Olga Polizzi to Take Part in Opening Keynote Conversation

The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) is delighted to announce that acclaimed hotelier and interior designer Olga Polizzi will be taking part in this year’s BIID annual conference. The much-anticipated Keynote Conversation is the first session of the conference and will offer insights into Olga Polizzi’s career highlights, design philosophy and her own business success.

Commenting on the announcement, Gilly Craft, President of the BIID commented: “We are thrilled that Olga will be joining us at this year’s BIID conference. She has inspired generations of designers with her creative approach and distinctive design aesthetic. We are looking forward to hearing about her varied career, her design ethos and her own experiences as an interior designer in the hospitality sector.”

Olga Polizzi is the eldest of the late Lord Forte’s five daughters. Since co-founding Rocco Forte Hotels with her brother Sir Rocco in 1996, Polizzi, the company’s London-based deputy chairman and director of design, has designed each of the 11 luxurious properties in the collection, including Brown’s Hotel in London, The Hotel Savoy in Florence and Hotel de Rome in Berlin, as well as two of her own boutique hotel properties, Hotel Tresanton and Hotel Endsleigh, in the West Country. She is also working on three hotel openings in 2019 in Puglia, Shanghai and Rome. Olga Polizzi’s design approach gives every one of her projects a unique imprint, combining the hotel’s individual character with a sense of relaxed elegance.

Prior to the creation of Rocco Forte Hotels, Olga Polizzi was a Main Board Director and Director of Building and Design at Forte plc from 1983 to 1996, when it was taken over by Granada. Olga was a Westminster Councillor from 1989 to 1994, and was Vice Chairman of Planning.

Olga Polizzi commented; “I am flattered to have been asked by the BIID to speak at this year’s conference. The BIID is a prestigious organisation that upholds the highest standards of our profession.  I am looking forward to meeting its members and sharing my passion for design.”

As the first session of the BIID conference, this intimate conversation with Olga Polizzi, hosted by Studio magazine’s editor Kate Burnett, is set to be a compelling and stimulating opening to the day, offering a unique insight into the talent behind one of the country’s most successful designers.