Build Beautiful

Linda Habak
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Build BeautifulWhere design meets depth Hosted by interior designer and property developer Linda Habak, Build Beautiful is a podcast about more than just aesthetics - it’s about the intention behind the spaces we shape and the stories we tell. Each episode features honest, insightful conversations with designers, developers, architects, artists, and creative thinkers who are reimagining the way we live, build, and create. This is a space for the ideas behind the work - the risks, the pivots, the process. The quiet decisions that shape extraordinary outcomes. Because beauty isn’t just what we see - it’s what we feel.And what we choose to build, together. Follow @buildbeautiful_podcast

  1. 3 Jun

    Her Water Broke on the Last Day of Filming The Great Gatsby. | Silvana Azzi Heras

    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' resilienceBeing the 'black sheep' youngest of five — how family pressure shaped the long road to designStarting with a Bachelor of Welfare Studies, meeting her husband there, and going back to university as a mature-age student to study designThe phone call that changed everything: how a university lecturer put her name forward for Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin's studioLife inside Bazmark — researching Moulin Rouge! in Paris, drinking absinthe, walking the streets, and building a world from scratchThe Gatsby baby — her water breaking on the last day of filming The Great GatsbyGoing to Cannes twice and the Oscars twice, including helping Catherine Martin dress BeyonceDesigning over 200 rugs for the Faena Hotel New York, in collaboration with Peter MikicFounding House of Heras — filling a gap for maximalist, culturally rich design in a minimalist marketPre-visualisation as a design practice, the art of knowing when to stop, and why there are no shortcutsWhy 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:   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.

    41 min

  2. 20 May

    30 Years of Interior Design, Friendship and Reinvention | Helen Lynch & Karyn McRae

    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 partnershipHelen's path from primary school teaching into interior design, and Karyn's beginnings in architectural drafting at Inscand DesignWhat makes a design partnership actually work, and why mutual respect, shared values and morning therapy sessions matter more than rigid role descriptionsDesigning cruise ships for Carnival across five years: dry dock, IMO certification, boiler suits, and being the only women on the shipWhy they had to rebuild the business from scratch after the cruise ship era ended, and what that humility taught themThe reinvention behind going back to study during COVID to become registered building designers, and why interior designers still fight for recognition in AustraliaThe two-year nudge from their business coach into podcasting, the imposter syndrome that nearly stopped them, and the moment they realised authenticity outperforms polishGoing on Aussie Build for Channel 9 Life, finding sponsors in six weeks, and what television taught them about being themselves on cameraCharging your worth: the spreadsheet that changed everything, the twenty percent contingency rule, and why a one hundred percent strike rate means you are underchargingWhat '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:   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.

    1 hr

  3. 6 May

    I Was Happy But Broke: What Nobody Tells You About Running a Studio for 21 Years. | Brooke Aitken

    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 inInside the legendary DCM years: being project architect on the interiors of the Melbourne Museum at the very start of her careerFounding 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 herselfThe Business of Design podcast moment that changed everything — and why Brooke now sits in a peer mastermind comparing real figures every six monthsDaniel 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 downInside 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 stealChatGPT, Midjourney and how an architect known for craft is quietly experimenting with AIWhat 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.

    1hr 1min

  4. 22 Apr

    There's a Difference Between Buying Art and Living With It. | Kym Elphinstone

    Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! There's a version of living with art that most people never reach. They buy something. They hang it. They look at it sometimes. And then there's the other version — where the piece you chose changes the way you see the room, then the way you see yourself, and then, if you're lucky, the way you move through the world. Kym Elphinstone has spent her career in that second version, and she's working to bring other people there. Kym Elphinstone works across art, cultural strategy, and storytelling, advising collectors and collaborating with designers on how to bring art into spaces with intention. Her work sits at the intersection of intuition and meaning — built on the belief that art is not an accessory to life, but a reflection of it. This is a conversation about the difference between buying art and living with it. About how to start a collection without being paralysed by the decision. About why the best choices are rarely about taste and almost always about feeling. For anyone who has ever stood in front of a piece of art and felt something shift — this one is for you. In this episode, we explore: Kym's unlikely path from law in London to a life in contemporary artThe "baptism by fire" years at MCA Australia working on 12–15 exhibitions a yearFounding Articulate sixteen years ago — with the Biennale of Sydney as first clientWhy she wrote Collecting and Living with Art — and the foreword by John Kaldor"There are no wrong answers" — the biggest myth about how to start collectingWalking into a gallery for the first time — why gallerists genuinely want you thereFostering, not owning: collecting as a form of custodianship for future generationsThe King's College London study proving art physically changes us — heart rate, cortisol, inflammationUnderstanding the value of art — artist reputation, galleries, career milestones and the marketWhy emerging artists need collectors most, and how to spot a singular point of viewSydney Contemporary as "time travel for art" — 45 minutes to take the pulse of the sectorAdvice for designers and architects: commission artists early in the design process, not at the endHow to help clients see the value of a $50,000 artwork the way they see a $50,000 sofaKym's most cherished piece — an Oliver Wagner canvas made from house-paint dustWhy this conversation matters In design and architecture, art is too often the final decorative layer — if it is considered at all. Kym Elphinstone offers a quietly radical counterpoint: art should be part of the conversation from the very beginning of a home, a career, a life. For designers, architects and anyone wondering how to begin collecting, this is an expert, unintimidating invitation into the art world — and a reminder that living with art changes how we feel inside our own spaces. About Kym Kym Elphinstone is the founder of Articulate, a Sydney-based agency specialising in contemporary art, culture and design. A lawyer who left London for the arts, Kym held senior roles at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia — including on secondment at New York's New Museum on the Bowery — before launching Articulate sixteen years ago. Articulate's clients span the Biennale of Sydney, the Australia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (including the 2024 Gold-Lion-winning Archie Moore / kith and kin presentation), Sydney Contemporary, the NGV, Nonsingular in the Southern Highlands, and a growing roster of private collectors. Her book, Collecting and Living with Art, features 26 Australian collectors and opens with a foreword by John Kaldor. 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.

    44 min

  5. 11 Mar

    Her Parents Fled Iran. She Grew Up to Design Australia's Most Iconic Restaurants. | Nasim Koerting

    Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! Nasim Koerting grew up knowing what it means not to belong. Her parents arrived in Australia as refugees from Iran, and she inherited both their drive — the relentless, exhausting migrant roadmap: study, prove yourself, never stop — and their deepest, quietest wish: to belong somewhere, fully, without apology. She has spent her career trying to answer that question through design. The spaces she creates don't just look good. They hold people. Nasim Koerting is the Creative Director of Merivale — the company behind some of Australia's most celebrated hospitality venues. Her path there was anything but straight: nearly a decade in London, time in Israel and Spain, a transition from interior design into creative direction at workspace developer TOG, and a phone call from Justin Hemmes that brought her back to Sydney to lead one of the country's most ambitious in-house design teams. This is a conversation about identity and belonging, about the migrant drive that never fully switches off, and about what happens when a creative life is shaped by displacement instead of comfort. About designing spaces that make people feel at home — and about the slow, necessary work of learning to feel that way yourself. In This Episode: 00:00 – Introduction: From Refugee Roots to Merivale 01:20 – Discovering interior architecture by accident 03:00 – Growing up as a migrant child in Australia 05:55 – Breaking cultural expectations in creative careers 09:50 – The pressure to prove yourself as a refugee’s child 11:03 – Publication, ambition, and the myth of “making it” 14:20 – Moving overseas: Israel, Spain, and London 16:38 – Creative direction in London and non-linear career paths 17:40 – The call from Merivale 18:13 – Leading design at scale across iconic hospitality venues 19:51 – Creative freedom vs brand and business constraints 21:00 – Sourcing vintage pieces in France 23:36 – When design mistakes become breakthroughs 25:42 – The collaborative Merivale design process 31:26 – Why Merivale built an in-house design team 32:21 – Living with your spaces and constantly evolving them 36:31 – Where creativity really happens 38:36 – Leadership, self-doubt, and managing large teams 41:12 – Burnout, boundaries, and reclaiming creative energy 45:45 – Advice to young designers from migrant backgrounds 53:25 – What “Build Beautiful” means to Nasim Connect with Nasim Koerting  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nasimkoerting/ Connect with Build Beautiful Instagram: @buildbeautiful_podcast Website: buildbeautifulpodcast.com Subscribe for more conversations about design, property, art, and the people behind the work. 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.

    51 min

  6. 25 Feb

    She Put Art Prices Online When Every Gallery Said Don't. | Sophie Vander

    Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! When Sophie Vander launched her online art gallery from a Singapore apartment at 3am, she broke the most sacred rule in the art world: she put the prices online. Galleries didn't do that. It wasn't how things were done. She did it anyway — because she believed that transparency was the only way to make art accessible to real people, not just collectors. That single decision became the foundation of everything that followed. Sophie Vander is the founder of Curatorial & Co, a contemporary art gallery she built from an online platform in 2015 into one of Sydney's largest gallery spaces — with an international art consultancy practice, four daughters, and a philosophy that has consistently put emerging artists and human connection before institutional convention. This is a conversation about what happens when you build something around a principle rather than a playbook — about transparency, motherhood, ambition, and the quiet power of doing things differently when the industry says you can't. About opening a gallery in March 2020. About what it means to build beautiful in a world that is often anything but. About Sophie Vander Sophie Vander is the founder of Curatorial & Co., a Sydney-based contemporary art gallery that began as an online art platform in 2015. Today, Curatorial & Co. operates one of Sydney’s largest gallery spaces and supports emerging and mid-career Australian artists through exhibitions, art consultancy, and international art fairs. Her work sits at the intersection of curation, entrepreneurship, and motherhood — building a business while raising four daughters and redefining accessibility in the art world. Connect with Sophie & Curatorial & Co. Website: https://curatorialandco.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curatorialandco/ Location: 80 William Street, Woolloomooloo, Sydney Connect with Build Beautiful Instagram: @buildbeautiful_podcast Website: buildbeautifulpodcast.com If you’re interested in contemporary art, Sydney art galleries, emerging Australian artists, art consultancy, women in business, or creative entrepreneurship — this episode is for you. Subscribe for more conversations about design, property, art, and the people behind the work. Together — we build beautiful. 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.

    1hr 6min

  7. 11 Feb

    Her Husband's Heart Stopped in Front of Her. What Came After Was Harder. | Carla Middleton

    Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! She was running her architecture practice when it happened. Her husband went into sudden cardiac arrest, right in front of her. She saved his life. And then the adrenaline wore off, and what followed was something nobody prepares you for — not the near-loss itself, but the long, disorienting aftermath of surviving it. Trauma, burnout, nervous system collapse, and the slow, unglamorous process of rebuilding from underneath. Carla Middleton is a Sydney-based architect and founder of her own practice, known for thoughtful residential and commercial design. After her husband's cardiac arrest, she navigated becoming the primary provider while processing trauma — and rebuilt both herself and her business with a rigour she never expected to need. This is one of the most honest conversations Build Beautiful has had. About what it means to hold a business together when your inner world has fallen apart. About transcendental meditation, nervous system regulation, and the deep discipline of recovery. About what success actually requires when the life you were building suddenly asks more of you than you knew you had. #BurnoutRecovery  #TraumaHealing  #NervousSystemRegulation  #Meditation  #TranscendentalMeditation  #LifeOfAnArchitect  #WomenInBusiness  #CreativeLeadership  #BuildBeautiful 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.

    1hr 18min

  8. 28 Jan

    He Said No to Trends for 40 Years. This Is What He Built Instead. | Thomas Hamel

    Send us your feedback, thoughts or comments! Somewhere in the mid-1980s, a young designer was working at Parish-Hadley in New York — one of the most storied interior design firms in the world, under Albert Hadley, one of the most influential designers who ever lived. He absorbed everything: the history, the discipline, the relationship between craft and restraint. Then he moved to Australia, where nobody was doing what he wanted to do, and built a practice around the same conviction: that timeless is not a style. It is a standard. Thomas Hamel is the founder of Thomas Hamel & Associates, a Sydney and Melbourne-based interior design practice with over 40 years of work across some of Australia's most significant private residences. His career has spanned New York, London, and Europe, and he is widely regarded as one of the great custodians of classical interior design in this country. This is a conversation about what it actually costs to stay the course — to resist the pull of the new while others chase it, to design for decades not for the moment, and to build a practice where service, relationship, and integrity matter more than scale. About mentorship, legacy, and what it looks like when you choose depth every single time. Key Takeaways: Thomas Hamel emphasises the significance of balancing historical elements with contemporary design, drawing from his diverse educational and professional experiences.Hamel credits his deep personal connections and serendipitous encounters with influential figures for his success in the interior design world.A staunch advocate for integrity in design, Hamel has chosen to prioritise depth and client relationships over pursuing widespread global expansion.Hamel's mentorship program highlights his commitment to nurturing the next generation of designers, focusing on experiential learning and personal growth.Hamel underscores the importance of passion, organisation, and a client-centered approach in building a successful design practice.Notable Quotes: "I live by being in other people's heads." - Thomas Hamel"It's all about the efficiency of, you know, the descriptions, the details, the cost, how it's then invoiced, how it's… it's that structure that's so crucial." - Thomas Hamel"It's nice to have one or two old souls in a room, but then it's got to have the twist." - Thomas Hamel"The most important word and what is required the most is passion." - Thomas HamelResources: Instagram @joem7816 Instagram @1stdibs Instagram @the_london_listThomas Hamel and AssociatesParish HadleyTo 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.

    1hr 7min
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About

Build BeautifulWhere design meets depth Hosted by interior designer and property developer Linda Habak, Build Beautiful is a podcast about more than just aesthetics - it’s about the intention behind the spaces we shape and the stories we tell. Each episode features honest, insightful conversations with designers, developers, architects, artists, and creative thinkers who are reimagining the way we live, build, and create. This is a space for the ideas behind the work - the risks, the pivots, the process. The quiet decisions that shape extraordinary outcomes. Because beauty isn’t just what we see - it’s what we feel.And what we choose to build, together. Follow @buildbeautiful_podcast

Information

  • Creator
    Linda Habak
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Build Beautiful
  • Show Website
    Build Beautiful

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