Design By Them could have marked its 18th year with a neat retrospective. Instead, it threw a party.
Or, more accurately, it did both: first as an idea, then as the real thing. The milestone began with DBT 18TH, a campaign shot by longtime collaborator Pete Daly and styled by Kendra McCarthy inside a Peter Hall-designed mid-century home. It imagined the brand’s coming of age through the aftermath of a house party — confetti on the floor, furniture out of place, a Butter Stool floating in the pool.
That idea then carried into a real celebration at the Design By Them Sydney showroom on the 19th March 2026, photographed by Eugene David Grey, with kodaks captured by guests. In the event images, the concept becomes less metaphor and more reality: the people behind, around and alongside the brand gathered to mark 18 years.
The brand has always had a certain looseness to it — playful and colourful, but not flimsy, with both the campaign and the party holding onto that spirit.
Founded in 2007 by Nicholas Karlovasitis and Sarah Gibson after they graduated from industrial design together, Design By Them began in a small Sydney apartment garage. The idea was to build a company that could support independent Australian designers and create furniture with a life beyond trend cycles. From the beginning, the aim was to make Australian-designed furniture that felt enjoyable, but had staying power.
That ambition is still there, though the scale has changed. What started as a garage project is now a recognised Australian design brand with a catalogue shaped by many hands.
“Maybe there’s a slight hangover from the last 18+ years, but regardless, we still have the same vision of what we want to achieve and where we want to be,” say Karlovasitis and Gibson. “The only difference is that we are better at getting to it and we get to collaborate with designers even more.”
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The campaign doesn’t try to make the story too tidy. More than 15 Design By Them pieces appear throughout the house, not as museum objects, but as things that have been used, moved around and lived with.
The newest Swage Chairs by Angus Easthope are scattered through the rooms, while Cabin, Sarah and Nick’s first lounge design, becomes a place for a sleepy guest to collapse. Nearby, the DL Lounge by Dion Lee and Gibson Karlo, the Sundae Armchair by Jason Ju and Parcel Lamps by Daniel Emma suggest the remains of a late-night conversation. Felix Vases by Rhys Cooper and the Overlay Rug by Danielah Martinez sit within the scene rather than apart from it.
Outside, the mood continues. Butter Stool, Sarah and Nick’s first furniture release, drifts in the pool, while an Overlay Runner has been pulled outdoors near Stefan Lie’s Ribs Bench. The details are funny without trying too hard, which is part of the charm.
At the Sydney showroom party, the same idea becomes more direct. The furniture is no longer only staging a scene; it is surrounded by the people who design, sell, specify, collect and celebrate it. Certainly, Design By Them’s story has never been only about objects, but also about the network around them.
“A party is only as good as the people who are part of it,” say Karlovasitis and Gibson. “We have been fortunate to have so many people be part of our 18-year-long party.”
Karlovasitis and Gibson have built the brand as a platform for Australian designers, with each collaboration adding something to its identity.
There is nostalgia here, but it doesn’t feel stuck in the past. The campaign looks back through objects and small traces of activity, while the event photographs show the brand in motion, carried by the community around it.
As Karlovasitis and Gibson put it, “Experience coupled with optimism and drive is a powerful combination.” At 18, Design By Them has grown up. Thankfully, not completely.
