ABOUT

White on white elegance. That was Donald Trump’s first exposure to my design work, and foundation to a professional relationship that began in the late 1990’s.

We shared several common ideals. We both value aesthetics and appreciate elegant design, and we both believe in a fundamental concept that you should “Make the most of what you have.”

My work with Donald Trump was born from his desire for excellence in design and started with the refurbish of his beloved Scheherazade Restaurant at the Taj Mahal. In 1999, on a visit to my home during the holiday season, he was seated in my living room drawn in by the mix of modern and classic furnishings, deftly layered with various shades of white patterns and textures. Mr. Trump has an impeccable sense of style, and by the end of the evening, he requested that I use my home's esthetic as the direction for the Scheherazade redesign. A great success, this became the impetus from which he entrusted me with responsibility for design at all Trump Hotels and Casinos going forward.

Over the next several years I would take on a number of tremendous projects, not the least of which was the creation of “the hottest nightclub on the East Coast.”  As I toured the former sports bar with Mr. Trump that January day in 2000, I began formulating my plan. Drawing on the Taj Mahal’s exotic theme, I would name it the “Casbah”. What were wooden beams would become steel trusses. Memorabilia display cases would turn into ”windows” behind the banquettes revealing night shots of the Atlantic City skyline. There would be state of the art light trusses and suspended steel platforms for the dancers. Metallic Sultan’s drapery would complete the illusion. The merchandising area would become an intimate, circular rotunda with curved bar, mirrors, banquettes, and marble floor inlay. I expressed the basics of what I “saw” and Donald immediately said, “Carolize it,” and from that moment, my company name was born.