The Design Files Talks

Visit the BuildHer Collective website here .  Book a free 20-minute consult here . Read our 2018 profile on Rebeka and Kribashini (when BuildHer Collective was just in her infancy!) here . This episode of TDF Talks is brought to you by Fujifilm instax, whose new Link WIDE instant printer allows you to print photos directly from your smartphone. Find out more here .  

Find out more about YSG Studio here: https://ysg.studio/ See Yasmine's excellent Bondi apartment here: https://thedesignfiles.net/2021/09/homes-yasmine-ghoniem-bondi/  

Kelly Thompson has done it all - from fashion photography and artist management to commercial illustration and keynote event speaking, she’s been running her one-woman small business for pretty much her entire creative career. But in the last year, Kelly has settled into a part of the industry that really feels like home. Her online store of handcrafted treasures, Makers' Mrkt, has grown from a sm...

Louise Olsen is a true icon of the Australian design industry. Not only is she the daughter of legendary artist John Olsen, but she is also the co-founder of Dinosaur Designs and a formidable artist in her own right.  In this conversation with host Lucy Feagins, Louise talks about her creative upbringing with two painter parents, the humble beginnings of Dinosaur Designs, and the ways she’s seen t...

Lauren Li's approach to accessible interior design  makes her trend guides and interiors pieces some of the most popular stories on The Design Files, so if you hang out for her monthly column you'll love this in-depth conversation between Lauren and host, Lucy Feagins! Before she was the founder of Sisällä Interior Design studio, Lauren worked in big commercial interior design firms locally and ov...

Grace Dlabik is the founder of BE. ONE Creative (a creative agency) and BE. Collective - two hubs in the BE. ecosystem that exists to empower and platform creatives of colour. As well as being a creative director, community leader, mentor and advocate, Grace is also a mother. She and her son Elijah have a formidable partnership, and their relationship has been the guiding force in her life for nea...

Pip Newell was still at university when she accidentally started Curated Spaces after re-selling some dining chairs to a local Facebook group with great success. While she was getting by on a mish-mash of nannying and hospitality jobs on the side of a photography degree, the online world had quietly heralded a new age for vintage furniture. With a natural flair for styling and a sincere joy for hu...

Elle has been in the Australian fashion industry for over thirty years, moving from Cherry Lane to Myer and Sportsgirl before her landing her current job. She's been shaping fashion (and you!) in ways you probably didn't even realise. SO, what is involved in transitioning one of the biggest retailers in the country towards ambitious new sustainability standards? And how exactly DO you guide a whol...

Jirra Lulla Harvey is a Koorie woman and the founder of Kalinya Communications, an Aboriginal-owned communications agency working with First Nations businesses. In this inspiring chat, she talks about aligning Indigenous knowledge systems with contemporary business, Aboriginal entrepreneurship, and her new venture - Kalinya Retreats.

From podcasting to interior design, editing the ‘Style’ section of  Inside Out  to food styling in the Italian Alps (!), Jono has worked in nearly every corner of the interiors biz. Or so he thought. When the pandemic hit last year and he was thinking of ways to pivot, he launched his own affordable art business to sell the vintage-inspired prints. Now with  Palette by Jono Fleming  added to his r...

There's something special about Bobby Clark . Originally from a small town in Scotland, Bobby arrived in Melbourne ten years ago - and swiftly immersed herself in Melbourne's vibrant creative scene. With the optimism and dogged determination of a new immigrant, Bobby worked unbelievably hard at a huge array of creative jobs (from house painter, to wedding photographer!) before she launched her own...

Jenna Holmes wears many hats. Despite having been both a photographer, a PE teacher and an Uber driver in previous lives, right now, her career revolves around plants... and pasta! As the co-founder of plant styling business Plant Mama , and Pasta Mama pasta club, Jenna is a prolific, and impossibly versatile creative. Both Jenna's businesses live on one colourful website, which she built herself,...

Gina Lasker is one of Melbourne's most talented independent florists, with an intuitive, layered and textural approach to floral installation. She's worked in the floral game for more than a decade, assisting a number of established florists in both Melbourne and Sydney, before opening her own floral studio, Georgie Boy,  in 2015. Georgie Boy initially launched with a portfolio website, built usin...

Tantri Mustika originally trained as a hairdresser, and spent a decade cutting hair, before she accidentally discovered ceramics. That was just four years ago! Like so many creative start-ups in the Instagram age, Tantri’s brand was launched with a simple website and online store. Fast forward to today, and Tantri is one of Melbourne’s most successful ceramicists, with a loyal following of collect...

Award winning interior designer Mim Fanning shares her journey, from solo design consultant, to Founder and Principal at Mim Design, her award-winning design studio. Mim Fanning launched her business 20 years ago, and over time, Mim Design has expanded to become one of Australia’s leading interior design studios. Recognised nationally and internationally, the studio’s diverse portfolio spans hospi...

In episode 42 of TDF Talks, Lucy has a conversation with interior designer, educator, serial renovator, reality TV star and Mum of two, Jenna Densten. Jenna is perhaps best known for her stint on The Block alongside her husband Josh... but, that was WAY back in 2011, and Jenna has done so much since then! These days, Jenna runs her design consultancy, Bicker Design, along with Design School, offer...

Cassie Byrnes has got the IT factor. The young designer (and new Mum!) only finished her studies five years ago, but she's already kicked some seriously impressive career goals. In addition to running her own much-loved fashion label, Variety Hour, Cassie has worked on a number of high profile collaborations and international projects, including with massive US brand Anthropologie, and more recent...

Donna Hay is a household name both here and overseas, having edited her self-titled magazine for 17 years, reaching subscribers in 82 countries around the world. Over the past 20 years, she has also authored 27 best-selling cookbooks, selling over six million copies worldwide, and has hosted TV series screened in over 17 countries. It was such a pleasure to chat with Donna about the incredible ris...

Clare Bowditch is an ARIA award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, storyteller, educator and mother of three. And this month, she’s added ‘author’ to that impressive list of credentials! Following on from Ashe Davenport’s insightful interview with Clare for our Family column last week, today the radiant songstress herself makes an appearance on our podcast! She chatted to Lucy about making it in...

The magazine industry around the world, but particularly in Australia, is a notoriously hard market to succeed in. So when someone has created not one, but TWO successful publications, you know it's about more than just a bit of good fortune. Lou Bannister is one-half of the brains behind Frankie magazine, and more recently, Lunch Lady magazine, an indie darling beloved by parents all over! In thi...

Tyrone Wright, otherwise known at Rone, is a bit of an enigma. This isn't all that surprising, considering the multifaceted creative cut his teeth as a street artist, who are pretty good at keeping quiet behind-the-scenes while their public-facing work does all the talking. Over the past few years, though, Rone has taken his projects to the next level. After his epic RONE Empire project earlier th...

Ken Done is one of Australia's most well-known artists, and an absolute creative icon in this country. Last week Ken was in Melbourne as a judge for the TDF Design Awards (where he gave a particularly memorable speech!), and the morning after Lucy visited him in his suite at the Adelphi Hotel in Flinders Lane to record this podcast. In their conversation Ken reflects on his long career, how art in...

Kemi Nekvapil is an ICF-accredited life coach, a brilliant speaker, and also a 'Dare to Lead' facilitator – spreading constructive ideas on leadership and vulnerability across Australia. Lucy recently sat down with Kemi in her Brunswick East home, to talk about how a disempowered childhood in foster care led to life coaching (and what that actually is!) and to garner some of her brilliant advice o...

Sasha Titchkosky is the co-founder of Australian-made furniture, lighting and homewares brand Koskela, which she launched with her husband Russell Koskela, in 2000. Koskela aren’t your typical furniture company. This is a business with a strong moral compass, and a vision to offer intelligent design, with a low impact on the environment, and a positive impact on humanity. This month, Koskela celeb...

Jefa Greenaway is a Wailwan/Kamilaroi man, and he’s the first architect of an indigenous background to be registered in Victoria. He runs his own practice, Greenaway Architects, where he leads a team of 10 people. he’s also the Co-founder of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV), and he’s an academic and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. In this conversation, Jefa discusses t...