Bespoke Careers Podcast

Peter Maddison is the founding director of Maddison Architects and for 108 episodes was the host of Grand Designs Australia. He’s been called Australia’s most recognisable architect. He’s a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, a winner of the Institute’s National President’s Prize, and his practice has completed more than 300 projects, from family homes to some of Melbourne’s best-known bars.This conversation covers Robin Boyd and The Australian Ugliness, the brick Peter pulled from a demolition site, failing Year 12 and getting into architecture the hard way, designing his first house for his mum, what twelve years on Grand Designs did to his practice, why only 5% of Australian homes involve an architect, and what makes a great architect.Hosted by Rosie Morley, Principal at Hassell and the new Australian host of the Bespoke Careers Podcast. Recorded at the Stylecraft showroom, 379 Collins Street, Melbourne.The Bespoke Careers Podcast Australia is brought to you by Bespoke Careers, specialist recruiters for architecture and design and the Australian Institute of Architects.

We’ve wrapped season one of the Bespoke Careers Podcast. 42 episodes, from architecture students right up to institute presidents.Here's some of the best advice that stuck with us. Seven ideas worth hearing, from 196 years of combined experience.Sabrina Klor, CEO of 10Design, on why a well-run business matters as much as the design. She moved from running projects to the commercial side and now leads a 400-person practice.Chris Williamson, co-founder of Weston Williamson + Partners and RIBA President, on why architects are losing influence and why young architects should pick up the phone.Keir Regan-Alexander, founder of Arka Works and OmniChat, on becoming essential in a profession AI is about to change.Simon Allford, co-founder of AHMM and past RIBA President, on why the profession needs to look after its people properly.Kathryn Gustafson, Founder of Gustafson Porter+Bowman on starting small, trading skills and the mentors who shaped her career. She started out in fashion.Thomas Rowntree, architecture content creator, on using social media to get noticed before the interview.Forth Bagley, Principal at KPF, on delayed gratification and taking charge of your own career.

James Zagari is the co-founder of EST Lighting, an Australian lighting company he established in 2016 after a career that began almost by accident with a sales role at Philips Lighting.In this episode, James talks about the unexpected path that led him into lighting, why lighting can be difficult to explain until you experience it, and what gets lost when it is brought into a project too late. He also shares what it was like moving from employee to founder, building EST with former colleagues, growing a team, and creating a showroom designed as an experience rather than simply a place to display products.We explore the relationship between lighting, architecture and interiors, the role of procurement and relationships in bringing projects to life, Australian-made lighting, the impact of AI on the industry, and the career lessons James has picked up over 10 years of running EST.

Download the 2026 Global Salary Guide: https://www.bespokecareers.com/salary-guide/Muyiwa Oki is an architect at Mace and was President of RIBA from 2023 to 2025, the institute's youngest and first Black president, elected after a grassroots campaign that started in a WhatsApp group.He studied at Sheffield, did his Part 3 with RIBA North West, and worked at Glenn Howells Architects in Birmingham and Grimshaw in London before moving to Mace, where he works the front end of projects with public and private clients. During his term he set up the workplace and wellbeing task force and the RIBA's AI advisory group, and pushed the institution on pay, access to the profession and level 7 funding.

Illya Azaroff calls architecture his side gig. He's also the 2026 president of the American Institute of Architects and has spent 30 years responding to disasters around the world.His father arrived in the US as a displaced war refugee from Ukraine, and Illya grew up at a dinner table where hunger was a firsthand memory. That upbringing led to a degree in geography, then a career in disaster mitigation, and now the presidency of a 100,000-member institution.We get into what the presidency is like from the inside, why his kids are the reason he ran, the ethos he borrowed from the Kalinago people in the Caribbean, why nearly half of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, and the message he wants every architect to hear: you are more powerful to your community than you realize.