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Ilse Crawford
Designer and author
If you want to know the future of design, ask British style maven Ilse Crawford. The founding editor of Elle Decoration, she now teaches at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, creates chic interiors for hotels around the globe, and writes books about her no-nonsense decorating philosophy.
FAVORITE HOTELS
For Crawford, the best properties combine sensuality and calm. "Everyone is running around
in such a whirl of activity," she says. "Hotels should counterbalance this chaos by being
more grounded and human." A few that succeed: the Casa Camper Barcelona ("its lobby tapas
bar replaces room service and brings people together"); Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam ("they worked
homeyness into an old juvenile detention center"); and the Wolwedans Collection safari camps
in Namibia ("the staff is trained in astronomy, biology, and botany").
TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY
"When I'm on my own,especially in cities, I talk to people. That's why the Casa Camper tapas
bar concept is so interesting. It encourages you to mingle."
FASHION NEUTRAL
"A few years back, I went to Yemen with a friend. We covered up and did all the things we
thought were necessary, but we weren't comfortable—not because we felt unsafe, but because
we felt curiously neither male nor female. Being excluded from both worlds makes you a distant
voyeur."
—RAUL BARRENECHE
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