Restaurant for design
Four Seasons Restaurant, New York

Why hospitality?
It is a very exciting specialty; it is very sexy, and very fast-paced. I find it to be far braver than any other area of design.

I find inspiration in
Movies, travel, and nature, but not in that particular order

Can't live without
Tabasco

City I am watching
Tel Aviv

Favorite hotel for design
Amangalla, Sri Lanka

Mark Zeff
Zeff Design, New York
www.markzeff.com

Recently completed projects
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas; Delphine restaurant at the W West Hollywood; and Voyeur nightclub, Los Angeles

Projects on the boards
Nightspots Hunt and Vetro (pictured), and Towne restaurant, Los Angeles; late-night bar Vault, Nickel Spa, Yelo Spa, and an unnamed Tribeca hotel, New York

Guilty pleasure
Eating late at night

When I'm not in the office
You can’t find me. I’m traveling or in the countryside.

Dream project
A safari lodge in South Africa or Botswana


Books on my nightstand Nelson: Love and Fame by Edgar Vincent

Designers/architects I would like to meet Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, and Antoni Gaudi

My perfect day Paris in the winter: sleep late, A l'Ami Louis for lunch, nap, Café Lipp for drinks and dinner, nap, and then out again. In the summer, Botswana: game drive at 4:30 am, breakfast, walk 'til Noon, lunch at camp, nap, game drive, cocktails in the bush at 6:00 pm, and then dinner at camp.
If I wasn't a designer, I would be A game ranger or professional fisherman