NEW YORK — May, 2021 — The G.A Group, a multi-disciplinary design practice, adds New York City to its roster of locations, joining London, Budapest, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai.
Known for luxury-tier hospitality experiences around the world, the G.A Group has been creating award-winning designs for more than 35 years. The global team encompasses 160 passionate designers, architects, strategists, project managers and creatives.
Johnathan Garrison leads the New York team. Formerly a Managing Partner at Yabu Pushelberg, Garrison has lived in New York since the late 90s and brings over two decades of luxury lifestyle and hospitality experience to the G.A Group. He was an instrumental part of the design team for the original W Hotel in New York City, in its time a true game-changer for boutique hospitality design and enriched guest experience.
Based in G.A’s London headquarters, CEO Jonathan Aeberhard leads the G.A Group across its multi-layered offering, coordinating the efforts of the now five-strong G.A offices worldwide. The Group’s offering encompasses interior design, masterplanning, concept architecture, product and artwork design and consultancy, and branding and marketing services.
Terry McGinnity, G.A’s Executive Design Director, has creative oversight for all of G.A’s design undertakings. Based in London, McGinnity will spend significant time in New York as G.A continues to grow its client base in the U.S.
“At G.A, we work in the upper tiers of the luxury market, and Manhattan has always been an essential hub for our unique clientele. It attracts great talent, continued investment, and is the crucible for numerous design trends; New York is a vibrant and prominent player on the global design stage”. Garrison says.
Aeberhard adds: “Being in New York City allows us an extraordinary opportunity to develop more great work for our clients. We have wanted to make this move for a long time, but we have been waiting for the right person to lead our group in New York. Once we met Johnathan Garrison, we felt 100% confident in making a commitment.”
As the global head of design, McGinnity says this is the perfect time for G.A to launch in New York: “We are already in talks with hotel brands and operators about what the future holds for luxury experiences. If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that the world needs big, bold ideas, and that is exactly what G.A delivers.”
The G.A Group works with the world’s most renowned and revered luxury hotel brands and operators. Currently, they are collaborating with KPF’s New York Office as the interior designers for the new Royal Atlantis hotel. Located on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah – the Emirate’s premier resort destination – the Royal Atlantis is expected to open in December 2021.
A few of the group’s recent projects include the Cadogan Hotel in London, W in Shanghai, Harrods beauty hall in London, Paradise City in Seoul, Palace Hotel in Tokyo and the Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam, alongside current works for 1 Hotel in London and Park Hyatt in Kuala Lumpur.
Atlantis, The Royal Resort in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
G.A Group ‘Resonance’ film
Operating out of a London base, Jonathan leads the G.A Group across interior design, product and artwork design, architecture and branding sectors, coordinating across G.A offices. Jonathan previously worked as a Managing Partner with Ogilvy & Mather, spending a decade in the company’s London, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur offices. Jonathan joined the G.A Group in 2013 with a focus on new business, the Asian market and setting up the group’s brand consultancy division. He has been instrumental in defining G.A’s business strategy and ‘Resonance’ model, which delivered record revenues and profits in 2020. Jonathan sees great opportunity for the future of design in virtual reality, discipline integration and 3D technology to augment the company’s design ethos and business results. Jonathan holds a master’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.
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A consummate big thinker as much as a designer, Johnathan has focused his career on creating environments that make a deeply personal connection with the people who use them. He has led the design and delivery of some of the world’s finest hotels, working with a veritable who’s who of global brands, investors and other industry leaders. With more than two decades of experience, he has developed a portfolio of work noted for its attention to detail and design elegance as much as its pragmatism and operational mastery. As Principal of G.A New York, he oversees the firm’s expansion into the United States as well as all aspects of client relations and business development. Johnathan has worked with such firms as Yabu Pushelberg and the Rockwell Group. His work includes multiple Park Hyatt properties, the St Regis in Bal Harbor and the Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, among many others. He has a Master of Architecture degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Design from Ball State University. He lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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A native Australian who relocated to London early in his career as an architect, Terry is a multiple award-winning designer with cross-discipline skills who sees no boundaries separating architecture, interior design and product design—it is all part of the whole. Terry’s passion for quality, and his strong ideas on what a hospitality environment should accomplish, have helped the G.A Group emerge as one of the most influential and consequential design practices in the hospitality field. He works closely with each of G.A’s offices, steering the design direction, mentoring the teams and partnering with clients, translating aspirational aspects of their brands into unique, special places.
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The G.A Group is a collection of digitally-driven design companies that have been creating award-winning experiences for over 35 years.
Our global team comprises a committed, 160-strong collection of world-class designers, architects, strategists, project managers and creatives, based in London, Kuala Lumpur, Budapest, Shanghai – and now NYC.
United by a shared passion for ground-breaking design, wherever the brief takes us, our driving philosophy is one of Restless Curiosity. We believe that impactful design necessarily must start with a deep understanding of people, place and culture. That’s why our proprietary Resonance Process starts with data, research and insight, to inform the central Brand Experience Concept.
Chloe Mayo
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+44 (0)20 7482 0054
Brien McDaniel
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+1 917 601 0042
