David Collins (interior designer)

David Collins
Born March 1, 1955
Dublin, Ireland
Died July 17, 2013
London, England
Cause of death
melanoma
Education Bolton Street School of Architecture
Occupation Interior designer

David Collins (1955–2013) 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 March 1, 1955.[1] He studied architecture at the Bolton Street School of Architecture in Dublin.[1][2]

Career

He established the David Collins Studio, an interior design firm based in London, in 1985.[2] One of his first interior designs was chef Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire in Chelsea.[1] He then designed chef Marco Pierre White's Harvey's in 1988.[1] Later, he designed The Gilbert Scott, chef Marcus Wareing's restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.[1] Another Wareing restaurant that he designed was the Blue Bar in Belgravia.[1] 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.[1][2] He also designed retail interiors for Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Harrods.[2]

Additionally, he designed The Charles, an apartment building on the Upper East Side in New York City.[3] 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.[4][5]

Death

Collins died in London on July 17, 2013 from melanoma only three weeks after being diagnosed.[1][2]

Legacy

A book that Collins had been working on was published posthumously in May 2014 - ABCDCS:David Collins Studio, Assouline.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Williamson, Marcus (18 July 2013), "David Collins: Designer of some of London's finest bars and restaurants", The Independent
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Alexander, Ella (17 July 2013), "London's Great Interior Designer David Collins Dies", Vogue
  3. Julie Satow, Higher Prices Migrate to Far Upper East Side The New York Times, March 7, 2014
  4. Ciccone, Madonna (2014-05-27). "The Tribute: Madonna on Mr David Collins". MrPorter.com. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  5. "Obituary: David Collins". TheTelegraph.co.uk. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2015-01-03.

External links