As the industry grapples with the ongoing shift toward experiential shopping, the commercial winners of the 40th Dulux Colour Awards, celebrated at a gala dinner at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House, offer a compelling blueprint for how colour can transform a transactional space into a destination worth lingering in.
Among the 93 finalists whittled down to eight winners and four commendations, the commercial retail entries stood apart for their radical restraint.
The awarded projects deployed colour not to excite or stimulate, but to slow shoppers down.
Judges described the resulting interiors as other-worldly, glowing and temple-like, spaces where products are treated less as merchandise and more as objects of quiet reverence.
Judging panel member and interior decorator Simone Haag noted the striking divergence between this year’s residential and commercial winners.
Where homes trended warm, saturated and nostalgic (rich reds, earthy yellows and painted ceilings nodding to 1970s Australian bush aesthetics and Italian modernism of the 1920s), retail moved decisively in the opposite direction.
Subtle blues and greys, minimal intervention and an almost dystopian serenity defined the commercial palette, borrowing more from the language of gallery exhibitions than traditional shopfitting.
This is not coincidental. Retail designers and brand strategists have long understood that environment shapes behaviour, but the science behind dwell time and purchase value is sharpening the conversation.
Slower-paced, visually cohesive spaces have been shown to encourage more considered decision-making, a dynamic that directly supports higher-value purchases.
When a shopper feels they have entered a sanctuary rather than a store, the psychology of acquisition shifts.
Browsing becomes contemplation, products accrue meaning.
The approach mirrors one of this year’s most celebrated projects overall: the Australian Grand Prix winner, Lynda Draper: Glimmer, a survey exhibition of the ceramicist’s work designed by Sydney practice Youssofzay Hart.
Judges praised its chromatic restraint (a palette drawn from subtle tonal hints within the artist’s own work) for striking a masterful balance between complementing the sculptural pieces and asserting its own quiet presence.
In abandoning the conventional white-plinth exhibition format in favour of a topographic installation of modular display elements, the project demonstrated precisely the kind of conceptual rigour now migrating into progressive retail environments.
The Australian Grand Prix winner, Lynda Draper: Glimmer.
Dulux Colour and Design Manager Lauren Treloar observed that the winning commercial projects reflect a broader maturation in how colour is understood as a foundational design tool rather than a surface finish.
Over the four decades since the awards began in 1986, the calibre and ambition of entries have grown in step with the design industry itself, and this year, with a record number of submissions, that evolution is unambiguous.
For retailers navigating a post-pandemic landscape in which the physical store must justify its existence against the frictionless convenience of online shopping, the message from Australia and New Zealand’s most recognised colour design program is clear: the future of retail may not be louder.
2026 Dulux Colour Awards Winners
- Grand Prix AU: Lynda Draper: Glimmer by Youssofzay Hart (Temporary & Installation Design)
- Grand Prix NZ: Waka Huia by Pac Studio (Residential Interior, NZ)
- Single Residential Exterior: Nithsdale by Studio Prineas
- Residential Interior: The View by Studio Shields
- Commercial Interior – Public & Hospitality: Billy’s, Ayrburn by Alexander & Co. and SA Studio
