Beauty and Elegance in Colorado Springs for 35 Years
Even though I first met Rich Schell nearly a decade ago, I still remember the day well. He’s that kind of person, who leaves that kind of impression. I was on a flight from Denver to Atlanta for a girls’ weekend where I planned to drink lots of wine. He was on his way to the Atlanta Home Show where he planned to drink in lots of ideas.
What I remember most about Rich was how polished he looked. Tweed jacket, fashionable jeans, and impeccably shined shoes. He had a deep baritone and smelled like leather and sophistication. You wouldn’t have thought we would have had much, if anything, in common. But, as we chatted, we realized we both lived in Colorado Springs. We both grew up in hometowns that we knew we’d one day need to leave for something different if we wanted to fully become who we were destined to be. We were both creative — he as an interior designer and florist, and me as a writer.
And, if that wasn’t enough, we had the same birthday, exactly 20 years apart! That was the part that delighted us, for some reason. As we landed in Atlanta, he asked if we could take a selfie for him to send to his partner, Greg Wragge.
“He isn’t going to believe this!” he said. We put our heads together and he snapped the photo. He invited me to his store, Richi Designs Home, and the annual Christmas Open House, and I put him in my phone as “Rich the Birthday Twin.”
That’s the name that popped up on my phone in September of 2020 when Rich and I were catching up and I interviewed him for this article…
