Tony Chi is an American interior designer. He is the co-founder of New York-based design firm tonychi studio together with Tammy Chou.

Early life and education

Chi was born in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, the youngest of five children. He later moved to New York's

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

at the age of six. He attended the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more ...

and studied interior design at the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

(FIT).

Career

After graduating from FIT in 1984, Chi and his wife opened a Hunan-Sichuan restaurant, which later closed in 1996. Chi got his start designing restaurants for Charles Morris Mount Design, and left to found his namesake studio in 1984 with wife Tammy Chou. Following the stock market crash of 1987, Chi traveled abroad to create food and beverage concepts throughout Asia from Hong Kong to Jakarta. In Hong Kong, he met the real estate developer

Allan Zeman Allan Zeman GBM, GBS, JP (Chinese name: 盛智文; born 18 July 1949) is a Hong Kong business magnate. Background and personal life Allan Zeman was born into a Jewish family in Regensburg, Germany; and was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canad ...

and restaurateur Paul Hsu, and the trio started transforming the island's Lan Kwai Fong district into an entertainment destination, which was the start of his international career in design. Chi later designed restaurants for chefs like

Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian-American chef and restaurateur. Early life and career Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname o ...

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

and

Michael Mina Michael Mina ( ar, مايكل مينا; born 1969) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating over 40 restaurants worldwide. He is the execut ...

. Later, Chi began to expand his portfolio to include hotel interiors, from Santiago to Geneva, developing his signature "invisible design" aesthetic, or that which you do not necessarily see, but feel and perceive. In 2019, Chi's daughter Alison Chi took lead as the head of creative development at his studio, with long-time associate Bill Paley as creative director and lead designer.

Notable projects

The studio has designed

Park Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

properties in Shanghai,

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and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, as well as

Rosewood London Rosewood London, formerly Chancery Court, is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, England. It is located at 252 High Holborn in the Covent Garden neighbourhood of the West End. History The building comprises four blocks: the central block was desi ...

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and Sou ...

, W Santiago, Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou, and restaurants in Taipei amongst other hospitality projects. Other projects in Tony Chi's portfolio include: * Andaz 5th Avenue New York (2010) *

Grand Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Chengdu (2011) * Grand Hyatt Berlin (2013) * InterContinental Geneva (2013) * Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills (2014) * Park Hyatt Kyoto (2019) * Rosewood Hong Kong (2019) * Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok (2020) * Andaz Shenzhen Bay (2021) * The Carlyle (2021)

Awards

Chi was inducted into Interior Design's Hall of Fame in 2009 and awarded FIT's Lawrence Israel Prize in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi, Tony American interior designers Fashion Institute of Technology alumni People from the Lower East Side High School of Art and Design alumni Artists from Taipei Taiwanese emigrants to the United States Living people Year of birth missing (living people)