The contemporary, elegant M11 Studio by Hare Interiors has taken out the top prize at the 2016 Interior Awards evening. Presented by Interior magazine at an exciting industry event at Auckland’s St-Matthew-in-the-City on 23 June, the Supreme Award recognised the firm’s stunning fitout of the M11 hair salon in Newmarket, Auckland.

This space is a luxury retail experience that “relies on minimalist, linear and sculptural forms” and plays with the concept of illusion. Hare Interiors has used a play of materials and finishes to create these illusions, including well-researched vintage pieces to create tension and originality. With 180-degree road frontage and extensive exposure, how this salon was viewed and used from the exterior was highly important, alongside creating “private and almost meditative enclaves closer to its core.”

Hare Interiors was presented with a $6,000 cash prize and a bespoke trophy designed by Minka Ip.

Jury Citation:

When the interior designer behind this hair salon quoted theoreticians/artists Donald Judd and Robert Morris as key influencers behind this space… the jury knew we were in for an interesting ride. When we found out that fittings and furnishings – most of them bespoke – were informed by the work of Willy Rizzo, Milo Baughman and Gaetano Sciolari, it became obvious we were dealing with an internationalist with a command of design and art history.

In a way, M11 is a stage set, a sort of installation seeking well-orchestrated customer experiences (such as opulence, quietude, ethereality) and those that are left to chance (the interior was designed to be activated by sunlight). There is a controlled palette of black, smoked and mirrored surfaces that offers up varying degrees of transparency and translucency. There are leather worktops and stainless steel sculptural objects. There is a layered floorplan that, although mostly open to the street, offers private and almost meditative enclaves closer to its core. M11 shows a well-informed understanding of elegance; it is a confident interior that goes well beyond trends in search of highly stylised solutions.

• Full coverage of 2016 Interior Awards winners here.
• Extended coverage and full jury citations can be found in the June 2016 issue of Interior magazine.