#awinewith Renae Tapley
MEET Renae, Founder of Future Materials.
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:07):
Renee, cheers to you. Welcome to Spark tv. I'm very excited to have you on the show.
Renae Tapley (00:14):
Thank you. I know I have another little sip.
Danielle Lewis (00:17):
Yes, that's right. We'll get ourselves. Get ourselves prepared. Love it. Love it. And I love that we're both in wa that's fun for the afternoon.
Renae Tapley (00:24):
So close yet so far. I
Danielle Lewis (00:26):
Know, I know. Oh, so good. So let's start out just by telling everybody who you are and what you do.
Renae Tapley (00:33):
Sure. So I am Renee Tapley. I am an interior designer by trade. I've been working in sort of both interiors and architecture for over 20 years. And through my practice I have become really obsessed and fine tuned into sustainability and green building particularly. And hence why I've started to look at developing my passion project, which is Future Materials, which is a startup I've been working on for around four years now. And future materials is going to be a place where interior designers, architects, home and construction professionals can come to find truly green materials and products for the construction industry, which is something I've found is really difficult to find in my day job. And there's a lot of greenwashing and kind of mystery around a lot of the products and where they come from and the story behind them. And so future materials really seeks to demystify and make it a lot easier for people to access these products much faster, which is what is really needed.
Danielle Lewis (01:47):
That is amazing because I'm kind of guessing that if it is hard for you as a professional, it is hard for everybody else who perhaps wants to do the right thing.
Renae Tapley (01:58):
Yeah, it is so difficult. It's a minefield out there really. And we have, as design professionals, we have a lot of insight info and insights into what we should be looking for and what the criteria is around that. But if you're a home renovator, it's really difficult. You have no idea coming into completely fresh. So yeah, so I felt after working in many practices, I worked in London for years and then came home and was in Sydney working for a large architecture practice there for many years, and now working in more boutique interiors across all of that range of experience. And we're looking at different sectors, hospitality, commercial, residential as well. It's something that is needed across all of it. So there's definitely a market need for it. And also this is driven by an absolute obligation I feel, and a responsibility I feel to not be complicit in the construction industry's carbon statistics anymore, which I will be for some time, but future materials will still help to temper this. In the meantime, it currently contributes to 25% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, which is huge.
Danielle Lewis (03:11):
That's crazy. When you talked about I'm thinking oil and gas is the problem, mining is the problem. That's really interesting. I don't think I've ever heard anybody talk about that.
Renae Tapley (03:23):
See, this is the problem. It is such a huge problem. It's absurd. Absolutely insane. And of that 25% I mentioned mean, and that is 39% globally as well. So Australia is a little bit less so globally it's even more of an issue. But of the percentage for Australia, it's broken up currently into the carbon and energy it takes to operate buildings. So air conditioning, adding the operational carbon costs. And then the other portion of it is about materials manufacturing, which is where future materials really starts to come into focus and to draw attention to this point of only going to showcase low carbon and circular materials so that we're not contributing to this issue as much as what we have traditionally with traditional materials such as concrete and steel and a lot of other materials and products that are really normal. And the status quo still in building today.
Danielle Lewis (04:25):
Yeah, well as I'm just listening to you talk about it, I am kind of guessing that changing this industry, so people who have been building for so many years who just do things the way they do things, use suppliers, they've always used actually moving the needle, I am assuming is a huge feat.
Renae Tapley (04:47):
Massive. And I've come up against a lot of pushback. And you are right, the contractors and the tradies, they have a particular way of doing things. And of course over years they've built up their own expertise and tried and tested ways. However, given we all need to start converting and sort of turning our minds towards the green economy, that it does require huge amounts of shifts and changes. And for everyone in my practice, in everyone even in our homes, how we recycle and the types of products we'll be buying in future. And for the contractors, it's no different. So there's always going to be some resistance to that in the beginning, but I see it as a long game plan and there are going to be some difficult transition years and I feel like we're stuck in them right now, to be honest. In the world's transition to Net zero, which is the core problem, we are in these early transition years. Right now it's kind of like treading water. You sort of feel like you're making gains, but it's really slow and there's a lot of pushback
Danielle Lewis (05:56):
And there's a little bit of in between the
Renae Tapley (05:59):
Can I get out, but little by little we'll get there, I'm sure of it. And then we'll come to our aha eureka moment where we can make gains then in leaps and bounds much faster than we are now. I just think it, it's going to take a few more years of these kind of hard years to get there. And in saying that though, I am finding more willing partners over the last few years. We do have more of a receptive audience. Now, when I first started to talk about this, it was like I was talking to foreign language. No one was really, yeah, I mean there weren't a lot of like-minded, whether it was tradies or professionals around me. But now there are a lot more, there's a canvassing of a movement and it feels like we are gaining momentum and traction in it. And it's sort of also backed by some really great institutions and organizations who are really leading the charge with it.
Danielle Lewis (06:59):
And I guess there's so many stakeholders. So we kind of said tradies suppliers, I guess there's also got to be consumer demand. So you kind of got to marry up all of these puzzle pieces and just slowly find the people that care now while you are building until it kind of gets that point where there are enough people that are willing to pay the money or willing to do what it takes to go so far as to research and find out what is out there that is actually more sustainable, renewable, whatever their interests might be.
Renae Tapley (07:33):
That is the critical issue that future materials seeks to streamline and make easier and kind of eradicate really, because we have to demonstrate demand in order for these products to thrive and to sustain that a local supply chain, because that's another thing. Out of these covid era years, the local supply chain has been drawn into focus as well. We can't rely solely on imports to the future. It won't be possible. So we do need to sustain a local thriving industry of circular and low carbon materials currently starting to have a little bit of uptake and definitely some funding, which is great, but there needs to be a whole lot more of that. And in order to make that a viable business case for anyone in business oriented, we need to demonstrate demand and future materials will enable that to happen because we'll be able to track how many people are interested in whichever products and get really specific and fine grain on that detail so we can take that data to the stakeholders. And also, I'm really lucky to have been awarded a Churchill Fellowship this year.
Danielle Lewis (08:48):
Congratulations. Oh my God, that's awesome.
Renae Tapley (08:52):
Through the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. And I'll be taking, it's a travel scholarship and it's for research purposes. And so my research kind of hypothesis or subject is about looking at what is happening elsewhere abroad, especially in Europe in terms of green materials, innovation and manufacturing, and studying it, going to meet many, many different suppliers and stakeholders and seeing how they've been able to thrive and have successful products that have been brought to market. And I'll take that information back home and I'll write a report on the findings and then that will be disseminated throughout the industry to show ways in which we can fast track this and make it a whole lot easier and also really normalize it. I really would love the day where I don't have to keep talking about all of this and the changes that are needed and it actually becomes our new normal. Well
Danielle Lewis (09:53):
So good. When you can demonstrate to people that it's been done before, this isn't a new concept, other people are thinking this way, achieving great things, selling it into customers, whatever it might be, when you can actually take that and show industry in Australia that it's doable, I'm sure that's going to help your cause.
Renae Tapley (10:17):
Yes, exactly. It will. Yeah. And it's absolutely needed as a body of research work here as well, which was what I guess why I was successful. And the trust could see that it was something that no one had really explored before in terms of the fellows before. So yeah, so that's going to be amazing. What was
Danielle Lewis (10:39):
That process? How did you find out about that, apply for it? What was that all about?
Renae Tapley (10:45):
Oh, well, so a friend of mine had said to me last year, you've got to apply for this. And I was aware of it. I'd heard of Churchill Fellows and the fellowship before, but hadn't really looked into it in much detail and my friend sent me it, but then I was too late to apply last year. Oh, sorry, I'm talking about 2022 and not 2023. We're already
Danielle Lewis (11:11):
Got Love a new year to just throw us out
Renae Tapley (11:14):
This year before last. Yes. Anyway, I missed the cutoff for 2020 twos fellows and I made sure I was like, I could apply in good time last year in 2023, which is what I did. And I did actually spend quite a lot of time on the application and took great care in making sure I had the time to really get the application working really well. So it was wonderful. So I'm so thankful and grateful to have been awarded it because it is a beautiful organization. You really feel like you're part of a family. Oh wow. You've been so warm and welcoming and just such an incredible endeavor that they set out for themselves where it doesn't really matter what your background is or what you're into, but if you can convince them that you have a case, a specific subject area that you're interested in, and this research is needed to shore up what we're doing here, then you can go for it. So I encourage anyone who has been looking at it at all or doesn't even know anything about it to go and look at it and also apply.
Danielle Lewis (12:26):
That's so good. I love it. So will the platform be like a marketplace? Will anyone be able to log on and look for something? Will you be able to buy things? How do you see it actually operating?
Renae Tapley (12:38):
Yeah, so it'll be staged and there'll be kind of revisions and evolutions of the phasing of the site. Obviously I don't have all of the funds right now to be able to do it all, although I would love to, but realistically it does need to be staged. So the first go live launch will be a selection of around 50 to 75 ish products that will be freely accessible to everyone, and they will be from recycled aluminum panels that are endlessly recyclable to recycled plastic beautiful like products that you can use in kitchens and also for furniture. There's a lot of beautiful products that are Australian made as well from recycled glass, like a substitution for all of the engineered stones that are coming under a bit of strife.
Danielle Lewis (13:40):
And
Renae Tapley (13:40):
The osis that is happening through the fabrication process like Caesar Stone and the other reconstituted stones. There's an Australian company who are working on basically a substitution for that, which is made of recycled glass, which is beautiful. And all of these things are really design led. They're beautiful. And so the other thing with future materials is changing the stigma of what has traditionally been attached to a sustainable product or material that a bit daggy, not sort of a bit cottage industry or crafty. This is absolutely nuts.
Danielle Lewis (14:17):
Oh my God, it's so hilarious that you say this. So I've just started using a natural skincare product and you know what I hate about it? It doesn't look pretty. And I'm like, why don't people that care about the ingredients care about great design?
Renae Tapley (14:35):
Yes, yes.
Danielle Lewis (14:36):
Bananas
Renae Tapley (14:37):
It should follow. I feel like the two go hand in hand, right? Yeah, absolutely. I guess I've been researching this for seven years or so now. It started when I was working in London, my interest in these materials and I had access to a really fertile market there of fantastic new products that were being launched and could expedite or come to market quite quickly. And that was through different channels that they had available to them. And that's something else I'll be touching on through my fellowship research is how that can actually happen faster here in Australia. Yeah. And so then when I moved home, I realized I started working for a practice here and rested on my laurels of all my material database contacts and realized it was crickets, absolutely nothing was out there. And this was in 2018, so I realized that it needed to move as fast as we could. And also it is almost like Google, you just need access to this good information freely and it just needs to be brought out into the lighter day so that everyone can see it and you can therefore make gains environmentally much faster.
Danielle Lewis (15:57):
I think people want to do better, but it's too hard when you think about eating healthily when you've been at work all day, the last thing you want to do is come home and cook a healthy meal. And it's like people want to make good choices in all of their lives, and I believe that people are good at heart and do want to care about the environment, but if we make it hard for people, it just becomes too hard. And we put that into future US problems and unfortunately the future's here.
Renae Tapley (16:31):
I know that's right. I know. I absolutely agree. And I found it hard being inside the industry search, and so you can only imagine how difficult it is for everyone. Yeah, it's a very kind of open democratic, demystifying no design, weird jargonal lingo. It is for everyone. And it's also the best, the sort of cherry picked, most beautiful, best truly green verified products that are available now. And yes, get back to your earlier question, it will become a marketplace in future, and that is in built into the plan, the future plan, but initially it will be about generating interest and gaining momentum and getting eyes on it as much as possible with a really good selection of the pick of the crop and and so yeah, I've got a lot of plans and how it could evolve and add more functionality and tools in future. And also later on I see it becoming a series of physical materials, library spaces as where people can actually come into the space and pick up samples, have a look at everything in person, ask questions, and we can host events and workshops there as well.
Danielle Lewis (18:02):
That's so cool. I love that. How do you find straddling work like career and building this? Because I know how intense both can be. How have you found that?
Renae Tapley (18:18):
Well, to be honest with you, I feel like I lead a double life. I somehow managed to cram in two jobs into a working week, but I'm slightly a bit of a crazy person in that regard. But anyway, I feel like I just need to have a few years of pain for long-term gain, and that's been my motto for the last few years. I'm hoping that will somehow end soon.
Danielle Lewis (18:43):
There'll be a moment in time. Where's that arc?
Renae Tapley (18:46):
Yes. But yes, so I guess what I do is I am absolutely committed to my day job and I love it. I love what I do. I have a fantastic team and I'm supported by one of my oldest dearest friends who I'm working with at the moment at Full Scap studio. It is a boutique interiors practice based in Melbourne, and I set up the Sydney studio for full scap and now I've come back to Perth full circle, a long time coming and have set up full scap here as well. And so really, I guess worlds collide a little bit though as well at Full Scap and our work, we are committed to all of these things at the same time. And materials research is a huge part of what we do. So anything I find it kind of feeds into our projects and vice versa. And then in addition, I literally do about two to three hours every night as well. So that's where the extra comes in.
Danielle Lewis (19:51):
Yeah, and it's interesting. I do love that because I always advocate to people not to just quit their day job and dive into things. I love that a day job can compliment your business. It can give you the financing, it can give you the support, it can give you the networks. I know sometimes I think people romanticize the Burn Your Bridges kind of approach to business, but I really believe that it's just we're all humans. It's all an ecosystem. There's networks. You just never know who you work with that will support your business down the track, and it's just all interconnected. So I'm a huge advocate for that.
Renae Tapley (20:31):
I couldn't agree more. I am absolutely on board with all of that, and that's really been the way I've operated in living memory. I wouldn't say my whole life because I can't quite remember, but yes, absolutely. And I feel you can get it working for yourself in the best possible way where it works for everyone. I'm being really open and transparent with everyone I'm working with and my dear director Adele. And actually, if it's a good idea and it feels right for the general community, then of course it's only going to be positive for everyone and and for us, for instance, full Scout was able to support future Materials. Last year we had a beautiful event as part of Open House Melbourne in the studio in
Danielle Lewis (21:30):
Oh, cool.
Renae Tapley (21:31):
And we opened up the studio to feel like a open materials library type day where the passers bike would come in and explore the materials, which was all a future materials showcase. So I had all of the samples and products that I'm going to be showcasing on the site, laid out on a really beautiful curated communal table, and we had a panel discussion with some really great industry heavyweights there to talk about what they're doing and how they're impacting the industry. And I chaired that discussion and there was around 300 people who came through throughout the day, so it was fantastic. And so that was all supported by full working with at the moment, which is
Danielle Lewis (22:14):
Great. That's so cool and such a great awareness piece as well, and building your community before you completely take the leave. I think that's genius.
Renae Tapley (22:25):
Yeah, it was good. And it was also a good sense check actually on the types of customers who would be coming to future materials. We had home renovators who had a lot of questions and were there so inquisitive and there for hours and looking at everything. It was this foreign alien type thing. And then we had design professionals who were more very directed to the thing that they caught their eye and they were like, oh, I could use that. And then we had some of the product suppliers there all day as well, like our dear legendary suppliers, and one is a Welshman who's hilarious, and he was there answering all the questions all day, and I made sure I had some guinnesses for him at the end of the day, but it was great to have them there as well because they could just provide some really technical and detailed information. Anyway, we had a great cross section as well as some students and some educators from universities, and they were super super into it.
Danielle Lewis (23:32):
Yeah, these really interesting, I always think about that. You probably touched on two things, community building for one, but also that who will be your customer, which is really important to what are their problems? Who is really interested in this space, who will be the catalyst that's going to probably propel it forward more than maybe somebody else in the industry or customer type. So being able to host an event or run something online or build a social community, whatever it is, they're all really important building blocks that you have to do as a business, I think.
Renae Tapley (24:09):
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I didn't really realize, to be honest, in preparing for the event and signing up for it and everything, how much amazing impact it would have in terms of, I guess validating a lot of the ideas or market research and market segment and customer profile type research I had done for the business. It was a really good litmus test, I guess, where you could really, yeah, it was fabulous and I think it was really valuable for that, and in the beginning I didn't quite realize it would be so valuable. Well,
Danielle Lewis (24:49):
Sometimes it's that in real life element. I feel like sometimes when we research things for our business, whether it's a new idea or a new marketing strategy or a new whatever, it is theoretical, and sometimes it's not until you actually launch the thing or buy somebody a coffee or pitch your first idea. Sometimes you just don't know how people are going to react.
Renae Tapley (25:13):
I know, absolutely. And I find, yeah, I love people. I love that interaction. And so I think in person, although we've had many years of zooming now,
Danielle Lewis (25:25):
Yes, my life is on Zoom.
Renae Tapley (25:29):
I'm really thriving off the in-person meetings, and especially with the product suppliers who are going to be represented, I really want to establish really good relationships with them and know them as people and their story and what they stand for because part of that is really the verification process of having them represented on future materials. Also, you want to know that you're working with good people and that they actually have integrity in what they're doing and they stand by the products or whatever the information is around the products that they stand by that criteria as well. Yeah, I, I guess that's why I also wanted to have that future growth plan of future materials becoming that sort of space that can hold a literal physical space that can hold and host those types of events in future ourselves, as well as launching, for instance, exclusive products or furniture with some of the suppliers materials integrated into that as well as boosting and championing for local manufacturing and makers because we do have, there's a whole other conversation here around just amazing local makers and craftsmen and women. Everyone loves Australian made and supporting local businesses, but on the design side of things, it's really, it is a long slog and a hard slog for them. So I want to bring that into the fold of what we're doing as well and really support and champion, champion Australian and New Zealand designers, which has been even more important in these kind of post covid years.
Danielle Lewis (27:23):
Absolutely. Well, and that's it, isn't it? I think there's a lot of people who are trying to support their families or themselves through their craft, and it is difficult. They are small business owners as well, and getting the word out and getting people to understand, and even the value I find sometimes with smaller artisans, it is more expensive, but people don't quite understand what's involved in hand making something, and that is why it's so special and why sometimes it attracts a higher price tag.
Renae Tapley (27:57):
Yeah, true. And it's about the story of it as well. It lasts longer. It's a one time purchase. There's a lot in terms of, so if we're talking about end of life and recyclability of these products, this is a key criteria for Fitch materials. The same sort of lens should be taken for furniture and homewares and things like that. I remember before we left London, there was a site that was launching and it was called Biting once or something
Danielle Lewis (28:31):
Like that. Oh, okay.
Renae Tapley (28:33):
You heard of it. And they had all of these lifetime warranty guarantee products where you buy it once, literally, you never have to replace it. I think the same of furniture and other bits and bobs around the house. I think it's better to save, to get a beautiful special piece that will be with you, and it's like collecting your things. Impress is who you're, and yeah,
Danielle Lewis (29:03):
I love that. I couldn't agree more. I would much rather spend a little bit more on something that I'll have forever and that I adore as well, especially, and I find this now that we work from home more, your space needs to be your space. You really do need to be, I think, a little bit more thoughtful and considerate about where it is that you live because we just spend so much time here now.
Renae Tapley (29:32):
Yeah, we really do. Oh goodness. Yeah, the home environment is, yeah, and I obviously work in it, so space kind of affects me, and I am a bit more sensitive maybe to it, but your home environment is one of the most important spaces psychologically and if you have kids especially. So yeah, I think it's important to kind of be considerate about your choices and not, and there's so much now, again, out of the covid years, I just feel like we're just completely saturated in this. It's almost like fast fashion, but for home wears, it's this fast lifestyle concepts almost stores that are proliferating everywhere and you have no idea about the provenance, where anything comes from, where it's made, what it's made. There's no real regulatory or any kind of recourse or watching over that at all, which I find a bit dangerous in the environment. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (30:38):
Absolutely. No, I think it's exciting. I think what you're building is completely necessary and exciting. I'm really, really excited to follow the journey. So let's leave the fabulous sparks with one last piece of advice. I always like to ask this of women in business. So if you could reflect on your time building future materials and pass on a piece of advice to another woman in business who is currently walking the path, what is a piece of advice that you would give that's helped you on your journey?
Renae Tapley (31:15):
I would say stay the course. If you really believe in this and you are really passionate about something, you go with it. Don't let anyone try to tear it down. Or even if you come up with quite intense blocks or barriers, find a way to work around it and just stay the course. Because if you do that, I feel like you'll succeed and you'll be true to what you'll actually with integrity and you'll follow through on what you are wanting to achieve. I find that there's a lot of external influences now, not only digitally in our social media world, but also just in our own heads. And if you are like me, I've really just launched this myself, and I've always tried to look for external sounding boards in my friends and family and experts, but it is difficult if you're on your own doing it. And I think if you can just hold onto the integrity you hold of your idea and your passion, and just keep that as your driving force. Yeah, go with it. And I wish everyone the biggest success.
Danielle Lewis (32:30):
I love it. That is absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Renee, for sharing your journey and wisdom with the Spark community, as I said, so excited about what you're building and definitely can't wait to have you back on for updates.
Renae Tapley (32:46):
Thank you so much, Danielle. Lovely to meet you as well.
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