Usually, I would right my yearly review over our Christmas shut down period, but this year was a little bit different. This year I worked through Christmas and New Year for a very good reason, in which I am writing this to you now. I am currently sitting on the plane on our first leg of an epic journey to the other side of the world! We are off on a family adventure to the Americas. This is the first long haul trip traveling as a family of 4. Excited is an understatement! Although slightly nervous for the next 14 hour flight with a 3 and 5 year old!
Anyway that’s enough holiday talk! I’m writing this blog to give a quick recap on the year that has been. I really enjoy this time of reflection, actually stopping and looking at all that we’ve achieved throughout the year, taking a moment to give credit where credit is due and what areas we need to improve and focus on for the year ahead.
There were a few unsettling moments early this year with no food on the supermarket shelves but mostly we are back to somewhat normal this year post-pandemic. All restrictions were lifted early in the year and we are so grateful to be able to continue to do what we love and create beautiful spaces for people to enjoy.
Working 4 days this year, we began with a flying start (literally) with a few site visits to Alice Springs for some exciting new health projects including a Radiology clinic. We’d previously worked on the GP, Dental and Audiology fitouts within this same building, so it was nice to provide continuity to these new clinical spaces and also see my previous designs in person. The feeling of walking into your designed space for the very first time after working on a project for some time is quite difficult to explain but almost surreal! I am proud to say that the clinical spaces that we designed, didn’t feel clinical at all but had a nice welcoming warmth to them, just as intended.
This year we have been lucky enough to collaborate with Ashford Architects again on many exciting new projects including the new Darwin Airport main entry buildings for the hotels, the new State Square Art Gallery and the new Office Precinct for the NLC. It’s been so wonderful collaborating with the AA team and getting to work on some pretty large scale and high profile projects.
Catching up with the rest of the world, our little fam had our first round of Covid mid-year. This absolutely floored me. 4 days in bed. This is a business owners worst nightmare! Very grateful for my understanding clients and supportive family during this time.
Our year wouldn’t be complete without bread-and-butter projects, which are small – medium size office refurbishments for NTG and private sector. We take great pride in giving these clients the best workplace possible to meet their requirements and budget.
We’ve seen many hospitality projects come in the door this year including hotel rooms, function rooms and nightclub refurbs. These projects are super exciting as you can really have a lot of fun with them, creating unique and memorable spaces for you all to enjoy.
October was a busy month. We were fortunate enough to escape the build up heat with a trip to Adelaide. Wonderful to meet the new additions and catch up with family and friends.
I also ventured to Sydney for The Design Show in October. This was Australias biggest design trade show post pandemic and it was SOOO good to say the least! A massive display of the latest and greatest materials and products with seminars from the best in the industry about every topic in design. Seriously SO inspiring and a must for any designer wanting to stay at the top of their game. It was obviously also completely horrible to have 3 days away at a nice hotel too!!!
This year has been massive in our family life also, with our son starting Transition and daughter starting ELC. After 7 years FIFO life, hubby finished up working away and after what seems like an eternity (2 years) we got our new custom built boat which we are yet to properly enjoy as it arrived just prior to Christmas which unfortunately coincided with the monsoon!
Amongst all this we’ve had lots of fun and learnt a bunch, attending many CPD sessions, Womens lunches, Design & Architecture Institute events, Corporate Race Days and Awards nights. As I write this I really don’t know how we have accomplished all this working ‘technically’ a 26hour week but so proud of what we have achieved.
The year that has been, has been our biggest and best yet and all of this wouldnt have been possible without my supportive family and friends, my wonderful clients, fantastic reps that go out of their way to assist in finding that prefect product I’m searching for, and of course you! Thank you to all of you for spreading the word of my little business, for 90% of my work comes from word of mouth from our wonderful local community. So THANK YOU to you all and wishing you all a fantastic 2023, full of adventure, fun times and exciting opportunity.
Just about to land in Sydney so signing off now
Stef
Xx
- 2022 in review - January 17, 2023
