I just studied the top 10 designers in NZ over the last decade, and here are 3 simple mistakes they all avoided—helping them win awards. Do you agree or disagree? 👇

🏆 1. Incorrect Furniture Scaling
Choosing furniture that’s too large or too small for a space throws off balance and functionality. Award-winning interiors nail proportions—ensuring furniture enhances rather than dominates.

💡 2. Poor Lighting Choices
Lighting can make or break a space. The best designers use layered lighting—a mix of ambient, task, and accent lighting—to create depth, mood, and practicality.

🔄 3. Ignoring Function for the Sake of Style
Design that looks good but works terribly? A guaranteed loss. The best spaces merge aesthetics with usability, ensuring a seamless experience for those who use them.

Over the past decade, interior designers in NZ have been pushing the boundaries of innovation, sustainability, and functionality. Kate Pilot of Kanat Studio absolutely nailed it with Edna's new retail store in Taupō—where form, function, and originality collide.

✨ Featuring a glowing 'Clear' Cleanstone counter, plinths, and architectural elements, this space reflects the next-gen of retail design—where
sustainability isn’t just a checkbox, but a design driver.

Made from 100% recycled soft plastics, by using Critical. Cleanstone these simple interventions helped to divert over 250kgs of plastics from landfill and avoid over 1,000 times the carbon emissions if they used traditional materials made from virgin plastics, minerals and chemicals. And what's more at the end of life, all Cleanstone will be returned to us to be made into new Cleanstone, endlessly.

This generation care about ethical fashion, and Edna's new retail fit-out reflects that. Sustainable spaces attract values-driven customers.

Ngā mihi nui Kate and your incredible design team for choosing Critical. for another awesome project. Kia ora Luka from Acryform for another incredible install.

I help designers create beautiful spaces that save our planet using 100% recycled plastic panels called Cleanstone. If you’re designing a retail, hospitality, or commercial space, book a call with me here:

https://lnkd.in/gkkBVqfz

and visit criticaldesign.nz to see how we can help.

If your looking for designers for your next retail fit out, hit up Kate Pilot and the Kanat Studio whānau!

📢 What’s your biggest design pet peeve? Drop it in the comments. 👇

Choice photography Ben Rowsell!

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