AvroKO not only designs stunning venues around the world; its hospitality arm also operates a collection of restaurants and bars. William Harris, one of its founding partners, shares more about the studio's foray into the dining scene
It started from an off-the-cuff remark from one sibling to another. “Build me a restaurant I'll come back to New York,” said chef Brad Farmerie to his architect brother Adam, one of the four founding partners of design firm AvroKO. “We were blissfully ignorant about how difficult it really would be,” quipped William Harris, one of the co-founders who currently helms the firm’s Bangkok office. “But fortunately we had the energy, we had the passion and fortunately we had the skills and learnt the ones we didn't have quickly to make Public [their first restaurant in New York] happen.”
Although Public no longer exists, it set the groundwork for the design studio’s foray into the dining scene. “Public was our first restaurant that we owned and operated. For us, that was a true expression of all the different holistic talents and desires that we merge into one project. It’s an integration of all the things that we love—the food, the drinks, the service, the experience; that has dovetailed into Saxon + Parole and Ghost Donkey and all our other brands that we have now,” says Harris, who is also one of the jury members of the Tatler Design Awards 2020.