Michele Bönan

For celebrated Italian architect and interior designer Michele Bönan, designing a hotel, a restaurant or a house is a cinematic undertaking. “I am the director of a movie,” Bönan explains. “The property, the location, the client: they all become parts of a film—all equally important.” Bönan’s prolific career in hospitality architecture began in 1995, when he created Florence’s Hotel Lungarno. Bönan tends to custom-design furniture for each new project. “I started designing because I couldn’t find what I needed,” he explains.