Bisha Hotel and Residences Toronto has hired Kravitz Design Inc to lend an interior decorating hand to it's entertainment district high-rise. Multi-award winning musician, Lenny Kravitz started the residential and commercial design company in 2003. Since then, he's established his company around the world, and also offers custom furniture and a wall paper line.
Here's a Q&A from the Globe and Mail (full article)
The Globe's DEIRDRE KELLY lately caught up with Kravitz to ask him how he does it all, and with flair.
Q: As a multifaceted artist playing writing and producing all your own songs you have said that when creating music you are writing for yourself. As founder and head of Kravitz Design Inc., your New York-based residential and commercial interior design firm, is the same true: do you also design for yourself, no matter who the client?
A: My first priority is to understand my client and their vision. Then I create my world within that concept. It's like producing someone else's music. It is my job to bring out what they are looking for in a new and exciting way that they might not have realized.
Q: You seem to have a thing for Canadians: scoring a Top 50 hit out of your remake of The Guess Who classic, American Woman, collaborating with Canadian rapper Drake on your latest release, Black and White in America, and now joining forces with Toronto entrepreneur Charles Khabouth to create a specialty floor for his new BISHA Hotel and Condo project. How did you meet each other and what made you decide to work together? Do you have a shared vision for the specialty floor?
A: Charles and I met through a mutual friend. He had heard about Kravitz Design and was curious enough to take a meeting. After speaking for a few minutes I saw that we had a lot of the same tastes in art, fashion, and design. He is an interesting gentleman and I saw that he really wanted to create something very special with Bisha. After this meeting I think we both walked away knowing that it would be a pleasure to work together and began to move forward. Our sensibilities for the specialty floor are vey much in line with each others thinking.
Q: You have homes around the world - the Bahamas, Brazil, and Paris, the latter where you've lived for the past few years after relocating from New York; how do your environments influence your design aesthetic? How will Toronto inspire you?
A: I am inspired by everywhere that I go. My repertoire is built on my travels and experiences. I can draw inspiration from the Opera in Paris to a shack in a favela in Rio. Style is style. I've obviously been to Toronto many times but I will be observing it with new eyes for this project.
Q: If Kravitz Design Inc. has a signature style what is it, and how will it translate to the BISHA project?
A: Kravitz Design doesn't have a signature style in the sense that you can look at different projects that we've done and it might not look like the same firm did them, which I think is one of our strengths. But there is definitely a sensibility that runs through them all that gives each project the Kravitz Design feel. BISHA will be a unique project that will evolve from the collective desires of myself, Charles, and the other Bisha partners.
Q: Condos are more than apartments these days; they are lifestyle statements combining residential living with the boutique hotel experience as BISHA is planning. How might buying a condo with a hotel attached intrigue you?
A: Well, I live in hotels for a living and I become accustomed to the services that I get from fine hotels. But then of course I want to go home. Mixing home with the services and amenities of a hotel is a fabulous lifestyle. This you don't get from a traditional condo.
Q: As a multifaceted artist playing writing and producing all your own songs you have said that when creating music you are writing for yourself. As founder and head of Kravitz Design Inc., your New York-based residential and commercial interior design firm, is the same true: do you also design for yourself, no matter who the client?
A: My first priority is to understand my client and their vision. Then I create my world within that concept. It's like producing someone else's music. It is my job to bring out what they are looking for in a new and exciting way that they might not have realized.
Q: You seem to have a thing for Canadians: scoring a Top 50 hit out of your remake of The Guess Who classic, American Woman, collaborating with Canadian rapper Drake on your latest release, Black and White in America, and now joining forces with Toronto entrepreneur Charles Khabouth to create a specialty floor for his new BISHA Hotel and Condo project. How did you meet each other and what made you decide to work together? Do you have a shared vision for the specialty floor?
A: Charles and I met through a mutual friend. He had heard about Kravitz Design and was curious enough to take a meeting. After speaking for a few minutes I saw that we had a lot of the same tastes in art, fashion, and design. He is an interesting gentleman and I saw that he really wanted to create something very special with Bisha. After this meeting I think we both walked away knowing that it would be a pleasure to work together and began to move forward. Our sensibilities for the specialty floor are vey much in line with each others thinking.
Q: You have homes around the world - the Bahamas, Brazil, and Paris, the latter where you've lived for the past few years after relocating from New York; how do your environments influence your design aesthetic? How will Toronto inspire you?
A: I am inspired by everywhere that I go. My repertoire is built on my travels and experiences. I can draw inspiration from the Opera in Paris to a shack in a favela in Rio. Style is style. I've obviously been to Toronto many times but I will be observing it with new eyes for this project.
Q: If Kravitz Design Inc. has a signature style what is it, and how will it translate to the BISHA project?
A: Kravitz Design doesn't have a signature style in the sense that you can look at different projects that we've done and it might not look like the same firm did them, which I think is one of our strengths. But there is definitely a sensibility that runs through them all that gives each project the Kravitz Design feel. BISHA will be a unique project that will evolve from the collective desires of myself, Charles, and the other Bisha partners.
Q: Condos are more than apartments these days; they are lifestyle statements combining residential living with the boutique hotel experience as BISHA is planning. How might buying a condo with a hotel attached intrigue you?
A: Well, I live in hotels for a living and I become accustomed to the services that I get from fine hotels. But then of course I want to go home. Mixing home with the services and amenities of a hotel is a fabulous lifestyle. This you don't get from a traditional condo.
Great blog! I'd love to have my own condo unit,too!
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