David plays an instrumental role in the creation of Beulah’s boundary-pushing retail projects and the management of tenant partnerships. A visionary and inquisitive mindset coupled with an extensive background working for leading retail groups in management and leasing, both in Australia and Asia, David is recognised for his ability to inspire innovative thought and curation of exceptional retail and cultural experiences.
With his rich and diverse experience, he is a powerful communicator with a reputation for building and maintaining strong relationships with leading international luxury brands and companies. Thriving in an environment that champions innovation, creativity and flexibility, David is passionate about delivering impactful projects and campaigns that require innovative and creative thinking.
Away from his role as the General Manager – Retail + Tenant Partnerships, David can be found keeping fit with a game of tennis and is a self-proclaimed green thumb designing and maintaining his at-home garden with his family.
My time is currently spent across various departments developing BETA By STH BNK, our experimental retail programme that explores the future of retail, in real time, at Hanover House. It is a creative process that seeks to connect retail brands and aligned industry partners through a series of public-facing experiments as part of an annual programme.
Often it is the lightbulb moments that represent the glue that joins the elements of an idea together. For example, we have a cohort of amazing artisans at Hanover House as part of the BETA By STH BNK programme. Identifying and securing innovative retail brands that recognise the opportunity to work with Atelier’s artisans on groundbreaking solutions is pretty exciting — the pieces suddenly start to fall in place. This is particularly satisfying when you are working on a project that has the potential to solve an industry problem, or at least start the conversation to change traditional thinking.
Often it is the lightbulb moments that represent the glue that joins the elements of an idea together.
Thank you speech at Higher Order’s grand opening
It’s really about exploring an idea that has the potential to positively impact society and the planet through retail initiatives, while working with aligned retail and industry partners to change the brick and mortar space. Even before Covid, retail struggled for a number of reasons. The next decade provides an opportunity for industry leaders to redefine purpose, experience, the commercial model and embrace sustainable practices and behaviours in everything we do.
It’s really about exploring an idea that has the potential to positively impact society and the planet
There are a lot of people around the world who are doing extraordinarily creative things. I am inspired by the idea of creating something that is visually and commercially interesting, has meaning and is grounded in purpose. In today’s environment, that means a focus on fairness, sustainability, collaboration and democracy. Maybe working with great creative people on interesting and important projects is as complicated as it needs to be.
Travelling is a great inspiration, but not overly accessible at the moment, so inspiration comes through reading, watching other creative people and then having the time to think about your own projects. Thinking time is really important.
This is a difficult question because often people are somewhat constrained by their respective organisation or workplace. My advice is that you need to believe in yourself, listen to others from diverse backgrounds and surround yourself with like-minded individuals. I am sure there are other things, but these certainly contribute to the creative process.
