Homes & Estates Florida Collection May 2016 | Page 13

EVERYTHING IS

ILLUMINATED
BY ALYSON PITARRE

Miami designer Juan Carlos Arcila-Duque
shares his greatest sources of inspiration.

J

uan Carlos Arcila-Duque does not need to look far
for inspiration. The 49-year-old Colombian-born
interior designer finds his muse in the turquoise
waters and the crisp white light of Miami, as well as
the city’s next generation of artists.

“You always feel the wave of new people in Miami,” he says.
“Yet there is still this sense of community.”
It’s just the sort of atmosphere where a global designer like
Arcila-Duque thrives. With aesthetic leanings taking him from
Bohemian to modernist and back again, he applies a breezy,
artistic approach to his clients’ interiors, saying, “I like the
house to talk to me.” Inspiration may strike him at any moment
— perhaps it’s a view, a client’s personal furniture collection or
a piece of art he encounters in one of the many new galleries
and antique shops popping up along Biscayne Boulevard or
in the Design District.
Arcila-Duque is just as passionate about art itself as he is
about building up the next generation of Miami artists. An avid
collector of photography, he will be organizing and curating
bi-monthly exhibitions of local emerging and established
artists at specific city locations starting in December. We
recently caught up with Arcila-Duque to ask him about Miami
and why it’s one of the most inspirational design destinations
in the world.

continued

Photography
Interiors: Dora Franco
Portrait: Troy Campbell

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