Andrei founded BINYAN in his Sydney living room with the ambition to do nothing short of shape the future of architecture. After bartending at the Sydney Opera House while studying at the University of New South Wales, he spent his first professional years in the United States working as a designer and 3D technician at a range of architectural firms in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was during this stint that the part-time rabbi developed a yen for humanising architectural images. While helping a client create visuals for a local synagogue, rather than inserting eerie avatars, Andrei introduced lifelike details, which gave traditionally cold, flat drawings a real sense of how people would occupy the space and make it their own. This approach to architectural imaging would go on to define and differentiate Andrei’s aesthetic —as well as BINYAN’s. Returning to Australia, he completed his degree in interior architecture and struck out on his own, committed to a new kind of business, where ego takes a back seat to genuine collaboration. Andrei built BINYAN on seven pillars: ethical transparency, entrepreneurial experimentation, authentic relationships, lighthearted spirit, knowledge sharing, thought leadership, and humility. Today, BINYAN is a leading architectural 3D rendering and animation studio with an international portfolio full of industry standard-setters with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, New York, and London. Originally a Sydney boy, Andrei is now based in Melbourne with his wife, Miriam, and four children, moonlighting as a Rabbi when called upon, and once in a while zipping around Capri (pre & post covid) with Miriam on a yellow Vespa. In this episode Andrei shares his thoughts on channeling Mad Men’s Don Draper, the fine & mysterious art of CGI, and all things Kosher. Enjoy.