PARK Magazine

“HOTELS ARE
REALLY
THE MOST
INTERESTING
BUILDING TYPE
BECAUSE YOU
CAN DESIGN
EVERYTHING
FROM THE
TOOTHBRUSH
STAND TO THE
FRONT
ENTRANCE.”
fame is that he is highly customized. “I usually create
up to 80 percent of interiors for my projects. Campion
realized early on that his discerning and wealthy clients
wanted custom architecture and furnishings, so he
started making his own. He also gained many great
relationships within what he calls the artisan mafia.
“The leather worker turns you onto the guy who does
the best metal work and so forth. They all know each
other. You can even find local artisans in Florida today.
I come to them with a sketch or idea and they develop
it. It’s so gratifying to me. I did a project in Garrison, New
York where a client wanted a feeling of 1906, so we made
a whole range of furniture using woods that would have
been used during that time period.”
Though he has been featured numerous times on the
prestigious AD100 list, Platt realizes that most decorators
and architects weren’t known until the internet became
a ‘thing’. He credits much of his success to the invaluable
exposure he received which would typically result in
eight or more projects, though he believes that today a
blogger doing a puff piece can have an even greater effect
on creating careers due to its potential to last longer and
be cross linked, etc. He also explains that shelter papers
aren’t and shouldn’t be dead, but that they need to find
ways to stay relevant between collaborations or sponsored
events. “I’ve been saying for a long time that AD should
go on the road and do pop-ups, but they never listened
to me. I still think they should do it!” exclaims Campion.
He has indeed designed all kinds of dazzling apartment
buildings, hotels and homes for decades, but Platt has
his own design preferences. “People would consider
me more of a modernist but I’ve won awards for landmark
projects. My work varies, although I love doing more
modern, fresh and clean work. I am crazy about fabrics
and the textures of metals and woods. I’m not a big fan
of pop art or design from the 60s or 70s. I prefer designers
from the 30s and 40s and the Italian designers who
are creating for that kind of environment like the Barcelona