Carolina Neubern Fonseca Q&A
Carolina Neubern Fonseca is an architect at Sterling Interiors working on retail and corporate interior design projects in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Westchester County.
How did you end up in New York?
I studied architecture and worked in Sao Paolo with international clients, from the US, The Netherlands and China. Then I met my Brazilian husband Luiz and he was working in New York. After lots of toing and froing, I decided to move here in 2006.
What do you miss most about Brazil?
Ai ai ai... This is a never-ending list, and includes my family, my favorite old-time restaurants in Sao Paulo where I'm from, listening to live music in informal pubs and the colours and the 'freedom' of our design in fashion, interiors and architecture.
What Brazilian things do you do in New York?
We Brazilians get together to chat, to watch Brazilian movies, swap Brazilian books, go to Central Park for picnics and visit the Petrobras Film Festival in Tribeca. Then it really feels like we are in Brazil.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Are there any Brazilian expressions that translate well into English?
There is one that is very special to me by Oscar Niemeyer: 'A Humanidade precisa de sonhos para suportar a miseria, nem que seja por um instante,'and means 'humanity needs dreams to face misery; even if it is for an instant.'
Emma O'Kelly is a freelance journalist and author based in London. Her books include Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat and she is currently working on a UK guide to wild saunas, due to be published in 2025.
-
Inside Christian de Portzamparc’s showstopping House of Dior Beijing: ‘sculptural, structural, alive’Daven Wu travels to Beijing to discover Dior’s dramatic new store, a vast temple to fashion that translates haute couture into architectural form
-
A music player for the mindful, Sleevenote shuns streaming in favour of focused listeningDevised by musician Tom Vek, Sleevenote is a new music player that places artist intent and the lost art of record collecting at the forefront of the experience
-
Take a tour of the 'architectural kingdom' of JapanJapan's Seto Inland Sea offers some of the finest architecture in the country – we tour its rich selection of contemporary buildings by some of the industry's biggest names
-
Out of office: coffee and creative small talk with Tatiana BilbaoBodil Blain, Wallpaper* columnist and founder of Cru Kafé, shares coffee and creative small talk with leading figures from the worlds of art, architecture, design, and fashion. This week, it’s Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, who is currently designing a brutalist, ethical aquarium in Mazatlán and has an exhibition at Copenhagen's Louisiana Museum of Modern Art opening in October 2019
-
At home with Deborah BerkeArchitect Deborah Berke talks to us about art, collaboration, climate change and the future, from the living room of her Long Island home
-
Rheaply redefines circular economy in architectureOn Earth Day 2022, we speak to Rheaply founder Garry Cooper Jr about his innovative business that tackles reuse and upcycling in architecture and construction
-
Paolo Soleri's sustainable urban experiment Arcosanti enters new eraWe meet Liz Martin-Malikian, Arcosanti’s new CEO, who takes us through the vision and future for Paolo Soleri's sustainable urban experiment
-
International Women’s Day: leading female architects in their own wordsInternational Women’s Day 2022 and Women’s History Month: Wallpaper* talks to four leading female architects about dreams, heroines and navigating the architecture world
-
Sou Fujimoto judges Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022We chat with Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022 judge Sou Fujimoto about his work in Japan and abroad, and our shortlisted designs and winners
-
Dream the Combine cross-pollinates and conquersThe American Midwest is shaking up the world of architecture. As part of our Next Generation 2022 project, we’re exploring ten local emerging practices pioneering change. Here we meet Minneapolis duo Dream the Combine
-
Architecture in the words of Paulo Mendes da RochaGreat modernist Paulo Mendes da Rocha passed away on 23 May 2021 aged 92. Here, we revisit the interview he gave Wallpaper* in 2010 for our Brazil-focussed June issue, talking about architecture, awards and his home country