Aptos Cruz at Stirling in Adelaide Hills becomes institutional showcase for best of the world's and Australian design
Aptos Cruz Galleries in its 1860s sandstone church home on Mount Barker Road, Stirling.
Aptos Cruz Galleries, in 30-plus years at Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, became a South Australian institution as a commercial showcase for the latest in international and Australian design and contemporary art.
Aptos Cruz was started by Steve Ronayne and his wife Pat Ronayne and his wife Pat with the idea of bringing something to Adelaide. At the time, especially in the Adelaide Hills, other venues were focusing on local talent and Ronayne wanted to extend it to an international element.
He launched the showroom at Druid Avenue in Stirling before moving to an 1860s sandstone church with an architectural award-winning contemporary extension on Mount Barker Road. Aptos Cruz represented more than 30 brands of European manufacturers, including Fritz Hansen, Carl Hansen and Son, Poltrona Frau, Conde House, Hay, Gubi, De La Espada, &Tradition, Menu, NAU, and Didier
It also hosted Australian designers such as David Reid, Gerry King, Giles Bettison, Milton Moon, Waldemar Kolbusz, Terry Brooks, Annette Bezor, Stuart MacFarlane, Agneta Ekholm, Karen Seelander, Ben Sando, James Cochrane, Min Woo Bang, Idols Elliott and Neil Thwaite. It supported the national design industry from the early days, showing the likes of Paul Morris from Join and Caroline Casey.
Ronayne believed many local designers, on a par with work out of Scandinavia and Italy, were gaining recognition overseas. They also becoming more recognised by South Australians who were willing to pay for their creations.
Royanyne told The Adelaide Review that design was the backbone of everything at Aptos Cruz: “Whether it’s a carved wooden spoon from Africa, oriental antiques, tribal arts, contemporary furniture, lighting or homewares, we enjoy the mixing of these cultures and the common thread that runs through the pieces. It’s the contrast as well as the complementary elements that make it interesting and the juxtaposition of those elements engage people in a way that they haven’t been engaged before.”
Ronayne has seen the design industry in Australia evolve through the emergence of the workshop. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, art and design schools were progressively incorporated into the university sector but there wasn’t a clear path for graduates. “Australians don’t invest in the research and the development of design and as a result there is very little original design done in manufacturing. So the workshop studio evolved and designers started going out on their own. Over the years, this has become stronger and Australian designers are making a name for themselves internationally,” Ronayne said.
