Lizzi Whaley has become a familiar face thanks to her appearance as a judge on The Block. As the CEO of a commercial interior design business, Spaceworks, she heads a team responsible for the design of public spaces thousands of Kiwis use every day, such as offices, shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels.
Was becoming a designer a goal from your early days?
I was a late bloomer. I was a bit of a rogue at school and didn’t know what I wanted to do. When I left after seventh form I wasn’t ready to go to university and instead I went to work full-time for a paint company I’d been working for part-time. I created their colour ranges and after about three years I decided I wanted to work in the creative industry and thought I should go and get a bit of paper to say I could do it. I did a Bachelor in Spatial Design while still working for the paint company.
Did you go straight into commercial design?
Start your property search
No, I started off doing residential interiors, but it didn’t take me long to realise it wasn’t for me. Because people are very connected emotionally to their homes I found they would flip-flop around over what they wanted, especially if the husband and wife had different ideas. I prefer a situation where you make a decision and execute it, then you move on to the next thing. That’s how I live my personal life, and I decided commercial design was a better fit for me because it’s not as emotional as residential design.
Two years after you started working at Spaceworks, you ended up owning the company. How did that happen?
When I started there was just me and the boss and I became a sponge, not only learning about commercial design but all aspects of how to run a business. When she put it up for sale a couple of years after I started I was keen to buy it because I’d always wanted my own company.
How easy was it for you to buy Spaceworks?
Not easy at all. I didn’t have the money. But I did have a great guy at the ANZ called Phil Grigg who did everything he could to help me buy it and he never once questioned my age, my ability or my gender. At the time I was 28 and a single mother living at home with my parents. He believed in me 100 percent and worked with me to find a solution – I probably spoke to him every day for a month before I ended up taking on a silent partner and being able to buy Spaceworks.
Later when I asked Phil why he was prepared to give me a chance, he said, “It was your tenacity and your attitude.” Sometimes you meet people who change the course of your life and for me that was Phil.
Did you get off to a flying start?
No. I bought the company at the end of 2006 when we were headed towards recession and within 18 months I’d nearly lost it. One of our biggest clients went into receivership owing us six figures. I couldn’t pay suppliers and I just had to be really honest with them and say, “I can’t pay you today or tomorrow and I can’t even pay you next month but I can’t probably pay you in three months. So you either sink us, or you work with us.” I still have relationships with some of those suppliers today.
Funnily enough, we actually grew during the recession. Over the course of about three years we went from three of us to 14, and we were all female. I just found women were the best people for the job and it wasn’t until about eight years after I bought it that we got our first male staff member.
What do you love most about the job?
I am passionate about retail. I love the psychology of understanding why people go into a shop and what makes them buy. I get to travel around the world looking at shops. I’m not so much looking at the product, I’m looking at the layout and the lighting and the ambience and the colours and how it all works and feels.
What’s your favourite shop?
I can’t remember the name but it is a small boutique-y place in London and it looks incredible. I was so captivated with the experience of going there, and talking to the engaging lady who runs it that I ended up buying a perfume called Cigarettes and Ashtray that actually smells like an ashtray. I’m not even a smoker but I didn’t have buyer’s remorse, because it was such a good experience. The guy who took me on the retail experience bought an aftershave called Sweaty Plumber.
You also do a lot of offices, don’t you?
That’s something else I really love, creating environments that people enjoy working in and that make them feel valued by their employer. I did Google’s office when they opened one here in New Zealand about eight years ago and that was interesting because we didn’t get a brief. Instead I had to research the brand, which is known for their offices around the world, and work out what would be the best option for a Kiwi office. I did it in the bright Google colours and there were meeting rooms that looked like little bachs, and a dinghy and upside down beach umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. We did it very quickly and also secretly – the staff had no idea. I was there to see their reactions when they walked in which was awesome.
Did you enjoy being on The Block?
I loved every minute. I loved watching the teams develop and their skills grow, although we didn’t meet them, we just judged the spaces. We didn’t know for weeks who was doing what room.
I did get recognised, mostly by kids, and people were generally nice to my face. There were some haters though and some sent emails to me at work. One was addressed to Lizzi the Lizard and that’s what some of my friends call me now. I just laughed.
Do you get time for hobbies?
I’m obsessed with travel and I go overseas as much as I can. I have just been to Paris so that is my current favourite place but I also love Los Angeles and London.
I’m also obsessed with planes, not just flying in them but knowing about them. I can look in the sky and go, “Oh, that’s an Airbus 380.” I also love military planes and my dream is to go on a Hercules.
What’s your own interior style like?
Minimalist. I don’t like clutter. Clear space, clear mind. I live with my son Kaleb, daughter Ruby and our blue French bulldog Harvey Specter in a fabulous townhouse with amazing light. I’ve redone everything. I like neutral palettes, and for me it is all about layering different textures. But after all those years at a paint company, I am not afraid of stronger colours. It just has to be the right colour in the right place.
