ABOUT

In the beginning design process, I'm a detective looking for the evidence of how a company or a person lives, before putting on my designer hat. I consider what can be saved and expanded on before purchasing new. No two of my projects are anything alike because no two people or businesses have the same functional and esthetic needs. The natural way we live in our spaces, whether that be personal or business; is the root of any effective design project.

My Background:

I grew up among the redwood trees in the Cascade Canyon of Mill Valley, California, not far from where I live today. My summers were often spent watching the construction of my grandfather, Leon Watson's classic adobe homes in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My mother Jane Robbins learned how to draw from her dad and I learned from Ma. Their legacy is naturally part of my own.

In the early seventies after college I worked with many talented display people in the San Francisco downtown Macy’s. My displays attracted the attention of Burton Goldberg who brought me to Miami, Florida, to design 130 rooms in his establishment: The Hotel Mutiny. The three year project consisted of rooms of various themes. The private club was notorious for the Colombian cowboys as well as the actors who played them in the movies of that decade. The following ten years my husband, Carlos Castro, and I, built restaurants and nightclubs throughout South Florida and eventually our gallery Antares, known for artistically embellished one-of-a-kind furniture. The design projects I have completed throughout my career were possible because of the super talented craftsmen and craftswomen I have worked with.  They are my backbone.  On the same token, I could never have accomplished the range of ecologically conscious work without having clients who  believe in good building practices.

Today, I continue to design restaurant and residential properties, as well as transform furnishings for my website business: Antares Furnishings. When I find a set of old funnels I build them into light fixtures or a vintage leather coat into handbags. I believe in using what I have before buying something new. No matter whether I find an empty space to explore, or reawaken a piece of furniture, I am dedicated to the prosperity of the businesses I work for, my client’s comfort in their homes, as well as a well honed practice of respecting the earth’s resources.

Carolyn Robbins