David Collins' out-of-this-world design on display in Kikenny's Langton hotel

The love affair started well over 20 years ago, when Eamonn Langton, owner of Langton’s Hotel in Kilkenny, was on one of his regular trips to the British capital.

London, for him, was an infinite source of design inspiration and on every trip he brought with him a list of bars and hotels that he had to visit.

Then in his 40s, he would spend days dragging friends and family from hotel to hotel and bar to bar. To all intents and purposes he was the well- heeled tourist enjoying downtime, but really he was super-inhaling his surroundings: breathing in all around him, getting high on the creativity and brilliance of everything from light fittings to tap fittings, from bar tops to wallpaper detail. He was delirious.