Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 53

perspectives

a memoir

connect four

The story behind AvroKO

It's been twelve years since the four of us-
William Harris, Greg Bradshaw, Kristina
O'Neal, and Adam Farmerie-founded
our design firm AvroKO, but having been
friends for over twenty-two years, it's hard
to remember a period when we didn't know
each other.
We met at Carnegie Mellon University
early on in our studies, and we began
collaborating almost instinctively, but it
would have been impossible to see at that
time how far-reaching the collaboration
would be. William and Kristina began
visiting each other's studios to critique and
improve the other's work, Kristina primarily
pressing William on concept strength and
continuity, and William on aesthetic value
and approach. Over time, the lines began
to blur between whose ideas were whose.
They began to work on each other's projects
more physically, and the concepts became a
back-and-forth volley until a joint conclusion
was reached. Adam also jumped in on
the creative side with Greg. They helped
each other out by reviewing the other's
architecture designs, and ended up in the
same type of collaboration where one-man
projects quickly turned into joint ventures.

Whether it was individually or through
someone else in the group, we all eventually
found each other at school and formed
our own loose brand of 'group think' as a
foursome.
Even though we were hardly
professionals yet, there was a period when
we had a steady, multi-part collaboration
going on while we were living and studying
abroad as well. William was living in
Amsterdam, Kristina was in Rome, Adam
in London, and Greg began popping in from
the States. We all had studios at this point, so
we found ourselves regularly traveling from
Rome to Amsterdam to London and so forth
on overnight trains and boats, and spending
time editing each other's work, throwing out
myriad good and bad ideas, and then going
back to our own respective locations to work
on our own projects in solitude. It didn't
happen consciously, but those years were
steeped in a natural connectivity that wasn't
reliant on proximity or context; it became
the early stages of our process of making real
work together.
After university we went our (almost)
separate ways, but we always stayed

in contact, joining together in offbeat
collaborations and ventures. Greg and
Adam eventually founded Avro Design,
an architecture firm, while William and
Kristina created the concept and branding
agency KO Media Studios. Inevitably, we all
found ourselves back together working in
New York and thinking as a group again.
I remember a moment when we were all
finally creating our own little nests in the city,
and we were getting excited, having a little bit
of money to buy some unique furniture-and
we all wound up having the exact same pieces
in our apartments. Not that it's changed that
much, but we always had those aesthetic
commonalities, well before we even
recognized it. -William
And there have been bits of stylistic
osmosis that have happened over the years
very unconsciously. You start to pick things up
because of what another partner likes, and your
proximity to it. Before you know it, you are in a
mind meld. -Greg
1. Greg Bradshaw,
Adam Farmerie,
Kristina O'Neal,
and William Harris, circa
2003, two years after
forming AvroKO.

hospitalitydesign.com November 2013

053


http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - November 2013

Table of Contents
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Intro
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover1
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover2
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 1
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 2
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 3
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 4
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 5
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 6
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 7
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 8
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 9
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 10
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 11
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 12
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 13
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 14
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 15
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 16
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 17
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 18
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 19
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 20
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Table of Contents
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 22
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 23
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 24
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 25
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 26
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 27
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 28
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 29
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 30
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 31
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 32
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 33
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 34
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 35
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 36
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 37
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 38
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 39
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 40
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 41
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 42
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 43
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 44
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 45
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 46
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 47
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 48
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 49
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 50
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 51
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 52
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 53
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 54
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 55
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 56
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 57
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 58
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 59
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 60
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 61
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 62
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 63
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 64
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 65
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 66
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 67
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 68
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 69
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 70
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 71
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 72
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 73
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 74
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 75
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 76
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 77
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 78
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 79
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 80
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 81
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 82
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 83
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 84
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 85
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 86
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 87
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 88
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 89
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 90
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 91
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 92
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 93
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 94
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 95
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 96
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 97
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 98
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 99
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 100
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 101
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 102
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 103
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 104
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 105
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 106
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 107
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 108
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 109
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 110
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 111
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 112
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 113
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 114
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 115
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 116
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 117
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 118
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 119
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - 120
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover3
Hospitality Design - November 2013 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201805
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201803
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201801
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201712
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/hd/201612
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201312
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20130102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201212
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201112
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201109
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20110506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201104
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_201008
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200912
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200909
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200907
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_20090506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nielsen/hd_200904
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com