Boutique Design - July/August 2016 - 6

GOING WILD (IN MORE
WAYS THAN JUST ONE)
IT HAPPENS to every designer, including Margie

Ruddick, a 2013 Cooper Hewitt National Design
Award winner in landscape architecture: the
client makes an unexpected, last-minute "addition" to a project they're working on. In Ruddick's
case, it was the decision to showcase a large,
shiny art installation smack-dab in the middle of
landscaping she had created in front of a villa on
Florida's Biscayne Bay.
Ruddick's solution: add some large Bismarck
palm trees that counterbalance the artwork.
The result, Ruddick notes, is a win-win: "With
the inclusion of this new object in the front, the
water garden I created on the home's bay side
became less of a one-liner."
That sort of flexibility and holistic view is key
to integrating the natural with the built environment, including hospitality spaces. For more on
Ruddick's strategies for doing just that, see "Wild
at Heart," the Q+A that starts on page 46. (An
image of the art piece whose installation Ruddick
dealt with is on that feature's second page.)
Speaking of wild things, albeit of a decidedly different nature, be sure to check out Karim
Rashid's super-sultry vision for updating the
Temptation Resort & Spa Cancun (page 20). It's
said that sex sells. The spaces that Rashid is fashioning at that Mexican resort seek to capitalize
on that sentiment with their frank eroticism. This
is not design for the faint of heart, but it is work
that ardently strives to connect with/attract a
specific type of guest-and in the end, positively

EDITORIAL
Executive Editor
Mary Scoviak
mary.scoviak@stmediagroup.com
Editor
Matthew Hall
matthew.hall@stmediagroup.com

impact the bottom line (pun intended)!
I can attest to Rashid's uncanny ability to
create memorable experiences. In 2003, when
I was working at VMSD (a sister publication to
Boutique Design that covers retail design), I saw
Rashid's "Sensorium" display at an industry trade
fair. His exhibit was part of MUZAK's endeavors
to shed its reputation as a staid provider of
"elevator music."
To that end, Rashid created a pod-like "sonic
womb" where show attendees could sit and
watch a short film and audio loop that included
snippets from such tunes as The Temptations'
"Papa was a Rolling Stone" and, most memorable to me, The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Third
Stone From the Sun." Leave it to Rashid to choose
that mostly forgotten gem from Hendrix's "Are
You Experienced" album, rather than that same
disc's more widely played "Purple Haze," "Foxey
Lady" and "Fire."
An unforgettable, immersive environment,
indeed. Love Rashid's work or loathe it, he sets
the bar high-to the collective benefit of the
design profession.

Art Director
Kelly Farrar
kelly.farrar@stmediagroup.com
Associate Editor
Christina Green
christina.green@stmediagroup.com
Contributing Editor
Oriana Lerner
oriana.lerner@stmediagroup.com
Online Editor
Leslie Silvey
leslie.silvey@stmediagroup.com

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Business Development Manager,
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Tedd Swormstedt
Senior VP, Boutique Design Group,
ST Media Group
President, Hospitality Media Group
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Mark Kissling

EDITOR

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