In this beautifully photographed view into how Palm Beachers really live, 'Remodelista' and self-described layman Cultural Anthropologist, Carolina Fernandez brings her business acumen and artistic sensibilities to unearth its art and design scene, and to help others feel its rapidly rising heartbeat. By exploring the visual and material culture in which one lives, and by surrounding oneself with things that possess beauty and meaning, Fernandez believes that one adds deeper layers and further dimension to the human experience.
Palm Beach. These two little words conjure images of the "veritable paradise" described by Henry Flagler, and of the official destination point for the world's wealthiest. What few realize is that Palm Beach and its surrounding neighborhoods hold more material goods in more high-quality dealers, consignment and thrift shops than any other defined geographic area in the country, per capita. Not only is the sheer volume palpable; the astounding quality begs further exploration of how, exactly, Palm Beachers design and decorate their homes. A tectonic shift in aesthetic has swept the island, enlivening the atmosphere with new-found electricity. Fernandez examines this new design landscape and distills it into easily digestible bites. Helping homeowners understand how to infuse Palm Beach style by mixing treasured inherited objects with serendipitous and re-imagined finds in creating their own unique design calculus meets her anthropological mission head-on.
As a room-by-room guide, distinct design preferences ubiquitous to the Palm Beaches, as well as its unique palette, patterns and textures, are explored, with homage to the demands, as well as the revitalizing qualities, of the 'Sun, Sea & Air.' With more than 200 hundred full-color photographs and rich text, she walks you inside twenty-two homes, fifteen local shops, and gardens and galleries to help you translate the light, energy, and freshness of this island lifestyle into your own home, and inspires you to design and decorate--and indeed, to live!--with exuberance. This is the design philosophy behind Palm Beach Panache. The philosophy which she shares with you and under which she proudly, happily, joyfully lives.
Carolina Fernandez bought and renovated eleven homes, with a five-year stretch finding her and her family in five different homes in three different states. Lessons learned are shared in her first book and in more than two-hundred original published articles, stories and anthologies, which have been syndicated by more than 60,000 unique online sites, blogs and newsletters. Quoted in Parenting, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Nickelodeon, NewsDay, BottomLine Personal and Advertising Age, she has appeared on the FOX News program Your World with Neil Cavuto, and interviewed on Martha Stewart Living Radio and NPR, among others.
She left a career "off" Wall Street to work full-time in the arts. Undertaking projects ranging from her signature large scale expressionistic flower paintings to producing indie feature films, she actively seeks homes and furniture to remodel and re-imagine. Her second book, Country French Kitchens, rendered her own French kitchen on the cover of Connecticut Home & Garden.
Carolina holds a B.A. in Religion from Wake Forest University, the M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a Certification in Art Business from New York University. She and her family divide their time between Connecticut and Palm Beach. For more information, visit her at: www.carolinafernandez.com
