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Site Staff Home & Design, Real Estate

Who Is Colin Fisher?

Glad you asked. He is not in the manufacturing business, but he manufactures a few select pieces by client request. He’s not in the furniture business, but will sell a chair off the floor of this studio if someone wants it in his or her living room. He coordinated a dinner party for a client and sold the shrimp bowl to a guest who fell in love with it, shrimp and all. (He’s not in the party planning business either, by the way.)

So, who is Colin Fisher? Aside from being one captivating and warm-hearted individual, he’s a lifelong art collector turned dealer who for three years saw word-of-mouth clients by appointment only at his Rancho Mirage home. Several months ago, he opened a gallery to the public on Perez Road at the newly renamed Perez Art and Design Center. He reps not a single artist, opting instead to own every painting, drawing, and sculpture and buy only what he likes and can live with, knowing full well he’ll “have to look at it for the next 50 years if it doesn’t sell.”

He purchased 90 percent of his collection at auction, though not even a third fits in his showroom. Not that he needs to spell it out, but it’s pretty obvious he’s “not an El Paseo type.” In fact, he’s not really a type at all. Maybe that’s why people love him — and his time-honed aesthetics. Because he doesn’t represent the artists, he says, he takes nothing personally and answers to no one. “If you like it, take it home. Enjoy it. If you still like it, then keep it. If not, bring it back,” Fisher says. That’s pretty much how it works — and works well.

“People that I just cannot believe have come through that door,” he marvels. “Many come through their decorators. They believe in me and trust me.” They also find the selectively furnished setting — so nontraditional for a gallery with its oversized chandeliers, travertine-topped table, working kitchen (hence the dinner parties), and quaint showpiece of an office — a fine place to see art as it would appear in a real home. Bentleys pull up here to find artists spanning genres and generations.

If you want to know who Colin Fisher is, go see for yourself. Colin Fisher Studios, 68929 Perez Road, Suite M, Cathedral City, (760) 324-7300.