The volcanic island nation of Iceland offers nature at its most extreme. That wildness can also be glimpsed in the work of Los Angeles-based architect Gulla Jónsdóttir, a native of the country. Whether it’s the design of hotels such as the Roosevelt Macau or Thingholt Hotel in Iceland or her limited-edition furniture collection recently launched at Milan’s Salone, Jónsdóttir’s oeuvre often contains a bit of glam with an elemental rawness delicately balanced by natural materials and refined craftsmanship.
“I do have an aesthetic,” she confesses. “I like sensual curves and voluptuous forms. But it is boring to copy myself. With every project, I am always challenged to do something new.” She has six hotels debuting this year, including the upcoming La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood for Kimpton and the restaurant for the recently opened Chileno Bay Resort & Residences in Cabo for Auberge, to name a few. Additionally, she recently completed a penthouse on 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and is increasingly dabbling in products including silk, bamboo, and wool area rugs with Ariana Rugs; silk and cashmere scarves for Saga Kakala; and a jewelry collection based on a ring inspired by her proposed façade for Jean-François Piège’s Le Grand Restaurant in Paris, which opened in 2015.
Jónsdóttir studied architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and applied for jobs with Richard Meier and Frank Gehry. “Meier hired me first, and I ended up spending four years working there on projects such as the Getty Center and the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills,” she explains. “I loved the weather in LA and being so close to the beach. I became a big fan of museums and the art world, and I now attend a lot of art festivals for inspiration.”
She went on to work for Walt Disney Imagineering as a set designer on its Tokyo Disney Seas and Euro Disney in France. After Disney, she spent nine years working with Dodd Mitchell Design, gaining a solid foundation on hospitality projects. “We did restaurant hotspots in LA and a resort in Mexico, along with the Hollywood Roosevelt. I lived [in Mexico] for a year while we worked on the public spaces and pool.” It’s that immersive attention to detail that led her to venture out on her own in 2009, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Her work on the Hollywood Roosevelt a decade ago with Mitchell led Roosevelt brand owner Goodwin Gaw to invite Jónsdóttir to spearhead the Macau Roosevelt, a recently completed 368-key lifestyle hotel (complete with a vertical garden in the lobby ceiling) just off the Cotai Strip, where she touched everything except for the casino and Chinese restaurant. “It is my favorite project so far,” she says.
While the 105-room La Peer’s design includes earth tones and natural materials such as white oak flooring, bronze columns, and leather-clad walls, Jónsdóttir collaborated with local artists to infuse spaces with their creative energy. In the penthouse suite, her Heimaland furnishings grace a charcoal gradated space splashed with paintings and neon art.
For Auberge, she worked on the public F&B spaces and Comal restaurant at the Chileno Bay property in Cabo, outfitting the eatery with sculptural pieces such as a floating brass fireplace against a white background of textural stones to play up the seaside locale. “I went to Italy every year with my mom during school holidays and grew to love the beach,” Jónsdóttir notes, adding that a shape that formed around her feet while walking along the beach near the hotel led to Comal’s dramatic wall installation of an abstracted backlit brass tree. “I find the ocean and nature unendingly inspirational,” she says.
