Role: Experiential Designer and Lead Creative at Studio Messa

Location: Yallamundi Rooms, Sydney Opera House

Brief: Design an intimate, premium experience giving Sydney's most committed runners once-in-a-lifetime access to Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan the day after the Sydney Marathon. The event needs to feel elevated and exclusive without losing the raw, authentic energy of the running community. Access is earned, not given, with guests qualifying via a Strava challenge to ensure genuine running purists in the room.

Key Responsibilities:

• Led all spatial concept, art direction, and experience design as sole creative for the event.
• Interpreted the brief's directive into a spatial language that balanced prestige with authenticity, resisting over-production in favour of focused, intimate atmosphere.
• Designed theatre-style seating layout to maximise closeness between audience and speakers, creating the feeling of proximity to marathon legends.
• Developed entrance sequence including welcome screen, wall projections, and Vapour Red branding to set the tone before guests entered the main room.
• Designed 3.6m stage with black lounge seating and coffee tables for two speakers and host, calibrated for intimate conversation rather than performance.
• Designed commemorative postcard takeaways featuring speaker quotes as a considered, low-key keepsake.
• Coordinated VIP sections, outdoor harbour-view gathering space, and backstage green room facilities for athlete management.

Outcome: Delivered a once-in-a-lifetime moment for 204 committed runners at Sydney's most iconic venue, with Kipchoge and Hassan in conversation hosted by Hamish McLachlan. The Strava challenge access mechanic ensured the room was filled with genuine running purists, reinforcing Nike's credibility with the dedicated athletic community the brand was working hardest to win back.