53. 20 Years of Woods & Warner: What Running a Design Studio Really Takes

Twenty years ago, Sonia Warner and Jacinta Woods started Woods & Warner with two people, no plan B and a shared goal of creating beautiful spaces. Today they lead a seven-person Sydney studio, and most of what they know about running it was learned the hard way.

In this episode, Camilla sits down with both directors for an honest look at what it really takes to build a design studio that lasts. They share the seven-bedroom project they designed without charging a cent, only to have it cancelled in a ten-minute meeting. They talk about IVF, bed rest and the mother guilt of building a business with three children under five, and how those years shaped a studio culture that genuinely supports motherhood. And they relive the morning their Hunters Hill project landed the front cover of Belle, just as their website and Instagram were hacked.

It's a conversation about knowing the value of your design intellect, hiring properly, reading your clients and finding joy in the work for the long haul.

In this episode:

Why they ignored a mentor's advice to stick to one style and five suppliers, and what that choice has cost and given them

The unpaid seven-bedroom job that taught them to charge for their time and put contracts first

How IVF, bed rest and early motherhood forced them to build a business that could run without them

Reading clients: telling the difference between a budget problem and a fear problem

The year they broke down in tears over the wrong team, and why paid trial days are now non-negotiable

Using AI to cut hours of admin, collaborating with architects and builders, and how they define success after 20 years

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00:00 The job that changed everything
01:00 Welcome to Behind the Design
02:50 20 years of Woods & Warner
03:51 IVF, bed rest and being forced to step back
06:10 Mother guilt and a studio that supports motherhood
08:27 Structure, chaos and a week in the studio
09:24 Two directors, two lanes
11:57 Settling creative disagreements
13:01 The advice they ignored: one style, five suppliers
15:21 No signature look: connection as the signature
17:02 A word from Unfolded
17:39 Budget problem or fear problem?
21:23 The year they broke down in tears
24:34 Hiring for passion
27:12 Using AI to cut the admin
30:07 Hire like a corporate: paid trial days
32:28 The seven-bedroom job they never got paid for
38:50 Contracts, staff and the 50% nobody sees
40:43 Working with architects and builders
45:37 A Belle cover and a hacked website
48:45 The next 20 years
49:56 Success, gratitude and taking the plunge

interior design
residential interiors
creative business
design consultancy
Behind the Design podcast
Camilla Ingall
Woods and Warner
Sonia Warner
Jacinta Woods
Sydney interior designers
charging for design fees
hiring in a design studio
working mothers in business
Belle magazine

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