Alexandra Champalimaud on what will and wont change in hospitality design

Table Of Content

• Designer Q&A - Alexandra Champalimaud
• Beverly Hills Hotel
• Why stripes are the timeless trend making a bold comeback in interior design
• Why Michael Hilal is rethinking his approach to publicizing his work
• Mid-century furniture, warm wood surfaces, and spacious travertine patios invite guests to enjoy sweeping canyon views.

Hotels are an opportunity to escape the everyday, to step foot into a transformative world where we can immerse ourselves in luxury and delight in the smallest details. The best hotel interiors combine this thoughtful approach to opulence with a considerate nod to context, allowing us to understand the history and nuances of a place. As mentioned before, my appreciation for well-designed things started from my youth, rooting a love and respect for beautiful things.

Designer Q&A - Alexandra Champalimaud

At one point, it was acquired by Charles Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana. The island currently boasts two buildings with a Grade I listing—the most important indication of a building's historic worth in the United Kingdom. "Its scale and proportion is graceful," Champalimaud founder Alexandra Champalimaud tells AD PRO, adding that its "steps are like white icing." The design principles used to create inviting hotel spaces can be applied across many other sectors, from new builds with a distinctive yet timeless personality, to residential spaces designed to feel like luxurious retreats from the everyday. “Clients choose us as they are looking for a testament to lifestyle, luxury, and timeless design,” explains the designer.

Beverly Hills Hotel

The only thing hanging is a framed thank-you note from Martin Luther King Jr. So hopefully that gives the feeling of it being an historic place, but one that’s now inhabited by a new generation that’s pretty modest about the incredible history. Champalimaud Design is a 50-person design studio driven by decades of knowledge, experience, and expertise in interiors, architecture, and development. Alongside her design work, the designer is known for her mentoring work with the Network for Executive Women in Hospitality, passing on her valuable experience and understanding of design to emerging designers.

Why stripes are the timeless trend making a bold comeback in interior design

The skill of designing is the ability to incorporate and mix your vision with your clients’ to produce a project you can both be proud of. The new cabanas help satisfy nostalgia for the Golden Age of Hollywood with a contemporary, beachy twist—plus flat-screen HDTVs and phone charging stations, of course. RR1 is the private membership club that brings the pages of Robb Report to life.

Inside, Champalimaud Design’s timeless elegance acts as an antidote to the famously fast pace of life in Hong Kong – think cascading chandeliers, handcrafted millwork and delicate timber screens, and rare marble. When she finished school, Champalimaud pursued her innate love of design at the Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva in Lisbon, learning about visual art, architecture, history, and a multitude of applied arts. She describes it as a “transformative experience” that set a strong foundation for her design career. Champalimaud’s eponymous company has designed some of the world’s most iconic hotels, from The Plaza in New York and the Bel-Air in Los Angeles to the recently completed Raffles in Singapore. On the latest episode of the Business of Home podcast, Champalimaud shares the story of her meteoric rise and she and her firm’s CEO, Ed Bakos, discuss how they’re addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 era.

Life has been an extraordinary adventure for me,” says Alexandra Champalimaud, “and the experience has enriched my work.” The internationally acclaimed designer grew up in Portugal, with time spent at boarding schools in England and Switzerland. She married into one of Portugal’s leading families, and was launching her interior design career when, on the eve of the nation’s 1974 revolution, she and her family fled the country; they left in the middle of the night and moved to Montreal. Inspired by designers as varied as Eileen Gray and David Hicks, and the rigor of Mies van der Rohe, Champalimaud won prestigious commissions, including the law office of Pierre Trudeau, the charismatic former prime minister of Canada.

The 12 Most Anticipated Hotels Opening in 2022

We bring you what we consider to be some of the best design groups in New York City and today is Champalimaud Design’s turn! The New York-based studio, established by Portuguese-born designer Alexandra Champalimaud, is the epitome of sophistication. Known for creating some of the world’s most distinctive spaces, the design group creates unique interiors by allying years of experience and an amazing storytelling. Champalimaud Design is an award-winning firm which specializes in singular hospitality design.

Indonesian designer Jaya Ibrahim, founder of Jaya International, is the designer responsible for the interiors of iconic hotels such as The Legian in Bali, The Chedi Muscat, The Setai Miami and several Aman resorts. Raffles Singapore, which began a three-phased restoration in 2017, is a particularly poignant expression and celebration of heritage. The luxe and legendary Southern California “Pink Palace”—where Walk of Fame royalty like Katharine Hepburn and the Beatles used to catch (or eschew) some R&R—tapped ELLE DECOR A-List designer Alexandra Champalimaud to reimagine its poolside cabanas. For all 11 of the luxe huts, Champalimaud channeled the glamour of the hotel’s storied past. Each is covered by pink candy-striped awnings and include basket-woven chairs, terrazzo side tables, and pink bistro tables sourced from local design firm Bend Goods.

Troutbeck

But the socially distanced era, they say, has changed the dynamic of the firm in positive ways. … There might be others who, in my presence normally in a conference room, they might not want to be quite as involved,” says Champalimaud. “But when their job is to talk about X, Y and Z of this project, they do so. … They have to be more expressive to get their ideas across.” Bakos agrees, adding that there’s a benefit to client meetings where the entire staff is able to sit in on Zoom and pick up on nuances that would normally go unheard behind conference room doors. The island—on which no cars are allowed—is a bridge walk or quick paddle away from Bray, an adjacent town known as a foodie destination, thanks to its smattering of Michelin-starred restaurants. But for many an interiors buff, it is the estate's Wedgwood Room that will likely be the property's knockout.

Alexandra Champalimaud on what will (and won't) change in hospitality design - Business of Home

Alexandra Champalimaud on what will (and won't) change in hospitality design.

Posted: Mon, 01 Jun 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The keystone property is right in the center of midtown Manhattan and no stranger to locals and foreigners. The design group did another amazing work allying the hotel’s history with the Art Deco influences of the Rockefeller Center neighborhood. Stepping foot in the New York Palace’s repositioned reception area, guests leave the frenzy of mid-town Manhattan behind, and step into a place of luxury and refined calmness. For those interested in contemporary interior design projects, this is the crux of the matter. Kastl and Champalimaud are resolute in their belief that in such projects, story and history are essential.

The Hotel Bel-Air opened in 1946 and to this day remains a lush and discrete haven. Champalimaud refreshed the interiors, creating new spaces that seamlessly transition into the surroundings and distinctive Spanish Colonial architecture. Today, the whimsical, verdant Hotel Bel-Air continues to shine as a singular icon of Southern California. Portuguese-born, North America-based Alexandra Champalimaud has made her mark in the world of hospitality, having redesigned some of its most iconic institutions — New York’s Waldorf Astoria and Carlyle hotels and London’s Dorchester, to name a few. Art Deco’s geometric legacy was a starting point, says Champalimaud Design partner, Winston Kong. “The challenge,” notes Kong, “was to create a space that will resonate with current and future residents, and stay impactful five, ten, twenty years from now.” Odds are, the challenge was met.

French Designer Jean-Louis Deniot has certainly taken the design world by storm in the 15 years since establishing his eponymous Paris-based design studio. Design Anthology spoke with Vicky Chen who oversaw the historic renovation of Tainan’s Hayashi Department Store, which dates from 1932 during the period of Japanese occupation. To complement our Studio feature on Baker Furniture in Issue 8, a conversation between Design Anthology and the vastly talented furniture designer Laura Kirar about her latest collection. I love rewatching timeless classics whenever I have time, such as Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia. The Row and Valentino are two of my favourite fashion brands — classic, simple and timeless fashion. I love visiting Community Table in Litchfield, Connecticut whenever we’re on our way home from the city.

But Champalimaud, who spoke French, began looking for work as a designer. She found it, eventually starting her own small firm, an endeavor that brought her to New York in 1994 to reimagine the Drake Hotel. In the States, a promising career received an injection of rocket fuel. Nevertheless, this emphasis on comfort and modernity comes down to aesthetics once again. "In general, there's been this idea of how these hotels in the English countryside should be approached," Kastl says.

The elegant furniture she designed for him was recently auctioned to benefit his foundation. In 1993 she relocated to New York, where her team of specialists has grown to 40 and is still expanding. Two-thirds of their work is in resorts and hotels, the rest in high-end residences. “I’ve lived on four continents, speak four languages, and that makes me comfortable doing design pretty much anywhere in the world,” says the widely traveled tastemaker. And history is certainly something that the Monkey Island Estate has in spades.

Inside each retro-chic tent is an homage to the Beverly Hills Hotel itself. The pink banana-leaf wallpaper is a fresh take on the iconic green Martinique print featured in the hotel’s Fountain Coffee Room and hallways. The pink version of the wallpaper by CW Stockwell was specially unearthed from the company’s archives to clad the cabanas—the first time the print has been used at the hotel since it was first hung in the 1940s.

Champalimaud Design has also completed several major residential projects. Twelve newly built hillside suites add to the allure of the property. Mid-century furniture, warm wood surfaces, and spacious travertine patios invite guests to enjoy sweeping canyon views from beside indoor or outdoor fireplaces. A 12,000-square-foot addition accommodates a fitness studio, the Hotel Bel-Air Spa by La Prairie, and three loft-style guest suites with three-sided fireplaces and dramatic arched ceilings. The renowned oval swimming pool, a beloved element of Hotel Bel-Air for over 65 years, remains a fixture of the modernized urban getaway.