Hospitality Design - July 2013 - 92

Eugene Kohn

chairman, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York

Marcus Samuelsson

chef/restaurateur and author of Yes, Chef, New York
When you’re a child, you don’t realize all the different flavors you
taste. They are just memories. For me, one of the most poignant
memories I have is full of salt from the mackerel that my father,
uncle, and I would first catch, then preserve in Sweden. I can still
taste the sharp flavor of not only the fish, but also the room where
we spent so many hours. Salted mackerel was eaten in everything: it
was folded into potato gratin, it was mixed into mashed potatoes, and
it was rolled into dumplings. Because of those early memories, I lean
towards salt, not in the traditional sense, but those nostalgic flavors.
People don’t realize this, but Swedish food is strong. Wild strawberry
season is short, but the flavors are very sweet. Lingonberries are
strong and tart. Our food may not be spicy, but it’s strong, and it’s
that memory that I take with me whenever I cook.

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July 2013 hospitalitydesign.com

My mother was my early creative inspiration—she
was an artist, a fashion designer, and also an amazing
businesswoman who believed in quality design. She had
an eye for proportion, color, and texture. She also treated
everyone with respect. She knew what looked best, and
would not sell a dress to someone if it didn’t look good on
her—even if she wanted to buy it. To this day I can pick a
dress off the rack for a woman, and it will look quite good.
Through my mother, I acquired an eye for design, and also
learned how to deal with people, how to bring out their
best, and how to conduct business ethically.
As a result of the Great Depression, my mother had to
work in order to help my father. She started with a small
shop where she taught knitting and how to make dresses
and sweaters, which she designed. Then, wanting to be
home to raise me, she opened a small shop in our house
with more of her designs. My bedroom was the third
dressing room, and as a little boy, the ladies trying on
clothes in my room paid little attention to me, but I sure
noticed them! I used to turn the radio on when I studied
to drown out the chatter, and even today I have an easier
time reading and thinking in chaos than in dead quiet. My
mother’s artwork was displayed throughout our house.
She was an accomplished painter and, much later in
her life, had a show at the Guggenheim Museum on the
occasion of her one-hundredth birthday. So customers
would wait in the parlor surrounded by my mother’s
beautiful artwork and antiques, where they were served
coffee and tea. I helped her by cleaning up every evening
to ensure it was perfect for her customers the next day.
As her business grew, she worked with manufacturers
in New York. She eventually even expanded her collection
to include several famous designers, from Mollie Parnis
to Karl Lagerfeld and Calvin Klein. Those first, and
succeeding, visits to New York with her—the excitement
of the spectacular skyline and fashion shows with
beautiful models—were quite memorable and inspiring
as well. My mother’s sense of style, design talent, and
excellent business acumen were all contributing factors
in who I would become, and have helped me to be a better
architect, as well as a better person.
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