cris-mercado,-the-designer,-who-together-with-carlos-ponce-fulfills-dreams-for-celebrities:-“i've-wanted-to-do-this-all-my-life”

“I have wanted to do this all my life”, with feelings on the surface, Cris Mercado, architect and presenter, who is in charge of designing the sets for networks such as Telemundo, Univision, NBC, the next Latin Grammy , confesses to us that to be driving alongside Carlos Ponce ‘Remodelaciones con Celebridades’ by Discovery Family is to fulfill his dream.

In the first three chapters, we will see how they fulfill the dream of celebrities with Gaby Espino, Zion and Cristian de la Fuente to surprise a loved one. But first, we talked to this empowered woman with Dominican roots, who transformed the spaces of others, transformed her life.

-How did this project come about with Carlos Ponce that brings together your two passions: television and the decoration?

Cris Mercado: ‘Remodeling with Celebrities’ , the Miami edition, because the project already exists in the Anglo-Saxon market, which remodels and invites people like Brat Pitt, because they are not for celebrities but for important people in the lives of celebrities. In these 3 chapters that we are launching, we have Cristian de la Fuente, Gaby Espino and Zion. Each of them gave us the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level, and meet important people in their lives. Cristian de la Fuente chose Mrs. Irma, who is like a second mother to him, Cristian’s housewife when he is here in Florida… It was a super moving episode, everyone crying and I cried on set, I cried watching .

I make a set for television, and I had to do the set design for another project for the same network, and one of the producers told me: “Hey, if we put you on camera, I need a designer who can speak on camera, who is the counterpart of Carlos Ponce in this project, do you dare?” … I have wanted to do this all my life, in fact, for me this is like a dream come true because I love my vocation, my profession, but I also love television because I want to make myself known in all that, it was like the moment perfect.

Cris MercadoCris Mercado
Cris Mercado. Photo: EnPositivo

-You started on TV at the age of 8, in ‘Sábados Chiquito de Corporán’, in the Dominican Republic, and today you are one of the designers of the most important set designs for shows and television, how was that process?

Cris Mercado: I hear you say it and I say: “what is that me, that’s me?” … The process has been long. I got into television when I was 8 years old because of my brother, who is also a lover of television, we are going to do a casting for a commercial, and I stayed as part of that program that was shown every Saturday morning for the children, from That’s where this love of television came from. When I study architecture, I study it because I love the arts. I want to do television, but this is something I know for sure that it will happen to me and that I will do well. When I finished architecture, I was working at that time as a volunteer for the United Nations models that were led by the former President of the Republic, at the time Dr. Leonel Fernández.

I approached him and told him : “I want to go to the United States to study, but I need help”… He gave her all the information, I applied for the scholarship and they gave it to me. I’m going to study acting and television production, and in that process I came to Miami. I act as a secretary, as a waitress, as a receptionist, trying to find a place to hang on. I was presented with the opportunity to be on an interior design reality show, because I was working at a house remodeling site at the time, and had participated in making some of the designs for that firm, I was one of the finalists for that show, the first Latina to be on the show, they eliminated me, the prize was that they gave you your own television show, I’m like the fourth or fifth eliminated from the series.

I say to myself: “I am not going to work in an office again, I am going to find out how I am going to get into television, I have my architecture degree, we are going to do it.” At the moment I kind of started working on music videos, and one thing led to another, and I ended up doing a segment for ‘Despierta América’, from ‘Hágalo You Misma’. There I connect with the one who is like the president of the art department, and they offer me a job as a designer within the channel. In 2015 I leave Univision, and open my company , and there the opportunity to work in many television channels, here, in Mexico, now in the Dominican Republic… The process has been long, but God has blessed me a lot.

Cris Mercado con su co-host Carlos Ponce y Gaby EspinoCris Mercado con su co-host Carlos Ponce y Gaby Espino
Cris Mercado with her co-host Carlos Ponce and Gaby Espino. Photo: EnPositivo

-When designing a set, do How is the idea born, what is the process like?

Cris Mercado: Many times the producers I have worked with when they call me have a very clear idea of ​​what I want, and there are some of them who even make me a Photoshop. The process begins with looking for inspiration in architecture, in textiles, in other television sets, in places that you can’t even imagine. For example, the set of ‘La Mesa Caliente’, I started looking for inspiration in restaurants because many, more so in Florida, invest a lot in commercial design. The idea of ​​a set design has come to me, having dinner with my husband, I take out a napkin and there I begin to capture it on the computer.

-What has been that challenge that you liked the most? and that perhaps you thought that you were not going to find a way around it until you saw it reflected?

Cris Mercado: ‘El Colador’, the program did not last long, but that set had all the challenges in the world, a somewhat limited budget, the space, we were working on a well-known set design, which is the set design for ‘Hoy Día’, and then how to transform an existing set design, which happens in the morning, so that it can be seen at night… The set design has won a lot of prizes and every time they use it for specials, it was the mega challenge, and at the moment it has been a super blessing because for that particular set another project has come to me, and I have won a prize.

Cris Mercado con su co-host Carlos PonceCris Mercado con su co-host Carlos Ponce
Cris Mercado with her co-host Carlos Ponce. Photo: EnPositivo

–Cris and what has been that job that you dreamed of doing what was given to you?

Cris Mercado: ‘Remodeling with Celebrities’… One of my best friends writes to me and says: “I don’t know if you remember that about 5 years ago I was in Miami, and we talked about what would be perfect for you, would be a television show where you do what you do, where you remodel, where you do design, where you can talk to people about what you are actually doing, and step help people’… I’m reading the message, and I say this has been here for years, I made a demo once, in the 2015, which was called ‘Decora Con Cris’ (from the heart with Cris), and it was like this same concept and I passed it on to various producers, but at that time it did not happen, 7 years later this opportunity presents itself to me.

I’m filming and it came to the set I don’t believe it, it didn’t finish filming I believe it, I’m seeing myself I don’t believe it, it has always been the life project that I have had because I can almost tell you years, I have thought about this opportunity and it came to me, it came to me next to a person like Carlos, who was noticeable that I was nervous and told me you are going to do well, the chemistry was transmitted and everything flowed and really that this It’s been like one of my dreams come true, I’m still smiling from ear to ear, it doesn’t go away.

-How was it working with Carlos Ponce?

Cris Mercado: Carlos is just as he is on social media as he is in person, in fact, my husband was more excited than I was to work with Carlos Ponce, because he says he’s super funny… He’s super cordial, one day he came as with croquettes, cupcakes, empanadas for everyone. Besides, he knows a lot about remodeling, he has done projects for his house, in fact, he did a remodeling, he sold that house, and he is also passionate about this.

-What does this Cris tell you, that has just fulfilled her dream, to that little girl who was in ‘Sábado Chiquito de Corporán’, and who still had no idea what was coming for her?

Cris Mercado: Dreams do come true, there are You have to work a lot, a lot, you have to be willing to do it. Today doors are closed to me because I’m very young, I don’t have much experience, and I’m still there giving it and giving it. The foundation that my parents created in me is very solid, and if as many real parents invested the time to raise their children in love, in education as my parents did, many more people could fulfill their dreams. The 8-year-old girl had no idea, her shoes were too big for her and then we put them in a napkin so they would fit her, she did want to fly and I flew, and here I am. With work, with education, with perseverance, everything is really possible in this life, and I am the living example that it is so.

WATCH THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW ON VIDEO:

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By Scribe