In his house in Cerro Cathedral, we chatted with Minnie Firpo, one of the great engines of the Argentine decoration

> LA NACION> Living Magazine May 1, 202522: 005 minutes of reading '”I wanted to be a surgeon. When I told my father, he told me: 'And are you going to be in the guard room, with doctors? Ah, no. In no way, my dear'. (The 50s ran, I had just received from Bachelor and already lived in Buenos Aires, while my mother was still in the field with my four younger brothers). 'You have to continue electricity and physics,' was his unusual suggestion. So I took a correspondence course and per month I had already made a radio, “Minnie Firpo begins a story that is pure adventures.” Because of those things to be in the area, my husband learned that they made the lot of Villa Cerro Cathedral and proposed me to buy. 'Well,' I said. 'But let's do something simple, prefabricated.' Of that, 45 years ago. ” I was secretly with my friend María Estrada and we scored at Ramos Mejía Hospital to study instrumentation. At that time, we were all installed in the Esmeralda street building that my uncle Miguel Devoto had built for the extended family. And I left … my father asked me: 'Where are you going?' And me: 'Oh, dad! I scored in some courses. ' Only I told him. “To show, it is worth a button.” When I make a hotel, as I have to do so many in Santa Cruz [como Los Notros o Estancia Cristina]the first thing for me is to go out to see. Then, 'I enter' all that with the decoration, with colors. To black and white, I don't know him. I did the same at home, of course. ”Daniel Karp“With Maria we made a life tour together. We study, receive and work with bosses from room 7 of Ramos Mejía, such as Pavlovsky, Sánchez Zinny or Gaetani. Then, we did it in clinics and sanatoriums. We lived on the way back, our children became friends and our husbands, too (she married Dr. Carlos María Taquini, and I with Patricio Peralta Ramos). We were the only ones among our friends we worked; Above, in a brave profession: at 6 in the operating room; You had to know the memory operation before the surgeon (you lacked an instrument and everything sounded); The doctors could guard you, but you don't, etc., etc. 'Maria, I'm tired of implementing', I told him one day. And what I least imagined is that I was going to answer: 'Me too!'. Thus we start with the decoration.On the desktop, horn -based lamp. “I had a series that made and exported to the United States.” Daniel Karp “One day we went to see Dr. Quesada (who was about to launch the Tim Prepaid) to his office. There is nothing more ugly than an office. His was no exception, and we told him. 'Well, they have it'he rebuilt. The result It was a total successalthough we do not take propaganda for it. But when Tim bought the clinic of the sun, they called us, And there began the strong work of our studywhat we call reform. In the Arenales Sun Clinic, which was a maternity, each room had a different atmosphere, for example. “

“I love coming here, I like cold weather. But, above all, I have thousands of friends and very beautiful memories with Patricio, my husband. I love this house.”

In 1985, at the request of Mercedes Malbrán de Campos, the first house foa became in a French -style house on Quintana Street. The objective, since then, was We made a music room. In the rest of the spaces There were designers like Alfred Fellinger, Rafael Cash and Diego Achával, to give you an idea”, List.Deña of an enviable, independent and pragmatic energy, it is not uncommon for Minnie to try to summarize any anecdote of his life, so rich in links and experiences, with a“ I make it short. ” Azcue and Celina Arauz de Pirovano in Natasha Quiroga to think about a solution. This is how Dara was founded”, Recalls Minnie, without saying that, in addition to a founding partner, she was also president of associated Argentine interior designers.” My grandfather came from Italy with her mother and her little brother, and sent them to Rosario, where she married a Uruguayan of well -off position. He was a very skilled man for business, who dedicated himself to the cereal market: before the age of 30, he had five children and five fields (in five different provinces, for the agrarian reform), ”he explains. The dining room, illuminated by a classic lamp of deer antlers. I had designed the house My uncle Miguel Devoto (who also made the emeraldita, awarded), and Mom was a cream. Every day he put the table for twelve (we were 9 brothers), impeccable. But if you asked what was to eat, I replied: 'food'. We weren't gourmet, much less. Everything came from the fifth, the tambo and the chatite that brought the bread. ”At the entrance, what was necessary for the constant walks. Daniel KarpYour sisters were entrepreneurs like you? Yeah. Martita founded Gimo's, the famous clothing brand for boys. María Carmen It was also very good in interior design. Maleli and Mariana They worked in the D&D magazine for many years. Moreover, Maleli and María Carmen continue to decorate. I keep working today. And also I decorate the house to all my dulls! “. The room, good of cabin. We have a field in El Bolsón, with a rectangular house with place for 21 beds. Then I arrive, that we commissioned an Italian who did all the houses of national wood parks. 'I want a 3×7 house, national parks model, with three quarters and two bathrooms'. 'Ok, I have one like that, but it comes with the garage next to the side'. “We close on the spot. Thus the house emerged on the Cathedral Cerro”.“ Everything that is here is special to me. To those ponchos, for example, they were made by a woman from the countryside, where the current currency was bartering. For an old horse, a poncho. ” fast and successful decisions (The proof is that they last over time) are another feature of This great figure of the Argentine contemporary decoration. And always wrapped in a narration that subjugates. To this talk, we did not want to make it short. Chapel signed by Bustillo that is part of Villa Cerro Cathedral, where Minnie's house was a pioneer. Daniel Karp