< Previous10 DECEMBER 2019 | Commercial Interior Design www.commercialinteriordesign.com P WER 50 LIST 2019 COMMERCIAL INTERIOR DESIGN’S ANNUAL R ANKING OF THE 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL INTERIOR DESIGN LE ADERS IN THE MIDDLE E AST POWER 50 T he following pages list the most infl uential design leaders in the Middle East with the power to have an effect on people and places. They are the ones changing attitudes and behaviours, creating employment opportunities and polishing rough diamonds, contributing to the economic growth of the region and developing its eclectic, evolving design aesthetic. The Commercial Interior Design Power 50 List is published every year in December and ranks the most infl uential people in the interior design industry. The people included in the Power 50 List 2019 – and their respective positions – have been selected based on publicly available information and details submitted to Commercial Interior Design via an online survey that attracted more than 100 individual submissions. For the fi rst time ever, this survey asked respondents to name three people they believed had had the greatest infl uence on regional interior Commercial Interior Design | DECEMBER 2019 11 www.commercialinteriordesign.com P WER 50 LIST 2019 design in the last 12 months. These names were tallied up and the ones with the highest scores are the ones that have stronger position on the list than they may have done in previous years. This works the other way round, too. The extensive survey was used to build a data profi le of each candidate for inclusion on the list. In addition to basic information, such as the candidate’s fi rm, job title, years of service and portfolio of completed and upcoming projects, the survey looked at other things: training and development of younger staff, investment, revenue growth, job cuts or creation, corporate social responsibility and expansion into new markets were among the topics the survey explored. The editorial team spent a long time discussing who deserves to be featured, and in what order. The fi nal rankings refl ect a collective decision, based on the most pertinent information available. However, this list is subjective not objective. It attempts to capture and quantify the abstract concept of infl uence and while the editorial team has endeavoured to remain as objective as possible, it is important to note that other opinions on the most infl uential people in regional interior design are available. With this in mind, if you feel that you or any of your colleagues have been overlooked in the list, then please get in touch with us. Commercial Interior Design is always on the lookout for fresh faces making moves and driving impressive changes in the Middle East. You might just see yourself in these pages next year. P WER 50 LIST 2019 12 December 2019 | Commercial Interior Design www.commercialinteriordesign.com SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, WILSON ASSOCIATES www.commercialinteriordesign.com Isabel Pintado’s infl uence on interior design extends far beyond the GCC. The senior vice president of Wilson Associates for Africa, China, the Middle East and Thailand is also regional managing director in Bangkok, Dubai and Shanghai. And the power she wields is near enough unparalleled. Pintado is restructuring the design studio and production team in Shanghai to capitalise on the massive potential of the Chinese market. This will be supplemented by enhanced communication, improvements to the management team and a strengthening of its partnership with the parent company, Arcplus. She is also building the team in Bangkok by putting in place a new management structure and stronger mentorship of the design team to ensure it can make the most of what Pintado believes is superb potential for expansive growth in Thailand. Changes she is ringing in Asia mirror those carried out for the Dubai offi ce, where Pintado hired Roy Posey to oversee projects in the Middle East and Africa. Under Pintado’s leadership, investment in the Dubai studio and wider region will continue in 2020, with plans in motion to strengthen the studio, launch new campaigns and compete for more projects. In the last 12 months, Wilson Associates increased the size of its team by 15% which now includes more than 300 architects and designers across the world. It is continuing to sharpen its focus in Asia and Africa, maintaining consistent expertise in luxury hospitality, high-end residential and food and beverage projects. Its pipeline of projects includes The Westin Hotel & Resort in Ras Al Khaimah; Marsa Al Arab in Dubai; a renovation of Pai Thai at Jumeirah Al Qasr; MGM Hotel; a refurbishment of the Palace Hotel Downtown; a famous nightclub in Ho Chi Minh City called Chill Sky Bar; and a boutique luxury spa in Abu Dhabi, among others. Pintado joined Wilson Associates three years ago and has grown the business and its international standing signifi cantly, creating a diverse environment with creativity and business effi ciency at the helm of everything she does. ISABEL PINTADOP WER 50 LIST 2019 Commercial Interior Design | December 2019 13 www.commercialinteriordesign.com FOUNDER, BISHOP DESIGN After working in the region for more than 20 years and winning Interior Designer of the Year in 2018 at the Commercial Interior Design Awards, Paul Bishop has firmly established himself as one of Dubai’s undisputed design heavyweights. His peers regard the 52-year-old as one of the most influential interior designers in the region, with dozens of people selecting him as one of the top three most influential leaders of the year. Bishop Design’s owner and founder has enjoyed solid business growth, after increasing headcount by a fifth in 2019. The company now employs 36 staff with in-house designers and production accounting for 86% of the workforce. As it continues to grow, Bishop Design plans to debut a second design studio to support its international expansion as it pushes into hotel design to compliment a strong portfolio across commercial, hospitality, retail and residential. The practice is also expanding its design capabilities to include architecture, brand ideation, concept creation, photography and videography. Design agency Rogue by Bishop Design also made its debut in 2019. On the project front, Bishop Design completed a mouth-watering selection of hospitality projects including Torno Subito for Italian chef Massimo Bottura, Wavehouse at Atlantis The Palm and the acclaimed four-star Studio One hotel in Studio City. PAUL BISHOPP WER 50 LIST 2019 14 December 2019 | Commercial Interior Design www.commercialinteriordesign.com FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ROAR www.commercialinteriordesign.com Entrepreneur, educator, product designer, social media infl uencer, interiors expert and mother, Pallavi Dean, founder and creative director of boutique Dubai-based design studio Roar, wears many hats – and she has an undeniable infl uence on the market as a result of this. Dean doubled the size of Roar in 2019, growing the company from six to 12 staff and has led the practice into Bahrain, India, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, UK and Uganda. Ever since she established the practice six years ago in 2013, Dean, 38, has developed a business with low staff turnover and a profi tability rate that has hovered around the 30% mark since Roar, formerly Pallavi Dean Interiors, was created. She has also implemented a plastic-free policy for the offi ce as part of her commitment to environmental responsibility and is working with a psychologist to redesign the company’s offi ce in Dubai Design District to increase staff wellbeing and productivity. After completing upwards of 130 projects in the Middle East, Dean is tapping into the data economy to identify the future disrupters of interior design. This exclusive research will be used to create a tool that Dean says will make the lives of designers much easier. On top of this, the business expects signifi cant revenue growth in 2019, as the still-young practice continues its irrepressible ascendency, with Dean in the driving seat. PALLAVI DEANCigar Lounge, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaP WER 50 LIST 2019 16 December 2019 | Commercial Interior Design www.commercialinteriordesign.comwww.commercialinteriordesign.com While some architects and interior designers chase the limelight, the founding partner and CEO of LW Design, Jesper Godsk, has tried to let others shine. Through his mentorship of staff, such as former Young Interior Designer of the Year Sneha Divias, he has developed great people and projects. Denmark-born Godsk saw LW Design win Interior Design Firm of the Year for an unprecedented fourth time at the Commercial Interior Design Awards 2019. No company has been as successful in this category as LW Design has — and Godsk has been key to this. The interior design practice also turned 20 this year and now boasts offices in Brazil, Hong Kong and the UAE, with one in Denmark set to follow in 2020. To tap into opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Godsk is in high-level talks with a prominent business about setting up a joint venture to operate in the kingdom. The company has also completed a major hospitality project in China, wrapping up the interior design of the Raffles Hotel in Shenzhen. Like Paul Bishop, Pallavi Dean and Isabel Pintado, Godsk was regularly named as one of the most influential interior designers in the industry during a survey run by this magazine for the Power 50 List 2019. FOUNDER AND CEO, LW DESIGN JESPER GODSKP WER 50 LIST 2019 Commercial Interior Design | December 2019 17 www.commercialinteriordesign.com FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, ANARCHITECT The founder and director of London- and Dubai- based Anarchitect, Jonathan Ashmore, has shot to stardom, after completing the multi- award-winning Al Faya Lodge in Sharjah and a modernist villa in Dubai Hills in 2019. Having completed more than 40 architecture and interior design projects in the Middle East across commercial, cultural hospitality, leisure and residential sectors, the 38-year-old is quickly establishing himself as one of the leading names in the industry. He set up Anarchitect’s office in London this year, creating four jobs, and is expected to see revenue rise by 15% year-on-year, as the boutique team of six people expands into Africa, Sri Lanka and into other GCC markets. Projects in the pipeline include Harding Boutique Hotels Ahangama in Sri Lanka, Bahrain’s first design- led co-working space, a private desert residential projects set atop shifting sand dunes, as well as a beachfront property in Kuwait and an urban hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. With a focus on diversity, inclusion, sustainability and transparency – coupled with a commitment to mentoring top students – Ashmore is building a business that champions more than just contextual modernist design; he is building a business that champions people, places and the environment. JONATHAN ASHMOREP WER 50 LIST 2019 18 December 2019 | Commercial Interior Design www.commercialinteriordesign.comwww.commercialinteriordesign.com CEO, KRISTINA ZANIC CONSULTANTS Kristina Zanic Consultants could see revenue rise by nearly 50% between 2018 and 2019 on the back of job creation and expansion into new markets. The company’s founder and CEO, Kristina Zanic, established the Dubai-based practice in 2012 before opening up a second office in Bangkok and the still-young interior design company now employs 53 people across two continents. Kristina Zanic Consultants has competed approximately 70 projects in the Middle East since it was established, and some of the firm's recent designs around the world include Domes Miramare, a Luxury Collection Resort in Corfu, Greece. Ongoing projects include The Ritz-Carlton in Montenegro, the Cote d'Azur Hotel on the Heart of Europe in Dubai, Hilton Lahore in Pakistan, a Sheraton in Kuwait City and Sofitel Amman, Jordan. Zanic has also led the firm into the public spaces sector by designing a mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, to diversify the company's portfolio of projects and challenge its junior designers. With so many projects around the world on her plate, Zanic has increased the size of her teams in Bangkok and Dubai by 20% and moved into a larger office. In line with continued job creation, Zanic has also launched the KZC Internship Programme and the KZC Scholarship Programme to create more learning opportunities for young designers. KRISTINA ZANICWWW .GLAZE.AENext >