NOTE: A version of this post was originally published on August 10, 2015 on this Blog.

In the Summer of 2015, Cathay Pacific Airlines turned a corner to refocus and reinforce the lifestyle component of its travel brand, via a “wellness” lens. Fortunately for them, the brilliant London-based, Ilse Crawford, founder of Studioilse, had agreed to play a major role in the spatial branding transformation of this airline company, historically unafraid to adapt to an ever-changing global travel market. While a majority of travellers are going budget, an increasing niche market of Business and First Class travellers are looking for “more”, an unexpected and new point-of-difference in their trip. For Cathay Pacific’s new lounge rollouts, this point of difference is reflected in the way they aim to treat their travellers “better”, by helping travellers to stop, get well, and take a timeout to pause, instead of simply expediting the karting of passengers from immigration to the tarmac like cattle.

The new Ilse Crawford-designed lounges unveiled that summer included an upgraded First Class, called “The Pier” at Gate 63 of the Hong Kong Airport and various other business class lounges in Manila, Bangkok, and Singapore, all of which pre-Covid 19- were literal homes away from home almost 25% of the year. These refreshed lounges takes the four pillars of Cathay Pacific’s re-branded ethos; “contemporary Asian”, “heartfelt warmth”, “considered simplicity”, and “the joy of discovery”, and translated these concepts into spaces where passengers can relax via the engagement of the senses in spaces which intersect the concept of the lounge lifestyle and the ideal contemporary apartment. That year we were lucky enough to chat through e-mail with Cathay Pacific’s Ms. Crawford, about her work with the airlines and her own perspectives on “Travel”.

“We would love for our wellbeing principles of human-centred design to become mainstream and adopted across the board. Wellbeing is not a luxury, it is a basic human right.” - Ilse Crawford

Photo courtesy of Studioilse.

JJ: Looking back, what are your earliest and perhaps best memories of Travel?

Ilse Crawford: Travel still feels exciting to me – even though I travel so much for work. My first real memory of going into the unknown was when my mother decided that she and all her five children should go and see a Michael Powell film, “The Thief of Baghdad”, even though it was at the other end of the country. We didn’t have a car so she decided we would hitchhike. We got there, somewhat the worse for wear. And the film with such a build up, remains etched in my mind.

The Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: What is your biggest pet peeve about travelling?

IC: In general, the lack of common sense or humanity that seems to be taking over. Of course the volume of people flying today has increased exponentially but nowadays you feel like cattle. The process has become efficient but thoughtless and without empathy.

Take the food offer in most airports. Its still dreadful. Good, healthy food can be fast and affordable. In this day and age there is no excuse (for bad diets). Even in airline lounges where you would think there would be more focus – there is stodgy food sitting under heat lamps for hours. It’s like the worst kind of school dinners and the smell impregnates everything.

Curated Artworks at the Pier Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: How has your own personal experience with travelling, helped you define what was going to go into your design process with the creation of Cathay Pacific’s Lounges?

IC: I travel almost constantly so it’s been a fascinating exercise to use my time in airports, lounges and airplanes to observe people and their behaviour. So much of travel is seen as a process of getting from A to B and these days it’s fraught with friction throughout. Not long ago the journey itself was celebrated. Somewhere along the way it’s become institutionalised, mechanised, and even common sense has been replaced by operations or health and safety as the driving forces of how things work and look.

Of course these things are important but they shouldn’t define the experience. Saying “hello” doesn’t cost any money. We wanted to restore this balance with our lounge designs for Cathay. Just because you are in an airport doesn’t mean you have to feel harassed or hassled. If you are lucky enough to have access to the lounge it should be a respite. Air travel can still be exciting and people can and should feel good, not hassled, when they travel.

The Tea House at The Pier Business Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: In your talks about the project, you mentioned briefly about wanting projects to “age well”, expand a little bit more on what you mean by this.

IC: It’s so important to think long term when it comes to design. Design is not fashion. It’s not about trends, it’s about creating new realities that make sense. Particularly when it comes to buildings that need to last, and accommodate many people over time. I always say that design is a verb, not a noun by which I mean that is a process, not a fixed, finished thing.

I see our responsibility as a studio to create things and places that grow and develop with use over time. If we design things that are fixed and prescriptive then there is no room for people to inhabit or use them how they wish. We design to support life and this means making things and places that can evolve and improve with use.

On a more literal level, using real materials and good quality furniture and lighting means investing in quality as well as time. These things age well with repeated use. They develop a patina over time. Our lounge should last ten years and throughout that period will host at least 800 people a day. We hope it will last a lot longer and be even more beautiful a decade from now.

The Cathay Pacific Lounge in Bangkok. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: Those integrated plugs and USB charging points in brass are some of my favourite details in the new lounge! That said, in an ideal world, how would you like to see the “Air Travel Industry” develop over the next several years? And do you see it actually getting there?

IC: We would love for our wellbeing principles of human-centred design to become mainstream and adopted across the board. Wellbeing is not a luxury, it is a basic human right. It is an uphill battle to challenge the institutionalised way of thinking and reinstate common sense. But I think when people are challenged they tend to agree that life is better when common sense is employed. That wellbeing is becoming a mainstream term these days gives me hope that people will start interrogating why things are the way they are and then take steps to improve and iron out unnecessary difficulties. And of course the users are using the internet so their voices can be heard.

Tea moment in the Pier Business Class Lounge. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: Where are your favourite destinations in the world to travel?

IC: My husband is Colombian and we spend a couple of weeks twice a year with his family there. Cartagena is a fascinating place with a rich history and cultural vibrancy. We are about to finish work on our own studio in a historic building in the old city there and it will be the perfect bolt hole for us and a place for him to call home in his home country. Closer to London I have an affinity with Scandinavia. My grandmother was from The Faroe Islands and I am a Viking at heart.

The Central Bar at the Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

JJ: What was the most challenging aspect about designing this project for Cathay Pacific? And what did you learn in the process from doing this project, that you wouldn’t have done if it was an entirely different brief?

IC: Every project is a challenge in its own right. Being a designer is about being challenged and challenging in return. It’s not easy and it shouldn’t be. The biggest part of our jobs I always say is designing minds!

In the case of Cathay, one of the challenges was to redefine what a luxury experience really means today for this audience in this context. These are people who travel constantly so it’s not about lavish displays of wealth, it’s about far more human desires: comfort, relaxation, health. They understood us when we explained because it’s fairly obvious that when these passengers are spending their lives between flights, boardrooms and hotel rooms, having even 30 minutes of stress-free time to gather their thoughts in a comfortable, beautiful and intuitively designed place is luxurious. This is where you really experience the brand values of care, attention, thoughtfulness. A ‘life well travelled’ if you like.

We have learnt many things. Working with an airline, airside in airports comes with its own challenges. The regulations need to be observed and integrated but surprisingly the greatest enemy to the designer in this context is the wheely suitcase! Every path needs to accommodate two lanes, which makes the spaces initially feel quite unnatural. Something tricky to work around!

Look out for materials like the lounge’s green onyx walls, and the use of walnut and bronze screens to reflect “Asian” aesthetics… plus the use of limestones, solid timber planks, and bronzes to give varying degrees warmth and permanence in every space. There is a also a Library, which is a great place to sit back and relax around an iconic and fully stocked bar area. Programmatically, watch out for unique spaces like a Retreat area which includes complimentary foot massages and private day suites each with daybed, reading light, and adjustable mirrors and curtains. Additionally the private showers and washrooms spaces are clad in natural limestone and timber. My personal favourite space is Ilse Crawford’s Dining Room in The Pier First Class Lounge, a retro-chic parisian-style cafe clad in subdued yet warm timber, serving a very delicious three-meal course. I also love the Noodle Bar in the Business Class lounges. The dining tables are equipped with task lighting, chargers for phones, spaces for the trolleys, and seats you can recline in while checking your iPad for emails. In a word… perfection in one’s travel experience, achieved.

The. Tea Lounge in The Pier Business Class Lounge. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

The Library in The Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

Snacks Bar at the Cathay Pacific Lounge in Bangkok. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

A booth in the Noodle Bar within the Cathay Pacific Lounge. Photograph by JJ Acuna on iPhone.

Header Photo by Lit Ma and Portrait of Ilse Crawford by Leslie Williamson. This blog post was made possible with SquareSpace, on iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XS Max, and the iPad Pro 2020.

DESIGN Studioilse / TRAVEL Cathay Pacific Airlines

JJ.