Jaz Sandalli

Jaz is a Team Leader for the EMEA business unit, where she consults on theatre design and project management.

I’m a team leader for TC EMEA, which means that I am the main project contact for our various design disciplines and for the wider client and design team. The most important part of my job is communication, and more often than not that means finding a way to articulate the brief of the project and what we need to carry it out, but also to ensure the end users are getting what they need from the design. My favourite part of the job is untangling that brief when it’s not straightforward, and in using my background in theatre and broadcast to show what’s possible.

What Does Great Design or Experience Mean to You

It’s often simpler than you think. Great design takes care of the details that the users don’t want to have to worry about on a daily basis, while giving them the tools to mould the space as they need it. You notice bad design more than you notice good design in a performance space!I also love design that repurpose existing spaces, or refurbish old venues. Partly because it’s more environmentally sustainable than creating more material, more waste etc; but also because there are so many brilliant structures that deserve a new lease of life. My favourite spaces tend to do a good job of preserving a bit of the history while making it work for the future.

What We Won’t Learn from Your CV

That, despite working in theatre and broadcasting all my life, my real love is live sports and live music! I really do believe that live sports are a kind of theatre, complete with drama and storytelling and human connection, and my favourite way to spend my spare time is either watching Queens Park Rangers FC or some good noisy metal bands. I’m proud to be working class, and there are few modes of storytelling more working class than football and rock 🙂

Cultural Value You Most Identify With

I try to bring all of them into my work, but the one I feel most passionate about is our Environmental Focus. Having been part of the Blue Team for the last two years I’ve really enjoyed working towards making our designs and processes more sustainable, learned about ways we can reduce our carbon footprint both as an organisation and as individuals, and finding ways to inspire others to do the same. I also strongly believe that equity, diversity and inclusion go hand in hand with sustainability and improving our efforts in one can only help the other. We create spaces for humans and humans should be the ones that most benefit.