HAT TRICKS

The
resident
Chef Michael Brown
on the evolution of
Daphne’s
HAT TRICKS
Meet Jane Taylor, the Duchess of
Cambridge’s favourite milliner
July 2013
Guggenheim Suite Living
Room at The Gritti Palace
Rooms
WITH A VIEW
Judith Wilson speaks to Chuck Chewning, creative designer of Donghia
and the man behind the extravagant revamp of The Gritti Palace
A
nyone with a love of chic
global hotels will know that
The Gritti Palace in Venice
has just reopened, having
undergone an extensive
facelift. Chuck Chewning, Creative
Director of design house, Donghia, is the
designer behind the revamp. ‘The entire
property was restored and redesigned,
with a brief to preserve the legacy of the
old Gritti and to give it a residential
feeling,’ he says.
Chuck is based in New York but works
globally and, with the Donghia
showroom at Chelsea Harbour, he’s no
stranger to London. The Gritti Palace
opening has been a two and a half year
design journey. He and his four-strong
team have redesigned 82 key rooms,
created ten signature suites covering the
themes of literature, arts, music, film and
design, and masterminded the roof
conversion into a terrace with a Jacuzzi
and arbor, perfect for private dinners.
36 theresident.co.uk
Textiles were custom-woven by Rubelli,
the Venetian fabric house, and bespoke
furniture designed by Donghia. ‘The
work and materials came from local
artisans of the Veneto, and everything
was done by hand,’ he adds.
It is no surprise to find this talented
designer orchestrating such a vast
project. Chuck joined Donghia in 2008 as
Creative Director and oversees textile,
wall-coverings, furniture and accessory
collections, not to mention 12 USA
showrooms, and 50 representative
showrooms around the world.
Donghia is a go-to destination for
high quality interior furnishings; the
showroom has an established presence at
Chelsea Harbour Design Centre and
Chuck identifies its core customers as
discerning, sophisticated and well
travelled. ‘Our clients appreciate quality,
high design and beautiful materials.’ he
says, adding that they like to collect the
future antique pieces of tomorrow.
HOMES
That description sounds a little like
Chuck himself. He is superbly well
qualified, having studied Historic
Preservation of Architecture and Interior
Design at the Savannah College of Art
and Design (SCAD). He has worked in
the global luxury residential and
hospitality markets for over 25 years,
and studied architectural history in
London. ‘I have always loved English
classical architecture,’ he says. ‘And the
British have always been diligent about
preserving their history.’ Early on, he
realised the importance of blending
knowledge of restoration with interior
The Gritti Palace
opening has been a two
and a half year design
journey for Chuck and
his four-strong team
architectural in form, including the bold
geometric Origami Cocktail Table.
As for the latest fabrics and wallcovering collection, Moondance, it was
inspired, says Chuck, by the concept of
creating music, most specifically echoing
Van Morrison. There is a nod to
tailoring, too, including Belfast, a velvet
pinstripe and Crazy Love, a flannel-like
fabric in bright pops of colour, a
reference to Angelo Donghia’s father
who was a tailor.
Now that his work on The Gritti
Palace is complete, Chuck’s travels will
continue, including to London. ‘Chelsea
Harbour is the centre of the interior
design trade,’ he says. With his pinsharp eye for sophisticated design, one
foot in the past, and the other in the
future, Chuck Chewning’s vision for
Donghai remains pretty central, too.
$ donghia.com
Pisani Suite Living Room at The Gritti Palace
design. ‘I love both fields, they inform
my design work,’ he explains.
For him, joining Donghia was very
exciting, as he had long admired the
work of Angelo Donghia, the founder of
the company who was recently named
by Architectural Digest as one of the top
20 designers of the 20th century. ‘As
someone who had spent their career
working on iconic projects, I wanted to
preserve and regenerate the legacy of
Donghia,’ he says.
There are directional new designs,
too. This spring Donghia launched a
furniture collection on the theme of
Chiaroscuro, playing with strong
contrasts between light and dark. The
elegant finishes include black lacquer,
polished stainless steel and metallic
leafs, and the silhouettes are quite
Guggenheim Suite Bedroom
theresident.co.uk 37