Tim and Kev head to Melbourne to visit Ben Shewry, the chef behind the world-famous restaurant Attica, who lives in the 1966 home designed by émigré architect Ernest Fooks.

Ben, who has a deep passion for architecture and design, had long admired the house from afar, but he never thought he’d actually own it.

In this episode, he not only flings open the door to his incredible heritage-listed home, but he shares the story of how he ended up living in his dream mid-century modern home.

A natural storyteller, Ben effortlessly draws parallels between cooking and architecture, and reveals his long-standing passion for chair collecting in this wide-ranging chat in one of Melbourne’s finest houses.

The Chef: Ben Shewry is a New Zealand–born Australian chef and owner-executive chef of Attica. Since taking over in 2005, he has made Attica one of the world’s most celebrated restaurants, known for native Australian ingredients and deeply personal storytelling. Shewry was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table in 2017, which profiled his creative philosophy and journey.

You can check out his restaurant website attica.com.au and get his best selling book here: Uses For
Obsession

Follow Ben on Instagram here: @benshewry

The Architect: Ernest Fooks (1906–1985) was an Austrian-born architect who helped shape postwar
modernism in Melbourne. Trained in Vienna, he fled Nazi Europe and brought continental ideas of
functional planning and light-filled design to Australia. Fooks designed houses, civic buildings and
synagogues, and later became a respected educator and town-planning advocate in Victoria.

You can find out more about the house on Docomomo Australia.

To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
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Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

 

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Ben Shewry
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

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