re-purpose

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: 're-purpose' was a commissioned review to provide an Australian audience with an insight into what is happening in Estonia in the practice of interior design. Attiwill was an invited keynote for the inaugural Estonian Society of Interior Architects symposium. Titled 'Between Theory and Practice', the symposium initiated an international discussion addressing the current Estonian situation, post-Russian occupation. The review critically reflected on the symposium discussions and the current political, historical, spatial and social situation - with a particular focus on the practice of interior design. The title 're-purpose' refers to the questioning of purpose for the profession and also the reappropriation/adaptive use of space. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Attiwill's knowledge of the discipline of interior design at an international level enabled her to position the Estonian context in its specific detail. Her research engages interior practice with a significant re-conceptualisation of the potential of the discipline of interior design as a critical practice in the 21st century. The review contributes to the small but growing field of writing about interior design that combines conceptual ideas and propositions with practice where the theory and practice divide is absent. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: This review was commissioned by (inside) interior design review, one of two national magazine that have a strong readership of the interior design profession. It is published every two months. It has a wide trade, profession and general readership. This issue of the magazine was also sent to the Estonian Society of Interior Architects. Attiwill has subsequently been invited again as a keynote speaker to present at their second symposium in Tallinn, May 2015.