Best known for their luxury hotel and residential interior design, the company is head-quartered in London, with further studios in Budapest, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai.
In line with their mission to create ‘design that resonates’, G.A provides integrated solutions across brand strategy and consumer insights, master-planning, interior design, furniture and product design, graphic design and marketing communications.
In order to spearhead the company’s growth, Jonathan Aeberhard has been appointed to the newly-created role of Chief Executive Officer for the G.A Group worldwide. Aeberhard’s background running large creative consultancies for advertising giant WPP Plc prior to joining G.A in 2013 lends him the organisational experience required as the G.A Group expands its current global work-force of 170 employees.
He is tasked to improve the integration and communication across the G.A’s global offices and to focus on new business development, along with the general financial performance of the company.
“Over the past 32 years G.A has produced iconic interior designs such as The Corinthia London, W Taipei, Waldorf-Astoria Amsterdam and more recently W Shanghai,” Jonathan explains. “Whilst people know us for our core expertise of luxury interior and architectural design, not many people realise that we provide other world-class services such as master-planning, brand consultancy and product design too.
“Increasingly, we are being looked at as a ‘design consultant’ working higher-up the food-chain in close partnership with our clients on complex and large-scale developments from a holistic design perspective. This is a trend we look to expand moving forwards, using our “Resonance” design philosophy to bring value and creativity to our project work.
“Furthermore, Asia is a growth centre for us and we will be continuing to support and deepen the capability of our Shanghai office as the business grows over there.”
Terry McGinnity, formerly MD for G.A Design London will move into the newly-created role of global executive design director. A multiple award-winning designer with cross-discipline skills, Terry will be tasked to ‘raise the bar’ of the creative output for all G.A’s projects moving forwards.
This new role will see Terry connecting with prospective clients and new talent; introducing the breadth of G.A’s skills to a wider audience and playing an integral part in the development of the company’s design output.
Aeberhard and McGinnity will be on stage at the 7th Asia-Pacific Hotels Design Association’s (APHDA) conference in Changsha on November 3rd to outline their approach and showcase some of the latest works by G.A.
Meanwhile, Edward Davies has been promoted internally to replace McGinnity in the role of Managing Director, G.A Design London – a pivotal role for the main hub and largest of G.A’s offices. His promotion reflects the outstanding level of design work and client relationships that Davies has cultivated in his 14 years with G.A in London.
