Rock Steady: David Rockwell Reflects on 40 Years of Creation

It’s helpful when you’re not too concerned with the significance of the project and can just focus on doing it. With the first W Hotel, I had no idea it was going to create a global brand. We’re now completing a renovation of the second W, which is located on Union Square across from our New York office. We gutted our entire design from 20-some years ago. It’s an amazing opportunity to take something I was so proud of and look at how the world has changed.

Nobu was a major pivot point for me. I got the project volunteering for Meals on Wheels at an event called the Feast of the Many Moons. There, I tasted chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s rock shrimp for the first time. I went up to him and said, “When you come to New York, I’d like to do your restaurant.” I didn’t foresee what kind of cultural impact that was going to have.

All these projects were the result of many years of concepting and design. We live in a moment in which you think you can instantly make something happen. Hairspray was six years of sketching and meeting with directors.

With restaurants today, by the time you can identify something as a trend, it’s probably on its way to being over. There’s an emergence of pop-ups, which I think in some ways expresses people’s desire for newness, as opposed to Union Square Cafe. When we worked on the move to its new location, it was clear to me that restaurateur Danny Meyer takes a longer view, building to last decades.

Coqodaq, the Korean fried chicken restaurant in New York, was such a labor of love, with an inordinate amount of attention to just four or five memorable details. We are doing another project for restaurateur Simon Kim, at 550 Madison; he really rallies around the idea of conceiving those unforgettable moments.

We started out slow in products because I wanted to do things that were meaningful to us. We began with surfaces with Maya Romanoff, then Shaw Contract. We have a new line for The Rug Company that I’m super excited about. We’re doing some more for Roche Bobois, which I’m loving, and a new collection for Gessi.

Recently, I was in Tokyo. I came back inspired on many fronts. There was the SunnyHills cake shop by Kengo Kuma, which has two layers of wood with glass in between—it’s just so perfect. I’m also still thinking about an amazing bookstore, Daikanyama Tsutaya Books, which straddles three different sites with bridges.

I started studying the piano eight years ago. I’m working on Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, which is equal parts thrilling and driving me insane. It’s a great discipline whether I can ever actually learn to play it or not.

I’m inspired by cooking. I like to cook a lot, especially to grill, and I have a wide range of chefs I can text if I have questions. I do it often. It’s a wonderful, solitary thing.

I’m often asked, What do you want to do next? The answer is, I’m very grateful for what we’re doing now. With the new work, it’s thrilling that it still feels fresh. I still get the sense that everything is riding on it.

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Fall Issue under the headline “Rock Steady.” Subscribe to the magazine.