I’ll need to come back in 50 years to talk again to Sam Griffin, Creative Director of interior architectural design studio CTRL Space. By then, he says, New Zealand design might be settled in. “We don’t have a style yet. A lot of people in a lot of studios are having fun exploring what the options are, what environments and what styles work well for our demographic and our population, which is unique to New Zealand.” So for now we’re borrowing from here and there but also finding what we have of our own that we can hold on to. “I quite like that because I think that there’s a lot more room to explore before we settle on a style for our country,” says Sam. “I wouldn’t want our style to be defined, not yet, maybe in 50 years or so.”

CTRL Space has already drawn the world’s gaze to New Zealand, winning prestigious national and international awards for its work on projects such as Bossi, Picnicka, Metita, The Nightcar, Soda (pictured) and Drifter Hybrid Hotel. “We’ve got amazing designers here and amazing architects,” says Sam. “It’s a really progressive and exciting scene to be a part of and there’s a lot of very passionate and driven creatives.”

As a customer we might just admire the stylish decor, or enjoy ‘the feels’ – that indefinable something that makes a hospitality venue feel good. But for the CTRL Space team it’s far from indefinable: behind the evocative atmosphere and welcoming ambience lies a wealth of drilled-down detail and practical know-how of the back end. “In hospitality specifically there’s a huge amount of technicality and functionality that goes in prior to anything aesthetic. We want to know how big the plateware is so we can make the tables big enough, which means we need to know what the chef is serving.”

In short, if a customer experiences a venue that feels right and works well, that’s probably down to good design. ctrlspace.co.nz TRACY WHITMEY