I have always been fascinated by hotels. By good fortune my first job after college was working on the construction of the five star Hotel des Artes in Barcelona. A magnificent erection in Barceloneta, the hotel parallels the Mapfre building standing beside it, creating a visual ladder to the heavens on the seafront of Barcelona. Back then there was nothing but an unkempt beach and tiny streets. The area has since been developed into an amazing tourist area, lush with seafood restaurants, clubs and bars spread around a marina of happily bobbing expensive white yachts. 
Nothing gave me more pleasure years later than to return to the place of my initiation into the world of construction, and the place of me learning to curse, well that's Kentz and building sites for you! I enjoyed a champagne cocktail or two in the hotel bar overlooking the sparkling gold fish and the blue sea! For €18, the little slender glass of bubbles arrived with juicy strawberries dipped in choclate. No doubt it cost almost the same as my first days pay there those years ago.
As a buyer with Kentz on the project, my aquisitions varied from electrical cables, ducting, sanitaryware, generators, electrical tools and huge overhead cranes that needed a permit, to more luxurious materials like the gold taps and fittings for the elegant bathrooms. One beautiful light fitted in the hotels shopping arena stays in my mind. Over a sweeping fairytale staircase hung one solitary light fitting in the shape of a daisy. Beautiful long white glass petals met in the gold centre. My fascination with interior design was born.
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