The following businesses received 2013 Silver Lord Mayor's Commendations.
Kenneth Dale Barassi
Business name: Barassi & Co. Chartered Accountants
Business address: Chartwell House, 151 Wellington Parade South, East Melbourne 3002
Telephone: 03 9650 7333
Business email:
kbarassi@barassiandco.com.au
Business website:
barassiandco.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1977
Ken Barassi has conducted business in the City of Melbourne since 1977. He founded Barassi and Co. in 1977 as a firm of chartered accountants providing all forms of accounting and financial advisory services. The firm is a boutique business servicing private high wealth clients, providing heavy and general assistance to start-up and developmental situations.
Ken finds East Melbourne a convenient central location, close to major clients in the central business district and describes it is an aesthetically attractive area with less traffic than the city centre.
David Beanham
Business name: Modak Motorcycles
Business address: 299 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9602 1229
Business email:
modak@hotkey.net.au
Business website:
modakmotorcycles.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1976
David Beanham is a second generation proprietor of Modak Motorcycles. The business was established in 1930 as a supplier of spare parts for early English motorcycles and in 1955 David’s parents, Robert and Jean, purchased Modak Motorcycles. The business moved from its original location at 342 Elizabeth Street when the underground loop authority acquired the block in 1972.
David joined the business as a partner in 1976, after completing a Bachelor of Business Studies at RMIT, although he first started to help at the age of five on Saturdays, earning 10 shillings a day. David’s mother, Jean, is recognised in the Platinum category of this year’s Lord Mayor’s Commendations program.
Peter Bond
Business name: Collins Place Physiotherapy
Business address: Suite 18 Collins Place, 45 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9650 2220
Business email:
Peter.bond@cppc.com.au
Business website:
cppc.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1987
Peter Bond is a highly experienced musculoskeletal physiotherapist with a passion for treating the diverse and often complex musculoskeletal problems of Melbourne’s population.
After working as a physiotherapist at Horsham Hospital Peter returned to Melbourne to undertake post graduate study. He was one of 12 students selected for the Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Therapy course. He took over the ownership of Collins Place Physiotherapy in 1987, overseeing significant growth of the clinic and leading a dynamic team of skilled physiotherapists, myotherapists and masseurs. Peter taught at the University of Melbourne for over eight years and was for a time a supporting physiotherapist for the Essendon football club.
Greg Branson
Business name: Mackay Branson design
Business address: Level 3, 362 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9604 6801
Business email:
greg@mbdesign.com.au
Business website:
mbdesign.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1984
Greg Branson started Mackay Branson design in 1984 with partner Carol Mackay. The business specialises in communication design.
They worked from a small Swanston Street serviced office for many years as they built the business. They specialised in communication design and made a very early venture into web design building the studio to 13 employees in a custom designed Williams Street studio. In 2008 they purchased two floors of a building in Little Bourke Street and fitted out a classic inner city studio on one floor.
Greg enjoys the café culture, using cafes on Little Bourke Street and Hardware Lane as his client meeting rooms.
Lucy Figliuzzi
Business name: McMaster’s Jewellers
Business address: 60 Errol Street, North Melbourne 3051
Telephone: 03 9328 1168
Year became proprietor: 1986
After being in the jewellery trade since she was 16 and gaining product knowledge in every area, Lucy Figliuzzi jumped at the opportunity when McMaster’s Jewellers came up for sale in 1986. The business had been trading in Errol Street, North Melbourne since 1878 and Lucy bought the business from a third generation McMaster. She has been sole proprietor since 2004.
Her business has the qualities of an old-fashioned jeweller, offering manufacture, repair and remodelling, as well as sales. She describes her business as ‘old-fashioned service with modern jewellery’ and tries to keep the heritage of the McMaster name in mind. Lucy was a local North Melbourne girl growing up and loves the area.
Dr Alexander Kallas
Business name: Alexander Kallas Pty Ltd
Business address: 4th Floor, 12 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9654 6181
Business email:
wizwirks@bigpond.net.au
Year became proprietor: 1980
For 33 years, Dr Alexander Kallas has conducted his dental practice on Collins Street. After post-graduate qualification from the University of Southern California, he returned to Australia to start his practice at 81 Collins Street. Then in 1993 he moved to his current location at 12 Collins Street.
Alex likes the stimulating pace of life in the CBD and enjoys the diversity of his patients, some of whom he has cared for over three decades. His practice encompasses all areas of dental surgery including preventative and restorative procedures. His practice manager, Megan Ross, has helped develop the practice for 19 years.
Phillip Kelly
Business name: London & American Supply Stores
Business address: 483-485 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9329 1052
Business email:
philk@chefsales.com.au
Business website:
chefsales.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1982
In 1949 Phillip Kelly’s father began working at London & American Supply Stores as a tailor. It was then a menswear and chef’s clothing store. Phillip left his position in the Australian Customs Service in 1982 to join his father in purchasing the business. Since then this long-term business has evolved to become a supplier of quality kitchenware, restaurant equipment and chef’s clothing.
London & American Supply Stores started in Ballarat in 1878 and moved to Melbourne in the late 1800s, trading on the old Eastern Market site for 60 years until the market was demolished to build the Southern Cross Hotel. The business has traded in Elizabeth Street since 1965.
Magdolna Korda
Business name: Magdolna Korda
Business address: Shop 100, K Shed, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9812 0776
Business email:
agikorda@bigpond.com
Year became proprietor: 1980
Magdolna came to Australia from Hungary, with her husband and parents, 56 years ago. Two years later the family opened a Hungarian Restaurant in Camberwell. Following eight years of very hard work, the restaurant was sold and Magdolna’s next business venture was a clothing shop in Kensington.
The introduction of late night shopping on Friday made business more difficult so, on a friend’s recommendation, Magdolna moved her ladies fashion business to the Queen Victoria Market where she has been trading for 31 years.
Magdolna loves the atmosphere at the market and the friendship of the other traders. Her interstate and overseas customers come to see her whenever they are in Melbourne.
Roderick MacGregor
Business name: R. MacGregor Diamond Setters Pty Ltd
Business address: Suite 711, 343 Little Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9670 4142
Year became proprietor: 1976
Roderick MacGregor sets diamonds into rings for the jewellers of Melbourne.
Roderick came to Australia from Glasgow, Scotland in 1965. He left school at age 17 in 1967 to work as a diamond setter at H & H Kolt Diamond Setters and started his own business trading as R & K Diamond Setters in 1976.
Rod has trained two apprentices who have gone on to further careers in the industry and his son currently works with him.
Rod describes Melbourne as Australia’s centre for jewellery manufacturing.
Carol Mackay
Business name: Mackay Branson design
Business address: Level 3, 362 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9604 6801
Business email:
carol@mbdesign.com.au
Business website: mbdesign.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1984
Carol Mackay and Greg Branson started Mackay Branson design in 1984 from a flat in Curzon Street, North Melbourne. They built the studio to 13 employees and purchased a floor in Williams Street until a research trip to the USA led them to rethink their business model.
In 2006, with a workforce of three, they moved the studio to a cute caretaker's cottage on a CBD rooftop.
In 2008 they purchased two floors of a building in Little Bourke Street, completing the circle. Carol and Greg are once again working from home, with a designated studio on one floor and their residence on the other. Their local community is the city and they are conveniently close to their clients.
Richard Maisano
Business name: Masani
Business address: 313 Drummond Street, Carlton 3053
Telephone: 03 9347 5610
Business email:
eat@masani.com.au
Business website:
masani.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1983
Richard Maisano trained in Italy and Switzerland as a chef before immigrating to Melbourne. After completing his apprenticeship at the Southern Cross Hotel and Tsindos' Florentino's, in 1983 Richard opened Masani in Carlton. Specialising in regional Italian cuisine, fine wines and world beverages, for more than three decades Masani has become synonymous with true Italian dining, offering a modern and stylish approach, with skilled service and welcoming hospitality at its core.
Masani’s is a family business, with Richard’s daughter Kara being the Sommelier, wine and beverage specialist. Masani's wine list has achieved awards of excellence from Gourmet Traveller Magazine's ‘Australia's Wine List of the Year Awards’ and America’s Wine Spectator Magazine ‘Restaurant Wine List Awards’.
Andy Makregiorgos
Business name: Andy the Jeweller
Business address: Level 8, 125 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9654 5101
Year became proprietor: 1974
At 12 years of age Andy Makregiorgos left the small island of Lefkas, Greece, and moved to Athens. While working as an elevator driver he made friends with a lawyer who arranged a job for him with a large jewellery manufacturer. He studied during the evenings and eventually migrated to Australia as a jeweller in 1968.
Andy established his business in Little Collins Street in 1974, manufacturing initially for the wholesale segment and gradually evolving into direct supply to retail. Specialising in diamond engagement rings, Andy has built a solid reputation among his clients who refer their friends and relatives.
Kenneth Maxwell
Business name: Clegs
Business email:
clegs@clegs.com.au
Business website:
clegs.com.au
Year became proprietor: 1975
Kenneth Maxwell began his career at Clegs on the day he turned 14. He was walking past Clegs in Swanston Street, saw a sign in the window saying ‘boy wanted’, walked in and got the job sweeping floors.
Clegs was established by the Jones family as a first class silk store in 1925 and remained as a family business until 1975 when Kenneth became proprietor. During this time the business relocated within the city several times.
Clegs is Australia’s oldest fabric store and after 88 years of trading it continues today as a quality fabric store with an extensive huge range of fabrics, haberdashery, knitting yarns and millinery supplies.
Giovanna Quattrocchi
Business name: Kitchen Capers
Business address: 54 Errol Street, North Melbourne 3051
Telephone: 03 9328 2814
Year became proprietor: 1984
Coming from a family background of hotel owners in North Melbourne, it was a natural extension for Giovanna Quattrocchi to open her own business in the area. Giovanna saw a need for a quality gift shop in North Melbourne, thus Kitchen Capers was born, opening in 1984.
Giovanna sells quality gifts and home wares, handmade cards and more. Kitchen Capers is considered by locals and celebrities as a treasure trove where everyone is welcome. Giovanna always gift wraps her gifts which her customers appreciate.
Melhem Sadaka
Business name: City Tailoring
Business address: Level 6, Century Building, 125 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9654 8914
Year became proprietor: 1988
City Tailoring has been a registered business since 1978 and was acquired by Melhem (Mel) and his wife Zeina in 1988. Mel has been in the tailoring business since the age of 12 and had his own business in Lebanon at 18.
City Tailoring, which moved from the Capital Building to the Century Building in 2000, has evolved from providing tailoring and customised suits to now providing a premium alterations service to retail stores, long-time clientele and new friends. Their central position next to the Town Hall and other significant landmarks is convenient for their mainly city-based clients.
Zeina Sadaka
Business name: City Tailoring
Business address: Level 6, Century Building, 125 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9654 8914
Year became proprietor: 1988
Zeina and her husband, Melhem Sadaka, are the owners and sole workers of City Tailoring in the heart of the retail precinct of Melbourne. The majority of their business is in the city and their central location is easy to find.
Zeina’s mother was a dressmaker and Zeina shared this passion. Her husband, Melham, began working in tailoring in Lebanon at the age of 12. They purchased an established tailoring business in 1988 and the business has evolved to provide a premium alterations service.
Word of mouth from clients brings them more business. They have had the pleasure of altering clothing for several celebrities including for the cast of King Kong, the musical.
Manfred Schopf
Business name: North Melbourne Shoe Repairs
Business address: 64 Errol Street, North Melbourne 3051
Telephone: 03 9329 0715
Business email:
manfredschopf@gmail.com
Year became proprietor: 1986
It is not surprising that Manfred Schopf developed a love of shoes and working with the natural beauty of leather – he learnt his trade in Austria with his father who, in turn, had followed his father’s footsteps as a shoemaker.
In 1986 Manfred opened Manfred’s Shoe Repairs in the Hub Arcade. Sixteen years later he moved to more spacious premises in North Melbourne, where the vibrant location and the diversity of his clientele, including stars of film and television, have led to a thriving business, which includes providing shoes for movies. The business has also developed a speciality in repairing brogues.
George Temelli
Business name: Australia Chain Pty Ltd trading as Temelli Jewellery
Business address: Level 5, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9654 0432
Business email:
george@tj.net.au
Year became proprietor: 1985
At the age of 17, George Temelli began working in the jewellery business in Istanbul, Turkey. He came to Melbourne as a business migrant in 1981 and in 1985 set up business as Victoria Chain, later Australia Chain Pty Ltd, manufacturing chains for wholesale to Australian jewellers. George imported the machines to manufacture these products in Melbourne.
The business began in Hardware Street and in 1999 moved to the Manchester Unity Building. At that time Temelli Jewellery expanded into retail, and currently has four showrooms. At age 68 George continues in the same business that he began in Istanbul. He is proud to be an Australian business operator, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of fine jewellery.
Noel Waite AO
Business name: Waite Consulting Management Group
Business address: Level 13, 60 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9621 2066
Business email:
nw@waite.com.au
Business website:
waite.com.au
Year became proprietor: [1959] 1987 within City of Melbourne
The Waite Consulting Management Group was co-founded by John and Noel Waite in South Yarra in 1959. It has been a pioneer in executive search and selection nationally and within the Asia Pacific region.
Noel took over as managing director when widowed in 1968. In 1987 the company moved into the City of Melbourne, where it is close to its clients. Noel has been instrumental in developing executive search and career development programs, including Womensearch, which, in 1982, was the first of its kind in Australia. She has been director of a number of public and private sector boards, including first female president of the Australian Institute of Management. Noel is a qualified artist and designer, and has had a long involvement with the Victorian Artists' Society. In 1993 Noel was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia for 'Business and Management, particularly through the development of women in management'.
Peter Waite
Business name: Waite Consulting Management Group
Business address: Level 13, 60 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: 03 9621 2066
Business email:
pw@waite.com.au
Business website:
waite.com.au
Year became proprietor: [1981] 1987 within City of Melbourne
Founded in 1959, the Waite Consulting Management Group is a member of InterSearch Worldwide, a global network of executive search firms. Peter was on the board of InterSearch for six years and is now Chairman of the Standards and Quality Committee.
In 1981 Peter Waite became a director of the Waite Group. For more than 30 years he has had the added pleasure of working with his mother, Noel, who was a co-founder of the family firm. Peter's background in marketing and human resources and his vast networks have led to the Waite Group’s expansion both nationally and internationally. In 1987 the company moved from South Yarra to the City of Melbourne, where many of its clients are located.