Familiar Meets Modern

By Nadia Mustafa

When the stylish but unsuspecting Briton Ilse Crawford, 42, set out to design the popular club and hotel Soho House in New York City's trendy meat-packing district, she drew from retro archetypes and craftsmanship to stay loyal to the history of the building and the neighborhood. Wedding the kitschy and luxurious (picture 33 crystal chandeliers) to the sleek and modern (think ceramic bathtubs but in a boudoir), she hung velvet curtains in the rooms and draped the club in an Arts and Crafts palette of peacock blue, teal and green. The result was a modern playground for New York City's rich or connected and a hub for the international media, art and film crowd. "I like spaces that plow their own course, irrespective of the fashion," Crawford says. "I wanted to make Soho House feel spontaneous, cozy, sexy, uplifting and relaxed. The paradox I like to work with is combining something extremely modern with something familiar."

Before she started designing spaces, Crawford wrote about them. In 1989 she launched the British Elle Decoration and over the next decade was credited with introducing contemporary design to Britain in an unsnobbish way. "Then one day," she says, "I thought, No more, I don't want to become part of the furniture." So Crawford moved to New York City and spent two years as vice president of Donna Karan Home, translating DKNY's identity on the runway into products for the bathroom, bedroom, living room and kitchen. These days she is overseeing the launch of the Marks & Spencer Lifestore in Britain. "Ilse sees all that is out there and is able to put it together in a way that makes it reachable and touchable to real people," says Donna Karan. "She links the design community and the consumer." --N.M.