Small business owner, Päivi Piotto, Director of Janie Collins Interiors, was presented with the prestigious Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Business person of the year award on 4 October at Brisbane City Hall. Hailing from Finland and now proudly an Australian resident, Päivi Piotto arrived in Australia in 1998. Meeting and then marrying the love of her life, David, Päivi made Brisbane, Australia her permanent home to raise her family and pursue her career.

In 2010, with a love for all things Australian, a passion for interior design and authentic designer furniture, Päivi started as Marketing Manager of long established small business, Janie Collins Interiors (JCI), a boutique interiors agency that provides high quality, handcrafted award winning local Australian and European commercially rated, designer furniture and lighting to major architectural and interior design firms and commercial projects throughout Australia.

To further her knowledge in 2013 Päivi attended QUT and completed her Bachelor of Design (Interior Design) and in 2017 after several successful years in sales and substantial growth for JCI, Päivi took over the helm of the business with colleague and now business partner, Shelley Mitchell as Janie Collins, name sake of the business was ready to retire. Now in 2019, Janie Collins Interiors is an all-female team with a variety of ethnicities including Finnish, Dutch, Danish and Australian.

Päivi’s love of Australian designer furniture and helped her drive the business into one which passionately supports and works with Australian designers, bringing modern, high-end, exclusive furniture into Brisbane and Queensland commercial and residential interiors. Her vision supports the local and Australian design community by promoting the local and national manufacture of many beautiful, functional and authentic products to key commercial markets. These achievements led to her recent award win by the Brisbane Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Business Dinner and Awards celebrate Brisbane as Australia’s New World City that embraces diversity, innovation and economic prosperity.

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