Jessie Fowler and Tara Ward are best friends who also share an award-winning interior design practice together. Both educated in architecture, last year they came together to establish Fowler and Ward Architects, and this year, the Australian Interior Design Awards recognised their talents with the 2020 Award for Emerging Interior Design Practice.
With a sixteen-year friendship firmly intact and nine projects under their belt, the first thing everyone wants to know about Fowler and Ward is how their friendship dynamic impacts their process. The ease and balance they share as friends is immediately clear as Jessie Fowler takes the lead when describing how they work, and Tara sits back with greater reserve.
“We entered the business world only a few weeks before the pandemic hit,” remarks Jessie. “We really hadn’t spent any time out in the world running the business and putting our name out there. I think before the award we were just floating under the radar, so it’s nice to know that other people think we’re doing good work.”
While they both knew that they had some happy clients, winning the AIDA award was a particularly ‘reinforcing’ moment highligting the strength of their very collaborative partnership.
“We are working very collaboratively at the moment,” continues Jessie. “When we get a project, we'll both have a go at coming up with different designs and test and push lots of directions. Then we come together and choose a few options. We might then swap over, and pass one person's work back to the other to develop it further and in the end, come up with something that's hopefully better than what either of us could have designed individually. In that sense it is a real collaboration.”
NAR offices and showroom by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Ross.
So far, it's been a winning formula. Their output of residential renovations and new builds, and workplace fitouts is fresh and energised. Grounded in shaping ideas for their clients' needs while also keeping a firm eye on wellbeing, there is a boldness to each of Fowler and Ward's projects. It’s work that is confident and colourful and for a firm run by two designers in their early 30s, perhaps their bravery is not surprising.
While the duo joke about a life shared with square cut fringes and a history of matching one another's outfits, they believe they are aesthetically aligned, but not identical.
“We both have our different directions and different persuasions," Tara explains. "Jessie is sometimes a bit louder and more colourful. She pushes creative boundaries a bit more than me. I'd say my aesthetic is a little more minimal and our work together is somewhere between those two extremes.”
Bourke Street Apartment by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Blachford.
Bourke Street Apartment by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Blachford.
"Jessie is sometimes a bit louder and more colourful. She pushes creative boundaries a bit more than me. I'd say my aesthetic is a little more minimal and our work together is somewhere between those two extremes.”
Tara Ward, Fowler and Ward Architects
One of their winning projects, NAR headquarters, is a commercial office space and showroom for a sportswear agency. It combines rich colours and rugged materials, yet there is a refined edge to the fitout with a design that challenges the routine of the everyday.
“We were pretty keen from the beginning to use the palette and the choice of materials to reflect this world of American sports,” says Jessie. “Neither Tara nor I are very sports-focused people, and in a way that was a good position to approach this project from.”
Not wanting the project to fall into cliché or cling to sports nostalgia, they chose interesting materials and textures including rubber and colourful marble to bring the energy of sport and athletics to the design.
“The showroom acts as a place where customers can come in and see new ranges, put in orders and purchase stock. But it is also a reflection of the NAR business back to the brands they're representing, showing clients that they are reflecting the brands the way they should be," explains Jessie. “The feedback from people visiting NAR has been pretty positive, it's a real ‘wow’ space and as soon as it opened our client was really excited to host sporting events like the Super Bowl.”
NAR offices and showroom by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Ross.
NAR offices and showroom by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Ross.
NAR offices and showroom by Fowler and Ward Architects. Photography © Tom Ross.
“We really hadn’t spent any time out in the world running the business and putting our name out there. I think before the award we were just floating under the radar, so it’s nice to know that other people think we’re doing good work.”
Jessie Fowler, Fowler and Ward Architects
The duo enjoy the challence of workplace design but are also passionate about finding new solutions to housing density in the city.
“We're pretty proud of the Thornbury Townhouses and also the Bourke Street Apartment we’ve completed,” says Jessie. “In both projects, we spent a lot of time thinking about how families can live in smaller spaces. Bourke Street is a fantastic family home in a very large apartment, but it's in the heart of the city. Thornbury is squeezing two generous houses onto a relatively small block. So that's an idea that excites us at the moment. You're creating these beautiful spaces for a family,” Jessie says.
Understanding the impacts of a healthy environment on our mental health and general wellbeing, Jessie says they love to design spaces that don't just look good but feel wonderful to live in.
"Wellbeing is so intrinsically tied to the health of the environment and the fundamentals of good passive design trickle down to our wellbeing too. If you have access to light, if you have access to cross ventilation, and you're not pumping the air conditioner all day, the natural environment has an incredible effect on your wellbeing.”
To follow this young design practice visit the Fowler and Ward Instagram account.
Space is proud to sponsor the AIDA Emerging Interior Design Category. The Australian Interior Design Awards recognise and celebrate interior design excellence. Judging is based on peer review and conforms to international standards.
