Samuel Botero’s life story and career stand as testament to the singular strength, courage and determination that have driven him to the enormous success he’s enjoyed for the past 30 years as a legendary, iconic "A-List" designer.
Today, he stands as one of the most admired, respected, celebrated and beloved figures throughout the international world of design.
But his journey represents the opposite of the glamorous environment in which his career has blossomed, and if not for his unique strength, as well as his humor and spiritual vision, he could never have survived, yet alone reached, his legendary status.
His strength and courage are further exemplified by the degree to which he has in this documentary opened his life to the world and divulged his deepest secrets. He has done so to help others overcome their most difficult life challenges, whatever they may be.
And throughout his trials and accomplishments, Botero has always “given back” as a mentor of young artists and immigrants, most notably through his decades of work with the Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, the institution which has for 80 years been offering young students in Harlem and the South Bronx a chance to get off the streets; and at The Alpha Workshops, an organization that trains HIV-positive persons to become artisans. Many Alpha students are immigrants. When Alpha was founded at the height of the AIDS crisis, Botero was the first major designer to bring work to the workshop, and he has continued to do so to this day.
Through an examination of Botero's life before his design career began; an exploration of his ground-breaking, unique and startlingly beautiful work; workshops filmed at both Casita Maria and Alpha; plus an inside view of the challenging world in which he continues to create the most striking interiors for the most demanding clients: viewers will reach new understandings of courage, perseverance, belief, humor, kindness and creativity, via the man who embodies all of these attributes, as well as a new appreciation of design art and extraordinary beauty.
Bipolar and dyslexic, born out of wedlock, Botero was raised in his native Colombia by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet. Even as a young child, he demonstrated his innate sense of design and his deep understanding of human nature. His pluck, and a precocious perception, made him a celebrity throughout South America at the age of 8 via a unique visit with Colombia's president.
But by then, he had suffered abuse at the hands of a priest; and throughout his years in Medellin and Bogota, and throughout his career, he has faced harrowing life challenges, some of which were serious enough to drive him to a suicide attempt in mid-career, one that landed him in an intensive care ward. Yet he has never burdened others with his problems, choosing instead to rely on a huge reservoir of strength, while insisting on dealing with his demons and misfortunes on his own time, and in his own space.
His mother brought him to America when he was 13, neither of them spoke English, and from the outset, he endured bullying and the pain of being "different" in a small Pennsylvania town, while watching over his mother through her own time of depression and doubt. He ultimately found his way from waiting tables in New York City to the scholarship he won to the Pratt Institute in New York, where he learned how to think as a designer, and from which he launched his career.
His work has appeared more than fifty times in Architectural Digest, where for decades he has been a fixture on the "AD 100" list of the top designers in the world (and on virtually every other respected short list of the world's leading designers), as well as in leading interior design journals worldwide, from Japan to Europe to South America and Asia.
His work has also been celebrated in popular media ranging from The Daily News to The Wall Street Journal to The Robb Report. He has created interiors for the most sumptuous homes, from Istanbul to Mexico City, Lyford Kay to Jerusalem, Panama City to Park Avenue, for a client list that has ranged from Raul Julia to Princess Yasmin Aga Khan.
From his epiphany on a street corner in Bogota as a child--one that drove him to dedicate his life to making people happier than he finds them--to the unmatched sense of color and the signature eclectic approach that together have defined his career, Botero's genuine warmth, life philosophy and dedication to beauty have established him as a figure who is as unique and admired as the work he produces.
As his story unfolds, as we travel to key locations in Colombia, and examine in breathtaking detail some of his singular design achievements, from a Park Avenue duplex to a stunning manse in Brooklyn, from the Pierre Hotel to UN Plaza, and as he shares his immigrant experience, life challenges and design philosophy, and in the filmed sessions in interactive workshops with immigrants and young art students in New York City, the program is as emotionally moving as it is visually startling, and is sure to be celebrated by the entire worldwide design community, as well as by viewers of the program throughout the world who will celebrate a heart-rending yet ultimately uplifting life story, and a stirring portrait of a genuine design genius.
“A fearless spirit with a finely tuned sense of surprise.”
-Architectural Digest
“Samuel Botero has been a notable figure in interior design since the establishment of Manhattan-based Samuel Botero Associates [in the late 70's.] Widely recognized for his ability to work in different moods and styles, his unique use of color and texture and an iconoclastic approach to mixing pieces from different periods sets him apart in the design world.”
-The American Institute of Architects
“His use of the full color spectrum is a signature element for Botero...Botero considers it his professional responsibility to challenge his clients so that they can extend their aesthetic borders and expand their comfort zones—for their benefit, not his.”
-The Robb Report
