In 2008 I was offered an opportunity to use my set building skills to build a desert scape for a stage at the Qatar National Theatre for one of Qatar’s National Day events (it’s a big thing there). This led to my obtaining government tenders to design and produce décor for various events from the Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events Centre from 2010 through to 2017.

This change of focus from the film industry to events was relatively intuitive considering my set-building experience and connections in the South African set-building community.

The budgets for these projects ranged from QAR 755,440.00 (ZAR 3,677,482) up to QAR 3,400,000.00 (R 16,551,200.00).

Every job was run as a pop-up company and every job was profitable with all but one coming in under budget. The budgets for all of these jobs was fixed once agreed upon and any losses or gains were to my account.

Roles held: décor designer and construction/project manager. Responsible for the design, budgeting, scheduling, day to day project management, human resources and outsourcing.