Tim and kit kemp
Women of the City: Keeping Up with the Kemps
We are proud to be on the cover of the latest issue of Women of the City magazine!
It is not often the three of us – Kit, Willow & Minnie – do a joint interview, but it was such a great experience and allowed us to reflect on what we have achieved individually and together. Not only did it cement in our minds the projects that have been successful, but it gave us more ideas about ones we want to do in the future. A hint – there are many!
As three strong independent women, it was a privilege to have been asked by Editor in Chief, Phadria Prendergast, to be included in WOTC magazine. The magazine’s mission is to enable and empower female-owned and female-led businesses to positively impact our communities; both socially and economically. WOTC is widely recognised as the no.1 magazine for all things enterprise and community, providing global, unprecedented access to female CEOs, founders, philanthropists, girl bosses and entrepreneurs. The stories told by women, who may not typically be found on the frontline, inspire the next generation of female leaders.
Here is a sneak peek of the article but you can read the full piece on the WOTC website, and tune in to the magazine’s podcast ‘Conversations with Her’ to hear us discuss our ventures, the different parts we play in the business and the advice we’d give to our 21 year old selves. The podcast is available here.
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Keeping Up with the Kemps
In an exclusive interview with founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels and the Kit Kemp Design Studio, Kit Kemp MBE and her two daughters Willow Kemp, who heads collaborations, and interior designer Minnie Kemp, reveal what has allowed Firmdale Hotels and the Kemp empire to withstand the test of time and how they give back.
Kit Kemp MBE is regarded as a respected authority in British art and craft. Having founded Firmdale Hotels; a collection of boutique hotels and restaurants across New York and London, alongside husband Tim Kemp, it wasn’t any wonder.
Their first property, Dorset Square Hotel, first opened its doors in London, in 1985. Now, almost four decades later, the Kemp empire comprises an extensive portfolio of ten hotels, four publications and Kit’s eponymous interior design studio, exhibiting a collection of lux, must-haves for your home which include bedding, wallpaper and furniture. Kit and husband Tim, work alongside two of their three daughters Willow and Minnie, giving them the opportunity to also carve names for themselves within the industry. There is no doubt about it; the Kemp family are creating a dynasty.
Minnie Kemp, the youngest of Kit’s three daughters, has been working for the Kit Kemp Design Studio since 2012. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design, which she obtained from Leeds university and began her journey working for the family business looking after their smaller hotel properties and assisting with any necessary refurbishments. “With Number Sixteen in Kensington, we would refurbish about seven or eight rooms a year.
Then, I moved onto [the] Soho Hotel, refurbishing and designing.” She received her first shot at designing from the ground up, when the family opened New York based hotel, The Whitby Hotel. “We did all the design and all of the architectural plans in London and then went to New York and did the install.” She laughs as she recalls it being the same time as the Trump election, and how difficult it had been to get any of the furniture into the building without first being stopped.
Willow Kemp is the middle child and has been part of the Kit Kemp Design Studio team since 2012. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Cambridge university, and a Masters in sculpture from an academy in Germany. Willow has taken the helm of collaborations for the Kit Kemp brand, since joining the family business. “Within Firmdale Hotels, there are so many different things that need designing, and all those small details make the guest experience so much more unique and special.”
Read the full article here
Tim and Kit Kemp: Designers, Developers, Publishing Power Couple
It’s safe to say that Tim and Kit Kemp are names to know in interior design.
They were pioneers in developing and executing the boutique hotel in London and recreated period spaces with elaborate and quirky design.
The pair own The Soho Hotel, Charlotte Street Hotel, Covent Garden Hotel and Haymarket Hotel, the Knightsbridge Hotel, The Dorset Square Hotel, Number Sixteen, and more recently, Ham Yard Hotel in 2013—a site that’s seen considerable attention from the estate and design sector for having not only a restaurant and bar but also a cinema and bowling alley—adventurous features that not many hotels have added to new developments in recent times. The Firmdale Hotel group also includes the Crosby Street hotel in New York.
After meeting at an architecture firm in the 80s, they founded Firmdale Hotels in 1985. High standards and a unique perspective have turned Firmdale hotels into more than just overnight stay locations. The townhouse decoration style—fresh, modern yet quintessentially English—has made for textbook technique and coveted narrative in interior design.
As chairman, Tim’s role is that of property developer and accountant, while Kit is the group’s design director. Individually, they have both been recognized for their work, with Kit’s creativity and prowess in the interior design world winning her the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year award and the House & Garden Pineapple Award for Hotel Designer of the Year, both in 2008, plus collaborations such as the Folkthread collection with boho-cult Anthropologie in 2015. Their joint achievements have principally been in boutique hospitality. Design, therefore, has become a by-product part of the experience (or USP) and their chief marketing tool. Kit was named the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year in 2008 and is the author of several books including 2012 release A Living Space and 2015 book, Every Room Tells A Story. Tim and Kit received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2000, 2006 and 2009, a recognition of its outstanding achievement to international trade.
On Hotel Design:
“Hotels should be living things, not stuffy institutions.”
“Very often in New York you have these huge buildings and there is no real daylight in the center. [Crosby Soho] is a small hotel so it can feel very personal. When you get out of the lift on every floor it is different—a different color with sort of odd wallpaper on each floor. As a guest, you should want to open every door and to find something original in every room, whether it is painting or chair.”
“I don’t like places that are overdesigned because that means they are going to date. They look like they have been designed by a massive team. Very often, if they are in New York, or in Thailand, the design looks the same. I hate that. You should feel a sense of arrival and know where you are. Or there should be something that resonates with a particular area. At the Crosby in Soho, I loved the idea of an art salon, where people could meet. I thought Soho was an artistic community and wanted it to be part of that [and] not to stand out.
I like it when a guest asks, “Where did that come from?” Or, “What’s this—it’s strange!”
We thought Soho London and Soho New York echoed one another. That made it very easy for us to think about a village feel. Soho London doesn’t have chickens on the roof, nor a helipad. The wonderful thing about London Soho is you look across and see people hanging their washing and storing bicycles, going on about their lives. You get the feeling of people actually living there. We like villages.”
On Staying Creative When Working On A Project:
“Design is a private, intimate process and you have to embrace the many twists and turns it takes to create exciting, inspiring but ultimately liveable space.”
On Restaurants and Lighting:
“It’s crucial. I don’t like lighting that goes on men’s bald spots. I don’t like those restaurants where you feel you can’t speak. I hate tasting menus. I’d rather have three or four good courses, not 14. I don’t need snails on porridge.
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Interior photos of The Whitby, Firmdale's second hotel by Keith and Tim Kemp | Admagazine
Travel
Designer and hotelier Keith Kemp, a favorite of the British and everyone who loves English style in its fresh and trendy reading, has opened another hotel. This time in New York, combining in its design all the best from rural England and the fashionable American metropolis.
Anyone who loves good design and fun hotels is always happy to follow the latest from Firmdale, the brainchild of British couple Keith and Tim Kemp. This charismatic family couple is the best example that the right design is a great investment.
When Kit met her future husband, he only managed a 2 * hostel for students in London, now the family owns 9luxury hotels (7 in London and 2 in New York) and several trendy bars. And all thanks to the bright and spectacular design developed by Keith herself.
Keith Kemp is a self-taught designer who has mastered the trades in her hotels with a truly tireless zeal. She designed each room of the family-owned hotel herself, and not one of them is repeated. Someone well described her style as “British style seen through the eyes of an eccentric”: the interiors invented by Keith are really original - a lot of color, incredible combinations of numerous textile ornaments, strange but attractive art objects and works of art. And at the same time British pedantic, even stiff attention to detail and rules. If the bed, then with a giant headboard (it was these headboards that became the signature style of the Firmdale chain), Victorian armchairs with “ears” stand by the fireplace or on the sides of neat tables, the living room cannot do without a collection of porcelain plates on the walls or in sideboards, elegant wallpaper and thick solid curtains on the windows.
And, of course, the principle of symmetry, the solidity of pure geometric shapes and the saturation of bright local colors are strictly observed here. Everything the British love.
For the recently opened The Whitby, Firmdale's second New York hotel, Keith once again designed her own collection of bright colors and dynamic patterns, which were used for curtains, upholstery of upholstered furniture, indispensable mannequins (the signature touch of all her hotels) and upholstery of high headboards. In this hotel, Keith put a special emphasis on handicrafts, which, she says, "sometimes far outstrip the best factory ones."
Tall, as befits a building in Manhattan, the hotel has 86 rooms, including several suites with huge panoramic windows. In addition, there is a green courtyard, The Orangery restaurant with an elegant collection of large ceramic dishes, painted by Martha Fred, depicting the key sights of New York on them.
The Whitby Bar impresses with its unusual combination of colorfully upholstered chairs and 52 wicker baskets above the bar, a sweet "hello" from rural Britain.
Kit brought them from various small English, Scottish and Irish islands, tagged with the origin story and description of what they were for.
“The devil is in the details,” says Keith Kemp, and judging by the success of her projects, it is. - The height or shape of the headboard, the nuances of its decoration and soft upholstery - all this, it would seem, is such a trifle. But it is precisely this trifle that is responsible for the magic of transforming space.”
Text: Marina Yushkevich
Keith Kemp's five interior decorating tips
Books by London designer and hotelier Keith Kemp published in English publishing house "Hardie Grant" and diverge in huge circulations. In the last two books, the designer shares his secrets and talks about new projects. In one book "Design Thread" Kemp analyzes in detail each element of the interior, whether it be a hotel room or a room in a rural house, in another "Every room tells a story", the reader is given a look at the interior as an object of art.
Keith Kemp - favorite of the English public, three times winner of the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise, founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels, which owns hotels and restaurants in London and New York.
MONITORBOX translated for you an article about Keith Kemp from American magazine Town & Country.
Even the most hardened New York and Los Angeles minimalists, for whom a pot with a monstera is the limit of decor in the expanse of white walls, interior in the British style evokes sentimental feelings. Constantly bright walls, whimsical mixing colors in details and objects, multi-colored book spines, as an important part of the decoration - all this evokes childhood memories of pleasant evenings with tea and biscuit cakes.
“Sometimes I think that design is like painting by numbers, where a flat sofa becomes the basis for paints, black and white painting on the wall, faded the color of the walls,” says English designer and hotelier Keith Kemp, known for her eccentric interiors that seem both elegant and extravagant.
We hope Keith Camp's five tips will help you take off into a decorative sky, although this is more the takeoff of William Thacker from Notting Hill, than Dave Bowman from A Space Odyssey ( available in mind cult films, - approx. per. ).
1. Use color.
The color is pleasing to the eye, easy to use, playable, it just takes getting used to. I think we in England tend to use it more because of the eternally gray British sky, but this applies to any place, to any weather. Choose colors that bring you joy - they don't have to be too flat.
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At the Whitby, Keith Kemp put colorful designs over printed wallpaper |
generations, but this should not be taken seriously. No need to apologize for your quirks in decor or interiors. The British are experimenters. Manifest courage, even impudence, but not pretentiousness, not folly.
| Playful art and totems make the hallway much more interesting |
3.
Be eccentric, but do it right.
I like all kinds of quirks - this is from my love for folk art and crafts. There's a fine line between being naive and childish, this understanding comes with experience. For example, I love animals, but I study their images in medieval tapestries or paintings with hunting scenes.
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Custom embroidered headboard inspired by medieval tapestries |
4. Build personal collections.
At the Whitby Hotel in New York, we hung 57 types of baskets above the bar. I started collecting baskets during my travels. Baskets are used in many countries, and I had an idea to show my collection. It was fascinating, the people who helped put it up were from different places, they became tell their stories about which baskets were used in their families and what kept in them.
Collecting is a very exciting activity. You you start to somehow group it all, put it in small boxes or showcases.
