KEY POINTS:
Designer Tom Skyring's latest project saw him using 36 flat slabs of marble from Italy to enhance the new Westin hotel's Q restaurant.
He's designed some of the city's trendiest restaurant and bar interiors, as well as palaces for Saudi Arabian royalty. But now it's the wall
of marble at Q restaurant, in new luxury hotel the Westin opening at the end of this month, that has Tom Skyring enthused.
"We were really lucky to get 36 flat slabs from Italy," Skyring says. "And we used up all of that type of marble in the world."
But Skyring, for whom work with marble is a a trademark, says every slab was worth it. "It's not ostentatious," he protests. "It's like some sort of completely outrageous artwork made by nature. And it's illuminating. When you see it at night, it's just crazily beautiful."
My 10 Favourite Things
1. My Rolex submariner watch.
Its combination of gold, stainless steel and iridescent blue is unmistakable. It's one of the most beautiful colour combinations I have ever seen in a watch.
2. Classic cars.
If you get the classic car bug then you can't go back. You forget that you are spending obscene amounts of money on repairs and maintenance. And that your gas bill is the same as the gross national product of a small Third World country. But when you drive them, then you just smile.
3. Arne Jacobsen cutlery.
Minimalist cutlery originally designed for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.
4. Mute by Thomas Elliott.
This large sobering canvas always stimulates my imagination. I'm never sure what the unusual figures represent, and what traumatic experience they are having.
5. Versace clothing.
My collection of Versace's printed silk shirts. Apparently the Hawaiian shirt was the model for a series of the printed silk shirts.
6. Flos Arco floor lamp.
Designed in 1962 by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castialioni.
7. Bar chair in the new Westin Hotel.
I don't know how to describe them, they're so sexy. They're hand-stitched leather from Italy and they remind you of those old Captain's chairs you could just sink into - except without all the frills.
8. Montblanc Meisterstuck No 149 Fountain Pen.
A birthday present from my partner, Helen. This was the original fountain pen from Montblanc.
9. Bang and Olufsen Beocenter 1.
If you dislike intrusive audio equipment and all the associated cabling as much as I do, you'll appreciate why we bought this. Scandinavian sleekness, sophistication and simplicity of style.
10. The marble I used at Q Restaurant, Westin Hotel Auckland.
Over six tonnes of Onice Fantastico, adorns the walls in the signature Q restaurant. It was quarried in Mexico and sourced from Italy. The rich palette of colours, combined with the many textures of this exotic stone, have created drama in the restaurant in much the same way as any piece of art.