Christopher Guy Accentuates Simplicity with Elegance

By Andre’ Haynes

Las Vegas Informer

Thousands of designers, vendors, buyers, salesman and attendees flocked to the Winter 2013 Las Vegas Market at the World Market Center.  Las Vegas Market is the flagship show at the World Market Center, drawing a diverse group of 50,000 qualified buyers and other industry professionals from around the globe to each semi-annual market.  And that number continues to grow.  Las Vegas Market is conveniently organized to offer the utmost in convenience for buyers and sellers by grouping together like product.

I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony and the cocktail reception of Christopher Guy, an award-winning British luxury fashion designer.  He celebrated the grand opening of his new 8,000 square foot Las Vegas showroom inside the World Market Center.  Christopher Guy’s pieces have been featured in Hollywood productions such as “The Hangover”, “Ocean’s 13”, “007” – “Casino Royale” and “Tomorrow Never Dies”, “The Devil Wears Prada”; and used by designers in hotels such as Ritz Carlton worldwide, Wynn Resorts, and Grosvenor House Hotel London.  For more information about Christopher Guy visit his Official Website.

Christopher Guy paused between introducing new designs and posing for photographs to discuss his endeavors with the Las Vegas Informer.

Question: 

What is your secret of success?

Answer of Christopher Guy: 

Hard work and international perspective.  International perspective because you learn things from different parts of the world and when you apply them to your knowledge bank it builds a picture of where you need to be.  Sometimes you feel that you are doing much better than you actually are and when you travel the world you can measure yourself.  Traveling internationally is a good measurement because you can see where the trends are and what is happening.

Question: 

How do you incorporate cultural influences into your designs while defining your signature?

Answer of Christopher Guy: 

Part of it is market needs.  For a long time people wanted something elaborate such as your main buying customers and emerging markets like Russia and China.  It goes against what I actually like.  I like simplicity, but simplicity with elegance.  Everybody recognizes what elegance is.  For example if you have two women and one is beautiful and one is elegant, the woman with elegance has more value than the woman who is beautiful.  Beauty can be interpreted in different ways; however elegance is recognized across all cultures.  I try to interpret elegance into my furnishings because it does not have international boundaries.

Question: 

How do you select customers?

Answer of Christopher Guy: 

I do not.  I am always thrilled when designers select my furniture.  I am honored to be included in Harrods Department Store in London because it was a childhood dream and they are known for being a standard of excellence.  Also to be included in the James Bond movies because as a kid I idolized the lifestyle of Roger More with beautiful cars and beautiful women.

Question: 

How do you decide what is next?

Answer of Christopher Guy: 

I aim to score a ten on every single point.  I always look at the hotels.  You walk through the door, how was the greeting? How was the valet service? How was the experience of walking through the lobby? What was the corridor like? When you opened the bedroom door did it jam or creak?  What does the bedroom look like and so on? I have a year of hard work to get CG, the company where I want it to be and I have assembled this checklist.  I want to complete my checklist and when I do, I am sure to have another checklist.  So it never ends.

Question: 

What message would you like to share with the design world?

Answer of Christopher Guy: 

Every business is harder to do than it was 20 years ago and it is getting more and more difficult.  It is a long road.  I encourage designers to see the other side of the business.  I invite people to visit my London office and my US office and my Singapore office, even my Java factory because you see different perspectives of everything.  Too often people just see things from their own backyard and you need to see design from a global perspective.

Christopher Guy has influenced Kelly Ivaska and her work for Kelly I Designs.  Kelly is a sought after home designer based in Palos Verdes, and with a design studio in Redondo Beach.  When asked to comment about Christopher Guy she said, “I am currently working on decorating a multi- level contemporary ocean view home in Hermosa Beach California.  Once I walked into the home and met the home owners I realized that this is no ordinary job.  I need to create a sophisticated and seductive space that keeps in the coastal mood of the area.  The owners chose Kelly I Designs because we always try to think out of the box and create interest by using contemporary style mixed furnishings with vintage and worldly elements.  It is a fusion that can sometimes be hard to describe.  And that is our intent!  I instantly thought of Christopher Guy and his collection of refined and elegant furnishings that are unique and make a “wow” statement!  His furniture is very sexy and I felt any piece would work well in this house.  We used an ivoire lacquered cocktail table in the main living area that set the mood for the most refined contemporary look with classic values.  It was easy to work a bit of French and Spanish influenced furniture choices around this amazing piece of furniture.  My clients are very happy and I look forward to continuing with this project and selecting other key pieces from the Christopher Guy collection to enhance this home.”

‘Special thanks to Mary Hall Ross and Angie Garcia from The Ross Group for inviting me to a fabulous grand opening  and introducing me to Christopher Guy.’

Andre’ Haynes

Andre’ Haynes is a contributing writer for the Las Vegas Informer newspaper.  Haynes also is a talk-show co-host of Veterans In Politics; and manages Endeavor Media Group, a Las Vegas PR agency that was founded in 2011 and focuses on A&E, Politics, and Sports.

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