The Creative Space: Simon Tong, Design Director at Goddard Littlefair
Inspiration comes from all over the world and our International Creative Space series continues with the Design Director at Goddard Littlefair.
Goddard Littlefair is a London-based, luxury interior design studio, established by Martin Goddard and Jo Littlefair in 2012. The company’s talented, international team works on multi-award-winning hotel, hospitality and spa projects across the globe.
Design Director, Simon Tong works closely with the company founders to direct live projects and ensure programming, resourcing and design management remain smoothly on track. Simon has several decades’ experience of directing not only high-value projects, but design teams and entire studios in the UK and the Far East.
Simon, How has your work abroad inspired your creativity, where is your Creative Space?
Back in 2013, I was working out in Hong Kong, designing a multi-million-pound residential development. The brief was to create an interiors scheme that encapsulated the glamour and lifestyle of the Cote d’Azur and, luckily for me, a research trip was also deemed necessary. With my team in tow, I flew out to the south of France to research some of the Riviera’s most iconic spaces, including the Eden Roc hotel and the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat.
The latter took my breath away. ‘The Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel’ is an absolute institution and has played host to the biggest names in film and politics the world over. By 2009, to mark its 100th birthday, it had just undergone a huge refurbishment, with an architectural scheme by Luc Svetchine and interiors by Pierre-Yves Rochon.
I thought I had seen most of the world’s great hotels by then, but here was a whole new level of luxury, from the wedding-cake Belle Époque façade and immaculately-manicured gardens to the security men buzzing around with their dark suits and ear-pieces, subtly hinting at the calibre of guests inside.
The interior look was cream on cream and then more cream – pretty much as far as the eye could see. The effect was effortless luxury, although creating it had obviously been anything but. Beautiful artwork hung on the walls and feature pieces caught your eye continually, including a stand-out delicate wrought-iron chandelier with little venetian glass doves. The rooms themselves took you back to an era of true glamour, but were nonetheless highly contemporary – a real trick to pull off.
Wherever you were in the hotel, you felt safe, cosseted and special, as if you’d just stepped out onto an amazing yacht and waved the real world goodbye.