Behind the Design of Six Senses London: AvroKO and Heathfield & Co on Crafting Atmosphere

At Six Senses London The Whiteley, decorative lighting played a central role in shaping the atmosphere of the Grade II-listed landmark, balancing heritage, wellness and contemporary luxury across accommodation and public spaces.

For this exclusive Design Insider interview, Patrick Watson, Commercial Director at Heathfield & Co, and Luca Ferraro, Associate & Senior Design Manager at AvroKO, discuss the creative collaboration behind the bespoke lighting scheme for Six Senses The Whiteley. Together, they explore how lighting helped shape the atmosphere of the historic landmark, balancing heritage, wellness and contemporary luxury throughout the hotel.

Patrick Watson

We begin by speaking with Patrick about the development, manufacture and delivery of 27 bespoke lighting designs. We then hear from Luca on the design vision and role of lighting within the wider guest experience.

1. Six Senses London at The Whiteley required 27 entirely bespoke lighting designs across guestrooms, suites and public areas. From Heathfield & Co’s perspective, what made this project such a significant and creatively demanding commission?

Scale alone doesn’t make a project demanding — it’s the depth of thinking required at every level. Here, we were developing 27 entirely original designs, each one needing to work individually and as part of a unified whole across 109 rooms, suites and public spaces. There was no off-the-shelf solution for any of it. Every fitting had to earn its place architecturally, atmospherically and technically. For our team, that kind of creative responsibility across a project of this size is where we do our best work. It stretched us in the best possible way.

2. The lighting needed to support a Grade II-listed Art Deco building while also contributing to a contemporary, wellness-led guest experience. How did Heathfield & Co approach that balance between heritage, technical performance and atmosphere?

AvroKO’s instinct was to ground the design in the building’s inherent Art Deco and post-Victorian proportions, and we followed that lead. For us, that translated into fittings with warmth and weight to them — forms that felt considered and enduring rather than trend-led, and finishes chosen to sit comfortably alongside the tactile, organic materials AvroKO were specifying throughout. Practically, it also meant integrating modern, energy-efficient lighting engines in a way that was entirely invisible — no exposed wiring, no compromised plasterwork, nothing that jarred against the architecture. The wellness element added another layer: every fitting was specified to contribute to a consistent colour temperature throughout the property, supporting guests’ circadian rhythms without them ever being aware of the thinking behind it. The craft is in making all of that feel effortless.

3. Can you talk us through the bespoke design process, from the earliest conversations with AvroKO and Blue Moon Procurement through to sampling, refinement, manufacture and final quality control in your Kent workshop?

The process on a project like this is genuinely interactive — it doesn’t move in a straight line. The early conversations with AvroKO were very much about understanding the intent behind each space: what they wanted a guest to feel, not just see. From there, our team designed the products, and then a real back-and-forth began — drawings, physical samples, revisions. What looks right on paper can behave very differently in a finished room, so the sampling stage is where a huge amount of the critical thinking happens. Once we moved into production, everything was assembled and quality-controlled at our workshop in Kent. That step is non-negotiable for us on hospitality projects of this complexity — it’s how we maintain the level of craft while still delivering at the scale and timeline the project requires.

4. Decorative lighting often needs to feel effortless to the guest, even when the design and engineering behind it are highly complex. What were some of the details, decisions or technical challenges that helped achieve that sense of calm refinement across the property?

One of the most significant decisions was around cohesion. Rather than using different light qualities to differentiate spaces, AvroKO held a consistent colour temperature across the entire property and let the nature of each fitting — its form, its scale, its placement — do the atmospheric work instead. That’s a more demanding brief for a lighting manufacturer, because every design has to carry its own weight. We also developed IP44-rated fittings for the bathrooms that needed to meet rigorous safety standards without losing the warmth and refinement of the wider scheme. And throughout, we were working in a protected building — every installation decision had to be made with the fabric of the architecture in mind. The guest shouldn’t see any of that thinking. But it’s all there.

5. Where was the greatest joy for Heathfield & Co within this project — whether in the collaboration with AvroKO, the making process, the scale of the commission, or seeing the lighting become part of the completed Six Senses London experience?

Honestly, it was the collaboration. AvroKO brought an extraordinary level of rigour and intention to every decision, and working with a team like that raises the standard of your own thinking. There’s a real satisfaction in a partnership where the other party genuinely cares about the details. Seeing the completed scheme is always the moment it comes together, of course. But the work that happens in between — the iteration, the problem-solving, the refinement — that’s where the real craft lives.

Luca Ferraro