David Collins (interior designer)

David Collins was born in Dublin, Ireland on 1 March 1955.[1] He studied architecture at the Bolton Street School of Architecture in Dublin.[1][2]

He established the David Collins Studio, an interior design firm based in London, in 1985.[2] One of his first interior designs was chef Pierre Koffmann's La Tante Claire in Chelsea.[1] He then designed chef Marco Pierre White's Harvey's in 1988.[1] Later, he designed The Gilbert Scott, chef Marcus Wareing's restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.[1] Another Wareing restaurant that he designed was the Blue Bar in Belgravia.[1] He went on to design The Wolseley, the Delaunay Hotel, J Sheekey, Brasserie Zédel, Colbert, Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, and Nobu Berkeley St.[1][2] He also designed retail interiors for Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Harrods.[2]

Additionally, he designed The Charles, an apartment building on the Upper East Side in New York City.[3] He was a close friend of Madonna: he designed her London and New York apartments and she used a poem that he wrote as the basis of her 1998 song "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", for which he received a co-writing credit.[4][5]

David Collins's design and aesthetic has had a huge impact. Simon Mills of Wallpaper* magazine said that "It is no exaggeration to say that the restaurant and hotel revolution in London of the last two decades would not have been the same without him."[6]

Collins died in London on 17 July 2013 from melanoma only three weeks after being diagnosed.[1][2]