Brooke Soffer in All is good

The morning is still fresh when Brooke Soffer, holding the leads to three dogs in her right hand and a bunch of peonies under her left arm, steps through the doors of the legendary Miami Beach Fontainebleau Hotel. She walks at a calm but constant pace, with the gait of one who has already completed several tasks that day, one at a time: breakfast with the children, a walk on the beach and a phone call to her sister.

She stops by at the General Manager’s office to say hello, as always, and discovers that today is an extra special day: an English publisher is arriving for a brief stay. “He is dedicating an issue of his design magazine to Fontainebleau. He wants to find the right angle. The Europeans have rediscovered the charm of this place - they're going crazy for Art Deco and Neo-Baroque”.

“And to think that the architect of Fontainebleau spent his life as an outsider to the American architectural establishment. And now they are imitating his style: the curved lines, backlit ceilings and theatrical staircases. I wonder if Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid knew Morris Lapidus…” jokes the General Manager. “I don’t doubt it! Morris Lapidus was a genius to recognise the power of the spectacular, back when the phenomenon of “stage setting” was still a preoccupation of the few”.

“Whereas today everyone can see everyone. It is crazy that architecture like ours, so perfectly instagrammable, was designed before Instagram even existed!”

Brooke herself, the daughter of property developer and philanthropist Donald Soffer, remains a mystery to Google, making scant and rigorously private use of social media, adopting an external, studious gaze for professional purposes only.

She could never underestimate the value of new technologies for the retail sector, in which she herself works not only as an expert, but as a true enthusiast: she oversees the Fontainebleau boutiques, a number of stores in the Aventura mall owned by the family, as well as a furniture showroom with a selection of the finest porcelain, hand blown glass and rare objects.

Her philosophy is simple: to incessantly seek the new and the different, to be bold in making selections and to take pride in offering something exclusive, be it a jewel from the Devon Woodhill collection, an engraved bourbon whiskey bottle or a cosmeceutical beauty treatment at Fontainebleau's Lapis Spa.

“Great, so what do we have on the agenda for our guest today?” asks Brooke. “A guided tour of the building in the morning, and an afternoon relaxing on the seafront.” “And for lunch?” “He's vegetarian but he loves fish. He had read the Zagat review of Hakkasan describing it as a seductive experience and so he’s opted for the authentic Cantonese cuisine.” “Excellent choice.”

Brooke says goodbye and heads off towards her office. Her step is light and her pace steady. She takes in everything as she walks, but without focusing on the details.

Fontainebleau seems like a blue and white town that creates itself anew each morning; a town whose citizens, despite living on separate floors, all wake up in fresh linen, wash with brand new soaps just out of the wrapper, enjoy bread fresh from the oven at breakfast. A town not run by a mayor, but by a whole family and one cool-headed woman in particular, a confident team player for whom no “to-do list” is ever too much. “All is good” is the mantra she uses to spread the power of stability wherever she goes.