Design Your Life with Vince Frost

Latest Episodes:

Designing a culture driven business with Ben Kerr May 01, 2023

Show notes

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.

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Designing from the inside out with Daniel Boddam Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

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/

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Designing dynamic facades with Troy Donovan Mar 27, 2023

Show notes

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.

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Designing a life dedicated to craft with Bill Amberg Mar 13, 2023

Show notes

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/

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Designing the future of how we work with Ryan Anderson Feb 27, 2023

Show notes

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

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Designing a life to be Thankful for with Kim McDonnell Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

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/

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Designing for impact with Kevin Finn Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Working to have a positive impact is one thing. Working to have positive impact at scale is another. It’s a pursuit that needs an attitude of aggressive optimism to last the distance, and an openness to ongoing learning to succeed.

Kevin Finn is an internationally recognised designer, advisor and author who started his career in Dublin at the studio that has designed all of the album covers for U2 and was Joint Creative Director of Saatchi Design in Sydney for seven years. A self-confessed risk-taker, in 2007 Kevin moved with his now wife from Sydney to Kununurra, a remote town in Western Australia. It’s where he founded TheSumOf, the independent design business he now runs from Brisbane on Australia’s east coast.

As the founder, editor and publisher of Open Manifesto, an independent journal focused on design, social, cultural, political and economic issues, he’s interviewed thought-leaders and some of the biggest names in design from around the world. He’s also recently published Brand Principles, a book focused on sharing his 30 years of experience in branding businesses.

Listen in as Vince and Kevin discuss working with the godfather of design thinking, Edward de Bono, the beauty and spontaneity of authenticity, and how impact equals return for businesses.

https://thesumof.com.au/

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Designing creative energy with Cat Burgess Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

To Cat Burgess, energy is everything. It’s how you inspire the people around you, and it’s how you align your personal resources to the things you need to get done in work and life. She believes we need to move away from the idea of managing time, and into an era of managing your energy, focused on bringing the right energy to the right moment.

Cat is a highly skilled industry leader and brand strategist with more than 30 years’ experience at the forefront of design, branding and communications. She’s worked with Vince Frost for close to two decades, and in her current role as Head of Place at Frost*collective she is passionate about the transformational power of design thinking in shaping places.

She credits her decisiveness and ability to structure ideas into powerful brands to her start as a television journalist. And her appreciation of design to growing up in a house designed by prominent Australian architect Philip Cox, surrounded by ideas, with an artist mother who went to China on cultural exchanges in the 1980s and is still a practicing artist at the age of 90.

Cat has recently been announced as the new AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) NSW Chair, making her the first woman to lead the largest chapter of the Australian communication design industry’s peak body. A sought-after speaker, she’s an advocate for women in leadership positions in the design community and beyond.

Listen in as Vince and Cat discuss managing and making the most of your creative energy, being in the business of opportunity and originality, and how good design can lead to cultural transformation.

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Designing experiences through music with Anton Monsted Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Music has a powerful impact on our emotions, and can amplify what we're experiencing in a way we’re often not aware of. When watching a film, sometimes we don’t perceive the music, but it's there. Impacting our emotions. Elevating our feelings. Music can help set the scene for a time period. And when you really know your stuff, you can make the audience tingle by allowing a hip-hop beat to invade the world of Elvis.

Anton Monsted is Head of Music at Amazon Original Movies and has worked with some of the biggest names in music and film including Herbie Hancock, Jay-Z and George Doering. But he’s most famous for his work with Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who he most recently collaborated with on the hit biographical music drama Elvis.

Monsted’s career trajectory is almost the stuff of movies, he was the boyfriend with time on his hands on the set of Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in 1996. When he realised there was a place for him there, he set about advertising himself internally while painting the walls. Before long Baz asked him to put down the paint brush and pick up a research folder. He became Leonardo DiCaprio’s assistant on the shoot, got involved in the music, and his path began to unfold, leading to his first Music Supervisor credit on Moulin Rouge! all while in his early 20s.

Listen in as Vince and Anton discuss translating 1920s jazz into hip hop with Jay-Z, why listening to music is like being in the company of an old friend and designing music to guide an emotional response.

Anton's Spotify playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1jq8MQrr4kE9hLeBxsKVRi?si=5049970f8f50494e

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6rDWdtbFDXXcmjE1ejzn0T?si=54ab5efde6c54676

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5HDyNVBazSvCbFEAd6VgI6?si=5475e73e3e51411a

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1YbHA0Wm2TxJOww4DZXfdp?si=462ca069b75e49a0

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6r5f4eN4wjZ6MnrRNF2m2x?si=5761b563f0ed4f2b

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72EpYQvlrUXpmR4mNgudXC?si=d034930a3bf24589

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Designing experiences through scent with Craig Andrade Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

How does scent impact our mood and mind? Why is it important to design for all the senses? And what do you do when you realised you’ve designed a life you no longer want?

As a partner in the world’s largest law firm, Craig Andrade was living the life he’d aways dreamed of. Or was he? It was during a candle-making class he’d decided to take on a whim he realised the transformative power of scent and his deep spiritual connection to fragrance.

From the moment on, Craig’s life changed - he’s now a perfumer with a highly-successful artisanal luxury fragrance house. He’s passionate about sharing Australia’s extraordinary botanical heritage and specialises in natural botanical fragrances using often-unknown and unused Australian native scents.

Listen in as Vince and Craig discuss designing for all the senses, finding the strength to make brave life changes, and the Frost*Chapters tri-layer candle they have created together.

Visit Frost*shop to shop the collaboration.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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