Tony Chi, the Restaurateur Who Became a Hotel Designer

Tony Chi was born in Taipei, the youngest of five children, and moved to New York’s Lower East Side at the age of six. He went to the High School of Art and Design and studied interior design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, graduating in 1984. That year he founded the studio tonychi with his wife and partner Tammy Chou.

Restaurants first

He began by designing restaurants. After the stock market crash of 1987 he created food and drink concepts across Asia, and worked with Allan Zeman and Paul Hsu on Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong, which launched his international career. He designed restaurants for Wolfgang Puck, Alain Ducasse and Michael Mina, and was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2009.

The hotels

The move into hotels followed the restaurants. His list includes Park Hyatt Shanghai (2008), Andaz Fifth Avenue in New York (2010), Grand Hyatt Berlin (2013), Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou (2013), Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills (2014) and Grand Hyatt Chengdu (2016). In 2019 he completed Park Hyatt Kyoto and Rosewood Hong Kong, and in 2021 Andaz Shenzhen Bay.

The pattern is clear in the list. Several of the hotels are Hyatt brands. In Shenzhen, Park Hyatt Shenzhen opened two years before Andaz, and the two together show how much Hyatt has built in Shenzhen.