Design Your Life with Vince Frost

 What happens when architecture is driven by passion, adventure and the power of nature?  On the latest episode of Design Your Life, Chad Oppenheim joins Vince Frost for a wide-ranging conversation on creativity, resilience and designing life beyond buildings.  From growing up in suburban New Jersey dreaming through films like Star Wars and James Bond and becoming fascinated by the dramatic architecture of movie villains’ lairs, to creating some of the world’s most extraordinary hospitality projects shaped by desert, sea and landscape, including Desert Rock Resort and Shibara Resort, Chad shares the experiences that formed his worldview.  Tune in as Vince and Chad explore travel as education, the realities of running a creative business, balancing ambition with family, and why great architecture should engage every sense; sound, scent, emotion, memory and our connection to the natural world.  A powerful conversation with one of architecture’s most passionate voices.  https://oppenoffice.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it take to build not just a successful practice, but a lasting partnership?  In this episode, Vince sits down with Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon, founders of the critically acclaimed architecture and design practice Fearon Hay. Nearly 30 years into their journey, they reflect on how a shared vision, mutual respect and deep friendship have shaped both their work and their lives.  From early ambitions and formative influences, to growing a globally recognised studio across New Zealand, Australia and the United States, Tim and Jeff share how they’ve stayed intentionally small, focused and true to their values.  They discuss why New Zealand design consistently punches above its weight, their approach to creating architecture that is deeply connected to place, and what it means to design with longevity in mind.  Listen as Vince, Tim and Jeff explore partnership, purpose, and the idea of designing a life through architecture.  https://fearonhay.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From launching P.E Nation onto the global stage to redefining how women move through their day, Claire Greaves has built brands that shape culture.  But success is only one part of the story.  In this episode, Claire shares how scaling fast, leading through pressure and navigating very public life changes ultimately led her to something more powerful than growth. Clarity.  Now back in the business she co founded and building BOOIE Beauty with Celeste Barber, Claire is creating from a different place. With boundaries. With perspective. With purpose.  This is a conversation about reinvention, resilience and what happens when you stop proving and start choosing.  Listen as Vince and Claire explore imposter syndrome, rapid global growth and the courage it takes to redesign your life on your own terms.  https://www.pe-nation.com/ https://booie.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 What does it mean to design a legacy — not just through buildings, but through the lives they shape?  In this episode of Design Your Life, Vince sits down with architect Koos de Keijzer, founding director of DKO, to explore how culture, travel and values influence the way we design — and the way we live. Raised in a Dutch household in New Zealand and trained in the Netherlands, Koos developed an early belief that architecture is deeply human, collaborative and grounded in place.  Listen in as Vince and Koos discuss leadership without ego, why finding the best idea matters more than owning it, and why the future of architecture lies beyond iconic towers — in the everyday suburbs where most people live. From mentoring the next generation to embracing simplicity, sustainability and long-term thinking, Koos reflects on what it really means to design work — and a life — that lasts.  https://dko.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it take to lead one of the UK’s oldest and most respected architectural practices into the future?  As CEO of Scott Brownrigg, Darren Comber has steered the 115-year-old practice through change, challenge and reinvention. From its early roots in Guildford to a network of studios spanning Amsterdam, London, New York, Singapore and Riyadh, Darren has played a pivotal role in shaping its global presence.  With a career defined by persistence, vision and curiosity, he reflects on the power of reinvention, the evolution of design, and why keeping energy alive is fundamental to sustaining a business over decades.  Listen in as Vince and Darren explore the art of leadership, the role of architecture in shaping society, and how to stay relevant in a fast-changing world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to create objects that tell stories, that shape how we feel, live, and connect? For Gabriel Hendifar, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of APPARATUS, design is about more than beautiful lighting and furniture, it’s about creating the container for human experience.  Born in Los Angeles to Iranian immigrants, his early world was filled with music, memory, and craft, influences that continue to inform his deeply human approach to design. After a career in fashion, he co-founded APPARATUS in New York in 2012, building it into a 100-person studio renowned for its emotionally charged interiors and sculptural lighting.  Listen as Vince and Gabriel discuss the poetry of light, the craftsmanship behind his creative acts, and the importance of designing not just spaces, but a life filled with meaning, discipline, and care. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to shape culture through design?   For Peter Saville CBE, one of the most influential designers of our time, it has always been about perception. From his early work at Factory Records, crafting the visual identities of Joy Division and New Order, to collaborations with fashion houses like Yohji Yamamoto, Burberry, Calvin Klein and Chanel, Saville has consistently redefined how we experience music, fashion, and culture.  Now in his late sixties, he reflects on a career that blurred the lines between art, design and branding, sometimes to his dismay, as he laments the loss of authenticity in today’s brand-saturated world.  Listen as Vince and Peter explore his iconic album covers, his transition from music to fashion and cultural institutions, and why, in his words, he has “always been designing himself.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when you combine a love of design with a mind for business? For Ajaz Ahmed, it meant building one of the world’s most successful creative companies from scratch before starting all over again.  Ajaz is the visionary founder of AKQA, the global digital agency that he grew to 5,000 staff across 30 countries. After three decades at the helm, he stepped down and launched Studio One, an agile new venture built for the AI age, where creativity is unleashed and hierarchy stripped back.  Born in the Thames Valley and inspired by architecture from an early age, Ajaz began working at a software company as a teenager, driven by obsession with design and a fascination with business. His story is one of ambition, humility and reinvention.  Listen in as Vince and Ajaz unpack the role of AI in creativity, the myth of scaling and mediocrity, and why having taste still matters more than ever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Elad Yifrach was growing up his art teacher mother would entertain he and his sisters by setting up art projects on their dining room table. It wasn’t long before his bedroom was home to stacks of magazines covered in sticky notes, and he was studying a unique architecture and interior design course at Technion, “kind of like the MIT of Israel”. Yifrach is the Founder and Creative Director of L’OBJET, where he’s been bringing collections of the highest quality artistic objects to life for 20 years. His work exceeds traditional craftsmanship. Through effort, imagination and genuine collaborations with exceptionally skilled and open-minded craftspeople his collections transcend. A telltale sign of what was to come, his first prototypes were picked up by Bergdorf Goodman. Listen in as Vince and Elad discuss studying at the same design school as Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, working with the Haas Brothers on making monsters, and the unbridled joy of bringing someone new into your creative practice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a teenager, Dr Michael Brand experienced moving from Canberra to Washington as both traumatic and exciting. It was on a journey back to Australia via family in Nepal with his brother, they were aged 15 and 18 respectively, that he first experienced Islamic art. He can trace a direct line from that experience to his field of study and life’s work. Brand has recently retired as Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, after guiding it through the most significant transformation in its history. He’s led galleries all over the world, from the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, to the J Paul Getty Museum in LA and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He started his career as curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia under the iconic James Mollison. Brand is a scholar of Indian and Islamic art, architecture and landscape design and has led these world-class art museums at some of the most challenging in their history. Listen in as Vince and Michael discuss trying to be ethical in the art world, falling in love with Asian art in Nepal aged 15 and being sent to NYC by Frank Robertson to buy art. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lily Froehlicher inherited a love of luxury from her mother and a passion for travel from her father—interests that shaped her desire to create beautiful experiences for others. After studying in Paris, Shanghai, and London, and gaining experience at Hermès and Chanel, she joined Invisible Collection at its inception.   Now Managing Director, she leads the online platform connecting design lovers with handmade, limited-edition furniture by top global designers. A strong advocate for sustainability, Lily believes true luxury should be both beautiful and responsible.  Listen in as Vince and Lily discuss Invisible Collection’s NYC debut in an apartment designed by Pierre Yovanovitch, French craftsmanship, and the unique differences between French and American interior design. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing up in public housing on Roosevelt Island in the middle of New York City’s East River, Elie Gamburg went to sleep every night staring at the city’s remarkable skyline from his bedroom window. His father was an artist and his mother a mathematician, so, “I guess I sort of had to do architecture if nothing else.”   Gamburg is a Design Principal at KPF, a global architecture firm known for designing some of the most innovative and high-profile buildings around the world. Working from New York and London, with a lot of travel around the world in between, Elie has been innovating for cities for over 20 years. His work is consistently sensitive to human scale, urban context, and sustainability. Some of the more famous projects he has worked on at KPF are the Seaport Square Master Plan and Channelside in Boston, Atlantis The Royal in Dubai and NYU Shanghai.   As a kid, everything was about buildings. Drawing them, looking at them, reading about them. After high school, he spent a summer at Cornell University, to see if he was cut out for his life’s ambition. Unsurprisingly, he was. Much of his time is still spent at school; he’s taught studios at his alma maters, Cornell and Harvard. He was an adjunct professor at NYIT for eight years and has served as a guest critic at Yale to name a few.   Listen in as Vince and Elie discuss how 100 years ago New York was the Dubai of the times, the concept of Central Social Districts, and why he has Ganesha, the god of wisdom, mischief and fun on his desk.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Children of immigrants are often hard workers; they’re under pressure to live up to their parents’ dreams. And it’s often thought that creativity and hard work don’t go hand in hand. Jean Lin has proven quite the opposite. Growing up in Massachusetts she was aware she came from a different place to her friends. But she credits her different upbringing, one focused on valuing family, hard work, integrity, with her success. Lin is the founder and gallerist of the downtown NYC design gallery and studio Colony. The designer’s co-op in Tribeca that’s changing the way New Yorkers shop for their interiors. With Colony, her goal is to support and foster independent designers and makers. Unlike traditional galleries, who take a 40% commission, her model is based on a monthly co-op fee (to cover the rent) and a small 15% commission. Then there’s The Designers’ Residency, an incubator program that mentors the next generation of young designers. She’s also authored a book, ‘What We Keep’, published by Abrams last year. It offers advice from artists and designers on the joy and benefits of living with the things you love. Lin originally moved to New York to train as a fashion designer at Parsons School of Design. She always knew she didn’t quite fit in with the fashion set. It was when she landed on her love for art and design more broadly that her career really started to sing. Fast forward to today and she has taught at Parsons, and guest lectured everywhere from Rhode Island School of Design to Pratt Institute and Tama Art University in Tokyo to name just a few. Listen in as Vince and Jean discuss working on J Lo’s fashion brand, having the transformative realisation that design is literally everything around us and why it’s better value to buy it once and buy it well.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.