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The bank told Nicholas Karlovasitis they could not give him a business loan. No trading history. So he called back and told them he needed $30,000 for a pool party. An epic one. Just the once. They offered him $50,000. That was 18 years ago. Today, Design By Them — the studio Nicholas built with his co-founder Sarah Kay from a Newtown apartment — has a team of 35 and dealers across Dubai, the UK, the Netherlands, and the US. When their accountants recently asked about their exit strategy, Nicholas and Sarah walked out of the meeting laughing. They do not have one. They just really love what they do.

This conversation goes somewhere most design podcasts do not. We talk about what it means to be given the gift of choice — and what it costs to build a business that tries to pass that on to other people. Nicholas is the son of migrants who watched his mother count hours at a paper factory and his father work 16-hour days to pay off a home loan in four years. Everything he has built is quietly shaped by that. Including the royalty model that puts real money in the hands of Australian designers who have been treating their work as a side project for too long.

In this episode, we explore:
Growing up as a child of migrants and what that instilled — the optimism, the relativity, and the lifelong obsession with a better future
A conversation with his father in Year 7 that removed the burden of expectation and gave Nicholas the gift of choice
Deciding on industrial design at 13, and why passing up a Qantas avionics engineering programme was the best decision he almost did not make
Working school holidays at a paper factory with his mother — and the moment he understood what an hour of someone's labour was worth
The pool party loan: how Design By Them was founded on $30,000 a bank was happy to hand over for an epic one-time event
Building a furniture brand in a market that barely existed — and why 'if there's no industry for us, we'll create one' became the founding philosophy
The white t-shirt principle: the early business advice that shaped how they thought about products, cashflow, and creative ambition
The copied letterbox incident that sharpened their supply chain strategy and changed how they thought about protecting designers' work
The real economics of manufacturing locally versus overseas — and why the debate almost always misses the most important argument
Building a supply chain in China over five years, and what quality control actually looks like when you are doing it seriously
Running a business by designers for designers — and why they put prices on their website when no one else did
Exhibiting at 3 Days of Design Copenhagen and the patient, deliberate path to global reach
Why Nicholas and Sarah walked out of a meeting with their accountants laughing: no exit strategy, no Porsche, just the work

Why this conversation matters
In a world where scaling fast is celebrated and soul is usually the first casualty, Nicholas Karlovasitis offers a different model. Design By Them has grown from two people to 35 without losing what it set out to be: a brand that pays designers properly, builds for the long term, and believes that clarity of purpose is not a luxury — it is the strategy. His story is also a reminder that the most meaningful businesses are often built not to be sold, but to outlast the people who started them.

About Nicholas
Nicholas Karlovasitis is the co-founder and creative director of Design By Them, the Sydney-based furniture design studio he built alongside Sarah Kay from a Newtown apartment in 2007. He studied industrial design at UTS, where he also taught for a period, and has spent nearly two decades championing Australian designers while pursuing global reach. Design By Them manufactures across China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, the US, and Italy, operates a royalty model for the designers it represents, and is currently expanding into the UK, Netherlands, and US markets. Nicholas describes the business simply: it was built by designers, for designers. He still does not have an exit strategy.

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If this episode resonated, please like, subscribe and share — it helps Build Beautiful continue to tell deeper stories from the world of design, architecture and creative life.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Design By Them: designbythem.com
Instagram: @designbythem
3 Days of Design Copenhagen: 3daysofdesign.dk
To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials: 
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If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on buildbeautifulpodcast@gmail.com.

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Your agent wants to sell. Your valuer wants the truth. And most people — designers, renovators, developers — never call the valuer. They call the agent, they trust the gut, they make decisions without one crucial piece of information: what will the market actually pay, with no skin in the game, before you've already spent the money. Belinda Botzolis has been the missing voice in that conversation for 17 years. She is done being missing.
Belinda Botzolis is the founding director of Add Value, a property valuation consultancy. She has inspected more than 15,000 Australian homes, assessed nearly $12 billion in real estate, and spent 17 years translating complex property and tax concepts into plain, actionable language — including the 2026 federal budget changes and the rarely-understood six-year capital gains tax rule.
This is a conversation for every designer, renovator, and developer who has ever made an expensive decision without a valuer in the room. About the ceiling on every property — the number the market won't cross regardless of how beautifully you design it. About demographic-led renovation strategy, the mistakes a bank valuer will never reward, and why the person with no stake in the outcome is sometimes the most important person you can have on your team.
In this episode, we explore:
Why every property has a ceiling — and why crossing it in renovation is one of the most common and costly mistakes homeowners and developers make
The demographic analysis Belinda runs before recommending any renovation: from kosher kitchens in Rose Bay to prayer rooms in Lakemba and courtyards in the inner west
The 2026 federal budget decoded: what actually changed for investors, what's grandfathered, what to hold off on, and why Belinda compares the policy to a school group assignment
How the property valuer fits inside the design team — and why most designers have never thought to include one
Flipping vs. forever home: why the design rules are completely different depending on your exit strategy
The budget blowout scenario: why a neutral valuer can sometimes say the things a designer can't — and why clients hear it differently from a third party
The six-year CGT principal place of residence rule — and why Belinda used it herself
Why the new negative gearing changes might make your primary home the most tax-efficient place to hold capital in the current landscape
Investment property renovation strategy: why neutral and durable beats trendy and cheap every time
Building a business on social media before going solo — and the grandmother story that explains her entire philosophy
Why this conversation matters
Property is where design and money converge. Most people make their biggest financial decisions without a valuer's perspective, relying instead on agents, friends, and gut instinct. Belinda Botzolis is changing that. In an industry where valuers are almost invisible to the people whose homes they assess, she is quietly doing something radical: explaining it clearly, accessibly, and without an agenda.
About Belinda
Belinda Botzolis is the founding director of Add Value, a property valuation consultancy. With 17 years of experience, a degree in Property Economics, and dual registration as a certified valuer and tax agent, she has valued nearly $12 billion in Australian real estate across residential, government acquisition, and investment work. She built her reputation online by translating complex property and tax concepts into plain, accessible language — driven by a belief that everyone deserves to understand the rules of the game they are already playing.
Watch / Listen
▶️  Watch the full episode on YouTube
🎧  Available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

If this episode resonated, please like, subscribe and share — it helps Build Beautiful continue to tell deeper stories from the world of design, architecture and creative life.

To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials: 
 on Instagram
on Facebook
on LinkedIn
If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on buildbeautifulpodcast@gmail.com.

Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments!
Her water broke on the last day of filming The Great Gatsby. She had spent years inside Baz Luhrmann's creative world — researching Moulin Rouge in Paris, drinking absinthe in the streets, helping Catherine Martin dress Beyoncé, designing over 200 rugs for the Faena Hotel in New York. And she did all of it as the black sheep of a Lebanese-Australian family where everyone else became a doctor, a surgeon, or an engineer. She was the one who took the detour. As it turned out, the detour was the whole thing.
Silvana Azzi Heras is the founder of House of Heras, a Sydney-based textile and interior design studio known for its maximalist, emotionally rich patterns rooted in folklore, flora, and cultural memory. Before founding her studio, she spent over a decade as head designer at Bazmark — Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin's creative company — working across Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby, La Bohème on Broadway, and The Get Down for Netflix.
This is a conversation about what it means to follow an instinct when the world expects something safer from you. About heritage and culture as the raw material of a creative life. About the phone call that changes everything — and what happens when you finally say yes to yourself. About maximalism as a philosophy, not just an aesthetic. And about the strange, glittering, unglamorous work of building something entirely your own.
In this episode, we explore:
Growing up Lebanese-Australian: arriving in Sydney at age two, navigating identity, and returning to Beirut at 35 to understand her parents' resilience
Being the 'black sheep' youngest of five — how family pressure shaped the long road to design
Starting with a Bachelor of Welfare Studies, meeting her husband there, and going back to university as a mature-age student to study design
The phone call that changed everything: how a university lecturer put her name forward for Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin's studio
Life inside Bazmark — researching Moulin Rouge! in Paris, drinking absinthe, walking the streets, and building a world from scratch
The Gatsby baby — her water breaking on the last day of filming The Great Gatsby
Going to Cannes twice and the Oscars twice, including helping Catherine Martin dress Beyonce
Designing over 200 rugs for the Faena Hotel New York, in collaboration with Peter Mikic
Founding House of Heras — filling a gap for maximalist, culturally rich design in a minimalist market
Pre-visualisation as a design practice, the art of knowing when to stop, and why there are no shortcuts
Why this conversation matters
In a design world that often rewards restraint and minimalism, Silvana Azzi Heras is doing something rarer: making work that holds memory, carries culture, and takes emotional risks. Her story is also a reminder that the creative path is rarely linear — that detours, late starts, and unexpected phone calls are often the beginning of something extraordinary.
About the guest
Silvana Azzi Heras is the founder and creative director of House of Heras, a Sydney-based design studio specialising in textiles, rugs, wallpaper, and interior design. She spent over a decade as head designer at Bazmark, the production company of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, working across some of the most visually ambitious films and productions of the past two decades. Her textile collections are stocked internationally and she has designed for the Faena Hotel New York, Designer Rugs, Milton & King, and CB2 in the United States. House of Heras is expanding into commercial interior design, and a new Axminster rug collection is due for release later in 2026.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
House of Heras website: houseofheras.com
Instagram: @houseofheras and @silvanaazziheras
Designer Rugs: designerrugs.com.au
Milton & King wallpaper: miltonandking.comCB2 
(US): cb2.com
Faena Hotel New York: faena.com/new-york
Peter Mikic: mikicdesign.com

To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials: 
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If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on buildbeautifulpodcast@gmail.com.

Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments!
Helen Lynch and Karyn McRae, co-founders of McRae & Lynch Design, have been in business together for thirty years. They met on the first day of design school, started taking on projects while they were still studying, and have since built one of Sydney's most quietly enduring interior design practices, spanning residential, medical, hospitality, and even cruise ship interiors for Carnival.
In this episode of Build Beautiful, Helen and Karyn share what three decades of partnership has taught them about resilience, reinvention, and charging your worth. It is a conversation about friendship as foundation, the unglamorous parts of building a creative business, and what it really means to design for the long game.

In this episode, we explore:
How a chance hand wave on the first day of design school became a thirty-year creative partnership
Helen's path from primary school teaching into interior design, and Karyn's beginnings in architectural drafting at Inscand Design
What makes a design partnership actually work, and why mutual respect, shared values and morning therapy sessions matter more than rigid role descriptions
Designing cruise ships for Carnival across five years: dry dock, IMO certification, boiler suits, and being the only women on the ship
Why they had to rebuild the business from scratch after the cruise ship era ended, and what that humility taught them
The reinvention behind going back to study during COVID to become registered building designers, and why interior designers still fight for recognition in Australia
The two-year nudge from their business coach into podcasting, the imposter syndrome that nearly stopped them, and the moment they realised authenticity outperforms polish
Going on Aussie Build for Channel 9 Life, finding sponsors in six weeks, and what television taught them about being themselves on camera
Charging your worth: the spreadsheet that changed everything, the twenty percent contingency rule, and why a one hundred percent strike rate means you are undercharging
What 'build beautiful' means when you have spent thirty years designing for other people's lives, and why the goal is shoulders dropping at the front door

Why this conversation matters
In an industry obsessed with overnight success and polished feeds, Helen and Karyn offer something quieter and rarer: a thirty-year case study in patience, partnership and reinvention. Their story matters now because the path they walked, slow growth, hard pivots, going back to study late, learning to charge what you are worth, is the one most creative business owners are actually on, even if no one talks about it.

About the guests
Helen Lynch and Karyn McRae are the co-founders of McRae & Lynch Design, a Sydney-based interior design and building design practice they have run together for thirty years. Their work spans high-end residential, medical and dental fit-outs, hospitality and clubs, and a five-year body of cruise ship interior work for Carnival. They are also the hosts of Two Gins in a Designer's Perspective, which won Best Design Podcast at the 2025 Australian Podcast Awards, and recently appeared as the design duo on Aussie Build for Channel 9 Life. Both are newly registered building designers, certified to work on Class 2 buildings, an accreditation few interior designers in Australia hold.

RESOURCES MENTIONED
McRae & Lynch Design: mcraelynchdesign.com.au
Instagram: @mcraelynchdesign
Two Gins in a Designer's Perspective podcast (Best Design Podcast, 2025)
Aussie Build, Channel 9 LifeDesign Centre Enmore (formerly the Randwick design school referenced in the episode)
Design Institute of Australia (DIA)
To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials: 
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on Facebook
on LinkedIn
If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on buildbeautifulpodcast@gmail.com.

Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments!
For years, she was running her architecture practice on passion alone. The work was good. The clients were happy. And the money wasn't working. She described it as being "happy but broke" — a phrase so clean and so honest that it stopped being hers the moment she said it, because everyone who builds something creative knows exactly what she means.
Brooke Aitken is an architect and the founder of Brooke Aitken Design, a studio she has led for 21 years. She works alongside her sister and a team that has come to feel like family — a flat, trust-based structure held together by craft, devotion, and a slowly-earned understanding of what it takes to stay financially and emotionally viable in creative work.
This is one of the most generous conversations Build Beautiful has had. About what longevity actually costs. About how you learn to charge your worth after years of not. About the strange rhythm of a creative life — the wearing of every hat, the love that keeps you going, and the business that had to grow up alongside the art. For anyone building something slowly, with heart: this one is for you.
In this episode, we explore:
Why Brooke walked away from a place in medical school to pursue architecture — and the moment she “cut my hair off, dyed it white blonde” and went all in
Inside the legendary DCM years: being project architect on the interiors of the Melbourne Museum at the very start of her career
Founding Brooke Aitken Design in 2004 with no business training, no marketing, and clients already waiting at the door
“I was happy but broke” — what rock bottom actually looked like ten years in, while going through IVF, undiagnosed endometriosis, building her own home, and paying her staff before herself
The Business of Design podcast moment that changed everything — and why Brooke now sits in a peer mastermind comparing real figures every six months
Daniel Priestley’s “11 touchpoints” rule, and how Brooke rebuilt her entire marketing engine around it after a decade of hiding her work behind bad photography
“Soft Modernism,” slow architecture, and why she’ll usually fight to save a 70s building rather than knock it down
Inside the studio: a sister, a “design alumni” WhatsApp group, design charrettes, and why “no one has just one problem”
“Systems will set you free” — the Asana templates and operating system every creative business owner should steal
ChatGPT, Midjourney and how an architect known for craft is quietly experimenting with AI
What she would tell her younger self — and why she still insists success “hasn’t happened yet”
Why this conversation matters
In a design industry that polishes every portfolio and hides every struggle, Brooke Aitken does something rare: she tells the truth. For any architect, designer or creative business owner who has ever wondered why beautiful work isn’t translating into a beautiful life, this is the conversation that names the gap — and shows what’s possible on the other side.
About Brooke
Brooke Aitken is the founder and Principal of Brooke Aitken Design, a Sydney-based studio she has led for over 20 years from her base in Ultimo. A registered architect and interior designer — one of the few in the country who delivers both — she is known for an aesthetic she calls “Soft Modernism”: contemporary, considered, deeply liveable spaces shaped by the brief, the building and the way people actually live. Her work spans heritage homes in Sydney’s east, sustainable rejuvenations of mid-century houses, and award-winning international projects in San Francisco and Palo Alto. She is also the founder of Rill + Stone, a homewares brand whose internationally awarded rug collection is made in collaboration with Tsar Carpets.
To get in touch with Build Beautiful or to follow us head to our socials: 
 on Instagram
on Facebook
on LinkedIn
If you'd like to be on the podcast, or want to collaborate with Build Beautiful feel free to contact us on buildbeautifulpodcast@gmail.com.