Interview: Blainey North, Architect / Interior Designer

Blainey North’s surname fits well – the ebullient Sydneysider and enviable multitasker on an upward trajectory like few others.

Architect, interior and industrial designer, entrepreneur, business leader and firm Australian success story, North is a standout, having launched her eponymous studio at 21 and pushed hard to achieve ever since.

It’s meant working across a swathe of differing projects, from luxury Australian residences to hotels (Crown Towers and Metropol but two), megayachts (the 54m Mischief), restaurants (Bistro Guillaume) to the world’s tallest residential tower (New York’s Central Park Tower) and more.

We caught up to talk Bladerunner, ‘Zoom walls’ and gender neutrality in design.

Kanebridge News: So much of your work is framed by a sense of architectural allure – which perhaps isn’t surprising as this was your chosen field of study, right?

Blainey North: Yes, I studied architecture and always approach our projects with an eye focusing on the built elements before I even look at the interior decoration. I believe interiors should be crafted with the walls, ceilings and floors becoming part of the consideration in shaping the idea.

KN: Does having such greatly assist in your design process and also your industrial design work with the various Blainey North Collection pieces?

BN: The rigour in designing a piece of furniture is the same as that of a building, it’s just a set of entirely different problems to solve. I love the freedom of designing the furniture and lighting pieces as they are like beautiful little jewels that I can design without any client in mind. It’s a lovely artistic outlet for me. The latest collection, titled Man and the Machine was inspired by my deep fascination with the city and a bodies movement through it. It was almost an indulgence to be able to think and craft pieces based on a particular area of my interest.

KN: It’s arguably strange that more interior designers don’t produce their own pieces – what do you see as the main barriers to overcome here?

BN: To produce and manufacture something is far more involved than anyone would imagine. The design part is actually only a small fraction of what is required as the process of trial and error in prototyping, finding the right people to build it with you, the cost and the labour are all enormous factors in being able to produce a product of excellent quality. That’s all before you have a sale. I’m incredibly proud of our furniture and lighting collection, however it is a very distinct business to the interiors.

Blainey North — A three-storey waterside residence in Sydney’s Rose Bay.

KN: How has COVID impacted or brought change to the way you approach (indeed, clients are wanting you to approach) certain aspects of residential interiors and spaces?

BN: People are again ‘living’ in their homes. By that I mean, they’re entertaining and spending time in and about the house. It’s similar to the1800’s in that respect, and so too there’s a desire for a similar traditional house layout — where the kitchen and the ‘working”’ parts of a house are separated from the entertaining. And so we’re designing homes again with butlers pantries and stand alone kitchens, formal dining rooms, formal lounge areas. It’s a return to the past… Oh, and we’re also being asked to design specific walls for people’s Zoom background, which is quite fun.

KN: Is there a preference when it comes to interiors — in regards to residential over, say, large scale ‘commercial’ efforts?

BN: I absolutely love working at a large scale – there’s a rush about building something that’s so much larger than you. We’re interestingly seeing a trend where homes and apartments are becoming far bigger, in both Australia and the rest of the world. Many of the homes and apartments we’re working on are over 2000sqm internal… Frankly, though, I love all forms of design and select the projects we take on based on whether I feel inspired by the brief and have a nice synergy with the client.

KN: I recall a want to make every project ‘magazine worthy’ — can you explain this philosophy?

BN: Many design firms work on a model of designing a large number of projects with simple design and then take on a few special projects that they put extra time and energy into ( they might make a loss on these). My dream was to create a business where the everyday design process in the studio was so rigorous that every project was a project you were proud to show. It’s been a huge decision as it’s meant that financially you take a long term vision. However, right now, 20 years in, it’s meant we have a large body of work that we can stand behind and have so many repeat clients that we’ve worked with for over 15 years now.

KN: You don’t present, through your work and also on a personal level, as someone who necessarily follows or adheres to trends. Fair to say there’s a Blainey North narrative and that’s your focus?

BN: I do spend a lot of time researching and looking at what is current and new, however I’ve always been a lone wolf. Emulating trends in design is just background noise in my opinion. I believe that original design comes from a different place and a unique process, something we like to work with the client on. I like to think of every project being a grand scale couture dress – it’s designed and made just for you.

KN: If you did have to target some likely design trends to appear this year and across 2022 – what can people expect?

BN: Detail and craft – it’s like the 1920’s all over again. The world is coming out of a period of minimalism and great pain and we’re ready to celebrate again and see beauty in all aspects of our life. I think that will mean that creativity will flourish in all areas of the arts with a specific focus on our interior spaces, the ones we have spent so much of the year inhabiting. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in my field.

KN: In regards to your aesthetics there’s often a sense of moody and arguable masculinity to some of the work — fair summation?

BN: I’ve always found this idea of gender based aesthetic so curious, I mean, what does it mean to have a male or female aesthetic? If it’s floral and curved should that mean it’s feminine? I can say that I attempt to be original in detail and concept in each of our projects, and bring that rigour to the detail as well. I think it’s that attention to detail and alignment that is similar to the principles of Art Deco.

KN: Where do you find inspiration — is much of it delivered, simply, by the everyday and all that surrounds you in Sydney?

BN: I’m usually researching something in my spare time — for example, I’m currently interested in the direction of Kris Van Assche, the creative director of Berluti. In his latest collection he’s been fusing the art of a particular ceramicist and morphing it into fashion in a way I haven’t seen before. It’s started me thinking about how I might use this same technique and apply it to our architecture and interiors. I’m sure that our next project will have some of this inspiration coming from the art world.

KN: Are Australians — generally speaking — becoming braver and bolder with their approach to interior and architectural design?

BN: I think there is a new appreciation for design as a whole. Australia has now seen that good design might be more expensive in the short term, but it can deliver financially in the long term. That means that the developers are enthusiastic about building good design and understand that can relate to better sales and longevity in the product.

KN: Do you feel international markets are increasingly looking enviously at the contemporary design aesthetics we’ve developed here — especially in relation to open interiors, use of light, airiness and so on?

BN: Absolutely, we have such a unique set of criteria here with intense light and an amazing climate, we’ve developed amazing solutions to the indoor/ outdoor transition.

KN: Crown Spa Sydney is a recent project of yours – can you talk us through the concept here and what you were wanting to achieve. And your take on the Chris Wilkinson-designed building itself, from an architectural standpoint?

BN: We wanted the spa to feel like the moment you start drifting off to sleep, that space between sleeping and waking where your peripheral vision blurs. I think that’s one of the most beautiful and relaxing moments in a day, when the mind stops before it goes into a dream state. The design is full of curves and semi transparent walls of resin that you slip around. We worked with Hayden Cox, the famous Sydney surfboard shaper to create these unusual tables and benches in organic surfboard like shapes. It’s lovely as it feels incredibly relaxing but also somewhat unusual — a space which flows and you can’t quite put your finger on.

As for the buildng, it’s our greatest piece of architecture second only to the Sydney Opera House. It was an incredible feat to be able to build a tower which is twisting in three directions. There isn’t a straight wall on the whole façade which meant it was a challenging project for all the team involved. The documentation required complex spacial thinking and resolution. I’m so proud to have worked on the project — it’s rare that such an architectural vision is executed at this level of quality.

KN: What are your other artistic pursuits beyond design?

BN: One could argue I’ve made an art out of dining out. However I do spend time going to galleries and I’m a patron of the Sydney Film Festival. I really love film and find film sets of great inspiration for our work. In fact, one of our designs had wall panels inspired by the set of the movie Bladerunner.

KN: Name three timeless pieces every home needs and a simple sentence as to why?

BN:

Something beautiful to put your bag/ keys on when you walk in the door. I think that’s important as it’s the first moment when you arrive home and should set the tone for your home.
A lamp in the living room — because great entertaining is about people feeling comfortable and lamps throw a beautiful soft light to make people feel just that.
A great coffee table. It’s the centrepiece of the living room so make it something amazing to look at.

KN: What projects are exciting you most in regards to the year ahead — those which you can discuss?

BN: We are so excited to be finishing the apartments in Central Park Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world and which is on Central Park in Manhattan. It’s been an amazing challenge to build during Covid, however, we’ve created some amazing new systems to work with our clients and offices internationally. We’re presenting more and more in virtual reality, where I can walk the client and the team through the design in real time on the computer.

blaineynorth.com

AI agents like Muse can already find you the cheapest hotel room in Paris. But they can’t locate a cheaper version of that Catskills cabin you’ve been eyeing, because it might only be available on Airbnb ABNB -1.43%decrease.

Investors should pay attention to that distinction. When Meta Platforms META 3.38%increase launched its Muse agent last month, travel stocks including Booking Holdings BKNG -1.19%decrease, Expedia and Airbnb all fell sharply.

Airbnb, though, has a real chance to emerge as a winner from the upheaval. The catch: Its stock already reflects above-industry growth. To justify its valuation, Airbnb will need to turn repeat customers into loyal ones.

Online travel companies make much of their money by simplifying search and collecting fees on bookings. AI agents threaten that model.

But not all travel marketplaces are equally exposed. Booking and Expedia largely sell hotel rooms that travelers can also book directly or through competing sites. If an agent can find the same room elsewhere, it has little reason to favor either Booking or Expedia.

Booking and Expedia also sell sponsored listings that steer travelers toward particular properties. Wells Fargo estimates those will account for about 8% of Expedia’s revenue and a much higher percentage of profit next year.

Airbnb has more ways to adapt. More than half its listings are available only on its platform, and more than 90% of its traffic comes directly to its app or website.

The customer relationship doesn’t end after booking, either. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke notes that 90% of Airbnb guests go on to message their hosts about arrival times, keys or local taxes, giving Airbnb a connection to both sides of the transaction.

How the companies have responded to the possible agentic future is telling.

Expedia quickly signed on as a Muse partner. Airbnb hasn’t, and Chief Executive Brian Chesky says AI chatbots have so far been a boon, sending customers to Airbnb’s website.

Chatbots might work for buying paper towels, he quipped at a Skift conference last month, but people enjoy planning trips. He argued that browsing dozens of homes isn’t something a text-based chatbot is well suited for.

Still, the AI jitters arrived just as Airbnb was persuading investors it deserved its pricey multiple. For years after its 2020 initial public offering, the stock—which trades around 25 to 30 times forward earnings—went nowhere. Investors saw a mature operator trading at a growth premium.

This year, Airbnb growth seems to be accelerating. The stock jumped in August after the company raised its full-year revenue-growth guidance with its second-quarter results. Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski credits a run of product improvements under a revamped leadership team.

Among the changes: letting guests reserve now and pay later, adding hotels, and a redesigned home page and app. Investors were also betting on what comes next, including thousands more hotels, car rentals and, eventually, advertising.

The irony is that some of those growth drivers push Airbnb closer to the kind of business Booking and Expedia run—the kind of business AI agents could threaten. Even if AI agents capture a large share of travel planning and booking, Airbnb would capture the demand. But it and others would slowly lose control over how customers find and choose properties.

That would undermine the advertising opportunity investors are counting on. The bigger point for Airbnb and other marketplaces is that losing control of customer acquisition could mean surrendering some of their pricing power and margins.

To bulletproof itself, Airbnb might look to another e-commerce giant that has so far kept AI agents at arm’s length: Amazon.

Like Amazon, Airbnb has a loyal customer base and hard-to-match supply. But it has nothing like Prime membership to make customers think twice before taking their business elsewhere.

That is where loyalty comes in. Business travelers stick with Hilton or Marriott because enough nights earn them perks. Leisure travelers rarely accumulate stays with one chain. Airbnb has millions of listings and plenty of repeat customers, but no broad rewards program. It has begun experimenting with credits on hotel stays, but it should make loyalty a priority, not just a promotion.

Airbnb also plans to launch its own AI agent next year. But travelers using an agent might still want it to search Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking and hotel websites alike, rather than limit itself to one company’s inventory.

Eventually, Airbnb might have to strike deals with agent makers, using its unique homes as leverage to negotiate favorable terms, says Gawrelski. Such deals, along with rewards for loyal guests, could over the long term eat into the company’s roughly 13% take rate, he adds. But if they bring in enough additional bookings, the trade-off could be worthwhile.

History offers a reason not to panic. The shift from desktop to mobile unsettled investors in Alphabet and Amazon, but both emerged as major beneficiaries. Companies with valuable assets can come out of a platform shift stronger, if they adapt quickly enough.

Airbnb has homes the bots can’t easily replace. Now it needs to give guests a reason to insist on booking them there.

Interview: Blainey North, Architect / Interior Designer

Post-COVID interiors and why trends are little more than “background noise.”

AI-powered travel agents are challenging online booking platforms, but Airbnb’s exclusive listings and direct customer relationships could give it an edge. Its next challenge: turning repeat guests into loyal customers through stronger rewards and innovation.