Sibella Court shortlisted in ACEN Local Hero Awards 2022

Sibella Court from The Society Inc. is compelled to share her experience, knowledge and wisdom to foster the next generation of designers, and this ethic has landed her a finalist spot in The Australian Collaborative Education Network’s (ACEN) Local Hero Award.

Our industry-led approach is at the core of everything we do at Torrens University, and our Interior Design programs have been enhanced by our partnership with Sibella, since 2019.

I have seen firsthand the experience and dedication of Sibella Court, which has brought industry directly to the student experience. She is passionate about making sure that her contributions to their studies have a realistic grounding in industry exposure and experience,” said Melissa O’Brien, Course Coordinator, Diploma of Interior Design and Decoration, at Torrens University Australia.

She goes above and beyond our expectations of a WIL partner providing extraordinary value for our students, and for that she is truly deserving of our nomination, and her place in the ACEN finals adds Melissa.

ACEN, the national professional association for work-integrated learning (WIL) and collaborative education, advances collaborative, quality and inclusive WIL through scholarship, partnerships, and professional learning.

The Local Hero Award is awarded to a partner organisation that is a small-medium enterprise, with 0-199 employees, whose engagement with an institution through WIL and whose contribution to the WIL experience of students, is above and beyond the expectation of the size of their organisation.

The winners will be announced at the Beyond 2022: Creating the Future with WIL conference dinner on the 24th of October, 2022 in Melbourne.

Enhancing opportunities for our students

Sibella Court is the founder and creative director at The Society Inc., a specialty interior service. In 2019 Sibella Court came on board as Interior Design Ambassador at Billy Blue College of Design and since then her 27 years in the industry have beautifully played an active part in our students’ experience.

Over the years Sibella and The Society Inc has hosted 10 students as part of our internship and 1:1 mentoring program, each student also receiving a Sibella Court Scholarship. Her workshops and exclusive site excursions including the recent Design History Walking Tour, provide an insight into her experience, as well as her ongoing participation in our curriculum development process, which led to the co-development of our newest subject, The History of Interior Design and Decoration.

“To engage with the extremely talented and experienced Sibella throughout my course means that I have been able to gain important insight into her unique thought process and design concept development,” said 2021 Sibella Court Interior Design Scholarship recipient Jennifer Said.

“Working with Sibella and her team is extremely insightful. I have attended photoshoots and gone behind the scenes, attending site visits to understand the process of being an interior designer. To witness important discussions and bounce around ideas in a collaborative environment is an informative and valuable experience for me,” said Jennifer.

Sibella is currently working on a Live Brief for a heritage-listed residential project where our students research and develop concepts grounded in historical precedents and gain an understanding of their client and the unique aspects of undertaking a heritage project.

“Working on a heritage project of this scale is an incredibly valuable and unusual student experience, and it has been of importance to Sibella to ensure students build a good and informed foundation of knowledge in this area,” said Melissa O’Brien.

“Learning about the way she draws inspiration from social, cultural and contextual histories has meant that students have been introduced to distinctive sources of information-gathering, resources and conceptual connections,” said 2021 Sibella Court Interior Design Scholarship recipient Jennifer Said.

“Seeing Sibella interact with history and objects to turn the concept into a reality is so unique. Most turn to the internet for design research and inspiration, but to know that there is a whole other world out there for designers to explore is so valuable,” added Jennifer.