The Creative Trust

From the humble beginnings of the Madison Avenue MadMen era, the Willett family have grown Willett Marketing to what it is today… #WorkplaceGoals. When you walk into an event, you wouldn’t know the team at Willett have worked their magic… until you go back of house and witness the efficiency. Ros Willett and her team of event managers and designers AKA “the 3 Laura’s” ... Laura Burnham, Laura Nathan and Laura Crocker know how to collaborate and listen to create an epic party.

In this episode we discuss the 80/20 rule, why they’ve stopped using the word “brainstorm”, Laura Nathan’s run sheet event bible and how she says no to uninvited party guests. We also discuss the famous “lemon/lime” incident, reverse briefing and re-briefing and why relationships are arguably the most important part of successful business.

To quote Laura Burnham “We’re not saving lives” but they sure having one heck of a good time.

We were so lucky to sit down with Ronnen Goren of Studio Ongarato and the Longhouse Daylesford for this episode on creative entrepreneurship. As a lifelong learner, fierce innovator, armed with a degree in Architecture and a background in hospitality - Ronnen and his business partner co-founded Studio Ongarato. With a significant cultural body of work, it’s no wonder it has sat as Australia’s foremost design studio for the past 30 years. As all true entrepreneurs will attest, your heart never lies in one business… It’s through this knowing and Ronnen’s drive to continue “later life learning”, along with his focus on legacy, that gave birth to The Longhouse Daylesford. Known as a farm, accommodation retreat and a school, it’s a place that takes you back to the fundamentals of living.

During this episode Amanda and Ronnen discuss how his Grand Designs episode almost didn’t air, that you don’t need to compromise between design and sustainability and the ways in which design boundaries can be pushed. They discuss how breaking down creative projects and ideas converts to early engagement from clients, the importance of not pitching ideas you don’t want the client to pick and his unique hiring process. During this discussion Ronnen shares his experiences growing up with creative entrepreneurial parents and how inheritance isn’t just money.

Enjoy his soothing voice and the endless wisdom in this conversation.

We’re not entirely sure what we expected when having two of Australia’s top stylists (or as we refer to them as… Visual Editors) on for this episode, but it exceeded all expectations. From a couture photoshoot on a 40 degree day in Paris to the lockdown diaries that created iconic runway looks from household objects - our chat with Chris Kontos and Stuart Walford is nothing short of amazing. In this episode they discuss the rise of the “insta stylist”, fashion intuition and why it cannot be taught, the all-important answer to the question “how do you tape a shoe for runway?” and taking shit footwear to “shit hot”. Both guests had little creative influence growing up… unlike some who grow up with parents in the creative arts industry - they discuss their experiences in discovering creativity for themselves. For Stuart this meant playing hardball with his high school teachers and gathering student signatures to save the fashion and design class destined to be cancelled. For Chris this meant reading about Diana The Princes of Wales in the pages of New Idea and watching his grandmother from the doorway sew gowns for the governor’s wife.

We know you’ll love this conversation…

If you’ve seen Chanel, Escher X Nendo or Kaws exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria then you know our guests work. In our quest to find Australia’s most ‘under the radar’ designers and bring them into the light, we found Ingrid Rhule. Armed with a stellar resume that ranges from playing in mullock heaps as a child in country Victoria, to working as head exhibition designer at NGV. Ingrid and Amanda have an incredible chat. In this episode they discuss the balance between chaos and order, organisation and creativity and the elusive left and right brain connection. They discuss parent dynamics and the role that played in encouraging her to enquire and challenge ideas - which is now mirrored within her creative process. They discuss Ingrid’s approach to the audience journey and the practicality of fusing design and art, to birth an exhibition into the 4D experience. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

This is one god damn memorable podcast.

Creativity is the business.

Business acumen is the tool that allows you to make creativity possible.

Your powers are made up of creativity and business skills.

Your ability to create strong relationships over time with collaborators, colleagues and clients forms a fundamental base for business growth and ultimately for your long creative career. Creative Directors Ross Sabatini and Amanda Henderson share everything they know about creative careers, clients and crazy expectations within the creative business.

So let's talk about that...

The complete Creative Process. In this episode you find out everything you need to know about creating, developing and delivering your dream vision.

Amanda Henderson (Creative Director, Gloss Creative) and Ross Sabatini (Head of Visual Merchandising, Creative and Innovation at David Jones) have worked together for over 15 years on some of Australia's most beautiful Event Designs.

Together they do a deep dive into the detail, no stone unturned as they talk over everything including, the manifesto, the spank bank, the zeitgeist, the vision, how to sell it over and over again.

This Episode we're going to talk about Creative Burnout.

Our careers are long and like many Creative Designers and Event Professionals I know, they show up and put their ideas out there every day delivering all types of skilled wonder. Designing is an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling pursuit, the more you give the more you get back, it's an addictive high - as you go through the development of your ideas from the earliest stages to implementation, it's a ride akin to a roller coaster and while we all love a theme park ride, it can lose it's magic.

Increasingly I've become interested in what constitutes a sustainable creative life, one where you get the thrills but don't hit the ground.....

I'm joined by Andrew Mitchell, Founder of The Design Coach and Francesca Pavone, Founder of Dann Event Hire. Both have incredible personal experiences with professional burnout that they will share with us. Their open and honest conversation will make you think about things we often ignore.

Over the last 20 years, we have designed and built over 75 marquees for some of Australia's most luxurious corporate and private events. Today, you will have an all access pass to three of our Alumni who have made serious event eye candy and laid the ground work for some huge parties.

I'm joined by Jehanne Postma, Lucienne Hemingway and Dale Cheeseman, as we chat about what we love about temporary installations, how the build happens and how to keep a crowd of 250 people happy and entertained for 8 hours in a small space.

Event Design. Everything about it. Hospitality visionary Bruce Keebaugh, Founder of The Big Group and Creative Director Steff D'Alberto chat about the role Event Design plays in events. We go deep on everything - creativity and emotional intelligence, business and team culture, briefs and reverse briefs, theming, non-theming and even Bruce's childhood. No Event Design chat would be complete without the food - What is a menu tasting and why is it loved or hated. So much wisdom from these two with so little time, so we've packed it in.

The Creative Trust sits down to talk about the role the Mood Board takes in the creative process and how it can lead you to creating original designs, not just 'inspired' works. In the studio with Steff D'Alberto - Creative Director The Big Group, Jehanne Postma - Creative Director, Joel Bartfeld - Director Joel Found and Zara Guastella from Try Anything Once Podcast.

The one thing the Alumni agree on........ They're not just pretty pictures and as Steff D'Alberto says, "between a mood board and a floor plan, you can get any concept across the line"