Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode. If you have today, I have the absolute pleasure to be with the mister of Kowikar. He's the founder and principal of Kowikar Architecture and Design Inc. He actually just got awarded by the American Institute of Architects, architect of the years.
So congratulations on that. And not only that, but with over 20 years of experience, him and his team have been recognized and featured among some of the most amazing magazines, such as Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, You Name It. And this is due to the amazing projects that they've been doing, not just here in Miami, but around the world for high-res fundamental, single-family homes, hospitality projects. Anyways, a really amazing portfolio.
So I'm very excited to be here today with you. Listen, with that kind of a prelude introduction, I have to step out of the room and come back. For my number one, it's a great pleasure to be here. It's an honor.
I appreciate what it is that you are doing, because I think it creates a platform for individuals, such as myself, to talk about things that really create the most value of the most people of the time. And specifically, the value that we are talking about is sociological. It is emotional. And how it is that we design for people better, quality of life, today people call it wellness.
Sometimes, many times, what it is that we talk about is to create the best design that we can. That meets the environmental standards, but also meets the humane standards that we need to design about. So that has to do with making the quality of life the most appeal to the individual. Whoever that individual is, that individual can be a handicap individual, that person can be a child, that person can be somebody who wants to have a better quality of life and touch and tune with the natural environment.
So creating designs that are three dimensional, that make you a better person on the inside, is what we are about. So the design that we specialized in doing today, and that we have been successful in doing the people, say, oh, wow, I like this house, I like this apartment, I like this hotel, is something really that is the most sustainable and resilient, not only environmentally, to the outside environment, but also the interior environment of the individual and the person. So specifically, if you look at the one hotel that we did in a man beach, by the way, very nice architecture, it's nice, is that it appeals to the senses, it appeals to all the senses of the individual. And people loved it, building it, they loved it, facility, but inside and outside.
At the ground level, and how it interacts with the beach, the beach club, and how it interacts with the rooftop. And that is something that is synonymous with what it is that we do for the community. We restore preserved buildings, and we add onto them. We bring them back to life and talk about the history that the enemy, because we all are coming from the background.
And if we understand our background, and if we study our background, if we study the history of who we are, it will make us better community, better people, and better buildings into the future. So the way I design is that buildings are like people, and if you understand how people can then live within the buildings, and interact, is the most important. This is coming from the white man himself, by the way. So, by the way, what you're saying is so true.
And I believe that what you say is the art of the detail, and the detail comes in many shapes and forms. It's not just the design itself, but the emotions that it brings into the human life, you know? And what you're saying is right, and that's why your brand has become sorry, not not because it becomes not just a project, it becomes part of yourself. It becomes to the individual, to the person, whoever that person.
And this is not something new, this is something that we, as humans, have been building for a long time. When you look at the Caribbean, we design the Caribbean, the resorts and motels with the sun, the Caribbean, are open, cross ventilated, with shadow boxes oriented towards the breeze, oriented towards the view. Let the light come in, let the sun rise, let the light come in, and sunset, and then create shadow boxes, and give you proper spaces that are protected from the sun, and the elements, whether it's the sun or the rain, even the blowing rain horizontally. That's very, very important to be sensitive to.
And I believe that the future of design teaching, architectural teaching, interior design teaching, landscape architecture teaching, will continue to be more involved into that kind of sensibility. It is something that we, as a community, have received a bit of a wake up call to COVID. But COVID is something that we have always had. We have had measles and mumps and various yellow fever.
And I've been working from Angola to Minneapolis, to Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia, to Russia, to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and South East Asia, Cambodia. All those places, we've always had it, and that's not always had disease. The only difference is now that we have this technology, or you can see what's going on live anywhere else in the world. I believe that if you design towards those items that we are talking about, and if you are holistic in that thought process, the value that you are creating, knowingly or unknowingly for the buyer for the end user, is immense.
And that is why I believe we have been successful in the past. I believe that's why we're successful currently. And God willing, we'll be successful in the future. Because, sure, thank you, each other.
Because then, if you take that kind of a DNA of design and thought process into the spaces that we have a take, that we work with, and that we study within our daily basis, that will create a value. That people sometimes don't understand. People walk into our buildings where they're on the floor, the floor seems in surfside, the floor seems in full-loude, and they are ready, willing, and able to pay a tough dollar, because it feels good, because the light is good, because the energy they say is good, but really what it is, it's oriented towards the wellness of the individual. No, you said it amazingly over there, and I say that every single one of your projects transmits that tranquility, that great energy, and it's also because it's built for that individual.
So one thing I wanted to say, because you mentioned that that's one of the reasons that yourself and the business has become so successful over the years. But I can say that I've met a lot of great architects throughout all my years, and what I found that really differentiates yourself, not only what you said, which is very emotional and very true, is also the branding, because there's a lot of great architects out there that know what it knows about them. And I gotta say that your brand, everywhere I see it, it already transmits your design, your tranquility, your energy, your professionalism, your content is on point. So I think that branding is also something that differentiates yourself from everybody else.
Rending is very important. Look, when I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, people did not know what Kobe or Carp comes from, they didn't know what kind of name that is, is that a chief of Kobe chiefs, or is it a Carp to fish? Is it Kobe beef, is it Kobe Bryant, you know? People just don't know.
And so what we try to do is, in the name, create the brand based on what it is that we are designing about, if we have a story to tell, and we can put it concisely and coherently for the community to understand, then the branding ties itself to it. And it's like you looked at the sketch, what the sketch was done when I studied monasteries and closures around the Alps in 1986. This is the year on the back that I sketched right here, in 1986, 1986, 2006, 2016, right? That's 35 years ago.
And if you carry that kind of a thought process, and a DNA, multi-year, multi-decade, and you're clear in your heart and in your lungs, in your mind about how it is that you're going to project the history and forth. Look, I happen to have a name, Kobe Carp, that now, you know, when I grew up with people named Johnson and Peterson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you know, I was unique and different on it, is that Kobe Carp, for many people, rhymes, and they don't know if it's one person or two people, they just don't, it's, we are company, and I'm only as good as the people who support me. And thank God, I have a lot, a lot, a lot of good people, for many, many years, who have supported the brand in that thought process. It happens also at Kobe Carp, runs with names like Coca-Cola, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, what matters is the story that you have to tell, the story that you have to tell, is what's going to continue to live beyond the capacity of the building, beyond the capacity of the community, beyond the capacity of what we've been here in Miami.
And that's why it's really interesting, it's humbling, and it's enlightening to be a woken every day and to come and be part of this, because it's a part of a short, it's a part of a community, it's a part of many, many people working together. Hello, all the time. I love it. And notice that, I can't tell you, when you set up a evolving, because you've been evolving and adapting to all these new trends, especially the way that people consume the content, people that they consume, the new way that these projects are presented, is professionally, and you are very active on all social media platforms, the content is great, and you're also shifting towards the NFT space with the cryptocurrencies, and I'm gonna say that non-fantable tokens, I mean, we were recently at New York for the NFT conference, and when I look into your business, in comparison to any other architect, you already there, you've got the architecture, which is a 65, we believe that presenting our NFTs for the community to buy to participate in is a benefit, because then people can have it, they can own it, they can share it, they can expand it.
It's like when we did this book, right, when somebody came and said, I hope you did the sketchbook that you have, that you made the 1980s, it's a city on the draw, give it to me, and I'll make a thousand, what happened a thousand, just that, that can do. The same thing with the Asturin book. It's the amazing book, by the way. It tells us more about Miami, about its draw preservation, about restoration, about quality of life, that's really what it talks about, and that is important message, people wanna get interest with them, and I believe that NFTs, I believe that the internet, are open forms for people to present ideas, and to carry ideas forward and open passion, people don't have to pay for it, it's for free, and then if they want to, they can get in.
And by the way, for those that are watching and listening, I mean, this is very clever, these are 65 drawers or sketches, from what was the classical architecture to the modern, and these are just the stresses that you were doing, it's unbelievable, very clever, and a very good way to open it through the world, to own a piece of the, that's the way it should be, unbelievable. Now the last thing I will tell you, because this is the question that we ask every one of our guests, I wanna know your answer. What is luxury to you? Luxury is helping well-being quality of life.
Luxury by definition is, look, we all can't get the same way to this world, and we all leave this world the same way, and nobody can take anything with them, you can't take this, you can't take this, but what we are here for that short period of time, is if we can have a good quality of life, where we are studying, what we are learning, what we are being inspired, what we are being healthy inside in many ways in absent, is what we desire to do. So for me, that's the ultimate luxury. It is not about how much money you have on how many, that's really irrelevant. At the end of the day, is the quality of life, and some people, it's their personal relationship.
Some people, it's their relationship with their dog, or their animal. Sometimes it's a relationship with your parents. Many people, like me, it's my relationship with my children, right? For me, that is the ability to understand where I came from, and to potentially see where they will be going once I'm never out.
Couldn't say that, that's amazing. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Well, I'm sure.
Yeah, thank you. Turn over with some good stuff. Thanks everybody for watching. Make sure to follow him and check what he's up to, because it's very inspirational.
Great guy. Thanks. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it.
And remember, embrace it's beautiful, success in life. My name is Alvaro, and I'll see you next time.