Subtraction Miracles He had a childhood of plenty, especially from his paternal family. There were five siblings, two girls and three boys, and they lived a luxurious life. It was not only economic opulence but also style, good taste, quality, beauty.
“We were queens and kings, we lived in a petit hotel with divine rooms, we had a butler. My father gave us an incredible life —he remembers— My grandfather had a giant field in Chascomús, the house had been built by the architect Alejandro Bustillo and the park, Carlos Thays. It was a dream. My grandmother set the table, which was a dream, we spent all of February in that field. Without a doubt, this whole life marked me a lot and influenced my taste for aesthetics and decoration.”
She eventually studied Interior Design and became a renowned professional decorator and creative event consultant. She is also the owner of Galpón Milagros, in Palermo, where she has her studio and a mega space for events.
Businessmen, executives, politicians and celebrities use their services to decorate their parties and their homes. “I’m crazy creative, I make a party with a balloon.”assures the mother of Salvador (23), Paloma (21) and Justo (17)
News: Who is Milagros Resta?
Subtraction Miracles: A very passionate woman, very creative, very companion as a mother, friend, sister, daughter. I feel very complete in the role of a woman and I feel that I am indispensable for my group and for myself. I am my best food. My life depends on me, on my joy, my creativity, my daily life. Work and motherhood have been axes in my life, but I would almost say work more, because I have always been very interested.
News: How much did it cost you to be your best food?
Subtraction: Every day. You go through different tests and all the time you have to make amends, be the best version of yourself due to countless things that happen, from frivolities to something aggressive such as the death of a brother.
News: You lost your sister Jesus.
Subtraction: Yes, five years ago. A lot, but it’s also nothing for an entire shared life.
News: What are the challenges at this time in your life?
Subtraction: This is almost the moment that life presented me with the most challenges, because I found myself reassembling everything that I am. New projects, new personal life, I separated after twenty years of marriage, a big change, but I’m fine. I can’t believe how much my children have grown. They are just finishing school this year. I have a full life, work and projects helped me get ahead. I feel flattered and considered.
News: What do your other children do?
Subtraction: They study and work. Salvador studies advertising and paints very talented. This year he won a very good award in creativity, he won a trip to Texas as a freelance advertiser. Paloma is the queen of them all, an actress and studies Event and Show Production at the University of Belgrano. And I have my niece Tuti who studied Interior Design and works with me. She is my goddaughter and a fourth daughter to me. She is the daughter of my sister Jesús and Gonzalo Heguy (a polo player, who died in an accident in 2000).
News: How did you come to decorating?
Subtraction: I have been very creative since I was a child, crazy creative. I have a party with a balloon. It seemed to me that it was a very complete career for a woman, that had many possibilities. I am also very public relations in my work, very nice, I kind of enjoy things. I had a friend, Horacio Mazza, who was the son of Delia Tedín, a great decorator, and she invited me to work and I worked a lot of time with her. Later I worked with Pablo Chiappori, with Gloria Cesar, and every day I became more passionate about the scene. I realized that it is infinite, you can do whatever you want as a decorator. It is spectacular.
News: In fact, you did and do very diverse jobs.
Subtraction: I did everything. The remodeling of Harrod’s was incredible, the times I participated in Casa Foa were fabulous, inventing my Galpón in Palermo after my first trip to New York, where I went crazy with those places in Soho. Decorating those mansions that I decorated I can’t even believe it. I also made a mini stained glass window, a toilet in an apartment, I don’t underestimate anything. I like to create, invent, whatever the size or budget, I get hooked.
News: What are you working on now?
Subtraction: Decoration of events, weddings, birthdays. The 40’s and 50’s party is used a lot, where a lot is decorated. I also do corporate events, product presentations, restaurants, I made a fabulous hotel. Also, houses, apartments, I have lifelong clients who always need to decorate or recycle something in their house.
News: What is your personal seal, your added value? Why do they call her so much?
Subtraction: Because of how passionate I am. I am very professional, I love to present a project impeccably, I get a lot involved, I have a lot of experience, many suppliers and my work team.
News: Why do you like Shabby Chic so much? (Romantic style, mix of ancient and modern elements, which emerged in England in the late ’70s and spread to the United States)
Subtraction: It’s my childhood, it’s romantic, my favorite color is pink, roses and peonies are my favorite flowers. For me, life is rosy despite all the adversities. Shabby Chic is a very feminine, very delicate style, which uses cotton fabrics, a very soft palette, where a lot of value is given to the old, to an original patina. It has to do with very warm lighting, with beloved corners that have details. That’s not what’s fashionable out there. Something much more minimalist and colors that say nothing, like gray and ecru, are in fashion.
News: You say more is more.
Subtraction: Yes, I like that. The decorations are like layers. You have the floor, the carpet, some ornaments supported, then the table, the books, a vase. I never finish decorating my house, my things, it’s endless.
News: He recycled his house in Almagro. No?
Subtraction: All the time. It is a very big house, very nice, with lots of light. To decorate it I bought things in different places and it also happens to me that I am going to decorate a house and they end up giving me a lot of things and I adapt them to me. I wouldn’t be my perfect client because I don’t have access to my budget. I mean I couldn’t hire myself to decorate. I am blessed that it is my home and that I find it in another way. My house is a dream, it is my best decoration.
News: What are your favorite spaces in the house?
Subtraction: My room and the living room, where I have my desk, my drawings, my pencils, the presentations, now I am making a house in Cañuelas and I draw by hand. Then, the patios, I really like doing yoga there. I also love the kitchen because it is the obligatory meeting point.
News: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur in Argentina?
Subtraction: It means that there is no Saturday or Sunday, that work hours can be super long, that a problem can arise at any time for something that is beyond me, like people not going to work because a strike was invented in one minute and I had planned a very complete day. It’s hard, but I manage. I don’t know what it would be like to work in a calm situation. It never happened to me. When it is not the strike, they did not deliver the truck to the mechanic or there is no importation of that thing or they do not deliver another. Is awesome.
News: The economic crisis does not seem to affect the holding of events. Is that so?
Subtraction: Neither the events nor the decoration. Decorating is very elite, really exclusive. And after the pandemic, the parties continue to be on the rise. People understood that life is moments, that things are stored in feelings, in how much you danced, how you laughed, with whom you shared.
News: Is there any prevailing trend in current decoration?
Subtraction: There is a tendency to equalize the situation, for all departments to be more or less the same. A very minimalist thing, not showing personality, a net kitchen, an armchair, an easy chair. In the case of parties the trend is Hollywood. People want to make a city inside a hotel, and make an airport, a makeup booth, a newspaper stand, a printing press. It’s a crazy thing.
News: His style is the opposite of minimalism. How do you deal with minimalist clients?
Subtraction: My personal style is for me. I try to interpret the person who calls me and they call me much more because of my resume and how serious I am. I adapt to the client one hundred percent and that is super important in my career.
News: Among her clients are celebrities such as Natalia Oreiro, Valeria Mazza and Juliana Awada.
Subtraction: Natalia is a fan of my style, I did things at her house and the first place in Las Oreiro that was a glory. I decorated Valeria’s wedding. I also worked a lot for Luciana Salazar who loves Shabby Chic. And Juliana was a big customer of the Galpón when it was a decoration store.
News: What is left for you?
Subtraction: I would like to work abroad, perhaps in the studio of the decorator Rachel Ashwell, which I like so much. I like traveling a lot, but I go to the classic places, Rome, Paris, London. I always say that I would like to visit Hawaii like something crazy, but I never go.
