As part of the What I Wish I Knew Then, a series of free lunchtime talks for Melbourne Design Week Kenyan-Australian designer Sandra Githinji, hosts a conversation exploring the journey to become an interior designer, considering how interior designers navigate the various challenges and opportunities of their careers.
This program is part of Melbourne Design Week 2026. View the full program
Sandra Githinji is the Creative Director of Sandra Githinji Studio, a multidisciplinary practice working across interiors, objects, and curation. She is an Associate Lecturer and a PhD candidate at RMIT University where her practice-led research explores home, migration, and belonging. Within her studio and research, her work is guided by the gestures of remembering, reclaiming, reimagining, and reconnecting, offering a design approach that is iterative, relational, and attentive to what has been fractured. Through spatial design, material experimentation, and collaborative projects across multiple disciplines, she explores how everyday gestures and inherited stories can be transformed into spaces and artefacts that honour lived experience. Across these contexts, her practice seeks to cultivate material, social, and symbolic forms of repair, creating environments that hold memory and imagination.
Sarah Barrett is an Interior Designer at Woods Bagot, specialising in workplace interiors and large-scale civic projects. Her practice is underpinned by rigorous research and a strong interest in art curation, informing a thoughtful and analytical approach to design. Sarah carefully interrogates site, brief, and operational constraints to develop innovative, contextually responsive solutions to contemporary spatial challenges. She brings clarity to complex projects through strong conceptual thinking, collaboration, and attention to detail across all stages of the design process. Sarah graduated from RMIT University with a Bachelor of Interior Design (Honours), achieving First Class Honours. In 2025/2026, she was selected as part of the Australian Design Review 30UNDER30 cohort, recognising emerging leaders shaping the future of design practice in Australia.
Geraldine Maher is an esteemed Australian designer and founder of Maher Design, a bespoke practice specialising in residential, hospitality, retail, and workplace projects. Known for her intellectual and technical rigor, she frequently collaborates with architects on larger-scale civic works. Her career includes international experience in Germany and Hong Kong, followed by 22 years at Jackson Architecture, where she led interiors for landmark projects such as the Victorian County Court, the MCG Northern Stand and the Western Australian Supreme Court. Beyond her practice, Maher is a dedicated mentor and Jury Convenor and DIA committee member of the Australian Interior Design Awards. Geraldine’s induction into the DIA 2025 Hall of Fame recognises an enduring legacy of excellence, leadership and contribution to the profession.
What I Wish I Knew Then pairs emerging designers with experienced industry leaders for candid, cross-generational conversations. Each session is moderated by an expert and explores lessons learned, creative risks, and pivotal career moments, offering insight, inspiration.