Birthplace
Bucharest, Romania
Family icons
My father was an architect. I grew up immersed in his universe. My bedtime reading and coloring books were his foreign architecture magazines that, by a miracle, found their way to communist Romania. My mother was a poet, and she was the one that made me dream.
Education
Architecture school for six years at the Ion Mincu University [of Architecture and Urbanism] in Bucharest
Design influences
I grew up like all Romanians in love with sculptor Constantin Brâncuși and the Dadaist movement. The basis of my education was the masters of Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism, and opposing the architecture of the regime in power.
First hospitality project
The Hyatt Regency in Buffalo, New York during my first job in America with Gruzen Samton Steinglass. I saw so much opportunity—so much more that could
be done.
Portfolio as Ian Schrager’s head of design for three decades
The Gramercy Park, the Delano, the Royalton, and the Hudson hotels
Lessons from Schrager
When everyone thinks you are 100 percent finished, you are only 90 percent done, so you have to keep pushing. And never give up—there is always another means of getting to your goal.
The Philippe Starck effect
He taught me that you should approach the design of any space with the intention of encouraging people to have fun and enjoy their lives more.
Design style
I don’t believe in style, I believe in the quality of life we are creating. Anytime you start boxing a designer in, you take away the experience, how it makes you feel.
Recent and future
I am the creative lead of the Asbury Park, New Jersey redevelopment [plan by iStar], with quite a few projects underway [including the recently opened Asbury Hotel]. And soon, I’ll be starting a few projects in Manhattan.
Downtime
Going to our lake house in Connecticut, staring at the swans, and cooking up a storm.
