FEEL-GOOD FACTORS
Equipped with a passion for art and an array of practices including feng shui, design dynamo Clodagh is in a class of her own. ayesha khan visits her New York studio
madonna. Cher. Evita. One-word names befit women who command respect. But for New York-based interior designer Clodagh it’s not about being a demanding diva, but rather making people feel good as they move through a space, whether it’s a downtown Miami hotel or a spa on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Clodagh’s obsession with well-being stems from personal experiences with childhood illness and a devastating teenage accident that left her back broken in three places. The Irish native got her start in fashion design, creating “clothes that made people feel good about themselves”, but when that business waned, she moved away from home in search of new adventures. “I changed husbands, careers and countries,” she says, recalling her bold move to Spain, where she fell in love with interior design. In 1983, Clodagh moved to New York – and there she inadvertently discovered feng shui. “I’d finished designing my loft, and my stepdaughter was staying with us and entertaining a publisher friend,” she adds. “The friend asked if I’d used feng shui, which none of us had ever heard of, and ended up introducing me to Sarah Rothbeck, the master I still work with today.” Clodagh’s work is still governed not only by the time-honoured Chinese practice, but also by five other (mostly Eastern) methods. Of the Japanese art of wabi-sabi, which appreciates the natural ageing of things and creatures, Clodagh says, “I enjoy the principle of seeing something burnish – seeing the way it matures.” Her third practice is that of chromatherapy, of the belief that the body’s various chakras respond to colour. “My feng shui master says to wear red knickers when your root chakra is off. I’m not wearing them now; my root chakra is fine,” she quips with characteristic Irish wit. Biophilia and biogeometry, meanwhile, deal with the effects of built and natural environments, with the latter addressing energy fields of the body. Taking design one step further into the sense of smell, aromatherapy is also among her most treasured practices. “One of the most important things we do in our design studio is incorporate all the elements and address all of the senses,” she says, noting how these holistic design principles are applied. Clodagh’s all-encompassing approach to design can be seen in three recent projects that differ in context and geographic location, yet share the same palpable sense of well-being and allure. For the Six Senses Douro Valley resort in Portugal, she sought to tell the
story of an abandoned quinta (wine estate) revived by the power of design and hospitality. At the heart of the property is a wine-tasting room, for which Clodagh commissioned two massive light fixtures hewn out of wine bottles and old tools from a local stone yard that are embedded in the concrete forming the walls. Clodagh’s tireless design team even tracked down one of the original quinta’s inhabitants and included her old family photos of happier times at the estate. “It was like a spiritual cleansing,” she says, adding how the former resident, now a successful psychiatrist, was pleased with the result. Clodagh also presided over the design of the interior and exterior of the 141-room Six Senses Kaplankaya resort in Turkey. It starts outside with a series of gardens, in one of which guests can sit among flowers and soak up the benefits of chromatherapy, and a moon garden where they can gaze up at the tranquil sky surrounded by fragrant night blooms that, she says, “look like little holograms in the moonlight”. Inside, an alchemist kitchen features a massive zinc table/alchemy bench and living wall. Here, guests can mix they potions and lotions used in their spa treatments. In Miami, Hong Kong-based Swire Hotels chose Clodagh for its first US foray. Here, the company’s East hotel is clad in teak and covered in plants, which Clodagh says “gives a feeling of home”. Upon entry, guests are greeted with chandeliers by Donna Karan’s Urban Zen initiative, which aids Haitian artisans. Past feng shui-compliant corridors that feature delicate
“Design has not been completed when you’ve added everything you can add, it’s complete when you’ve taken everything away that you can” – Antoine de SAint-exupéry
diffused lighting, they’re enticed into bedrooms that Clodagh pronounces the hotel’s “aaah spaces”. Her own photography embellishes headboards and natural materials evoke an air of tranquillity and comfort. Design aside, one of her passions is giving back or, as she puts it, “philanthropomania”. For her work with The Thorn Tree Project, Clodagh helps raise funds to educate nomadic communities in Kenya. In Ecuador, she supports the People Helping People initiative that brings schools and clean water to remote Andean villages. As we tour Clodagh’s New York studio, musing on various upcoming projects, she quotes the French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “Design has not been completed when you’ve added everything you can add, it’s complete when you’ve taken everything away that you can.” In a world where even art and creativity are quantified, it is comforting to know that there are interior designers who aim not to hoard profitable projects or set design trends, but rather to profoundly impact the well-being of others through their craft. And Clodagh is the best example.