Arthur Casas Joins Hello Cindy! From São Paulo, Brazil
Hello Cindy! goes global yet again with today’s guest, Hall-of-Famer Arthur Casas. All the way from São Paulo, Brazil, he joined Cindy Allen (@thecindygram) Editor in Chief of Inteior Design for her daily Instagram Live show where she brings those in the design world together. Casas appeared on screen with a scarf around his face, a cheeky move to remind everyone to wear their own face-covering outside.
Right now, he’s in his office once a week to decide on samples and such, but for the most part the Studio Arthur Casas team is working remotely. “Everyone is working hard,” Casas noted, adding that the transition to virtual communication went smoother than expected. “This way of communication, ” Casas said referencing the video call, is going to be one of the greatest things to come out of the isolation. He’s looking forward to the end of short, overnight trips to all sorts of places across the globe—just for one meeting—as we shift to virtual conferences. When everyone returns to the office, Casas plans to have one or possibly more days where people can work from home. “I think that the best thing we will change is something that we were trying to change for 20 years, this way of communication without taking an airplane,” he said and Allen agreed, especially considering the sustainability aspect.
When asked how Brazil is doing, Casas could only respond with: “Crazy,” noting that it’s very difficult to have social distancing among the millions of poor people that live there. “And we live in a world of countries just like Brazil,” Casas said. One of his goals now is focusing on how his projects can help the greater good and improve the lives of those who live outside of the big builds.
As Allen showed the images from Casas on screen, each project reflected his love of nature. Examples include his house at the base of a rainforest; an island golf course; and the wooden grill work that covers the walls in the Kosushi Miami restaurant, which was inspired by a bird’s nest. The wooden pieces fit together without any nails or glues. One project that took Allen and the viewers back to New York City is a six-story brownstone on the Upper West Side, which Casas gushed, features much furniture from Brazil.
As it so happens, one of Casas’ projects also is the cover star for the Spring Homes issue of Interior Design. He was very happy to see the forthcoming issue in Allen’s hands and looks forward to reading during quarantine. In the meantime, he’s very much enjoying this slower pace of life and reminded viewers “to be positive” while thinking about the future.
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