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Friday Five with Adele Bates

For this week’s Friday Five, we’re heading to the (cue Men at Work) Land Down Under, aka Australia, to check in with Adele Bates, a Melbourne-based director of her eponymous multidisciplinary studio. Bates’ experience spans over 16 years, six of which spent with her own practice handling everything from high-end residential, multi-residential, hospitality, retail, and commercial projects. She started out working on residential projects for Candlewick Interior Design in 2000 before landing at Cube Company tackling corporate design. That led to working on various projects with NAB designing several branches and business banking centers. Bates then moved on to Smith Madden Group expanding her expertise in the corporate realm before bringing her skill set back to residential at CH Architects to manage all interior projects. Her varied background helped hone her beautiful aesthetic of curated, timeless interiors reflected in her portfolio. Now, let’s take a look and see what keeps her creativity piqued.

Photo by Gary Ombler / Getty Images

1. Minerals
I find minerals and crystals so fascinating, it is remarkable how nature can form such intricate structures and colours.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas & Alistair

2. Table Lamps by Banci
These lamps designed in the 1970s by Giovanni Banci are so much fun. The curved metal works with the chrome finish to create such playful, whimsical forms.

3. Maralunga Sofa by Cassina
The Maralunga sofa designed by Vico Magistretti for Cassina is a piece of incredible design; to me it achieves the perfect balance of form and function. I also love design that you can interact with.

4. Bvlgari Hotel, Milan
I stayed at the Bvlgari Hotel in Milan last year when I was in Italy to attend Cersaie, the stone and tile fair. It is simply stunning and definitely a unique luxury hotel experience worth having.

5. Tandem Bike Rides
I live near the beach south of the city, and on weekends my partner and I often go for a tandem bike ride along the coast. It’s a little cheesy and a lot of fun.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.