DESIGN SERVICES
KIT KEMP
A celebrated interior and homeware designer, renowned for her colourful, handcrafted spaces
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nternationally acclaimed interior designer Kit Kemp MBE is perhaps best known for her role as co-owner and creative director of Firmdale Hotels, but she is also a successful textiles, fragrance and homeware designer – and a champion of British art, craft and sculpture. Sit down for cocktails at The Whitby Hotel in New York, for instance (it’s the second Firmdale hotel in the city, the first was Crosby Street Hotel) and there’s a collection of woven baskets, sourced in association with London’s Mayfair store, The New Craftsmen, hanging over the pewter bar, plus porcelain vessels by artist Martha Freud in the light-filled orangery. And at Ham Yard Hotel in London, afternoon tea is served on Sailor’s Farewell, a new collection of blue and gold bone china that Kit specially designed for Wedgwood, her second collection for them. Since 1985 and the opening of the Dorset
Square Hotel (there are currently ten under the Firmdale umbrella), Kit, together with her husband Tim, has continually reshaped the industry with her innovative take on the hotel experience. Celebrated for her original approach to design, she transforms and arranges buildings with colourful and detailed storytelling. These unique narratives are the subject of her recentlypublished third book, Design Thread, which reveals the inspiration behind the creative process of her tailored spaces, ranging from a city pied-à-terre to a Manhattan penthouse and a Caribbean beach bar. ‘I’m always looking for pieces that tell a unique story: maybe of a person or a time in history, of a particular handcrafted technique, or even just something with a combination of colour or pattern, or a found object repurposed in an unusual way that takes you
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