Yabu Pushelberg Designs a Surrealist Rug Collection for CC-Tapis

Architectural and surrealist motifs distinguish Memento, a new rug collection by Yabu Pushelberg. Launched at a packed opening in the New York showroom of Italian brand CC-Tapis, the Tibetan wool rugs are knotted and carved by hand in a combination of dyed and undyed fibers. The seven designs, including Axo, Drift, and Echo, are memory dreamscapes. Their conception allowed Interior Design Hall of Fame members George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, partners in business and life, to quietly reminisce on their shared history—creating mementos that can live on a floor or wall. Elusive and allusive, the references may be known only to the designers—but they’re beautiful to all. cc-tapis.com

A Look Back at 10 Best of Year Project Winners from 2021

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to submit your top products and projects for Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards—the design industry’s premiere design awards program honoring work by designers, architects, and manufacturers around the globe—by September 7, 2022, or sooner! Early bird pricing ends August 12. To gear up for the upcoming awards, here is a look at 10 project winners from last year.

TriBeCa Apartment by Enze Architects

Winner for Small Apartment

The Londoner by Yabu Pushelberg

Winner for Boutique Hotel

Early Childhood Authority by Roar

Winner for Small Corporate Office

Valle San Nicolas by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos

Winner for Beauty/Spa

Lunar by Sò Studio

Winner for Hospitality – Casual Dining

Bay Area Discovery Museum by Olson Kundig

Winner for Kids’ Zone

David Yurman 57th Street by Gabellini Sheppard Associates

Winner for Small Retail

Aktion Mensch Headquarters by Ippolito Fleitz Group

Winner for Social Impact

Bamboo Canopy by LLLab.

Winner for Outdoor Space

Alchemy by Studio Paolo Ferrari

Winner for Dispensary

Interested in submitting projects or products for this year’s Best of Year Awards? Get submission details here.

George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg Design a Dramatic Hotel in Leicester Square

2021 Best of Year winner for Boutique Hotel

Plays staged in the West End have been entertaining theatergoers for over 350 years. As the scene rebounds from pandemic closures, visitors can enjoy that spectacle while staying at this equally dramatic 350-room hotel in Leicester Square masterminded by Interior Design Hall of Fame members and co-founding partners George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg in a 16-story building by Woods Bagot. “We designed it to converse with the senses and indulge in the energy of their surroundings,” Pushelberg explains. Myriad public spaces, including six restaurants and bars, and custom features invite unique experiences throughout. The lobby has a golden glow, thanks to oversize ceiling globes by artist Andrew Rae and its main staircase. The effect carries through to a private event space with sinuous sofas and patterned metal ceiling tiles. For the rooftop lounge, custom banquettes surround a firepit topped by a twisted rope installation. Also in abundance are Yabu Pushelberg furnishings, tables and chairs for Stellar Works, carpets for Tai Ping, and chairs for Avenue Road, among them. “The variety of offerings allows guests to choose their journey over and over,” Yabu adds. And if that journey calls for even more theater, they can head downstairs to the hotel’s 850-seat stage.

Yabu Pushelberg: Glenn Pushelberg; George Yabu

George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg Earn a Best of Year Award for This Chic Parisian Store

2021 Best of Year winner for Large Retail

A complex of fin de siècle, art nouveau, and art deco buildings, the last completed in 1928, La Samaritaine, a once-fabled department store in the first arrondissement, has reopened 16 years after shuttering. The multifirm renovation of the entire property includes a hotel by Peter Marino Architect, a new building by SANAA, and Interior Design Hall of Fame members George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg’s redesign of 11,350 square feet of retail space in the landmarked art nouveau structure. Formerly a decidedly middle-class destination, the store now carries the best-known luxury brands, lured by a environment that celebrates the architecture while introducing a subtle contemporary sensibility. A grand light-filled atrium—dominated by a monumental staircase, topped with a magnificently restored glass roof, and surrounded by wrought-iron balconies refinished in their original blue-gray glory—is the beating heart of the emporium. Drawing inspiration from visually similar structures such as the Grand Palais, the design team instituted curved glass fixtures and custom screens of woven metal mesh that balance and connect old and new rather than exacerbating contrast between past and present. The custom terrazzo flooring is by Karen Pearse, the strikingly graphic pattern in the center of the atrium referencing one in the neoclassical Galerie Vivienne arcade—another subtle evocation of La Belle Époque.

Yabu Pushelberg: George Yabu; Glenn Pushelberg