Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode to meet up. Happy Monday. I hope everybody had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of things to be grateful for.
And I'm grateful to be here with all of you today to be sharing another exciting story of one of our guests. We're gonna have with us G-cell Sugarman. She is one of the owners at BNG Design, which is an award-winning luxury design studio based in Miami founded in 2006. There she is.
Haha, and how are you? Very good on yourself. Good. Thank you for having me.
No, very excited to have you here today. Thank you for joining. We're obviously a little bit upset that Brett is not here with us, but look, you are the rock star. We're not gonna tell him, but we know that you are the reason that the business is thriving the way it is.
So we are really thrilled to know all about yourself and the business. So welcome. Thank you so much. Actually, he's my rock star.
He's actually doing music. So that's funny. Yeah, he's doing music. That's a whole other story, but he's very multi-talented.
Let's put it that way. Well, I'm sure you should have been doing a phenomenal job throughout all these years because you've been featured everywhere as one of the leading and award-winning luxury studio design companies here in Miami doing projects, not just here, but also in Latin America and Europe. So tell us about how BNG Design started because it's been an amazing journey. It's been quite a journey.
I met Brett 20 years ago. That's how long we've been working together at another design firm. It was a, I called it the machine. It was amazing training for us.
We had a, it was very fast paced. I started from the very bottom of that company. So I used to do coordination, do purchase orders, invoices, project managing. A little did I know at 21 that that was going to be the background of what's going to help me have our own business because as a business owner, you need to be able to do everything.
And then Brett, he comes from a family of designers and architects. So he comes from this world. I didn't. I came from just a love of fashion.
My mom is a fashionista. So I definitely have that in our blood. She was always, till this day, she's dressed to the nines. And I think, you know, fashion and interior designer design is very, very blended in.
So we met 20 years ago. We, we left the company and now our business has been, it's 14 years old. What are some of the areas that you're currently focusing on? Some of the pranks that you're working on.
Tell us all about opening up office in the Miami Design District, which we're really excited about. And we have some partnerships that I can't talk about quite yet. We got, but some really exciting partnerships in our office. The office is going to be very representative of what we do, which is complete luxury.
It's the music in the background. It's how you're greeted and the service is the whole pampering thing. And at this caliber of your interior design that we're doing, that's what our clients deserve and expect believe in continuing to improve and learn and better our craft and make it into more of a holistic approach. And now with our boss coming up, how is that going to impact the business?
Well, the beauty is we're the timing couldn't be better. We have two projects that we're finishing up. One here in Miami and one in Del Rey that like literally their backyard is the sand. It's a huge beautiful house.
So we're going to be shopping for clients. Hello, our boss will be in our backyard is going to be such a fantastic thing. Oh, no, it's going to be any better. But you know, we've been talking all about all the positive things that have been going on and all the upsides, but I'm sure that as any other business owner, especially in such a competitive industry as the one that you're in, what's been the biggest challenge?
I think the biggest challenge is customer service continuing to improve in customer service. Anytime you deal with a client, the expectations are different for every client. What their expectations are is very different in their 20s and 30s versus in their 70s. I don't believe in competition and interior design.
And I'll explain to you why. Yeah, why? Because first of all, most of my friends are interior designers, which we traveled with you. I think you've interviewed Jay and David from Reader Sherrat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. They're one of our closest friends, Miguel Lewis from, you know, both alleys. They're close knit friends.
So we have a close, you know, Wayne Hallick. We have a close knit friend of interior designers. The way are and the people who have been seasoned who've done this for a long time know that we're not competition to each other. And on the contrary, if you put your ego aside and you use yourself as a resource, meaning, Hey, what's that trade?
You know, it's that trade good. What's that source? Hey, I'm looking for that land. You know, in this price.
We're in a group chat. You realize, you know, there's, if you share the love, the luck is reciprocated. This point of our career, we're looking for clients that, you know, are compatible to bread and the way we do business and the way we design. And we're looking for quality of life.
But for us, when we're looking at a project and taking something on, we look at the timing because Brett and I designed every project together. We do not hand it off to a design assistant. We have a group of people that assist us, but we're the ones who are doing the interior architecture, the lighting, the selections of products, the meetings with the clients. You know, we have large managers and everything else, but like other firms that hand off the project to, you know, to a designer on staff.
We don't do that. We do it ourselves. So we only can, you know, we only take a certain amount of work. And we want to make sure it's at the top caliber of what we're able to give.
Super. Now, just let me ask you, because obviously your network is network and everything that you've been acquiring through referrals is obviously one of the majority of the ways for you to increase your business, but now also with technology and social media and the importance of getting yourself out there. How important has been for you social media. My God, social media.
First of all, let me back up a little bit. If I wouldn't be doing interior design, I'd probably be doing fashion and marketing branding, because I think when I'm going closer to retirement, I'll probably end up helping young, you know, into your designers with it, because I absolutely love it. I am, you know, Marissa, who from AMP and group, who does our marketing and PR. We work very closely together.
And then I have Gabby who's in Chicago, who's my sister. She had about 27 year old sister. So we all work as a team. And I believe that social media and Pinterest and Facebook and we have such an array of tools to get our message across.
And before we would have to wait for somebody to publish us, whether it was a magazine or be interviewed. Now we have the power to go ahead and put it out there. So I'm a huge advocate of it. You know, it's really whatever you want to make of it.
And we're always trying to find creative new ways to use social media and to use like, you know, the reels or the, I think they took away the videos on Instagram, but all these different tools to really help tell the story of our design work. So one of the things that we're doing right now is we are doing videos with mock iPhones, who is fantastic. And I can't wait to release the one that we did for our apartment. But it's the way we're doing it is kind of telling a story, you know, through our condo.
We are in the video to help people understand the scale of the space, because if you don't have people in it, you really can't tell. And a photograph only tells a little bit of a story, but you need the video to kind of tell it. You need the music and the lighting. Yeah, it engages.
Yeah, 100%. I think that right now everything that we're facing, and especially with the technology advancing to the metaverse and NFTs and cryptos, like there's so many things happening and so fast that we need to be on top of it. And especially by having a supportive team that understands it, that they have helped bring that brand towards that new technology is key. Otherwise we'll fall behind and it's difficult to get out there.
I'm not with a bunch of different really talented interior designers in that firm that I started off with. And, you know, I've tried to follow their career throughout the years. And remember, I would assist them, you know, back in the day when I was in my 20s. And to me, I didn't, I haven't seen their companies thrive because I feel that they haven't used, they didn't evolve with the times, you know, I'm not ashamed to say my age.
I'm 47 years old. I have a 19 and a 20 year old. I carry my age with a badge of honor because. Very well.
Thank you. And my husband's 57 and he looks fantastic and, you know, we are really as energetic as ever. But with with H comes wisdom and with all of that, you know, there's Asian wisdom and there's, you know, the stability that comes from your repeat clients. But I think if you do not evolve with the times, you become a dinosaur and they're extinct.
And I don't want to be. Not 100% and that's why it's important to always keeping up with what's going on this week. Not only our basil is going to be one of the great events happening here, but also the NFT Basel, you know, with all these new trends that are happening with NFTs with cryptocurrencies. So attending to those conferences or events are great to network the right people in the industry to get to know the new technical.
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of the future and it's important to understand how you can bring that world into your own instead of trying to just go all the way there. So look, I think there is a lot of opportunities out there. You just need to keep evolving. As you said, you guys have been doing it for the last 15 years in B and G design.
Very successful business. I'm very proud to, you know, have you as one of our guests in here because the things that you guys are doing are phenomenal. I'm sure that we'll get to work on other projects as well. But, you know, if there's one takeaway for the audience on everything that you've done for all the years, what would it be?
I believe in timeless design. Our clients who, you know, the 11th, you know, the 11th project for the client that we did an Aspen that we've done work all over the world for them. They sold their home for top dollar because it was timeless and they gave us a call when they sold it and they were crying. They were really upset about letting go of their home.
And they said to, they said to us, this home looks as fresh today as it did when you first did it back. I think it was in 2011, something like that. Maybe I had to say something like that. It was a long, long time ago.
And when I heard that, you know, it was so important. I think you have to be careful with trends. Use trends, little bits and pieces because what we do is expensive. And you want to make sure that your client feels that the value extended throughout the years and that they don't feel that they have to renovate every so often because you stayed on that trend for that one year.
You have to try to foresee what's a trend and what's going to be timeless. And that's, you know, have that eye looked through history. Right now we have some amazing French designers that I'm so excited about. And it's, you know, it's a wheel.
It's a, it comes back from history. So, you know, do a little bit of furniture history. You know, keep it timeless. Use the little trends and bits and pieces.
It's a, you know, on a pillow or something that could be easily exchanged. And that would be my best advice to anybody who's in the design field. So your clients feel that you gave them value when they sell their home. Very good point.
And I really appreciate you sharing this piece of advice because sometimes we forget about that. And we only think in the now versus what will be in the future. So, great point. And again, I really appreciate your time and everything that you've been sharing with us today.
Please everybody that is watching or listening, make sure to follow BNG Design. Check what you sell and brother up to because your projects are phenomenal, very inspirational. And thanks to social media. We get to see the little pieces of the work that you do on a daily basis, which inspire us to keep on dreaming, keep on working and keep on connecting, which is one of the most important things in this field.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. And it was a pleasure meeting you. And look forward to hosting you in our home soon.
And we'll see you. Thank you. Yeah, so Madri, here we go. Thank you everybody for watching.
Bye bye. 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.