Irish designer made London his own but couldn’t take a compliment

When we read about an A-list designer, we assume their work is the pleasure of a privileged few.

But in fact, anyone can enjoy a space created by David Collins — and everyone should.

You could spend a day in London doing so and still have more to see: Eat breakfast at the Wolseley or enjoy elevenses at Fortnum’s; have lunch at The Delauney or afternoon tea at the National Gallery; get tipsy in the Blue Bar; have dinner at the Connaught. You could browse in Alexander McQueen.

Irishmen built quite a lot of Mayfair but just one was the architect of so many interiors.

Collins never sought personal celebrity, so you may not know much about one of our most prolific talents. He grew up in Glenageary, South Dublin. The son of Jack, an architect, and Helen, his bedroom walls instilled a lifelong love of the colour blue.

He studied architecture at DIT before moving to London to work for an architectural practice. He approached Iain Watson in a bar after spotting they wore matching Dries Van Noten jackets. They founded David Collins Studio in 1985. It is multi-award winning, with bases in London, New York, and Buenos Aires.

The company exerts a profound influence over the global restaurant and hotel scene, and originates supremely elegant destinations from Kilkenny to Moscow, Barbados to Cape Town. Each is unique, all are bespoke.

People don’t just go to a David Collins space to be seen. They celebrate milestones, propose marriage, and remember friends. Like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Collins believed “God is in the detail” and made each room as perfect as possible.

He called his late father his mentor and said he inherited his mother’s sense of style. His Earls Court apartment has four terraces, four living rooms, and exclusive, magnificent interiors. The couch Princess Diana posed on for her final Vanity Fair shoot once sat there (Mario Testino was a great friend). Madonna gave him a guitar for the music room.

In the evening, he wore blue Lanvin suits and Bottega Veneta shoes; Prada with Converse trainers by day. He had “enough bags to open a shop”, and was fond of crocodile. A navy cashmere coat was his signature garment. He enjoyed the finer things and was generous with them. If he saw someone loved something, he gave it to them.

Many noted how quick he was with compliments, though reluctant to accept them. Visiting his studio as a student, I mentioned a hugely-laudatory magazine profile to him. He warned me against believing what I read and then identified my shoes’ designer, saying he loved them. He often shifted credit to his collaborators and clients. They lined up to do the trumpet-blowing for him.

His sudden passing is desperately unfair. His career was still advancing. In May, the studio was hired to makeover Jimmy Choo stores worldwide. Retirement was far off, but he spoke of someday building a house by the sea and embarking on a career in film, like his client Tom Ford.

That he was born and educated here are facts of which we should be ever-mindful and massively proud.