Life In Technicolour

With his inimitable eye for colour, the late interior designer David Collins crafted stunning spaces that continue to shape the way urbanites live, dine and play. As The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Bangkok—one of his practice’s most recent projects—reaches completion, we look back at his storied oeuvre.

- Hong Xinying

From inky indigo and fresh periwinkle to rich sapphire shades, interior designer David Collins was known for his deft use of blue and myriad jewel tones. His canny affinity with colour, paired with a sumptuous material mix, created decadent interiors that are at once elegant, glamorous and seemingly timeless. As the designer explained, the key to this cohesiveness stemmed from the appreciation of nature in all of its beautiful splendour. “I would never use or wear a colour that could not be found in nature, having seen the extraordinary richness of nature’s spectrum,” wrote the Irish-born designer in the book ABCDCS: David Collins Studio. True to its title, the design tome covered the signature stylistic features and ethos of his eponymous London-based practice, and was one of his last projects—it was published posthumously in 2014, a year after his sudden, unexpected death.

Having been diagnosed with melanoma only three weeks before, the 58-year-old’s death was a shock for many, including Simon Rawlings, who had worked closely with the designer. At that time, he was leading the commercial projects by the studio, while Collins had focused his energy on private residential projects. They worked together closely for nearly two decades; Rawlings fondly recalls the designer as being “eccentric and well-mannered, with a great sense of humour.”

THE APARTMENT AT THE CONNAUGHT

This particular two-bedroom suite at The Connaught hotel in Mayfair is a bright and airy space, imagined as the home of a well-travelled private collector. Step past the blue doors to discover a serene interior with vaulted ceilings decorated in the designer’s signature shade, paired with commissioned artworks and furniture specially made for the suite.