shine design

antonio giovanni rivera

I was born in a small town in south Jersey, named Delanco. I grew up with my mother and her four boys, in our grandparent’s home. It was always filled with life, drama, love and genuine human interactions. It helped shaped the man I am today. Throughout my school years I moved around a lot and had to change schools often. It gave me tremendous people skills and the ability to make friends with anyone, even though I am naturally shy at first. In high school I wanted to be a chef, and in my junior year a fortuitous trip to the library changed my life.

As we headed into a career fair, I told the classmate behind me “I don’t even need to be here, I’m going to be a chef”. At the entrance to the library there was a large book with every profession imaginable. “I’m gonna flip this book, and whatever it lands on is what I’ll be” I told her. She didn’t believe me, and in a way I didn’t believe what happened next. The book was already opened, so I grab a random amount of pages and flipped them over. It landed on Architect...

I never heard the word before, even though I had been on construction sites and worked on plenty of houses with my grandfather over the summers. Reading the qualities and skills, it struct me that I could do exactly this. “I’m going to be an Architect” I turned around and told her. Later I researched the top school for architecture in the US, at the time it was Virginia Tech. So I applied and started my long and rewarding journey into the world of architecture and design.. and never looked back.