Women in Design 2019 - 25

Union bar, the Opposite House, Beijing

Union bar, the Opposite House, Beijing
The Zodiac Room, Neiman Marcus
Hudson Yards, New York

Photos by SHERESE ELSEY PHOTOGRAPHY, OWEN RAGGETT, and courtesy of AVROKO

narratives via a creative lens. Indeed, she
credits her mom, a crafts-loving graphic
designer as her muse. "She built a world
of intense 'making' around me. Sky-high
cakes, intricate silk banners, and life-sized
papier-mâché creatures for parties [were all
a part of her repertoire]."
After graduating from the College of
Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York in the early
'90s, she formed a design consultancy with
pal William Harris. The duo joined forces
with Adam Farmerie and Greg Bradshaw
to launch New York-based AvroKO in 2001.
Two years later, the company took off with
the opening of PUBLIC, the James Beard
award-winning Nolita restaurant they
conceived, designed, owned, and operated.
"The pace was slower, and the market had
a bit more room in those days," she says. "A
handful of restaurants of note would open
each season in New York, and you could try
them all and slowly assess as they worked
through their first year."
Fueled by her own notion of hospitality
thinking, what she describes as "a
philosophy, a tool set, and a frame for
making work that allows people to feel
delighted, secure, and even significant
in our spaces," AvroKO has grown
considerably in the last 19 years. With four
global offices and the introduction of the
experience-driven branding agency Brand
Bureau, the firm also owns and operates
Saxon + Parole, Ghost Donkey, and the
Poni Room, while also collaborating with
groundbreaking hotel brands, such as the
Hoxton, Arlo Hotels, the Standard, and
Eaton Workshop.
"Having four partners making the
majority of decisions together hasn't been
the easiest model, but it has been one of
the most gratifying pieces of our business,"
she points out. "We have done a great job
delighting, respecting, and taking care of
one another through a lot of beautiful and
challenging cycles."
Women in Design 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Women in Design 2019
