Top hoteliers going for the Starck-staring fad
IT is good to hear that Philippe Starck - the innovative French designer whose modus operandi is to delightfully antagonise tradition - will soon be unfolding what he has in mind for the rooftop restaurant-cum-nightclub in The Peninsula's new tower.
Starck had been commissioned by his friend Michael Kadoorie, chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels.
That should be welcome news for billionaire German industrialist Gunter Sachs who, according to what his son Rolf told me when he was in Hongkong last week, wants Starck to do the interiors to his Bavarian castle.
Said Rolf: ''We have had some discussions with Philippe about it, but we think he has been quite busy with other things. Maybe when he has finished with The Peninsula''.
Incidentally, since Starck has also recently designed an eye-catching bus shelter in black marble for the French town of Nimes, perhaps Michael should suggest that he might like to cast his imaginative eye on that hideous bus stop outside the street entrance to Gaddi's.
In fact, I'm surprised the dignified Rolf Heiniger, maitre 'd at the elegant restaurant hasn't already had a discreet word with his bosses about this.
