Design Voices: Protecting Design Integrity in a Compromised World
Presented by Riva Ceramica
DETAILS
Free, booking required
Riva Ceramica Tile Shop
284 Bay Street, Brighton VIC, Australia
In an industry shaped by rising construction costs, shifting client expectations and increasing commercial pressures, what does it truly mean to protect design integrity?
This conversation brings together three respected designers and architects working across different scales of practice: Jane Merrylees, Ivona Golubovic and Roger Borland.
Brighton-based architect Jane Merrylees is known for her refined residential work, where craftsmanship and materiality shape deeply considered homes. Roger Borland is a leading voice in sustainable architecture, championing environmentally responsible design that balances performance with enduring beauty. Ivona Golubovic, working across complex multi-residential and urban developments, navigates planning frameworks, density and multiple stakeholders while maintaining strong architectural outcomes.
Together, they will explore where flexibility is possible and where it is not. What can shift during value engineering, and what must remain protected? How do designers navigate increasingly informed clients? What happens when specifications are substituted, sustainability is questioned or multiple stakeholders challenge the original vision?
Moving beyond aesthetics, the discussion will examine authority, collaboration, sustainability and legacy, and ask whether our understanding of “good design” has changed in the past decade.
The conversation reflects on the pressures, negotiations and lessons that shape how meaningful architecture and design are delivered.
Presented as part of Design Voices at Riva Ceramica, the event offers insight into the thinking, decisions and strategies behind design that stands the test of time.
Participants
Jane Merrylees
Jane Merrylees is the founding director of Merrylees Architecture and Interiors, a Melbourne/Naarm-based studio known for creating refined, deeply personal homes shaped around the lives of the people who inhabit them. Raised in Melbourne’s Bayside suburbs and educated at the University of Melbourne, Jane began her career in London working on large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects before returning to Australia to focus her practice on residential architecture.Her work is guided by a sensitivity to atmosphere, materiality and the rhythms of daily life. Rather than imposing a recognisable style, Jane approaches each project as a collaborative process, carefully shaping spaces that respond to their context, their clients and the emotional experience of living within them.Through an intuitive balance of light, proportion and texture, her projects aim to create homes that feel calm, enduring and quietly extraordinary.
Ivona Golubovic
Ivona Golubovic is an accomplished interior designer with over two decades of experience shaping refined, brand-driven environments across the hospitality, commercial and residential sectors.Currently an Associate at Plus Studio, Ivona is recognised for her ability to translate brand identity into immersive spatial experiences, balancing bold creative vision with strategic thinking and meticulous detail. Her collaborative approach fosters strong partnerships with clients, architects and builders, guiding projects seamlessly from concept through to beautifully resolved outcomes.Her portfolio includes major hospitality and hotel projects such as Park Hyatt Essendon Fields, Pullman Melbourne City Centre, Rydges Melbourne and Holiday Inn Queenstown, alongside a diverse range of commercial and workplace environments across Melbourne and Sydney.Alongside her architectural practice, Ivona is also a jewellery designer, creating sculptural one-off pieces crafted from porcelain, leather and rubber that explore materiality, form and expression.
Rodger Borland
Roger Borland is an architect, author and sustainability advocate focused on rethinking the way homes are designed and lived in. As founder of Borland Architecture, Stillhaus and Real Real Estate, his work bridges architecture, housing systems and property insight to create homes that support both human wellbeing and environmental resilience.Roger is the author of Beyond the Floorplan: A Clear Path to Your Forever Home, where he introduces six design fundamentals that reveal how thoughtful architecture can restore the connection between people, place and planet.