After taking her interior design degree in New Zealand 17 years ago, the high-spirited Willman -- like so many before and after her -- came to Hawaii for a visit, wound up staying “just for a year,” and finally became a permanent Island resident. Today she still brims with youthful enthusiasm (and that lilting accent), and notes many similarities between her old country and her new home. “There is a lot of overlap in New Zealand’s Maori culture and Hawaii’s culture, which blends the Polynesian with a lot of Pacific Island and international influences from Japan, Bali, Indonesia, and China. New Zealanders are always fascinated by anything international, so it’s great to have all those influences in one place here in the Islands.”

An outstanding recent project was a 12,000 sq. ft. Asian contemporary home at Hualalai Resort, featuring an open-air entertainment pavilion with Steinway piano, full bar, commercial kitchen, two powder rooms, an infinity pool, and views of the ninth hole of the adjacent Four Seasons’ Weiskopf Golf Course. “The homeowners are great entertainers as well as classical music aficionados,” she says. “Whenever they host a luncheon or a party, you set up the tables and chairs, then roll out this beautiful classical piano. Guests enjoy a classical music concert against with a backdrop of swaying palm trees and a beautiful Hawaiian sunset.”

Willman and partner Toni Knudson also bring a wide variety of styles to upscale locales nationwide, most built by Knudson Development. Examples range from a lavish Spanish Colonial themed home in Scottsdale, Arizona to a 1940s-style, Hollywood glamour approach to Turnberry Place, a Las Vegas luxury hi-rise.

Of her elegant approach to interior design, Willman says, “I like to keep it clean and simple. Even when using rustic materials, we emphasize a very uncluttered aesthetic -- which is a bit different than what many people are doing in Hawaii. That probably comes from my upbringing in New Zealand, where we have a lot of contemporary European influence.”