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FRANCIS SULTANA
Francis Sultana is one of the world’s foremost interior and furniture
designers – he is featured in Architectural Digest US magazine’s
annual AD100, cited as one of Wallpaper’s Top 20 Interior
Designers and listed on House & Garden and AD Italia’s Top 100.
He is also the artistic director of the renowned David Gill Gallery
of London, sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Advisory Council,
and has institutional roles in Serpentine Galleries and the Design
Museum of London. Design and art are so intertwined in his life,
that the ability to merge them in his interiors has become one of
his peculiarities, as well as having a strong interest for artisanal
skills and techniques. Hotel La Palma, Sultana’s first hotel project,
stems from the designer’s love for Capri, one of his favorite holiday
spots, an island that reminds him of his birthplace, Malta.
You recently renovated Hotel La Palma, the oldest hotel in
Capri and your first ever hotel project. Where did you start
from?
I’ve known Capri for more than 25 years, I’ve been going there every
summer, so the most important thing was the inspiration it has
given me. Thinking about the building and its historical references,
I wanted to bring it back to its original narrative, complementing
the architectural history with something up to date, restored and
conserved for the future.
How would you describe Capri?
I grew up in Gozo, the small island off the coast of Malta, so I know
very well how an island like Capri works, and that’s why I am very
fond of it. Capri is unique, it is neither part of the mainland, nor of
the Amalfi coast, even if it has the same influences. It is in its own
bubble, it has always been a place of beauty that attracts people. It
has its own way of dealing with things, its own way of survival. Even
the people are very different: they look after themselves and their
island in a way that is different from all the other islands around.
It’s such a special place.
You said in an interview that: “an interior design project is
successful when one is able to read the space”. What is the
vocation of Hotel La Palma?
Hotel La Palma is located in the middle of Capri, near the Piazzetta,
so it really lies at the core of what Capri represents. I wanted the
hotel to look like a villa and feel like a home. In a way, my experience
in designing homes shines through, but what is new is that with
a hotel I have to please not just one family but all the different
people who come every season, people from all over the world and
Italians themselves. It’s been a very interesting and challenging
way of decorating, also thinking about the historical context of the
Italian style, and the Italian way of doing things. I wanted people
to feel comfortable, and to feel that the place is appropriate. An
appropriate, elegant hotel that blends in well with Capri, as if it has
always been there.
