To step into a restaurant or hotel designed by UK-based superstar Swedish interior architect Martin Brudnizki is to be transported to another place – even another era – where everyone is having a rollicking good time. His signature style, a flawlessly executed synthesis of vibrant colour, clashing prints and heady opulence, conveys pure joy and escapism, be it at Hôtel Le Grand Mazarin, a sumptuous lodging in the Marais district of Paris opening in June, the old-world Europe meets modern-day Big Apple vibe of the recently arrived Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s in New York, or the vivacious new Vesper Bar at the Dorchester in London. In short, they’re a gas.
“I was always interested in hotels and restaurants, and the psychology of hospitality – how you can change someone’s mood and take them away from their daily life,” Brudnizki says, explaining why he was inspired to launch his own practice, which he set up in London in 2000. It helps, too, that he is often drawn to projects with a convivial aspect – starting in London, where his resumé reads like a well-spent Saturday night for the city’s élite. Cocktails at Dean Street Townhouse, dinner at J Sheekey in Covent Garden, and after-hours drinks at Annabel’s, which he helped to revive in 2018.
Annabel’s is one of his most celebrated projects to date, arrayed in an orgy of crystal chandeliers, bright mismatched prints and hand-painted jungle scenes by De Gournay. It culminates in the lady’s pink floral powder room on the top floor, fitted with carved pink-onyx sinks shaped like clam shells with gold swans as taps. “You need to walk into Annabel’s and know you’re going to have the best night of your life,” Brudnizki says on a crisp recent morning while walking his whippet, Zenon, near his second home in the South Downs, Sussex. I’m speaking to him on the phone from Paris, where his exuberant imprint is increasingly finding favour.
Born to a German stylist and Polish mechanical engineer, Brudnizki, 56, has more in common with pioneering American colourist Dorothy Draper, or eclectic British interiors guru Kit Kemp, than minimalist, functionalist Scandinavian designers – white tones, beige furnishings and bare walls are all anathema to him. His unique storytelling approach has made him one of the world’s most in-demand designers of upscale drinking and dining venues and, in recent years, hotels. In addition to Hôtel Le Grand Mazarin, he has three other properties to his name this year: La Fantaisie, a romantic idyll surrounded by gardens in Paris’s Faubourg-Montmartre district; Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino, the one-time 16th-century monastery that’s undergoing a multiphase makeover; and The Fifth Avenue Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
“Martin is an absolute genius – he is the master of the grand modern fantasy,” says Alexander Ohebshalom, founder and CEO of Flâneur Hospitality in New York, the group behind The Fifth Avenue Hotel, slated to open during the northern hemisphere summer. “Take your pick of any number of iconic historic hotels around the world – he is the name they bring in.” Inspired by the architecture of the Gilded Age – the classic bones of the site belong to a 1907 bank – The Fifth was designed for modern-day sophisticates. Brudnizki’s goal was to instil a sense of nostalgic elegance, from the marble-floored lobby with antique mirror-panelled walls to the grandiose ballroom and the whimsical, English manor house-style guest rooms. It’s storied without being stuffy.
While a strong sense of heritage and history underlines much of Brudnizki’s output, his offbeat sense of humour is what makes his spaces utterly unforgettable. “Imagine your godmother’s Soho townhouse meets Studio 54,” he says of his latest high-concept project, the Broadwick Hotel, a new boutique property opening in London this year. “The whole building is a townhouse and we wanted it to feel like a residence, so we looked at the history of Soho, all the eccentric artists who lived there in the ’70s and we imagined all sorts of characters dropping by.” Clearly, he could have had another career as a wry chronicler of bohemia. “Even before we look at one image, we do a full review of the client and the history of the site and the interests that inspire us – and then we bake all of these in.”
The Broadwick is an uncommonly sweet confection. Witness Brudnizki’s trademark more-is-more flair meets granny-chic stylings, starting from the dusty-pink entrance complete with elephant door knocker through to the chintz fabric-wrapped walls of the private lounge and the décor of the two-floor restaurant, Gina’s, which takes cues from a fabulous Italian nonna’s home with Formica-topped tables and Bengal-striped Murano glass sconces.
He took the same forensic approach with Vesper Bar, a glamorous and ornate cocktail den replacing the bar at the Dorchester hotel, which Ian Fleming frequented throughout the 1940s. In his research, he looked back to the previous decade, and to the book A Young Man Comes to London, a satirical tale of socialites by Michael Arlen, with illustrations by Cecil Beaton, and published by the Dorchester.
Inspired by the debauchery and decadence of this epoch, the space is decked out in deep mustard and blue greens, with cosy corners for patrons to disappear into. “The design of Vesper Bar creates an atmospheric hideaway that feels fresh and modern yet could have been at the hotel since the day we opened in 1931,” says Luca Virgilio, the hotel’s general manager. “Martin’s design expresses the utmost respect for the hotel and its place in the London landscape, and we were confident he could weave in the history.”
While leading hospitality brands adore Brudnizki’s attention to detail and delight in the curious, perhaps his most hard-to-nail ingredient is that he’s not afraid of a little bad taste. Indeed, clients seek him out for his rebellion against austerity and rules – although the designer does have some guidelines. “You can use all the colours under the sun, as long as they are the same tone, and it’s the same with pattern – just don’t put florals together,” he says, a little breathless now from his walk. “All colours, really?” I ask. “Okay, I do find purple is difficult to work with,” he concedes.
Burgundy is another matter entirely. To decorate Nubeluz, a rooftop bar at The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, he poured on a range of red-purplish and blush shades for the upholstery, adding high-gloss surfaces, glowing onyx and circular brass chandeliers. Set against the Manhattan skyline, the bolthole glows like a jewellery box. At Pendry West Hollywood, a five-star spot on Sunset Boulevard, the designer combined large-scale florals, animal prints, gilt ceilings and Golden Age Hollywood glitz.
For the forthcoming La Fantaisie in Paris, Brudnizki found his lodestar in nature, cultivating soft greens, sunny yellows and coral touches in a masterful way. The property’s location on Rue Cadet – named for 16th-century gardeners and brothers Jacques and Jean Cadet – planted the seed for the botanical theme. Wild blooms adorn ceilings, fabrics and even a tiled feature wall in the spa. “Martin’s creative genius and unique ability to compose enchanting, warm, and colourful worlds – unconstrained by rules or conventions – made him the only designer capable of creating such a new and unexpected concept in the Parisian landscape,” says Maxence Dussart, co-founder and head of marketing at Leitmotiv, the group behind La Fantaisie.
At his Sussex residence, Brudnizki doesn’t merely practise what he preaches, he hits new high notes. The lavish apartment, shared with his work and life partner Jonathan Brook, is festooned with patterned furnishings, verdant tapestries and Venetian chandeliers. The vivid yellow drawing room has a bold interplay of artworks and antiques, while the master bedroom is swathed in floral-printed linen. Even the bathroom features 18th-century prints of regal figures. It’s a foreigner’s take on English tradition, and a glimpse into Brudnizki’s delirious creativity. “I love fantasy and a story,” he says. And with that he heads back to work.