Forward Thinking provides interior fit out design for restaurants, retail, clubs, and health and commercial premises. Services range from experiential concept and brand design through to architectural construction documentation and project management. The business aim is to become industry leaders while maintaining exemplary ethics, service and highly effective creative solutions.
Last year, Forward Thinking Design won the Excellence in Customer Service Award at the Western Sydney Awards in Business Excellence. It is hardly surprising then, that a business with such a successful commitment to customer service has become the Business of the Year at these most prestigious awards.
Nor is it surprising to find that the guiding hand and driving force of such an excellent business is academically well-equipped to back up her vision and her entrepreneurial spirit. The courage to be different, to make a difference, and to give clients what they really need and want is at the core of this success story.
Vanessa Cullen is the owner, and principal, of Forward Thinking Design. She was recognised as one of Anthill Magazine's '’30 Under 30’' Young Entrepreneurs in 2009. She holds a Bachelor of Design (Hons) - UNSW, Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies - Deakin, and is recognised professionally as an Accredited Member of the Design Institute of Australia. Vanessa shares her knowledge and experiences through undertaking regular public speaking engagements.
Forward Thinking Design is an award winning group of tertiary educated Gen Ys breaking the traditional boundaries of design. They don't believe in ‘'build it and they will come'’; they believe in strategy, differentiation and desire.
To bring a real difference to their clients’ offering they do the unusual and do it differently. They “turn tyres into shelves and birds into lights”. They put the right things next to each other to make them sell. They strive to convey one message in their clients’ space, logo and website. When faced with challenges and constraints, they ‘’achieve the impossible”.
Vanessa is on track with company plans to recruit larger good-quality clients. The number of referrals and projects coming in is growing. The business has had several projects published within industry magazines this year and the brand is really getting out into the market place.
An enthusiastic supporter of events such as the awards, Forward Thinking Design is an Amazing Business Story having entered and won various awards during the past four years, culminating in winning last year’s Excellence in Customer Service Award. Typical of a successful business leader who won a customer service award Vanessa immediately thought of her staff commenting that the whole evening was a great validation and a fantastic boost for them.
The judges were particularly impressed by the great business model that Vanessa has put together and the consistent growth it has produced. They saw the business has one that had real substance in its planning and its operations.
Imbued with a natural passion for what she does, Vanessa has made Forward Thinking Design a reflection of her own organised professionalism. A business that has the strong foundations of sound organisation and the benefit to customers that only a really professional attitude can deliver has made Forward Thinking Design a deserving winner of Business of the Year and a great example of Western Sydney Business.
THE PRIZES:
Major sponsors Hope 103.2 have provided for the 2011 WSABE Business of the Year, a 13-week radio campaign on one of Sydney’s most popular community radio stations. The campaign is worth more than $15,000. Hope reaches 581,000 new customers each month and 373,000 different listeners from across Sydney each week. Hope 103.2 will assist the Business of the Year with the production of their 30 second radio commercial. To promote your business further visit hope1032.com.au
NSW Business Chamber have provided for 2011 WSABE Business of the Year a return airfare to Melbourne, with two nights accommodation and cost of registration to the Australian Chambers Business Congress 2012. The winner will attend the high calibre event and interact, learn, share and network with some of the world’s and Australia’s leading business professionals and practitioners. Check out the highly successful program which ran this year at businesscongress.com.au.
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