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SWINGING LONDON PRIVATE-CLUB STYLE IS BACK. IS DESIGNER MARTIN BRUDNIZKI THE MAN TO BLAME?

- Stephen Patience

Martin Brudnizki takes socializing very seriously. Perhaps that’s why the Stockholm-born, London-based designer’s studied approach to hospitality has made him the go-to for buzzed-about restaurants, hotels, and watering holes on both sides of the Atlantic, from the Soho Beach House in Miami to the Wigmore, a luxury pub in a former London banking hall on Regent Street (now the Langham hotel) that opened in late July.

“I always start with an emotion— happy, moody, sexy,” he says. But from there, Brudnizki concentrates on making a dazzlingly colorful impression. “It’s all about how people respond as they enter the room,” he says, ensuring the ease and comfort of his guests by crowding his rooms, which he divides into smaller spaces to foster a feeling of intimacy, with furniture, cushions, and lamps. “The room feels full,” he says, “and the people in it don’t feel alone.” Not a bad thing for a bar.