After her recent move home to Toowoomba, Liza Lange is looking forward to utilising her 10 years of retail design experience on creative new projects.

Lange’s passion is in helping small businesses with detailed work, such as what fixtures to use and how to lay out a store. She is planning to pursue this consultancy work privately in South East Queensland. Lange did not start her career in interior design until she was 34. It was during her five years living in Micronesia that Lange decided to pursue her dream career in interior design. There she discovered her passion for eco-design including reusing items and becoming aware of toxic chemicals used in the rebuilding of stores.

Through her work, Lange has been part of green initiatives such as the creation and use of non-toxic materials, and use of fixtures with low water usage and electricity consumption. On her return to Australia, Lange completed her Certificate IV both in Interior Design and Building Design on the Sunshine Coast. After finishing her study, Lange worked in Brisbane as a Retail Interior Designer for IGA. “It was a wonderful and unexpected opportunity to design many IGA Supermarkets and convenience stores throughout Queensland. My love for retail design and the excitement of creating shopping spaces for the public was born,” she said. Lange was also the National Design Manager for The Coffee Club, where she created the ‘drive through’ store format and award-winning ‘container cafes’ at the Brisbane Domestic Airport.

A move to Melbourne provided Lange with the opportunity to design Smiggle stores throughout Australia, Singapore and United Kingdom. While there she also redesigned the Sydney Colette by Collette Hayman flagship store. The design was then used in stores across Australia, including in Toowoomba. Other highlights of Lange’s interior design career have included work for Boost Juice, Woolworths and BP Australia. Redesigning the standard store, she was the first globally to develop the ‘drive through’ model for BP service stations.

“Throughout my career I have developed concept designs and documentation through a 3D computer drawing program and can offer a virtual reality view on projects, as well as 2D plans,” Lange said. Lange said she believes the next stage for ‘bricks and mortar’ stores will see changes with advances in new technology such as augmented, virtual and mixed reality, as well as wireless connectivity.

Lange has worked for larger companies but is eager to work on her own. “If you have a laptop and a phone you can work anywhere doing the type of work I have to offer,” she said. “Working anywhere takes a certain level of discipline and organisation but the rewards outweigh being tied to an office.” Lange has been enjoying the Queensland weather after her move from Melbourne.

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