Rafael de Cárdenas
Name: Rafael de Cárdenas
Profession: Architect and interior designer
Location: New York
Age: 46
![](http://magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_2400x.jpg?v=1625045295 2400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_2200x.jpg?v=1625045295 2200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_2000x.jpg?v=1625045295 2000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_1800x.jpg?v=1625045295 1800w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_1600x.jpg?v=1625045295 1600w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_1400x.jpg?v=1625045295 1400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_1200x.jpg?v=1625045295 1200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_1000x.jpg?v=1625045295 1000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650023_800x.jpg?v=1625045295 800w)
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Questionnaire: Rafael de Cárdenas
Describe yourself in a single sentence?
– I write love songs.
What was your last thought before falling asleep last night?
– The Round Stone Barn in Hancock, Massachusetts. I visited it yesterday...it was built in 1826 and is the only circular barn ever built by Shakers.
What kind of person do you want to be?
– Every day I become kinder and more confident.
What are you working on right now?
– Many residential projects, a store in Beijing, a small hotel in a 19th-century villa in Italy…my own 300-year-old, pre-revolutionary house in the Berkshire hills.
Talent, is that something you’re born with or something you can learn?
– You can learn anything! Talent is within anyone’s grasp.
What do you do when nobody looks?
– What everybody else does….
If you could give your younger self any advice, what would that be?
– Loving yourself is more important than pleasing others.
What do you dream about?
– Clouds, from both sides.
What is your favourite book and why?
– Dave Hickey’s Air Guitar, specifically the essay “Unbreak My Heart, an Overture.”
What is your most twisted fantasy?
– I can’t tell you that, but I would have loved to be a backup dancer on the Blonde Ambition tour.
How do you decide when a project is worth realizing?
– Anyone’s wish is worth realizing.
Name your favourite restaurant?
– L’orée de la forêt, about an hour and change from Paris! It’s a gem.
![](http://magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_2400x.jpg?v=1625045295 2400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_2200x.jpg?v=1625045295 2200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_2000x.jpg?v=1625045295 2000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_1800x.jpg?v=1625045295 1800w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_1600x.jpg?v=1625045295 1600w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_1400x.jpg?v=1625045295 1400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_1200x.jpg?v=1625045295 1200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_1000x.jpg?v=1625045295 1000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650028_800x.jpg?v=1625045295 800w)
![](http://magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_2400x.jpg?v=1625056952 2400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_2200x.jpg?v=1625056952 2200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_2000x.jpg?v=1625056952 2000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_1800x.jpg?v=1625056952 1800w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_1600x.jpg?v=1625056952 1600w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_1400x.jpg?v=1625056952 1400w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_1200x.jpg?v=1625056952 1200w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_1000x.jpg?v=1625056952 1000w, //magniberg.com/cdn/shop/files/000237650004_800x.jpg?v=1625056952 800w)
Photography by Lucka Ngô, New York, June, 2021.