the undertone of this stone was the perfect match because it was lighter than the rimu, so sat quietly in combination, but the variation and texture meant the stone could be a feature in itself too. “The texture and tonal variation was of such a beautiful interest that brought a quirk and modernity.” Georgia is fully immersed in the property industry (her partner is Blair Chappell of Williams Corporation), which she says gives her additional unique perspective on clients’ projects. Winning the award she says is a reflection of the collaborative approach Modi Design takes and its talented team. “No one stands alone; we are very collaborative in our studio. It’s been great for getting our name out there even more and getting a pat on the back is a moment to pause and reflect on a job well done. It’s given us a lot of confidence to take new steps such as opening the showroom and the energy to push the boundaries of design even further. Use of rimu, liked by the client, with the Corian Dune Prima surface makes a design statement in the kitchen.
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