A journey around the world...

My mother on the other hand is a "creative". She is the queen of arts and crafts. She could take any old scraps of paper, and turn them into a playful work of art. She would spend hours in the basement in the 70's making terrariums with colored sand in fish bowls. Remember those? Today she still spends her free time surrounded by hundreds of jars full of beads and stones as she creates the next pieces of beautiful jewelry.

In my late 20's and early 30's, I did indeed follow in my father's footsteps. I became a very successful salesman, and later a top manager for the world's largest leather upholstery company. I was making an incredible living. I was Traveling all over the world. Life was pretty good! But the real truth was...I hated it! Nothing felt right (Except the traveling part). And money and titles were not buying true happiness! I wanted to do something creative with my life. I had a long time dream, and just had no idea how to go about realizing it. I just believed it wasn't in the cards for me. My life path was set, and that was it.
Then one day I accepted a job with a small "up and coming" Italian leather sofa manufacturer. My official job was V.P. of Sales & Marketing, and my task was to launch the company onto the American market. The owner was the principle designer. The product was very beautiful, and the details were executed with great precision. I spent the first three months at the factory in Italy helping him get the collection ready for America. One day he was leaving for a two day business trip to the U.K., and I asked him if it was OK for me to work with the graphic artist on an idea I had for a sofa. He agreed and left for his trip. I went to work on visualizing the idea in my head, and after two days of struggling with the artist who spoke no English, (my Italian was very basic at best) I had created my first furniture design. Those two days changed my life forever! The sofa was made, and it actually sold!!
"If you can dream it...you can do it." - Walt Disney
Follow me on Facebook...
◦