Meet the judges for The Brit List Awards 2023

For six years, The Brit List Awards, powered by Hotel Designs, has celebrated the leading interiors designers, architects, hoteliers and suppliers operating in Britain. In 2023, the campaign is back to find this year’s key influencers of the hotel design scene.

> ENTER FOR FREE (application / nomination process is quick and easy, and closes on August 11).

Previous winners of The Brit List Awards include, among others, Jo Littlefair, Co-Founder of Goddard Littlefair (Interior Designer of the Year 2019), Christos Passas, Director, Zaha Hadid Architects (Architect of the Year 2020), Franklite (Best in Tech 2021), Tina Norden, Partner, Conran & Partners (Interior Designer of Year 2021), Jacu Strauss (Interior Designer of the Year 2022), Kerry Acheson (Architect of the Year 2022) and Conor O’Leary, Managing Director, Gleneagles (Hotelier of the Year 2018).

The 2023 application and nomination process, which has always been and remains free-of-charge for all interior designers, architects, hoteliers and suppliers, has opened and closes on August 11.

The categories for The Brit List Awards 2022 are:

• Interior Designer of the Year
• Architect of the Year
• Hotelier of the Year
• Best in Tech
• The Eco Award
• Best in British Product Design
• Public area of the Year – NEW FOR 2023
• Lighting scheme of the Year – NEW FOR 2023
• Hotel Concept of the Year – NEW FOR 2023
• International Award
• Rising Star
• Outstanding Contribution to the Hospitality Industry

Just weeks after this year’s campaign launched, Hotel Designs has announced this year’s judging panel that consists of legendary interior designers, respected developers and design journalists alike. Let’s meet them.

Brian Messana, Co-Founder, Messana O’Rorke 

Image credit: Messana O’Rorke

Brian Messana, who recently featured on the DESIGN POD podcast, established his New York-based architecture firm with Toby O’Rorke, Messana O’Rorke, in 1996. Before that, he was a project designer with Peter Marino and worked with Richard Meier & Partners and Asymptote in New York. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Messana is on the board of the Society of American Registered Architects and is a committee member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Customer Residential Architects Network. The architect is a member of the AIA, Architectural League of New York and International Interior Design Association, among others.

Tatiana Sheveleva, Co-Founder and Partner, Chapi Chapo Design

Image credit: Chapi Chapo Design

Born and raised in Kazakhstan, Tatiana Sheveleva is Co-Founder and Partner of Chapi Chapo Design, one of the world’s leading hospitality interior design firms.

After leaving her homeland to pursue education in the United States, Sheveleva followed her ambitions to Canada where she immigrated in 2003. Throughout her distinguished career as an international designer she has lead large-scale projects with the world’s most renowned five-star luxury hotel companies including Four Seasons, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Aman, Park Hyatt, Mandarin Oriental, Baccarat and more.

A creator of experiences, Sheveleva believes that every new project is an invitation to embark on an immersive journey through storytelling. Her work tells evocative stories honouring the culture of each location and the people who call it home. Crediting inspiration from her heritage, Tatiana invokes a uniquely luxurious, crafty, and sharp approach.

Neil Andrew, Vice President, Design (EMEA), SH Hotels & Resorts

Image credit: Neil Andrew

Neil Andrew, who has worked in the past for the likes of Woods Bagot, Studio Moren and Perkins&Will, has more than 20 years’ experience in interior design. Recently appointed as the role of Vice President, Design (EMEA) at SH Hotels & Resorts, Neil, who recently joined as a guest on the DESIGN POD podcast,  joins this year’s panel, bringing with him a wealth of multi-disciplinary knowledge, seeing this year’s entries through the lens of an in-house design expert.

Nicholas Oakwell, Founder, NO Uniform

Image credit: Nicholas Oakwell / NO Uniform

Founded in 2002 by designer Nicholas Oakwell, NO Uniform has built an unparalleled reputation in designing and delivering a directional fashion-conscious approach to customised uniforms whilst maintaining the client’s identity.

Fuelled by a passion for designing modern and innovative uniforms, NO Uniform has created unique and individual collections for some of the world’s leading luxury hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, finance, and corporate industries with an eclectic client portfolio. With the blurring of boundaries between fashion and design, Oakwell joins the panel as this year’s wildcard judge.

Caroline Lewis, Freelance Travel Journalist

Image credit: Anna Windett’

Caroline Lewis is a renowned travel journalist specialising in luxury hotels, with an eye for what makes somewhere a stand-out and a deep aversion to the generic, bland and soulless. She is a long-time contributor to publications such as luxury hotel booking platform Mr & Mrs Smith and also writes for the digital editions of magazine brands including Harper’s Bazaar and ELLE.

Moritz Waldemeyer, Founder, Studio Waldemeyer

Image credit: Studio Waldemeyer

Studio Waldemeyer is an international creative studio run by Moritz Waldemeyer and Nazanin Farahbod. Their work occupies a diverse range of creative spaces, from art, lighting and product design through to fashion and entertainment.

Following our early collaborative work for the likes of Hussein Chalayan and Zaha Hadid, the studio soon established itself as a creative force in 2004. After its first two exhibitions in 2006 and 2007, Waldemeyer and Farahbod participated in MoMA’s Design & the Elastic Mind exhibition in 2008. In 2013, the studio’s  lighting product ‘My New Flame’, developed for Ingo Maurer, was unveiled as part of MoMA’s permanent collection.

Studio Waldemeyer was built on a philosophy of playful experimentation by forging links between technology, art, fashion and design. This approach has resulted in a number of bespoke installations for clients such as Audi, Rinascente and Bicester Village, as well as light-studded costumes for the likes of U2, Rihanna, Jamiroquai and the London Olympics Handover Ceremony. In 2019 the studio joined the Bentley design team to illuminate the EXP100GT in celebration of the brand’s 100 years anniversary. Moritz and Nazanin act as head creatives in the studio’s projects, crafting their signature aesthetic into each piece.

Hamish Kilburn, Editor, Hotel Designs

Hamish Kilburn, Editor, Hotel Designs

Overseeing this year’s judging process for a sixth year, Hamish Kilburn is the Editor of Hotel Designs, and the host of two podcasts; Travel By Design, brought to you by Marriott Bonvoy Traveller and DESIGN POD.

In his role, Kilburn has developed a unique narrative for Hotel Designs by reviewing design-led hotels around the globe, interviewing designers, architects and hoteliers who are disrupting the international hotel design scene and writing engaging features from all corners of the arena.

He has also been instrumental in identifying – and shining the spotlight on – fresh talent, ideas and innovations that are together changing the general landscape of hotel design and hospitality. As part of his role, he is an experienced judge and speaker on the international hotel design scene, regularly discussing key topics at leading design exhibitions and fairs around the world.

Now that the judges have been announced, The Brit List Awards 2023, Hotel Designs’ annual search to find the leading interior designers, architects, hoteliers and suppliers in Britain and beyond, is well and truly on.

This year’s campaign will conclude with a spectacular performance/awards ceremony. Following last year’s antics, The Brit List Awards 2022 will debut at Circa Embankment, London’s famous LGBTQ+ nightclub, to celebrate the winners in (apt camp) style.

On the night, in addition to the individual winners being announced, The Brit List 2023 will also be officially unveiled, which is the annual publication that prestigiously profiles the top 25 interior designers, the top 25 architects and top 25 hoteliers who are operating in Britain.

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