Campion Platt: Redesigning the Design World
He might be one of the most well-known names in architecture and design after first bringing his sense of style to the home decor scene over three decades ago, but Campion Platt, who has appeared on the AD100 list multiple times, is still paving the way for posh design – in his own way.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate degree in architecture, Platt landed in New York. After modeling, traveling around Europe, completing a three-year master’s program at Columbia and serving as an apprentice for a major firm based in Miami which was credited with making the Miami skyline, Campion was ready to champion the design world. He eventually found himself working at their New York office and his extensive travels continue to inspire his design ideals. As Campion explains, architects were required to apprentice with another firm before being allowed to take the necessary exam to become your own architect. His budding home building and design career was about to reach new – and very haute – heights.
One of Platt’s first projects which also appealed to his entrepreneurial side was the ownership and construction of the Mercer Hotel in Soho along with business partner Andre Balazs. “Hotels are really the most interesting building type because you can design everything from the toothbrush stand to the front entrance,” explains Campion. While he is sometimes only doing one or the other, Campion enjoys those projects where he can do both architecture and interior decorating together; in New York, there are only about ten top designers who are known for this. He also revolutionized Downtown Manhattan when he started MercBar in 1989, in addition to taking equity interest in other restaurants and bars. Today, Campion mostly uses his creativity to curate spaces for high-profile clients in finance, law and tech, as well as for Hollywood celebrities who have New York apartments or homes in the Hamptons.
While he remains humble, let’s just say that the latest celebrity dream home you were fantasizing about was most likely designed by Platt. Although he says that most famous clients outsource almost everything to their handlers, he has always had direct connection to all of his celebrity clients. “Conan O’Brien is such a smart guy, he really got it. We talked about so many things during the whole process. Meg Ryan was also great. We did a 1930s secessionist movement arts and crafts apartment. She was really involved in the design and really knew a lot about it. I’m not a big arts and crafts stye guy but chanelled Charles Rennie McIntosh and she loved it. A lot of celebs don’t have time to deal with things, they usually just jump in to look at floor plans. Most of them will simply choose a famous designer, but there are also others who really do their research and go with someone who makes their heart sing. Those are the ones who I know really appreciate my work.”
According to this A-list architect, his own claim to 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 chair. It’s timeless for any designer. People would usually come to me because I could scale the room and had a holistic attitude. Frank Lloyd Wright was completely holistic, so I always gravitated towards him. He was a hero.”
In addition to designing custom work for clients, he has also made furnishings, textiles and hardware for major companies including Jim Thompson Fabrics. Still, he is most passionate about creating designs which are not only stylish, but more importantly, sustainable, something which he believes is now synonymous with a new kind of luxury. Campion is a major advocate of green architecture and green design. He always does what is most ecological for himself, his family and the world. Being sustainable is a lifestyle for Platt, which drives how he lives his life – literally, as he has an electrically run Tesla in his garage. As an expert in technology, Platt also prioritizes efficiency and streamlined comfort for a truly smart home. He also worked on green development for the Greenbrier Resort. “I need a space to be an oasis where people can remain calm.”
Campion would like to see an even greater eco-friendly evolution. Change and awareness has indeed increased over the last five years, and it remains mandatory for government buildings in the US to be eco-conscious, but there is still not enough interest to convince politicians in other countries to change their ways yet. “When it comes to design, using or repurposing classical furniture is more sustainable, but in our high-level interior design niche world, the client is looking more for a look,” explains Campion. “What is the real impact, for instance, of using a product like bamboo which uses a lot of water? This is a wildly changing environment so I’m always reading, and listening to TED Talks. I currently have a few climate projects I’m working on myself, including the Audubon Sanctuary in Palm Beach near Mar-A-Lago, where we are trying to eliminate non-native plants. I’ve been partnering with Katie Carpenter, an eco-filmmaker, as we try to heal the islands.”
He is also involved in an interesting project centered around budget hotels. “I embarked on a road trip where I stayed in over a dozen budget hotels. What I’m most interested in is the land which is not being used by the hotel. The bird and bee populations are down, and yet they are responsible for 30 percent of the food, and that’s because some animal that has pollinated it. I’m part of a hotel project which is in the process of purchasing budget hotels such as a Ramada Inn or Choice Hotels or below that grade. There are 50-100,000 types of these hotels across the country. The idea is to do an eco-design, but even more than that, it’s about rewiring the land and hopefully leading the way to change, locally and globally. From the top bee guy to an ornithologist, we are figuring out the ideal blend of how much money you need to do these backyards and rewild them. We want to bring plants and animals out again just like we saw during the lockdowns of the pandemic when wildlife started coming back to the canals in Venice. I’m also passionate about a new water project and developing greater technology around reducing sea temperature. Our seas are warming and if we don’t solve that, we can’t solve anything.”
Throughout the pandemic, Platt, who has homes in Palm Beach, Water Mill and in Soho, not far from his first hotel, has enjoyed spending more time with his family, including his wife and four
children – a son who is 31 as well as school aged children. He has also found some very stylish silver linings, such as how people are using more of their spendable income on their homes and home offices rather than travel and dining out. “If you’re going to be cooped up, you better have great interiors to appreciate it. I especially like to say that having a clean desk gives you a clean mind. It’s been a great time for people in the design business and I think the trend will continue as people become more aware of their daily surroundings as a wellness space.” Platt’s home is also a healthy oasis, and he now finds himself decorating and building properties featuring more extensive home gyms, as well as a focused approach on music, scents and healthy living in this post-covid world.
When it comes to designing chic spaces on different coasts, Campion notices that in New York, you’re typically dealing with smaller spaces and clients who tend to be either conservative or more innovative and on the modern side. California, on the other hand, is more focused on open plans with homes that have indoor/outdoor living areas. There is more of an exuberance of color. He also believes that there are more top designers and resources in the city.
As someone who is not only on top of trends but also making trends, Platt believes that the new age of modernism is right on our doorstep. “I see a whole new world of not only eco and sustainable design, but especially modern design which is streamlined, fresh, clean, and begs to have warmth and materiality. This has always been my struggle, but what I try to do is bring a textural component to a modern space. You have to ask yourself a question – do you want to take a nap and live in this room or do you want to look at this room? Modernism is harder to decorate in that regard and I still think that there is huge room for improvement.”
One of the places Platt keeps a close eye on for exciting design trends is China, which continues to experience a new age of architecture and aesthetic. “China used to have just old Italian baroque furniture, but every year they become more modern and streamlined. They’re catching on to what modernism is. They’re really the ones to watch now that they are free to think and design again. Italian furniture companies are doing great there.”
Campion has been traveling to China for the past six years after first being asked to appear at an event as one of the world’s top ten designers in the Southeast part of the country. While abroad in the region, he began working on numerous projects, including a new major hotel. “China is a total boom town. They have three times our population and a new middle class with buying power who are keen on Western design. I have a ten-year visa so that I can work on my ongoing projects there, though of course things have been at a standstill between Covid and the old tariffs from Trump. My projects basically just stopped overnight, but my Chinese partners are working with online platforms to bring Chinese products into the market here and vice versa. The scale is so much bigger there, so I really see it as a raw territory for so much fertile design work.”
While vintage pieces might not be over, Campion contends that classicists will need a bigger budget, while modern world furniture can be more easily duplicated. Campion is also known to work around art collections. For one recent project, he worked with an art consultant to really look at the theme and palette and used specific lighting in the gallery hall. “It was sculpted like a museum for each artwork and sculpture.”
Though he usually makes a line item budget for a project from beginning to end, Campion explains that $150,000 is a typical spend for a living room, also known as a primary room. In order to meet the $2.5 million budget for a recent client’s family home in the Hamptons, Campion used furniture from places like CB2 for the secondary rooms, though he warned his clients of the pitfalls of such purchases, including measurement issues, wear and tear, etc.
A recent project which perfectly combined all of Platt’s passions was a palatial penthouse in Costa Rica. It all started with a cold call from a budding young designer who was just starting her own career and wanted some advice from the famed architect and designer. Her mother happened to be designing a 7,500 square-foot penthouse in the best part of San Jose overlooking the golf course and Campion, who had always wanted to explore the greenest country in Central America, knew he would be able to transform the space. Aside from gaining invaluable insight from spending time with the local artisans who made the furniture, art, lighting and everything else, Campion also became close friends with his client, whose family was in politics as well as part of a huge commodity business. With 20-foot curved ceilings, an oval shaped dining room and numerous terraces, the floorplan was a challenging endeavour – but Campion was ready to take on and transform the unique space.
“We had lava panels made from the local volcanoe, and a long curving millwork display that traversed the hallway into the living room. I would go down every six weeks to supervise and meet with artisans. I probably had over 100 drawings and the firm that built the building had never seen detailed drawings like mine. The powder room had ribbed venetian plaster and an onyx sink. I also incorporated wallpaper, which I’m not usually into, but it worked for some specific wall finishes and rooms. I always like to do something unique which tells a story. This client really enjoys watching the birds, so the dining room wall has sculpted birds that look like they’re flying through it. I don’t like symmetry in design, and this curving plan really makes for a magical experience.”
Platt’s latest projects include the ongoing renovations at Hotel DuPont, the historic hotels in Philadelphia and Delaware. Aside from decorating or building stylish spaces and trying to make the world more sustainable, Campion is hoping to release another book – or ten – and maybe give his own TED talk.
campionplatt.com
