academy of design

Rycki Symons - Director of the Academy of Design

Rycki plays a role in both administration and training and is a passionate and highly driven individual. Rycki comes with 22 years experience in the fashion industry,graphic arts and photography. He worked at Brian Rochford as fashion designer and later went on to be involved in photography, advertising and parade coordinator for the company. During his studies he won many industry based awards such as the Dupont Lycra awards, Winner of Harlequin textiles award, Winner of 'Frantic' leather award, designed costumes for the mini-series 'Return To Eden' and coordinated the 'Fashion Spectacular' - on tour. He has also worked as a freelance Fashion Illustrator in Sydney for companies such as Martin and Savage. With his professional work as a Fashion Illustrator he has illustrated endangered animals for a textiles collection for the label 'Sacred Fish' and created work for Capital F magazine.

Rycki then moved to Queensland from Sydney, where he ran his own label and freelanced as both a designer and graphic artist. In 1990 he won the 'Daywear' and 'Activewear' categories at the Gold Coast Fashion Awards and went on to win the Supreme Award that year. Rycki was then employed by a Gold Coast based company as head designer. He went on to design corporate uniforms for companies such the Marriot Resort and Royal Pines Resortl. His graphic arts extended into designing for three theme parks: Movie World, Sea World and Dreamworld for their retail sale ranges. In 1993 rycki won three international SGIA awards for his graphic designs and prints in Singapore. In 1994 he won the Gold Coast Bulletin - Shirt Design at the Gold Coast Fashion Awards with a digital print process that was considered highly innovative in the market. That led to designing many of the jerseys for AFL teams from around the country for the sports company 'Sabre'.

Rycki designed uniforms and promotional clothing for the inaugural Gold Coast Indy and two following years after. He also designed uniforms for V8 car race teams such as Supercheap Autos and Dick Johnson Racing and has been lucky enough to be invited to pit crew at Calder Park in Melbourne and at Gold Coast Indy. Rycki was an integral part of the design process and bid for the uniforms for the 2001 Goodwill Games held in Brisbane, which the company won and successfuly designed and manufactured.

In 2000 Rycki opened his own business called Studio 13. His business specialised in corporate uniforms and promotional clothing. Some of his clients included Couran Cove Resort, Glades Golf Course, Royal Pines Resort and Omeros Brothers and Studio 13 also designed and manufactured for promotional clothing for Jack Daniels, Cuervo Tequilla, Kahlua, Tia Maria and Finlandia to name a few. Studio 13 also operated as a grading and CAD production bureau for many Gold Coast manufacuters. Studio 13 also extended its wings into pre-press / magazines. Rycki was able to follow another area of passion in Photography. He had studied photography many years before and built up an impressive portfolio of fashion shoots. He also worked as in-house Fashion Photographer for 'Ugly People Modeling Agency'. Rycki went on to shoot all the fashion and editorial shoots for edition 1 - Studio 13 magazine and used his skill in graphics arts to do all the pre-press designing and magazine layout.

Rycki taught at the KVB Institute Bond University in Design, Fashion Illustration and Production Processes. He taught there for two years and went on to create and open the Academy of Design in 2002. Rycki closed Studio 13 in 2008 to concentrate on the enormous success and growth of the Academy of Design.He has also taken on many industry based work such as Event Co-ordinator for the 2007 Gold Coast Fashion Week and is an active member of The Creative Industries Awards commitee, member of FITA, and his own couture clients.

His main focus is to keep the Academy of Design as the leaders in its field of creative studies. His passion for photography and graphic arts will also be an area where Rycki will be focusing greatly on in the future. He has become a motivational speaker and is often invited to be on judging panels and as guest lecturer as an expert on the fashion industry.

Mika Ouchi - Sales & Marketing

Nine years ago Mika the unconventional Japanese woman quit her job as a manager for a finance company and headed into the dark depths of the Asian continent. Three years and 15 countries later she arrived in Auckland determined to master the two degrees.

Cindy Soulsby - Administration

Cindy comes to the Academy of Design with 10 years of experience within the Vocational Education and Training Industry

Maria Lui - Fashion Design Department

Maria Lui completed her fashion training in the mid 80's and has been working solidly in the fashion industry ever since. Maria started with Zozo Designs as range coordinator and patternmaker and quickly moved up to designer and marketing coordinator. She has also worked and designed for Headworx and Voodoo Dolls Clothing Pty Ltd. Along with design role in these companies,Maria was responsible for liaising with local and international suppliers and was involved with production processes. Maria has a diploma of Business (Marketing) where she is able to apply her day to day skills within the fashion workroom to the sales and business side of the fashion industry.

Maria has acquired many years of experience in the fashion industry in a variety of areas such as women's, men's and children's clothing, working for international companies such as Billabong and Fila and local surfwear label Brothers Neilsen. Maria has extensive knowledge about the surf and swimwear markets. Currently Maria is helping to set up the Lisa Blue Swimwear label as freelance designer, patternmaker and coordinator.

Having a background in both Marketing and Fashion Design Maria possesses both the creative and business ability to develop and guide students into their target market and has experience and knowledge in importing from countries such as China and India. Maria has won a number of industry awards such as Gold Coast Swimwear Awards, Wild Design Awards and Australian Wool Corporation Awards which are great additions to an already impressive resume.

Cristina Quintas - Interior Design Department

Cristina Quintas is a well-known interior designer and style guru, best known for her captivating vision on interiors. Crissie has over 13 years industry experience within the design industry and is a member of the Australian Design Institute; she is currently residing on the Gold Coast, Australia. Crissie has given a refreshing and new approach of design & lifestyle experiences for many nationally recognized projects. Crissie has designed select offices, restaurants, retail environments and residences for a high-profile clientele. Currently, she is preparing the lifestyle and design experiences for a major hotel group, which are underway in the Australia.

Crissie is well recognized for her interior design work in the aged care sector. She is renowned for her distinctive style, attention to detail, and her personal approach with people. Her, award-winning interior designer is not only highly regarded among her peers, but she is also widely recognized in the press.  Crissie has been a judge in several Interior design competition and graded works produced by some of the country's most renowned design collages.

She is a great mentor and true professional, constantly progressing with trends while keeping a current and innovative perspective. Crissie has trained and educated many designers on the fundamental foundations of interior design, while encouraging them to maintain and express their individual perspective on how one should shape and influence a space.

Cristina Quintas has teamed up with the Design Academy to prepare you to take on the world as a creative interior designer. She will provide you with all the necessary skills, knowledge and contacts for you to create state of the art interiors.

Paul Phillips - Photography Department

Paul Phillips is a Professional Photographer and Trainer at the Academy of Design - Gold Coast Robina. Paul offers 15 years of professional Photography Services and continues his professional and creative development through the Academy of Design. Pauls training experience runs deep providing expert tuition and career guidance, as well as networking opportunities and industry know how to his many students in his training of the Diploma of Photo Imaging, Photoshop, Intro to Photography Course, and Cert IV in Photo Imaging

Martin Rawlinson - Graphic Arts / Multimedia Department

Martin Rawlinson has been working in the website, graphic, print and multimedia design and development business since the year 2000. On a day to day basis he runs his own website and graphic design agency which has developed a solid reputation for providing creative solutions for businesses from across all sectors. Work has involved such things as developing logos and brand solutions, producing intuitive design for both print and web, developing websites that actually meet client's requirements and providing complete marketing solutions and advice.

Martin lectures on a part time basis in Graphic Arts and Multimedia for the Academy of Design and enjoys sharing his wealth of knowledge and years of experience with aspiring students.

Kiki Frietas - Graphic Arts / Multimedia Department

Kiki Katahanas is a passionate and creative illustrator and designer who brings a broad range of skills to the Academy as a specialist consultant for the graphic arts department. Kiki is very experienced in all aspects of the design world, with a strong knowledge and understanding of graphic design, web design, illustration and print industry. Having worked with local, national and international clients across a range of different sectors and within the design teams of internationally recognized companies such as Brave Art, Aussie Spirit, Billabong and Earth Nymph Design, she is now the creative director of her own successful business.

Kiki has always been actively involved in the art and design community, having worked in projects such as the Open:Space Exhibition in Brisbane Australia, Brave Art Exhibition in Whistler Canada and the Ulysses Link Sculpture Park in Mission Beach Australia. She believes in all forms of creative expression and loves any excuse to get into a project hands on.

Kiki is a qualified graphic designer and teacher having her Bachelor of Design Majoring in Graphic Design and her Certificate IV in Training & Assessment. She has always had a strong creative mind and is a great visual communicator and enjoys learning new things and working with other inspired individuals. With these skill sets it seemed only natural to team up with the Academy to train and share her wealth of knowledge and years of experience with aspiring graphic artists of the Academy of Design

Jed Cahill – Graphic Arts / Multimedia Department

Festival Director/ Teacher/ Producer/ Director (not enough). Jed is the creator and director of In The Bin Film Festival which has grown in size and strength since he started it back in 1999. Before then he was a frustrated actor, who turned into a frustrated director, who turned into a frustrated festival director, but everyone knows a festival director is just a frustrated musician…

In 2003 Jed Cahill stared his Education Program to coincide with the In The Bin Touring Festival, since then Jed has taught over 5,000 students in regional Australia the skills of making short films. He has produced over 900 short films in the workshops, and has traveled to almost every corner of Australia.

Jed Cahill is currently typing up his Bio. Other than that he is developing new strands of education to implement into the Academy of Design to focus on stronger film and video production. He is also working on community heritage documentary projects. In between this Jed is also jumping back into the Directors seat working on his own first short film in eight years. .