The Studio
Ana Clara Sabena leads the design: the concept, the material direction, and every decision that gives a home its identity. Javier Suárez makes it buildable.
We met in New York in 2019. We design interiors from St. Petersburg, Florida, and we build what we draw.
Read our storyWho we are
The name is not a marketing decision.
A Couple & A Dream is Ana Clara and Javier. Two people, two very different ways of reading a room, and one studio built around the thing neither of them could find when they were the ones hiring.
It started with the two of us.
We met in New York in 2019, both a long way from home. Ana Clara had come from Argentina; Javier from Colombia. We brought different backgrounds, different ways of seeing things, and the experience of starting over somewhere new.
As we began building a life together, we were also discovering what it means to make a home of our own.
When you leave the place where you grew up, you become more aware of what keeps you connected to it: a familiar texture, an object with a story, a place to gather, the way a room welcomes you. You carry those connections with you while making space for the life you are creating.
For us, home became a place where our roots and our future could belong together. That understanding is at the heart of A Couple & A Dream.
It also shapes the questions we ask our clients. How do you want to live? What feels meaningful to you? What should your home make possible?
02Ana Clara Sabena
Creative Director
Ana Clara’s background in fashion and textiles informs her eye for proportion, color, texture, and composition. As Creative Director, she leads discovery, establishes the design concept, and guides the material selections and details that give each project its identity. Working with our design team, she develops that vision through layouts, drawings, and specifications.
03Javier Suárez
Operations Director
Javier leads the business and operational side of the studio, aligning scope, investment, procurement, and execution. Together, we connect creative direction with the planning and coordination needed to bring it to life.
Throughout the project, we help you understand your options and make informed decisions, keeping your daily life, your investment, and the overall vision in view.
St. Petersburg, Florida.
Today, our interior design studio is based in St. Petersburg, Florida. We are expanding that experience through our first Design House—a place to explore materials, experience our approach, and imagine what comes next for your own space.
A Couple & A Dream began with our own experience of making a home. It continues through the homes and spaces we help others make their own.
And what we do about it.
- A price before a drawing is a guess. So the design is sold first and separately, and you get a range with the reasons behind both ends rather than a number we quietly walk back later.
- Materials carry meaning. Variation, texture, patina and the way light moves across a surface are not flaws to be removed. Used deliberately, they are what give a room depth.
- A beautiful rendering is not enough. The design has to survive pricing, ordering, construction and installation. That takes documentation and continued direction, not hope.
- We select the people who build for the quality of their last job, not the size of their discount. It is one of the few decisions still visible in a room years later.
- Clarity is part of the service. You should understand what you are choosing, why it belongs, and what it changes in the scope or the investment.
- The work should feel personal. We are not interested in reproducing the same room in every house.
Projects can be led in English or in Spanish.
Conversations, presentations and decisions happen in whichever language your family is actually comfortable deciding in.
There is a door.
A studio in St. Petersburg, open six days a week, where you can walk in and watch your room get drawn.