My focus has always been to create interesting interiors and product; I've never been satisfied with "ordinary."
Design and product should be innovative and distinctive; I look for a "wow" or focal point in each project. 

After a '65 Loyola graduation I enjoyed the good fortune to be hired by a Mexican manufacturer and exporter.
I moved to Mexico City to assist "Fiesta de Mexico's" product designer Paul Aaron. Soon I was helping design
furniture , accessories, lighting and gifts. I  also learned the "interesting" process of manufacturing in Mexico.
I was excited and inspired! U.S.A. customers actually purchased designs I  brought into being - unbelievable!

I began selling importers in the U.S.A. and promoted Fiesta products. Our designs were successful!

I established Tradeways, Inc. in 1966 to import my designs & other "Fiesta" products. I moved back to
 Baltimore and in addition to importing, started manufacturing case goods / store fixtures / kitchens in 1970.  Four
years latter we opened "to the trade" designer  showrooms in New York at 197 Lexington Av., Los Angeles on
Spring Street, Chicago at the Merchandise Mart [room 611], and Dallas at the Trade Mart on Stemmons . For many years
we displayed at 244 W 23rd  [N.Y.] Visual / Point of Purchase market. We shared a space at 225 Fifth Avenue - the gift Building.
 
1975 - 1983 marked our best effort; a permanent showroom in the High Point, N.C. Furniture Market,
 space 1111, Commerce Wing. My original designs introduced in High Point have been featured in Designer West Magazine,
 several times in Architectural Digest, House and Gardens, Metropolitan, Florida Design, New York
   and the Chicago Times. My personal kitchen and bath each was first featured in the Maryland Sunpapers and then
picked up by other newspapers and shown around the country.

Our Los Angeles showroom also catered to the movie industry, we manufactured "stage props." A percentage of our
showroom  customers were celebrities - One of my beveled mirrored bedrooms went to Diana Ross, a
"Mexican Southwest" hall-way presentation for Chita Rivera. We did a similar presentation for
Shirley McLain with Mexican mirrors and tables. Recently [2007] we completed a kitchen for Phil Schnier, one of the
top basket ball players of yesteryear; now the voice of the Washington Wizards.

I designed & pioneered original all glass and solid glass brick tables. We pioneered cast glass tops and artwork in
High point. . Tradeways was the first to show beveled mirrored wall mirrors, screens, radiused wall units and other
furniture to the trade. Acrylic furniture was our best design effort in 1976.
If  you see a brass and  glass box / vitrine from  Mexico [ now China] - I started it! We introduced  them at the New
York Gift Show, Coliseum and Jacob Javits Center, 1967-1975.   

 I was the first to design, manufacture and present "h" and "v" all glass table bases with regular glass tops -
and cast! Over the years I held U.S. copyrights  for 150 + designs.
 
Our company enjoyed a D&B rating 1R2/3 [net worth $570,000.00+ in 1983] for many years.  I'm not sure
what that means in current dollar value , but I remember how hard it was to get to that number in '83!

We exclusively represented the furniture / sculpture of Luciano Bustamante, receiver of Mexico's top juried
artist award for metal sculpture. The award was given to Luciano three times [1975 - 1977] by Mexico's Vice
 President on National television.. He referred to Luciano as a "Mexican Treasure!" 
We introduced his large brass hand hammered animals at High Point, and then turned his metal
sculptures into tables and other furniture..

Accent Kitchen and Bath, Inc. started '86 as an outlet for kitchens by Tradeways. Soon we distributed other
manufacturers products like Diamond Kitchens, and now, Armstrong. I began designing kitchens / baths to
 the design trade in 1971. Our customers were architects, interior designers and builders. 

Our retail exposure came into being  about 1988. Our general  contractor's license  #32696
remains unblemished 22 years. We have enjoyed good standing in N.K.B.A., I.F.D.A. H.B.A.M. D&B rates us " 2," 2008.

In the summer of '97 WCBM Baltimore Talk Radio asked us to create / appear & host their hour "Interior Design Show."
This two way talk broadcast aired each Saturday - 5 P.M. and ran 26 weeks until I was exhausted.
Radio management wanted to keep the show going, but.... I needed a life!

Received a call from the Sunpapers / our Maryland newspaper on the 11/23 / 02; they decided to do a story on Accent
 and an all glass bathroom .The photos appeared in their February 23rd. Home Design section.

  A National publication Home by Design Magazine became aware of the bath somehow, and called for
 additional information. They included the bath and reviewed our work in their
 "Seven Sensational Top Baths Of The Year" issue, October, 2003. Ultimately our bath design was picked up by
 newspapers across the country.  Bath can be seen below.

  There was another write up March 10th in the  "Welcome Home" section of the Sunpapers; another  April 4th
 in the "Maryland Home" section. "How to make smaller baths more livable."  Months latter "What makes a Bath Luxurious."
Late 2007  was an interview for lighting advice - to appear January, I think, in Baltimore Magazine. 

A few other "notable articles"  - will scan others when I get the chance. Not exactly what I said in some cases, BUT..