peckvonhartel: The Quiet Achiever
Published
Elana Castle has a conversation with peckvonhartel’s National Interior Design Leader, who together with his Regional Design Leaders is forging a united path for the national design practice.
“peckvonhartel has been a quiet achiever for over 32 years” says Neil Christopher, the practice’s National Interior Design Leader. “However, in recent times the firm noticed a disconnect between their impressive portfolio of work and public persona. Given pvh’s national presence and strong design integrity, we felt that more could be done to elevate the practice to another level, in terms of collective design and recognition.”
Helm Bar, Gold Coast
Acknowledging the need for a comprehensive web of design expertise, the practice recently established a national design leadership team by promoting Neil to National Interior Design Leader and creating the Regional Design Leaders roles.
Victorian Government Offices
“The aim was to create a strong, cohesive interior design team to work collaboratively, promoting long term design integrity though a national consistent service offering,” Christopher explains.
Karen Clutson
As a result of internal promotion and external recruitment, Katherine Lennox, Karen Clutson and Emma Coulter were installed as Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne’s regional interior design leaders. “Whilst all three leaders are experienced interior designers, they also bring unique skill-sets to the table,” adds Christopher. “As such, while everyone works under the peckvonhartel umbrella, the exact roles differ vary from office to office, in response to the firm’s varied and dynamic projects.”
Katherine Lennox
In particular, Lennox’s business development skills and entrepreneurial experience, Coulter’s high design skills and Clutson’s consultative and strategic workplace portfolio provide relevant and valuable expertise to each office location but also create a dynamic web of amalgamated know-how. The leaders were also selected for their mentorship capabilities and ability to oversee a number of projects in addition to their own.
Emma Coulter
Most importantly, we have created a truly collaborative, non-competitive inter-office culture,” adds Christopher. “As projects get more complex and strategic in nature, design originality becomes the norm and competition heats up, this business strategy has enabled us to provide more for our clients.”
Jones Lang Lasalle Offices
peckvonhartel
Related Articles
Events
A rollicking good story with Richards Stanisich and Royal Oak Floors
Jonathan Richards and Kirsten Stanisich discussed practice, design process and the business of running a studio at a live audience event hosted by Royal Oak Floors in Sydney.
Events
Indesign x Wilkhahn: Melbourne, where are you working?
Our latest collaboration saw a range of designers come together at Wilkhahn’s Melbourne showroom for a discussion on the workplace dynamics specific to the Victorian capital.
Events
“A journey into a whole new material world”: Plant Life at the NGV
Curator Ewan McEoin tells us about the NGV’s new exhibition on plant-based materials as alternatives to plastics, synthetic materials and other non-renewable resources.
Ideas
Beyond the panel: What makes a design event worth attending?
Ahead of Saturday Indesign, architects reflect on why smaller gatherings, unexpected voices, candid discussion and meaningful follow-up can make meeting in person genuinely worthwhile.