I always enjoyed seeing dear Fernando Bengoechea when I worked with Tice Alexander, the Parish Hadley decorator I met while we attended FIT. Tice was forever working on some Park Avenue apartment - and lived in a large Park Avenue half floor when I first met him, and Fernando photographed his work more than once. So I was so terribly shocked when I heard that, while on holiday in Sri lanka with his partner, Nate Berkus, another interior designer you may have heard about, he was lost in the horrible tsunami. My mothers hairdresser knows someone who knows Nate...and I have often thought it would be fun to meet Nate in person. I caught him once on a Home Shopping network program, selling sheets, and he sold about 5,000 sets in less than an hour! WOW! I wanted to share this handsome portrait of Fernando with you. He was from Argentina, not Italy as I had always thought before I had the privilege of meeting him. Part of Tice's brilliance as a decorator was working with top talents like Fernando Bengoechea. DF *****
