Hospitality Design - June 2014 - 85

4

2
3

3

always traveling to Mexico, where I had my
first experience with authentic Mexican
street food. From then on I was fortunate
to travel a ton with my family, and food was
always the center of the universe.
I chose an engineering design path at the
University of Western Ontario because I
wanted a solid background in the way things
worked and how they were constructed. I
needed to get out of Toronto for a while and
had the arrogance not to study architecture
because I thought I could become an
architect with an engineering degree but not
vice versa.

I graduated in the late '90s and opened my
own restaurant sPaHa Modern Bistro on
campus at the University of Toronto and
started my own design studio. It taught
me how to design, build, and coordinate
a 3,500-square-foot restaurant within a
massive new building done by Stephen
Teeple [principal of Teeple Architects] and
Morphosis Architects. It was an epic and
irreplaceable learning experience.
My design studio in 1998 was called
Precipice Studios, and it was with one of my
friends and still business partner Matt Davis.
He had studied landscape architecture at the
University of Toronto with his good friend,
and also now still partner Allen Chan, who
at the time was [getting] his master's in
architecture at Columbia University. We
just jumped into the business. I focused
on hospitality projects, and the guys brought
other experience from brief stints at other
design firms. The rest is history.
After about four years, we were offered
to take over a very popular HGTV design
television show, Designer Guys, and ended
up filming 74 episodes over three years,
which got us some international recognition
because it aired in over 10 countries around
the world (and I think it still does today).
Other career highlights: designing
restaurants and bars all over Toronto and
contributing to the development of the scene;
working with David Chang for Momofuku
Toronto and Nick Jones for Soho House
Toronto; and meeting Josh Wyatt from
Patron Capital, the visionary behind the
'designer hostel' that today is Generator, and
helping craft and create that vision.
My first reality check was in 2005. I was

trying to do it all: restaurateur, designer,
entrepreneur, television personality. It was
too much, and I choose to focus on design.
For me hospitality is an ingrained emotion
and inspiration. I love creating a space,
event, concept, menu-the whole thing-and
watching how people interact with it. It's a
complete rush.
The most rewarding part of the job is
working with my team and partners,
and our clients and consultants to make
something a reality.
Mentor: Ian Schrager. Designer I admire:
Philippe Starck.
My guilty pleasure is food tours with clients
to different cities to do research.
I would describe my style as eclectic
contemporary and playful chic.
I thrive on the company of others, red wine,
nature, and love.
Success is being happy and making a
difference.

Recently Completed Projects:
Soho House Toronto
Momofuku Toronto
Barque Smokehouse, Toronto
Hudson Kitchen, Toronto
Generators in Dublin, Hamburg, Copenhagen,
Barcelona, Venice, Berlin, and London
Projects on the Boards:
Ispania Tapas, Toronto
Butcher Shoppe, Toronto
Generators in Paris and Rome

hospitalitydesign.com June 2014

085
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - June 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - June 2014
