hospitalitystyle.com

(May 2008) posted on Tue Jul 08, 2008 EDT

Owners are hiring non-hospitality A-listers to design everything from restaurants to suites. So where does that leave you?

Tweet

By I.J. Schecter

• 

Hospitality designers used to be able to short-list their competitors for any given project. No more. Owners hoping to leverage the instant publicity boost of celebrity could be pitting your firm against anyone from residential design favorite Jeffrey Bilhuber (New York's 70 park avenue, a Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group project; Manhattan City Club) to music legend Carlos Santana (specialty suites at San Francisco's Hotel Triton) to runway icons such as the house of Missoni (the creative force behind Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group's new Missoni hotel brand).

While the injection of fresh blood (and subsequent fresh ink) may be irresistible, what about the established professionals getting muscled out of jobs they used to take for granted? Is it the divas vs. the designers?

Not if designers have the right perspective, says Wendy Mendes, vp, RTKL Associates. "We recently lost a hotel project in L.A. to a celebrity designer even though we had a great relationship with the developer. The hotel's brand was tied to a specific business model that demanded a certain kind of individual. We found ourselves interviewing against Clodagh, Phillipe Starck and Graft. Sure, in the moment it may sting, but one needs to look at the big picture."

This trend represents a growing awareness about design in the population at large - "which is, after all, what we're all in business for in the first place," Mendes says. "If it takes stars or celebrities to help accomplish that goal, we aren't going to sulk about it."

And, she adds, debating whether the trend is welcome may be beside the point. "It's a natural evolution. Every business changes over time. If it doesn't, it dies out. There's an elevation of design in everything we see - it's become a true differentiator to the lay person."

Big industry players aren't the only ones seeing stars. When boutique hotel company Joie de Vivre Hospitality decided to create a modern twist on the 1980s Caribbean-inspired Miss Pearl's Jam House restaurant in San Francisco, it turned to Joey Altman, the successful restaurateur, cookbook author and local television personality, to guide the kitchen design.

"It's about leveraging creative talent," says Joie de Vivre's vp of food and beverage, Dave Hoeman. "When we design a kitchen, we often reach out to a consulting chef who really knows that particular brand of cuisine - and that person collaborates with our director of food, an interior designer, muralists and so on. Public expectations are higher. The offering has to deliver more than good food; it has to deliver an overall experience with aesthetic integrity. And the person who can help us make good on that promise can't always be found in-house."

Certainly, a big name can help to generate more television coverage and more column inches. But, Hoeman says, being a household name isn't enough to convince investors to sign a star. "Joey obviously helps give the project instant credibility, which often takes months to build, but that isn't the main factor here. He's simply the right guy for the job."

In terms of collaboration vs. competition, it doesn't have to be either/or. "There's room at the table for lots of different types," says RTKL's Mendes. "In the end, creative solutions come from creative people."