RESENE

Interior: What does design mean to you?

Joanne Duggan: Design is about creating things that enhance living and life. When you apply good design there is a quality you often can’t put a finger on it, it just feels right and makes people feel good, it’s like a great colour harmony that sings to you.

Interior: What do you most value in your clients?

JD: Colourful clients of course that push the boundaries and expect the best, it drives us to produce new and better products and makes us do a job we are all proud of.

Interior: What is the quality you most like in your team?

JD: The team’s dynamic quality, we manage to handle constant change and thrive in it. Always positive in attitude and full of energy and new ideas, its how we often stay one step ahead.

Interior: For what fault do you have most toleration?

JD: The faults that don’t harm anyone else, at the end of the day we all have faults, you can’t trust someone without faults. Resene lets me work for them despite my deficiencies and faults.

DECORTECH

Interior magazine: What is the quality you most like in your team?

Sally Jaggar: Integrity: it starts by being true to yourself. I believe it is really important that you are totally honest with yourself and in your relationships with others. Integrity means you are willing to admit both your strengths and weaknesses, and are willing to admit where you have made mistakes. Most of all, you demonstrate loyalty.

Interior: What do you most value in your clients?

SJ: Professionalism – it’s great working with professionals who know what they’re doing and do it well. Everything goes smoothly when you work with someone who understands what they are trying to achieve and how we can help them get there.

Interior: What does design mean to you?

SJ: Design to me is bringing together different elements to realise a cohesive vision. I love seeing how architects work with our panels and other products to create amazing interiors and exteriors that reflect their clients needs, wants and desires. I am always amazed by what architects and designers can create.  

Interior: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

SJ: Find a better way. I believe in constantly looking at how things can be improved and built upon. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel but small improvements can have big impacts and by constantly looking at how you do things you can be better and better each year. 

ECC

LUXAFLEX

Interior magazine: What do you most value in your clients?

Kim Jarman: Locality and professionalism.

Interior: Which talent would you most like to have?

KJ: To be a creative chef who could cook without a recipe.

Interior: What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

KJ: On the work front – working on the Christchurch City Council building which is 6 star rated and personally cycling 650km through Thailand.

Interior: What is your most treasured possession?

KJ: My mothers first treadle singer sewing machine.

DORMA

Interior magazine: What does design mean to you?

John Eastwood: Design for me is the intertwining of beauty and style in functionality.

Interior: What do you value most in your clients?

JE: The commitment to the project. Dorma is really active in commercial construction and fitout industries. These projects are usually big, complex and long. I’m always amazed by the commitment that is made by so many to deliver them.

Interior: What is the quality you most like in your team? 

JE: As a team we have built a level of energy and enthusiasm around the simple commitment of doing what we say we’re going to do. This energy and enthusiasm is driving our success.

Interior: What is your motto?

JE: This shouldn’t come as a surprise. ‘I do what I say I’m going to do’.

INZIDE

Interior magazine: What do you most value in your clients?

Steve Aschebrock: Simple honesty and understanding. We exist to meet our clients needs. There are times when we can’t meet timeframes. We are always upfront on what we can deliver and when. When we engage in those discussions around what we can and cannot do we do so with our clients best interests at heart. We really enjoy having the same come back so we work jointly on solving the problem to the benefit of all.

Interior: What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

SA: Still being passionately in love with Tricia, my spouse of 24 years. I am so looking forward to our next 24 years.

Interior: What is your motto?

SA: Ready Fire Aim!! I am a can do make it happen sort of guy. I just need to ensure that the brain engages before the legs start pumping.

Interior: What is your most treasured possession?

SA: My MBA. That was 3 years of hard slog, huge personal growth and working with an amazing group of people. I undertook the MBA part-time as part of a leadership course while working at Vodafone NZ. Tricia became pregnant with Sam (our 4th) just after I started it and I finished my last assignment as we flew over to the UK where I had been asked to take up a senior change management role with Vodafone Global. 

LUNDIA 

Interior magazine: What does design mean to you?

Greg Stone: Design is pure communication and it takes many forms of course! In the context of these awards, I like to see projects which meet a need and push the boundaries of ‘normality’. Stuff can look cool, which is ‘design’ per se, but on a personal note, there’s nothing more enjoyable than seeing a great piece of work which has been considered from a manufacturing base as well. At Lundia we see a lot of great ideas or ‘design’, but many of these are just not commercially viable since they are simply too difficult or costly to realise.

Interior: What do you most value in your clients?

GS: Probably no surprises here: trust, creativity and flexibility. A client who bowls in and demands a particular solution can often be ‘blinkered’ and unable to see how we can do things better. A client who has an idea of what they want or need, who can listen to advice and has the courage to make changes creatively, logistically or sustainably are probably our best clients. And don’t get me wrong, we listen as well! It’s not unusual for us to find a better way together, so in some respects I enjoy the challenge of a great client changing my own mind!

Interior: What is the quality you most like in your team?

GS: Lundia NZ is a family-owned business, so workplace dynamics are in many ways critical to our success. I value the closeness of our team and the versatility this brings to our manufacturing base. We nurture a ‘family’ environment where everybody’s opinion matters, so if someone says ‘there’s a better way’ to achieve something, we can consider it or discuss it ‘as a family’ and we’ll always work together to find the best solution. It’s about staying flexible and open.

Interior: Which talent would you most like to have?

GS: Haha! Well, I must have inherited the ‘likes to play golf’ gene … so in a nutshell I am privately striving to become a better golfer!

KADA

Interior magazine: What is the quality you most like in your team?

Dave White: Their honesty, integrity and commitment. They are my work family – no other way to describe it really.

Interior: Which talent would you most like to have?

DW: To play tennis like Roger Federer or surf like Mick Fanning.

Interior: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

DW: My children: Gabrielle (9) and Oscar (7) – despite life’s highs and lows, nothing tops that.

Interior: What is your favourite occupation?

DW: What I’m doing now. John Gilbert and I have been working together for over 20 years now, and it’s still fun.