On May 1st Saffia Widdershins opened up the newly renovated Prim Perfect headquarters at Costa Rica Sims Estates. The event was marked with a celebration that featured live performances, dancing and tours of the new build. I requested the opportunity to interview the lovely Ms.Widdershins and she graciously accepted.

 Hello Saffia and thank you for taking time to answer questions for our readers. The new headquarters is beautiful, what prompted you to have your headquarters in Costa Rica Sims?

In every issue, we feature a special Region that we write about in detail.  Last summer, we featured Costa Rica - and Giancarlo Takacs, the owner of Costa Rica, was delighted with the coverage we gave him.  He suggested that we should have a longer term partnership, with Prim Perfect occupying a prime position on a new commercial sim.  We thought that was a good idea ... especially as we were currently on a homestead and not able to hold parties or seminars since the Linden Lab Homestead changes.

 What do you find to be some of the most appealing aspects of Costa Rica Sims?

With all communities, it's the people who make it - and that's true of Costa Rica too.  I've met some amazing people here, the residents are very friendly - and keen party-goers too!  In addition, the staff is very helpful and supportive.  But Costa Rica has the addition of some of the most stunning landscapes for residential and commercial sims in Second Life.

 As I mentioned before the build is lovely, can you tell me about it?

It was designed and built by Dijodi Dubratt, a real life architect.  I adore Jodi's work - and was bowled over last year by her work for the University of Western Australia challenge in 2010 (where she won the overall People's Choice award), It was a really ambitious, soaring building that did three core things: it made use of its natural setting; it was a building that could actually be used for the intended purpose; and it was stunningly beautiful.  So I knew I wanted Jodi to create the new HQ. 

Jodi started with a phase of meticulous research. She looked into Costa Rican history, environment and architecture.  We both found modern Costa Rican architecture with its use of glass and water hugely inspirational, so we decided that the HQ should be something very contemporary.  But Jodi has created a build that also references the environment ... the shape echoes that of a volcanic caldera and the long sweeping walkway up to the higher level reflects the treetop-high walkways in the cloud forests - and you'll find a cloud at the top too! And you'll also find examples of the Las Bolas - the strange stone spheres that are amongst the very few remnants of early Costa Rican civilizations.

I think the element I love best is the glass trees with their glorious "leaves". And Jodi has added lighting here like colorful butterflies ... flying amongst the branches - while you can also perch among the branches on the upper level - for when we have a seminar or a talk. But there is a wealth of other elements that I adore too!

Then the interior design for the building was created by pitsch Parx - and I think he's done a wonderful job with our offices, our entry area, and the two wonderful cafes - one the outdoor public cafe, and the other a staff cafe on the upper level.  And there's also a viewing studio where you can see recent Designing Worlds shows.

The grounds were landscape by Aisling Sinclair - one of the things I love about these is that as you walk through our own rainforest in the centre of the caldera, you look up, or forward, or back ... and you see the buildings in completely new ways - and all stunning.

All of this is re-enforced by work done by Hastur Pietersen of Acoustic Alchemy.  He's created a series of soundscapes for different parts of the building that run 24/7 and reflect the different things that are happening in different areas.  It's really wonderful!

The final element is a waterfall by Dellybean North, which catches the overspill from our swimming pool/lake. I wanted this to be something a little different - another element of Costa Rica is its sense of high fashion and parties,  So the waterfall was created to suggest the idea of a champagne fountain, to reflect that ... and you'll also find, if you explore it closely, that it has some wonderful sitting positions.  Quite often, the team will relax there to chat after a meeting!

It's important to us that the space is both our working office and also a place that Costa Ricans can visit for pleasure - hence the cafe, as well as the TV viewing studio, And, of course, you can pick up copies of the magazine here too!  All the back issues are displayed, and there are vendors where you can get individual copies or bundles for each of our four years.

What prompted you to begin Prim Perfect?

It struck me, when I came to furnish my own first home in Second Life, back in February 2007, that although there are lots of magazines and blogs around that featured Second Life fashion, there are none that did the same thing for Second Life interior design - although everyone agreed that there was a lot of terrific stuff out there.

In addition, people were joining Second Life at an enormous rate, and looking for apartments, and ways to fill them. Other people were looking to upgrade - and there's always people looking for the latest 'must have' - as well as people wanting advice on using prims cleverly, or making rooms look better - from tweaks to complete makeovers. I set up Prim Perfect to cover all this and more.

When the first magazine came out on May 1st 2007, and we've gone from strength to strength ever since!

 For those not familiar with Prim Perfect please tell us about the brand, your goals and visions for Prim Perfect.

Prim Perfect is a magazine for Second Life homes and gardens - with lots of wonderful articles about buying or renting your home in Second life, finding the best designers, choosing your furniture, arranging it to best advantage, managing your prim count, landscaping your garden and learning the latest news from the world of interior design. In addition, we visit the best communities and the most stunning landscapes of various kinds, all across Second Life.  And periodically, we travel to other grids as well to see what is happening across the metaverse.

In other words, there is something for everyone!

Whether you are setting up your very first home, hungry for the latest must-haves, or customizing the mansion of your dreams, Prim Perfect has something for you. For those who are prim addicts, there are articles on high-end high class designer furniture too. And each month we showcase the work of a specially chosen designer in an exciting and fascinating region.

New businesses will love our Pathfinder articles, where the best and most experienced content creators in Second Life mentor a group of start-up businesses and help establish them in the Second Life world. Established business can follow our Trailblazer program, which is organizing a series of seminars, workshops and merchant trials for small businesses seeking sustainability.

For all those who love, or need, low prim Design, there are our Linden Home features where we look at top designers working to create Linden Home furnishings - and also at the different ways that our readers have chosen to furnish their Linden Homes!

And for land agents, builders, landscapers and designers, Prim Perfect offers a way for you to reach your clients directly. Our advertising rates are, you will find, very reasonable.

In between issues, the PrimPerfect blog keeps you up-to-date with the latest news and gossip at http://primperfectblog.wordpress.com/. You'll find news about forthcoming issues - as well as general news, types and advice. There's also our very popular art column - Ekphrasis, reviewing art and artists in Second Life. And many of the articles have a validity that goes well beyond the day of post - search the blog and see what a wealth of information Prim Perfect has to offer!

You will see pages from Prim Perfect on the stands on the ground floor of our HQ.  If you would like to read more of an issue, click on that issue on the stand to receive your copy.  Or visit our online archive at: http://en.calameo.com/accounts/4234

In addition, in partnership with treet.tv, the leading TV network in today's virtual environments such as Second Life, we produce Designing Worlds, the hit weekly show on design and designers in virtual worlds. From its roots as a "meta-makeover" show, the program has developed into a magazine/factual format, adding interviews and visits to some of the most impressive locations in Second Life and other virtual environments.

The show goes out live in 720p High Definition every Monday at 2pm SLT/Pacific Time and is repeated through the week on the Treet Lifestyle channel. Shows can also be viewed on the Treet Designing Worlds site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds and downloaded as podcasts via iTunes.

Designing Worlds is presented by Saffia Widdershins, the Editor of Prim Perfect Magazine, and Elrik Merlin of Radio Riel.

You can see more on our website at: http://www.designingworlds.tv

 Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Yes - I'd like to urge everyone in Costa Roca to come and explore our new Headquarters - perhaps watch an episode of Designing Worlds, grab a magazine (or two) from our vendors and definitely have a fruity cocktail in our wonderful cafe!  This is a place we want Costa Ricans to enjoy as much as we do!

And let us know what you think!

 I want to thank Saffia for taking time out of her busy schedule to share her thoughts and insights on Prim Perfect and Costa Rica Sims!  Syd <3