David Collins (1 March 1955 – 17 July 2013) was an Irish architect who specialised in designing the interiors of bars and restaurants in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Biography

Early life

David Collins was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

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

Career

He established the David Collins Studio, 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 (now defunct) Harvey's Harveys (restaurant)

in 1988. Later, he designed

The Gilbert Scott The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel forms the frontispiece of St Pancras railway station in St Pancras, London. The station is one of the main rail termini in London and the final stop for international trains departing to Paris, Brussels, ...

, chef Marcus Wareing's restaurant at the

St Pancras Renaissance Hotel ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

. Another Wareing restaurant that he designed was the Blue Bar in Belgravia. He went on to design The Wolseley, the

Delaunay Hotel Delaunay is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: People Arts * Catherine Delaunay (born 1969), French jazz clarinet player and composer * Charles Delaunay (1911–1988), French author and jazz expert * Joseph-Charles Delau ...

, J Sheekey, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert, Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, and

Nobu Berkeley St Nobu Berkeley St is a restaurant located in London, England. The interior was designed by celebrated interior decorator David Collins with lighting by Isometrix. The restaurant previously held one star in the Michelin Guide, however this star was ...

. 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, which was part of what led him to be named to the 2012 AD100 list. 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 and the Studio celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, David 1955 births 2013 deaths Architects from Dublin (city) Designers from London Interior designers Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom