Meet our team

Kate Bromhead 

Kate has been part of the design industry for 25 years, working in both commercial and residential settings. This abundance of experience has led to staging and styling homes, which she has been doing for the past five years.

Kate has worked with clients from some of New Zealand's most expensive properties, those on the strictest of budgets, and many in between. She enjoys the variety of tastes and styles and is particularly drawn to unique art, and eclectic pieces and collections. 

Kate is also a mother, navigating teen girls and an old villa renovation. She loves the sea and sunshine and enjoys camping, sailing, and the odd glass of wine. If it isn't obvious in her work, Kate has an affinity for green and a fondness of her villa's courtyard garden, which ultimately sold her the quaint old property with 100 stairs. This garden is where you can find her when she is trying to stop thinking about design.  

Kate thoroughly relishes working closely with clients to transform a space and is a self-confessed perfectionist. Seeing her client's delight in the end result is her driving factor. 

 

Shara Cutler

Shara is very new to the design and staging business, having spent 25 years working in the corporate world, specialising in electronics, liquor, and, most recently, the supermarket game. Her entry into interiors and staging was entirely accidental. Kate had staged a home that Shara later bought. The two became friends who went on to enjoy the occasional glass of wine together. One day, over said glasses of wine, it was their partners who suggested they go into business together. Shara focuses on the back end of the business and tends to leave all creative elements up to Kate.

As a latecomer to motherhood, Shara has a gorgeous 'nearly 3' year-old who keeps her on her toes and who she claims to share an attention span with (not true!). Shara loves the beach, travelling and has a minor passion for wine and dining out. 

Helping to set up Ivy Design has been rewarding for Shara. She initially professes not being able to put two cushions together on a couch. However, she now has an opinion but leaves all the big design calls up to Kate. 

 

Ivy Design, formerly called 'Designer Staging', was born out of a combination of experience, passion, and a great friendship.