Fernando Wong
Balcony Terrace - The Philadelphia Story
Designer Statement: “The room is meant to be an elegant respite for home owners who have the budget, taste level and zest for life that mirrors Tracy Lord, the elegant, sophisticated socialite who is the protagonist of the Philadelphia Story as well as Helen Hope Montgomery
Scott, the real life heiress on whom the movie was based.”
Bio: Called a “design genius with the soul of a poet” by the Editor of Home & Design Magazine, Fernando Wong is Miami’s most sought after landscape designer. He has recently been a featured speaker on the “Art of Landscape Design” at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and at The Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) on “Trends In Outdoor Rooms.” He has been featured as one of only two landscape designers in Inside Out Magazine’s “THE NEW GUARD – 10 To Watch From The World Of Design,” in Home & Design twice (once on the cover) and Home Miami Magazine. Most recently he was named one of “Miami’s Art & Architecture Stars” by 944 Magazine and was the only Landscape Designer in Social Affairs Magazine’s DCOTA Design House issue.
He has completed projects for Cher on Key Biscayne and at the private penthouse of the world renowned Setai in Miami Beach. He has also been featured on E! Entertainment Television’s “Luxe World” program and on “Outdoor Living” on the HG/DIY Television Networks.
After studying interior and landscape design in his native Panama, Wong came to Miami Beach in 2001 with little more than a suitcase and an extraordinary work ethic. Not being able to speak English limited his immediate prospects to back breaking manual labor on a landscape installation crew. After learning this country’s language by watching TV at night and forcing his friends to speak to him only in English he became proficient enough to land a position with legendary Miami Landscape Architect, Robert Parsley of Geomantic Design. Since going out on his own, Wong has designed everything from ornate French Gardens for a Coral Gables Estate on Biscayne Bay to a formal Italian Garden on Pine Tree Drive to a crisp contemporary pool and spa for a Mid Century Modern on La Gorce Drive to a Mediterranean Mansion in Los Angeles.
Current projects include Miami’s most anticipated home – a floating glass box in a rare residential commission designed by the architects planning the Guggenheim Museum in Mexico as well as estates on North Bay Road, in Coconut Grove, Islamorada and on Sunset and Palm Islands. He is also doing the grounds of a luxury condominium complex on Brickell, a hotel on South Beach and large residential projects in Palm Beach, Naples and Lake Forest, Illinois.
Go back to the article: DCOTA 2011 DesignHouse
