Prominent architect launches hospitality design company

Wells International is the brainchild of architect and designer Justin Wells

The high-profile architect and designer Justin Wells has created an innovative new hospitality design company, Wells International.

Trailblazing design company Wells International aims to craft emotive narratives for hospitality projects around the world. We take a closer look at this ambitious practice.

Bespoke solutions

The architect and designer Justin Wells, who has more than 25 years’ experience working on hospitality projects across the Middle East, Europe, Australia and South-East Asia, launched Wells International in mid-2020. His previous roles include stints as director and global head of hospitality at dwp, regional lead of lifestyle at Woods Bagot, principal at HBA and managing partner at Tonic Architecture + Design.

This new practice has been created around the belief that an unprecedented time of global uncertainty presents an opportunity for the hospitality industry to rethink the design process according to its rapidly evolving needs, taking a flexible approach to deliver bespoke solutions. Based in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, it has quickly grown to encompass a team of 30 architects, designers, high-level industry consultants and hospitality specialists strategically located around the world.

“A bespoke approach is tailored to a client’s needs, desires and budget – at Wells International, we believe project teams should be tailored in the same way,” said Wells. “These agile and experienced teams combined with our thoughtful, emotionally rich approach to design will be essential in the race for industry recovery in hospitality. With this approach, our clients will get the best in industry working on their project, with greater access to materials, supply chains and reimagined design thinking.”

Focusing entirely on hospitality, the practice includes hotel design, food and beverage design, spa and wellness and boutique collections within its expertise. It’s currently working on projects in Saudi Arabia, Croatia and Vietnam.

Designed to engage

Wells International takes a unique approach to creating memorable hospitality spaces with purpose. Each space is designed to engage people from the moment they arrive, in the same way a theatre captivates an audience. To do this, the team produces a ‘script’ for each project based on an in-depth understanding of the setting, before assembling a material palette to create the space and define the scene.

“We want our work to tell a compelling story and take people on an emotive journey – and we liken this approach to theatre,” said Wells. “When this manifesto is applied and resolved with conviction, we can create inspired palatial design with a beautiful narrative.”

“Wells International designs for people – we believe they deserve to be excited in experiencing hospitality spaces in the same way that theatre thrills and excites,” he added. “We create emotive spaces that allow an audience to escape everyday life and come away with a deeply personal and memorable experience.”