Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer’s Sunset Islands waterfront home is a showcase of art and design, with expansive gardens for outdoor dinner parties that might include Martha Stewart, Christian Louboutin and Karolina Kurkova.
Robins, president and CEO of Miami-based Dacra, has owned the Miami Beach property for nearly two decades, but updated and expanded it to more than 9,000 square feet — with the help of architect Walter Chatham and interior designer Julie Hillman — before marrying Soffer, CEO and co-chair of Aventura-based Turnberry Associates in 2015. The couple have six children, combined.
According to Architectural Digest, Robins and Soffer’s furniture and curios span the work of Gio Ponti, Maria Pergay, Marc Newson, the Bouroullec brothers, the Campana Brothers, and Tom Dixon — almost all from Design Miami, which Robins launched in 2005. There is even a Ping-Pong table by Ron Arad. The couple’s art collection includes works from Francisco de Goya, Baldessari, Currin, Marlene Dumas, Louise Bourgeois, Vito Acconci and Joseph Beuys.
Jackie Soffer
“I’m not into the idea of living in an uptight showpiece,” Robins told Architectural Digest. “People get so crazy with finishes. White walls and decent lighting are all I need. The art and design should be allowed to do all the talking.”
The couple‘s only design squabble came in deciding how to outfit their 160-yard-wide outdoor space. Landscape designer Nathan Browning, who has also led the Miami Design District‘s landscaping, told Architectural Digest that Robins “was adamant about having the pavilion that David Adjaye built for Design Miami in 2011, and Jackie was adamant about building a basketball court for the kids and felt that the Adjaye would block the view.”
In the end, Robins said the couple loves their yard and they usually eat and entertain there from November through May. “Why have a house in Miami if you don’t live outside?” he told the magazine. [ArchitecturalDigest] — Ina Cordle