In this rich conversation, Lisa takes us on a journey through her evolution as a designer—from creating bespoke fashion with her mother, to building and designing five boutique hotels across regional NSW, to her current practice creating thoughtful residential and commercial spaces on the South Coast. What makes Lisa's approach unique is her understanding that design isn't just about aesthetics—it's about people. Her years as a couturier taught her that every millimetre matters. When you're creating a pattern with ten seams, each tiny detail compounds. If you haven't paid attention to the small things, by the time you fit the garment to the client's body, nothing works. This meticulous attention to detail now translates into every aspect of her design practice. Lisa designs spaces by first understanding how you actually live. Where do you kick off your shoes? When do you retreat to your cave to regenerate? How does your morning routine flow through your home? She listens deeply, asks curious questions, and can close her eyes and hear a room—its spatial qualities, its natural rhythms. This intimate understanding allows her to create spaces that fit your life like a perfectly tailored garment. Her design philosophy, "small things done exceptionally well," extends far beyond the tangible. It's about the exchange between people in the design process. It's about discovering perspectives you haven't considered. It's about collecting solutions to design problems through genuine conversations with builders, trades, and suppliers who share her values of care and quality. We explore Lisa's evolving understanding of designing on country—respecting the wind, the slope of the ground, the natural placement of trees, and touching the earth lightly. She's questioning the default solutions that create win-lose scenarios, like masses of concrete creating impermeable surfaces that reroute water and cause flooding downstream. Instead, she's seeking win-win solutions where our homes sustain us and the earth beneath our feet can breathe and thrive. Lisa's approach to selecting materials and suppliers is equally thorough. She researches not just quality and durability, but carbon footprint, waste disposal, circular design, and after-sales care. She asks about the working environments where products are made. Her role, as she sees it, is to do this work for her clients—to find the people and products that have ticked off all the small things, because those details multiply. If something's terrible, it multiplies into a bigger problem. Through her intimate dinner talk series, "Small Things Done Exceptionally Well," Lisa is building a community of renovators, builders, clients, and industry professionals who are all interested in paying attention to invisible details and making better choices together. Because change happens through collective groundswell, through finding your people and stretching together. This episode is for anyone renovating or building who wants to understand how thoughtful design can create spaces that truly support how you live, while respecting the environment and creating positive ripple effects through careful material selection and genuine human connection. Visit lisajohnsondesign.com.au, or follow @lisajohnsondesign_ If you’d like to work with me directly in pre-design for your project in Greater Sydney and Surrounds, or use energy rating information to help make project decisions, head to www.sustainableholmes.com.au or message me on www.instagram.com/sustainable_holmes/ I’d love to help bring your sustainable home vision to life!
