Sophia Leopardi

Director

Impassioned by a deepening of bonds between people and place, Sophia is driven by a holistic approach that links design and memory. Both in enhancing the existing and potential soul of a place, her interior design practice extends beyond the physical and is inherently emotionally charged. By extracting the essence of how an environment can and should feel, and through a process of listening, her want is to convey an honest and genuine enhancement of everyday rituals.

Uncovering what matters, together with the quietness of a space and a connection to natural elements – these are processes that help to connect and create meaning. Implanting a resonating feeling within a space is at the core of her focus, drawing from a globally inspired mindset to remain stimulated, while always responding through a contextually appropriate lens. While Sophia is led by the head-heart, through heightened textures, tactility, and an engagement with the senses, she focuses on imbedding joy and a timeless resolve.

Bachelor of Interior Architecture, University of South Australia

2023 Judge, 30 Under 3o Awards

2022 Fellow, Design Institute of Australia

2018 DIA SA/NT 2018 Awards – invited Jury Member 

2017 Australian Interior Design Awards – invited Jury Member

2017 Property Council Panellist

Appointed as Director of WBL in 2013

Caroline Cameron

Senior Associate - Interior Designer

With a strong connection to the intimacy of smaller scale work, Caroline believes that through the process of subtraction, and the paring back of layers, that is where the best resolved design opportunities reside. After some time exploring the world beyond WBL, she returned to what felt most true to her, and what she felt most genuinely connection to.

A large part of her process involves listening as a means to both uncover the needs of a client as well as of the potential of the space. Using natural materials and an honest approach, she believes that refinement in detail and time enduring references result in the best honouring of a space. Her fine art photographic work supports her concentration on detail within the studio, allowing an expanded view of the world through an alternate lens to ultimately influence her practice.

Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Hons), University of South Australia

Alana Hanton

Senior Interior Designer, Curate Lead

Playing an integral role within the studio, Alana heads up the final Curate stage of the design process for each of our projects. Weaving in both new and treasured finds as a capture of the owners and their newly anticipated coming chapters, she works closely and intuitively to bring out the essence of a space as a representation of those that occupy it.

As a tactile designer, she thrives on being surrounded by layered spaces and a revolving roster of materials and stimuli, drawing inspiration from artwork, music, other creatives, and their unique processes. Wanting to instil a sense of joy through this final completing stage, Alana’s wealth of design knowledge and varied experience allows her to tell our client’s stories.

Bachelor of Interior Architecture, University of South Australia

Harriet Craig

Senior Architect

Bringing both a vibrancy and energy to her projects and the studio, while ensuring each is underpinned by a highly detailed rigor, Harriet combines warmth and efficiency. Her fastidious nature combined with a drive to create lasting and memorable designed spaces, ensures her work is well-considered, and that the personalities of those who live or use the spaces are equally captured and enriched. Her enthusiasm carries through into her approach to detailing and design exploration, while ensuring the progress of each stage retains momentum.

Bachelor of Environments, Architecture, University of Melbourne

Master of Architecture, University of South Australia

Max Kamlah

Architect

Driven by the creation of legacy and the enduring potential that architecture has, Max is inspired by a contextually responsive approach. Hailing from Germany, having also lived and worked in Switzerland and Canada, his global perspective and a grounding immersed in European longevity forms the foundations of his appreciation of the marriage of where old and new meet.

Looking beyond the individual site, and ensuring the response engages with the existing urban fabric and its contribution to place in a wider context is important to his work. Being able to both disconnect and immerse himself within the bustle of a city is where he finds balance, and inspiration.

Master of Architecture, ETH Zürich

Bachelor of Arts, Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences

Sarah Petherick

Architect and Interior Designer

At the intersection between architecture and interior design, Sarah sees her focus as binding an imbedded warmth together with a sense of longevity. Through her calm approach, she is consistently learning and absorbing from her environments, and from the people she is surrounded by.

She takes lessons from the familiarity and inspiration that exists closer to home and the simple rituals of everyday experiences. Wanting to enhance experience through heightened detailing and a considered refinement, she is a passionate designer who believes balance is the key to the best resolves.

Master of Architecture, University of South Australia

Kate Parletta

Senior Interior Designer

Inspired by process and how each of the contributing elements together, Kate thrives on working through the methodology behind function. Believing that it is through the distilling of ideas and a simplified approach that the best resolves emerge, her strong portfolio of published residential work is a testament to itself.

Through understanding the stories of those living and working within a space, and how they want the spaces to support them, she believes the solution usually presents itself. As someone dedicated to detailing and resolving the challenges within design, she believes the most beautiful outcomes emerge through experimentation. Her legacy of improving the feeling of a space and how life can dramatically improve through design, inspires her.

Bachelor of Interior Architecture, University of South Australia

Shara Busing

Interior Designer

Inspired by the human connection and interaction with space, Shara brings a methodical approach to exploring creative outcomes and navigating the potential resolutions. Through a simplifying lens, her extensive travel and newfound passion for ceramics ensure she brings an explorative approach, looking beyond the traditional and linear path.

After many years in a parallel industry, design became an obvious next step, seeing her bring a worldly perspective. Through mixing the functional with the refined, she believes the best design comes from immersion amongst other creatives.

Advanced Diploma of Interior Design and Decoration, Interior Design, TAFE SA

Maddie Nicolson

Design Manager

Approaching design with an in-depth understanding of construction and site management, Maddie brings her international and rural experience to bolster the efficiencies of the studio.

After working in both the Northern Territory, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, she overlays a supportive framework for the team, managing the design process and coordinating with external consultants. Inspired by travel and the experimental opportunities of design, she believes design plays an integral role in shaping legacy and facilitating connection.

Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of South Australia

Yuko Nakayama

Studio Manager

Inspired by people, places and the stories that they hold, Yuko’s global citizen status, having lived and travelled across borders, brings richness to the studio in a multi-faceted and considered way. Her own curiosity into the world of design is born from a belief that the process of storytelling underpins placemaking and how we shape and engage with architecture.

Through establishing a clear vision, she believes artful and reflective moments exist to be uncovered, with her depth of experience within creative fields bringing a sense of clarity to her approach.

Trang Tran

Architect

Trang is a thoughtful and pragmatic architect with a quiet curiosity for how architecture can translate feeling into form. Her path has been shaped by both hands-on experience in public and heritage projects with an approach that is grounded in a sensitivity to place, purpose, and process. With previous experience across civic, regional and public works at varying scales, she brings a deepened understanding of design as a layered dialogue between landscape, user, and the built form.

With a natural pragmatism and an ease for problem-solving, Trang brings a considered and inventive lens to her work. She thrives on the challenge of translating complex ideas into clear, resolved design outcomes, approaching each project with a sense of purpose and a willingness to think laterally. Inspired by a restrained clarity, she is drawn to architecture that engages the senses, that leaves space for interpretation, and that can evoke a deeply felt experience. Her process is also shaped by the tactile and meditative nature of craft – currently expressed through pottery – and a love for the outdoors and travel, where observing how people live, work, and dwell continues to inform her own understanding of space.

Masters of Architecture, University of Adelaide

Bachelor of Design Studies, University of Adelaide

Samantha Bisset

Interior Designer

Sam’s strength lies in distilling complexity into clarity. Her design sensibility is grounded in ongoing observation – of how difference and sameness coexist – and how our spaces can both reflect and shape who we are. Born in Scotland and raised in Australia, her early fascination with how things work led her to a career in Mechanical Engineering. She finds inspiration in the everyday patterns of life: how we interact, move, gather and rest, forming her approach as one that is deeply considered and people centred.

With an inherent inquisitiveness for human behaviour, the built environment and systems, Sam works to cultivate a shared language around design intent. Her experience managing long-term planning for essential infrastructure has sharpened her ability to see the broader narrative, while also crafting the detail that brings intent to life. Ultimately, it has been the more human-centred, process-driven aspects of her work that have revealed a deeper desire: to shape spaces that tangibly improve the way people live. Her industry experience has been both broad and deliberate, spanning from design across planning, joinery, and selections – each of which adds depth to her current role at WBL, where she brings a uniquely analytical yet intuitive eye to the translation of design concepts into built form.

Bachelor of Arts (Interior Design) – Collarts (Australian College of the Arts)

Bachelor of Engineering – Mechanical (hons) – University of Adelaide

Courtney Rodgers

Interior Designer

Having trained in classical methods of Drawing, majoring in Sculpture, her Visual Arts background forms the basis for her approach to materiality and form. After time spent living in Milan, an imbedded appreciation and connection to design was formed, seeing Courtney return to Australia.

As an intuitive artist and designer her approach is grounded in a respect for exploration, and the following of the creative process into spaces that have a grander and long-lasting affect. Inspired by a layered approach as being key to shaping experience, she is constantly searching for ways to integrate meaning into her work.

Bachelor (Hons) of Visual Arts, Adelaide Central School of Art

Bachelor Interior Architecture, University of South Australia

Claudia Human

(Student) Interior Designer

Shaped by a deep curiosity of the human condition, Claudia’s path to design has been influenced by how environmental factors interact and ultimately, affect people. With a background in psychology and behavioural therapy, her early career centred around understanding how people think, feel and engage with the world around them. Her ambition is simple: to leave the built environment a little more beautiful, more functional, and more human than she found it.

Currently in the final year of her studies, Claudia brings a genuine eagerness to learn, paired with a unique perspective that bridges human behaviour and spatial experience. Her approach is thoughtful and empathetic, underpinned by the belief that good design begins with understanding the lives of those inhabiting spaces. Drawn to the subtleties of residential design and how spaces shape daily rituals and influence emotional wellbeing, she finds inspiration within the objects and details that quietly assert their presence. It is this same narrative lens she brings to her design approach: seeking meaning, context and a deeper connection to place.

Bachelor of Interior Architecture, University of South Australia (completing currently)

Bachelor of Psychological Science, University of South Australia (honours)