Carabiner has evolved into the practice it is today over a period of more than 30 years. Formerly Sandover Pinder, we rebranded in 2018 to reflect our relationship-based service offering.

Carabiner began as Sandover Pinder in 1995, in Perth Western Australia, founded by two highly regarded practitioners, Patrick Pinder and Grayam Sandover.

The merger of their two practices created a firm foundation of experience in public buildings, featuring major projects for local and state government and international clients. Pinder’s affinity for institutional architecture combined with Sandover’s formidable commercial expertise to form a diverse, broad-ranging portfolio of notable buildings across WA and internationally.

Our Principal, David Karotkin, former Director Peter Giangiulio (retiring in 2024) and Carabiner's senior team had the privilege of developing their careers under the guidance of Patrick and Grayam. David has been a member of Sandover Pinder since its inception and part owner since 2000, leading a number of prominent, large-scale and culturally significant built works over the last 25+ years.

David is a conscious custodian of the practice’s prolific professional legacy, both within the built environment and internally, continuing our strong in-house culture and cultivating meaningful relationships with colleagues and clients.

Our practice has grown and developed to incorporate various areas of expertise, from primary and secondary school new builds, upgrades and education support centres, complex sport projects for community recreation to serving performance athletes, healthcare and hospital projects, transport, heritage
and beyond.

We offer full architectural services, master planning and interior design.

At every step of the way, we promise to be more connected to you, our client, than any other architectural firm.

We are guides, not gurus, and our team define excellence not only through alignment of budgetry and timing milestones for our clients, but by achieving optimal outcomes for the project’s end users.