AvroKO At 25: Reflecting On A Legacy of Design And Looking Ahead

A 25th anniversary presents the perfect occasion to reflect on the past and look to where things are going. Which, as it happens, is exactly what AvroKO—currently toasting its silver jubilee—does when conceptualizing every single project. It’s become something of a firm signature to plumb historical moments and movements for inspiration, contemporizing the source material in a manner reflective of how design and hospitality are evolving. Take Lex Yard restaurant at the Waldorf Astoria New York, its decor referencing the property’s art deco bones and subterranean railway, or Host on Howard, a vintage-inflected gallery of entertaining accoutrements that doubles as a gathering venue. “The future of hospitality is about designing for belonging,” begins Kristina O’Neal, copartner of AvroKO with Greg Bradshaw, Adam Farmerie, and William Harris. “Host represents the kind of work we want to keep making: driven by a strong idea, a compelling narrative, and a genuine sense of place.”

That template has propelled AvroKO to the top of its game—and the industry. It is a fixture in Interior Design’s Giants of Design rankings, currently listed 54th among the 100 top-grossing firms, has expanded its studio outposts from New York, where it was founded, to Bangkok, London, and San Francisco; built a client roster that includes LVMH and Danny Meyer; and completed luxury hotels globally, from the Six Senses London to the W Prague. The firm’s F&B work, while enjoying an equally expansive footprint, has had an outsize impact on the Manhattan scene, through projects as diverse as the hipster Ghost Donkey bar and the refined Zodiac Room restaurant. The work is high-concept and highly polished, but the spaces always feel human, approachable, emotionally resonant, and undergirded by operational savvy.

IDOLS 25 years: AvroKO

AvroKO was established in 2001 by the four partners, who met at Carnegie Mellon University and found their way back together as a multidisciplinary team in their young adulthood. The breakout moment, two years later, was Public, a downtown Manhattan restaurant they not only designed—interiors, tableware, collateral—but also owned and operated. It would go on to earn a Michelin star and James Beard Awards and confirmed the partners’ entrepreneurial approach had legs. They’ve since channeled that enterprising spirit in other directions: Brand Bureau, their creative agency launched in 2012, plus AvroKO Product furnishings and AvroKO Hospitality Group consultancy.

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“We’re excited that the core principles of hospitality as community are getting a more expansive stage,” Harris says. When AvroKO started, hospitality was largely understood as an industry, Farmerie continues, “but today we see it as a broader cultural idea—creating environments where people feel part of something.” That shift, Bradshaw adds, “opens up possibilities for entirely new forms of gathering.” Given AvroKO’s track record, don’t be surprised if they’re the ones pioneering those new forms. avroko.com