ABOVE: Orlando Diaz-Azcuy "stands behind" his contemporary designs, such as the "Umbria Dining Chair" shown here.

ORLANDO DIAZ-AZCUY:
PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
The Celebrated Designer Achieves Excellence
With His Striking Silhouettes

xcellence is the pursuit of perfection but knowing when to stop," says Orlando Diaz-Azcuy, award-winning architect and designer. "I am meticulous, but not obsessive or paranoid if something doesn't come out as planned. It's more exciting with a little imperfection."

In his relentless "pursuit of perfection," Diaz-Azcuy has received an honorary doctorate from Miami's International Fine Arts College and was named "Designer of the Year" by Interiors magazine and one of the five most respected designers in the United States by Interior Design. In addition, he was inducted into Interior Design magazine's Hall of Fame in 1987. World-renowned for his interior and product designs, the designer launched his career, however, in architecture.

Diaz-Azcuy, who began his architectural studies at Villanova University in Havana, Cuba, his native country, completed his architecture degree at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Soon after, he headed to the West Coast, and settled in San Francisco, where he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he received master's degrees in landscape architecture and city and regional planning. These, combined with his architecture degree, made Diaz-Azcuy a shoo-in for a position at Gensler and Associates Architects in San Francisco.

ABOVE: The all-wood "Aria Dining Table" is one of four dining tables Diaz-Azcuy created for McGuire Furniture.

During his 11-year tenure at Gensler, Diaz-Azcuy was given the opportunity to design an interior and "took it," he says. "I was not pushing to change, but circumstances were pushing me. A recession hit — no one needed any urban planning — so I was offered a chance to design an interior, and I did." Interior Design magazine recognized his efforts with an award — an honor that catapulted the designer to the position of vice president/design principal of the firm.

From that moment on, Diaz-Azcuy worked with some of the most glamorous and prestigious residential and commercial clients in the world. During this time, he also began designing furniture for the firm's clients as well as conceiving some pieces of his own. "I created a small studio to design furniture while at Gensler, but the pressure was too much. I found myself supervising design for a staff of 600 and traveling a great deal to oversee projects. The situation was crazy," he says.

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