Juan Montoya

Juan Montoya

BIOGRAPHY

We met him circa summer 1976 when he appeared in our office, bringing a bunch of badly photographed slides. The pictorial subject, he said was his studio apartment--a literal designation, since it served both his professional and residential needs. An appointment was made to view the place. And after seeing this veritable marvel of compact and appealing space planning shoe-horned into a skinny sliver, no more convincing was needed that here was a talent worth watching.

Juan Montoya indeed has come a long way since that first encounter leading to publication his next apartment followed by a tenement-flat design commission (a job done on an $8,000 budget, at a $2,000 loss) in January and August 1977 respectively. Aside from this magazine's regular chronicling of his increasingly varied--and more profitable-projects, he has twice won Hexter Awards for Interior of the Year; garnered three Roscoes for product designs; designed outstanding exhibits at two Kips Bay Decorator Showhouses; and enlarged his client roster to encompass leaders from the worlds of commerce and diplomacy for whom he has designed business and domestic interiors.

An active member of ASID, Mr. Montoya was graduated from Universitad Gran Colombia in his hometown Bogota and, after earning a design degree at Parsons, worked at Ford and Earl in New York. He launched Juan Montoya Antiques and Accessories, a shop/showroom adjunct to his office and open by appointment to the trade and the public.

Juan Montoya is not wedded to a particular style or period. Mr. Montoya says, "The client and space dictate what style I will be working in. I consider myself a tailor who finds the best materials to clothe an interior in the most appealing and comfortable manner, down to the last detail." A Montoya room is never full; as a designer, he wants the careful placement of objects to enhance the qualities of space and scale in the room. Objects are also highlighted as they reflect his interest in a variety of cultures.