We caught up with Steve Aschebrock, managing director of Inzide — an Interior of the Year partner — to discuss the brand’s longstanding support of New Zealand’s architecture and design community, the trailblazing sustainability initiatives shaping its future, and some of the key projects the team has recently delivered.
Tell us about your history supporting the architecture and design industry in New Zealand.
As a company, Inzide exists to service the A&D community with world-leading flooring solutions. We live and die on specification and so look to support the design community at every opportunity.
The Interior Awards, which we sponsored from their inception 15 years ago, is a great example, as was maintaining our advertising in Interior and ArchitectureNZ magazines during Covid times.
Add on sponsoring the Architectural & Design Film Festival, NZIA’s In Situ conference, the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), and offering CPDs and specialist creative events, and you get a feel for how we look to always give back and showcase exceptional Kiwi design.
Why did you want to support the Interior of the Year awards, and what does it mean for your brand to get behind this programme?
The recent news surrounding the closure of AGM sent shockwaves through New Zealand’s architecture and design community. For decades, AGM played an incredibly important role in shaping and celebrating design culture in Aotearoa — from the pages of Architecture New Zealand, to the weekly ritual of the ArchitectureNow newsletter, and of course the much-loved Interior Awards, which would have celebrated its 15th year in 2026.
As a founding sponsor of the Interior Awards, we at Inzide are deeply saddened by this news. The awards have always represented far more than a trophy or an evening event — they have been a platform to celebrate innovation, craftsmanship, storytelling, collaboration, and the incredible talent within our industry.
At the same time, we believe it is more important than ever to continue backing credible platforms that champion great New Zealand design and provide opportunities for our industry to connect, celebrate, and inspire one another.
That is why we are proud to partner with Nook Publishing to present the Interior of the Year Awards and showcase the results in their new publication: Architecture Aotearoa. We are honoured to continue our longstanding commitment to supporting excellence in New Zealand interiors as a proud sponsor.
What are some of the recent highlights from the Inzide team in terms of what you’ve been delivering and achieving?
Recent highlights include Inzide thriving in the dismal economic climate we have had since 2023, with anaemic GDP, as we drive our flooring solution strategy across all commercial segments. In addition, as Steve stepped off the NZGBC Board as Chair, Jarrod stepped onto the FloorNZ board to drive a step change in quality improvement across the New Zealand flooring installation industry.
We’re also very grateful to have been specified into a number of key projects in New Zealand including Auckland Airport, the Tauranga Civic Centre rejuvenation, the Hawkes Bay Civic Centre Rejuvenation, the ARA L Block, the One NZ building, the UoW Health Hub, Fisher & Paykel’s Building 5, multiple halls of accommodation for tertiary institutions, the ANZ Tower, and Hazeldean in Christchurch using our carbon-negative backed carpet tile, to name a few.
As a New Zealand-owned company, what does local ownership mean when it comes to setting you apart?
As a growing SME in New Zealand, you need many arrows in your quiver to succeed in a very competitive landscape. Local ownership for us is just one of those arrows. We don’t see it as a differentiator as most of our competitors in New Zealand are also locally owned companies. What sets us apart in the New Zealand flooring industry are our values:
- Be passionate and idealistic – quality, quality, quality
- Be authentic – expert knowledge and integrity in all our dealings
- Be relationship driven – communicate openly and honestly and expect the same in return
- Have an environmental conscience – account for our footprint and mitigate wherever we can
- Be inspiring – lead by example, innovate, and challenge
Sustainability is a key part of your ethos. Are there any recent milestones in this journey that you’d like the industry to know about?
Inzide’s sustainability journey is about taking actions every day that chip away at accounting for our footprint.
Eighteen years ago we began our journey to be fully CarboNZero certified through ToiTu – the first company in the building industry to do so. Carbon is a waste stream and so by applying a focus to carbon we reduced waste in our system, especially logistics waste.
Prior to this, we moved to Prius vehicles, and we are now into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with full hybrid electric vehicles around the corner as the infrastructure catches up. To date, this has saved us over 250,000 litres of fuel – impressive for a 12-car fleet company.
I imagine what the New Zealand Balance of Payments difference would have been if the construction sector had moved to initiatives such as these when we did, let alone the whole of New Zealand. Our first container of used Interface carpet tile was exported back to the USA for its nylon and backing to be given a second life as a new carpet tile on 17 February 2009, and we continue to ship this waste back both to Australia and the USA every year. Non-sexy things like using a Bokashi bin for food waste and recycling A4 paper that has only been used on one side continue. And every year we do a friends-and-family trip into the Hauraki Gulf to give labour to cleaning up and weeding an island.
We’re always up for a challenge and keen to learn and provide learning to others about our own journey. It was a key reason we sponsored the NZGBC at its inception and Steve personally gave nine years of his time to the board, including his last three years as chair.
