David Collins (interior designer)


David Collins was an Irish architect who specialised in designing the interiors of bars and restaurants in London.

Biography

Early life

David Collins was born in Dublin, Ireland on 1 March 1955. He studied architecture at the Bolton Street School of Architecture in Dublin.

Career

He established the , an interior design firm based in London, in 1985. One of his first interior designs was chef Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire in Chelsea. He then designed chef Marco Pierre White's Harvey's in 1988. Later, he designed The Gilbert Scott, chef Marcus Wareing's restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Another Wareing restaurant that he designed was the Blue Bar in Belgravia. He went on to design The Wolseley, the Delaunay Hotel, J Sheekey, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert, Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, and Nobu Berkeley St. He also designed retail interiors for Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Harrods.
Additionally, he designed The Charles, an apartment building on the Upper East Side in New York City. He was a close friend of Madonna: he designed her London and New York apartments and she used a poem that he wrote as the basis of her 1998 song "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", for which he received a co-writing credit.

Influence

David Collins's design and aesthetic has had a huge impact. Simon Mills of Wallpaper* magazine said that "It is no exaggeration to say that the restaurant and hotel revolution in London of the last two decades would not have been the same without him."

Death

Collins died in London on 17 July 2013 from melanoma only three weeks after being diagnosed.

Legacy

A book that Collins had been working on was published posthumously in May 2014 -