Deborah Lloyd Forrest, FASID
Principal
In her over thirty-year career, Deborah Lloyd Forrest has achieved recognition as an industry leader in defining luxury. Following her work on the landmark Eola Hotel, Natchez, Mississippi, in the early 1980’s, Ms. Forrest developed a lifelong passion for historic hotels. As a result, her career has been devoted to the restoration and renovation of luxury landmark properties and to the design of luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. Honoring her design leadership, in 2004 Hospitality Design magazine elected her to its prestigious Platinum Circle. Recently, the American Society of Interior Designers designated Deborah Lloyd Forrest, FASID, Designer of Distinction, 2004, for the outstanding contribution her work has made to the profession of Interior Design.
While serving as the interior designer for the Eola, she established what became a long-term professional association with Stephen Perkins, the Project Architect overseeing the hotel’s restoration. Sharing an understanding and appreciation of the luxury hospitality industry, the two forged a partnership in 1998, establishing FORRESTPERKINS as a dynamic design practice dedicated to providing design services to the owners and operators of luxury hotels and resorts worldwide.
In 1986, Ms. Forrest established Deborah Lloyd Forrest Associates. As she built a portfolio of important projects, Ms. Forrest became recognized in the industry for her extraordinary color sense and interpretation of timeless luxury for discerning hospitality clients. This distinction led to prestigious commissions from Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts such as the restoration of the Empress Hotel in British Columbia, renovation of the Hotel Vancouver and the Royal York Hotel, Toronto.
Ms. Forrest’s portfolio also includes work on other luxury properties abroad, notably the conversion of the Palais Leitenberger and Palais Henckel von Donnersmarck in Vienna to the SAS Palais Hotel; the renovation of the luxury suites at the Berkeley Hotel in London; the restoration of public spaces at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal, an original Cesar Ritz property; and a new luxury hotel for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts in Athens, Greece.
In partnership with Stephen Perkins, Ms. Forrest’s design work for Canadian Pacific (now Fairmont Hotels and Resorts) broadened to include the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in Bermuda, the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and the Fairmont New Orleans. Ms. Forrest’s design leadership has led to commissions to design two new Ritz-Carlton Clubs and renovate four Ritz-Carlton hotels as well as The Four Seasons Atlanta, the St. Regis Houston, the St. Regis Aspen and distinctive independent five-star hotels such as The Hermitage, Nashville, Salamander Resort and Spa and The Jefferson, Washington, D.C.
A noted speaker on restoration, luxury hotel design and design business management, Ms. Forrest has delivered a keynote address to an annual meeting of the Historic Hotels of America and has given presentations at HD2000, 2003 and 2004, NeoCon, the 2000 and 2003 International Hotel/Motel and Restaurant Show and numerous American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) National Conferences. Her contributions to the design profession resulted in her election as 1996-1997 National Vice President of Finance and Administration of ASID and election to ASID Fellowship in 2000, the highest honor the society bestows. Ms. Forrest currently serves as an advisor to the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oklahoma State University. Her award-winning designs have been featured in Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Interior Design, Southern Living, Hospitality Design, Hotel Design, HOTELS, and Lodging Hospitality.