Emlyn Olaver is the director of Olaver, a Melbourne-based practice known for residential and commercial work that balances the imperfect and the refined.

In this episode, Emlyn and Dave discussed:

• The benefits of working on hospitality projects in the early stages of their practice, allowing them to have built work available to publish at a faster rate than typical residential projects.
• Olaver’s unique approach to photographing residential projects during handover; working with professional photographers to document the project in a raw, imperfect and restrained way.
• How these Handover images have helped to raise awareness of the practice, through the website and social media, as well as collating them into a print publication, which led to a launch party.
• Why he believes it’s far better to collaborate with professional creatives, such as graphic designers and photographers, to undertake their work they’re good at, as opposed to trying to do everything himself.
• The importance of communicating your design values clearly, and how he has developed a clear practice positioning statement over time.

If you'd like to learn more about his studio, you can visit olaver.com.au or follow the studio on Instagram at @olaver_architecture.

Office Talk is hosted by Dave Sharp of Office D.SHARP, a strategic marketing and brand definition practice for architecture. We work collaboratively with clients across the globe. To learn more about our process and book a consultation, simply visit officedavesharp.com.

Today's episode of Office Talk was edited and engineered by Anthony Richardson of Simple Dwelling Studio.