Spa Business issue 2 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

Denniston’s client
list is impressive and
includes the Fuchun
Resort in China
Aman Sveti Stefan in Montenegro is a Denniston project
just that we get approached to do so many
that I can afford to turn some down.”
If this makes Gathy, a Malaysian resident
originally from Belgium, sound conceited,
let me set the record straight. By the end
of our conversation, I’m almost ringing the
bank to lend me money to build a spa so I
can spend more time with him. Charming,
funny and as passionate about spas as anyone
I’ve met, he could (probably) get away
with just about anything. “I’m a terrible
administrator and manager – I’m a pure creative,“
he says. “I love art, travel, hotels and
design; but most of all I love creativity.”
A WINNING CULTURE
Since a young age, Gathy had always wanted
to explore the world and he figured “being
a hotel designer would mean I would travel
often”. After his studies in Belgium, he got a
job at the University of Liege working as a
collaboration of architects and was sent to
Indonesia on a project. While there, he fell
in love with Asia and in 1983 moved to Hong
Kong where he set up his own architectural
firm – Denniston Architects.
Gathy is proud of his
hotel and spa design
at Chedi Muscat
because of its drama
PERSONAL FILE
Favourite colour: Blue
Hobbies: Collecting art
Preferred material to work
with: Timber and stone
Spa you most love: Amankora
Gangtey in Bhutan
Spa design you’re most proud of:
One&Only Reethi Rah – because
By 1989, Denniston had offices in Singapore,
Thailand and Indonesia. But despite
loving Hong Kong, Gathy left there to enjoy
the less expensive lifestyle and the increasing
number of opportunities in Malaysia, where
his headquarters are still based.
Today, Denniston employs 155 full-time
architects and designers, made up of 23 different
nationalities. According to Gathy, this
makes for an interesting debate in the office.
He says: “When you have people of different
nationalities, ages, sexes and religions
working together, it becomes a very engaging
and exciting workplace.”
JEAN-MICHEL GATHY
of the interaction between
architecture and landscape; and
the Chedi Muscat for its drama
What would be your dream project? A
cozy mountain resort in the Himalayas;
or a top-notch high-rise hotel in Shanghai
Best piece of advice: “Know
your duty and not what is owed
to you” by my late father
It is Gathy, however, who is the public
face of the firm and in April 2006, he was
inducted into the Platinum Circle of Hospitality
Design which honours individuals who
have contributed significantly to the world
of hotel design. His company’s client list
reads like a who’s who in the world of highend
hospitality development, and includes
revered brands such as Amanresorts (sb10/2
p24), GHM, Park Hyatt, St Regis, Shangri-La,
Banyan Tree and One&Only.
Gathy regularly works with the top names
in the industry. In 2010 he worked alongside
renown French designer Philippe Starck to
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