Berlin Designs, Inc. Blog: Design Rituals

... a passionate revelation of my design rituals ...
a passionate account from a South Florida award-wining interior designer who is blessed to celebrate her 20th year anniversary of designing "interiors that lift your spirit™"
Welcome! The search is finally over. That perfect marriage of understanding without words:one look, one image, a breathtaking view... Someone who will know how to interpret her client's wishes by listening to all the unsaid words, seeing the cues, perceiving the feelings with a simple gaze.
I am the lucky designer who will get to go into the personal spaces in your life, your office or home. That place you call your own, where you can be you. Your surroundings matter to me, my passion is to let the best of you shine through the space you occupy. No antiseptic rooms, catalog photo-shoot ready, rather the elegant comfort of a back porch at sunset is the feeling I want in the interior of your private spaces. The sink-down comfort of being in your OWN space.
Let your smile shine as you enjoy learning about my passion for design. Then, you will see why we say: experience Interiors that lift your spirit™.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

in the news

Knowing when to barter, or whom to work for pro-bono has proven effective once again.
I am a member of several charitable organizations and participating in Designer Showhouses poses not only a challenge to the designer mind, but always proves to be profitable in countless ways, aside from the satisfaction gained from doing a 'mitzvah' or acts of charity.
In this case the non-for-profit organization: Aventura Marketing Council - asked me to design their new office at One Aventura Executive Center, a 'green' office is called for, as they are the leaders in the Aventura Business Community.
They must set an example for future generations when they consider design elements which are friendly to the environment. Everything from wallpaper to carpet, furniture and even acoustical ceiling tiles has been approved by the USBGC as being manufactured in a ecologically friendly facility. Designing green is not the way of the future is very much the way of TODAY and it does not pose in any circumstance an increase to the budget.
opening soon in Aventura the new 'green' offices of Aventura Marketing Council.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Glass walls: an inside look

The biggest culprit in most offices are those interior rooms which have no windows. Our craving for sunlight during our workday is as imperative as oxygen to our lungs. Aside from the cultural hierarchy classification that offices with windows affords each partner and employee, the need to filter natural light throughout the office poses a challenge. Aside from the fact that we now can specify daylight corrected light bulbs which illuminate the room's color closely to natural light, there is the psychological factor of being able to see outdoors.

Hence, glass walls have played an important role in modern offices as the partition of choice.

Conference above is located alongside a window covered wall, yet towards the interior corridor fixed glazing panels infuse the sunlight.

The sales center on the right is situated in the center of a large lobby, the floor-to-ceiling glass panels act as walls providing not just delineation to the space but also an open and inviting feeling to buyers. All the architectural elements from the flooring to the dome in the ceiling follow the disappearing lines of the glass walls, thus reinforcing the perimeter.

In the image below we contrast the open element of a glass wall with an over-scaled photo lamination which creates definition of purpose in the room as well as luring buyers to peek inside and approach the sales center.
Even when the office is closed and the lobby is open after hours, the interior lighting makes for a few onlookers to stop and peek. Oh, and the montage is the talk of the building!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

New York, New York


Oh! how we love New York! Specially, it's energy with all it's people walking by. On a typical Saturday morning in the middle of summer, thousands of joggers, walkers and families strolling flod Central Park. Did I mention the sun worshipers? Blankets in tow, bikinis in a row offer a colorful new constrast to the green grass carpet of the many hills in the park. The energy amazing! I sure beckons my inner exercise demon to wake up.

But more so, as we walk from about 96 to 14th street, I can't help from wondering, what would it be like to work as a designer in the city? Sure, I have come up on client shopping trips before (and in the winter too), yet for the daily routine, I find it merely exhausting. I can say I am totally spoiled by the convenience of having the largest design center in my backyard. The DCOTA or the Design Center of the Americas boasts 700,000 sq. ft. of interior design heaven, and while I have personally shopped and visited the two main design centers in the city NYDC and A&D building, I much prefer the all-inclusive DCOTA.
I do however, love the village with all its faboulosly
equiped Italian-styled modern showrooms, or what secret source will pop up every year down by the brewery, but let's not forget the comforts of air-conditioning: a must in Florida and this weekend I will say in New york too.


Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Craving the outdoors















Happy 4th of July!
As we have just completed the first half of the 2007 year, I find myself reflecting on the interiors of projects recently completed. Being outside so much under the gorgeous (and hot, very hot) South Florida sun, makes me wonder how can we incorporate more of this feeling we get when we are outside (and on vacation - so to speak) in the inside of our workspaces and homes.

In the residential arena the outdoor market has just exploded. But at work, what are we doing to bring the outside in at our hermetically sealed corporate offices? A couple of our current projects are in the newly developed and just CO'd "One Aventura" building. The developer, Mr. Fernando Levy, speaks about the aluminum trellis sun shades that wrap around the perimeter of the each floor and the operable glazing that allows for each suite's natural air flow. This type of architectural elements allow both the designer and the end user to be in touch with the outdoors. Another such element can be achieved in the interior by creating a large photo-montage or mural with an outdoor motif.

Back in the 70's beach scenes were wallpapered in family rooms across America, yet today we find all 'green' elements motifs appearing in conference rooms, waiting areas in medical suites and restaurants. Such motifs evoke anything from images of the rain-forest to snow banks along a river bed all which achieve the desired effect of transporting one's mind to the outdoors: a mini-vacation without the hassle of travel.