1. What is your design background?
Studied Interior Architecture in Sydney and cut my teeth with a lot of fast-paced fashion retail and hospitality design back home before coming to NYC in 2012 to tackle larger scale residential and commercial projects with MA.
2. What are some of your favorite projects that you’ve worked on? Why?
The
ROOST apartment hotel projects feel special because we helped create a brand from its inception. The first two properties made use of existing buildings so the brand aesthetic had to be strong enough to hold up within another building’s story. Every apartment feels unique -aimed to inspire guests and feel like a friend’s place that you’ve always wanted to stay in. The brand has since set the tone for the extended stay sector within the industry.
Our latest completed ROOST opened a few months ago at
The Girard building in center city Philadelphia in an MA ground up building which is a first – but also a dynamic project in itself with expansive, hotel-like amenities that fall somewhere between the residential and hospitality world.
We’re also in construction for a 61 room hotel out in the Rockaways – (including 7 extended stay suites). The location is a reminder of the city’s diversity – there are so many facets to New York and The Rockaways is a unique pocket where urban meets the beach…we’ve been conscious of creating spaces that resonate with the neighborhood and tell its story – the goal is that every guest feels like a local!
3. What are your favorite and least favorite design tips? Why?
Favorite design tip – don’t be afraid of color. Color in a space can be challenging but so rewarding when it’s done right. It can elevate or set a mood for a room in a second without any other pieces and I love that. Often in the work we do clients will resort to a neutral palette – it’s nice when we can find a happy medium.
Least favorite tip -I don’t always agree when a lighting designer tells me I need to light artwork…I think it depends on the piece – some work need shadow and look great in dark rooms. I don’t really think there are any design “rules” that you have to follow in general there are always exceptions…
4. How would you describe your design aesthetic?
A modern sensibility grounded in function and utility, but layered with honest material choices and lived-in warmth.
5. Why do you want to choose Juniper lighting in a possible project, and what is your favorite Juniper fixture?
Juniper’s principles for design ring true to MA’s interior studio and work – elegant restraint and obsessive about detail. The product is inherently modern but timeless which is why we love it.
Our new favorite is the outdoor Rail system – we just proposed for a new rooftop terrace. It’s a deceptively simple fixture with loads of configurations – I love how stealth yet functional it is.
