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From the memories of Nick Alain

"Somewhere around 1993 or 1994, I was living on South Beach and spending a lot of time with my friend and business partner at the time, Mike Braun. South Beach was crazy then. We were collaborating with every nightclub and bar we could get our hands on, and we were becoming known for doing things that were unusual — things other people didn't know how to make. We had shops and a design firm Braun & Trujillo Inc, and our attitude was basically: if you can imagine it, we can figure out how to build it. We had been working on places including the Chili Pepper and Club Rebar. We had just finished a massive black-and-white mural inside the bar when we met Wallace Tutt at the opening.

Wallace asked us what we did. We told him that we designed and manufactured things — essentially anything the mind could imagine. He immediately began giving us projects. Many of them were unusual commissions where something had to be created from scratch because it simply couldn't be purchased. Through Wallace and the people we met during that period, one project led to another. We were working for people moving into South Beach and Star Island and creating custom pieces for extraordinary homes.

Then, around 1994, Wallace introduced me to Gianni Versace. Gianni had taken on the mansion on Ocean Drive, Casa Casuarina. We connected immediately.

The first time we sat down together, Gianni began describing something he could see in his mind. I had my sketchpad with me, so while he was talking, I started drawing.  I didn't interrupt him. I just listened and sketched.  By the time he finished explaining his idea, I turned the sketchpad around and showed him what I had drawn.  He became incredibly excited.  It was exactly what he had been describing — except I had added a few details of my own.

He loved them!

From that moment, we began working together on the exterior metalwork. We designed exterior lighting and beautiful metal-and-stained-glass gates separating the courtyard from the swimming pool. I came into the project relatively late, when much of the villa was already nearing completion, so my involvement was concentrated primarily on the metalwork and exterior elements.

But the part I remember most wasn't simply making those pieces.

Gianni and I would meet regularly, often over an espresso, and sit together with a sketchpad. We would sketch, talk and develop ideas. As he was finishing the house, he would also ask my opinion about different details, particularly when they involved metalwork. 

For me, that was the remarkable part of working with him. It wasn't a conventional process where someone handed you a drawing and asked you to manufacture it. It began with a conversation.

Gianni would describe what he imagined. I would listen, draw and add something of myself to the idea.

And then we would make it real." 

- Nick Alain