Hospitality Design: What I've Learned

George Gottl is the chief creative officer and cofounder of UXUS, a strategic global design consultancy. But it’s also much more than that. When Gottl and his team are working with a client—whether that’s Sephora, H&M, or IHG—they are cultivating a one-of-a-kind experience. He honed this skill when he worked at Nike, which taught him how to craft ideas and tell a story. In fact, the former fashion designer has a soft spot for retail in particular. He used to own interiors store Relic in Los Angeles. It was a passion project of his that has extended to his work at UXUS. “Retail is a show,” he says, “and I love putting on a show.”Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Ed Ng, along with partner Terrance Ngan, founded the Hong Kong-based design firm in 1999. He counts the W Bali, which opened in 2009, as the firm’s big break, putting them on the map of international hospitality. Fast forward to today and the recently opened Argo in the Four Seasons Hong Kong is a full circle moment for Ng, who was born and bred here, and who sees the project as a personal and firm highlight—both as reimagining Hong Kong’s F&B scene and as a nod to the firm’s legacy of crafting design-forward, location-driven spaces that spark curiosity.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

We revisit our conversation with president and CEO of EDG Jennifer Johanson, who, later this year, will be inducted into HD's Platinum Circle. Johanson's illustrious career spans decades, including working at John Powers Associates s before joining Eric Engstrom’s firm in 1989 (the firm changed its name to EDG Design in 2007 when Engstrom retired). Today, she runs the company alongside her husband, Patrick O’Hare. Together, they have spearheaded such projects as the Viceroy DC, Lulu’s Lounge, and the Andaz Scottsdale.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

The former advertising executive turned real estate maven, Naomi Heaton recently launched the Other House, a members’ club-meets-longterm rental option for the next generation of travelers. Heaton set out to create a brand that focuses on flexibility and technology, thanks to a proprietary app that invites guests to create their own personalized journey all from their phone. This hospitality model is partially in response to the pandemic as people have become more discerning with how and why they travel. With two properties opening in London in the next two years, Heaton is planning to expand the brand globally, providing residents with a second home as they move from club to club around the world.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Known for blending luxury with individuality, actress-turned-designer Anouska Hempel is a singular talent. The former Bond girl made her mark on the hotel industry in 1978 when she opened the Blakes in London—a new kind of lifestyle hotel that Hempel describes as a home away from home. From the Hempel Hotel in London and the Six Senses Duxton in Singapore, to her latest, the Monsieur George in Paris, Hempel says her designs flourish because of the people who populate the space. It makes sense for someone who says she loves every aspect of the process. “You don't start out making money,” she says, “you start out being the artist with a dream and then go and do it and hope for the best.”Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Antionette Carroll, president and CEO of Creative Reaction Lab, founded her St. Louis-based nonprofit after the Ferguson uprisings in 2014. She describes herself as a social entrepreneur; equity designer; and diversity, equity and inclusion specialist, and her mission is more important now than ever. Carroll is building a movement dedicated to highlighting youth-centered Black and Latinx voices in an effort to create actual systemic change. Here, she shares her inspiring journey from doing living room craft hours with her grandmother as a child to losing her 13-year-old brother to gun violence, which led her to conceive Creative Reaction Lab, a creative problem-solving process that gives communities the tools they need to dismantle systemic oppression and create a future of equity for all.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Queens, New York-born and raised architect Deborah Berke fascination with design started as a teenager while imagining the inside of houses in her neighborhood. She later attended RISD, went back to school to learn about urban planning, and finally got involved with 21c Hotels having never designed a hotel at that point. Today, she manages Deborah Burke & Partners alongside ten other partners, covering everything from universities to high-end residential and hospitality. “One’s life should be the pursuit of the balance between generosity and fulfillment,” says the dean of architecture at Yale. “You’re never going to find the answer, but if you keep looking for it, both you and others will benefit.”Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Paula Scher's career is as wide ranging as it is inspirational. The former art student, who pivoted to graphic design, is also a children’s book author; she’s designed album covers for artists like John Prine; she launched her own magazine, Together, with Terry Koppel; and she became the first female partner at New York-based multidisciplinary firm Pentagram. Among her many clients, her indelible work has transformed the Public Theater in New York, where she learned many lessons over the course of the almost 30 year relationship. Though she has sometimes felt like a misfit, she sees that as another way of rebelling against the belief of what she’s supposed to be. From the beginning, she says, “I have tried to defy expectations.”Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

For this episode, we toe the line of hospitality a bit with a chat with entrepreneur and cofounder of Airbnb Joe Gebbia. There’s no question that what he’s built with partner Brian Chesky has been among the most major paradigm shifts in the travel industry since its inception. Hatching the lucrative idea out of personal necessity in 2007, when he was just in his mid 20s, the start-up has only accelerated and expanded into much more than an online booking service in the years since, and today the brand is, quite literally, a household name. Our conversation with this brilliant mind spans the first idea he ever tried to sell (Hint: it’s a cushion), how he recruited his cofounders at the onset of the Great Recession, his love for air beds, and how Airbnb is evolving to better serve the future. Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.

Hailing from northern Italy, Network of Architecture, or noa*, cofounder and architect Lukas Rungger cites Roman architecture as a major influence on his career. He started out as a professor in the region before he moved to London and cut his teeth with the likes of Softroom Architects and Matteo Thun. It’s there that he met his business partner Stefan and they started noa* in Italy in 2010. Their approach is collaborative and holistic, melding the interiors with the land and opting quality versus quantity when it comes to the projects they take on. Take the recent GFELL hotel in Italy, which they dub a hotel under a barn, or the Floris Hotel, which integrates itself into the surrounding park. His and his firm’s work and the lessons learned along the way serve as perfect inspirations for today’s world.Thank you for listening! For more of our great interviews, find us at hospitalitydesign.com.