As is the case in any dealing consisting of more than one party, establishing the rules is the first walking lane in the game. I sat with my client on a sunny afternoon… it was a memorable meeting. My first one ever at the beach; but it was a good place to get our minds off the pavement and rolling with ideas.
Conversing is often the best way to get to know someone quite rapidly. It was the tool that made me understand my client: his upbringing, his roots, his tastes, his hobbies, his dreams. Words were perhaps the building blocks upon which the criterion for the proposal were fixed. A colombian at heart; he spent much of his younger years in America doing what I like to call the bicoastal affair. He completed highschool in New York during the 60’s and 70’s. He told me stories about Studio54, his love for the Rolling Stones, Woodstock, and his later experience in the west coast during the hippie movement.
Though profoundly inspired by his country, and its culture; he insisted his home should suggest a much more international mode. He wanted elements of his life to become accents characteristic of his experiences. Decor that swayed the space out of Colombia and into open land.
We flipped through dozens of Interior Design and Furniture magazines and books; carefully marking anything that would catch his or my attention. The picture soon started coming together. I began to understand how big of a change not only the space but my client was demanding. The excitement took over. The rest was history.