Hospitality Design - July 2024 - 133

The Sun & Moon bar at Mondrian Ibiza, designed by
Cuarto Interior, nods to the area's undulating landscape
The welcoming Citronelle Club at SO/Maldives, a
collaboration between Stickman Tribe and eco.id
The all-white Shophouse suite at the Studio
Carter-crafted Mondrian Singapore Duxton
A rendering of the penthouse at the yet-to-open
Delano Dubai, featuring a design from La Bottega
When did you know architecture was
your calling?
I applied to this summer school when I was 14
for drawing and architecture, and I was selected.
I got picked to do this interview for Building
Magazine in the UK and the title [of the article]
was, " Watch Out Sir Richard Rogers. There's a
Teenager Aſt er Your Job. " I loved it, but those
were big shoes to fi ll.
What did you learn from your internship
at OMA?
We were working a lot. People would go home,
nap, and then come back to the offi ce. It was an
incubator, but what we did was phenomenal. It
wasn't something I could do longterm, but when
you're young and you have that much energy-to
see Rem Koolhaas walk around and do charrett es
with a team-that blood, sweat, and tears of
gett ing down into it with the modernists of Dutch
architecture was fascinating.
Why did you make the jump into interior
design after your stint with OMA?
It wasn't until you had gray hair that you got
taken seriously as an architect back then, so I
made the switch into interiors with Soſt room [in
2005], a boutique interior architecture fi rm out
of London. They had won the Virgin Atlantic
Clubhouse [at Heathrow Airport]. Working for
Virgin was inspirational. It merged my love of
brands and design. We were doing something
cutt ing-edge and groundbreaking where [money
was no object].
From there, I got an opportunity to work for
Soho House. It wasn't the Soho House you know
today. Back then, it was raw. What I learned
from founder Nick Jones was that if you create
something unique and meaningful, people will
pay for it. Nick obsessed about the details (in
terms of the guest experience), which etched
an understanding in me that remains with
me today. With Shoreditch House in London,
we worked with Tom Dixon, who designed
his famous wingback chair for the space. I
remember Tom sketching the high back curve
on brown paper on the fl oor for the prototype.
There are a lot of things that came out of that
project, including the amazing collaborators I
still work with today.
At Yoo, I was working with John
Hitchcox, Philippe Starck, Kelly Hoppen,
Marcel Wanders, and Steve Leung, creating
branded residences around the world.
Yoo exposed me to work globally, where I
eventually headed up the business for them
in China.
What led you to going in-house at a
larger fi rm like HBA?
I was in Hong Kong and I was enthralled by
everything going on [in Asia]. I wanted to stay
a bit longer, and HBA asked me to join them
in Singapore as the global design director
hospitalitydesign.com July 2024
133
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Hospitality Design - July 2024

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