PROfiles
>>> meet the designers behind projects featured in this issue
Amy Nieboer, IIDA, LEED-AP
Michelle Romero, IIDA
DFD Interior Architecture project designers Michelle Romero and Amy Nieboer have collaborated on several projects for the Equitable Real Estate Company in metro Phoenix, including the firm's most recent office location, featured in this issue. The two interior designers come easily to their collaboration; Romero and Nieboer are contemporaries, having graduated within two years of each other at, respectively, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. Their backgrounds also bear similarities. Nieboer grew up in Michigan and, drawn to the arts, first studied architecture before switching to interiors. Romero, an Arizona native, also studied architecture, inspired in part by her father's upholstery and interiors business. The only time the two designers might experience a bit of friction would be in late November. Why? It's the annual football showdown between rivals U of A Wildcats and ASU Sun Devils.
Judith Testani
Riccardo Cattapan
Interior designer Judith Testani of Testani Design Troupe and architectural designer Riccardo Cattapan, principal of CMD Architects, have offices in the same Scottsdale, Arizona office complex. Though they work on their own designs, the location is convenient, as they frequently collaborate on projects, such as Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas, the Olive & Ivy restaurant in Scottsdale and, most recently, the Evensong Spa in Wisconsin, which is featured in this issue. Cattapan and Testani also collaborate in their private life, having met in 2000 when Testani moved into a Modernist condo complex where Cattapan also resided. She gutted her condo, and he remodeled his. "We went through construction dust together as neighbors and found we had a lot in common," says Cattapan. "Working on projects together just seemed natural. "The secret to their success? "We work hard during the day, then try not to talk about work at home," says Testani.
Suzanne Urban, ASID, IIDA
 Suzanne Urban overcame some unexpected challenges while working on interiors for Hidden Meadow Ranch in Arizona's White Mountains. The ranch's rural locale—six miles up a forest road, 11 miles from the nearest village, a good four hours from Phoenix—meant deliveries and installation had to be carefully choreographed. "Smaller trucks had to meet bigger trucks down near the highway to get furniture up the dirt road," says Urban, who formed Studio 4 Interiors in Phoenix with partners Denis McKitrick, AIA, and Paul Krucko, AIA, LEED, in 2001. Then there was the matter of the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski wildfire in the White Mountains, Arizona's largest-ever forest fire. "The fire stalled the project, even though it didn't get as far as the ranch. A lot of local workers were volunteer firefighters, so they had to leave to battle the blaze." Nonetheless, the ranch resort was finished, and you can see it in this issue. When she's not up in the mountains, the Orange County, California native's other projects have included designs for the Phoenix City Hall and the Nixon Library in California.
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