Tête-à-tête began as a shared daydream between Rocío O'Cone and Gillian Blair. Their paths unexpectedly crossed when Rocío moved to Austin from New York while Gillian was trying to move to New York from Austin. As timing would have it, they were forced to stay in the same place long enough to get to know each other, play lots of board games, and share their design aspirations. They decided to name this daydream Tête-à-tête to represent the coming together of their two minds. Tête-à-tête is also a really fun sofa and that just felt too good to pass up. Prior to starting Tête-à-tête, Rocío and Gillian spent many years honing their skills, as interior design was always in the stars for each of them. Rocío and Gillian come from versatile design educations and professional backgrounds ranging from high-end custom furnishings, architectural drafting, both domestic and international projects, historic remodeling, new home construction and just about anything in between.
Tête-à-tête was created because Rocío and Gillian both felt that the most important part of design is always the story. Inspiration, curiosity, and creativity from collaboration were missing in an often too fast-paced world. Their love of storytelling (and story listening) is ever-present in each of their projects and what they believe differentiates good design from great design.
