S+S STUDIO: Redefining Luxury in Restaurant Design & Beyond

Ira and Olya, tell us about yourself!

IRA AND OLYA SUNDUKOVY, FOUNDERS OF S+S STUDIO, HAVE PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN SHAPING THE LANDSCAPE OF HOSPITALITY DESIGN OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES. THEIR STUDIO’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY MARKS A MILESTONE IN THEIR JOURNEY, HIGHLIGHTING THEIR DEDICATION TO REIMAGINING LUXURY THROUGH STORYTELLING.

We’re Ira and Olya Sundukovy, twin sisters and founders of S+S Studio, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Apart from work, our passions have always been traveling and gathering new impressions. In every corner of the world, we have visited not only the museums and cultural landmarks, but also the most amazing restaurants and hotels. That’s why we feel so fortunate to work in hospitality design all over the world – we create new points of attraction for others to enjoy.

Our team is a tight-knit group of over 90 talented professionals from all over the world, whose specialty is turning visions into reality. And once the workday’s over, it’s family time with our five children in the mix, balancing the design world and motherhood at the same time.

How did you get into interior design?

Growing up, seeing the contrast between the natural beauty of the Ural Mountains, and the dull industrial landscape that surrounded us, we never accepted compromise. We were always drawn to beauty, and that longing led us into the world of design. 

On graduating in 2004, we founded S+S Studio, hired our first employees, and by 2005, we completed our first international project – an apartment in Hong Kong, we mostly designed residential projects at that time.

As we attracted increasingly high-profile clients, we worked on projects of larger and larger scale. But with each rise in the status of our clients, we began to realize that our true path was actually to create expressive, bold interiors that tell stories and were accessible to the wider public.  

Tell us about the studio’s inception and how it has thrived and grown over the past two decades. 

As we shifted our focus to hospitality design, we soon became sought after as one of the best restaurant designers in Russia, earning a number of awards. And then In 2012, Accor hotel group approached us for our first hotel project. Knowing that we could design the public spaces, they asked us if we knew how to design hotel guestrooms. We’d spent years perfecting high-end residential interiors, so naturally we were a bit offended, but accepted the challenge.

We succeeded, and it became the beginning of our love story with hotel design, and with Accor. We even designed their office in Dubai. 

While we began with lifestyle and midscale hotels, these were anything but a step down from our luxury villa projects. They were a breath of fresh air, with artistic challenges that took all our creativity to solve.

By 2020, we expanded into luxury design, collaborating with brands like Four Seasons, Raffles, and Sofitel. And by 2022, we had established offices in Cyprus and Dubai for international projects.

How would you describe your style? 

Storytelling is super important for us. All our designs start with finding the narrative. Like anthropologists, we gather all the details and history of the location and owner’s personality.

We create interiors that strive to tell stories through space, blending bold luxury details and lifestyle savvy, with a touch of daring playfulness and self-irony, curated for those who appreciate sophistication with an unexpected twist.

We don’t follow trends; we imagine new fairy tales to tell.

How do you approach your projects? Talk us through the process. 

All projects at the studio are personally overseen by us, ensuring we never take on more than we can give our full attention to. 

Perhaps because we are twins – our first rule is always teamwork, where each team member contributes their opinion and brings forward something new and unexpected. Each project involves anywhere from 10 to 30 team members, including art directors who shape the vision — who have been with us for 14-17 years by the way — designers who craft every detail, visualizers who bring to life the dreams of our designers, draftsmen who meticulously detail all aspects, managers who source perfect materials within strict budgets, and of course, project managers who coordinate and guide the team toward realizing the vision. 

We take immense pride in the fact that our entire team works in-house, producing advanced 3D visualizations and flawless working documentation.

How do you handle conflicting opinions from clients? 

First of all,  the customer is always right when they agree with us (laughs). So either we manage to convince them or they manage to convince us, and in the end we are in agreement.

But our top priority when dealing with disagreements is to stand up for designs that truly please our real customers, the end users. When guests are happy, they’re much more likely to return, resulting in better revenue and happier clients. And the majority of our clients return to us again and again over the years, which is the main reward for us.

Your work, notably your recent project Luna Sky Bar at Four Seasons DIFC, demonstrates outstanding excellence in F&B design and hospitality. Share a few fascinating design details. 

We drew inspiration from Dubai’s unique skyline and the mystique of the moon. Thoughtfully arranged seating and bespoke artistic partitions depicting the lunar phases enhance the ambiance, defining the space, and providing an Instagram-worthy backdrop to the best views of Dubai. 

Alongside Luna, we’ve curated the elegant Churchill cigar bar and the urban chic Penrose lounge terrace, and our design for the revamped Mercury Lounge at Four Seasons Jumeirah will debut in September.

How do you ensure your designs are functional as well as aesthetically pleasing? 

Despite seeming decorative, our designs always start with functionality. We start with an emphasis on comfort and guest experience, and layer the whimsical and fanciful elements on top. 

And of course, over the past 20 years, we’ve learned not only from our successes but also from our mistakes; it’s these that make us stronger and wiser.

How do you handle time-sensitive projects with tight deadlines? 

In fact, all our projects have strict deadlines, because time is money; it’s our daily reality. 

We start with an incredibly well-planned schedule, add the flexibility to augment teams as needed, and finish with cool project managers who don’t clip the wings of our creators, but help them with resources and planning. However, during the initial stages, our perfectionism kicks in as we search for the project’s true essence, refusing anything less than amazing. At this stage, clients may feel nervous, but the better the initial concept, the faster and more impressive the final project.

What’s to come for you in the coming 2024 and beyond, anything exciting you can share with us?

2024 has kicked off with exciting ventures for us!  We’ve already celebrated the opening of Swissotel Tbilisi in March and launched two restaurants in Armenia. Looking ahead, we’re thrilled to see the openings of Sofitel Benin and MGallery Nairobi this summer. 

Our plans for the rest of the year include exciting restaurant projects in vibrant locations like Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Limassol, and Marbella, and hotels in Thailand and across the MENA region. 

But we’re still waiting for our dream project on a tropical island somewhere!