A Life In Design - John Hitchcox

With his hip decorating aesthetic, the property magnate has made waves all across the globe.

- Fiona McCarthy

Before starting property development company YOO with iconic designer Philippe Starck in 1998, John Hitchcox had already blazed a trail with London loft living when he co-founded the Manhattan Loft Corporation with Harry Handelsman in the early Nineties. YOO now works on large-scale residential and hotel projects in more than 27 countries around the world, from Thailand and India to Russia and Peru, collaborating with designers such as Jade Jagger, Marcel Wanders and Kelly Hoppen. Here, John shares his design secrets and inspirations.

How did you get your start? 

I grew up in a family of creatives – my dad was an architect, my mum was very ‘crafty’ (she grew and made everything we ate and wore) and I went to a Steiner school, which worked well for my profound dyslexia and ‘outside the box’ thinking. I thought about becoming a musical conductor but, at 19, I bought a tiny house for £19,500 in Godstone, Surrey, to renovate; within five years I’d done up 350 more houses in the area. What came next? 

Transforming spaces was second nature to me – with my Words ⁄ Fiona McCarthy parents, the only day I saw a house finished was the day we moved out to start on another one… I absorbed everything. With Manhattan Loft Corporation, we started out with an old ink factory in Clerkenwell, dividing it up into shells and then helping buyers to make each space unique to them. I’m good at putting walls in the right places! 

What do you do at YOO? 

I call it ‘place making’. We create spaces that bring like-minded people together in well-designed buildings, which combine apartment living with inspiring communal areas for residents to socialise, exercise and entertain. 

What’s the YOO mood?