Finding your place by design

Clint Nagata, founder and creative partner of Blink Design Group, charts a path forward for designers and creatives for the foreseeable future.

THE MORE I travel the world, the more convinced I become that a sense of place is everything. A deep dive into the culture, people, customs and architectural and design vernacular of a place is so crucial to what we do at Blink Design Group. It truly is the wellspring of inspiration and where it all begins. I like to call it ‘placemaking’.

Examples? Two recent projects come to mind. A deep dive into Vietnamese architectural and design traditions gave rise to some creative interpretations of the Bovi roof truss system and Gian Nha, a kind of compartmentalised home design of interconnected rooms and courtyards, as well as embracing traditional duck eggshell lacquer work as features of the flagship Regent Phu Quoc. The second would be the Japanese concept of daisugi, or coppicing the Takagamine forest’s stunning cedar trees. This informed the motif that recurs throughout Roku Kyoto, our recent project for Hilton’s LXR Hotels and Resorts, a new luxury collection.

Although it’s always exciting to create something new, often our work is about conversions and renovations. The challenges are many but it always boils down to time and money. ‘Do more with less’, ‘build a Rolls-Royce on a Hyundai budget’ and ‘do it yesterday’.