Jano Kotzas merges businesses into The Prop House Collective

Jano Kotzas has emerged from floods, economic downturns and the pandemic with her events planning business focused on the Olympic decade.

Jano Kotzas has overcome floods, economic downturns, pandemics, the vagaries of business and more, and after almost three decades at the sharp end of the event planning industry it's still all about creativity and delivering on the WOW factor.

She started her career as a freelance window dresser in the 1980s and armed with a flair for design started The Prop House in 1995 in McLachlan St, Fortitude Valley.

“I’ve never done any formal training – always learnt on the job,” Ms Kotzas said.

“I believe in building and nurturing real relationships in business, so don’t cross people, be honest, pay what you owe, remember names, and be real. Secondly, delivery in business is vital – do what you say you are going to do every time, take responsibility for your work and employ the right people.

“And thirdly, creativity is our currency – more heads around a design are better than one and ultimately make a better result, always believe in Wow and go that little bit further.”

Since launching The Prop House Ms Kotzas has created, curated and crafted theming, design, event statements and conferencing experiences for some of the world’s most prestigious brands, individual operators and for businesses across the spectrum of industry in South East Queensland and beyond.

Some of her clients include the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Westfield, Toyota, Treasury Casino, Mirvac Group, Brisbane Airport Corporation, Business South Bank, Gold Coast Airport, The Coffee Club, Lend Lease, QIC and Somerville House.

The Prop House Collective owner Jano Kotzas inside the store in Coorparoo.

In her latest move she has brought together her two businesses The Prop House and Visual Merchandising Plus (VM+), to create The Prop House Collective – combining award-winning event theming, prop hire, visual merchandising services and commercial Christmas solutions under one roof in Coorparoo.

Ms Kotzas said having two businesses was a “bit confusing”.

“We were all under one banner and in 2012 we separated out the VM+ and made it a standone alone business and now we’ve put them back together,” she said.

Born and bred in Brisbane, Ms Kotzas attended St Aidans at Corinda in the northern suburbs and was known as Jane until Year 9 when she was dubbed Jano – a name which has stuck ever since.

She cut her business teeth as an 11-year-old selling ice cream from an ice cream truck at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary that was owned by her family and run by her father Pat Robertson.

“It’s been a long winding road with a bit of this and a bit of that to end up where we are now,” Ms Kotzas said.

The Prop House Collective has 16 full time staff equilavent and up to 60 casuals are hired over the busy Christmas season. In the last 10 years the company has more than doubled its revenue and in the Olympic decade they expect to grow further.

However, it has not been all clear sailing with the business riding out the GFC and Covid pandemic, and moved five times.

“We fared so well during Covid even though over 72 hours I lost everything on the books when the pandemic hit. But people jumped on board straight away. That first Christmas was huge and we’ve gone from strength-to-strength each year after that,” she said.

The Prop House Collective owner Jano Kotzas

Battling the impact of floods has also been a bug part of the business journey.

“We’ve survived through two big flood events. I had a 1000sq m of warehouse flooded in Montague Rd, West End, then we were flooded in February 2022 at Vulture St,” she said.

“It’s just part of living in Brisbane. I have never had a place that has not been affected by water and you get used to it.

“You have to be prepared. I have flood insurance. That’s the flip side of being near the CBD.”

In 2019, the mother of three the then Jano Dawes married long-time partner John Kotzas, chief executive of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

“We’d been together for about 20 years. We did the mortgage and baby thing before we did the marriage thing. I got him a weak moment,” Ms Kotzas joked.

She said with all of her operations under the one big roof she was looking forward to the next decade.

The new Coorparoo headquarters is doubled the size of the Vulture St base and it was spruced up with a $1m upgrade.

“We moved from 700sq m under one roof to 1500sq m. That’s been a big game changer for us. We have a 350sq m showroom with warehousing on the site which makes things a lot easier,” Ms Kotzas said.

“So it’s now time to take our creative endeavours to the next level.

“With the Olympics here in 2032, the eyes of the world are increasingly on Brisbane, Queensland and Australia, watching every event, how organisations and suppliers create and curate celebrations, and how business is done.

“We’re excited to be a part of this, working in one of the most exciting regions in the world.”