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Where and what did you study and what year did you graduate?
Bachelor of Commerce Honours (First Class with University Medal), 1982, University of New South Wales.

Where did you head after graduating?
After graduating I spent seventeen years working in the stimulating and rewarding field of industrial relations.

When did you launch your own business?
I came to furniture design later than most. I registered my business the week I turned forty!

What motivated you to start your own business?
I was at a critical career juncture, raising three children and taking stock of the direction of the second half my working life would take. I decided to merge my lifelong passion, but until then only fringe involvement with design with my work, life and parenting skills.

How would you describe your business to someone who didn’t know you?
In Your Room designs and produces contemporary moulded plywood furniture for kids and adults in domestic and commercial environments. We are committed to sustainable, multi-functional. affordable designs.

How would you describe the products you design to someone who hadn’t seen them?
Think uncluttered lines in functional, sustainable pieces embracing the warmth and quality of wood with the option of a coloured laminate.

What are the most challenging parts of being a designer running a small business?
It’s difficult to earn a decent living and it’s exhausting doing everything yourself. You need to team your own design and other skills with expertise in a whole range of areas for your business to have a chance of thriving, not merely surviving.

What are the next steps for you?
Cementing and expanding our relationships with architectural and design firms should enhance our presence in the commercial and public project arena. We also need to better enunciate our environmental credentials and build on our long history of environmental responsibility. We are very excited about a couple of export opportunitiesbut perhaps most exciting for me personally is my plan to develop a new range of products I have identified as a growth area and in which I believe I have a strength.

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