Take 10 With COUPAR'S Lisandra Caro-Torres

For the last five years, Lead Project Manager Lisandra Caro-Torres has handled the nuts and bolts of COUPAR Studio. She is responsible for sending out purchase orders, ensuring the accuracy of invoices before handing them off to accounting, receiving and processing all vendor documents, tracking goods ordered or services contracted, and handling all related documentation. Wow! The mother of three (ages 10, 8, and 4 years old) began her interior design career working ten years for Napa's Thomas Bartlett Interiors before COUPAR snapped her up.

CC: What drew you to the world of design?

LCT: I have always loved the design of homes and felt it took me to a new world. 

CC: How do you define beauty?

LCT: I feel beauty in interior design is how everything comes together, not just one item but all colors, movements, and shapes. And most of all, the reaction the client has the first time they see it.  

CC: What's been your favorite project you’ve worked on while at COUPAR?

LCT: All the projects have been great and have always brought new and different challenges. I like to be able to learn something fresh from each project.

CC: If you made a documentary, what would it be about?

LCT: It would be about the business side of Interior Design. People see it as beautiful and exciting but don't know what it takes to get there.

Interior by Thomas Bartlett

CC: You had an impressive run at Thomas Bartlett Interiors. How was it working for such a well-known firm?

LCT: It was a pleasure to work for Thomas. It was amazing to get my first work experience with such a great designer. With Thomas, I learned how the design world worked and appreciated the business side as well.

CC: What might the design world look like in 10 years?

LCT: I feel the design world will grow so much in 10 years and feel more firms may change how they function on the business side of things.

CC: What’s one ingredient you put in everything?

LCT: My attention to detail and passion.

CC: If you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be?

LCT: Wow, what a complex question; of course, who would not want to switch lives at one point or another. But I feel I am the only person in charge of living my life to the fullest.

CC: Most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life?

LCT: The most adventurous thing would have to be becoming a mother.

CC: Best gift you’ve ever given?

LCT: It would have to be giving time to myself. We sometimes forget to take care of the most important person, and that would be ourselves. 

Diego Rivera, The Alarm Clock, c, 1914