By the time Edmundo Pérez-de Cobos was ready to retire to his gracious new Key Biscayne condominium, he was a man who knew his tastes. After 30 years of traveling the globe as a top executive at American Express, he had amassed an impressive collection of fine furniture, art and artifacts from Mexico, Argentina, Spain, England and the Far East.

But consolidating the contents of his Coral Gables and Mexico City homes required a designer with a judicious eye, a refined sensibility and a formidable sense of organization — someone like Martha Puente.
When they met, Pérez-de Cobos presented Puente with a catalog of his collections and an aesthetic vision for the home. “I wanted something that would not be dated,” he says.