Juan Montoya (interior designer)

Juan Montoya was born in Colombia and studied architecture in Bogotá and at Parsons School of Design in New York, where he received an honorary doctorate.[1] He founded his practice in New York in 1978[2] and undertakes projects world-wide. As well as designing interior spaces, his firm also deals with furniture and carpet design.[1] His firm is currently headquartered in East 59th Street, New York.[3]

His designs are characterized as bold, minimal and relaxed and he states that he is influenced by the work of Jean-Michel Frank and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann as well as Gunnar Asplund, Louis Kahn, and Emilio Terry.[2][4][5] He often employs Art Deco designs and Greek elements as well as Mayan style details.[2]

One of his early works, undertaken at age 34 in 1979, was the restoration of a Greenwich Village apartment building. The extensive renovation was commissioned by a couple who selected Montoya to undertake the renovation of the Queen Anne Style apartment, despite his reputation as a modernist designer. His material sample submissions consisted of white, bright red, gray flannel and green velvet as well as exposed brick and modern furnishings.[6] More recent projects include the Lucullan office at the Medallion Financial Corporation[7] and Caribbean style residences in the Dominican Republic and New York.[8][9]

Three collections of his work have been published, including[2] La Formentera,[10][2] which documents the design of his own home near Garrison, New York and Juan Montoya, which is a collection of his works.

• Official website