Even all the way back to her birthplace in South Africa, Alecia followed her instincts as a creative kid in a family of traditional occupations.
Sit her down with a few crayons and she’d bring what she saw around her to life on paper. She remembers a family holiday, drawings spread on the coffee table, when an aunt came up to her and declared:
But she ended up excelling at Math in high school, solving problems logically, while harbouring a love for The Sims, like most preteens wanting an escape from schoolwork.
MOTHERLODE. ROSEBUD. MOTHERLODE. Let the simoleons cash in and Alecia would build mansions or renovate the default Electronic Arts lots (a glimpse into her interior design future).
But at the time, architecture presented itself as a safe bet for life after school: the perfect cross between logic and creativity.
You know the type: huge brick buildings with ivy leaves on the walls.
After 5 years devoted to her architecture degrees and a year of undergraduate work experience under the belt, she grabbed at an opportunity to move to Australia in 2019 with high hopes of kicking off a career in architecture.
Australia turned out to be more uncharted territory than Alecia thought. With barely any local contacts or work experience, the job hunt was like walking through mud. Six months in, that logical brain of Alecia’s paired with her searing gut feeling told her she needed another change.
Collarts didn’t have the ivy leaves, but they did have a boutique atmosphere with smaller class sizes, that allowed for individual attention from lecturers and a tailored learning experience. And Alecia’s architectural history came in handy in the Bachelor of Interior Design too.
Working closely within the Collarts Interior Design cohort, big learning moments came one after the other.
The biggest one? The power of networking. With Collarts providing real-life briefs, introductions to real-life architects, interior designers, and builders, and collaboration opportunities within the industry, it helps a budding interior designer to get their footing.
And Denfair was just the beginning of those moments for Alecia.
Interior Design students were briefed on designing an exhibition display called Front Centre. Showcasing 10 to 15 objects from the best up and coming designers under the theme ‘Gravity’, students would then present to the Denfair team for selection.
Harking back to her childhood craftiness, Alecia got physical with her conceptualisation.
What the non-interior designer might not know is that so much of interiors is based not solely on space, but on the humans passing through it. This became a key factor in Alecia’s work.
And that gut feeling kicked in again, where a small innovative risk paid off big.
And it did get picked. As COVID-19 moved Denfair online, the event adapted to bring Alecia’s idea to life in a 3D model. As virtual attendees—hundreds of design industry professionals, hobbyists, and curious minds—explored her digital space, they could also head to an online panel interview with Green Magazine, featuring the exhibitors, Head of Interior Design Bruno Duval, and Alecia herself.
The value of industry connections at Collarts also revealed itself towards the tail end of her degree… which has led to Alecia’s current role as an Interior Designer at a nationally renowned architecture and interior design studio that just celebrated 50 years in the making in 2021.
Having met someone from the studio during a previous assignment, Alecia kept the connection alive by reaching out to them for portfolio feedback, then embarked on the search for her industry placement unit.
By the time they reached out, she had already locked down plans elsewhere, but into the last trimester, before she had even graduated, the dream became a reality with an invitation for an interview, then an official offer to start right after the course.
And outside of the lessons she’s learned in class, there’s one lesson that Alecia has embraced above all:
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