Bespoke Careers Podcast
Bespoke Careers Podcast
Bespoke Careers
The Bespoke Careers Podcast brings you the career stories and insights from the people shaping architecture and design today. Tune in every two weeks for fresh conversations with designers, architects, and creatives from around the world, sharing insights, experiences, and the realities behind their professional journeys.
Starting a Design Studio - What's it Really Like? | WILDFLOWER Founders Cara & Robyn
Cara Stizza and Robyn Levin run Wildflower, a Melbourne studio that owns the furniture side of a project. Selection, procurement, coordination, everything down to the cutlery in the drawers. Cara built and grew an interior design practice before this. Robyn spent years inside one of Australia's leading furniture brands. Together they sit between the creative eye and the part where it all has to get built, on budget, and hold up.This one's about the business of design. How they cut about a third out of a build-to-rent budget without gutting the design. Why furniture gets wedged in early, before it turns into an afterthought. What they look for when they hire for a job that's half taste, half operations. And what stays human when AI can knock out a mood board in seconds.
Jul 14
37 min
What I Learned Starting A Design Studio (Without a Degree) - Mitch Jones
Want to work at amazing studios like Made For? You can browse our live jobs here: https://www.bespokecareers.com/jobs/At Bespoke we work with 1,000+ firms every year across the UK, US and Australia to find them great candidates just like you. Want to know where you salary sits in the market? Download our global Salary Guide: https://www.bespokecareers.com/salary-guideMitch Jones built Made For, a Melbourne workplace strategy, architecture and interiors studio, without a design degree. Ten years on it's a team of twenty with a client list that runs from Starbucks to Autex to Yarra Valley Water.He started it with his wife Cara in a rundown Collingwood warehouse, and in this episode he's straight about the whole ten years. Why he's kept every pitch he's ever made. Why he wants to own less than half his own company. The hiring mistake he keeps making and regretting. How he reads a business before he designs a single desk.We get into what changed for offices after Covid, why he runs a studio that's built to not look like an office, and the part of the job he's certain AI won't touch."Do you need a design degree to run a design business? You don't. In fact, I've got no degree at all."
Jun 30
55 min
How to Plot Your Own Path In Architecture - Selasi Setufe MBE
Selasi Setufe came out of architecture school with two degrees and couldn't get a job. Two interviews in two years. An unpaid internship in Slovenia she'd "highly not advise." So she stopped trying to fit the mould and built her own route through the profession.Selasi is a co-director of Black Females in Architecture, the network she co-founded in 2018 that now runs to a global membership of more than 400. She's a registered architect, a Public Practice alumna, and a Principal Project Officer in the GLA's Place Unit, after years as a Senior Architect at Be First in Barking and Dagenham. In 2022 she was awarded an MBE for services to diversity in architecture.In this conversation she gets into the two years she spent outside architecture after qualifying, the advice from Elsie Owusu about being the change rather than trying to fix a broken system, why she calls strategic work "architecture with a big A," what architecture education does to the students it can't accommodate, how BFA grew from a group chat into a social enterprise, and why she hesitated before accepting an MBE with "British Empire" in the name.
Jun 16
51 min
The Most Underestimated Profession? - Chithra Marsh | RIBA Elections
his summer, RIBA elect the institute’s next president. Four candidates are running to be president: Duncan Baker-Brown, Chithra Marsh, Jay Morton and Austin Williams. We sat down with all four, to hear their vision for the future of the profession. We’ll be releasing one episode per day in the lead-up to the voting opening on Monday, 15 June. Next up: Chithra Marsh.Chithra is a Director at Buttress Architects in Manchester, with over 30 years’ experience across practices of varying size. She leads on community regeneration, social value and equality, diversity and inclusion within the practice, which is both B Corp certified and employee‑owned.Chithra has served RIBA extensively at regional and national level, including on Council, committees and advisory panels. Former National Chair of Women in Property, she is recognised for her collaborative leadership style, strong governance experience and ability to build meaningful professional relationships. She is committed to strengthening RIBA as an inclusive, connected and representative professional community. Voting opens at 9 am on Monday, 15 June and closes at 4 pm on Friday, 26 June. Results announced Thursday, 2 July. For more information, head here: https://www.riba.org/about-us/governance/elections/
Jun 12
29 min
Why Architects Aren't Taken Seriously - Duncan Baker-Brown | RIBA Elections
This summer, RIBA elect the institute’s next president. Four candidates are running to be president: Duncan Baker-Brown, Chithra Marsh, Jay Morton and Austin Williams. We sat down with all four, to hear their vision for the future of the profession. We’ll be releasing one episode per day in the lead-up to the voting opening on Monday, 15 June. Next up: Duncan Baker-Brown Duncan Baker‑Brown is the founder of BakerBrown Studio, a small practice based in Brighton, and has over four decades’ experience combining practice, education, and policy. He is a university postgraduate course leader, author and internationally recognised advocate for low‑carbon, retrofit, and circular design. Duncan has represented RIBA at multiple UN COP summits and worked directly with the UK government on net‑zero, circular economy and retrofit policy, including VAT reform. His practice has delivered 100% social housing and is a Certified B Corporation. He brings a regionally grounded, research‑led perspective focused on fairness, sustainability and supporting practices across the UK and internationally. Voting opens at 9 am on Monday, 15 June and closes at 4 pm on Friday, 26 June. Results announced Thursday, 2 July. For more information, head here: https://www.riba.org/about-us/governance/elections/
Jun 11
39 min
Has Architecture Lost Its Nerve? - Austin Williams | RIBA Elections
This summer, RIBA members elect the institute's next president. The RIBA president chairs the institute's council, sits on its board, and speaks for the profession to government, media and the public. Whoever wins takes office as president-elect on 1 September 2026 and serves as president from 2027 to 2029. Those two years run straight through housing policy, climate targets, architectural education, and what the job looks like for the people coming into it. There are four candidates standing. We sat down with each of them, asked them the same questions, to help you decide who to vote for. We'll be releasing one episode per day for the next four days in the lead up to voting opening on Monday 15 June. The candidates:Duncan Baker-Brown, founder of BakerBrown StudioChithra Marsh, director at Buttress ArchitectsJay Morton, director at Bell Phillips ArchitectsAustin Williams, architect, academic and writerAbout Austin Williams:Austin is an architect, academic and writer, and course leader for the Part 3 Professional Practice programme at Kingston School of Art. His career spans practice, education, journalism and research, with experience as a sole practitioner, lead architect, expert witness and author. Having studied and worked across the UK and internationally, including six years in China, he brings a broad and critical perspective on the profession.Austin is known for his plain‑spoken approach to issues such as regulation, education, fees and professional support, and advocates for open debate, clearer guidance and stronger engagement with the everyday realities facing architects. Voting opens 9am Monday 15 June and closes 4pm Friday 26 June. Results announced Thursday 2 July.Head here for more information: https://www.riba.org/about-us/governance/elections/
Jun 10
28 min
Overcoming Architecture’s Biggest Challenge - Jay Morton | RIBA Elections
This summer, RIBA members elect the institute's next president. The RIBA president chairs the institute's council, sits on its board, and speaks for the profession to government, media and the public. Whoever wins takes office as president-elect on 1 September 2026 and serves as president from 2027 to 2029. Those two years run straight through housing policy, climate targets, architectural education, and what the job looks like for the people coming into it. There are four candidates standing. We sat down with each of them, asked them the same questions, to help you decide who to vote for. We'll be releasing one episode per day for the next four days in the lead up to voting opening on Monday 15 June. First up: Jay Morton.The candidates:Duncan Baker-Brown, founder of BakerBrown StudioChithra Marsh, director at Buttress ArchitectsJay Morton, director at Bell Phillips ArchitectsAustin Williams, architect, academic and writerAbout Jay Morton:Jay Morton is a Director at Bell Phillips Architects, where she works on large‑scale housing, masterplanning and regeneration projects. Alongside practice, she has spent over a decade shaping housing and built‑environment policy at local and national level and contributing to public debate. Jay regularly engages with media, policymakers and professional forums, and hosts the Architects for Change podcast. She serves on design review panels and the steering group for Architects’ Action for Affordable Housing. Known for her clear communication and advocacy, she brings experience in policy influence, public engagement and practice leadership.Voting opens 9am Monday 15 June and closes 4pm Friday 26 June. Results announced Thursday 2 July.
Jun 9
35 min
How to Accelerate your Architecture Career in 2026 - Noris Obijiaku
Noris Obijiaku, known online as Mr Chuck, is an architecture student and content creator with more than 300,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram. He's become known for his tours of London's housing estates, leading him to interview London's mayor Sadiq Khan, speak on panels and partner with the likes of Arsenal and Dezeen.Born in Italy, raised on a London estate, now finishing his Part 2 at the London School of Architecture while working in practice. In this episode we get into the estate tours, the crits that skin you, and the new roadmap for 'making it' in architecture.
Jun 2
44 min
How to Become a Successful Architect - Sabrina Klor
What does it actually take to run 400 architects across nine studios? Sabrina sits down with us to talk about the business of architecture - the side most architects would rather not think about. Sabrina Klor is the CEO of 10 Design, a global architecture and masterplanning practice employing 400+ architects and designers across studios in London, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Miami, Dubai, Dallas, Edinburgh, Shenzhen and Singapore. 10 Design is part of 10N, a 1,500-strong collective of six architecture and urbanism practices under Egis Group.Sabrina is also Chair of Women in Architecture (WIA) UK, advocating for systemic change in the built environment for women and other underrepresented voices in the profession.
May 19
52 min
How AI Helped Design Switzerland's Largest Chocolate Park - Tim Fu
Tim Fu is the founder of Studio Tim Fu, a design practice working at the sharp end of AI in architecture, where the conversation is no longer just about the visuals and starts being about real projects with real risk and real responsibility. Tim's work sits in that gap between hype and reality, looking at what AI can genuinely do, where it doesn't quite meet the standard and where it's going to.Our conversation is a dissection of some of the practices latest international projects, exploring the opportunities and complexities around authorship, liability, and even the economic model of practice as a whole.This is a must watch or listen episode wherever you sit on AI.
May 5
59 min
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