Soloist in the Spotlight, Louise Nade

Location

Belrose, New South Wales

Occupation

Children’s toy designer and
illustrator

What’s the biggest challenge you face at work…?

There are never enough hours in the day and all the great ideas come in the middle of the night, as I lie awake staring at the blackness!

…and how do you propose to overcome it?

I squeeze in an hour of work before feeding my baby daughter at 6am; in a week it gives me an extra 5 hours of work time! As for the night time brain storming…I can’t do too much about it, I just love the fact the ideas are still coming after all these years.

What do you wear to meetings?

The typical designer's uniform - jeans and generally a black shirt. Amazingly I manage to keep the baby dribble off! Silver earrings too, I love silver earrings.

If you overheard someone talking about you, what would you like to hear?

I’d like to hear that I am still just a big kid! I mean, I do all the responsible adult stuff like pay the mortgage and look after our child, but I just love playing with toys, colouring in, painting, all that fun creative stuff.

Would you rather be poor and brilliant or rich and stupid?

I’d rather be poor and brilliant! Mind you, I do love tropical holidays, good wine, ski trips……….

What’s your favourite film?

It’s a toss up between Toy Story and Monsters Inc. I love Pixar films. The creativity in their story telling is second to none. I really admire their work.

What’s your favourite flavoured ice-cream?

Mmmm, chocolate and coffee gelato while holidaying in Florence. It always tastes better in Italy!

What’s the cheapest, most effective bit of marketing you’ve ever done?

I picked up the telephone and made a call. The toy design industry is pretty small in Australia; people generally know your work. I just need to mention some of my products and it's “oh yeah, I know your stuff!”

What’s the most obscure business request you’ve ever had?

I applied for a job once over the Internet and a request came back for a date…weird! I didn’t respond back after that.

What actress would play the lead in the story of your life?

I’d be in an animated Pixar movie and Drew Barrymore would be my voice. I love the fact that she still seems “real” in a land of plastic women.

You’ve got a free half hour during your work day. What do you do?

I strap Carly into her “all terrain vehicle” and we head out for a walk. I’m chatting to her about the trees, flowers and clouds and she’s snoring her little lungs off.

What’s your proudest moment?

Apart from having baby Carly, I was the designer of “ScrapAttack” a range of 6 scrapbooking kits for children. It was awarded Craft Toy of the Year for 2005 and it was competing against all imports from the US, China and Europe. Yahoo!

Louise's website is at www.louisenade.com

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