Defining Hospitality

Today’s guest uses the spaces he creates to tell a story, all while re-imagining the visual landscape through stylish, spirited and sophisticated design. Currently, he is working on a diverse array of residential and commercial projects, including high profile hotels, restaurants, and retail. Please welcome to the show, Dan Mazzarini! Dan is the Owner and Creative Director at BHDM Design. He joins the host Dan Ryan to share his views on the hospitality industry and what it means to him. 


Takeaways: 
  • Hospitality boils down to two key components; Anticipating the guests needs and exceeding their expectations. Without these being in place then it is not true hospitality you are delivering.
  • The longer that Dan has spent in the design field, the more he has realized that it is more of a service field. It’s all about the end user and the notion of trying to meet their needs while going above and beyond what they expect. 
  • While working at Ralph Lauren, Dan spent time helping people with their apartments on the weekends. During this time he discovered that not only does he like retail, but he was also enjoying the relationships with personal clients. 
  • One thing that holds people back from following their dreams is their fear. But if you think about the worst case scenario for starting your own business, it’s worth the risk to try and venture out on your own.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for the better option or to underscore the importance or value of something that is authentic. This will help set you apart from the rest of the designers as no two people will have the same idea of authentic design.
  • It’s important to evolve your business as time goes on. Don’t be afraid to take a chance and work on a project that is unfamiliar to you as it can help you grow in a tremendous way.
  • Designers for hospitality are in the business of building spaces for people to come together and experience the physical environments around them.


Quote of the Show:

3:19 “I think [hospitality] is really about two small things. One is anticipating needs and the second is exceeding expectations.”


Links:


Shout Outs:
1:21 The Virgin hotel
1:22 Ritz Carlton
1:34 Eventi Hotel
5:51 Ralph Lauren
6:32 Kramer Design
6:35 Robin Kramer
6:35 Philip Rosenswag
7:30 Michael Kors
7:47 Macy’s
7:48 Bloomingdale’s
10:05 Jennifer Lopez
10:06 Water Work Studio
10:10 Movado Watches
10:12 Shiseido Cosmetics
13:20 Trading Spaces
13:24 HGTV
13:47 The Lion
15:43 Lord’s South Beach
20:43 Brimfield Flea Market
23:14 Wheel of Fortune
42:19 the Brian Paul Hotel


Ways to Tune In: 

Creators and Guests

Host
Dan Ryan
Host of Defining Hospitality

What is Defining Hospitality?

Welcome to Defining Hospitality, the podcast focused on highlighting the most influential figures in the hospitality industry. In each episode we provide 1 on 1, in depth interviews with experts in the industry to learn what hospitality means to them. We feature expert advice on working in the industry, behind the scenes looks at some of your favorite brands, and in depth explorations of unique hospitality projects.

Defining Hospitality is hosted by Founder and CEO of Agency 967, Dan Ryan. With over 30 years of experience in hospitality, Dan brings his expertise and passion to each episode as he delves into the latest trends and challenges facing the industry.

Episodes are released every week on Wednesday mornings.

To listen to episodes, visit https://www.defininghospitality.live/ or subscribe to Defining Hospitality wherever you get your podcasts.

0:00
what I do is inconsequential why I do what I do is I get to shorten people's Journeys every day what I love about our
0:07
hospitality industry is that it's our mission to make people feel cared for while on their Journeys together we'll
0:14
explore what Hospitality means in the built environment in business and in our
0:19
daily lives I'm Dan Ryan and this is defining Hospitality today's guest is
0:26
working on a diverse array of residential and Commercial projects including high-profile hotels restaurants and Retail
0:33
he's telling a story through the spaces he creates and reimagining the visual landscape through stylish spirited and
0:39
sophisticated designs he recently founded archive by Dan mazzarini which we'll talk about later and I also gave
0:45
away the surprise he is the owner and creative director at bhdm design ladies
0:51
and gentlemen Dan mazzarini welcome Dan thanks Dan couple of dance today a
0:56
couple of dance and for those of you who don't know um I first met Dan I don't know seven
1:03
eight years ago it was like yeah at least seven or eight years ago at 1201 Broadway I had an office down this
1:10
little hallway and the door right next to me was bhdm's was I assume that was your
1:17
first office right yeah pretty much our first world headquarters so yeah wow and
1:22
we treated that floor pretty much like a dorm didn't we I mean we definitely did uh there was a lot of uh
1:29
shared fun shared drama um but really good cocktails eventually
1:34
I mean really yeah share cocktails um but I also remember like that whole building in that it's crazy to think now
1:41
that that building 1201 Broadway is sandwiched between the Virgin to the
1:46
North and the Ritz Carlton to the South and I remember when I first moved in there I signed the lease
1:53
um they took my deposit and I went upstairs I had this clear view west across Manhattan to the aventi hotel
2:00
yeah and down below there was a parking lot and then as soon as like the day
2:05
after I moved in the parking lot was torn up I'm like what are they doing and they built a freaking building right in my really the only window yeah we did
2:13
the same except that we rented what was I'm sure just storage space in the building uh and you know like I love to
2:20
do a project for with a roll of duct tape and we were like we can polish this up and we like you looked at the parking
2:26
garage until they tore it down and excavated for the Ritz at which point I was like I think we're out because we'll
2:31
never see the sun again so great looking Hotel better door than a window right oh
2:36
my God yes and do you remember how jarring it was when we were getting it
2:42
from the west and the South sides of those pile drivers for all the site and foundation work it was like I remember
2:47
my teeth were shaking for days this is really I feel like um I'm going back
2:52
into like some PTSD right now a little PTSD but those were also like pre-covered times so we would take that
2:58
over two years of just sitting at a computer but you know great great experience I think to feel what our
3:04
clients feel and what people around our developments feel sometimes right so hey it's like a lesson learned and so now I
3:11
feel like we have this appreciation for that part too yes a hundred percent and
3:17
So speaking of appreciation I with you like so many of my guests I'm just so
3:22
grateful that I'm able to steal some of your time here and share your story with everyone and before we get into it
3:29
um you know the first question I always ask everyone is what does hospitality mean to you or how do you define
3:35
Hospitality Dan yeah it's a great question I knew you were going to ask this question uh you know I think my
3:42
definition is pretty simple I think it's really about two small things one is anticipating needs right and the second
3:49
is exceeding expectations and I think it's kind of as simple as that you know we can get into you know how you feel
3:57
when you walk in and all the touch points that go into Hospitality but really we're here as designers and
4:03
developers and everyone to anticipate the needs of guests sometimes even the needs they don't even know that they
4:09
need and then to exceed their expectations with the product I mean I think without that like you
4:16
know what else are we doing here right 100 and and again that what I've found is that there's not a
4:22
black and white binary definition right it's it's nebulous but a lot of it is it's putting others first right so
4:29
you're you're you you're 100 correct in your definition um and the more I learn about it like I
4:35
don't even I'm beginning to not even know what the definition is anymore um but it's cool it lives in this Venn diagram of all these overlapping ideas
4:42
and then you know it when you feel it yeah but I think you know the the longer
4:47
I'm in the design field the more it very clearly is a service field right like to
4:53
our clients to our vendors to our teams and our staff um anything in this instance in
4:58
Hospitality it's always about the end user too right so I feel like this notion of trying to yes I love to tell
5:06
the story and I love a narrative and I think that always defines the big picture to the smallest detail but if
5:12
we're not thinking about user experience and how we what people are really going to be doing there where they're coming from how tired they are how excited they
5:19
are how do we anticipate those things and then how do we design an answer that exceeds what people are hoping something
5:25
would be so I I completely agree and I want to like so if we were to just
5:33
kind of sit with that idea of anticipation and thinking about your journey uh bhdm has been open and doing
5:41
business for 10 years plus or minus when it when is your birthday 10 years it was
5:46
this past August officially so we're just over 10 years old yeah wow so congratulations that's quite a milestone
5:52
and for those of you who don't know most businesses tend to fail in their first year or two
5:59
so a hooray to taking that entrepreneurial step and being on this
6:05
decade-long journey um yeah what I'm intrigued about is
6:11
you used to work in retail designing stores correct for Ralph Lauren
6:17
for a number of people I mean when I so I graduated from Miami University in
6:22
2003 in Oxford Ohio and I would say Midwestern at heart kind of grew up in Pittsburgh went to school in Ohio but
6:29
New York was calling and so all my friends went to Chicago I ended up taking a right turn to New York but it
6:36
was a time when people weren't hiring like it just the economy was not great we were around rebounding from 2001 and
6:43
I did a number of informational interviews um like over a cocktail a different day
6:49
so many funny stories with people in the business they're like I didn't meet you and I'm like we did meet a hundred years ago but I had one job
6:55
and it was from this company called Kramer Design Group Robin Kramer and Phillip rosenswag at the time headed up
7:02
the business and I met with them they asked to keep my portfolio and I was like no I have other interviews you
7:08
can't keep it but I came back later in the afternoon and they sat me down in their conference room and said we don't
7:15
have a job but we like your work and we think that you know we'd like to make a space for you here and so I took the one
7:22
job offer I had at a branding and Retail design company um and I think like a lot of first jobs
7:28
for people I started in not really having a project to work on so I did a little bit of everything and like kind
7:34
of a lot of nothing but was always busy there and within the first six months like I would be the first in I would be
7:41
the last out I would do whatever they needed me to do and try to exceed expectations
7:46
um and within six months my boss came to me and said we have a client coming in who has investors and we're going to
7:52
help them kind of launch the brand his name is Michael Kors and so at 23 I
7:58
ended up designing the launch of the Michael Kors brand and it was a real baptism by fire because we went from two
8:04
stores to 1500 stores in a about 18 months and that was back in like the
8:10
Heyday of wholesale so we were working with Macy's and Bloomingdale's and everybody but it was I I remember Dan
8:17
link I was I was sketching I'm a hand drawer I'm like all these beautiful programs I'm like I'm I'm a cusper I
8:23
kind of work analog and so I'd be sketching and they would just take the drawings from under my hand scan them
8:29
and send them to the millworker and the next day I'd get back shop drawings it was this total roller coaster but
8:36
um a really fun baptism by fire and that's sort of how I got to New York how I got a first job and then like how it
8:42
kind of all started so that was back in the day wow and and every vendor you've worked with since then turns their shop
8:49
drawings around in one day moment in time I think but uh uh you
8:55
know we it it definitely taught me like the whole circle of life for all
9:01
these projects anything more than that the fact of like how many sets of hands go into making a project successful like
9:08
there's no way at 23 I would have known anything about anything but I could draw it and I could think about it and so
9:15
um yeah there's some vendors I mean I got a specialist I go to for the one day turnaround but yeah pretty miraculous
9:21
right oh wow that's unreal and to just also think about the scale going from two stores to 1500
9:29
over how long two years honestly the launch was about six months
9:35
um like from design to the beginning of the launch and then it was like 1500 stores in about 18 months and this would
9:42
be like anything from a flagship at Harold Square to you know a 200 square
9:47
foot accessory shop in Pataskala Ohio but we did it all so it was It was kind
9:53
of nutty I mean that could be fun that is just unbelievable speed and
10:00
scale to Market I that's unreal and most of them were they how many were
10:05
of those 1500 were Standalone stores and how many were um kind of PODS within a department a
10:11
larger department store almost all of them were drop shops or Flagship stores at department stores but that was that
10:18
was how those businesses were launching then you know and I think um as far as like you know working in
10:25
retail then and then from Michael worked with a bunch of different brands launched a line for Jennifer Lopez
10:30
launched Waterworks studio and like helped them think through that back in the day worked with Movado watches and
10:36
Shiseido cosmetics and all these different kind of scales and parts of the business but they were all about
10:42
speed to Market and about storytelling right like there was a brand DNA for
10:47
each of those products in a certain way that you sold it in a certain way that you had to think about how things were
10:53
merchandised and so while that wasn't Hospitality it was an incredible foundation for storytelling for
11:01
detailing for like thinking about things quickly and in section um and figuring out how things are made
11:07
so um yeah it was it was kind of a Nutty thing lots of lots of shopping shops as we say
11:13
yeah well I you know I I'll push back on you there because on the speed to Market
11:18
and the storytelling even though that totally resonates with me as far as the
11:23
hospitality world as well maybe it's not going from two to fifteen hundred
11:29
um in 18 months but the faster that we can open our hotels the faster the rents
11:34
bump and the faster the returns are to shareholders and and satisfied guests as
11:40
well yeah so and I guess that's that transition or speed bump or
11:47
scene change from retail to starting your own company
11:52
and going into Hospitality restaurants hotels bars and all things in between
11:58
like what how did you take that first step because I know a lot I get a lot of feedback on the show and a lot of them
12:05
are like oh my gosh thank you for sharing that story because I've been thinking about taking that entrepreneurial step how like
12:12
what was your mindset as you did that yeah so there was a step between Kramer and bhdm and that was a six year stint
12:21
at Ralph Lauren and I was in store design there sort of at an apex of Ralph
12:26
Lauren history it was the 40th anniversary they were buying back all their licensed businesses and so I ended
12:32
up spending three years back and forth to Asia with the licensees I knew from Michael and then three years in Europe
12:38
kind of doing the stores there and it was it was a total almost like 180 to
12:43
the experience with like the prior Brands which was like design everything and Ralph such a big machine it was like
12:49
design your piece which was decorative so it was artwork and it was all the knickknacks and all the accessories and
12:55
mannequins and if you I always say if you shook a store whatever would fall out that was the stuff I bought right
13:01
um and why that important why that transition was important I think was it really I yes I could tell a story yes I
13:08
could think quickly but it was about a refinement of of the the craft of
13:13
decorative of how every part in peace is as important
13:18
as the big picture plan and so your question about like what was the
13:24
transition from one to the other um Ralph Lauren even while the travel I did even with all the work I did the
13:30
team I ran I um I'm going to say the thing people don't want to hear I I moonlit I did freelance work I started
13:37
answering Craigslist ads which is not a dirty thing it sounds dirty now but there were people like at the time
13:43
remember remember Trading Spaces back in the day I mean it's like the precursor
13:48
to all HGTV I think I was answering ads to help people with their apartments on the weekends in the Bronx or like in
13:55
Brooklyn or wherever so I was working around the clock and in so doing like had a reputation retail for sure but
14:03
also was like garnering these clients and um while at Ralph somebody knew I was
14:08
there and asked me to help with the restaurant and so I did that that project was called the lion on 9th
14:14
Street and then I was actually on the beach one summer and talking to this guy and
14:20
um he was like what are you doing at design and he's like what are you working on I said I work here but I did this restaurant and he was like oh my
14:26
God I know that restaurant I love it I have a hotel in Miami you have to do it
14:32
well you've heard this kind of like magical story before and I was like that sounds great here's my number give me a
14:38
call and he did and within a week I was on a flight to Miami and I booked our first hotel and so suddenly I'm working
14:45
a full-time job and I've got this like kind of full-time roster of freelance clients
14:50
and I was always nervous this is a long story but I mean maybe the punchline I was always nervous because
14:57
I like certainty I like I think as a business person to control situations as
15:02
much control as I can have that's the amount of security that I feel and so Brian who was my client at the time
15:08
asked me the same questions like why are you going to start the business I was like I'm afraid and he gave me great advice he said you know what you can be
15:15
afraid but what's the worst that happens you don't get any clients and you don't make any money
15:21
and I was like yeah that's pretty bad Brian like yeah and he's like you know what you'll do you'll get
15:27
another job and it was kind of this light bulb moment where I was like things are transferable if you're a
15:32
hustler like you're gonna get a job done and so I took the leap I gave a long
15:37
bandwidth exit from Ralph Lauren and I picked up all these things and what was incredible Dan was once I told people I
15:44
was leaving and I told these other people I was full-time both sides were like that's that's great because we have
15:50
more work for you here and like that makes more bandwidth for other people around Florence too so
15:55
um it was a kind of cuckoo thing but I I needed the nudge from a client to tell
16:01
me and give me the confidence it was time to do it what was the first hotel it was called Lord's South Beach and it
16:08
was a little Deco project I think it was like 120 rooms on Collins and 11th
16:16
um and it was owned by one guy and my client came in and was like we're gonna judge it and for like our bazzle into a
16:22
thing it was actually to be um a gay branded Hotel oh
16:27
called Lords or was it Lords isn't that ironic I mean really um yeah uh and it was fun it was like
16:35
this total budget project like I remember like I'll show you pictures of
16:40
it but I remember designing this and our our narrative was poolside Chic whatever
16:46
that meant and we did all this fun stuff when we did carpets and we did paint and I put like stickers above the bed
16:52
because we couldn't afford framed art and at the end of it I was like the young entrepreneur I
16:59
remember we ended up painting repainting Furniture in one of their like little Cabanas and so there's paint all over
17:04
the floor and one day I was like scrubbing the floor with turpentine because that was my that was my job that
17:10
was my job right um I almost passed out and that's when I like walked out I was like okay I think
17:16
there's limits to what we need to do to be Scrappy here totally um it was a great project and it was super fun and
17:21
it was our first hotel and gratefully Hospitality design gave us the nod for
17:27
um mid-scale Hotel of the year that year and I was like okay we don't know anything of I'm not a
17:33
trained Hotel designer which I think is a fun thing for people to hear sometimes but I think with that project taught me
17:40
is if you if you think about the user if you try to anticipate
17:46
what they're looking for and then if you exceed their expectations the outcome has to be good right like
17:53
and so it kind of told me like learn what you got to learn um apply your knowledge to the rest from
18:00
what you've known from your career to date and that was really how we started to take on Hospitality work and then you
18:06
know get a little high huffing turpentine along the way I tell that story and people like that
18:12
doesn't sound safe I was like it really does not oh man that's that's tough but you know we all and that's you know I'm
18:19
that entrepreneurial Journey you just do whatever it takes to to get there or die trying
18:24
um I wanna I wanna this story had a happier ending yeah well I'm very happy
18:30
for you and and for your success and journey um I really liked how you lit up when you
18:37
were talking about your time at Ralph Lauren with respect to the refinement of
18:43
going from really designed like super fast paced super scale like
18:48
design build you're just in it up to your eyebrows and then it switched to more of this
18:55
decoration and refinement and how like unpack that refinement word for us as
19:01
far as yeah what it means I think I think when I was saying refinement it really means two things for me it was
19:07
about a honing of um a honing of taste a honing of
19:15
um the fact it's okay to be picky right like certainly I had great uh mentors
19:21
and the first company that I worked for but it was small and it was busy busy is
19:26
like an understatement it was kind of insane it was Breakneck so as much as you could do as fast as you could do and
19:32
as much as you could learn was the pace at Ralph we did a tremendous volume of work and I
19:38
had a tremendous purchasing power I mean friends that I know now in the industry are like I remember when and I was like
19:43
yep that's why we remember each other um but the refinement piece was two things it was a refinement of taste but
19:51
it was also this like refinement in the approach to the work meaning like don't
19:57
be afraid to ask for the better thing don't be afraid to like underscore the importance and value of something that
20:03
is authentic um as an example we would shop for antique tables it sounds cuckoo to like
20:09
put them in a department store and then five years later they either get reused or pulled back or even thrown away it's
20:15
kind of crazy but there was an authenticity to so much of what was done
20:21
there and so um you know I think some people when they look at our work they appreciate
20:26
that there's like a residential sensibility and I have to credit Ralph for a lot of that because
20:33
there was there was authentic things in those stores even department stores across the world and I think the
20:39
refinement was not just in the things we bought but in teaching people that taste and what to ask for there so well and
20:45
it's not it's not also the actual like the actual buying of those things
20:51
but like when I think of a lot of those stores or installations there's so many found objects and found objects are so
20:58
difficult to get to work with when within whatever you're trying to convey um and the hunt for those things must be
21:07
amazing like would you go up to Brimfield and with truckloads of with empty trucks and just be the first in
21:13
line and everyone would be salivating as you're walking towards them you know I yes in a word yes
21:20
um better still I got to go to the Paris Flea Markets oh yeah right
21:26
um and that was fun because as a kid like I started working there was when I was 26 and I would organize you know 400
21:33
000 budget of stuff that we got to shop for and nobody knew how it was the first trip but we would do a loop and by the
21:39
and I would kind of eye everything by the second loop I was going and being like we'll take those six tables and
21:45
those hundred lights and do you have more of these and all of a sudden people are like you kind of everybody calls around and be like Ralph Lauren is
21:51
coming um it was great it was great because it was fun but it was also this exposure to
21:58
things that I would not have seen otherwise and so now my perspective when we talk about projects isn't just Oxford
22:05
Ohio or Pittsburgh or New York it's gratefully much more worldly because of first-hand experience
22:12
um yeah just incredible so I think about going to the Paris Flea Market or to
22:19
Brimfield or my wife loves hunting for things right it's her that's her jam and
22:25
I really don't like it I just find it overwhelming I don't know where to start you can tell her to call me I'm happy to
22:32
go well as I'm talking to you I'm like I think I may have found her her soul mate
22:37
uh in in you in that the strategy that you must have to go like when I see all
22:44
that I just see a whole bunch of noise like I I don't know what to do it like it really really freaks me out how do
22:50
you what were your strategies to get everything organized and like kind of shut down that noise and really stay on
22:57
a mission um it always was a mission that's a great word for it but you know we would
23:03
we would print our floor plans we would highlight stuff I would have things to mentioned and then I'd have a list right
23:08
and sometimes we would be shopping for this is a moment when Ralph had I think there were 16 distinct Brands so it was
23:16
like kids and then they Ed and then like men's purple blue black like it's a
23:21
different thing now but it was and everything had a different look and so I would categorize it all and be like
23:26
we're looking for Purple Label this and blue label this and this shop is modern and this shop is Country and
23:34
one of my super talents is I have like a crazy visual memory if I see it I
23:40
remember it right so once I did all this stuff I was like oh we need 13 tables and I need six of them to be wood and
23:47
like it just this is this is why I'm good to shop with I just kind of remember so now
23:53
um I forget what the show was down I want to say it was like Wheel of Fortune like back in the day where like your
23:59
head would be in the corner and you'd go around the prize room and like pick the stuff do you know what I'm talking about no you can imagine it I can imagine I'm
24:05
imagining it yeah I mean colors please let us know what that show is that would be great um
24:11
anyway like that's kind of how I always look at these booths and things I'm like kind of going around I'm like those are
24:17
the lights like that's the I need that stuffed alligator or whatever I don't know but like
24:22
um yeah it's I'm always on the hunt it feels like and okay so when you're buying four
24:28
hundred thousand dollars of stuff at let's say the Paris Flea Markets or Brimfield
24:33
you purchase all the things you need that fit that floor plan what's your success rate on all that stuff Landing
24:40
where it's supposed to because yeah I mean the bigger problem is did I
24:45
negotiate the right amount because my French was kind of iffy you know so uh but
24:51
um this is the other part of our business that I think is really interesting is the logistics right like
24:56
you make a bunch of stuff overseas and locally we make a bunch of stuff overseas and locally so the logistics of
25:03
getting things anywhere in one piece I always think it's a miracle I mean really truly like if you think about how
25:10
many people are involved in making the most simple widget from concept to
25:16
planning to fabrication packing shipping driving
25:21
unloading placing it's like it's unreal yeah and and to clients sometimes
25:26
especially in moments of stress where they're like where is that I'm like it takes a hundred set of hands to make
25:32
that sofa right between the Weaver and who's dying the Yarns and who's making
25:37
the inside and blah blah like it's just incredible to me so your question about how does it get from A to B and the
25:43
success rate I mean tremendous success but I think our industry is really good at that right and just because and I
25:51
think this goes back to like one thing influences another yes I come from retail specifically like scaled high-end retail
25:58
our business and hospitality is about creating something and oftentimes multiplying it out right 700 room hotel
26:06
or like a three or four building property or whatever but that's my point there in the sense that when you're
26:11
doing that at that scale 99.99 out of 100 times usually it's
26:18
everything new right you're making everything new um and then
26:23
what you're talking about and I think that's the real the refinement is like I don't like I've seen people try
26:31
and do these found objects yeah and then more often than not I've seen people do
26:36
it really really well but more often than not it just kind of Falls flat it's like oh we're just grabbing this thing
26:42
and putting it here it's kind of out of context but when I would go into those Ralph Lauren stores you just everything
26:48
looks like it's meant to be there yeah well it's a it's certainly selected
26:54
specifically for what's happening there and um you know it's one of the things that
27:00
we try to pull forward into our projects at bhdm which is you can call it refinement but I think it's
27:07
um it's this sense of found I always tell my team I like a little crusty Dusty which is true like I like things
27:13
that have a sense of History to them and it's always it's not always better I think it's always sensed when it's
27:19
authentic right so it can be vintage killing pillows it can be a great table or a glazed you know lamp any of those
27:26
things but it just tends to make things feel and this is why I think more and more art and using Artisans and projects
27:34
even if you're making multiples of something really resonates I know it resonates in art projects but I think
27:39
that's really important I totally agree um so
27:45
the superpower that you have right when did you know
27:51
you had it when did it become apparent to you um
27:57
I just you know I'm I have a twin sister and so growing up
28:03
you know we always took the same classes and great thank God she would study with me because I think I still have those
28:09
High School nightmares where like you're not ready for the test but she made sure I was ready we just had very different
28:14
ways of learning she is a very book smart person what's her name I kind of Marianne Marianne okay thank you
28:20
McCarthy now yeah thank you thank you Marianne um she's a very book smart person and I
28:26
just could if I could see it or I could get a mnemonic or something no sweat so I would sing it I would draw
28:33
it I would do whatever um and I think there's just something about being a visual learner that and I
28:41
tell my team still like a visual vocabulary is something that I want everyone on our team to build because
28:46
for me it can be about a floor plan it can be about a detail it could be about you know something that I see somewhere
28:53
or even something in a movie and like I don't know I think it was from school
28:58
onward Dan like it just was how I learned and so that just became ingrained and you stayed so you you
29:05
basically always put yourself in a place where you could where your visual sensibilities
29:12
could be at their highest and best use yeah um yeah and and as Marianne is is she a
29:18
visual learner or no is she like I will say I think she has a beautiful eye
29:25
um in fact two of them um I think uh much like sort of boy girl twins like
29:32
I went to design school and she went to school for American history and political science so she's a military
29:38
lawyer and I'll play the role of interior designer no way she is okay so yeah she is of the word
29:45
yeah bird is the word um so and then as you were as you were a kid
29:51
and growing up before you decided you wanted to go off to Ohio to go to design school
29:57
um did you have other learning challenges because the reason why I'm asking here is a lot of the people that I've spoken
30:04
who become designers Architects you know many were dyslexic many many just they
30:09
didn't learn they had um what is that like neurodivergence right they were just different but then they were able
30:15
to find this zone of Genius for themselves and then kind of excel where other people like me walking into a flea
30:22
market I I think I just get itchy and I don't want to do it well that's okay with me then that's that's job security
30:28
in my world yeah you know um you know I I didn't have a problem learning I just had different interests
30:36
right like I wanted to be um I wanted to be artistic I'd love to
30:41
sing I was on all the shows tell me when you're shocked like you know and but but hours was a really academic upbringing
30:48
and so you know I was driven toward a four-year liberal arts school
30:54
um but senior year I just was like I want to do something creative um the story was this is this is a story
31:01
and it's like kind of all over the place but I was interning for my uncle who was a primary care physician
31:08
um and the summer before I went like junior year and toward the end of the
31:14
summer he asked me he said so what do you think do you want to be a doctor and I was like I could be a doctor said do
31:19
you want to be and I said I don't know and he said let me give you advice this is advice number two he said
31:27
do something that you love well enough that you would do it for free and then do it well enough so that people pay you
31:34
this was like my actual first light bulb moment where I was like oh I don't I don't want to be a doctor like
31:39
yeah and I went home and I told my parents I was like I'm gonna go to design school and they were like what did you do to
31:45
our doctor I think was their reaction but um but the the great thing about that was
31:51
like it really kind of was that moment yes I learned yeah I just wasn't really interested and design was something I
31:58
was interested in from the get-go I loved movies I loved sets I loved building things I like was the kid with
32:05
the refrigerator box cutting shutters in you know and like then drawing the wallpaper on the inside
32:11
um and so I started in design school because it was like the right thing and it's just been the right fit and how old
32:17
were you when your uncle gave you that Sage advice like 17. oh wow okay and so
32:23
then you totally changed your whole direction or that was a light bulb that helped put you onto that path yeah I
32:30
mean liberal arts was still the direction I wanted to go to Parsons my parents were like not the big city and
32:36
so I ended up going to school in Ohio where did you grow up Steve Pittsburgh okay that's like it's kind of
32:42
a big city-ish yeah I mean New York's a lot bigger yeah a little bit so just uh but I went to
32:49
school for interior design at a Fourier liberal arts school and again like the
32:54
universe has been really really good to me like I didn't know that this was the marriage of things that I needed but to
33:01
go to an actual Interiors program or there was Studio every year for four years Moment In Time incredible professors the
33:08
best friends I've ever met um but I came out of it with not just design but at least exposure to business
33:16
and marketing and like it's a huge business school there
33:21
um and so I think to be around that um has certainly influenced not just my
33:27
interest in the the business side of our business but how I think about how I
33:32
talk about our work when I have to go sell it okay so on the selling side and thinking
33:39
about putting it out there it's making me want to go back to
33:45
your favorite shows you were in at high school like what was your which performance and which part
33:51
were you most proud of um so favorite show was Joseph right oh
33:57
I think it should be almost every parent's favorite show too because I think they can squeeze it into one act and you don't have to wait through
34:03
intermission um but so fun so so fun it was like and it was a year that I also got to help
34:09
with the sets so go figure I liked both um my starring role was I played Reuben
34:15
the French brother see it all comes back to the Paris Lane Market who knew right oh
34:21
um it was just really fun like that was a great a great way I think that was our senior year so a great way to go out
34:26
really fun um awesome uh so
34:33
in talking to you I'm also very struck like you're on this entrepreneurial Journey it's been 10 years
34:40
um you've had success you've built a great team um
34:46
one of the things that I keep hearing you say is this idea of growth right not
34:53
um not necessarily from a mod like a bank account growth actually not even necessarily at all not
35:00
at all you could put that in the universe too Dan well it's in the universe but when I talk to you it's more about
35:06
um growth of mindset growth of experience you must have said that word 20 times in
35:14
our in our in a recent conversation and so walk us through your vision
35:20
of growth and what it means to you and your team yeah
35:25
interviewer you're very insightful here and I feel like you know growth for me as we've been talking
35:32
today and kind of for me to reflect back a little bit um
35:37
you know I don't take lightly kind of the the
35:43
is with a lot of gratitude that I sit here today where I am for the people who have helped me get here for my
35:48
incredible team and for the clients that we've had um I also I think when I look back you
35:55
know I haven't always felt confident and so for me we actually talked as a senior
36:00
team this year about a theme and that is it happens to be growth um and why that's important for me is
36:07
you know we want to always think better bigger isn't better but we want to sort
36:13
of expand how we think about our work as a team and for us growth this year is about helping ourselves and each other
36:21
improve it's it's sort of thinking about the work that we've accomplished to date on how we might sort of
36:27
um level up to like the next kind of project that we would love to do
36:32
um but it's really about helping our team to grow and mature and Advance their sort of own creativity
36:40
um it's about evolving our business not just the kinds of projects we do but actually in some of our new launches for
36:46
new businesses too um and going after work that we haven't done before but I think
36:51
again to go back to things we talked about earlier I never did a restaurant before I did a restaurant and that was
36:57
well received and that led to a hotel which I'd never done and then gratefully won an award for and so you know if I if
37:05
I can take my own advice and sort of become my own self-promoter or encourager here
37:12
the year of growth is really to be less afraid of the things we don't know how
37:17
to do and set out to do new things so as I'm hearing you say that I'm also
37:24
reminded you know and speaking to you there's this um really great
37:31
self-awareness and um strategic Vision right that I pick up
37:38
from you which many many people do not have and many many business owners do not have
37:45
and you were Moonlighting and kind of doing things on the side and then took the big
37:50
leap have you always been like that and had that kind of perspective or or do
37:56
you have like a coach that helps you kind of get focused on that because a lot of people don't take the time to
38:01
clarify their vision and like their Direction explain to me this
38:08
awareness that I'm picking up for me well I'll try and um number one will thank my therapist for having that kind
38:14
of clarity right shout out to Brian um you know I think I haven't always had
38:20
Clarity and in fact I think my career has been an undulating one right from from retail to kind of all sorts of
38:28
things and now we really kind of do all kinds of work um one one of the things I have always
38:34
had awareness of is starting from yes right starting from yes like it can be a
38:39
yes and no I'm not I'm not a comedian you know like but it is like improv is a
38:46
great sort of similar here where [Music] um my career has taken me in directions
38:52
that I didn't think it would go but I've always looked for the opportunity in them um and so it is now with hindsight that
38:59
I can look forward and say what are the things we want to do and I guess it's not always been that way Dan
39:05
right like I I've never I've not always been super directed toward one thing but
39:11
now I've done a lot and so it's it is with Clarity that we're looking forward and saying like what are the kinds of
39:17
projects we want to do what's the kind of company we would want to start or what's the kind of products we would
39:22
want to design um and that's fun and it's taken a while to get there but it's a fun place to be
39:28
well so the other thing is this idea of growth okay so I'm talking about your
39:34
self-awareness and strategic Vision but if I remember earlier in our
39:39
conversation it also you were able to assemble your team and
39:45
kind of spit I got the feeling you were spitballing these ideas and then you all came up with it collectively or they did
39:51
and and you just it all gelled around um this plan forward
39:56
yeah did Brian help you with that too
40:02
uh you know one of the things that one of the things that's always served
40:07
me in owning the business is I want to take on work that is exciting for me and
40:14
so you know while I come from a world of retail rollouts it was not the same every day right lots of different kinds
40:20
of companies lots of different kinds of Aesthetics lots of different stories to tell and so for us rather than
40:27
um rather than do just one kind of work and I don't think it's ever just a hotel or just a restaurant we do a lot of
40:34
different kinds of things I would say our project all of our projects are Hospitality forward and how we approach them it can be an office it can be a
40:42
startup it can be health care and we do all of those things but this what started in service to me
40:49
just because I wanted to stay interested turns out is a real common denominator
40:54
for lots of creatives we want to do things that are different we want to continue to learn and be challenged and
41:00
while it's great to hone skills within a certain kind of work now I go after die
41:06
verse work because I care about our team and I want to make sure that they have they are interested in the work that
41:11
we're doing too so uh to answer your question yes there has been strategic
41:18
conversation with our Senior Team about where we want to go forward but we love
41:23
all opportunities that sort of jive with us being able to help a client kind of answer uh the question looking for like
41:31
a new Creative Vision on something awesome so if you could think of if you look
41:36
back over your portfolio or catalog of past work
41:42
is there a project out there that you know I've heard you say this idea of anticipation
41:49
experience growth exceeding expectations
41:54
um huffing turpentine just kidding but this
41:59
idea of refinement um if you were to think about all those different elements
42:05
where like you would light up when you're talking about it is there a project that recent or in the past or
42:11
even one coming up in the future that you think exemplifies that and that you could
42:18
just take us on a little visual journey through yeah
42:24
um gratefully there's a bunch of those projects the one I'll pick is a project that is still to be built it needs to
42:31
find a home now because it was just before covid but I think a great representation of how we think how we
42:38
sort of help think about what expectations may be and then how we exceed them the Project's called the
42:44
Brian Paul Hotel it was meant to be in Nashville which is Music City and so everything's got a little rock and roll
42:49
sex appeal to it but this was in within uh collaboration with Wade Weissman
42:56
who's an architect out of Milwaukee um beautiful classical architect and so he designed the shell of this building
43:02
and the rough footprint and it just was this awesome Synergy where they brought
43:07
us in and kind of handed us almost a blank plan and said what do we do right what did we we know
43:13
we want a lot of stuff in here a lot of food and beverage a lot of like event space for you know music performance and
43:23
um music video previews because I guess that's still a thing like and recording
43:28
studio so people can kind of camp out here we want we want a mecca for music but in this kind of luxury lifestyle
43:35
space um and so we took a new space and I think this goes to authenticity or
43:42
trying to make things feel authentic and we we applied this Narrative of spaces that were uncovered like they'd been
43:49
there a long time so this notion of excavation um spaces that we uncovered and kept raw
43:54
which was about preservation and then the third bucket was kind of these discoverable jewel boxes in the space
44:01
um and so we took we took people all through a Brian Paul lens through like it wasn't just a place to check in it
44:07
was kind of this Great Hall a place where you would sort of gather and it was almost like walk in the door to a
44:13
party not just walk in the door to reception um I think the the main public space was
44:19
I was described coffee to cocktail right bar in the round but lots of different um seating groups and lots of found
44:25
Furniture this was the fun thing is we were already talking to people who would provide vintage for the space it was
44:30
going to have this great hand they put on the plan at one point um the library and I was like I was like when people
44:37
put a library on a plane I'm like show me your books I'm like we don't have any books so like nobody has any books we all read on our phone now so but I said
44:44
well what if you want a library what if what was like an archival music library where
44:50
it's about vintage instruments and different pieces of writing and this is
44:55
all also your work Lounge this was five years ago but then you could find all of that at the Paris Flea Market and
45:01
Brimfield you could but the thought was you'd sit at this communal table right next to your vintage megaphone whatever
45:09
it would be uh and you'd plug into the table and you'd get archival sound on site that was recorded at the Brian Paul
45:15
and could only be heard at the Brian Paul and part of this was you know I'm a Casper meaning like I was
45:23
born in a analog time and now we live in this digital world and it kind of get both but for me you know we are in the
45:31
business of building spaces for people to come together in and for people to experience physical sort of environments
45:38
and so I ideas like that where it's like you can only get it here ways to drive
45:44
traffic and interest in an authentic way to say there's reason for you to be here and for us to be here together so
45:51
um super fun project kind of kooky like really different look for us it was very sort of uh rock and roll Gypsy Den kind
46:00
of thing really really fun um and it's waiting to find a home so anybody listening the Brian Paul is
46:06
waiting but um a really good example of narrative of taking a new space and making it feel
46:13
authentic um and I think applying all those things we talked about like found objects and
46:19
storytelling and all that into a space awesome and I think that's a really good transition into this refinement found
46:28
object kind of catalog of work that you've had in the past now you've started this
46:35
other Endeavor archive like why not yeah why not the entrepreneurial add visual
46:41
brain like why well I don't know if you have ADD but I definitely do but why
46:48
um why archives um
46:54
a sound sort of um flippant here but ultimately it became like a why not right
47:00
um I think for years and this was your opening I I have done retail we do a lot
47:06
of residential single family multi-family certainly we do hotels and restaurants and like all this is
47:12
Hospitality forward but in our residential world you know you show a picture to somebody and they're like that without without
47:20
uh without failure somebody's going to ask you where'd you get that where's that
47:25
from I love that thing where is it from and you know for me working with brands for so many years I feel like I've I've
47:32
gratefully worked like a chameleon and sort of um helped Brands find their own DNA and
47:39
at a certain point I was kind of like I wonder if I have a look well it turns out I do it just you have to kind of
47:45
like stop and think about it and so archive was born recently as a response to two things number one where did you
47:51
get where do I get that and number two for me to answer for myself like what's my personal taste and what is like the
47:58
stamp that I'll put my name on um and so archive is our direct to Consumer affiliate marketing website so
48:05
far and it's archived by Dan mazzarini archived by DM it's a website um and we've kind of created this as a
48:13
blogazine what's that you ask um no I I it's I love I love I I can
48:19
visualize what it is but why don't you walk everyone well we kind of thought about it as almost like a monthly magazine right where there's a house
48:26
tour each month but within the pictures instead of just putting the captions they're shoppable stories so it's not
48:32
just that white sofa it's the Roundup of all of our favorite white sofas and it's not just a clear glass and lamp for a
48:39
beach house it's like from 90 bucks to 900 bucks like you know a variety of
48:44
things for every price point um so it's it's been really fun we've done it for it launched in January
48:52
um and there's a couple of months on there already and it's we do roundups of
48:58
different kinds of categories we do Trends so everything from malachite to terracotta
49:04
um we're doing shopping guides Paris Flea Market is coming up how to do it and what to look at so oh my goodness a
49:09
little bit of everything yeah um I have to get that guide for Alexa
49:15
although she'll want to do a trip out there and I don't know when is the I'm telling you Dan I'm happy to shop around okay maybe you two go I I think yeah
49:22
I'll send both of you um that's amazing and then so I've seen the
49:27
website um on the back end of it how are you organizing are using like Shopify or
49:34
something like that yeah um we have uh grateful we have a developer that we're working with um it's on Shopify
49:40
currently it'll it'll switch over um to a different platform eventually I think
49:46
um but that has been the most humbling experience yeah so what's the biggest challenge in doing that like because
49:52
it's like every time you drill in it's like oh my God I forgot about that and then you have to kind of Step all the way back start all over and get it to
49:58
workflow out perfectly yeah I I sometimes joke that designers
50:04
trying to be business people are like the dangerous kind of business people um I've decided that designers trying to
50:10
be I.T people are really the dangerous okay uh uh it's it's been it's been
50:15
incredible and I have to compliment my entire team that's behind me and in front of me on this one
50:21
um you know the process is number one we come up with like the guide like what do we want to talk about and then we shop
50:26
it we're shopping like 1500 vendors it's wild to find our 12 Favorite Things
50:33
um and then it all gets uploaded all this digital stuff and it's like a whole yeah and then you update it and then you
50:39
have to do it all over again and you do it all over again every month so it's basically um you know why build one company when
50:46
you can build two right and this has been a very humbling experience but ultimately really fun because now we're
50:53
I think we're probably about five months of content on here and we're kind of getting our stride like
51:00
um it turns out I'm the writer I'm the voice of this thing so I've written all these articles on it some of it is
51:06
really if you like a pun look no further I'm telling you but but it's been really really fun it's a crazy
51:14
process um I have the best team working on this and it really scratches an itch not just
51:21
um from like a personal style creative perspective but also um this kind of merchant quality that I
51:27
love like you know I like to shop yeah I also love to build a shop and this is a way to do it without holding inventory
51:33
so far yeah and it's it's a way to take that um superpower of refinement and
51:41
organization and and just kind of make it more presentable to everyone rather than project by projects obviously
51:48
you're still doing the project by project stuff but you get to be in that zone of Genius a little bit more or as
51:53
your uncle said when you were 17 you know being in that place where it doesn't feel like work although I'm sure
52:00
it feels like work right now because you're just starting it but I when I speak to you and see you speak
52:08
about it I see the vision and I think it's like it's a really cool outlet and I wish you
52:15
a ton of Success With It thanks Dan thanks um tell you tell your friends as they
52:20
say tell your friends I will tell my friends and we'll put it we'll put all that in the show notes um so aside from going to Paris with my
52:28
wife to do the uh the flea markets um if people wanted to learn more about
52:35
you where do they find you how do they how do they learn more about you I mean if Dan if they want to know more after this
52:41
God bless right um no social is a great way to get in touch I'm at Dan mazzarini our company
52:48
is at bhdm design at archive by Dan mazzarini and certainly visit archive by
52:53
dm.com um yeah I'm actually uh I have a zero
52:59
inbox on Instagram I have a zero inbox nowhere else in my life but Instagram somehow I do so okay great well we'll
53:05
we'll put all that in the show notes um because I'm sure people will want to learn more um
53:12
thank you so much for your time this has been fantastic and I know how busy you are with everything but I'm supremely
53:19
grateful that we got to do this well I'm so so grateful to be invited especially
53:25
amongst you and all your various team guests it's really an honor um and I feel like someday we'll have to
53:31
flip this around and I'll get to interview you because everybody wants to know why the heck did you start this because it's so awesome oh yeah well I
53:38
and I'll bring my puns when that happens oh my I'll dust off my dictionary of dad
53:43
jokes and it will be amazing um all right and then so thank you and I
53:49
also want to thank all of the listeners if this has changed your way of thinking about Hospitality or designing for
53:55
Hospitality or designing for anything please pass it along and please follow like And subscribe because we're all
54:02
growing by word of mouth and it is just amazing thank you thank you thank you
54:14
thank you