Coolest or most challenging recent project
Our 100th bar and restaurant, the German Gymnasium in London’s King’s Cross. Originally built in 1864 for the German Gymnastic Society, the main challenge was working with such a large structure and brief of a 400-plus-seat restaurant, while achieving a balance between theater and intimacy. Many of its historic details, such as the climbing hooks in the ceiling, cast steel columns,
and brickwork have been retained.
Project I am most looking forward to
London’s Centre Point where we are reinventing an icon of 1960s Brutalist commercial architecture into a spectacular apartment building.
Greatest lesson learned from firm founder Sir Terence Conran
To design for the end user. Good design is something that everyone is entitled to, regardless of budget or scale.
High-end hotel of choice
Tokyo’s Andaz hotel. The service is so good, and the design is simple and refined, coming together as a thoroughly Japanese experience.
Favorite restaurant splurge
In London, I am a big fan of Quo Vadis in Soho. The chef, Jeremy Lee, has really come into his own there. The atmosphere is glamorous enough to be interesting but not pretentious, and a bit of a classic.
Luxury treat
For myself, my David Hockney etching, while for my home it has to be the classic Vola bathroom fittings we have just installed—sometimes you simply need to pay for quality, and I intend to keep them for a long time.
Guilty pleasure
My very highly bred horses
I don’t go anywhere without
A sketchbook and a No. 2B pencil, but as I have just acquired an iPad Pro, an Apple Pencil is also in my pocket—all to help me record and work through my thoughts of the moment.
Describe what luxury travelers want today in one sentence
Culture is the new luxury.
German Gymnasium, London
Centre Point, London
