Born in Kashmir and educated in Chandigarh, Californian architect Tony Ashai has certainly had his fair share of luck.
'Discovered' sketching in a New York park, today he designs homes for celebrities and high-flyers. The man with Al Pacino looks tells Shalaka Paradkar that he wasn't always Tony.
In fact, his name used to be Aziz ... so why Tony?
"There are two kinds of architects: there are designers and there are techno-architects, who know how to use a computer but do not know design!" declares Tony Ashai.
There's no doubt which category the talented Indian-born American architect and lead designer for Dubai Lifestyle City sees himself.
As president of Ashai Design, he specialises in creating high-end luxury environments that enhance the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Corporate honchos and celebrities such as American basketball player AC Green and David Beckham boast homes designed by Ashai. His houses have also featured in the popular American television series The OC.
Ashai believes his artistic streak could be genetic. Originally from Kashmir, a region renowned for its art and culture, his creative pursuits go way beyond his work. He loves designing jewellery for friends and painting large oil canvases.
Born Aziz Ashai, as a young man he was constantly told that he was a dead ringer for gangster Tony Montana (Al Pacino) from the movie Scarface. So much so, that people started calling him Tony - a name that he later adopted officially.
Yet when he was a boy, Ashai was hardly the mobster type.
In fact, he admits he was a plump, dreamy kid who was more interested in art than running around with the other children.
Ashai grew up in Srinagar and has fond memories of his father setting up an easel to paint while out fishing with his sons.
This early exposure to art ignited his interest in painting and sculpture. Unlike most Indian parents, who push their offspring into engineering or medicine or safe career choices, Ashai's father recognised his son's passion and supported it by arranging for him to attend classes at the local art school.
Consumed by the experience of creating art, Ashai spent his early teenage years in drawing and sculpture classes. His determination later led to the discovery of a career and a creative outlet in architecture.
At the age of 16, Ashai left Kashmir to study architecture at Chandigarh. The ultra-modern environment of a progressive architecture school was a sharp contrast to the city in which he grew up. After graduating, he travelled to Italy, France and the UK before winding up in the US.
While sketching at a monument in New York City, he met Robert Shibley, Dean of the School of Architecture at the State University of New York in Buffalo. The rest, as they say, is history. The US has been Ashai's home ever since.
After completing his postgraduate studies in Buffalo, he practised architecture on both the east and west coasts of the US - including working on the renovation of Manhattan's iconic Art Deco Chrysler Building - before starting his own firm, which specialises in architectural design and development. Since 1998, he has been responsible for the design of a large number of trophy estates and villas in Los Angeles.
Ashai Design today is one of the leading architectural firms in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and a fine testament to how passion for one's profession can transform your life.
I
I wasn't Tony when I was born and raised in India. The name Tony is an unusual name for someone from Srinagar. I gave that name to myself. When I went to America, I was 19 and Scarface had just been released.
Everybody told me I looked like Tony Montana in Scarface. In fact, people stopped calling me my given name, Aziz, and started calling me Tony. Ever since, the name has stuck. I formalised the name change.
I think there is so much flexibility in the American education system; they let you explore your own world. College in America is about designing your own education.
I always tell my children to bring passion to whatever they do. It's also what I tell people who work for my company.
I want to hire people who work for themselves and not for me. I just happen to be an instrument, a conduit between the job they do and the money they get. If you're passionate, whatever you do will always turn
out fine.
My most memorable client was Chuck Noski, the former vice-chairman of AT&T Corporation. He was on the board of directors at Microsoft, had Tiger Woods as a buddy and George Bush on his speed dial. He had a fabulous oceanside property that he wanted to develop.
When I first met him for the job, I had no idea who he was. He told me he worked in New York City and I made a sad joke about how the commute must be a real killer.
It was only later that I got to know through the AT&T website that he took home $6.8 million annually plus bonuses and had his own private jet. I felt stupid. At parties in Chuck's home, I got to meet Bill Gates and Tiger Woods.
me
Me and growing up in Kashmir:
I was raised in Srinagar in an extended family that comprised my parents, grandparents, three uncles and their families ... there were almost 30 children of various ages.
As a child I never played games. While everybody else played cricket or football, I would sit on the sidelines, sketching. I was a chubby kid who always got kicked around! My parents thought I was lazy. But I was always imagining. I would imagine myself playing, but I never actually played.
I was a quiet and introverted child, and growing up in a big family meant you lost your identity somewhat.
Kashmir has always been well known for its arts and culture, though in recent years it has been in the news for the wrong reasons. It was the birthplace for wonderful movements such as Sufism and Kashmiri crafts are renowned. So there was probably something in my genetic make-up that predisposed me to art.
There was a school for fine arts right across the road from our Srinagar home. To gain admission there, one had to finish high school. When I was in grade six, I decided to study there. They made an exception in my case and allowed me to attend classes, although they did not enrol me.
I would sit and learn about watercolour painting, drawing and sculpture. I was the only 12-year-old in a room full of 16-year-olds. By the time I finished high school, I knew that I wanted to do something related to art. My father suggested architecture as a career.
Me and studying architecture:
I joined the Chandigarh College of Art (CCA) in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana. It was a huge culture shock for me.
One of the most shocking things there was that they didn't serve rice for dinner. They only gave us bread. On my first day in the mess hall, they kept serving us bread and I kept declining it, waiting for the rice. As a true Kashmiri, I did not know how to eat bread for dinner. But small glitches aside, I spent an incredible four-and-a-half years in Chandigarh.
Me and venturing overseas:
After graduating as an architect, I decided to explore the world. In 1985 I travelled to Italy, where I spent a month, then on to France and England. From England, I took a flight to New York. And New York was where the next phase of my life took off. Like everything else, it was all accidental.
On my travels, I did not take photographs - instead, I sketched the places I saw. One day, I was sitting at the piazza in front of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in New York City, sketching the scene.
A man stood behind me, observing me sketch. He then came up to me and introduced himself as Professor Bob Shibley from the State University of New York in Buffalo. He was impressed with my realistic rendering of the sculpture.
We started talking and quickly became friends. He suggested that I sketch for his research project in exchange for the opportunity to earn a master's degree in architecture at the University of New York.
At that point, I did not have much money and there were a number of examinations that I would have to take to qualify for the university. Professor Shibley got me exemptions for these exams and helped me to get a student visa. He really took care of me. I did not have to spend a single penny to do my postgraduation.
Throughout the two years that I worked on my master's degree, I worked in his studio. My course was oriented towards urban planning and design. I assisted Professor Shibley in an analysis and feasibility study on the development of downtown Buffalo.
The course I attended in New York was like a crash course programme. My overwhelming memory of those years was always being broke and short on sleep. I couldn't afford a car and would walk through the snow to take trains. But overall it was a great experience. Working for Bob Shibley, I got to learn a lot too.
Me and my career:
After I finished college in 1986, I began working for the architectural firm of James Barclay and Associates in Manhattan.
Just after we had graduated, a group of us who were staying together were looking for jobs. One Sunday, I happened to spot an ad in The New York Times asking for an architect who was an expert in sketching. I put on my suit, took the subway, walked to 47th Street and entered the office mentioned in the ad.
The receptionist asked, "Can I help you?" I pointed to the ad and replied, "I am the guy your firm is looking for." She sighed then started to tell me that wasn't the way it worked. So I asked her, "Why should they spend a month interviewing 20 people and then eventually hire me?"
"Just hire me right now," I told her.
She called her boss, Jim Barclay. I showed him my portfolio, right from the work I had done in Kashmir. He was impressed and we talked for a long time. He asked me what I intended to do next. I showed him a list of businesses where I was going to ask for a job.
We said goodbye and as I was walking into the elevator lobby, Jim came up to me and told me I was hired. That was the only time I have ever had a job interview! When I told my friends how I got the job, they thought I was kidding - that is, until the next morning when they saw me put on my suit and head off to work!
One of the important projects I worked on at James Barclay's office was the large-scale renovation of the Chrysler Building. This project provided the opportunity to research and familiarise myself with the Art Deco style, of which this building is a notable example.
There was a lot of historical research that went into the project. What I found educational was trying to create something that would complement and not contradict this landmark.
In terms of historical research, I always compare my experiences in the US with my experiences in India. In India, there is a wealth of history, but not enough of it is taught at architectural school. But in the US, they go to great lengths to research and scrupulously document the little history they do have. That's what I learnt on the Chrysler project.
After working there for a while, my European travel bug acted up again. I guess I must have been an Italian in my previous life. I backpacked six months in Europe again, spending more time in Venice and Florence.
When I returned to the US, I moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to work with the architect Edward Carson Beall. Beall did high-end homes for stars in Los Angeles and wanted someone with European experience. I worked on several homes with him.
Me and my company:
After completing my licence exam in 1993 I founded Ashai and Associates in Torrance, California. Five years later it had become one of the leading architectural firms in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.
I was joined by my brother, Arthur, who is four years younger than me. He followed in my footsteps, studying architecture at CCA and the State University of New York.
He is the person behind the success of our company. As the years passed by, our architecture company also branched into construction and real estate development. Arthur handles the construction side, while I look after the design side (Aisha Design). Most of our Los Angeles projects are design-and-build, so we take on the whole project from start to finish.
Me and my family:
My wife, Jamila, is a doctor. We met in Houston. We are of the same ethnic descent. We have two children: our daughter Simmone is 16 and Billy is 12. We are just a bunch of lucky guys!
The biggest challenge of being a parent is finding enough time. I feel I don't spend enough time with my children. It is the biggest challenge for someone who is passionate about his work. Unfortunately, my wife and children are the ones who pay for that passion.
I have thought about this (family dynamic) a lot, but I have also observed that some of the best artists in this world have emerged from families that were not totally fulfilling. It's OK if something is missing, then you start using your imagination to fill in the gaps. Otherwise, that's a 'muscle' that would never get used if everything is perfect. Steven Spielberg, for instance, used his imagination as a substitute for the absence of an attentive father and close friends.
myself
As a first generation immigrant to the US, how difficult was it to set up your own design firm?
I left Chandigarh in 1985 and never returned to India. When I started my office a lot of people told me it would be hard because I was an immigrant. They said people (in the US) prefer to hire architects who belong to their own community, rather than someone they see as an outsider. Historically, most of the leading architects in the US are of Caucasian descent.
But I never believed them. I don't carry that monkey on my back. You may be the ugliest person in the world, but if you think you are beautiful, everyone thinks so too. You cast that radiance on other people.
You studied in Chandigarh, India's first planned city. What do you think about the fact that independent India's first prime minister hired a Frenchman to design the city?
Chandigarh was the only planned city in India and therefore a sharp contrast to the medieval structures typically found in that part of the country. It boasts modernistic buildings, exposed concrete, large plazas and artistic gardens.
Corbusier, the architect who designed Chandigarh, was a true Modernist and at odds with what India is all about. As I went through different stages of my growth as an architect, I have learned to appreciate different designers. Corbusier brought something to India that was not there before. I don't like Chandigarh otherwise, it looks like a very monotonous city with a very industrial design. But it was a new and fresh aesthetic for India at that time.
What are the disadvantages of working with family?
There is no downside to working with family. My motto is very simple: the only way you can succeed in a partnership is when you want more for your partner than you do for yourself. Which is exactly how it is between my brother and me.
