25 Years of LW Design — the Sleeper Interview

Buddha Bar Dubai and The Dubai EDITION. Buddha Bar was LW’s first large-scale food and beverage project, commissioned by an owner who wanted a “magical oriental experience” drawn from his own travels through the East, including Tibet. Godsk describes it as the project that established the practice’s view that design is a holistic experience rather than a set of surfaces. The Dubai EDITION is the counterweight: architecture and interiors both by LW, and an exercise in what the brand’s “less is more” standard demands.

Not larger. Godsk says the practice has reached its “perfect model” and that what he and his partners want is depth rather than headcount — strength in presence, identity and the impact of the work, with recognition measured by the uniqueness of the portfolio rather than the number of offices. He is explicit that project size does not determine value, and that the marker of success is aligning the right project with the right team.