Episode 93: Bianchi Design - Kirk Bianchi: Luxury Pool Design Inspired by Art, Architecture, and Photography
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In this episode, we sat down with Kirk Bianchi who is the owner of Bianchi Design and whose mission is to transform ordinary backyards into “waterscapes” or custom works of art. Bianchi’s design approach was inspired by a trip he took to Japan as a senior in high school. He was struck by how the Japanese architecture and landscape design integrated and blurred indoor/outdoor spaces in a simple, yet elegant way. It is this approach that makes him unique among conventional pool designers and landscape architects who do not integrate the elements of architecture, landscape, and pool design together. We love his approach of sculpting outdoor living spaces that encourage taking in the moment and quieting the noise.
During the episode, Kirk breaks down how he views the swimming pool design as if he were looking through a photographer’s lens. Taking into account every angle and framing up the pool as if it were the subject of the photo. His designs not only make you stop for a moment to take in the beauty but truly tell a story as you walk through the living art form. We have never heard anyone describe it as he did on the podcast. Whether you are a designer, builder, manufacturer, or service company, you will be inspired by the way Kirk describes what we do and what this industry provides for our clients. We promise, you will never view a swimming pool or outdoor space the same!
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Tyler Rasmussen:
Thank you for joining us today on episode 93 of the Pool Chasers podcast. As always, our mission is to help educate and inspire in the form of a podcast. So you know how you have to take 16 snapshots to get the perfect photo. Each time you focus on the subject while taking into account every angle and what's going on in the background. Have you ever thought to look at a backyard or a swimming pool in the same way you would when framing up that photo of a beautiful sunset? Well, that's how our guest today sees every project he works on, drawing inspiration from a background in architecture and a deep appreciation for the Japanese culture. His projects not only give the ultimate Zen experience, but some would say they can even freeze time for a moment. His designs truly tell a story as he unveils each layer at a time. It was such a pleasure to listen to him talk about his work and we will never look at a pool of the same. We were honored to have him here on the podcast. So we hope you draw as much inspiration from him as we did. Please enjoy this episode with Kirk Bianchi a Bianchi Design.
Pool Chasers Intro:
Welcome to your go to podcast for the pool and spa industry. My name is Tyler Rasmussen and my name is Greg Villafana and this is the Pool Chasers Podcast.
Tyler Rasmussen:
All right. Well, thank you for joining us today, Kirk. We appreciate you being here on the podcast with us.
Kirk Bianchi:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah. Would you mind introducing yourself to listeners, please?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. I'm Kirk Bianchi and Bianchi Design has been my company since nineteen ninety nine in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Very nice. You know, we want to kind of go back to the beginning and focus on your story a little bit. Can you tell us kind of where you grew up and how that led to you being the well-known designer you are today?
Kirk Bianchi:
Well, I you know, as a kid I grew up in. Detroit suburbs. Sterling Heights is a suburb of Detroit area and. You know, as a kid, I was always into drawing and model building and photography, kind of the artsy kid who would hang out at home and, you know, we had finished basement. So all winter long. You got to be crafty. Back in the Midwest. Yeah. And you know, by the time we went to high school from a small school to a big school, I was really excited about all the offerings that a big school had, you know, woodshop and metal shop and architectural drafting. So I was all keen on taking that class, actually didn't get in and it was full. But I did get into an art class and my art teacher saw my drawings and went over and grabbed the architecture teacher and got an override because she had seen some of my drafting work and I'd already been doing on my own. So she made sure I got in and that was pretty, pretty cool. I'm glad she did that. We had architectural drafting. All four years of high school, three hours a day, every day of the week. And I guess you call that a head start. You know, we had statewide architectural competitions with, you know, four thousand dollar cash awards when that cash, but like a bond and scholarship kind of awards and junior and senior year.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, sometimes it was residential designs. One was a shopping mall. Another one was a dance pavilion on a beach. That was a concession stand by day and a dance pavilion by night. So it had to be a multi-function situation. Ironically, it looks very much like it was made from shotcrete because it was very freeform and carved out of a hillside. So we had this this background going on. Right, in high school that really gave gave me a head start my junior year over the summer, my dad took his fifth business trip to Japan. And had had me along. So I got to go there for a month. And that was really profound and life changing, I didn't realize it at the time. And, you know, I just really got immersed in there. You know, there's a Zen way of living there, indoor outdoor architecture. It was really amazing. I mean, everything that they did, they're down to the taxi. Cab driver in the backseat of their car is meticulously maintained. Everyone's proud of their work product and their workmanship. They own their their space. And I was waiting 30 minutes for a fruit plate in the cafe in this small business hotel we stayed in. Just something in between meals and it took like a half an hour and it came out and it was this beautiful carved array of this fruit plate, those magnificent like, you know, you'd see it at a.j.'s.
Kirk Bianchi:
We have these gourmet stores here and they were peeking out from behind the kitchen to to see my reaction to this art piece that they had crafted for me. And I wish I'd had a camera. I could hardly eat the thing. So it was just for a month. That was the level of craft that I was exposed to. And it was pretty exhilarating and fun and not to mention their Japanese gardens and all that. Those were all just amazing. So I went to ASU for college, took three semesters of Japanese, determined I was going to go back. And that's part of how I selected ASU is they had a Japanese language department and as well as architecture. And if you're gonna be studying in January, it may as well be outside under a palm tree instead of cooped up in a cellar in Lansing or Detroit, Michigan. So you ended up at ASU and loved it. And one of my favorite classes was architectural history. Art history. They really talked a lot about the composition and design of the what's on a canvas or what's in the architecture, how to critique architecture. Good, bad. How? What are the merits of an architectural work and how to break it down? I got a lot out of those classes, more than I even realized at the time, and because they really I still use them to this day.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, how to compose a backyard or whatever I'm working on. So that was that's really my educational background. The pool component of it, I had taken a break from architecture and I was working at the Ritz Carlton just figuring out my next step in life because I was kind of burned out on the architectural corporate scene, wasn't very creative and fulfilling that I was the firms I was working at. And I was actually at an accountant's office waiting for my appointment reading the business journal and they were interviewing different people, what they did for a living. What is a bug spray guy? And other one was an AC tech. And then there was Ted Miller. Ex-professional fisherman, turned pool designer. Wow, that's kind of interesting. And then I had my appointment and two weeks later I'm at the hotel and it's really bugging me. I need to go find that article. I couldn't remember the name of the firm, so I rummage through the recycle bin and found the paper and I was glad for that. It was still there and looked him up. And I got when I got home and I said, Ted, I'm a burned out architecture student, but it sounds like you're having fun. And he laughs. That is like, yeah, well. You want a job?
Greg Villafana:
Welcome to the pool industry.
Kirk Bianchi:
And that was in nineteen ninety one. Here I am. So when life, you know, there's a fork in the road. Take it. I went down there that afternoon all preppy, ASU style, and I walked into a den of Harley guys and growled at me. Who are you. And I had my portfolio until to' and I met the owner and showed him my drawings and renderings.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, stuff I had done in high school. And the next day, I I'm in a hole digging in the swimming pool, trimming the walls because they did in-house excavation. Because if you dig is off, then the pool's off. So they did in-house excavation. They did in-house bolder compositions and waterfalls than they did in how Sand finished. And different levels of exposed aggregate concrete. That was their three favorite things that they just didn't feel they could farm out. So I really by day, I was in the hole digging pools, trim in pools, pouring concrete, setting boulders. I was the guy that would grout the waterfall, make sure it didn't leak. And we were. That's all we did back then was Boulder free-form stuff. But that first day, the owner had a drawing that was just kind of a napkin sketch.
Kirk Bianchi:
I knew he was going on meeting the next day, so I I stayed after hours and did a marker and pencil rendering for it. And he came into the office the next morning with his plan all rendered out. And he's like. Damn, well, I guess you should go with me to present this. So at night I went out with him on sales calls and helped present the drawings and was his sidekick by evening's. And we would meet the client, do the interviews. They got what they wanted. Come back, do a drawing. Present it together and I got introduced to the world of commission percentage. You know how to make an income instead of hourly. I was getting paid on a percentage that that was very inspiring. And because I was one of the things that I didn't understand in architecture school, you how we connect the dots and how to make a living. The idea of being paid a percentage of your what you bring to the table rather than just an hourly rate or a salary.
Kirk Bianchi:
It seemed like, you know, there was just a nice model, nice introduction. And so by two years later, I was he'd give me a name and a number and say, here, run with it. Because I've been in the field doing the work building and I've been on with you my sales calls in the afternoon, and it was really awesome to, you know, sink or swim. You know, I ran the whole job. I was the superintendent for my own projects.
Kirk Bianchi:
Design it, price it. Pick up the checks. Meet the trades and wish him farewell when the project was over and it was kind of a. All in all in one kind of place to learn.
Greg Villafana:
So. What was your plan when you started working for him? I mean, were you going to just work as a tradesman or did you plan on actually drafting some different plans for the pools he was building? Because it sounded like he might not have known what your skill set, you know, really was.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I that's a good question. I just went what was my expectation? I was just going to just do everything I could there to make that an awesome experience. I was excited about learning a craft that was artistic and yet economically profitable. That was what I was trying to reconcile in architecture school, which was all theory and high. You know, it just didn't translate into what I did because all the architects I were was interviewing were all telling me I didn't want to do this for a living.
Kirk Bianchi:
That you'd be 80 hours a week, laid off, broke and divorced, all in the same month. And they were like literally like eight or nine architects I interviewed. Like, you don't want to do this sucks. Do it for a hobby. And. I was working at the Ritz Carlton just to get a break from that and figure out, you know, architecture is in my DNA, but how am I actually going to live a balanced life and be a creative person in the world? And yet. Make a decent revenue because it's always the starving artist is what you're well-meaning family says to you when you grow up, you know, you need to get a job. It's practical. It pays the bills, because, you know, artistic people. You know, that is, you know, none of them had ever owned a business. None of them were creative. So they didn't have any frame of reference whatsoever for what it could look like being a creative person who could, you know, earn a living and be in business for yourself.
Kirk Bianchi:
That was an entirely new thing that I just had to grope in the dark. To figure out. So, you know, I was just going to. I was excited to work at this company because here was, you know, creativity and real world and commission all wrapped into one. Hey, I'm diggin this. So I really enjoyed that. Introduction I was glad to be working in the field. And you know, when you're twenty one, it's our it's all good, you know.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah. You got to build body for it. And the energy. Yeah.
Kirk Bianchi:
For sure. Yeah. You've got the energy field by day. Take a shower. Clients by night. No big deal.
Greg Villafana:
When you going back a little bit. When you were taking architectural history in school, what was your favorite time in history for architecture.
Kirk Bianchi:
Certainly the modern era. I mean, I loved. All the mid-century modern lines and. Know, I I appreciate quite a bit about Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm not a diehard Frank Lloyd Wright right person, but I enjoy his workflow and his process and his you know, there's an undergirding geometry to his designs that you carry through. I really enjoyed that. So, you know, everything in the recent century, I think I enjoyed the most. Definitely not. I can appreciate the craftsmanship, of course, of all the centuries gone by Baroque and all that, but it's so gaudy and ostentatious and overdone, it's just overwhelming. So I think that's why I really enjoyed Japan, is that it was very austere and. Zen and peaceful and quiet and calm and not overly embellished and ordinate, so I resonated really well with the modern M-E van der Rohe and Chicago and some of the Frank Lloyd Wright and.
Kirk Bianchi:
Mid century modern. Those those things were really clicked with me for the same reasons I just mentioned.
Greg Villafana:
Right. Yeah. Like the Japanese has a very distinctive look and a lot of what they do is just as much about function as it is about the way that it looks. I mean, even they're sliding doors. Most of the materials they use are wood, but the sliding doors are back in the day were paper and that was because they wanted the sunlight to come in just the right amount and they would position it in a certain direction. Yeah. Very distinctive look, but also just its own unique style.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, they're very into celebrating their raw materials, letting you know an architecture class. They talk about truth and materials, you know, don't don't do fake stuff. You know, if it's stone, let it be stone. Don't make something look like something else. I mean, like the porcelain wood tile look is a classic departure from that. It's it's I confess I'm getting ready to do a project that has a plaster finish. You know, we're considering this. It's going to look like rusted steel. All right. I guess that's a little bit dishonest. But hey, it was one fifth the cost and it looks awesome.
Kirk Bianchi:
It really looks good. It doesn't look fake and faux painted. It's a plaster finish that has rusted rust. So that could be a good you know, they are very much about real materials and celebrating the material, letting concrete be concrete, letting steel be steel, a living glass, be glass and. Expressing how things are built, you know, show me the connections and the bolts.
Kirk Bianchi:
And not just putting foam and laugh and stucco over it. Why not show the hardware? It's really.
Kirk Bianchi:
Interesting and raw and basic and fundamental and honest. Wabi Sabi, they call it, in some areas where something know is old and battered and that's part of its character. I. It's something about the stucco world.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, in America we use all these latex modify, you know, and stuff goes that look pristine and perfect and ubiquitous. And everyone goes to Europe and they like old buildings.
Kirk Bianchi:
And the paint's peeling off the walls and its integral color plaster and it's it's not perfect. And I liken it to fabric, you know, depression-era people loved polyester, you know, custom tailored polyester because it was always pristine and perfect and it never wrinkled. You could just take it right out of the dryer and wear it out the door. But what about silk and linen and cotton? You know, it's a natural fiber and it's just it looks so much more luxurious, but it's imperfect.
Kirk Bianchi:
And that's part of the beauty. So I'm on a cake right now to do more like Venetian plasters and indigo color and try to leave Don Edwards behind because it's you know, it could be so much more interesting. And the contractor responsible, but it's good to crack. And so what? You could wear. You don't wear polyester, do you? No, no, of course not.
Kirk Bianchi:
Well, I quit putting polyester all over these walls.
Kirk Bianchi:
Let people know and then maybe tell them it that way. You know, you love your trips to Europe and John Edwards. And let it crack. Let it let it, you know, be variation in color. And it's it's why we love going to Europe and seeing old buildings. Right. It's called character.
Greg Villafana:
But it must be such a you know, it's a real feeling to see like the Colosseum and just what like the ancient Romans had built back in the day, because I still think that that is mind-blowing. I haven't seen it in real life. But, you know, I've watched a ton of documentaries and it's just crazy what, you know, mankind has been able to do from a long time ago when they didn't have cranes, they didn't have excavators, they didn't have any of these things. And some of these buildings are still here today. Have you been to the Coliseum before?
Kirk Bianchi:
I have not yet been to Europe. Japan was my big exodus out of the country. And I know it's crazy. I need to I need to get over there before, you know. Rome burns.
Kirk Bianchi:
Literally. Yeah. Hopefully it doesn't fall down. I'd be alive right now until you can go there right now.
Kirk Bianchi:
All right.
Greg Villafana:
Well, they talk about Rome and ancient Rome in architectural history.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yes. Yeah. Rome, Greece. Renaissance. All of those periods are really, really interesting.
Tyler Rasmussen:
It's interesting how we in America, like we have Renaissance fairs and you like you're saying we enjoy the trip to Europe and seeing all these old buildings and seeing all this, you know, in it's pure. But then everybody builds houses and they just want this same look. And it's just an interesting kind of thought process that that Americans go through.
Greg Villafana:
That's because when the designer and builder come in and tell you how much it's gonna cost me to have a house that looks like it's from Europe. Like now just take one of the track homes. This might be the case.
Kirk Bianchi:
Well, it's the whole liability saying the callbacks.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, they want this perfect stucco finish that's going to be a last elastic and breathing it, OK? That's all good. God forbid it should have a hairline crack. And God forbid it should be indigo color because you can't patch that, you know. And I got a you know.
Kirk Bianchi:
So it's this we've got this, we've painted ourselves little, painted ourselves into a corner where, you know, it's a flexible stucco goes you paint, come over it, you make it look brand new every couple of years that are brand new to me as polyester, it's just.
Kirk Bianchi:
Why would you do that? It makes sense. So I've really been, like I said, on a kick to just really explore the plasters and. Integral color in my wall treatments. Looking forward to doing more of that.
Kirk Bianchi:
And part of the selling proposition is I have to explain to people that look at lime wash paint. It does fade in the sun and it's it becomes it's it's like denim. You know, it's its own thing and it's going to weather and wear.
Kirk Bianchi:
So if you want it to sustain this look perfect from day one and forever more than you're you're a perfect candidate for John Edwards and polyester. But I'm not going to not going to give you that. If I can help those people buy into that, they get it. Oh, yeah. Why are we wearing polyester? I don't wear polyester and I like that metaphore. Yeah, it's helping me to to sell the character of something richer and more luxurious.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Makes people understand it. Thats cool.
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Tyler Rasmussen:
So tell us, you know, from from that point, you know, how to working for somebody else. How did you get to the point of working for yourself and building Bianche designs?
Kirk Bianchi:
So I work with two different companies from about six or seven years total, it was about nineteen ninety nine and. I recognized that I was or the designer, you know, cut from that cloth. I wasn't a natural progression might be older than I had become a contractor. And I felt like, well, there was some good contractors, you know, that I knew in their bulk of their day was scheduling trades and. You know, you know, all the things that go into the construction of a project that takes up the bulk of your day, and it was it was the how, it wasn't the why. When I was at the company I was working at, I was designing the entire backyard. But they in particular fulfilled only the pool. I'm designing the whole yard. And the owners I came in and it's really nice of you to design their whole yard for them, but, you know, we don't get paid for that. So why are you why don't you just move on, given the pool and move on? And I realized that we were in a different business and I was into more creating the whole environment. And he was just trying to deliver a piece of it. And that really was an enlightening moment. And in a very significant one, because I couldn't figure out where the pool would go until I designed everything around it first. I just knew that was somehow the right order of things. And he is a typical pool person, I would just say. Let's just put the pool here and let them figure it out from there. You know, and so we'll talk more about that in a minute. But the pools to be last. It's not the pool. People are the first guys on the scene. They get a blank slate of a backyard. And they if they're just limited to delivering a pool, I think they've got this whole place to themselves to just drop in whatever. And then they hand it off to someone else to finish the landscape.
Kirk Bianchi:
And it's just a train wreck.
Kirk Bianchi:
And, you know, and this is a I digress a little bit, but I took a test at ASU, that said, I should be a landscape architect when I grew up. And I like now. That's why would I want to be the guy who puts shrubbery in front of someone else's really awesome building? How insulting, how boring, how lame. You know, it's like the guy who stuffs kale in between the vessels at the Sizzler Salad Bar. That's all landscaping is. It's all about, you know, the pool or the architecture and the rest is the fringe. You know, it's just the window dressing around the corner. And like, I had no clue. I was just there was just ironic that I actually. I'm doing that now more than I am designing pools as I'm working into being more of a landscape designer than pools, so that's been my progression a few decades in the making. So there they were, right? In a way, yeah. I had no idea that had already been a Japan, too. So that's kind of odd that I've been to Japan. I'd seen Japanese gardens. So the irony is there. But the.
Kirk Bianchi:
Going on my own was because, you know, I noticed that the pool companies were only handling a sliver of what was possible, and I knew that I was more of a design person, a creative.
Kirk Bianchi:
I didn't want to be a contractor with a truck and scheduling trades and more, the artsy guy with the crayons and the camera. And so I went on my own as design. I saw that as being a big thing that was not really being offered very well. A big hole in the marketplace. And so I was going to fix that. I was going to save the world from really lousy pool salesman. Wreaking havoc in people's backyards, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars without a good plan. It is thought that was wrong.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Was that very wrong? Was that a difficult transition to get people to understand or see it that way?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, to hit.
Kirk Bianchi:
It became part of my presentation was that I was designing the whole backyard, even though I was known for being the pool designer, I was asking everything about everything else, about the art. And sometimes they would give me give me a little humor, you know, a little grief about it. But in a fun way, why are you asking me about my my kids play area? Well, it tells me where the pool isn't going. Right. You know, all of these things works attractively in the pools. The last piece of the puzzle that goes in, once you tell the art, everything else it needs to have, you know, you put your Legos away with the big pieces first. Right. You know, then then all the little stuff kind of falls into place. So you work from big to large from large to small as you're working through a backyard and then everything starts to have its carpets carve its place into the scene. So, yeah, I went on my own as design because I just saw that that's that was the whole that's missing. And you know what my specialty is? You know, I recognize, you know, people need a time and a place to slow down, to unplug, recharge and. You know, that's kind of what I worked at the Ritz Carlton. They had a really cool credo. It was to to enliven the senses was part of their thing that they enjoyed. Bringing to pass for their clients is everything from the fragrance of the flowers in the lobby to how, you know, how courteous the staff was to the aroma of the tea.
Kirk Bianchi:
I mean, the music. It was all of these things that worked together to create a very nice environment and they articulated it that way. And their motto that we all had to memorize. That stuck with me, you know, and live in the senses. And it reminded me of my trip to Japan and how they could slow down time and sip tea while watching the snow fall in the Japanese garden and in our fast paced life. I know people need to do that more often. So I'm trying to deliver that place of respite at home. And how do you actually achieve that? And, you know, some of the things that I've noticed is, you know, good design. You it should really kind of quiet the noise and bring a sense of calming reflection. And it makes us appreciate beauty that's really around us every day. But we take it for granted. So how do you how do you do that? And it kind of went back to my my photography and art days because in art class, in photography class, they always have. You answer the question. What is the subject of this painting? What is the subject? Of this photograph. And then once you identify it, then. All right. The supporting elements in this painting, their photograph. Are they accentuating and helping or are they detracting? And that was how you evaluated a work of art, is that they did they consistently reinforce that choice or not? And, you know, well, there was the lighting or the mood or the color palette or the composition of the elements on the page.
Kirk Bianchi:
Maybe there's something going off camera that you can't see. What is it? Maybe that's the intent is to create that sense of mystery. But, you know, in most situations, it's it's just stillhave composition. There's of a flower base on a table and it's got dramatic lighting on it. That's the the picture.
Greg Villafana:
You know, and that's one thing that, you know, you had mentioned to us is that you do look at everything from a photographer's eye. Can you share with us what you mean?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. You know, when you're when you're looking through the lens of the camera, you're you're composing what you see in that frame. And there's a whole bunch of rules and guidelines as to how to compose the shot. Is the person dead centers that kind of boring? Is it maybe slightly a third to one side and two thirds to the other? There's different ratios of composition that make it more interesting. Are the lines of the, you know, the table that you know or whatever the structures. Are they leading your eye into the page, focusing on the subject? Of the composition. There's all kinds of ways of organizing a photograph. So when I'm looking at a space. I'm literally thinking of it as if I'm photographing the yard at the moment, I walk in the front door, I'm looking through the window. That's a canvas. How was it composed? What do I what am I looking at when I step out on the back patio, when I look out across the yard? The very first moment. What am I taking it? That's that's a canvas. I'm you're looking out your kitchen window window. That's a canvas. So there's compose each of these scenes. As if they were a painting on the wall, and a lot of times where I see.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, failure in that is maybe you've designed a pool or something in the foreground that's interesting on the ground plain. But what about the middleground? What about the background? So at the same time, you're looking at your beautiful element on the ground playing there's the neighbor's roof behind you with their, you know, air conditioning, HVAC on the roof and then the wall. The property is hideous or ugly and unadorned. And you'd imagine taking a picture of that from the house, looking out. Beautiful pool on the ground. Ugly wall and air conditioning all in the same shot. So why do people miss that? I don't know. It's just you can't. You've got to address all of those at once. You have to erase that neighbors roofline and their air conditioner on the roof with a vertical tree that's going to block it out and maybe treat the wall with the diminishing paint color and stucco. So it's not vying for attention. So that now your element that's in the foreground can shine and not be diminished by the ugliness that's right behind it. I think that's the number one thing that that I do differently.
Greg Villafana:
I agree. And I love that you look at a backyard and a swimming pool from every direction of it being inside of the house, being inside a master bedroom, looking out the window or being in the kitchen, looking out the window or, you know, wherever you're out on the property where that backyard and pool is going to be. You're thinking about how you're talking about looking at it through a camera lens. And if you were looking through a camera lens, how is it changing in each one of those spaces? I think that is very unique. And I think that's a really, really cool way of looking at it, because like you're talking about air conditioning, how quickly you feel like you're not in Japan anymore. You are in a normal backyard with a normal looking pool where, you know, that background wasn't thought of because talking about photography and the composition and your line of sight and lighting and all those different things. There's no Photoshop in real life when you get into that backyard, you can't just brush away that air conditioning unit on your neighbor's roof.
Kirk Bianchi:
Exactly. And how many times have I been asked to remodel a pool where the pool slammed up against the wall of someone's back property and there's there's an ugly. You know, backdrop, and the first thing that needed to go in that yard was the bigger elements, which were the trees. And in that particular yard, the first time it was designed, a tree needed to go there. Maybe it's a small space. All right. Well, we need a small tree that's narrow and Colmar in its growth pattern. And that's the choice you make to plant along the back wall so that you've photoshopped out that ugly house. Now you know that the pool can't go right up against that wall. The pool is OK. So it's smaller. It's moved forward a little. But you have to design the backdrop first. And it's know the outer rings of the archery target, if you will. You have to work from the outside to each inner layer. And then the last layer in the middle is the bull's eye. OK. Now, that's where your pool goes. Because you've told it where it can't go, because you've thought of everything else first.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, traffic flow, furniture patterns. Where do you want to sit to look at the sunset? Oh, and I want to be in the shade at five o'clock and the sun's going to be over there. So I need a tree here. That's going to shade me when I'm sitting at my table. All of these things tell you where the pool's not going. So that's a big beef I have with pool salesman. Pool contracting is. First on the job, because most the time the pool gets built first, but then they treat it like it's, it's their palate. They get to do whatever they want with the space and they kill it. They ruin it for everybody else because they just came in with their big truck and. This is my space. I own it. Here's where the pool goes. And it's just does not synchronize with anything in the background. It doesn't synchronize with any other facet of how the art wants to live in. And it's hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is just wrong.
Do you feel like it's your job to help the customer figure out how they're going to actually enjoy this backyard and pool that you're going to design? Because maybe sometimes they might not understand how they're going to use it. Exactly, because it's it's much more than just a swimming pools. It's a lot more than, you know, whatever other features the backyard might have. It's just it's a big visual piece that is going to give you peace. It's going to clear your mind. You talk about, you know, slowing things down. We live in a world that you can't just walk by something beautiful these days and stare out at. People think you're crazy. It's a good way to isolate yourself, put yourself on an island. I'm just curious, going through, you know, somebodys backyard and, you know, you're going through all the different steps. Are you kind of having to sort of teach them how they can use this? And are they maybe more excited afterwards because they never maybe thought of using it the way that you're talking about?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, I enjoy showing people. As much as they can tolerate the why behind all of this, and I seem to have attracted clientele with, they appreciate the beauty and the art of my imagery and they say, well, that's what I want. They may not put their finger on why. So it's kind of fun to show them the why. Here's why you like this pool. It's actually not the pool. It's the background and how it's reflecting in the pool. You're right. I didn't even notice that. It is. It's the background sounds. We have to compose it all at once. And so I they really enjoy getting, you know, a look under the hood. And so as much as their curiosity will help, I'll go down that rabbit hole with them. That's part of my process in presenting a design, even as I'll show it in layers. Only turn on certain layers and get them to buy into. Well, the first thing we're gonna figure out is where the trees go. Because we got a block that house. So this is the blank drawing. And I turn on the trees and in the computer and then we had to figure out where your barbecue goes.
Kirk Bianchi:
Because. The kitchen, the outdoor kitchen. It's kind of like a garage. You need them, they're functional, but they take up a lot of space and you don't really want to look at them per say, but they need to be close and convenient, but not in the way. So we're gonna figure out where that goes first. And then I turn that layer on. And then as I turn each layer on, they're buying into each each layer as I'm presenting it until now. Now we know where the pool goes. I've put in the furniture and the fire pits. Now your pool goes right here and it's sliding up within it. It's it prevents them from unraveling the canvas or on pulling a thread on the sweater. If I just laid down the drawing on a yard, you know, if you have a. I know it happens a lot where you put the drawing out. They don't understand it. So what if we just move this around or put this over here or flipped it upside down and turn it inside out would that be OK?
Kirk Bianchi:
It's just going, oh, my God. You know what? By presenting it in that sequence, they're buying into the each location and the functionality of it. They're consenting in small increments to when it's done and like, oh my gosh, I can't even touch anything. It's just everything's where it belongs. So it's actually become how I presented the drawing keep people from mucking with it.
Kirk Bianchi:
And then this the changes are very subtle and minor because it's like, OK, I know this has to be within this framework, but, you know, maybe I need a little more counter space or something. You know, that's that's easy. It's not a flip in the art around.
Tyler Rasmussen:
I think that's an amazing way to present it. You know, you spent a lot of time thinking about that and designing that element of it and helping them understand and educating them. You know, I could see how they truly understand it.
Greg Villafana:
We need to do it that way because sometimes less is more me, not like a real hardcore minimalist. But, you know, when you try to just stack things on top of each other, when it looks really tacky, when you do it that way, but when you show somebody the you know. This is the way that it's going to look and by doing less, we're actually doing more. It's going to look better in the end.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, that's. That is a important thing to talk about. You know it. And I actually had a client after I presented at the time a brought some imagery up from Houzz. And look, there's this cool sunken fire pit in the middle of the swimming pool. Isn't that neat? Yeah.
Kirk Bianchi:
Buy another house and we'll do it on that one. They laugh. They said you guys need to shut off houzz or whatever you're looking at because there's so many divergent ideas that just don't want to coexist in one space. So. You have to know what makes sense on your property and not artificially like a sunken bar and like a sunken swim, a bar on a flat yard as such. Why would you want to go down into a pit? If you have a hillside and it's fading and sloping away and you happen to just go down the terrain. OK. Now the pool's exposed on that one side and maybe it works out. That's where the kitchen area should be. OK, then you can have some abar. But it was following the topography. You didn't say I want a swim up bar on my flat yard and you're gonna make it happen.
Kirk Bianchi:
Well, that's called a pit, sir. All right. It take you a pit for your barbecue and cabana and enjoy you. You know, I want you to enjoy being down in that concrete hole. No, not really. It's not very pleasant down in a concrete hole. So it just designing it, you know, going with the flow of the land, going with the topography, you know, line of sight. All of these things are just really hope, dial it in. And the whole notion of less is more. It's you know, people wanted a dramatic, impactful yard that moves them and. You know, I explained that it's like an iPhone or something that's so elegantly simple and profound.
Kirk Bianchi:
But it's not cluttered and busy and.
Kirk Bianchi:
You don't have 20 things clamoring for your attention. You know, if we're gonna plant a really amazing ten thousand dollar Ironwood Tree at the end of the yard, that's like a piece of art and we put the pool as a mirror in front of it. To showcase that and make it more powerful and light it up so that it's just amazing and the sunset behind it. That one element is strong enough to stand on its own. You don't need. You know, 20 other things like laminar jets and bubblers over here and I live here, a linear fire feature running down the length of the pool and and and what else can we do? How about how about a raincoat? And I got a rope swing off your roof. Stop it.
Greg Villafana:
But I think, you know, every there's so many different types of people and designers and there's different cities and states and countries that, you know, there's going to be different types of designers and they're going to have their different niche where you're more contemporary or you're a minimalist or you're just doing, you know, backyard resorts with crazy slides in every direction coming off of the house. So, you know, there's all you know, we've talked before about, you know, there's different classes of people and everybody likes a different type of pool. So there's a little something for everybody. But that doesn't mean that, you know, whatever, you know, nature in in designing pools that you shouldn't take yourself seriously and make sure that you're doing it the best that you can, because we like how you talked about to the backyard should be telling a story. And you were just kind of elaborating on that quite a bit about the backyard telling a story. Where did you come up with that idea that you should walk into a backyard and you should feel something and it should tell a story?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, it's film and photography and. The orchestration and choreography that goes into that. Actually, one of my projects in architecture was we had to I think Danai sees an Apollo.
Kirk Bianchi:
We had two opposing character. Gods, if you will, that embody a different personality traits or whatever, and we had to design a space for each. That embodied their their character.
Kirk Bianchi:
Architecturally, and then the key was we had to transition between those two spaces.
Kirk Bianchi:
And that was the fade from one to the other. So here you have one extreme of this identity, other identity at the other end of the property and then the space in between was how you transition from one to the other. It was a really fascinating.
Kirk Bianchi:
Study and project.
Kirk Bianchi:
I got a lot out of that, the you know, how do you embody someone's character and their whimsical spirit and translate that into architectural, you know, as a color, or is it shape? Is it. Is it a very rigid and rectangular, you know, suit and tie kind of shape or is it more fluid and flowy?
Kirk Bianchi:
I've been working on a project right now where the house is kind of a prairie style house. And the husband really likes the frankly right style. But the wife is very whimsical and fluid and not rectangular at all. And how do you satisfy that personality in the midst of this Prairie Style House? I mean, it's overlapping rectangles everywhere and she's all curvy and flowy. And so I really focused on.
Kirk Bianchi:
Art.
Kirk Bianchi:
We're going to carve out significant areas for focal points of art and that are maybe at the end of a rectangular line of sight. And at those locations, we're going to have, you know, an art piece that exemplifies exactly what you're talking about. You know, it's a very fluid and free form sculpture on a pedestal surrounded by, you know, some landscape in its focus. And it's a prime focus of this view corridor that you see from your living room. But it's in the context of a more linear rectangular architectural space. So there's a way to meet people where they're at in a way that doesn't disrupt.
Greg Villafana:
You know, like if you buy a if you buy a Victorian house, but you're a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, are you going to reskin your Victorian house in Frank Lloyd Wright language? I mean, how. What's the word abominable that would just be wrong, right? So it's not true to the bones in the character of the house, even though personally you may love that. OK, well, how can I express that in the context of. All right. I live in this particular style of home. I need to respect and honor that. How can I be whimsical and free form or whatever? And have that be satisfied? But in the context. OK. Am also honored the architectural style of the house and didn't ignore it and just, you know, put lipstick on a pig and cover all over it. And make it something that it wasn't. That's that's that's part of the struggle of what I do. It's very much like a fashion consultants. Get me. Can you guys explain why do you hire a fashion? Why would you ever hire someone to be a wardrobe consultant consultant? You know what? What's the motivation for doing that?
Greg Villafana:
So you don't look like a fool?
Greg Villafana:
Yeah, because a fashion consultant is keeping up with the trends, are keeping up with the times, and you get to focus on what you're doing and they come in and make sure that you look the part.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. And the realization that has to happen right before you realize that you need a fashion consultant is. Whoops, I don't really know. I'm getting into new territory here. Maybe here you're attending a formal occasion with, you know, certain whatever or a business meeting, you know, whatever. But maybe your sense of design and style is limited or it only takes you so far and you want to have that refinement in that. Maybe that new space that you're in. And so there's a bit of. Self realization that while I'm in new territory and I need to trust the guidance of another. But it's really imperative that the person who's guiding you and I'm speaking to pool contractors that I use, you know, that you have to know.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, you have to be able to guide someone through that design experience with them, you know, hey, this is a certain style of house, you're asking for something that's kind of competing with that instead of just saying, oh, sure, we can do that, let's do it. You need to be the guy who says, well, maybe there's a better way. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. I wonder how we could satisfy that inclination you have and yet still merge it into the overall scheme of things here and be able to have that conversation diplomatically and respectfully and kindly.
Kirk Bianchi:
And if if necessary, you know, as a fashion consultant who would say that color just doesn't look good on you.
Kirk Bianchi:
And that's why you hired me, you know, and they need to you need to have that going in that that's your purpose and your role so that when you have the when you finally have to play that card, they they trust you and say, ha, you've got my best interests at heart. And so it's it's that it's a tightrope between different people's design takes their upbringing. What's in good taste for the house, what the art needs. It's a lot of different factors that come into play.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah, I've seen The Devil Wears Prada.
Kirk Bianchi:
Hey, your qualified.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, yeah, it's it's a real similar. Process. And it's a very similar role to reconcile different people's tastes and upbringing and extract their personality and put it into the design. But in a way that's in keeping with the style of the home and the context of the yard and so forth. To come out with it, real tasteful. And product. That's that's beautiful. It's not just because you're tasteful wasn't being a snob. No, it's. There are principles in art that make art really special and shine. And it's involves stripping things away, taking away extraneous things that don't belong, that are competing and fighting for each other. You know, what is the subject of this photograph? It should be clear. Same thing in the backyard. You know, when this video caught or looking down across the yard, what should I be looking at? And if you choose to put it in a real beautiful tree at the end and it's chosen for its shape and character, then what are the lines? They should all converge. And then you don't clutter over it with, you know, 20 other things that are vying for attention and stealing the show. You actually want to reinforce that decision you made just a moment ago to make it more cohesive and stronger and have more impact. So it's it's the same lessons you would learn in art composition and photography composition.
Kirk Bianchi:
That can directly apply to a backyard.
Greg Villafana:
Yeah. And you've talked about building up that anticipation. You can enter the backyard or see it from anywhere. And it's cool to kind of, you know, see something in the distance or just barely, you know, faintly hear a water feature or a waterfall or whatever it may be, and things change. There could be a breeze in the backyard, a wind in the backyard in it. It's going to sound a little bit different. But, you know, building up that anticipation, just like, you know, you've said in telling a story. You know, that's what your backyard is doing. And when you're building up that, you know, anticipation. That's that's a really cool thing, because I think us anyway, I think that, you know, myself and Ty, we kind of do the same things every day where you're with your kids, your you know, you have dinner, you're in your backyard, you come to work, whatever. But I think kind of a creative person does their normal routine every single day. But they see the little things in their routine and they see how how they can be changed and manipulated and different and how oh, this looks a little bit different because of the environment around me is changing a little bit because a lot of that a lot of most people are in a routine. And if you can build something, that there is a little bit of anticipation in it. I think that just makes life more fun.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, it really does, and you've we've talked you've mentioned the anticipation part a little bit. And it's it's something that we could do well on a little bit as that. It's a little bit of a tease. You don't you don't have to see the water feature the moment you walk in the front door. There's times I've done that because the yard kind of laid out that way.
Kirk Bianchi:
But what if you gave him something else that was something the focal point that was interesting just enough to.
Kirk Bianchi:
Ok. You see something beautiful from the front door, but you see a little more, but it's off the page and so it forces you to explore. I need to I need to go towards this focal point and it's you go through an open door and then you open up into a new space to where you can see more and it unfolds. And now you can see more and around the corner. OK. The pool's kind of wrapping around the corner and now it's taking my eye to the diagonal opposite corner. And that's, you know, maybe where the water feature is, is at the end of the journey. It's not bad. All at once. When you open the front door, that's kind of a cliche move sometimes, as you know, seeing the water feature from the front door when you first go in.
Greg Villafana:
But that's such a cool way to look at it. And I don't think we've thought about that before, because if you walked in a front door and, you know, maybe there's a window straight ahead and it was just blue sky like it was like the end of the earth, you'd walk right off it. You couldn't help but be so curious as to what is left or right at that. What what is dropping down? What is like there's nothing over there but the sky. You can't help but feel something. You know, that's a that's a really cool way. Yeah.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah, that is the journey is sometimes more fun than the. You know, the destination is really awesome, but so is it getting there, so it's nice to tease it out along the way and not just, you know, put it all in one shot. So that way it's you know, it's a sustained experience. It's something that unfolds over time. It's a lot more fun that way. The journey, the discovery, and then the change in perspective. When you get out into a yard and look back, everything's a whole nother vantage point where you can the compositions. Now has the hold up from another angle and you're looking at elements in the inverter. So, you know, I'm on the other side of the air looking back. What does that look like? You know, it has to work together. So I really it's. It's three dimensional sculpture is really what it is. And it has to look good from all angles.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, it's a real true work of art. And yeah, you talked about people in their routines. I think a well-designed pool like that helps break up that routine for people a little bit. And you know, when you build a project and you educate a customer or client on what you're giving them and what you're providing them, sort of this Zen experience, when you go with your daily routine, you come home and you get to see this whole Zen project and it puts you in a different change of mind. Mindset changes a little bit and you then enjoy this piece. It's not just a pool people swimming and you may have kids that do that every day and enjoy it. But it can also be something else that you really get to look at and experience and feel. You know that sometimes people don't understand that it has the opportunity to be that.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. There's a music metaphor that I use a lot that, you know, if a kid's banging on a piano or learning violin, that could be pretty excruciating. We have somehow the ability to sense music viscerally and immediately that if it's a song we hate, we change the station. And it just because it grinds on your nerves and it agitates us, you know, off key or off tempo or discordant music is immediate. And somehow our visual world is one layer removed. We don't. Perceive it as intensely, in fact, we can often tolerate it. Disarray, a messy desk, for instance. Can. Almost be tolerated. Because I don't for some reason it's just one layer removed. But once you bring that into order and you you quiet it down and you give it, you streamline it and you make it beautiful. It's like well-composed music. It has the flourish. And then then the pause.
Kirk Bianchi:
The anticipation and then it builds up. But then it's dead. And then it's pause. There's that metering out of intricacies and over time and it's and it's pleasant and it's, you know, people pay, you know, big money for that. And that's why the classics are so. Arment our masterpieces as why is why is that? And there's an underlying math in proportion to music that, you know, we get that immediately. But it's the same in architecture, it's the same in art. And it it does affect artists exactly the same. A chaotic space affects our nerves and our mind. Just the same as the kid banging on a piano without good music. But it's more subconscious, and so people don't necessarily. It doesn't have the same urgency. You know, like, hey, change the station is a lot more urgent than fix my back yard. But the but the end result is, you know, I've had people that if I did this to my yard 10 years ago, I dropped 150 grand and I'd just finally just can't stand it anymore. And then I fix it. Oh, my God. Can't believe we live that with that for 10 years. And now it's just an amazing thing. Now they have their friends and family over and, you know, they have weddings in their backyard. I mean, it's just it's this place to go because it's just the place to be. And now it's it's a magical place to inhabit for them that, you know, how did they tolerate it for ten years? So I kind of bring up the music metaphor a lot to people that whenever they're around the fences, you know, I don't see this will impact you the same way. It's visual. It's like music frozen in time.
Greg Villafana:
What song do you want people to be going through their head when they see you?
Kirk Bianchi:
When I hear you want me to design to AC DC or to Mozart? What do you want me to play when I'm drawing your backyard, you know?
Greg Villafana:
But really, though, you know, how do you how do you truly want people to feel? Say they haven't seen this whole process and they just end up in the backyard that you've designed the backyard and the swimming pool. How do you want them to feel?
Kirk Bianchi:
I am big on the world is so chaotic and crazy and. Coming at you a thousand miles an hour. And then it's gone. You know, then you're you're you're kids are leaving the house. So it's moving off to college. You know, with the E, were you just born? So I really like to. Freeze time. I like to slow down time, I like to. Simplify the space. And I like to do that by really, really, really super magnifying and enhancing something very simple that maybe you take advantage of and walk right by a thousand a thousand times.
Kirk Bianchi:
But you accentuated and make it more interesting and make it the focus and then feel like, oh, look at that. I have looked at that a hundred times, but in this situation you've you've forced me to look at it more closely and carefully. Thank you. And wow, it's beautiful. You know, so it really stops people in their tracks and that that. Stopping them helps them just to slow down. It's as it's a speed bump. You know, it just slow down a little bit. Check this out. And anyways, they're walking through the house and they see it out of the corner of their eye. They go, wow, that's pretty, that's really cool. And it just it kind of injects that into their psyche, you know, in small doses throughout the day so that, you know, they're just not as stressed or crazy. So I'm a big believer in. And slow down and smell the roses.
Greg Villafana:
Definitely. Your logo should be like like like a pill, like take the pill, didn't you pull in backyard design?
Greg Villafana:
You chill out, slow down a little bit.
Kirk Bianchi:
That is my logo is that is a Bonzai Japanese maple that's mirrored in a vanishing edge. I came up with that logo out of necessity because I was always talking about this really elegant sculpture, really significant tree at the end of the yard. And we're going to put a mirror of the pool in front of it and we're gonna light it and it's gonna be the singular awesome. Mr. Miyagi crafted beautifully chosen specimen at the end of the yard. We're going to accentuate it with the pool in the mirror, and I would have to sketch it out. Okay. We'll here now that that became my logo.
Kirk Bianchi:
I try to do that from different vantage points throughout the yard. And it's that reflection of a you look at a tree. You pass by it a hundred times. OK, now you take the tree and you kind of isolated in the corner and you give it preeminence because of where you positioned it. It's gone access from my certain view corridor. It's right there. I can't not look at it. And then you throw a mirror in front of it on the ground plain. Well, how often do you look at trees upside down? So just the act of converting it into a mirror image. It doubles it up, it doubles its value. You and you're seeing it from an entirely flipped upside down perspective, and so that's why reflections are so cool as they. You know the stuff you normally just walk right past. Inverted. It just it gives you see a double image. It just it really helps you to stop and really take a look at something that you've been looking at every day, all day, driving down the road, maybe. But it just it causes you to stop and appreciate what's around us all the time. We take for granted.
Greg Villafana:
Exactly.
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Greg Villafana:
So now we're going to move on to something not quite as creative. And that's, you know, charging for designs. What do you think qualifies somebody to be able to charge for a design?
Kirk Bianchi:
Definitely make sure you if you yourself. Well, first, identify what is your skill? What are you bringing to the table and compare it to the whole, you know, like in this outdoor design world?
Kirk Bianchi:
I've identified the fact that, you know, lighting I work with Jan Grewal, a lighting designer, because I realize that's a whole rabbit hole of interest. And it's more than I know. I know that. I don't know. And. Why would I want someone to buy Costco furniture in front of my really amazing backyard? Why would I leave that on that hanging? So I've teamed up with some interior designers that I work with that are into doing outdoor furniture and fabric selections. That's part of my team. So.
Kirk Bianchi:
And I'm learning later in the game, my Morgan Holt, my landscape contractor and plant designer of 12 years, is retired. Morgan It's been four or five years now and I'm. I had the choice.
Kirk Bianchi:
I can learn his craft, which I am working on. Adding that to my palette. But there's there's people that I call on that are horticultural specialists that they know plants all day long inside and out, you know, does it grow in the sun and the shade on the north side of a house in a courtyard, you know, and what soil condition? You know, there's all of these different people that have different areas of expertise. So who are you and what are you? And what do you bring to the table? And if it's not the whole package, then you need to build a team around you so that you can all go in together. And collectively charge. For that service, you know, and so as I came up through the ranks, as it came through architecture and then I was a pool salesman at a pool contracting company. Then I went on my own and to design of pools and I realized that I wasn't everything. I had to put a landscape design people around me. We would go and present together so that we were presenting a cohesive. Package and not just handing it off. Here's your pool. Good luck. You know, so I'm building up to first. You know, what are your qualifications? What piece do you bring to the table? That's valuable. You know, if as a pool contractor, if you're into hydraulics and waterproofing and structural things that go into building a pool and that's what you live and breathe.
Kirk Bianchi:
Then don't be a designer. Instead, pair up with someone who is an awesome designer and that's what they live and breathe and say, I have got the person for you. You go meet with this person. They're gonna do the design. And then when you're done, you bring it back to me and I'm going to build it. So it's amazing. You know, that's that's a lot of contractors might step into the art because I want to do it all and but you're not everything. Recognize where you fit in this in the team and then play your role and surround yourself with the people. That can do those pieces. And now you're a hero because you're delivering the entire environment to the client from start to finish right down to the furnishings and the fabric selections to make this magazine worthy photograph, even if it's a simple yard, it doesn't have to be a half million dollar project that I just described. You know, there's all kinds of levels of service you can give to the layperson and different people of economic standing. So you don't know who you are or know what your strengths are. And we all have the ability to add to that. You know, I'm learning plants and lighting at this stage in the game. You know, I'm still learning that I haven't mastered it yet.
Kirk Bianchi:
You know, what I have mastered is how the whole spaces organized. What's the overall scheme? That's what I. So inherently is that I my craft has the proportions and the lines of the shapes of the space. So build your team and know what your part is. And as far as you know, charging for design. Absolutely. If it's free, it's worthless. You know, once you build this team and you can you can show the expertise of the team and your role within the team. You can put a package together for design. And I explain to people, you know, a percentage of your projects should be further thought that's going into it. You know, don't spend one hundred percent on bricks and mortar because. I know we can just throw it together and hope it sticks against the wall. That's a pretty expensive proposition. There's nothing more valuable than the expertise in how it's going to come together. Which is the why. You've got to figure out why you're going to do what you're gonna do in the backyard and then execute it well. But so many people are in a rush to build. And I want I've got a wedding in six months and I want it in my backyard. And just I don't have a plan, but just start. Oh, my God, that's a disaster. Don't do that. And. Tell them to go rent a hall.
Kirk Bianchi:
But take it, take the time with your your craft and be proud of it and explain all the pieces and you can absolutely charge for your design. And you should, you know, raise the bar, raise the industry. Get really good at the piece that you enjoy and surround yourself with people that fulfill the other aspects that you don't enjoy and go in together as a team. That's what I would advise. And then as you know what to charge. There's different ways, you know, is it hourly, is it a lump sum? Is it a percentage of the project? There's different ways of arriving at a design fee. That makes sense. That is a subject for another day. But the principle of giving away designs for free is is horrible in this business. It just so devalues what we do. If, you know, when when you're at a firm and you have design and staff and they're out just working the numbers, doing 10 designs for free and hopefully a certain percentage of it sells. That's just. It's just wrong. Raise the bar and give permission to your staff to, you know, maybe start charging for design and then it gets rid of the people that aren't serious, but then give them something that's worth charging for. You need to have the expertise to put a good design together. So those two go hand-in-hand.
Tyler Rasmussen:
All right. Good advice. I think there. I mean, we talked about it a lot before on different podcast. But figuring out who your client is and when you're thinking about charging for designs, you're charging probably different pricing for different clientele. How much time you're going to put into that project? Like you said, the thinking part of the designing part. How much time it's actually gonna take doesn't take the same amount of time to build a square pool with a diving board as it does some of the more luxurious projects.
Kirk Bianchi:
So yeah, but but to that point, even though the pool might just be a rectangle.
Kirk Bianchi:
Have you have you cracked open your iPhone lately?
Tyler Rasmussen:
No, I haven't.
Kirk Bianchi:
But I can imagine it looks so elegantly simple on the surface. And it's that's those are the ones that are the hardest. I mean, some of the most elegantly simple designs that you could present in like two minutes took weeks to design because of all the thousand iterations you had a throw away to get to that. So simple and so obvious what it's like self-evident. Oh, my gosh, that's so simple. It can't be anything but that. Well, that took a lot of work. And you threw away 90 percent of what you did to even get to that, because it maybe it's always been or the client said, I want a rectangle.
Kirk Bianchi:
I like rectangles. OK. Well, where is it? In the yard and why? Why is it situated where it is? What else is in the yard? That's influencing the layout. That tells us where the rectangle goes. Is it squares perpendicular to the house? Is it on a diagonal? Is it left of center? Right of center. One third out at two thirds out. Whereas it's just a rectangle. How hard can it be?
Tyler Rasmussen:
Now I do know that for sure. I just my point, I guess was, you know, understanding who the client is in and and valuing your time and how much time you're going to put into each project.
Kirk Bianchi:
Yes, yes. Yes, yes. They're different. You know, a lot of it's square footage. And the list of amenities, maybe the complexities of what's there on the site. Oh, oh. Come into play. Yeah. Those are very good points that have to be taken on a case by case basis. And that's the stuff that I'm still learning. Every job is new. Right.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah. Well, you said something to us to Greg yesterday that he mentioned to me that the furniture in the in the plants are kind of the icing on the cake or the crowning element of the project. I thought that was really an intriguing way to look at it. Can you talk about why you think that is?
Kirk Bianchi:
Yeah. And this goes back to my statement about the fact that I took that test and I was said I was going to be a landscape designer when I grew up and I repelled. I was repelled by that and the misunderstanding that I had and as a pool designer exclusively in my early days. And now I'm more of a landscape designer who does pools. You see the flip. The pools that I design are what they are. Because I've given thought to everything that goes around that first. And do those really well, like in these backgrounds, too, you know, like a stage play or something like that.
Kirk Bianchi:
And.
Kirk Bianchi:
It's a set, a movie set. All right, Will. You're creating a context for what the actors who are the actors, it's the people that live there. All right.
Kirk Bianchi:
So says you're as you were creating this space. The things that have more preeminence as where the actors are and where the lighting is going to be. That's where the spotlights go. It's where the people are inhabiting. And so what did people enjoy? Others there in the furnishings? That's what they're interacting with is where they're sitting and hanging out. So the furniture, the fabrics and and the plantings. Are often typically what they're looking at in a landscape. So those two things are it's all revolving around the people that are in the space, not the space itself. So what they're interfacing with. So what's likely to be the most colorful is the fabrics. What's most likely to be visually inviting? Hey, come sit it over here. You know, it's that that seating arrangement around the fire, you know, the fireplace is cool, but the furniture sucks. I mean, that's no fun. So they should be. Design together, in fact, you know, a lot of the paint schemes on walls might come out of the fabrics. They should tie together, pick your fabrics first. They're harder to come by. And then you pull your paint color schemes out of the fabrics that were selected.
Kirk Bianchi:
Which is the last things to show up on the job, the furniture and the fabrics. But you need them earlier in the game to help you pick your color schemes because they all want to tie together. But it's the common element is the people that's the part people interact with. That's part that they touch and feel every day. It's the most tactile part of the project. And it's what buttons everything up. That's why I have know interior designers that I call on now and that helped me furnish a project and carve out a budget for decent furniture because it's you go to all this trouble to create a really cool yard and landscape. But then you leave it to the client to just. Fumble along. It's kind of made it to the ten, ten yard before the touchdown. Then he didn't get it over the line. You know, you haven't scored yet. So that's something that I've I've added to my plate lately, is to make sure that that happens consistently and every project.
Greg Villafana:
That's crazy how much it really is like a movie set. You know, Stanley Kubrick, one of my favorite directors, and when he did Eyes Wide Shut Tom Cruise years ago, he actually recreated New York in London because he was at this age where he didn't want to leave home anymore. He had a family in it, didn't want to leave, but people could not tell the difference. And it took them a long time to do this. But he sent a team to New York to take photos of the sidewalks, to measure the sidewalks. He re-created every little detail to match New York City. It's the things like that, that crazy attention to detail where other people, like did script. No. No one's going to notice that that chair looks a certain way or, you know, that bench looks a certain way or that building is, you know, it's squared off right here. It's supposed to be rounded. Nobody's gonna notice. But it's like, yeah, those all those little things that they stack up and they stack up to become pretty noticeable. But, you know, in all those different things, that's how crazy it really is.
Kirk Bianchi:
Like a minute says it's subconscious. You know, the music is visceral and instantaneous. Visual things are not somehow probably because of our filter and our brain, our heads would explode if we noticed everything all the time.
Kirk Bianchi:
But it's there.
Kirk Bianchi:
And it matters, but it's just below your perception. It's just below your ability to put your finger on it.
Kirk Bianchi:
But that authenticity and that what they call it in literature, that suspension of belief or disbelief that you've totally bought into this because it's so real that your mind says, all right. Yeah, I don't have to critique this anymore. It's real. It's Normal. And so if these things that are often. Swept under the rug is not important. You know the details, if you know the grout joints are all full tiles and you measured that so that you didn't have a sliver left over on the end and you thought of that ahead of time and you know, you dimensioned it to work out that way. It affects the overall character of the space. People can't put their finger on it. It's not just to satisfy the anal nature of the design guy who drew it. Yes, it does. It's oh, no one's going to notice that. You're just crazy. No, it matters. It matters because all of these things add up to creating an environment that feels this is really thought out. I don't know why, but this places is really amazing. It's there's something about it that's it's just put together, you know, it's those kinds of things that that when they add up. They impact people, but they just they can't put their finger on it. That's that's kind of fun.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing your story, everything with us. I mean, it's been a real joy and honor just sitting here listening to you talk. It's a whole different way of looking at it. And, you know, we've we really respect everything you do. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. And if anybody wants to check out some of your work or follow you, what's your Web site and other links you can go to?
Kirk Bianchi:
Web site is. Bianchedesign.com B as in boy i a n c h i.
Kirk Bianchi:
Design no S on the end.
Kirk Bianchi:
The Instagram is @waterescapesbyBianchedesign. Facebook is the same as Bianche design.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Cool. Thank you. I encourage everybody to check it out, there's some really awesome projects on there. One, the last kind of questions we always ask is do you have a book or podcast that's made an impact on you and your life and why?
Kirk Bianchi:
Two things. One is a book Class by Paul Fussell f u s s e l l and it's a rude awakening.
Kirk Bianchi:
It s he he kind of goes through the American culture and identifies the different classes of people that we all don't want to believe are there. And what are the characteristics of the individual classes? What are their. Beliefs about what are their values, what are the things that they think are beautiful. And he kind of identifies the stereotypes of the different classes. So one you can find where are you? What side of the tracks that you come up in on, what are your biases? But it also helps you understand. Who am I talking to? Who is my client, you know? So. Where are they coming from? And so it really helps you to make the right design recommendations. That's in keeping with. Their core values. And it's it's really a neat, neat book and it's a little bit rude because it's going to wake you up like, oh my gosh, I do that. I talk that way or I say those phrases that are, you know, from that certain upbringing. And it's it's pretty neat how how that pig certain things that are right under our nose, but we didn't see how they were organized. So I really recommend that book.
Tyler Rasmussen:
And then you had a podcast it as well.
Kirk Bianchi:
Well, there's a interior designer that I took some classes from last year. Terry Taylor out of Tucson. She has. Interior Design Business Academy IDBI A. And all that sincere design. Know it's the same business model. So. I took quite a sign off for a year of coaching through Terry and attended a lot of her workshops, and that was really enlightening because it really talk about charging for design. You're a creative person in business. What does that look like? There's a lot of people that might detract from that or say that's not possible. So you really have to fight for your space and claim your hey, this is my craft. This is how I do it. Here's my contracts. Here's how large. Yes, your kitchen's two hundred grand. Hey, can you pass the salt? It just has to roll off your tongue. You have to be. Able to. You know, own that, and she's really, I think of anybody that I've ever studied, she's really talked about that piece of things, how to be a creative person in business and how to, you know, to charge for what you do, how to have contracts, how to defend for what you do. I really learned a lot from her. And in others, of course, I learned quite a bit from Genesis and that that team of people in their classes looked forward to doing that again and in more depth. Terry Terrys aspect gave me the pieces of the design business. That's what I was was missing in college. They taught you the theory, but they didn't teach you the business side of design, how to how to go about it in the real world. And that's what stories I really loved her and which she gave to me last year.
Greg Villafana:
Very cool. Well, thank you so much, Kurt. We really appreciate you being on the podcast with us. This was very eye-opening to us and we know it will be extremely eye-opening to all the listeners as well, because you're not just in a backyard or not just by a swimming pool. It's much more than that. And that's the way that we all need to look at it, because if we look at this differently, then we're going to have much more respect for it and we're gonna be more confident when we're in those backyard. So just want to say thank you once again for being with us.
Kirk Bianchi:
Thank you for having me. I got it. Make a difference. Hopefully I help somebody along the way. Thank you. Thank you.
Tyler Rasmussen:
Thanks for checking out this episode. If you want to find out more about our guest or the sponsors of the show, you can check them out on the links we have provided in the write up below. We also provide a link to our social media platform, so please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Our tag is Pool Chasers. The podcast brought you any value. Please do what you can to support us through our Patreon page by going to Patreon.com/poolchasers And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast to be updated. Each time a new episode is released. One last thing if you're not yet in our Facebook group, join it today to be surrounded by like minded individuals who are all trying to better the industry. Thank you all for the support. We appreciate your time and your ear. See you out they're pool chasers.
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Show Notes:
[02:23] - An artsy kid from the Detroit suburbs named Kirk Bianchi
[04:01] - Life changing moment visiting Japan with father on a business trip
[07:15] - Taking a break from corporate architecture and working at the Ritz Carlton
[08:34] - Hired by Sun Pools employee Ted Miller and working his way from the trenches to designing with Sun Pools owner Bob Hayne
[14:46] - Favorite time in architectural history
[23:57] - How Kirk Bianchi found his niche and then founded Bianchi Design
[26:00] - A test at ASU said I would be a Landscape architect
[28:14] - Getting the client to understand the creative vision of designing the whole backyard
[32:07] - Looking at the backyard through a camera lens
[37:46] - Helping the client understand how they will use and enjoy a new backyard and pool
[42:13] - Less is more and stop looking at Houzz for inspiration
[46:19] - Creating a backyard story just like in the movies
[54:23] - Building up the anticipation
[59:29] - People can’t stand bad music or what they hear but what we see visually can be tolerated
[01:02:50] - Making people feel frozen in time when experiencing backyard
[01:07:59] - Qualified for charging for designs
[01:17:41] - The furniture and the plants are the icing on the cake
