I remember my philosophy professor telling us that what makes an educated person is his breadth of knowledge. But the persons who have a real breadth of knowledge are very few. That is why it was a pleasure for me to meet Dr Brigitte Bolech. Her interests include seemingly disparate fields, such as painting, psychology, interior design, eco friendly projects and management.
In 1975 she graduated from a college of education in Carinthia with distinction and five years later obtained a doctorate in philosophy. Since then she has been active in a wide range of scenarios. From the conception of large historical exhibitions to the vision, mission and strategy for, at the time, Europe’s biggest Greenfield airport in Spain. Brigitte has done it all. Originally, she is a PR-lady, but found it very challenging to set up and develop the philosophy of Total Quality Management for Vienna international airport in the function of a Vice President. Having expertise in many fields means Brigitte was chosen to take over major responsibilities in an international project. “It was thrilling to invent an airport from scratch”, she states, “I worked on the human resources side, recruited personnel, built up the organization and quality systems, was responsible for public relations, corporate design and in this function developed the interior design for the terminal building.
“Since my concept was quite different and built on a convincing marketing strategy I was invited to give a lecture at Harvard University Design School, which I really enjoyed and this was the moment when Malta came into the picture.”
It was exactly while she was in Harvard that her husband was offered the post of Chief Executive Officer at Malta International Airport. “Following one’s husband can be hard but I found things to look forward to in Malta,” she confesses. One of them was furnishing their villa in Swieqi. “I have always found great satisfaction in furnishing houses and even though I have never studied interior design formally, I delved deeply into the subject. I am fascinated by colour; by the way it affects feelings. Our subconscious is much stronger than we imagine and it offers us an incredible pool of information. That is why it is so important to understand how colours and forms affect us. This is especially important for working surroundings because even very simple and basic things can help people work better. For the La Mancha project I dwelt on what it means to ‘be Spanish’ and integrated this with my knowledge of working surroundings and work flow.
Together with an artist I managed to create the quintessential Spanish airport: one with a clear identity and not some anonymous international airport.”
Brigitte shows me around her house indicating details – her fascination with colour is carried to extremes as is the case with the pair of green curtains leading out into the courtyard. “I wanted a painting which used the same shade of green as the curtains and as I couldn’t find one, I painted it myself.”
However, the painting which most stands out in the whole house is the one between the sitting room and the dining room. It is an evocative burst of sunlight through golden clouds and the heavy intricately carved frame does much to enhance it. To my surprise Brigitte tells me that it only took her an hour or two to finish. “Why should something like that take any longer to finish?” she tells me. The idea is already there, it only needs to be transferred to the canvas. I don’ t want to act like some artists who try to inflate the value of their works; many buyers are too gullible to question what they are buying.
“I know some artists who actually laugh about all this in private!”
We moved downstairs to the stark white dining room which looks almost bare.. “In the course of different changes in other houses I have found that with the passing of time I yearn for simplicity. The decision to have no curtains was a conscious one and I believe that the room looks clearer and more elegant without them. Similarly I have developed an ability to let go of things which are no longer part of me.”
We move on to Brigitte’s favourite room: the white sitting room. “I wanted the frame and the picture of the leopard to be the dominant feature. A room must have both ‘male’ and ‘female’ elements to be a ‘harmonious’ space. The clear cut table and the white walls are masculine but the 400 year old chest of drawers is magnificently feminine as is the leopard itself.” The upstairs rooms are the three bedrooms and their accompanying bathrooms and I can see how she has managed to create different environments in each by her choice of fabrics, colours, textures and placement of objects.
“Some people laugh at Feng Shui but most of the beliefs in this ancient system have a firm grounding in human psychology. People sometimes feel that there is something not quite right in a room, but they’d be hard pressed to say what it is. With the help of Feng Shui one can identify these problems and solve them. But I think it is very important that we keep our cultural background in mind, as most Asian symbols are meaningless to us.”
Brigitte is presently the owner and Managing Director of BMB-Communications; a firm dealing with Public Relations, Management Consulting and Environment Projects Development. She is also deeply interested in sustainable living and in this regard she has strong opinions about the environment in Malta. “My first impression of this country is that it is a lovely place, populated by welcoming people but it needs help on the environmental side. I cannot understand why there is so much littering, for example! The Maltese should pull up their socks; even Republic Street, which should be the showcase of Malta is not clean and I am afraid most of the tourists realise this. They take home this image of Malta, which is a shame. This country could appear so different with a little effort if people realised that it is to their advantage in more ways than one to have clean surroundings. This may be partly achieved by following one of the golden rules of management: giving everyone their importance. From the street cleaner to the top manager, it is important that everyone feels that their work is appreciated. Everyone must also be clear about what objective he is trying to achieve and why that objective is important to him.” In fact Brigitte has some projects which she believes will benefit Malta. We will certainly hear more about this remarkable lady in the future.