Yabu Pushelberg

Who started it? George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg (far right with Yabu), interior-design classmates at Ryerson Polytechnic in Toronto, Canada. Their professional partnership began in 1980 as a two-person studio in Toronto. It expanded to include 100 designers with the establishment of a New York office in 2001.

What is their approach? 'We aren't innovative for the sake of innovation - we aren't avant garde or artistic without any context to it,' says Pushelberg. 'We want to make work that is substantial, that you can actually live in and enjoy. We have our niche, and a great range of clients.'

How did they conquer North America? 'We made our entry into New York 12 years ago, when we renovated the ground and lower floors of Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue; we did Tiffany across the street and on Wall Street. The W Hotel in Times Square in 2000 was our entry into hotel design.'

The firm is collaborating with hotelier Ian Schrager on his hotel brand, Edition, and completed work on its first property, in Honolulu, Hawaii, last year.

And internationally? In 1985, the firm was commissioned to design Taipei's Sunrise Department Store, after the owner read about it in a Japanese magazine. 'It got us thinking internationally,' says Pushelberg. Other projects in Taiwan and the mainland followed. In 2002, it was commissioned by the Four Seasons to design its Marunouchi property in Tokyo; and in 2006, the 4,800 sq ft East Penthouse of Hong Kong's Four Seasons Place, the hotel's serviced-suite arm.

In 2004, a relationship with Lane Crawford began with the design of its IFC Mall store. 'Lane Crawford was incredible for us; the client let us reinvent the genre of a speciality department store. They got us recognised by Louis Vuitton [for which Yabu Pushelberg designed the VIP Suites in Hong Kong] and Prada and now we've just got the exclusive commission to design for Barneys on Madison Avenue and Beverly Hills. Within the last few years, we've got a ton of work from China. We have 10 big projects currently going, eight of them are hotels.'