George Freedman

George Freedman (Brooklyn, New York, USA, 6 March 1936 – Sydney, NSW, Australia, 21 July 2016) was Australia's "leading" Interior Designer/ Interior Architect from 1970 until a younger generation became prominent in Sydney during the 1990s. Born in New York, where he studied architecture at Syracuse University, Freedman arrived in Sydney in 1968 and later designed many prestigious interiors, often including custom-made furniture. His notable interior schemes included executive suites for the Bank of New South Wales (1970) and the State Bank of New South Wales (1985), cultural institutions including Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, businesses, government premises, restaurants, residences and historic monuments, including a refurbishment of the Queen Victoria Building (2009).
In 2005, Freedman was described by The Sydney Morning Herald as 'the Godfather of Interior Design'. He was recognised by design and architecture industry experts for his daring and widely emulated combinations of colours, inventive uses of materials, attention to detail, and commitment to high-quality furnishings (often imported signature classics). He was respected also for his sophisticated understandings of optical perception and volumetric manipulations of interior space. For this reason he was highlighted by design writers as practising more like an architect than his colleagues who were educated as interior decorators and designers. Although he never finalised his American degree studies to register as an architect, Freedman worked repeatedly with Sydney's leading architects of the late-twentieth century—including Glenn Murcutt, Peter Stronach, Richard Johnson and Ken Woolley. He also trained some of Sydney's outstanding younger architects and designers—including Iain Halliday, Sam Marshall, Stephen Varady, William MacMahon, Arthur Collin, Robert Puflett, Tim Allison and his late-career partner, Ralph Rembel. In 2005 the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) awarded Freedman Rembel an Interior Architecture commendation for its design of executive offices at the AMP Insurance building overlooking Circular Quay.
The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) Hall of Fame is an enduring record of the pioneers, ambassadors and contributors to the Australian design industry. It showcases Australia’s design visionaries, leaders and unsung heroes and celebrates their significant contribution to Australia’s economic development and cultural identity. Signifying his outstanding body of work and contribution to the Australian design industry, Freedman along with Marsh were inducted into the 2019 DIA Hall of Fame, posthumous.
Freedman's 1970s and 1980s furniture designs, often finished with luxury European veneers and eye-catching flourishes, were often promoted in Australia's most stylish design magazines, especially Belle and Interior Design. His cocktail trolley for Bilson's restaurant (1988) is in the collection of Sydney's Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Over the next decades, Freedman alongside his partners worked to inject a new exuberance into the standard pattern of modern interiors. Unafraid to play with new materials and striking palettes, he designed a myriad of homes, restaurants, and offices in Sydney, known for a sense of sophistication and modernity.
Early life.
Freedman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Nathan Freedman, a colour designer for an American paint manufacturer, and Rose Freedman (née Hirsch). His childhood memories included riding horses in Manhattan's Central Park. He was also inspired by colour as his Father (Colour Designer) would annually change the interior paint colour of the walls at home in Brooklyn to challenging new colours.
Education.
From 1949 to 1953, Freedman attended Manhattan High School, then studied architecture at Syracuse University and began working from 1960 with architects Kahn and Jacobs, where he worked on the American Airlines' first class lounge at John F. Kennedy Airport. He abandoned the final year of his degree to travel to Europe; initially Ibiza, with a friend. During 1963 and 1964, he exhibited and sold artworks in Amsterdam and Brussels, then worked as an interior designer for architects Tandy Halford and Mills in London.
Returning to New York in 1968, Freedman joined the international planning unit of leading furniture manufacturers and interior designers Knoll and Associates. He worked with director Florence Knoll, who maintained close ties with many European and American leaders of modern design. Freedman's projects with Knoll included the United States pavilion in Japan for the Osaka World Fair (1970) as well as offices for accountants Price Waterhouse in Buffalo, New York.
Life in Australia.
In 1969, Knoll despatched Freedman to 'Manhattanise and Internationalise' Sydney at the executive offices and boardrooms for the Bank of New South Wales, one of Australia's oldest banking institutions (founded in 1817 and renamed Westpac in 1982).
While working on this project, Freedman began a personal relationship with prominent Sydney decorator Neville Marsh—who employed him as a designer with Neville Marsh Interiors in 1970. To exploit Freedman's international experience, they agreed that the practice should 'go modern', and in 1973, the business was rebranded Marsh Freedman Associates (MFA).
As well as designing interiors for some of Sydney's most prestigious and prosperous families, MFA created sophisticated fine dining rooms for some of Sydney's outstanding restaurateurs, notably Anne Taylor (Taylors, 1984); Tony and Gay Bilson (Berowra Waters Inn, 1976; Kinselas, 1983; Tresury, 1992, and Ampersand, 1998; Damien and Josephine Pignolet (Claudes, 1981); Helen and Malcolm Spry (Chez Oz, 1985); Leon Fink (Bilsons and Quay, 1986, 1988), and Armando Percuoco (Buon Ricordo Ristorante refurbishment, 2007).
During the late 1980s, Neville Marsh retired from Marsh Freedman Associates and Freedman continued to practice as George Freedman Associates (with Robert Chester and Sam Marshall). In 2002 he appointed a younger architect, Ralph Rembel, as his business partner and renamed the practice 'Freedman Rembel'. This practice was dissolved in 2010, when Freedman joined architects Peddle Thorp and Walker as Head of Interior Design (but he continued consulting to his existing private clients).
Personal life.
Freedman was widely known for his wit, warm laugh, home cooking, Negroni's, and devotion to his dogs (Scottish Terriers owned in pairs). In New York prior to meeting Neville Marsh, Freedman lived a sophisticated lifestyle with then partner Ronald Vance. He maintained lifelong friendships with notable Americans such as George Deem. Freedman and Marsh had successful careers in addition to their personal relationship. During the 1990s Freedman cared for his partner Neville Marsh and supported by Andrew Bryan. In 2008 he exchanged vows with Peter O'Brien at Sainte-Chapelle Paris, France. The have rich vibrant colors and are considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. They later wed in Queenstown, New Zealand when same sex marriages became legalized. Freedman died from cancer in Sydney in 2016, aged 80.
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