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DCOTA will Salute Stars of Design
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Dania Beach, Fla. – Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) will present the awards for the 3rd annual “Stars of Design,” one of Florida’s most prestigious design industry awards on the evening of Tuesday, January 29, 2008 as part of Wintermarket 2008. There are a number of special programs for the DCOTA Winter Market underwritten by Architectural Digest. These include several panel discussions and seminars in which editor Paige Rense will personally lead or participate. The Architectural Digest “Open Audition” for designers will provide an opportunity for designers to present their work to Architectural Digest editors for consideration for publication in future editions of the magazine.

Design professionals will be honored for significant achievements and contributions to their profession, including interior design, architecture, product design, photography, graphic design, landscape design, urban design, and art. There will also be a special award for lifetime achievement. Mr. Charles S. Cohen, President - CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation which includes DCOTA, the D&D Building in New York, the Decorative Center in Houston, and the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles will present the “Stars of Design” awards to each recipient.

The jury for the Stars of Design awards is comprised of leaders in their chosen field for their accomplishments and the esteem of their peers. They include:

William R. Eubanks, Interior Designer, William R. Eubanks Interior Design, Inc.
Dan Forer, Architectural Photographer, Forer, Inc.
Margaret Wilesmith, President and Creative Director, Wilesmith Advertising & Design
Mario Nievera, President and Landscape Designer, Mario Nievera Design, Inc.
William Kobrynich, Director of Student Affairs, Art Institute Fort Lauderdale
Irvin Lippman, President and Executive Director, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale

The chosen Stars have clearly outshone others in their field, showing unique talent, ideas, creativity and business savvy. With their dedication, these individuals are making a difference in our world today and quite possibly will shape the interior design world of tomorrow.

Interior Design -
Jennifer Garrigues, Jennifer Garrigues Interior Design

A potpourri of design in the true English tradition is one of the many looks of London-born Jennifer Garrigues. Jennifer, a former fashion model, worked for 10 years with such designers as Jean Muir, Christian Dior, James Galanos and Hanae Mori. This was a good background for her to learn proportion, texture and to understand the beauty of design in all its elements. Always loving architecture and interiors, Jennifer decided to add another string to her bow and attend the New York School of Design to learn the "mechanics of business" and at the same time designed the interiors for clients at the Carlyle Hotel in New York. This was such a success that she was asked to be on the design team at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club, where she designed a villa for HRH Prince Charles along with many other polo enthusiasts. Wanting to expand into Palm Beach, she opened her own business and studio and has designed for a diverse group of clients such as composer/singer Boz Scaggs and the late artist Vidal Quadras. Jennifer Garrigues, Inc. design studios are located in Palm Beach, Florida, and New York, New York, both offering complete design services for residential, commercial and hospitality projects. Her antiques, furniture and decorative accessories collected from around the world are located at her Palm Beach Showroom. Mrs. Garrigues is an active member of ASID (American Society of Interior designers) and IIDA (International Interior Design Association).

Architecture
Thomas M. Kirchhoff, AIA PA, Kirchhoff Architects
Thomas Kirchhoff is a Florida Registered Architect, and the Principal of Thomas Kirchhoff, AIA, PA. His professional affiliations include the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. With over twenty years of professional experience, Tom oversees the design creativity and detail consistency of every project. He maintains active direction of each phase of design, from code review to construction observation, and coordinates each project from beginning to end. Within his custom homes, Tom finds the essence of his designs in the personality and individuality of each client, so that the architecture of the home actually becomes a reflection of the people that inhabit it. He is well versed in the traditions of residential design and offers a fresh look at architecture of the home.
Product Design
Michael Wolk, Michael Wolk Design Associates
Michael Wolk’s career spans three decades. He graduated with honors from New York’s prestigious Pratt Institute and worked on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Joko Recording Studio and their private residence in the famed Dakota. With a broad background that encompasses graphic and furniture design, interiors for commercial and residential developers as well as architectural and engineering expertise, Michael Wolk brings detailed knowledge, extensive experience and creative vision to a wide-variety of unique projects and clientele. The list of public spaces created by Michael Wolk Design Associates includes: 500 Brickell (Related Group), Trump Grande and Trump Royale (Dezer/Trump developers), Diplomat Ocean Residences (Taylor Woodrow), and Lyghte (The Davis Companies). Michael Wolk’s talents also extend to residential interiors to corporate suites and commercial design. His firm has designed the headquarters of Burger King, Sony International, Mia Shoes, The Lionstone Group, Broadcast Video Inc as well as the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences. An innovator in graphic design, Wolk has designed logo and branding campaigns for such clients as American Express, Joe’s Stone Crab, Turnberry Island as well as Trump Grand, Royale and Palace. He has taught at Miami-Dade College, Florida International University, International Fine Arts College and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He is the author of a coffee table book entitled "Designing for the Table."

Urban Design
Leo Urban, Urban Associates
Mr. Urban is the founder and principal in charge of all design projects. He is a licensed landscape architect (ASLA) in Florida (License No. 1482) and four other states. He has been in business since 1979. Mr. Urban is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design with a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture. Other degrees include: a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University and Associates Degree in Ornamental Horticulture from SUNY in Farmingdale, New York. From 1979 to 1996, Mr. Urban founded and managed an 18 person landscape architecture firm located in Bedford, New Hampshire. For a period of three years, he managed both the South Florida office and New Hampshire office. In 1996, the New Hampshire office was closed to better serve his South Florida clients. For eight years prior to founding Urban Associates, Inc. in 1979, Mr. Urban was director/project manager of the Landscape Architecture Department of Dufresne-Henry Engineering, a 150 person firm located in Springfield, Vermont. In this capacity he was in charge of all site planning and landscape design for both municipal and private development projects. Mr. Urban's work has been published in "Builder" and "Better Homes and Gardens" magazines and he has won numerous awards for his work.

Graphic Design
Ken Cimetta, Cimetta Design, Inc.
Ken Cimetta was born in New York, and is currently a resident of Southwest Ranches, Florida. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. With work from Esso, American Express, and Disney, Ken has over 35 years of international experience to draw from. Ken’s first love is photography, but he has embraced the internet/new media generation. As well as being Art and Creative Director at Cimetta Design, he is the driving force behind several new, successful internet startups, showing his versatility in multiple fields.

Landscape Design
Raymond Jungles, Jungles Landscape Architect
Raymond Jungles is a landscape architect / artist who uses nature as a means of self expression. His sensitivity and originality have attracted the attention of many. Internationally published, his gardens have won 15 design awards from the Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (eight of them awards of excellence) and an additional two that won the coveted Fredric B. Stresau Award given to best project for the current year. Numerous other organizations have also bestowed awards for Jungles designs. His passion for excellence reflects in all of his designs whether they be estate gardens, resort hotels, urban designs, community or recreational, domestic or international.

Photography
Kim Sargent, Sargent Architectural Photography
As the son of an award-winning photojournalist growing up in Saratoga Springs, New York, Kim Sargent often dreamed of traveling the world with a camera in hand. Today Kim has realized his dream, but that one camera has been replaced with 20 cases of equipment weighing over 1/2 ton, two office managers and a team of assistants. Upon graduating college in upstate New York, Kim moved to West Palm Beach, Florida where he was appointed Director of Photography at The Palm Beach Daily News. His 10 year tenure afforded him the opportunity to hone his skills with a 4x5 camera, with a special interest in architectural photography. Due to the unique nature of working in Palm Beach, Kim was granted entree into some of the most exclusive homes in the world where his eye for composition and detail was being constantly cultivated. Today Kim enjoys the reputation of being a practical, no nonsense, but easy going, photographer. His classic style is easily recognizable from Architectural Digest magazine covers to brochures for the leading architectural and design firms around the globe.

Art
Thomas L.Tribby, Thomas L. Tribby, Inc.
Tom Tribby is a highly admired and celebrated professional painter, sculptor and printmaker. His work was recently shown at the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, also know as the Paris Salon at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. His artworks have a wonderful idiosyncratic style that is instantly recognizable as his own. He is well known for his artistic command of the figure as well as for his still life work and landscapes. Tom's artworks are held in private and corporate collections. He has shown in numerous juried and invitational shows and he has exhibited in museum shows in California and Florida, where his work is currently shown in galleries. Tom maintains a studio in West Palm Beach, Florida. Karen Lynne Galleries, which represents Thomas Tribby, has been chosen as the first American Delegation ever to represent the United States in the prestigious Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA) exhibit at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. This is an annual juried visual art competition and has been held annually since the early 1900's.

Lifetime Achievement
Mario Echeverria, Echeverria Design Group
Echeverria Design Group was inaugurated in 1982 and provides interior design, space planning and design services, merchandising allocation and construction management for a diverse clientele that includes Macy’s and many other national companies. They are now the largest design firm based in Greater Miami specializing in retail design, according to the South Florida Business Journal. They rank in the top 50 in the United States per the last survey compiled by Display and Design Ideas, and Visual Merchandising and Store Design, industry publications. In addition to their many retail installations; their clients include numerous fine restaurants throughout the Americas and abroad, as well as many award-winning art galleries, showrooms, healthcare facilities and select residential installations. Echeverria Design Group has won more than 75 distinguished honors to date, taking top honors in several national design competitions, and an unequalled number of statewide juried competitions sponsored by ASID, IIDA and other design organizations. Their work has been featured in many industry and consumer publications including Interior Design and Contract Design, just to name a few, and also in books like Stores of the Year and Storefronts & Facades.

The Stars of Design awards ceremony will begin at 5:00 pm in the DCOTA Atrium C on the 1st Floor and will be followed at 6:00 pm by Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres.

DCOTA, a unique facility that will shortly celebrate its 22nd Anniversary, is the preeminent design center serving design professionals in Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean regions. DCOTA is the largest design campus of its kind, showcasing 775,000 square feet of extraordinary interior design needs for any home, yacht or office project. Fine furniture, fabrics, flooring, lighting, kitchen, bath, art, antiques, accessories, appliances, window treatments, decorative hardware, paint, surfacing and so much more can be found throughout the 150 showrooms at DCOTA that display and sell interior product lines to professional interior designers, architects, decorators and dealers.

DCOTA is located at 1855 Griffin Road, Dania Beach. For additional information, please call (954)920-7997.







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