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 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Biography

Early life

David Collins was born in

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

, 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 Pierre Koffmann (born 21 August 1948) is a French professional chef. He was one of a handful of chefs in the United Kingdom to have been awarded the coveted three Michelin stars at his restaurant La Tante Claire in London. Until December 2016 ...

La Tante Claire La Tante Claire (''The Aunt Claire'') was a restaurant in Chelsea, London, which opened in 1977 and 1998. Owned and operated by Pierre Koffmann, it gained three Michelin stars in 1983, and held all three until the restaurant moved premises in 199 ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He then designed chef

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

's (now defunct) Harvey's Harveys (restaurant)

in 1988. Later, he designed The Gilbert Scott, chef

Marcus Wareing Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who is currently Chef-Owner of the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus (formerly Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley) in Knightsbridge. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on '' Mast ...

's restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Another Wareing restaurant that he designed was the Blue Bar in

Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...

. He went on to design

The Wolseley The Wolseley is a restaurant located at 160 Piccadilly in London, England, next to the Ritz Hotel. Designed by the architect William Curtis Green, the Grade II* listed building was erected by Wolseley Motors in 1921 as their regional offices wit ...

, the Delaunay Hotel, J Sheekey, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert,

Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, also known as Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, is the signature restaurant owned and operated by Gordon Ramsay, located at Royal Hospital Road, in Chelsea, London. It opened in 1998 and was Ramsay's first solo r ...

, and Nobu Berkeley St. He also designed retail interiors for

Jimmy Choo Datuk Jimmy Choo Back from ...

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion ...

and

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

. Additionally, he designed

The Charles The Charles is a building on the Upper East Side in New York City. Location It is located at 1353-1355 1st Avenue on the Upper East Side, in New York City. History In 2007, R. Ramin Kamfar, the chief executive of Bluerock Real Estate, purchase ...

, an apartment building on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

in New York City. He was a close friend of

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

: 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 "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her seventh studio album, '' Ray of Light'' (1998). It was written and produced by Madonna and William Orbit, with additional songwriters including Rod McKue ...

", 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 Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

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