Meet Demetrios Christopoulos

We recently connected with Demetrios Christopoulos and have shared our conversation below.

Demetrios, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
When I reached my second year (1982) at the University of Florida campus in an immense competition with 35,000 other students seeking their future, I took notice of my love for recognizing a design need, and then sketching ideas for the solution, solving problems. The 80’s were just getting started, imagination was welcomed, never in my wildest dreams did I think that in 10 years the world would go retro in every way imaginable for the next 33 years !! So after expanding out as far as I could during the 80’s, the universe forced me to contract, to shrink, to compact……….it seemed very much like the death of me but rather it was in fact building me back from the ground up all over again. In my frustration I designed millwork, wall units for big screen TVs, I learned to weld, I made outrageous coffee tables in steel and aluminum, a few sculptures, and finally bemoaning the time that was passing without much palpable success I began creating my mini Ferrari using a superbike engine and whatever I could find and build. I nearly had to give up my one bedroom apartment to move into my warehouse !! I was lost………but I had learned to build ANYTHING !!………..then one late night at the warehouse I was holding up a bearing carrier for the rear axle of my 4 wheel motorcycle prototype I had milled out of solid billet aluminum and I SAW IT AS A MODEL OF A BUILDING !!!….in the next few days, my sign for welding did not seem to want to stay up, the shop seemed to fall apart and collapse into itself……….I packed my dearest belongings and found a spot in architectural grad school back at UF……3-1/2 years later I had my Masters and a family member had already attacked me for my eccentric avenues and so I had to endure alot of pain my last year, live with the injuries until I could later figure out how to heal them, and that by the way took 15 years, my kneecap still comes out of its groove on some Argentine Tango moves. But here I am, full of capability to design the most imaginable homes and show people how to build it…………whew.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
At this point, some focus has become necessary……..as an architect I have designed several restaurant interiors and cafes, remodeled parts of a factory, done quite a few tenant improvements………but for the years I have left, I have decided that residential design has the most artistic and creative potential and the fewest codes controlling it, so that is what we will focus on.

Expect the most cutting edge creativity imaginable when the client is open to it. We respect the innovations of Bucky Fuller, Frank Lloyd Wright and even Frank Gehry. I tell people architecture can and should be just as developed as your gaming computer and cell phone, we can certainly do better than building roofs with 2×4 soft pine wood that termites will begin eating in the first year, we can build homes in concrete and steel that can withstand the worst hurricanes, we can pour roofs as concrete slabs, we have to stop perpetuating the non-sense claiming that the extra cost is not worth it but your $80,000 SUV is.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Bluntly………….your best asset is always your brain……your intellect……educate yourself fully……..whether that is self study or through a school………….then keep absorbing knowledge for the rest of your life………continuing education………and by the way, if you do get the chance to go to college, be realistic, make sure you get a degree in something there are jobs for. I dated a Hungarian woman who did not use her degree in English, though she could have become an English teacher, she studied it simply because she liked literature………make sure you know where to apply it……..that may surprise you coming from what appears to be a dreamer like me, I have always sought to apply myself, just ran into retro times, decades of it, and I was too forward thinking……………always……..Second is physicality, seek to be athletically fit………..Third is spiritual development; understand at your core that what goes around comes around…kindness whenever and wherever the receiver is grateful……do not throw pearls to swine

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
This may be “out there” for many but here goes………….I started as a very light, sensitive young man, highly intelligent but oftentimes afraid of bullies or adversity……….in my 20’s that peaked into extreme allergies in the eyes and ears…………in my search for a solution I found it in Macrobiotics which is based on Ancient Oriental Medicine which explained to me that I was too “yin” or expansive, I needed to tighten up…………this not only cured my allergies but made me stronger, allowed me to begin manifesting my dreams and desires. It was all done just by the foods I selected to eat………YOU BECOME WHAT YOU EAT………..YOU BECOME WHAT YOU HEAR, WHAT YOU READ………..

Western medicine has always done so little for me and my friends………….Eastern/Oriental/Ancient principles of yin and yang make you a magician in your own life. When I cannot eat my way into who and what I want to become, I pick up the slack with weight training and bicycling……….

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