Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolina Monteiro.
Carolina, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in a family of architects and landscape architects in Brazil, and from a very young age, I was exposed to the profession. Somehow, I always knew that I wanted to follow my parents’ career. I am an architect by training, but landscape architecture was always my passion and now my career.
When I moved to Miami in 2005, I got my Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture while running the business for a renowned landscape architect, who was the one who brought me to this incredible city. I moved here after working in Switzerland for a year, to start up a business, by myself, at the age of 24.
The challenge made me grow very quickly and learn that hard work pays off. In a few years, I had an office with 15 talented landscape architects who put my old company in a very good position in the Miami market. Together with my team, we developed over 80 projects around the world and built several of them, from small terraces and single family homes to large condominium developments.
In 2017, after 13 years of a great collaboration, the cycle ended, and I decided to go on my own and start up my own practice. And in 2018, CLAD was founded, and I am incredibly happy to have taken this step on my career. Another challenge, a new cycle that is just beginning.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Because I started very young and took on a very high position of office director when I was only 24 and with only a few years of professional experience, the learning curve was quite steep and painful yet incredible! Learning by trying and from your mistakes isn’t always the best or the easiest, but I can assure it is the fastest way to learn! When you get to a country where you don’t even know how to pay a bill through the mail can be quite an adventure.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My company is specialized in landscape architecture- We plan outdoor spaces just like an architect designs a house. It has a sequence, it has rooms, focal points, openings, and enclosures… Every design is unique and thought out to merge with the elements that it surrounds or is surrounded by.
I am known for designing pleasant spaces to be looked at and lived in. Gardens to enhance and increase the value of real state and to promote quality of life. Our goal is to always develop innovative projects with care and attention to detail, and promote nature balance through landscape architecture.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Brazil immersed in Waldorf education. This pedagogy is focused on the integration of intellectual, artistic, and practical skills in a holistic manner. The school balanced academics subjects with artistic and practical activities. But creativity and imagination were the main focus through all my life.
I grew up playing outside, with dirt, with plants, climbing trees, and having to be creative the whole time, without television, superheroes, cartoons. I always had to reinvent. But the truth is that somehow I always ended up at the table, making a drawing, and most often, landscape scenes.
Contact Info:
- Address: 7665 NE 4th Ct, Miami, FL 33138
- Website: www.clad-landscape.com
- Phone: 7865366076
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: clad_landscape
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/clad-miami
Image Credit:
LPG
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