In (video) conversation with: Interior designer Geraldine Dohogne

To say that Geraldine Dohogne had an unorthodox beginning to her career would be an understatement. She began on the operational side of hospitality, with renowned Zannier Hotels.

Image caption: The lobby and lounge inside 1898 The Post. | Image credit: Ich Miles

It was not long until her natural gifts and undeniable talent as a designer began to shine through, and quickly pulled her to lead as the company’s Design Director. Her career blossomed out of what she describes as “pure love for design” – an odyssey that has taken her around the world, and back.

After designing some of Zannier Hotels’ most impressive projects – including one hotel that is literally perched on top of bolders in the Nambia desert – Dohogne made the decision to set up her own studio while also working with the hotel brand to launch its first hotel in Vietnam.

Image caption: A suite inside Zannier Hotels Bãi San Hô. | Image credit: Frederik Wissink

With each project she brings positive social impacts, sustainable literacy and fresh inspiration drawn from each country and culture. Her strategy and work ethic that she leads her studio with pushes projects beyond ‘hotels’ and into spheres of learning, leisure and beauty.

Despite having an awe-inspiring story, though, it was Dohogne’s projects that captured the attention of the judges at The Brit List Awards 2021, and led her to become, for the second consecutive year, the highly commended candidate in the Interior Designer of the Year category.

> Click here to watch the full 7-minute interview between Geraldine Dohogne and Hotel Designs’ Hamish Kilburn on the GROHE X platform.

One of those projects is Grandvoir, nestled in Belgium’s Ardennes, which is due to open in Autumn of this year. The project will be a masterful expression of biophilic design. 84 cottages will span over around 60 acres in a pocket of pristine vegetation. Among it, the Old Mill from 1852 on the property is being completely restored to its original aesthetic and will favour the natural materials of the land, such as ageing timber, blue-stone and yarn-woven linens.

The project will bring children’s education in nature and regenerative sustainability to the forefront. With educational paths, stimulating architecture and mindful wildlife watching, the project will be driven by our humanistic need, for both adult and child, to play and reconnect. “All products, will be locally grown, made or found,” Dohogne explained.

Designers shape the world. It is through our collective decision making in construction, development and experience, our world interacts — and ecological and social systems, built. Dohogne’s passion and dedication to push each project into a new dimension of thought and care sends a message to design enthusiast and travellers everywhere that sustainability does not compromise luxury, and local collaboration proves for the best projects.

Continue watching for the next chapter…

Main image credit: Beyond