Carr is thrilled to introduce our newest member of the senior leadership team – Associate Director Candice Bradley.
As she takes up her role leading our hospitality interior design team, Candice explains her design sensibility where she weaves together place, soul, rigour and nuance to create enduring hospitality projects.
Candice joins Carr with an extensive repertoire of hospitality projects and 20 years’ experience. Over this time, she’s honed her process to achieving what she calls ‘the feel’. The invisible but wholly essential element to a project that Candice deems inextricably linked to a project’s success. But what makes up ‘the feel’?
When working across national and international hotel brands right through to boutique hotel experiences, regardless of scale, Candice explains that her design approach is driven by place.
“That’s what excites me as a designer. Every project is based on connection to place and a degree of gut feeling.” That said, she’s quick to note that there’s no set formula. “Creating a connected hotel isn’t predicated by a recipe,” she clarifies. For Candice, this is where the joy lies.
Getting to know her clients and what makes them tick is an essential part of this process. This means balancing the bottom line against uncovering the project’s essence. By deeply understanding her clients’ needs, an honest and strong vision can be established.
Candice unpacks this by explaining, “We’ve all been to hotels that don’t hit the fundamentals of connected design,” adding, “A memorable hospitality experience is built on a captivating story of brand and place. I look to craft engaging narratives to inform and shape an experience, which is informed by a strong vision guiding the project’s direction from inception to completion.”
A hotel’s soul is the reflection of the nuances and charm that begins within the space and is echoed beyond the walls of the hotel.”
Curious about the spaces people regularly gravitate to – the nook, the corner table – Candice looks to translate these creature comforts throughout a space by truly understanding their effect on people. Questions like “Why do we frequent more places than others?” and “What makes a space one you want to return to?” – the answers to these are the layers Candice looks to position within every hospitality project.
What underpins everything is to design spaces that work. “The envelope of every project is a delicate balance between design practicalities and beauty,” states Candice, adding “From the moment you arrive to the moment you depart, the guest experience is cohesive and memorable.”
Candice is highly conscious of the impact hospitality design has on the broader community and fosters these relationships, stating, “A hotel’s soul is the reflection of the nuances and charm that begins within the space and is echoed beyond the walls of the hotel.”
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