Design Your Life with Vince Frost

Whether we realise it or not, when we’re at work we’re promoting ourselves every day through our personal brands. The way we position ourselves professionally does impact our success. As a freelancer or as someone working within an organisation, this applies to everyone from entry level roles right through to CEOs. Entrepreneurs perhaps have the biggest challenge of all in this space.  Stephanie Bown is a neuropsychologist and leadership expert who incredibly knew she wanted to help people thrive from just 15 years old, in part thanks to the advice of a psychologist uncle. She is focused on inspiring leaders to fully turn up themselves to enable individual and collective success. For Stephanie, it’s all about the pivotal moments that tie us together and those that break us.   Listen in as Vince and Stephanie discuss creating thriving communities at work, what we can all learn from athletes and why it mostly boils down to, ‘just be more you’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music is emotional, and sound is a powerful tool for tuning in to feelings and memories. Music helps us recall people, places and experiences. A song can take us back to a time in our lives we may not have thought of for years or even decades.  Dan Higson and Nick West know this better than most and are leading the way when it comes to creating memorable and emotive sonic branding and music strategy for brands with their globally awarded sound studio, Smith & Western.   Dan began his career trying to be a pop star in 80s London. He even made it onto Top of the Pops, the iconic British music chart TV show. Around the same time, Nick was in Japan, going to music festivals in the mountains on weekends. Later he paid his way busking with a didgeridoo while learning how to write music in his basement.  Listen in as Vince, Dan and Nick discuss the science behind making music and sounds, why you can’t copywrite chord progressions or drum patterns, and how AI is impacting their industry.  https://smithandwestern.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Resilience isn’t always a quality that’s obvious to the people who display it. Often, resilience is survival. It’s resilience combined with a positive outlook, can-do attitude, tenacious nature and sense of community that have helped Dion Horstmans reach a place in his life where he’s able to do what he loves for a living. And it’s not a position he takes for granted.  Today, the artist’s work is displayed in private and public spaces across the world. ‘Supersonic’ – a massive sculpture made up of over 100 pieces of bright yellow tubular steel welded together into the landmark entrance of Melbourne’s Collin’s Square – is seen by millions of people every day.  Growing up between New Zealand and the Cook Islands, things weren’t always so golden. With a single mum living on welfare and violence as a theme, Hortsmans spent his childhood turning to art as a place he could go to be in control, a place of safety. After burning out in the film industry - he was making props and models for blockbusters films like Star Wars, Mission Impossible and Moulin Rouge - he decided to try and make a career of art. It wasn’t long before he received a life-changing phone call.  Listen in as Vince and Dion discuss cutting his teeth working with tools in the film industry, thinking at age 15 he wouldn’t make it to 21, and doing everything from working as a doorman to sweeping the floors of an abattoir.  https://dionhorstmans.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Buildings pose a huge problem when it comes to carbon, and the architects of today with a conscience are grappling with the environmental debt of the buildings they design.  Quino Holland, Director at Fieldwork, is tackling the issue with an environmentally conscious sensitivity that also considers how buildings can foster community to improve the lives of the people who live in and around them.  The award-winning architect credits his childhood growing up in a Peruvian mountain village at the gateway to Machu Picchu in the late 80s with his interest in archaeology and the past. But his sights are very firmly set on using his architecture practice to improve necessary and important community infrastructure and decarbonise construction for the future.  Listen in as Vince and Quino discuss community-led development, winning the award-winning Collingwood Yards project as a fledgeling architecture practice and adaptive reuse.  https://www.fieldworkprojects.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Architects and building materials are synonymous, but an inquisitive entrepreneur with a passion for using natural materials to create spaces with soul has flipped the architectural surfaces industry on its head. With his collaborative approach, premium product and innovative approach to business Ben Kerr, the Founder and CEO of Eco Outdoor, has the world’s leading residential architects knocking down his door.    Kerr’s hugely successful – now global - business with over 100 highly engaged employees supplies and installs natural architectural surfaces and outdoor furniture to architects in Australia and the USA. In his early days Kerr studied history and economics in London and went on to work as a political researcher for TV. After flunking an interview with the award-winning current affairs program Insight, he decided to help his landscaper brother and saw an opportunity in product. With what started as a pile of pebbles he’s created an international design-led business with purpose focused on his love of modern history and architecture.     Listen in as Vince and Ben discuss the role products play in design, how to ignite and direct passion in people, and how the pallet of materials used to build China’s ancient cities are very similar to those we use today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not many people can say they grew up in an architecturally designed home furnished with modern classics featuring black lacquered ceilings and slides for transitioning between floors.  Daniel Boddam can. He also spent weekends playing with architectural drawings and materials on the floor of his parents' studio, so it’s no surprise he’s established himself as one of Australia’s most sought-after high-end residential architects and furniture designers.   These days he’s focussed on his new furniture showroom, due to open in Melbourne in the coming weeks, and using local materials in an effort to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of his work.  Listen in as Vince and Daniel discuss being exposed to his mother’s colourful homeland Venezuela as a child, the first piece of furniture he fell in love with and the life-changing 'dark period’ in his life.  https://danielboddam.com/  https://www.instagram.com/danielboddam/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facade Design doesn’t have the high profile of architecture, but its impact on how we experience our cities and buildings, as well as their environmental impact, is significant.  Troy Donovan is Principal Facade Designer at Prism Facades and is one of the foremost voices in façade design worldwide. He works closely with architects on public and commercial projects to design, detail and construct the faces of some of the most iconic buildings around the world. Case in point; he’s the Lead for the Sydney Opera House Trust Bronze Project to redesign the architectural bronzework for the interior and exterior of the entire precinct.  Thanks to his phenomenal technical drawings and knowledge sharing, some of which he does live, Donovan has amassed an impressive Instagram following. Although he doesn’t see himself as an academic, he uses the platform to educate and inspire.  Listen in as Vince and Troy discuss the niche industry of facade design, appropriating techniques from automotive production for architecture, and why the AMP building at Circular Quay is his favourite building in the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having one of your designs in the permanent collection of the V&A in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York sets the tone for someone who’s been hugely successful in their career. A design icon, some might say. Bill Amberg is one of the most highly regarded leather workers in the world. So, it’s a shock to learn he flunked out of school to take a job on an oil rig in his teens. His passion for leatherwork began thanks to his architect mother who would bring home cobblers’ offcuts from the town he grew up in – Northampton – known as the centre of leather and shoemaking in Britain.  Amberg credits the moment he walked into Paul Smith’s first store in Covent Garden in the 80s and the fashion designer immediately bought his leather bags for the shop as a turning point in his career. His work in architecture and interiors grew alongside his hugely successful accessories business and is now the focus of Bill Amberg Studio. Today he supports young practitioners from a wide range of skilled crafting backgrounds to become successful businesspeople themselves.  Listen in as Vince and Bill discuss working in the creative industries in London in the 90s, the sustainability of leather and how his famous Rocket Bag came to be.  https://www.billamberg.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Designing the future of how we live and work is a hot topic, and one that has businesses worldwide wondering how they can get people back into offices in a post covid world.  Ryan Anderson is Vice President of Global Research and insights at MillerKnoll, the makers of some of the world’s most iconic modernist and contemporary furniture, and an expert in workplaces of the past, present and future.  He and his team of researchers survey over 40,000 people annually to understand how to create the best possible spaces for working and living. And he’s not afraid to go deep when it comes to remote work, distributed work and the future of the workplace.  Listen in as Vince and Ryan discuss the emblematic nature of modernist furniture, how Herman Miller’s iconic Aeron chair was initially ridiculed and why the best offices are the ones that offer variety and choice.  Try the Herman Miller work from home survey to check the health and productivity of your WFH set up.  https://wfh.hermanmiller.com/  https://www.millerknoll.com/en-GB See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Designing gratitude to create social and economic change. Being thankful can change our entire perspective on the world. It has been proven to improve not only mental health, but physical health too. Most importantly, it is a powerful motivator to get people to take action. And action is what’s needed in our modern world.  Kim McDonnell is a social impact innovator, futurist, entrepreneur, speaker and author whose focus is on shifting mindsets to create social and economic change. With her global impact organisation, Thankful, she’s promoting gratitude to make real change for a more sustainable, equitable and happy world.   It hasn’t been an easy ride. After 25 years working for leading advertising and marketing agencies such as Leo Burnette and Publicis Worldwide, and founding her own award-winning data business CUBED Communications, in 2013 she turned her family’s life upside down. Unable to get funding for what is now a very successful social impact organisation, she gave up what would universally be seen as a very success life. She sold everything - her homes and her business - and took the kids out of school to start again. They moved from Sydney to New York in pursuit of a more meaningful life. It was worth it. Just ask the United Nations.  Listen in as Vince and Kim discuss selling everything to start again, trademarking the word ‘thankful’ globally and why being thankful has been proven to be good for our mental and physical health.  https://www.thankful.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.