One of my first fashion clients was Calvin Klein. We did his first freestanding stores. He was very exact and precise. But talk about high-fashion people who brand themselves!
Creating work for the time that one lives in means no retro thinking. It can and hopefully does mean timelessness.
Architects have big egos. We like to think we're creating the pyramids and they're going to be around for thousands of years. And it's a joke because they're not even going to last our lifetime. I built a home for umpteen gazillion dollars on a gorgeous piece of property in Palm Beach, and 11 years later somebody else bought it and knocked it down.
I'm really a fighter against modernism equaling brutalism.
When I opened Chanel in London, they were happy. People would go, 'Oh, I just came in to see it. It's so beautiful.' And you leave with a positive attitude toward the brand. Now, you don't really get that online. You don't go, like, 'Wow.'
The Peninsula - it's a combination of great service and good design.
