Anouska Hempel

“The champagne tastes the same if you're sitting bolt upright or sunk back into a sofa, so you might as well be upright, because you look better.”

“I like people. Listen, if you're a hotelier, if you're a creative person, and you're working with the things that I do, then you have to like people; otherwise, you simply can't get anywhere.”

“I don't let many people in. I don't discuss everything. If I don't want to discuss it, I'm not discussing it. I think that annoys the hell out of an awful lot of people.”

“When building in a place that already has a dominant style, it's important to behave yourself. Look around; refer to what you see. In the mountains above Salzburg, I saw charming chalets and wildflower meadows. The chalets are cozy - I don't do cozy. The meadows are in a soft disarray - I don't do soft, and I don't do disarray. I do order.”

“Comfort? If a choice has to be made between style and comfort, style wins every time.”

“I love to get on the road, but I also think arriving is such a thrill. Turning up at the train station in Mumbai, for example, to see people hanging off all the wonderful old carriages. It's extraordinary - everyone sitting with their chickens on their laps, moving forward but not going anywhere fast.”

“The building I most admire is the Doges Palace in Venice, both by day and by night. Looking at it from the lagoon, it resembles a floating kilim carpet. I love all the bridges which connect houses, people, gardens and palaces. I also love moats to isolate yourself. A ha-ha for secrecy, as in every English country garden.”

“I always like to read something romantic about the place I'm visiting.”

“Design, refine and repeat, and keep learning all the way along. It sounds bland and pedestrian, but in fact, it's the reverse.”

“A house must be bedded in the landscape. They both have to work together. In and out, every view from a window has to be sensational. Every view into the house must be the same to ensure continuity.”

“I really should have been a pharaoh - do you know that?”

“Sure, I'm hyperactive. I make my staff a bit hyper, too, but motivating someone else is what gives me a buzz.”

“Work's a way of life. It's the way you live; it's what you do, and it's how it is. It's not work. It's a lifestyle. It's life. It's what one does. You can't not work.”

“It is not me who is to be noticed. It is my work.”

“Acting was fun for a while. I loved every minute of the really good things I did but probably wasn't as good as I should have been.”

“Never let anyone go home feeling bad at night. You can bark away during the day, but you must always put that right.”

“I'm never short of inspiration. There are always new ideas - and new adventures.”

“I'm not an interior decorator; I'm a designer, and that includes the architecture. The package must be strong and controlled, the rooms aligned, and the windows positioned to make sense with the furniture. Fluff it up, and you've got big trouble.”

“Unless a design is infused with a personality - and by that, I mean mine or someone else who really understands what design is all about - it will never, ever have any mystery.”

“Being a rather second-rate actress, I finally thought, 'I'd rather be a designer.' I knew I could make things look good.”