Media Article

KBDi enews August 2019

‘Earlier this month, founding KBDi Member, recently retired KBDi Board Member and long-time industry advocate, Elizabeth Luke, was recognised for her outstanding industry contribution with a KBDi Life Membership.

Elizabeth has enjoyed – and continues to enjoy – a wonderfully progressive journey in the field of design, and we’re sharing a ‘short version’ of her inspiring story here.

Elizabeth established Luke Interiors over thirty years ago, after a series of personal events set her out on a brave adventure in an all-new career.

Trained in early childhood education, Elizabeth was formerly a teacher. When she found herself on her own in the early eighties, with two very young children to support, she knew she would need greater opportunities (and slightly more income) than the teaching profession would allow.

Having always had an interest in home interiors, Elizabeth took on work in a local decorating business. She soon learned all the tricks of the trade in soft furnishings, but found herself increasingly frustrated playing with fluffy cushions and window coverings in a room that she innately knew needed a full redesign.

Study was the obvious answer, but correspondence courses were few and far between in Australia at that time. Determined to pursue further learning, Elizabeth commenced an interior design course with an institute based in London. In this pre-computer era, Elizabeth’s assessments were submitted via snail mail, and in a testament to her tenacity, she was a very proud graduate four years later.

With a qualification behind her, Elizabeth found work in commission-based bathroom design. She valued this opportunity, and considered it an apprenticeship of sorts as she worked her way through ‘real-life’ renovation projects.

She was soon collecting awards for her work, and with a growing reputation as a talented designer, was invited to participate in some committees. It was at this time that she learned of the value in industry accreditation, and ventured full steam ahead into a certification program, becoming a Certified Kitchen and Bathroom Designer.

This well-earned industry respect didn’t always stretch to the building site, however, and Elizabeth sometimes found herself being quietly belittled by builders and trades. Determined to level the playing field, she committed to a building course, adding a building licence to her growing list of achievements.

It was around this time that Elizabeth began working with a small group of visionaries determined to create an industry group that would support the kitchen and bathroom design niche. In 2006, she became a founding member of the Kitchen and Bathroom Designers Institute of Australia.

With her children now grown and spread out across the countryside, Elizabeth decided to fulfil her lifelong dream of living on the land, purchasing a farm in western New South Wales and settling into rural life. She didn’t give away her designing, though, shifting her focus to working with rural and regional clients across the state, and furthering her commitment to the industry with even more vigour.

As logistically isolated clients yearned for full house renovations, Elizabeth knew a greater understanding of building design would be helpful. Earlier this year she was very proud to complete a Diploma of Building Design, and is relishing the challenges associated with ‘big picture’ design.

With her widespread clients, she’s driving many hundreds of kilometres each month. Given what you’ve read above, you won’t be surprised to learn that Elizabeth is now looking for a solution to this problem, and is enrolled in pilot training!

Elizabeth Luke is truly an inspiration to our industry, and a well-deserved recipient of KBDi Life Membership. On behalf of all of our Members, we thank Elizabeth for her service and commitment, and look forward to sharing future adventures as she soars to new heights in her design career.’

https://hipages.com.au/connect/lukeinteriors

Bathroom Awards – a bit like Wimbledon

Despite the extraordinary array of talent and competitive spirit showcased by the HIA’s Awards, some people have a habit of turning up regularly as winners or at least among the finalists. It’s a bit like Wimbledon , really.

“Elizabeth Luke of Sydney took out her fourth Australian Bathroom Designer of the Year award in 2001, – her earlier wins being in 1998, 1999 & 2000.”
Like so many bathroom and kitchen designers, Elizabeth got into the business in a roundabout way.

‘I was a teacher who found myself on my own with two babies, no money and no house. I thought, I’m not going to be able to raise these children and educate them.
So I looked at what else I could do. I’d always wanted to do interior design at school, but I didn’t have the confidence then. But I thought, – now’s the time, here I go – and that’s how it started.’

That was in 1985. Elizabeth wanted something she could do from home, working around the children, and she had to build up very gradually.

‘It took me a very long time because I had to let the kids grow up too. When they were old enough to go to pre-school I got a job in decorating with a local home furnishings company and worked there until I was offered a job running a furniture showroom.’

That didn’t last and, anyway, Elizabeth decided that fundamental design was her line ‘not decorating, which tended to involve patching up things that were wrong in the first place.

So, working in a cake shop during the day, she studied nights for four years to get a Diploma of Interior Design (from London ). After that, because she understood the importance of structural considerations in design, she studied a Certificate IV in Residential Building at TAFE to give her building qualifications. These days that gives her the clout to argue the toss with tradespeople who tell her something can’t be done.

Even though her children are now adults, Elizabeth still works from home, but relocated to a farm in Central West NSW. She has also completed a Building Design Diploma and can complete the big picture in design as well as designing and decorating the interiors.

Elizabeth is no slave to fashion, rather believing she is designing for the client, the architectural style and the need for a space that works.

‘I draw from what my clients want and then set out to make it work. If I have a client who wants to do something I don’t think will work then I do point this out to them.’ For Elizabeth that’s a matter of professional responsibility, not of imposing her own tastes.

Elizabeth welcomes the trend toward simplicity and streamlining and today’s freedom when it comes to choice of style and colours. She’s also enthusiastic about the opportunities opened up by new textures and potential to use materials in different ways.

Elizabeth ‘s success story is no fairytale. It has been a long hard slog, with the business taking 10 years first to become viable and then to become the success it is today.

What drives her is her love of design, of making client’s lives better, of making homes not just beautiful but functional too. She insists on ‘doing things really well, I put my heart and soul into everything I do’. So, she’s finicky about detail. -When you design, you’re working in millimetres and every little thing is critical. I have to draw designs myself so I can think them through while I’m drawing, making sure the ideas work as I want them to.

Her company, Luke Interiors, remains a one-person show, largely because she feels the need to exercise control of all that detail and to maintain personal contact with clients attracted to her in the first place by her personal reputation.

The test of a good design? ‘It has to be functional, of course, but ‘you have to love to be there, to escape. Good design makes you feel good. It improves your wellbeing.