Henry, a native of Toronto, has been a member of the interior design industry for more than thirty-five years; his career stretches beyond Toronto to New York City, London, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, the Caribbean Islands and Bermuda.

Henry’s principles of design are relevant to business leadership today perhaps more than ever. In his words, he describes his approach as ”deep articulate thinking” – a beautiful expression that conveys the mindfulness and magic that brings a concept to life. One need only to think of Apple Computer to appreciate how deep articulate thinking can make already innovative products appear magical and transform an entire industry.

Henry’s following two design themes can be embraced by leaders in all organizations who seek to be more relevant, profitable and sustainable:

• Consistency – through clarifying our ideas, simplifying and focusing on what really matters;
• Uniqueness – by providing a new response appropriate to each situationThe additional themes that have consistently been expressed in Henry’s unique work also resonate in today’s business landscape:
• Open and Transparent – creating a visual, engaging sense of collaboration, trust and community and inviting others to join in;
• Functional – bringing others to the ease and elegance of that magical place where design just “works”

Henry’s projects have typically been ‘high end’ and luxurious; however, as he weaves his values, themes and propositions into his work, he is redefining the very concept of “luxury” in a most innovative and relevant way. (Rick Sidorawicz)

In Henry’s Own Words

When people learn that I am an interior designer, the first question they invariably ask me is some variation of ”what look are people using now”. Seldom am I inspired to answer questions like this directly, or at least not in a way that people are expecting. Even before I began designing more than thirty years ago, following trends never really interested me. Now, don’t get me wrong, what I do can be as cutting edge and contemporary as that of any designer. But I prefer leading edge thinking to result in rooms and spaces that are unique in every sense and not just part of some trend.

To achieve original interiors, I follow a process that takes in as many facts and givens such as site dimensions, building type, location and setting as I can assemble and then combine this information with a substantial dose of inspiration (such as a set of black Wedgewood China circa 1795 or a mahogany military dressing table from the mid 18th Century for the King of the Hellenes) and even intuition. This last element – intuition – is unquestionably the most mysterious but also the most important when it comes to bringing to light the unspoken needs and concerns of my clients. Experience has taught me that there will always be issues that even the most open and forthright among those I am working with will attempt to hide and prevent from being discussed. And I need to be aware of both the spoken and unspoken if I am able to successfully create a luxury home that is suitable in every way possible.

When designing, I always start by taking my clients’ activities, hobbies and collections into account to establish a theme. What is of interest to my clients may be as particular as their equestrian lifestyle, a formidable art or wine collection or the desire to entertain on a lavish scale. Working meticulously, I create one-of-a-kind design solutions that fir my clients’ lives like a key in a lock. For instance, for a couple that often sets aside time to enjoy deep sea fishing together and maintains properties on Bermuda as well as several other Caribbean islands, I made sure that the interiors of their vacation homes were all focused on the ocean, Not just with nautical themes but directly from the standpoint of the interior architecture. For this couple’s home in the Grenadine Islands, I created a sunken bar and seating lounge that opens onto a subterranean grotto through floor to ceiling glass doors. Furnishings in this grotto are built around cylindrical sea water aquarium tanks using nautical grade materials such as stainless steel, teak and mahogany. All of the fabrics and carpets are woven with an abstract blue and blue pattern that resembles waves creating and breaking.

Another couple I work with frequently loves to showcase their talent for classic French cooking. For their Muskoka vacation home, I made sure the kitchen was front and centre in my design. “Floating” like an island on top of the massive stairway that rises and falls around their “kitchen pulpit”, my clients can be seen cutting, chopping and working the stoves from all around.

For a client who made his reputation – and fortune – in the trucking business, I had an artist paint an almost photorealistic “portrait” of a Mack Truck and hang it in the private elevator lobby of his suite at one of Toronto’s leading condominium residences. I saw this painting as my own insouciant way of relating his business (and love of trucks) to his personal life – something that differentiates his home from that of any other I have worked on before or since.

The continuing need to arrive at original solutions is what makes designing challenging – and a perennial joy that is so rewarding to someone such as myself. As long as I have clients who require original, one-of-a-kind homes that suit their specific needs and fulfill their lifestyle re- quirements, it would be impossible to exhaust my creativity and run out of ideas. I have been designing long enough to know that my creativity is grounded in both practical understanding as well as a mental catalogue of artistic precedent. Using these, I have no need to follow trends slavishly or resort to ready-made solutions.

Henry’s new definition of luxury – open, transparent functional, consistent and unique – provides design themes that leaders in every field can engage to innovate, unleash creativity, differentiate themselves and better serve their clients and constituents.

Thanks Henry. Looking forward to seeing more. (Rick Sidorawicz.)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though
it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.
I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely
apparition to reveal it to other eyes as mine see it”
Michelangelo

Antoine de Saint-Exupery follows a similar line when he says, “In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is anything left to add, but when nothing is left to take away.” Knowing what to keep and what to discard is the essence of simplicity… when only that which is important remains to be transferred. What we see becomes clear, as if by magic, for the first time.

For all designers, achieving this simplicity is the highest accomplishment and constant goal.

I like to think that an Interior Design Toronto and Custom Furniture Project I completed earlier this year falls into this category. The project is a luxurious, absolutely pared down residential spa. The Victorian builder of my client’s house, one of the largest in the neighbourhood, graced the structure with high ceilings and refined, hand wrought details. Renovations carried out in the Nineteen- Eighties added comforts and amenities but often in a less than elegant way. My job was to parse the building and weed-out all that was unnecessary.

First to go were the old, outdated, sanitary fixtures and fittings. Then, all of the closets and cup- boards, so that it was possible to strip the walls back to the original brick and rebuild from scratch. Seeing the “bare bones” exposed, I quickly realized that the most elegant plan for the spa would the simplest. Everything that was necessary would, of course, be included in the new design, but nothing more.

Several meetings with my client were needed to define what this would be; then it was up to me to prepare the new layout.

My client wanted me create a bold, but simple, easy to use spa that combined a large, open tub and shower room with a more enclosed, private vanity room, using only neutral colours and a minimum of materials. The glass enclosed shower had only to have a single screen directly in front of the water jets, with no doors to hinder access. I already knew from having designed my client’s kitchen five years earlier that she preferred soft, brown-toned marble over all others. (See Style at Home, June, 2008, How To Get The Kitchen You Want.) I wasn’t surprised that Crystal Tile and Marble had exactly the right shade of Brown Pulpis slabs with a soft, honed finish. I picked the best and had my contractor cut them so that nine equal rectangles fit perfectly across the back wall of the shower. The same Pulpis slabs were cut down even further to create elegant, horizontal floor tiles.
To punctuate the veined marble and “make it pop”, I chose mirror chrome fittings – something I seldom do, as far more often I favour satin nickel. But I knew polished chrome was the right way to go. There were so many individual valves, nozzles and diverters mounted on the rear wall of the shower that the combination formed a kind of “abstract design” that I found alluring. To add to the chromium sheen of the fittings, I made sure the linear floor drains were made from polished stainless steel, a metal known for its strength and resistance to corrosion while also being beautiful enough to craft a Rolex from.

A little less jarring than the more commonly seen combination of black and white, my selection of white walls, espresso brown hardwood and mid-brown marble made it easy to define and delineate the shower and bath areas of the spa while still creating sharp edges of distinction. I made sure to keep all of the sanitary fixtures, such as the deep soaking tub positioned directly in the centre of the large bathing room and the oval, lavatory basin the vanity room, stark, porcelain white. The fixtures, set as they are, on dark stained oak, are instantly recognizable. Their purpose is easily understood. All guesswork is taken out of what the user is to do.

The plan I came up with for the spa makes sense. With the free standing tub positioned directly front and centre of the 10 foot by 7 foot shower, it beckons the user to enter the bathing room gracefully and suggests that what can only be seen as a glimpse through the door will soon be fully revealed. Altogether, the gentle contrast of colours parleys an air of formality and personal respect that is especially suitable to the occasion of private bathing, but never quite as formal as the more severe contrast of black and white would offer. The uvular, enveloping shape of the tub further stimulates the bathroom drama, echoed again by the over scale lavatory basin and dramatic, wall mounted toilet. Altogether, these uncommonly well designed fixtures raise the more common understanding we ordinarily give to a bathroom’s everyday function, while adding elegance, luxury and the pursuit of “living fancy free” to the equation.

By using contrast and geometry, I have heightened my client’s awareness. She is no longer just an occupant, she has become a partner – at one with the tension that my design creates. In effect, my client has become one with an environment that knows what it is and what it wants her to be, she has become part of an aesthetic level of chicness that is appropriate and elegant.

Since my client’s circa 1885 Victorian home was built with far higher ceilings than are commonly available today, the spa is a bright, light, airy space which easily becomes a stage set to be filled with the unfolding of one’s own dramas. The ritual of becoming clean and feeling more beautiful, inside and out, is just the beginning of what can happen in this luxurious yet absolutely simple personal space.

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Less than a week before the cocktail reception was to take place, Franco Agostino, the restaurant’s owner, called to ask if I could update the dining room – without closing the restaurant even once during that time. I said that it was. And rushed over to start work.

First off, I called my longtime friend and colleague, Rick Murfin of Vast Interiors, and asked him to come by and take measurements for the mirrors I wanted to cover the interior columns of the restaurant. Then, with the mirrors taken care of, I arranged for Keely Masson from Eventscape to meet me at 2:30 PM – the beginning of the dead hours in the restaurant trade – to see if she could fit the ceiling with fabric panels to hide the hodgepodge of exposed wires and pipes that plagued the otherwise good looks of the room. Keely arrived right ontime and, to my astonishment, brought samples of fire-resistant green jersey in the exact shade I needed. On the spot I ordered the panels – though they cost over twenty-five thousand dollars – and scheduled the midnight to mid-morning installation to take place in four days.

Cutting things close! But, a good example of just in time delivery!

My next task was to round-up the other trades that were needed to get the restaurant ready. Joe Pupitella, the neon specialist, agreed to install additional lights behind the mirrored wainscoting Rick had installed in the dining room two years earlier. Elte Carpet’s Joseph Hajirian arranged to have an installer come by in two days to replace the worn carpeting on the washroom stairs with his best synthetic sisal. One of Franco’s cousins, a commercial painter, agreed to send over a crew that very night to begin the top to bottom repainting of the bar and dining room. Pleased that I was on top of things, I used the two hours remaining to shop for a new console for the front entrance.

Over the next five days Il Posto hummed with renovation activity – always between 11:30 PM and 10:30 the next morning. The kitchen staff obligingly kept a junior chef on duty throughout the night to make sandwiches and espresso for the hard working painters. Every morning the chef prepared breakfast for the tired but grateful crew when they finished their all night shift.

On the morning of the reception, I showed up at Il Posto berfore 9:00 AM and set about to hang the artwork I had refreshed with new picture frames and get the room ready.

As a final touch, I had Michael Pelegrino, the master florist from Teatro Verde, create a grouping of three almost otherworldly arrangements he had composed from luscious plum and auburn coloured blossoms on the new console I had purchased from Putti on Yonge Street.

There are times when an interior designer has to be flexible and give more than one hundred per cent in order to satisfy his clients’ needs. Almost always, the rewards are worth it. They certainly were this time. Not only did I get to share Wayne Gretzky’s joy the evening of the party, but I had the opportunity to meet Penelope Cruz, who, by chance, was brought over to Il Posto by the concierge of the Four Seasons Hotel across the street to have dinner as well.

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