138 – Miami Interior Designer: David Charette

Miami Interior Designer: David Charette Today in The Lounge, Nick chats with David Charette, one half of the Miami based design firm Britto Charette, from the Porcelanosa flagship building in NYC. Learn about David’s early days as a designer, his journey to Miami, and the lessons he learned from opening a design firm shortly after an economic recession. Getting to Know David David, a Michigan native, loves: to travel, shoes and Tesla. Unfortunately, he doesn’t drive a Tesla (he drives a land rover) but he finds himself drawn to the environmentally conscious concept and brand behind Tesla. His favorite accessory is shoes, Jimmy Choo being his brand of choice as they have a lot of options for men and garner lots of compliments. David’s parents were school teachers who taught him the importance of education, tenacity and to never give up. They also instilled his love of travel. He has been traveling since the age of two. Some of his favorite places are Florence, Berlin, Paris, and Hong Kong. In the US, he is drawn to the excitement of Manhattan and its many skyscrapers. One of David’s strengths has been drawing and sketching. Growing up, he found that he was always putting together spaces, shapes and volumes and building models with Legos. He also had strong drawing and hand sketching abilities, which he now uses as a tool to communicate with clients to articulate his ideas. David began studying Fine Arts and Sculpture at Aquinas University in Grand Rapids. However, after receiving feedback that most of his work was architectural in nature he transferred to the University of Detroit where he received a Bachelor of Architecture (professional architecture degree). He taught 3rd-year studio at the University before he departed to focus on his professional work. Although David is passionate about core and shell architecture, he found himself drawn to interior design due to the project time frame and increased client connection. When constructing a new building from the ground up, the process could take between 3-4 years. There is immediacy to interior design, where a project could be complete in around 6 months. With interiors, David found much more client contact and interaction with the end users. There was also more of a personal connection since people typically experience a building from the inside. Professional Life David began working at Smith Group where he focused on higher education, corporate projects, and top secret spaces. After this, he moved around a bit interning in Cleveland and Chicago before landing at the San Francisco office of Perkins and Will. At Perkins and Will he worked on one of his largest projects, Princess Nora University, for 45,000 students in Beirut. It was a fast-track project, going from design to completion in 4 years. Working on this project allowed him to live and work in Beirut as a member of the design team and also travel to Miami and Chicago for various team meetings. At a trip to Chicago for NeoCon, a trade show for commercial interior design, David met his future business partner, Jay Britto. After a series of casual conversations, David noticed that they had similar tastes and he found himself growing increasingly frustrated with his experience in large corporate environments. Fueled by a lack of recognition for his participation in an industrial design project on display at NeoCon, Jay and David decided to work together and create their own firm: Britto Charette. As designers, they are both equally creative. They work organically; sharing most of the work and naturally dividing project demands. David calls his move to Miami a calculated risk. It is a very architectural city with large room to grow and invest. Creating and Maintaining the Business   David accredits three steps to creating his business: a strong business plan, staffing, and technology.