Iwan Sunito / CEO-One Global Capital. Architect. Creative. Builder

$100 Million in sales IN ONE HOUR

From sleeping on bags of rice in the jungles of Kalimantan to reshaping Sydney’s skyline, Iwan Sunito’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. 

A visionary in real estate, Iwan turned challenges into billion-dollar opportunities, proving that setbacks are just setups for comebacks. 

As founder and CEO of One Global Capital, he's pioneered the concept of "urban resort living" while creating award-winning architecture that engages the head, heart, and spirit.

One of his signature projects, Infinity by Crown, became one of Sydney’s most recognizable buildings, known for its breathtaking ribbon-like design. The development set a record when it sold $100 million worth of units in just one hour and a total of $385m in 5 hours.

In this episode, he shares his insights on resilience, innovation, and the future of architecture. This is a must-listen for entrepreneurs, dreamers, and anyone looking to build something remarkable.

Key Takeaways:

• How resilience and reinvention drive success
• The future of modular construction and real estate
• Why design matters in shaping cities
• Lessons from surviving financial downturns
• The mindset of a visionary leader

Link: One Global Capital

Paul Povolni, the founder of Voppa Creative, has been a creative leader for over 30 years, with clients around the world. He’s led teams in creating award-winning branding and design as well as equipping his clients to lead with Clarity, Creativity and Culture.

Headsmack Website

Transcript

Paul Povolni (20:45.52)
Hey, welcome to the Headsmack podcast. My name is Paul Povolni and I have another misfit with me today. We are joined by a visionary who's reshaped Australia's property landscape. He wants a Nitto and as the founder and the CEO of One Global Capital, he's built an empire of award-winning developments across Sydney and beyond blending innovation, luxury and bold design. From his early days as an architect to leading one of the country's most recognized real estate brands.

Iwan has been driven by relentless pursuit of excellence, but beyond business, he's deeply committed to mentorship and philanthropy and empowering the next generation of leaders. And this conversation will uncover the mindset challenges and game changing decisions that have defined his journey. Iwan welcome. How you doing, man?

Iwan (21:36.199)
I'm good, I'm good. It's good to see an Aussie across the other side of the world.

Paul Povolni (21:40.918)
Yeah, yeah, it's good to see you again. It's been a few years since we've been together. I think the last time we were together was in Melbourne. We had dinner together and that's been a couple of years. And so it's finally great to meet up with you and connect with you again, even across all these oceans using technology.

Iwan (22:00.445)
And that's wonderful. Thanks for having me too. mean, Paul, I think you're doing a great job in your head smack podcast. mean, that's a great name, head smack.

Paul Povolni (22:08.784)
Yeah, because, you know, it came from the idea that these aha moments, these head smacks that we sometimes have where, you know, maybe it's an obvious answer, maybe it's a new answer, but something that just makes it us go, wow, I hadn't thought of that. wow, that's so obvious. And so I believe in this conversation, we're going to have a lot of those because you've got an amazing story. And I'm excited to get into it and talk about it. But before we get into what you're doing now, which is, know, you're basically re

Iwan (22:13.865)
I you.

Paul Povolni (22:38.388)
shaping the skyline of Sydney with some of the most amazing architecture. And so I want to talk about that. But I also want to kind of talk about your origin story. Where did Iwan start? And you can go as far back as would be relevant, but I want to hear a little bit about your backstory.

Iwan (22:57.599)
I think if you analyze my story, mean, it's a somebody who grew up in the jungle of Kalimantan. mean, with the forest on the back of the house with monkeys, orangutan and very famous orangutan and rehabilitation that's visited by Julia Roberts in Bangkalanbun. You probably don't know where the place is, but it's a place where Asia kind of disappear in one of that disaster. And so I grew up in there and I think my journey

It's about a comeback story, somebody who's struggling at high school or the school's day and managed to come back and do well. then we send to Sydney, despite the fact that I failed in one of the year and my mom and dad just continued to have faith in their children. And that was just this great story of, you know, like you don't give up on people that you love and, and you put one saying, you can do better. And I kind of find my

Paul Povolni (23:49.369)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (23:52.425)
The thing that I think what I love about the positivity of culture in Australia where, you can do better, mate. mean, it was like, and the ability to actually question things and say why, mean, why one plus one is one. And suddenly I kind of found that my entrepreneurship, I think in a way that I don't really like to be told by people, but when somebody believing in me and keep believing like my mom, my wife, and who said, look, hey, you can do better next year. And that's where I found my path and slowly building up.

Small business with a $50,000 turnover in the first year and from my sun room turning that business. Second year later, I put together five million dollars capital. Did our first development in Bondi Junction back in 1996. eight, twenty fifty four units, twenty eight million dollar job, 14 story building and five million dollars and continue to grow that business through crisis of the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

through the 2004 New South Wales recession, economic recession that we have, and then through the 2008 global financial crisis, and then the biggest of all COVID-19. And by that time, the business had actually grown massively and was recognized to be one of the largest private property developer in the country. And then the smack bang moment where you get hit with this business split and you're like an octopus where...

Paul Povolni (25:01.807)
Yeah.

Iwan (25:17.363)
wow, you lost your arm and you didn't realize you still have seven arms and you thought that you lost it all. And that was an interesting journey of almost going through the valley of really probably the valley of depression and managed to come back again six months later and pick up the fight in 2023 and win the unwinnable war and just grow the business and rebrand the whole business to one global capital. And now we're doing big job.

Paul Povolni (25:20.848)
Right, right.

Iwan (25:46.505)
that are far bigger than what I thought that I've lost. I thought I could never do that. So rebranding, repositioning, and then just really just keep fighting and learning how to survive for another day. mean, as long as you can live and just hang on there and fight for another day, because the next day, it's almost, it's a journey that it may not be you making the smartest decision, but it was more your enemy making the wrong decision. But if you just keep, hang on there, keep fighting and don't give up, you'll get there. So.

Paul Povolni (25:49.933)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (26:16.095)
So that's where it is now and moving forward seven years from now going public vision. mean, with a six job that is in a three in a hand and three to go and really looking at listing the company with a five billion enterprise value, 20 to 31. And Wapping is one of the initiatives that we have, which is really a robotized prefab hotel construction across the whole world, only building it for ourselves.

Paul Povolni (26:16.173)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (26:35.662)
Wow, wow.

Iwan (26:46.119)
in New York, I mean, that's really probably the dream moving forward.

Paul Povolni (26:49.474)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, before we, before we get into some of that, I do want to kind of go a little bit back on your backstory is you mentioned that when you came to Australia, you entered entrepreneurship. Did somebody in your family, were they an entrepreneur? Where did you get that motivation or that idea as opposed to just getting a job like everybody else?

Iwan (27:08.735)
I think it's kind of like dad is an entrepreneur, mom is always an entrepreneur. But I never really thought about wanting initially to be a businessman. fact, I thought, to my mom one day, look, I think I'd be happy enough if I could just make a living and be a happy person. And my mom says to dad, gee, mean, our son's vision is too small.

Paul Povolni (27:34.09)
hahahaha

Iwan (27:35.327)
But whatever you said, that never really pushed us. But I think what dad did in the early day, Paul, like it's almost like dragging me from school. Like we always stay with dad still doing business in his small store in the jungle of Kalimantan. And it was just a grocery store selling clothes, fabrics, tools for construction, plywood timbers and the like.

And we have to be, we're stuck on the back of the room and sleeping over the rice bag. And then dinner time, lunch time, we don't have Nintendo PlayStation or the tiny thing in the past. Like we get dragged into a meeting with his business friend from Korea, from Malaysia. And dad only graduated from high school, but that was really interesting that it was that kind of rub on me that I learned to grow with the biggest of the biggest businessmen and don't really feel insecure at all.

Paul Povolni (28:05.337)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (28:16.666)
Wow.

Iwan (28:30.527)
So I think without, but they kind of always said, look, no, you focus on your study when you finish that, then, then you focus on your business. But really right now, don't worry about your business was just focus on your study. So I think it was, um, it was, it was there. think the DNA is there. think that business men were very, smart business men in his village. I mean, I had to qualify that, right. Uh, he was the biggest businessman in his town and he.

Paul Povolni (28:31.066)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (28:46.607)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (28:52.589)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (28:56.799)
He was connected with some of the Korean tympaticoons that came to Kalimantan to do his work. Later on, then he moved to Surabaya, but he was already preparing us while he was in the village, preparing us to go to Sydney to study because he thought that there's a bigger world, better world out there in Australia. he did. That was like 1984. Yeah, we were sent to Australia.

Paul Povolni (29:04.932)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (29:17.348)
Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing that he brought you into those meetings.

Iwan (29:25.373)
I think that was amazing, it? Like, it's almost like dad never really tell us what to do, but he show us what to do.

Paul Povolni (29:31.458)
Yeah. Yeah. And by bringing you into those meetings too, you got to see the backside of business. Sometimes they're not pretty side, but also the real side of business as opposed to the, the glamorous, you know, outside that might, some people might see. And so that was pretty wise of him to bring you in to those meetings, even, even when you were young.

Iwan (29:52.863)
Yeah, think now, nowadays I kind of realized that you can't really achieve what you can't conceive. So in other words, that you can talk about it till you blow yourself like you kind of saying, mean, you're not listening. No, because they haven't seen it yet. And there was never a time where I told my people that we are an urban resort developer. And, and I kept talking about the light, the color and the whole thing, and they were listening to me. after three or four years, I realized that I really had do not know what I mean. So.

Paul Povolni (29:59.407)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (30:08.814)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (30:23.033)
Yeah.

Iwan (30:23.071)
I was in Bali one time, I was in Bali and I said, guys, how are you going? Fly tomorrow to Bali. The next three days they were in Bali and they, ah, now I understand what you mean about the urban resort. You see how the French are panting, the lighting, the dark mood, the color, the whole essential thing to create an urban resort was what makes me me. But now they now see what they can, what I'm in from there on. 10 years later, they always remember that journey.

Paul Povolni (30:33.796)
Ha ha ha ha.

Paul Povolni (30:48.772)
Right.

Paul Povolni (30:52.622)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (30:52.639)
Of course they end up hanging out at the club by the way, bar and all. They enjoy that trip because of that mo, the Aussie. They'll get a little beer and they'll be happy with that.

Paul Povolni (31:00.918)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, so so, you know, you went from the jungle to to Sydney, Australia, very different, you know, very different culture, very different way of life. And so you went to study, is that right?

Iwan (31:21.343)
Yes, I was sent to study my year 12 there. That was 1984. That was quite a while ago. 40 years ago, 41.

Paul Povolni (31:24.816)
Mm-hmm.

Paul Povolni (31:29.58)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so you graduated from high school and then you went to, what happened next after high school?

Iwan (31:40.615)
And then I did my Bachelor of Architecture and that was, despite the really slow setback, I managed to get an Honours degree and being awarded as the best designer. And then the year after, while I was doing work and doing private work, I did a Master of Construction Management in New South Wales University also. So then I finished that one thing, finished my thesis and I set up my business after that.

Paul Povolni (32:07.802)
So where did you get this passion for architecture? that's, you know, coming from a jungle and coming from your dad having a grocery store. That's very, you know, all of those, you don't really think about architecture a whole lot, or did you think about it? Was there something that inspired you into that area?

Iwan (32:21.659)
Well, not know, but I think during the early year of the high school, I began to develop passion and drawing and craftsmanship. When I look back in a pool, think it was just dad was cutting timbers for the roof, the shingle roof for a house. When I grew up in Surabaya, was entrusted to my grandfather's home. We lived there for about three years before dad moved to Surabaya.

Paul Povolni (32:30.159)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (32:38.412)
Iwan (32:49.651)
My grandfather was very famous in making the antique Chinese furniture that was, know, the pieces where the pockets are being, are slided into pieces. So over there, I grew up with the smell of polyurethane, the smell of plywood, the smell of the liquor and all this alcohol. And you learn how to cut in precision. And I was getting really good at it. I'm enjoying that part of craftsmanship.

Paul Povolni (32:55.404)
wow.

Paul Povolni (33:04.186)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (33:11.855)
Wow.

Iwan (33:18.495)
creating something and just really creating this cut. Remember the old day where you cut the plywood and you create the wood or some key word there and you furnish that. was that. And I think that was part of it, but I've always loved architecture. But I did want to design. Actually, the one that I really was more passionate about was actually aeroplane.

Paul Povolni (33:30.703)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (33:43.241)
wow.

Iwan (33:43.615)
exactly your F-14, F-15, F-22. I draw all of that machine. can draw and I'm quite good at drawing that aeroplane and understand the whole concept. When I said all of them to my level, they run and I wanted to do aeronautical engineer, but then I thought, gee, what am going to do after that really? I mean, we're going to work with crew. And I think that was limited vision that I have. I could have done it. I probably would be setting up jet fighter and the like, but

Paul Povolni (33:48.824)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (34:06.894)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (34:12.25)
Hahaha

Iwan (34:12.947)
So I decided to just do architecture because I thought I wanted to write my own business one day. And I did. I did my architecture.

Paul Povolni (34:17.336)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And so when you graduated from, from, sorry, what was that?

Iwan (34:25.791)
I'm still passionate about aeroplanes and I'm hoping one day I can fly into the F-22 and play for it.

Paul Povolni (34:31.338)
wow. It'll happen, man. It'll happen. so, you know, after you graduated from your studies, did you go straight into entrepreneurship? Did you get a job? Like, what was what was that like when you graduated?

Iwan (34:44.735)
I actually started to do a lot of work for my auntie my uncle to do their fences, garages houses, and my own bathroom. And so I'm already starting the entrepreneurship right from year three. And I did that. so I was already on the path of creating that work and that business. Sorry. How many minutes?

Paul Povolni (34:59.886)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (35:09.456)
That's okay.

Iwan (35:13.759)
It'll in 30 minutes, What time? 30 minutes?

Paul Povolni (35:32.878)
You're muted.

Iwan (35:35.975)
Okay.

Paul Povolni (35:36.645)
Alright.

Iwan (35:39.869)
Yeah, so where were we?

Paul Povolni (35:42.378)
You were sharing about how you got into, you were doing fences and garages and everything else in year three. And we're talking about your next step into heading in the direction that you went into.

Iwan (35:56.115)
Yeah. So after the, my master degree, kind of landed my first big house in Rose Bay, more of the upmarket area. That was also my auntie, which has moved from Hong Kong. And I did the house and then later on about two or three years later, I built up my own construction company. And then at the same time, I was also building my property development company. But

I've always wanted to become a property developer. was inspired by your American guy, by the name of John Podman. He's a designer, he built that hotel. And I said, like, I would love to just design and build it myself rather than designing for somebody else. Again, stubbornness and don't really want to be ruled by someone and want to just be created by myself. all, yeah, so that's a journey. And then in 1994, I set up

Paul Povolni (36:28.118)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Paul Povolni (36:36.494)
Yeah, yeah.

Ha ha ha.

Iwan (36:48.121)
first architecture business by the Joshua International Architects. Seven years later, I grew up to about 15 people and then I bring the whole division together into one of these Crown Group company. But in 1996, I commenced my first property development, raising up $5 million capital and from again, from my auntie, my uncle that I did the work for and it's kind of lesson in life. Big trust come from small trust.

Paul Povolni (37:12.389)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Iwan (37:16.447)
I'm glad that I did that house and garages and fences and bathroom where I forget to put waterproofing foam and you learn that it gets that small like you will never become an expert overnight. You're just going to have to prototype a lot of things. And I'm glad that I didn't do it for 2000 units because otherwise would be a mistake. 40,000 units making a mistake of a thousand is 20 million dollars mistakes. The 20 bathroom mistakes is full $5,000 that you can redo.

Paul Povolni (37:22.212)
Hahaha

Paul Povolni (37:32.416)
Right, right. Right.

Iwan (37:44.959)
So that was a bit of the journey. But 1996 I set up this, call it the startup called Crown Group, and I raised the $5 million and I was one of the three directors. And we grow that business for about the next eight years from the first $28 million job to then in eight years, we have about a billion dollars in the pipeline. And then the recession hits New South Wales in 2004 and the...

job didn't grow, the business didn't grow for the next three or four years, which is actually a blessing in disguise because in 2007, 2008, the whole economy, like the whole global finance crisis. So I think there was that period of time that I call, I think I'd like to call it a divine deceleration. It was actually being slowed down for a purpose. In 2007, 2008, we were quite cast up and we bought massive number of development, almost about a billion dollars of

Paul Povolni (38:20.676)
Right, right, right.

Paul Povolni (38:31.951)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (38:41.189)
of cross-relation relations in value within a year. And from there on, the business has grew as if there is no border to the business. But they disappeared at a moment in 2004 during the recession of New South Wales. That's where I kind of learned to create my own identity. I become, I set up this pathway to create an urban resource development. So it's almost a five-star hotel concept.

Paul Povolni (38:50.286)
Yeah, wow. Wow.

Paul Povolni (39:06.084)
Hmm.

Iwan (39:08.381)
in residential development is your OS's, your home. And I remember during that 2004 crisis, we grew like, because we just couldn't build enough building to contain the demand. we sandwiched everybody in the office in that 350 square meter office. And then two years later, we moved to the city. took a thousand square meter floor plate. And then 2008 happened, the global crisis, but we have established our brand and the team.

Paul Povolni (39:20.048)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (39:23.438)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (39:33.392)
Right, right.

Iwan (39:37.873)
In 2008, moving from 100, 200 million dollar building, we're starting to move into a 500 million dollar development site as a cross-releasing value. And we've had a fortune since 2004 all the way until the, I guess, until the COVID-19, 2009. But we have been, we were stable. have we have stabilized the business and we were really low leverage as a business. So we were able to weather that.

Paul Povolni (39:55.926)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Iwan (40:07.465)
COVID-19 and not even losing any of our staff during that time.

Paul Povolni (40:12.304)
That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, one of the things that I remember when we had dinner in Melbourne is you pulled out your iPad and you showed me some new stuff that was happening. And of course now that stuff has been built. One of the things that I've admired about you for a long time is your design aesthetic, your love for great design. And the buildings that you've built in Sydney, like I had mentioned in the opening, are extremely iconic. They've changed the cityscape.

you know, that, you know, they, they are, are, are pieces of artwork. Where did it, did that come all the way back from you being that little doodler, that little sketcher from as a young guy that you love design as much as, practicality.

Iwan (40:56.415)
There was a journey, you like it didn't begin in the first year because you didn't have the brand and you were not being able to sell the product as fast as you want it to be. And I think you got to be realistic. Like when you start, you're going to have to be Hyundai as a car. Like slowly, hopefully you become Honda and then one day you become Tesla or Toyota or Lexus, right? And Mercedes. So, but it was a journey of really building.

Paul Povolni (41:16.697)
Right.

Iwan (41:23.263)
economical but beautiful building, but nothing iconic, nothing timeless in the first eight years. And then as you gain the confidence, the practicality of development and the brand recognition of a time limit. And then I'm starting to push that in about 10 years into the business where I thought, how do we create timeless architecture? know, I thought about that buildings that were designed.

Paul Povolni (41:37.176)
Right? Right.

Paul Povolni (41:47.653)
Yeah.

Iwan (41:51.015)
Often we design it for 50 years because we think that after 50 years it actually has value, less value. But then I thought, hang on, timeless architecture in the world becomes precious with age. So was it really the construction technology? Was it really to do with the color and the fabric? I guess from there, being an architect, I kind of realized that it was not so much. I mean, it's nice to be the first leading.

Paul Povolni (42:02.968)
Right, right, right.

Iwan (42:17.449)
building in technology things because people remember that, right? But it was really more about the experience of space, that how do you engage the space that hits the head, the heart and the spirit of human being and that sort of three dimension of a human being. So I'm beginning to look at ways to create an experience into my building. So my building is something that to be like, there's a lot of wow. It's not just wow, right?

Paul Povolni (42:23.909)
Right.

Paul Povolni (42:30.277)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (42:42.626)
Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

Iwan (42:45.799)
wow wow and then you wow

Paul Povolni (42:50.84)
Yeah. And I'm going to try and add those, some of those photographs of some of those buildings to the YouTube video. This is both an audio and a video podcast. So I will add some of those photographs that will truly wow, well, those who watch the video.

Iwan (43:05.251)
Okay,

Paul Povolni (43:12.194)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah.

Paul Povolni (43:20.59)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that.

Iwan (43:34.779)
It was almost how he engaged the sensory of human being. So great architecture of the world. mean, if you look at the Japanese architecture, for instance, you go into a room by bowing down into the veil, right? The bowing down and it goes into us. Like you go into a smaller section, then it exploded into a big space and then it goes smaller again. Some of the great architects in the world like Kerry Hill, the legendary Australian architect who built his business in Singapore, who designed most of the Amman Hotel in the world.

Paul Povolni (43:38.925)
Right.

Iwan (44:04.435)
We're a great creator of that space. So I learn, I travel around the world and see amazing architecture and see that. But there's also that design that hits the head, that is the intellectual level. It's a, wow, that was clever. Like there's something that's clever. But it also engages the heart of human being. This is what some building makes you happy. Some building makes you depressed, right? Some building just makes you, I hate it. And when I have...

Paul Povolni (44:07.29)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (44:19.566)
Right, right.

Iwan (44:32.317)
people walking through like Art by Crown in Sydney, where they said, I don't know why I like this building, but this building makes me happy. There was the emotion of human being. But there's also about the inspiration of the spirit, the spirit that can do spirit, that when people said, this is just the almost the super, the highest experience of all, because not every building gets you that goosebumps, right? Some buildings, yeah, it's clever.

Paul Povolni (44:40.334)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (44:58.841)
Right, right.

Iwan (45:01.087)
Good technology, good construction, nice place, but it didn't get you goosebumps. said, oh my God, that was amazing. And that is to do with architecture, but also to do with height. So I bring all my residents, the people that live in our building to a common area on the highest floor, because there's something about height that people don't realize it's quite spiritual. And I think this is probably why

Paul Povolni (45:03.47)
Right.

Paul Povolni (45:09.028)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (45:27.62)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (45:29.609)
People talk about going to the mountain to pray, right? We do not go to the valley to pray, but we go up to the mountain to pray because there's something about height that somehow fits the spirit of human beings. So my architecture is very egalitarian, in other words, accessible to everybody. The most amazing, amazing space of all does not belong to the privilege of the last penthouse. It belongs to everybody in my building because I designed building to be quite egalitarian that my customers are very wealthy people that do not want to be

Paul Povolni (45:32.237)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (45:38.799)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (45:51.694)
Yeah.

Iwan (45:59.593)
feeling, or they don't feel their privilege, they feel their bless and they don't want to be showing themselves that they are richer than somebody else. But they know, they know they have the wealth, but it was more of those architecture, accessibility, but also a sense of ownership. So that's what, I think that's what probably what people like about our building in a public, because I said to them, if all they say that's E1's building, that's one global capital building, I have failed my task.

Paul Povolni (46:04.132)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (46:16.558)
Right.

Paul Povolni (46:28.045)
Right, right.

Iwan (46:28.959)
But if they said, that's my building, that's our building, that's powerful. Because then they're not just saying my architecture is part of us. Well, it's another building that was designed and built by one global capital. But they say, let's go to that place here because that's really an amazing city building that we can get together. So a sense of belonging is powerful and not inclusiveness because inclusiveness often is more about people feeling superior. Let me include you. Who are you?

Paul Povolni (46:34.222)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (46:49.038)
Right.

Paul Povolni (46:56.653)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (46:58.739)
Who are you to say that? mean, good you. But when people said, look, you know what? This is our building. They feel like, wow. Then I think I've done my part. So you start seeing my architecture brings the public, the private space together. Like Green Square is a place where people come through our building. They're no longer a gated community where you see it. I think if you look at the example, some of the great architecture in the world, like Sydney Opera House, I mean, some of the architecture in the world, like in Northern Europe where

Paul Povolni (47:15.096)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (47:27.903)
you experience the building. You're no longer seeing it, but you journey and you walk into the building and you're part of that building. And that's really when people say, that's when I feel like I think we are successful as a property developer of our architectural building industry.

Paul Povolni (47:29.956)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (47:43.886)
Yeah, I love that. And one of the things that I've said often is, is excellence ignites enthusiasm, ignites evangelism. And, you know, and that's what I believe you're doing. And what you just shared is when you do things with excellence, it, it ignites enthusiasm. You can't avoid it. You have an excellent experience. You get enthusiastic about it, whether it's at a restaurant, whether it's in a building, whether it's with some sort of a brand, when you encounter excellence,

Iwan (47:50.911)
Paul Povolni (48:11.204)
You get enthusiastic and when you're enthusiastic about something, you evangelize about it. And so, you know, it's not something that you have to force people to do. They each ignite the other. And that's what it sounds like is happening to your buildings is because of the excellence, people get enthusiastic about it. And because they're enthusiastic about it, they evangelize or tell others about it and say, you know, come see this building that is built with excellence. And I love that about what you're doing.

Iwan (48:38.079)
I like that one, Paul, because it comes natural, isn't it? When you're inspired and you tell the whole world. I mean, met in one of my top-ranked developments, 650 units over a 60,000 square meter shopping center. I bumped into these doctors, families, doctors, and the lady, the wife, the mother was kind of, I said, hey, by the way, I'm Iwan Sunito. And I shake her hand and she shake my hand. She said, I know you. I said, thank you. I said, do you mind telling the whole world about my building?

Don't worry about it. We are bringing everybody to our building. my God, your building is better than the perspective in your brochure. And that was really, it was almost inspiring. And of course it sets me alive too. Like it says on fire, they were. And you know the funny thing about that building, there's nothing iconic about that building. It was more about plenty of trees, garden and trees, mature trees, that instant jungle. Cause nobody can say that they don't like trees, right? So it was.

Paul Povolni (49:08.88)
hahahaha

Paul Povolni (49:21.87)
Right, right, right.

Paul Povolni (49:36.024)
Right, right.

Iwan (49:36.723)
But it was the way that the space is coordinated, you journey the whole space and you meander the whole space, the pocket of spaces within that. they become my greatest ambassador. But one of the influencer, like very famous television presenter said, I could be your brand ambassador. And I thought to myself, no, my building is my brand ambassador. I don't know the world. So that's probably why we had.

Paul Povolni (49:48.531)
hahahaha

Paul Povolni (50:01.858)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Iwan (50:05.023)
movies like Married at the First Sight being filmed in our building for the last two seasons. Now they're going for next year. And we now have movie Disney World directors staying in our building because they hated to stay somewhere else because they come. They brought in all the superstars in our building. of course, we pretend that we do not know them. Of course, we know them. I just pretend when I go there. Sorry, sir, what's your name? I know you're part of that Bumblebee studio.

Paul Povolni (50:24.974)
You

Iwan (50:34.943)
the crazy rotation movie guy and we just pretend that we don't know. It's like the Sully crew and well, of I've watched you guys there but we had a policy that I think, you know, like it's almost like Jensen Franklin, pastor Jensen Franklin that he makes sure that any of his guests do not feel they're being different. They're just being one of many, you know. And I think that's important. He appreciated everybody. That's because they're super famous or anything. You appreciate the fact that anyone that stays with us is

Paul Povolni (50:55.034)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Iwan (51:04.668)
is special for us.

Paul Povolni (51:06.318)
Yeah. Well, one of the things that I love about your buildings, it's almost like you've gone past where buildings kind of went for a while is where they became basically gray boxes, you know, and, you're you've kind of gone back to a previous era where buildings were these things of grandeur and majesty and beauty. And it's almost, it's kind of similar to what, you know, even Steve Jobs did with computers. You know, they were all beige boxes for the longest time.

It was beige box after beige box after beige box. And then he came and said, you know what? It doesn't need to be a beige box. It doesn't have to be. You're using metal, you're using wires, you're using circuits. Why, why are we using the exact same materials all the time in the same way? You know, why not do something different aesthetically? And it sounds like that's kind of what you're doing with your buildings is you're going back to a time when buildings

had were these things of beauty, these things of grandeur, these things of elegance, these things that were worthy of paintings, you know.

Iwan (52:13.513)
That's actually fascinating, isn't it? I've been blessed working with the Japanese architecture architects like Kengo Kuma and Koichi Takada, and they kind of helped me. build them, but they also build me to some extent. And it's something about the Japanese approach to artwork that they in their thinking that the absence of everything is perfection. In other words, that if you can remove all the pieces and there's nothing else to remove, to be able to be removed, then that's a perfect thing.

Paul Povolni (52:25.146)
Yeah.

Iwan (52:43.367)
And I think that was something that is powerful, Paul, because most of us is trying to do things that are complex, right? We try to come out with a building that are different, like where we are approaching things differently, because I love this statement from a friend of mine. mean, and he said that you don't have to be different to be good, because when you're good, you are different. So in other words, just focus on being good.

Paul Povolni (52:55.235)
Right.

Paul Povolni (53:09.453)
I that, yeah.

Iwan (53:11.569)
Really good. And when you look at our architecture, they're simple, like a brush strokes of one stroke. Sydney Opera House is a sail form. If you look at Silhouette building, and now if you look at the most wonderful building in the world, like Eiffel Tower or whatever that may be, they're simple. They're very iconic because our brain, our brain really can't think beyond three. Like the moment that we go beyond three, we really just

Paul Povolni (53:18.03)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (53:22.082)
As a silhouette, yeah.

Iwan (53:41.001)
don't remember it anymore. But one is powerful. One with the three supporting to one is always powerful. I mean, I mean, if, mean, it's, it's how our brain function like you will do it. I mean, that was the three Musketeers, the spirit, the, the, the mind and the body that anything beyond three becomes complicated. So when you look at architecture, it's one thing with three elements that supporting that one thing, it could be the base, the architecture and the experience. And that's it really.

Paul Povolni (53:54.521)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (54:10.463)
So if you look at Infinity, we're one global research hotel that's doing 99.9 % occupancy right now. It was like, I mean, you never have a hotel at 99.9 % occupancy. I you'd be lucky to do 75 to 85%, right? But it was just with this, that master stroke of genius of wrapping the whole building with a ribbon. When you think about Infinity, it was actually three or four buildings together. Now, all the architects that have

Paul Povolni (54:18.128)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (54:24.302)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (54:32.314)
Yeah.

Iwan (54:38.655)
come forward with us is putting the three, four buildings together. But this building is wrapped with a ribbon. Some people think it's like a ski slope and some people think it's like the arms of the king's chair, whichever way it is. But it was the stroke of genius of tying everything to become one. Now, the Japanese architecture approach is very different to our modern Western philosophy of architecture because we try to create building that are

Paul Povolni (54:47.29)
Yeah.

wow, yeah.

Iwan (55:07.665)
so different where the Japanese architecture tried to create building that blended with nature. So today architecture is not the focus, nature is the focus and the architecture is more their background. And I think there's power in that one day, for when the building just blended with everything else and the city become beautiful because of that.

Paul Povolni (55:13.072)
well, yeah.

Paul Povolni (55:20.494)
Right, right.

Paul Povolni (55:26.457)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (55:30.99)
Yeah, I love that. And I'll post some of those photos as well, because yeah, there's beautiful buildings that you've incorporated that greenery with it. And it's just majestic and just beautiful. Now you mentioned that one of the places that you had had pretty good occupancy. Wasn't there one that you did, or maybe it's this one that I remember that it sold pretty quickly. Like it sold out. Is this the one or was that another building?

Iwan (55:58.879)
Yes, this is the one. The Invinity or the One Global Resort Green Square now, it's kind of that unique location because it's the only building in Sydney, the only hotel in Sydney where you have the transport train station directly connected to your building. So and it has this open piazza, it has all the space, the amenities around it. It is one of the largest swimming pool of the Sydney Olympic 2000.

Paul Povolni (56:00.507)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (56:18.039)
wow.

Iwan (56:28.679)
It has the convenient of two stop from the Sydney airport and one stop to central and two, three more stop to the branded stores in Sydney. So it has everything that makes that unique. In fact, that I'm still trying to analyze as we're trying to roll out this 10,000 rooms hotel in the whole world. What makes it perfect? I'm pretty sure it's everything that makes it amazing. mean, of course we had the kids think that because we had McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell in one building.

Paul Povolni (56:34.01)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (56:56.043)
Hahaha

Iwan (56:57.951)
And the grown-ups say, my God, that's junk food. But the kids say, oh my God, that was amazing. That was a great feeling. So it's everything that makes it amazing. mean, of course, our smallest size is about 45 square meter. Sorry, 45 square meter for a studio. The biggest size is like 100 square meters. So it's a place where you can actually live and stay longer than just a few days. And that's probably why we almost underwrite the base of our occupancy by 50 % by long-term stay.

Paul Povolni (57:02.906)
Yeah.

Iwan (57:26.601)
people who say they more than a few months. yeah, so this is the one that I sell the concept with, I mean, with just one sketch of paper. Now be mindful that it took about two or three stop before we launch it. We almost launched it, we stopped it, we almost launched it, we stopped it and then we launched it. And that was the aha moment. And then I had that opening day and the launch day and I had like...

Paul Povolni (57:30.34)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (57:44.602)
Yeah.

Iwan (57:54.087)
a thousand deposits with $10,000 each. So we actually were sitting on a $10 million deposit in a bank account, but at the end of 385 units, or 323 units, the $385 million sales, have to turn off the other 700 people to say, I'm sorry, sir. We have no more units left. That was like a hundred million dollars in one hour, five hours. We wiped out the whole thing. Bang, it's gone. Yeah.

Paul Povolni (57:57.701)
Wow.

Paul Povolni (58:11.258)
Wow. Wow.

Paul Povolni (58:18.402)
Wow. Yeah. It made the news. mean, that's, you know, making a hundred million dollars in a couple of hours. And that kind of occupancy is just amazing. That's fantastic. So I do want to hear about what you're doing now. You've got incredible vision and, you know, I've always seen you as a visionary as always as in a creative and as a creative, you're always pushing boundaries and you're always trying to think different and, and get inspired from different places. So now you're doing something that's very inspiring with.

Iwan (58:24.415)
An hour by the way, 100 in an hour.

Paul Povolni (58:48.208)
It's almost like Lego blocks, it's containers. Tell me a little bit about your vision there. What's next for you?

Iwan (58:55.167)
Well, the vision for us is more now it's taking the business to the next level. I mean, I have an aspiration to go public. But as of last year, I was looking at one building of ours, it has a bit of difficulty in terms of access and problem of like delivery. How do you build a building on a small footprint when there is a major road? So this is a great lesson in life that opposition is always your opportunity to rise.

Paul Povolni (59:23.13)
Yeah.

Iwan (59:23.259)
And my staff says, come on, Yvonne, why don't we just abandon the job? I said, no, I do not start something that I stop. I start and grow. And even if we do not make money out of the job, the lesson that we learn from that job will be worth it for us. And I also know that heart problem is good, you know, like it.

Paul Povolni (59:40.866)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I always say limitations breed innovation. so, you know, and so that's, that's what you're doing, right?

Iwan (59:44.855)
So I said to them, look, well, somebody else can build it that shape. Why can't we do it, you know, and to make it work? And so one of the guy comes in, well, have you thought about module construction? I said, no, I haven't thought about it. But then I've seen some publication in Europe and the like, and they see how container system can actually be assembled and also disassemble. And it has a lot of the benefit of being environmentally conscious because you

reduce the cut like the waste because you're basically making the same thing so there's no more waste that you designed it perfectly and it's also safer.

Paul Povolni (01:00:22.936)
Right, and you'd probably create the tools to create the exact size things as opposed to creating generic shapes and things and then having to cut it off,

Iwan (01:00:26.857)
Yep.

Yeah. And that's also safe because you're working undercover and you're working on a safe environment. And it's also safe for environmentally in the long term because you're no longer, I mean, you look at building 40 % have to be disposed somewhere and the knocking down of the building. But this one is you could actually just move it somewhere else. mean, it's, it's all night. John and me, hang on, isn't this like a car ride? And we always thought about, well, it has to be big size.

look, some of my most wonderful architecture is actually not massive, big. It was more to do with the iconic experience. And I thought about flying into business class or first class, I mean, it's a tiny space that you have, but the gadget, the movie, the ability to use a multipurpose seat, making use of the same space where you sit and you sleep there and you work was really what you're looking for there. so we went to, and then I said, who are the builders of this container system? Now I was aware and

And I start contacting a couple of my friends who do this prefab structure because we've already done for a bathroom. Like our bathroom is actually a pod bathroom. So it's being assembled in a factory in Melbourne and it's shipped to Sydney. then just basically you build, you put a box there and it saves you from like, waterproofing is always the biggest issue in building. If you can do it in the same area with free of dust, you win a long way around. I mean, it's more costly, slightly more costly, but it's safer. It's clean. There's no more weight trade.

Paul Povolni (01:01:46.148)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (01:01:50.949)
well.

Iwan (01:01:55.935)
in your apartment there. Because otherwise you got to put cement, you got to put the grouting, you got to come back here and people forget to put the waterproofing properly and you don't test it properly. Like anything, people are tired of climbing up 30, 40 story building. we did that and so I realized that like Hotel Marriott and M Hotel have been using this modular system and I know that there was company in China

Paul Povolni (01:02:01.135)
Right.

Paul Povolni (01:02:10.734)
Yeah.

Iwan (01:02:23.325)
also in Poland and some part of the Europe, Northern Europe that builds it and really USA, but many of them have actually failed. Well, because then I because there's a bit more complication to just ship a building from somewhere around the world to Australia because we got to probably one of the strictest compliance rule in the world, like waterproofing, toilet, you know, like hydraulic safety of fire. All of that is important.

Paul Povolni (01:02:30.885)
Wow.

Iwan (01:02:51.091)
How do you deliver it to Australia and how do you get it certificate? How do you get it funded? But out of all of that modulation system that I see in the world, because they were designing it for different building all the time, I realized that all you save is probably about 10 % of your real costs and time. But then the problem is that you're gonna have to buy the whole building upfront. And thinking about container system, you're not just...

Paul Povolni (01:02:56.409)
Yeah.

Iwan (01:03:18.469)
shipping it like building you pay along the way and the banks funded you. This one is you almost have to buy the entire building, get it assembled, ship it to Sydney. Yes, it costs you cheap, by the time you add the modulation, the module system plus the lift core, the fire stair and all of these things, you're actually doubling up that cost plus the risk of having a building being built somewhere else. Then I thought, well,

Paul Povolni (01:03:22.606)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (01:03:41.818)
Bye.

Iwan (01:03:46.205)
But if you can somehow create that like a car, where you can just design the most amazing building and you just duplicate it across the world and robotize the whole thing, because after all, hotel room, it's a room for bed, a space for your dining space, and a space for your bathroom. This is so simple. mean, the car manufacturer has done it. I mean, there's no... Then I started to do a bit more research and we traveled to...

Paul Povolni (01:04:04.975)
Right?

Iwan (01:04:13.567)
to China to look at one of the biggest container manufacturer in the world who has done 8,000 of these modular homes across the whole world in terms of student accommodation, hotel on the wall. I thought, said, guys, do you want to work together with me to produce just for me three types of room? It will be deployed across the whole world. But the idea that we are this is so timeless that by the time we're we're not using it anymore in that city because it's no longer

fashionable, it's cheaper for you to just ship it somewhere else. It's almost like an iPhone. It's cheaper for you to buy brand new, right? And fixing it. Imagine that, And that's the exploration. And I'm to look at the car industry and what sort of robot system that they're actually using. And then you look at the, I mean, then you realize that the technology, the AI industry and the technologies does not belong to the privilege. Like it used to be the thought of the Western Europe or the European country that produced the BMW.

Paul Povolni (01:04:49.974)
Yeah, right.

Iwan (01:05:13.395)
Mercedes Benz, everything started with B, right? And we're manufacturing with all the robot. But now you realize BYD, Xiaomi produce a car every 68 seconds. And the reason is because they're using the same robotic system. Like this time is I kind of know that there's only a few brands that are there. So, hey, even the startup in China is now doing 68 seconds a car, producing the most amazing design.

Paul Povolni (01:05:15.738)
Hahaha

Paul Povolni (01:05:37.231)
Wow.

Iwan (01:05:39.667)
They were not as amazing before, but then they're now starting to engage a lot of the Germans come in as designer and the building, the car looks better and better. Then I thought, well, it would be too costly if I said I just want a car, like designed for me. It would be costing us $5, $10 million a car, right? But would I complain if somebody produced a car that said, look, you can have it for 50 grand, but you're gonna be the same as everybody else?

Paul Povolni (01:06:01.178)
right?

Iwan (01:06:08.959)
Yeah, I'll take the $50,000 any day. So then I thought, if I could do this, we can address a lot of the issue of social housing crisis that we have across the whole world, I mean, at the end of world, like affordability is always the issue for most people. And the issue is this, that when we talk about affordable housing with associate that would being ugly, it's ugly. Well, it's basic building, the cheapest appliances you can put in, the cheapest timber.

Paul Povolni (01:06:20.11)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (01:06:33.454)
Right?

Iwan (01:06:37.043)
that you can ever afford to and cut this, that, and let's go with the cheapest architect, cheapest engineer. therefore, great architectures are always not accessible to the people. That I thought, well, why can't we create something that makes it accessible for everybody, but make it amazing, just like car industry? Like you do not, it was almost like the Ford T model, right? You can choose anything, but there's only one.

Paul Povolni (01:06:47.736)
Right. Right.

Paul Povolni (01:06:56.153)
Right.

Paul Povolni (01:07:00.356)
Yeah. As long as it's black.

Iwan (01:07:05.151)
You can choose anything you want, but it's black. And I thought, and I kind of, that was so simple. I thought, I look at the whole investment upfront. This is no brainer because you gotta, I mean, how much is going to cost to invest on this robotic machine? It's not that expensive, right? The beauty of that is you can almost manufacture this without any lights because the robot doesn't need any light. It doesn't need any person there. And it actually creates consistency and you get better.

Paul Povolni (01:07:07.728)
Right. Right.

Paul Povolni (01:07:27.504)
Ha ha.

Iwan (01:07:33.201)
In Hong Kong, well not apparently, because as I visited Chiang Ming near Kong Chau there, and I went to Hong Kong to see the prototype and basically the display unit of the modular construction, the Hong Kong government is pushing for this idea because they believe that this is not just, this is addressing housing crisis, but it's safety, it's environmentally better. Third thing is you can actually reuse it instead of knocking down the whole completely gigantic building.

They just completely build a building for student housing and move that entire building two years later into somewhere else. But they just have to bring that container to a section where they check the safety of the structural integrity and then just ship it to someone else. Now, in Hong Kong, of course, they do not like it to be out of metal container. They want it to be concrete because it's how the Chinese like to knock on the door. I'm sure they do that in the US too.

Paul Povolni (01:08:12.549)
Yeah.

Iwan (01:08:30.941)
produce that out of a concrete shell and basically designed to be a size where you can ship it through a truck. So, I mean, in a simple way that a container modular system is actually a room that you containerize to enable you to ship it with a proof, moisture proof and for safety and structure integrity. That's really in a simple way. so I've come up with a concept where the foyer is going to be a certain way. The foyer could change all the time.

Paul Povolni (01:09:00.313)
Yeah.

Iwan (01:09:00.575)
But the room could just be three-top because really, know, Paul, I've traveled around the world. I've stayed in so many hotels. I would prefer to have the same perfect hotel room that I love and being able to travel. But oftentimes you go into different places and you thought, well, the brand is going to guarantee great success. But you go into that place and say, my God, the room is wrongly designed and the niche is wrong. The door is wrong. Hey, I'm paying a lot of money for this, but they're not getting it right. And because we're just

Paul Povolni (01:09:11.588)
Yeah.

Paul Povolni (01:09:22.051)
Yeah.

Iwan (01:09:29.511)
repeating the same mistakes again and again. So I'm excited about that deployment for the business scale. And I'm excited about being able to address the social housing crisis that we have across the whole world. But I'm also excited about the challenge of going to New York with that because I think the American understand on how and really like I think American embraces people who have the ability, who has the skill, but also has the business that can be scale up.

Paul Povolni (01:09:31.588)
Yeah, yeah.

Iwan (01:09:57.257)
but they also understand there is risk to everything. But I do not do projects that are risky. I'm a very logical person. I do not invest on something that can't be scaled up and somebody that has not had track record. So I think we're going to be having fun for the next few years. That's really an exciting thing.

Paul Povolni (01:10:12.707)
Yeah, yeah.

Paul Povolni (01:10:18.576)
Oh man, that, yeah, that sounds amazing and exciting. And I love that you, like you said, you're a very logical person, but you're also a very creative person. know you're also messing with photography and stuff like that as well. But I love the idea that you're, you're bringing that design sensibility to architecture, even with this, this new project that you're working on, because it does come down to what I shared about Steve Jobs. Like if this computer has wires, plastic,

chips, you know, and all of these things. But so does this beautiful computer. Why not make it beautiful if I'm using the exact same ingredients, you know? And so it sounds like you're doing that with all your buildings, but also you're now you're taking it into something even different, more different where you're saying, you know, if we're using the same elements, why do we have to make it boring? Why do we have to make it something that is not aesthetically pleasing?

And, and I love that motivation in what you're doing, with that. I hope you the best of luck with it. That's, that's just amazing.

Iwan (01:11:25.103)
Thank you, Paul I yeah, I love the ability to challenge that thinking and because I think it's not just gut feeling, it's got to make sense really in business. As much as I love to design the most amazing building in the world, you got to be realistic that do we have the brand for it? Do they have the ability to sell the product? Because you can only do business well if you buy well, you add value and you sell well.

Paul Povolni (01:11:36.303)
Right.

Paul Povolni (01:11:54.338)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, man, this has been amazing and thank you so much for coming on and sharing your vision and sharing your story. Truly amazing. And it's great seeing you again. And maybe when you come to the U S we can have dinner again.

Iwan (01:12:09.171)
Let's do that really, I'm looking forward for that. Thank you so much for having me. We'll catch up again in the future.