Lighting up the world (6/10)

Yellow Goat Design has emerged as a major player in the competitive international market of interior design with its unique custom lighting.

On the back of a major growth period which saw the Southport company double its annual revenue to more than $8 million, Yellow Goat Design is this month’s Gold Coast Business Excellence Award Winner in the retail, wholesale and distribution category.

A few days before flying to Dubai’s annual major design show, founding director Sandra Lesko talks to Gold Coast Business News about the company’s products and growth which has seen Yellow Goat design lighting all over the world.

What makes Yellow Goat Design stand out in the international marketplace?

What we do is more creative than purely functional. We’ve got to really come from that creative side as we don’t do any normal lighting at all. We do all the decorative, pretty things that require a different perspective to create.

The way we use material is often different than its intended use. We look outside the square and a result most things are pretty out of the ordinary and have a wow factor. We are different from the major worldwide companies as we make a product for a specific job and it’s a one of a kind design created for that unique purpose.

Where can we see Yellow Goat’s work locally?

We’ve just finished a spectacular piece of art for Crown Casino. It is an 8-10m long huge sculptural feature called Wings. It’s basically reflective shapes cut out and suspended at different levels to create a magnificent visual.

We’ve also done lots of work for hotels, resorts, shopping malls and restaurants. In most jobs we meet with architects and designers on the site and come up with something that would suit the space and create a unique feature.

What overseas contracts have you secured and how?

We have completed several projects in the Middle East including Hilton Hotel Dubai, Le Meridian Hotel Heliopolis, Sheraton Hotel Lagos and Beach Club in Abu Dhabi.

We are also currently working on two hotels in Jordan, a restaurant in Oman and a project in Germany for a luxury villa.

We usually secure these contracts after being approached by interior designers living in London or elsewhere who are working in these areas.

The job could be on one side of the world but come from a client on the other.

What has been the major challenge for the company over the last financial year?

The only real challenge has been controlling our growth. We have all heard of companies that have sky-rocketed and then crashed and burned so we’ve planned our growth very carefully and gradually so that it remains in our control.

We could’ve taken on more jobs and expanded overseas earlier but we needed to make sure we were properly set up to produce what a particular market is demanding. We are very aware that if a business fails in the United States market for example, chances are they won’t get another chance.

Where do you see the company’s opportunity for the next phase of growth?

We have recently appointed two international representatives, one to handle the USA and the other Europe.

Even though most of the work will come from here a lot of clients want to be able to have a contact point. Having someone a client can send questions to without waiting 24 hours for a response makes things operate much more smoothly.

In terms of future targets, we are getting a lot work enquires from the United States and hope to make an impact in that market. Very shortly we are meeting with Rockwell Group whom we met in New York to discuss a project in Las Vegas.

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