A Room, A Book, A Becoming — The Florida Dialogue on Design

Wesley Kean of KoDA and Sarah Zohar of Sarah Z Designs

There are moments — rare, flickering — when a room becomes more than a room. It becomes a current. A shared breath. A quiet understanding that something meaningful is unfolding.

On March nineteenth, within DCOTA’s Spring Market, that current revealed itself.

As part of benton buckley books’ Authentic Voices Speaker Series + Events — a living extension of our mission to elevate true creative dialogue — the gathering unfolded not as a presentation, but as an experience.

With gratitude, we thank Jennifer Davis and Frank McCarney of Gloster Furniture — whose continued partnership shaped yet another beautifully realized event.

“The Momentum of State” — both philosophical and tactile — guided conversation beyond the visual and into something enduring: legacy, belonging, and the emotional architecture of home.

Moderated by Harvey Dana, the dialogue unfolded between Wesley Kean of KoDA, featured in New View: A Curated Visual Gallery: Twenty Magnificent Homes by Florida Architects, and Sarah Zohar of Sarah Z Designs, featured in Some Like It HOT: Inspiring Spaces by Florida’s Hottest Designers

What emerged was not merely a conversation about design.

It was a meditation on becoming.

Sarah reflected on her beginnings. A house taken on with humility became something far more significant than a project. It became a turning point. A client who evolved into a champion. A home that transformed into a foundation. To later be featured in Some Like It HOT offered validation not after success, but during its becoming.

A quiet alchemy — to be seen before the world sees.

Wesley’s reflection spoke to permanence. With grounded grace, he described the honor of inclusion in New View Florida — not simply as a milestone, but as legacy. A record to be held, revisited, and passed down.

For his children.
For time itself.

Here lies something essential to benton buckley books — that books are not ephemeral, but vessels of hopes, dreams, and possibilities, curated to endure.

Themes of connection surfaced throughout — between architect and environment, designer and client, structure and soul. Florida revealed itself not as backdrop, but collaborator.

A place that shapes those who shape it.

There was an energy in the room — an unspoken awareness of convergence. Of stories unfolding in real time.

To witness it was to understand:

These books — New View Florida and Some Like It HOT — are not simply collections of projects.

They are collections of people.

Of early risk.
Of meaningful recognition.
Of lives documented with intention.

They are exhibitions of becoming — and of being remembered.

To step into these pages is to step into possibility.

Through our Authentic Voices Speaker Series + Events, benton buckley books invites not only readers, but venues, partners, and creative communities to become part of this unfolding dialogue — to host, to gather, to cultivate spaces where authentic stories are shared, and lasting connections are made. Get started booking your event today.

Discover the voices shaping Florida’s design identity — and the stories that will endure far beyond it — within New View Florida and Some Like It HOT.