Design Your Life with Vince Frost

Born in the small town of Hastings, New Zealand, Derek grew up in a working-class family with limited financial means and modest aspirations. His unexpected passion for photography ignited when he was a young bank teller and noticed a wedding photographer's bank statement, revealing the potential to make a living from photography. This serendipitous moment set Derek on a journey that has taken him around the world, from Sydney to L...

In some families, the parents’ DNA instructs so clearly the way their children think and work that it’s impossible to deny the familial impact. Jason Bruges is the product of just this. His dad was a software and computer engineer, and his mother a trained artist. Both influenced where and how he came to be a multidisciplinary artist and designer.

His eponymous Jason Bruges Studio is internationally renowned for creating interactiv...

In today’s economy, people are more considerate about what they’ll spend money on, retailers have to fight to hold or grow their market share. If there’s one person who knows this better than most, and will be the first to step into the ring, it’s Felicity McGahan.

McGahan is the Group CEO of STRAND, the Australian handbags and luggage retailer, where she is leading a transformational vision for growth by modernising, digitising an...

What does it mean to exist professionally as an artist? Does being business minded compromise an artist’s creativity? If it’s a frank discussion on the topic you’re after, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran is the artist to have it with. 

Nithiyendran is a Sri Lankan born contemporary artist whose work is often described as bold, hyperbolic, exaggerated and expressive. He’s achieved huge success in his decade-long career — his artwork has b...

Some people take a lifetime to find their true north, the thing they want to spend their days working on.

That’s not the case for Sean Perkins. Growing up in South Yorkshire in the 70s, it wasn’t cool to get good grades. Even though he was smart, he flunked almost everything. Everything, but art. From a young age he was exposed to, “the future, all this incredible visual culture”, by way of Japanese mementos his dad would bring bac...

Not every path to success is a straight one. Mike Tosetto knows this firsthand. From growing up in Sydney’s Inner West as a skate kid who took photos with a disposable camera of the local street art — or, as her calls it, ‘mad graph’ — to living out back for two years at Ayres Rock Resort, to playing didgeridoo on stage at the Glastonbury music festival. His path has been anything but direct.

After realising his job at a supermarke...

Hurricane Katrina and the Northern Rivers Floods may have happened over a decade apart and on opposite sides of the world. But the disasters have a lot in common. New Orleans and Lismore found themselves caught in the eye of the storm when the cities, both located for prosperity around a major waterway but on compromised ground, were inundated by water and devastated in the process. 

The other thing these disasters have in common a...

How much does your environment shape your life, and what can city-makers do to make our lives better?

Michael Stott has spent over 25 years crafting narratives for cities around the world, considering how they can be made better for the people who inhabit them. As Head of Cities and Places, Masterplanning & Urban Design at DBI, one of Australia’s foremost multidisciplinary design practices, he’s at the forefront of Brisbane’s e...

In life and in business, how big a part does luck play in our success? And are our good ideas really good at all?

Professor Frederik Anseel is the newly appointed Dean of the University of New South Wales’ Business School and an expert in what works, and what doesn’t, in business. He’s spent his career researching organisational psychology, leadership, how to motivate people, how to treat colleagues with respect and how to be authe...

In the 80s, Stiff Records, the British independent Punk Rock and New Wave record label, had an open-door policy. You could walk in and pick up posters, stickers and pin badges most days of the week.

Jeremy Leslie was one of the kids doing just that. He’d catch the bus over to Notting Hill from the London College of Design to visit the shop. Originally, he was there for the music, but it was the storytelling in the design that made ...

You could argue a lot of kids grow up with a love of drawing. This one knew he wanted to be an architect in high school. When his older brother brought home some Rotring pens, it all clicked.

Domenic Alvaro is the Director and Global Design Leader at Woods Bagot, one of the world’s leading architecture firms. Drawing is a huge part of his professional practice to this day. He’s a long-term collaborator of Frost*collective and someo...

Having a knock-out creative career five decades long is one thing. Setting up a charity to inspire the same creativity in the next generations is another. But the iconic British design duo, who are also husband and wife - Sir John Sorrell CBE and Lady Frances Sorrell CBE - have done just that.

Frances and John started their lives in design both aged of 14 when, in different parts of London, they attended free Saturday morning class...

People are considered lucky when they find something they’re skilled at and love, then make it their vocation. Growing up with a parent they’ve inherited that skill and passion from helps, especially when they’re exceptionally talented.

Both Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy have parents who helped them on their path to a life shaped by creativity. Olsen’s father, John Olsen, who passed away aged 95 in 2023, is arguably Australia’s ...

Being driven is one thing. But being driven by trauma is another. It’s a special kind of motivation, and when combined with a competitive nature and natural feel for what an audience wants, great things can be achieved.

Aidan Anderson is the Founder and CEO of The Local Project — the fastest growing design platform in the Asia-Pacific region. The platform is followed by design and architecture lovers worldwide, and champions authen...

There’s an art to bringing history into modern creativity as more than a reference. 

Sibella Court is adept at it. The creative director, author and interior and product designer has made a career out of creating with her love of history at the forefront. When you learn she grew up with two incredibly creative parents — a builder father skilled in transforming spaces and a mother who specialised in Central Asian textiles — her mult...

For a small country with a small population, the Danes are incredibly well-known on the global stage as highly skilled when it comes to design. In Viggo Haremst’s case, he knew he wanted to be an architect, like his father, very early in life. But he credits his Swedish mother for his commitment to process and detail.

As a Design Director and Partner at the prominent Danish architecture firm Henning Larsen he steered the winning pr...

How much do the environments we inhabit impact our health and wellbeing? And does our emotional state impact our physical health?

Dr. Esther Sternberg is internationally recognised for her discoveries in the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing, and the role of place in wellbeing. She is a pioneer and major force in collaborative initiatives on mind-body-stress-wellness and environment interrelationships. 

He...

When we think of life on earth in the context of the universe, being human can seem absurd. That’s what British artist and illustrator Paul Davis thinks. When he was 17, growing up in Somerset in England, his father died suddenly. But he’d already taught him everything he needed to know about space, time and human existence. 

Davis’ sometimes controversial work has been widely published and exhibited. He’s regularly commissioned by...

The craft of graphic design has changed dramatically since the 80s. Computers. The popularisation of branding. Over the past four plus decades John Rushworth, the design behemoth Pentagram’s longest serving partner, has seen it all. Despite these seismic shifts, he believes the thinking and innate human ability it takes to do truly impactful work hasn’t changed. 

Rushworth has had a huge impact on the world of design. He’s delivere...