Show Notes
As an architect, are you influenced by the environment you grew up in, even if your work looks vastly different to where you spent your formative years? John Pawson thinks so. He grew up in the north of England in the 1950s with his four sisters, playing with kids from houses around their family home. Despite being a master of minimalism, he grew up in a house that was quite the opposite. John Pawson CBE has spent over forty years making rigorously simple architecture. His work spans everything from London’s Design Museum to the Czech Republic’s Cistercian Monastery, Calvin Klein’s store on Madison Ave in New York and a range of private homes and the furnishings to go with them. His work is defined by the use of natural materials, a sensitivity to light and spare spaces that have a feeling of calm. At a turning point in his life as a young man, Pawson set off on a ‘round the world ticket with nothing to lose. His first stop was in Nagoya, where he had the idea to become a Buddhist monk. When that failed, he went to Tokyo and met Shiro Kuramata. Despite having no formal qualification as an architect, his accolades are many. They recognise his influence as one of the world’s leading architects. In 2007 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contribution to architecture in the UK. Listen in as Vince and John discuss knocking down walls to redesign Hester van Royen’s rented flat, the moment Calvin Klein turned up to his office unannounced in 1993 and how starting out can often feel painfully slow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Design Your Life with Vince Frost
What makes a home feel timeless? In this episode of Design Your Life, Vince Frost sits down with Andrew Piva, Director at B.E. Architecture, to discuss materiality, craftsmanship and the emotional impact of architecture. From growing up in rural New South Wales to shaping some of Australia’s most refined contemporary homes, Andrew reflects on the experiences and philosophies that have defined his approach to design. Listen as Vince and Andrew explore the importance of “honest materials”, designing spaces that feel calm and enduring, and why great architecture is about more than aesthetics; it’s about shaping places designed for all of the senses. The conversation also touches on craftsmanship, sustainability through longevity, evolving client relationships, and the responsibility architects carry in creating homes that stand the test of time. https://www.bearchitecture.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Content note: this episode includes a candid discussion of childhood sexual abuse and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. What if the biggest health data set in human history still can't tell you how to feel better tomorrow? Mark Britt has spent his career inside moments of disruption, as an internet lawyer at 22, in the executive ranks of ninemsn and Microsoft, and building a streaming business that reached 25 million people across 17 markets before selling to Tencent. Every industry he touched, he watched the traditional rules flatten and the customer take control. Then his own body forced the same reckoning. A health crisis that conventional medicine mislabelled for months left Mark asking a harder question: why does a system with more health data than ever still fail to tell any individual what to actually do about it? The answer became TMRW, a health company built on the idea that healthcare should be early, personal and continuous, not something you turn to only once you're sick. In this conversation, Mark and Vince talk about epigenetic ageing, the difference between treating symptoms and understanding root cause, why social media has quietly replaced the GP as our most trusted health authority, and what "punk healthcare" actually means when you build a brand designed to make people uncomfortable before it makes them well. Listen in for a conversation about biomarkers, beginner's mind, and what it really takes to design a brighter tomorrow, for yourself, and at scale. https://www.startmytomorrow.com/ If you've been affected by anything discussed in this episode, support is available. Australia: Lifeline, 13 11 14 (24/7). Blue Knot Foundation, blueknot.org.au, 1300 657 380. UK: Samaritans, 116 123 (24/7). NAPAC, napac.org.uk, 0808 801 0331. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when you take a Victorian era locomotive workshop, built in 1887, and turn it into a home for contemporary sculpture? Matt Mewburn has spent the last decade finding out. Matt is a blacksmith and sculptor, and the founder of Eveleigh Works, a working forge inside one of the last remaining industrial blacksmithing workshops in the world, complete with machinery dating back to the 1850s. At 27, with no savings and a lease he couldn't afford, he took over the space anyway. What followed was a career built on physical prototyping over drawing, on letting materials push back against ideas, on making things the old way, and on the belief that nothing worth doing gets designed cleanly on paper. Blacksmithing is one of the oldest crafts in existence, and full time careers in it are rare in 2026. Matt has built one anyway, developing an international commission list and a practice that sits closer to contemporary art than traditional trade, which raises the question at the heart of this episode: what does it take to keep a craft this old relevant now? Tune in as Vince and Matt get into the discipline of working with heavy materials, the three metre tuning forks Matt made for a performance at the Sydney Opera House, what it takes to revive one of the world's oldest professions, and what it means to build a life with no long term plan at all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What does an institution built in the 1820s have to teach us about designing for the future? Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon has spent two decades moving through museums, historic houses and public space, and now leads the State Library of NSW into its 200th year. In this episode, Caroline talks with Vince about the library as one of the last true third spaces, somewhere people come to be alone together. She unpacks why trust and human connection sit at the heart of public institutions, what the data says about belonging and wellbeing, and why the resurgence of physical books and slow reading isn't nostalgia, it's a response to digital exhaustion. The conversation also covers Caroline's own career, from a PhD written between naps with a newborn, to a Churchill Fellowship that changed how she thinks about public space, to a hard-won Instagram detox. Listen now for a conversation about libraries, longevity, and what it means to design for connection. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when architecture is driven by passion, adventure and the power of nature? On the latest episode of Design Your Life, Chad Oppenheim joins Vince Frost for a wide-ranging conversation on creativity, resilience and designing life beyond buildings. From growing up in suburban New Jersey dreaming through films like Star Wars and James Bond and becoming fascinated by the dramatic architecture of movie villains’ lairs, to creating some of the world’s most extraordinary hospitality projects shaped by desert, sea and landscape, including Desert Rock Resort and Shibara Resort, Chad shares the experiences that formed his worldview. Tune in as Vince and Chad explore travel as education, the realities of running a creative business, balancing ambition with family, and why great architecture should engage every sense; sound, scent, emotion, memory and our connection to the natural world. A powerful conversation with one of architecture’s most passionate voices. https://oppenoffice.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.