Paragon’s Claire D’Adorante

PARAGON’S CLAIRE D’ADORANTE – ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR

Claire D’Adorante, Director at leading interior design practice Paragon Interface, has been crowned the Architecture and Design Professional of the Year for the 2019/2020 period. The accolade was granted by the SA Professional Services Awards sponsored by Sanlam and W. Consulting. D’Adorante has a BA Honours Degree in Interior Design from the Greenside Design Centre. Her first job was at TPC Architects (now LYT) for two years in its Interiors division.

“I guess that is where I developed the interest in creating interior architectural spaces more than how to play with colours and cushions in the space – it is an important part of the work we do,” D’Adorante recalled. “I also did residential, developmental and more bespoke housing for various architecture firms before spending six-and-a-half years in Australia working for a large national architectural practice with multi-disciplinary expertise. I then joined Paragon at the end of 2012.”

Paragon Interface has recently enjoyed visible success in undertaking two of the biggest projects of their kind in South Africa – Discovery Place and Sasol headquarters. Both projects have been recipients of broad accolades within the industry. The judges of the Awards appreciated that such accomplishments would not have occurred without D’Adorante’ s leadership. She has been instrumental in developing the interiors business of the group from 12 to 22 employees. Her leadership philosophy is collaborative; enjoying guiding people in the right direction, adding her thoughts to make their ideas work.

“It is with great pleasure that I accept this Award,” D’Adorante said. “This Award recognises some of the amazing projects we at Paragon have been involved in over the last five years. We have had incredible opportunities to push the boundaries of what is possible in terms of what workspaces can be and I sincerely thank our clients for the trust they have placed in us to enable these outcomes to become possible. I would also like to thank my partners for their support and my team here at Paragon. This Award comes at a time that our industry is under pressure; even some of our projects cannot be fully enjoyed by our clients. We at Paragon are constantly exploring how we can adapt to a changing world.”