Twin baby gift idea

Beribboned with the bow carelessly draped, the gift wrapping is itself the gift: an exquisite bud vase formed of sterling silver "wrapping," delicately poised on a pendant bow of sterling silver "ribbon." The vase forms a part of designer Victor Carranza's collection of bow-themed objects that include a serving tray, twin candlesticks, bonbonniere, and twin picture frames, the whole of which can be purchased for just a little under $12,000 at Tiffany & Co. And for those of us who find this tempting offer a little too rich for our pocketbooks, well, we will just need to be content with a longing gaze at the accompanying photo.

Welcome, readers, to the world of beauty for the pure sake of Beauty: a world where She is the goddess and Her acolytes the designers of sacred refiquaries in Her service. Outrageous, the religious metaphor? Perhaps not. "I believe in beauty," affirms Carranza, when asked about his religious beliefs. An astonishingly handsome and charismatic man, who easily represents the deity, he serves, Carranza draws the connection between his sense of spirituality, "brilliant purity" and a kind of "light," with the crea6ve process where he needs to "radiate positive energy" and "be in the light" for the muse to caress him.

He could so easily be a caricature of himself: perfumed and pampered, name-dropping darling of the jet-setting crowd. In fact, the writer of this story, true daughter of the self righteously working class, was fully prepared to dislike him, but was drawn, instead, to his infectious joie de vivre. Victor Carranza, who floods his speech with unabashedly overblown superlatives, is a likeable guy.

And he is dedicated to filling our world with beauty.

Born in Mexico City on Christmas Day, 1951, Carranza is the fifth child of a well-known civil engineer and the grandson of a prominent doctor, who was also known for his paintings. When Victor was just three, he astounded his parents by asking them if they would let him make a Japanese garden. "In my dream--I had never been to Japan--the garden was beautiful. When I made the garden, it was incredible." After that he started creating nativity scenes every year. "There were lines [of sightseers] outside my grandmother's home," Carranza adds.

At the age of 12, Victor entered and won the Ford Foundation National Art Competition by carving a wooden eagle as big as he was. In college he studied interior design, architecture, and landscape architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, but his professors were too traditional for his soaring artistic abilities, so he switched to the School of Decorative Arts in Mexico City. Later he went to Europe to study painting and sculpture before coming to New York in 1969, where he enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology, never admitting his lack of knowledge of the English language: "I spent nights looking up words in the dictionary, so I could turn in my paper the next morning."

While still at the Fashion Institute, he interviewed at high-end retailer Bergdof Goodman, seeking a design position. Gazing at the overdressed job aspirant, whose portfolio trumpeted its owner as painter, sculptor, and architect, the director asked him if he were willing to get his hands dirty, When Carranza assented, he was given a position in windows--cleaning them. But in two years, he became window dressing director, and in two more his jewelry was being shown on the main floor, his gifts on the second, and his dresses on the third.

Carranza is amazingly versatile, known for his clothing fashions, handbags, footwear, china, crystal, silver jewelry, fabrics, towels, soaps, decorative art, furniture, interior design, and so on. He is fluent in almost every kind of artistic expression, including carving, painting, and even hand-blown glass.

"The main idea is to transform what you have in your mind into a three-dimensional form," he says, summing up the craftsmanship.

In 1978 he opened silver, jewelry, and pottery' studios in New York, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, and Yaxco. In the early 1980s, Carranza designed a collection of tableware for Mikasa, the international tableware company. Since 1986 Carranza has created seven lines as an invited designer at Tiffany & Co. Early in 1988, Carranza's company, Idylls, was established to design, produce, and distribute his jewelry and decorative objects worldwide; and in 1990 he added fine jewelry, silver, and wooden furniture to the Carranza collection.

Carolina Herrera chose his sterling silver chairs as a feature of her stunning boutique on Madison Avenue. And he is gaining recognition for his interior designs, spotlighted by those he has done for the Beacon stores in New York and Connecticut, and Shutters on the beach in Santa Monica, California.

Where does this prolific, Renaissance artisan get his inspiration?

Carranza describes the process curiously: "When somebody asks me to take part in a project, I immediately start dreaming." Does he mean imagining? Or does his inspiration truly come to him as in a dream? The interviewer is struck by the spiritual metaphor, a metaphor that is not casual. Strongly influencing Carranza's work and philosophy was the fifteen-year period of his life during which he traveled regularly to India.

"I have met spiritual leaders, and you could see that they were for real. Purity is something brilliant that you just can't explain. I've also met two Popes in my lifetime, and they have that same spirituality," says Carranza.

While Carranza describes himself as anti traditional religion, which is just about "controlling people," he is fascinated by religions in general. "I love religion. This is one of the beautiful things about New York. I used to go to a different church or synagogue or religious get-together every Sunday." Four years ago, Carranza created a medallion for all religions, "even atheism," and is now working on a "Judaic project."

What is the secret of his success?

"I believe I put my soul into my work. It's like creating a baby. Once I was in Paris "after showing a collection, and I saw a lady who was wearing one of my creations. I just ran towards her, and she started running away. She thought I was going to steal her earrings. But when you dream of a woman wearing your designs, and then see a woman actually wearing them, it's fantastic."

"I had the same experience with Francoise Gilot (renowned painter, romantic companion of Pablo Picasso, and mother of famed designer Paloma Picasso). I was at a cocktail party in New York. I had never met her. She was at the opposite end of the room, and my gaze was drawn toward her. She felt my vibrations. I moved over to her to introduce myself, and when I got close I saw that she was wearing a pair of my earrings that Paloma had bought for her at Tiffany's."

With Carranza, every day is a new idea, a new project. "I think I will be working until I die," he says. "And I know I will live a long life. I don't feel the aging process. Time is ageless."

"My goal is to capitalize on who I am. I don't want to earn millions. The idea is to combine a beautiful life, beautiful living, with future security, so I can help more people."

One of Carranza's newest projects is just about that--helping people. In 2001 he was approached to spearhead the effort to establish what will be the Latino Cultural Center in Washington, DC: "My dream is for Latinos to be recognized for what we have to offer. To erase the image that most people have. We want to have a beautiful place for exhibitions, for readings, a place where people can feel proud to be Latino. We want to express our beauty, our sophistication, and our culture."

Carranza, of course, is especially passionate about Mexico. Eight years ago he decided to invest his money where his heart was, and now travels around his native land, helping families set up their own handicraft workshops. "I start creating a family industry. I just get it off the ground, and they take it from there. And it's beautiful when you come back and they are still following up on your inspiration, making beautiful things and earning a good living."

Asked if he has some dream he has yet to convert into three dimensions, this remarkable man mentions his vision of building a church. "I've already designed it--I have this fantastic idea, a combination of Hispanic and modernist styles--so now I want to build it." He probably will, too.

Anita R. Savio works with non-profit organizations on strategic-planning issues.