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02•••

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It is,after all - a special time....of the year.

Spring Break! Throws up all kinds of images, connotations, associations.....

how many of you have been on Spring Break? Recently?

And, how many of you can, or want to talk about it......are they good memories?

Dangerous memories? Dangerous deeds?

I’ll bet........shame.....

Well, some of us, actually do normal things - boring, I know. Except for some of

us, quietude, discoveries - reverie, solace and solitude are the battery re-chargers we all need.....

There’s nothing quite like a mindless float in a sunny pool [did that] - a cold beer on a hot beach [did that too....] - a quiet stroll along a waterfront [and that also...].

And - discovery....or even, re-discovery.

Aventura Mall - for those of you who know it - who have been there - you’ll agree it’s special. The people, that go there - are to a large degree special. I’d have to guess that

a larger proportion of the visitors to Aventura Mall come from somewhere else - and are visitors, as I was.

Consider - on a Tuesday afternoon - 10:30 AM - the parking lot is FULL! I mean full.....you can drive around/drive around.....for a long while before you find a parking spot. And you’ll notice that most license plates are Florida plates - but, so what? All the rental cars of course, are Florida based......of course there’s many from Québec, Ontario, New Jersey, Illinois, Vermont, California - yes - from many places....

Or you can indulge in the bargain of the week - valet parking for 6 bucks! Yup! Six dollars......amazing, huh?

Back in 2005 when I first arrived in Miami to start work with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Aventura Mall was the first mall I went to. By accident.....yes - entirely by accident. See, I arrived to report for work on August 25th - a Thursday. And that evening/night,

Hurricane Katrina hit. Miami, and points south, were chewed up by Katrina that night.

I awoke to no power, no nothing in my hotel room.....and in a desperate search for coffee, found myself weaving and wandering in my rental car through the devastation of the downtown streets. Had no idea where I was going.....my instincts took me north. Up US1 - in places known as Biscayne Boulevard. North - north I drove - looking for a MacDonalds, a Starbucks - an anything that had power and was open. Miles, I drove....literally. I ended up at the west side of Aventura Mall - and judging by the number of cars in the parking lot at 9:00 AM that morning, I knew that a) it had to be open, and b) there was probably coffee there.

Yup! Upon entering the mall I could see it was, business as normal. Of course it was far from normal - and as it turns out, being as it was the only operational commercial property for miles and miles, the rest of Miami headed there also. I spent he whole day wondering around the mall - simply because, there was nothing else to do, nowhere else to go....it was air-conditioned, had a food court, wonderful stores (including the first Apple store in the region, I believe). It was, comforting. I kept calling my hotel to see what the status was - of course there was no power, therefore no air conditioning - no restaurants open - Aventura was an oasis that day - and still to may today, is now.

In that I eventually ended up with an apartment less than a fifteen minute drive from Aventura, it became, over the years I lived there - a convenient desitnation for all purposes. And, in living in the Miami area for about 3 1/2 years, I obsrved the changes, growth and evolution of the all. Albeit that it began life in 1970 when construction started, the mall owners have always made grand efforts to maintain a topical design message and signature - and to attract the very best of retail tenants.

So - in re-visiting it this week, I was pleased to see that it had weathered the tough economic times - that many new stores had opened up - that the complete center had undergone a recent style re-vitalisation......

I discovered that the Apple store had moved to a much larger space....that a new addition to the north side allowing direct access to the new Nordstrom store, had been completed - that there were NO empty spaces - at all, in the Aventura Mall.

It is home to, among others, the following retailers::

Calvin Klein

Cole Haan

Macy’s

Cheesecake Factory

Betsey Johnson

Bloomingdale’s

Abercrombie & Fitch

Ann Taylor

Armani

Banana Republic

Hugo Boss

Charles David

Gap

Guess

JC Penney

Louis Vuitton

Paul & Shark

Porsche Design

Stuart Weizman

Anthropologie

and

Restoration Hardware......

Ahhh! Restoration Hardware. Have you been? Have you been lately?

It is the coolest store for unique home furnishings......I walked in, drooled - walked around, drooled some more.Wanted to take a whole bunch of photographs but it was quite busy. Instead I asked a nice salesgirl if I might take one of their Resource Books which they have on display as you enter the store. ‘Of course’, she said. And I did - marvelling at the sheer mass of the book - all 616 pages of it. It felt like a phone book.....

Of course, I had been there before - many times - but in the last few years their chrysallis has become complete.....they have morphed/emerged into this wonderfully quirky flavour of furniture.furnishings and accessories. All coffee colours, crema marfil, tobacco tinged tones.......crackly/crackling soft supple leathers - on sofas that measure 48” deep - when the norm for most sofas is around 34”- 36” in depth.

The linen covered workstations, the giant blow-ups of ancient paris......the iPad covers in cocoa brown leather......it is all mesmerizing.

But - I went home - took my 4 pound book and went home.....and, with toes dug deep into the sand, facing the crashing surf - cold beer at my elbow, I slowly worked my way through all 616 pages of the Restoration Hardware Fall 2011 Resource Book.

What treat.......I learned that among the many exclusive suppliers/purveyors of product, a man like Timothy Oulton, from an old British tradition of antiques - has become a specialist in the re-construction, re-interpretation of wood-based designs of reinvented styles. Using planks and boards harvested from ancient factories throughout England and other places, their artisans lovingly produce the most fabulous designs - all of which end up at Restoration Hardware.

And that Raymond Libeert, CEO of Lebecco-Lagae, a Belgian producer of linens - is carrying on the traditions of the company that was founded in 1858 by his great-great-grandfather. And that these linen products also form a significant part of the merchandise at Restoration Harware.

But - more than anything else - what I took away from the couple of hours I spent poring over the catalogue (every page - honest) is simply this....there are companies still today that build their growth and acceptance on simple principles....good/great design, produced from a passion for perfection and quality. And that, even today, in these oh-so-tough economic times, there is a market for and an appreciation of, such principles.

When I turned the last page I knew I was heading back to Restoration Hardware.

And I did - a few days later, with my good camera, I walked into the store - approached a gentleman at he service desk and said to him, ‘I have two favours to ask of you....’

He looked at me and said, ‘Yes???’ ‘One’, I continued, ‘I teach interior design - am in fact a designer of many years......would it be possible to get a few more resource catalogues to take back to my school?’

‘Absolutely’, he replied. ‘Let me get you some....’ And he did - 5 more......

As he was placing them in shopping bags, i went on to say, ‘And - would you mind if I took some photographs of the room settings? The catalogue is great but the store is better......’

‘No problem’, he said. ‘Go right ahead.’

And so I wondered through the store shooting this and that. Of course I didn’t have my REALLY good camera with me - with a much better flash attachment. But I had a great time - took about 50 shots I think.......

When I was finished I went back over to the service desk and asked him for a business card - at which point I also mentioned that I write DesignPlanOnline - and that I wanted to feature Restoration Hardware in this issue. He was a most considerate gentleman -

Andy Wiggins - who it turns out is very active in the Trades department of RH.....most gracious. He is one of the most experienced of the personnel at the Aventura location....

if you’re ever there, ask for him. Tell him I told you.......

So - all that being said - and it is, i know, a lot, following are some of the photographs I took combined with some of the shots I located on the internet.....

I hope you enjoy them as much as my experience in shmoozing through this great store...

Thank you Andy : :