Step into the new Drake Modern Wing in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood and you’re instantly struck by the harmony of opposites—old brick against terrazzo, jewel-toned banquettes under vintage lights, high art meets warm hospitality. The effect is layered, dynamic and deeply local. It’s also quintessential DesignAgency: a Toronto firm that has quietly become a fixture in the international design conversation, shaping spaces from Los Angeles to Barcelona with an approach rooted in Third Culture sensibility.
Founded in 1998 by Anwar Mekhayech, Allen Chan and Matt Davis, DesignAgency was born from the city’s creative friction and a cosmopolitan foundation that remains its compass. As Mekhayech puts it: “Those formative years revolved around food, restaurants, culture and travel. I was born in Beirut and raised in a multicultural family in downtown Toronto, right on the edge of Chinatown and Kensington Market. At the time, the city was still finding its identity.”
DesignAgency’s trajectory began in the restaurant and nightlife scene. “Clients trusted us to be creative, take risks and explore bold ways to bring their vision to life,” says Mekhayech. “We began by creating unexpected spaces we wanted to hang out in with our friends.”
That spirit of experimentation quickly turned global. When Wallpaper* published one of their early projects, inquiries began arriving from around the world. “Toronto is a great global city—approachable, yet still a little mysterious; adventurous, but also cautious,” adds Davis. “Tapping into that unique energy helped shape our core values: to be exceptional listeners, to offer thoughtful, non-preconceived solutions and to be true design partners.”
Today, with studios in Toronto, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Barcelona, the team’s multicultural DNA has become both strategy and superpower, informing how they interpret place.
Growing up in a multicultural environment has made me take pleasure in mixing cultural influences.
Allen chan, co-founder of designagency
There’s no single authorial hand guiding DesignAgency’s work. Instead, its projects emerge from a dialogue between three partners, their distinct ways of seeing, and blending that with the client’s vision for a creative resolution. Mekhayech’s Middle Eastern roots bring warmth and improvisation; Chan’s family background in hospitality informs a sense of order; and Davis, trained in landscape architecture, translates narrative ideas into built form. Collectively, their vision is global in scope, though they also draw from their respective upbringings for inspiration.
“Growing up in a multicultural environment has made me take pleasure in mixing cultural influences,” Chan says. “In my parents’ restaurant, we served a dish called ‘LBE—Little Bit of Everything,’ which in many ways captures my own approach to life, as well as creative decisions.”
That multidisciplinary mindset came alive in the Dalmar, a 209-room urban resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the designers blurred the line between indoors and out, creating a seamless sense of flow within an urban grid. It’s a philosophy they carried into YOTEL Amsterdam, where the hotel’s public areas and food-and-beverage spaces were re-imagined with the same sense of contextual sensitivity. Drawing inspiration from the city’s canals and the site’s location in the Overhoeks district, they created a billowing, wavelike ceiling that mimics the movement of the IJ River and guides guests through the space.
At its core, DesignAgency’s philosophy revolves around empathy and a belief that design’s purpose is to connect people. That humanistic through-line permeates all the firm’s work. Take NeueHouse Venice Beach, where the team transformed a 1920s brick building on Market Street—once home to artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat—into a gathering place for creatives. The space was reinterpreted through a Californian lens, using warm woods, ceramics and soft, natural tones to evoke the spirit of craft while maintaining the brand’s cosmopolitan polish. The result feels alive with the rhythm of work and play—a social space that seems to breathe with its surroundings.
Many of DesignAgency’s most beloved projects begin with history. “When you have great clients in great cities, you often get the chance to work with an incredible building,” says Mekhayech. The team’s restoration of Generator Venice transformed an 1855 palazzo into a hostel rich with craft and romance, complete with Rubelli textiles, Murano glass chandeliers and antiques sourced from Italian flea markets.
Each re-invention tells a story of continuity. For the Pendry Natirar countryside resort in New Jersey, they layered modern restraint atop a Tudor-style mansion’s ornate bones, fusing landscape, architecture and interior into a unified narrative. The team is currently working on the Anantara Palais Hansen Vienna hotel, where that dialogue between past and present continues. Set within a grand 19th-century building (originally built for the 1873 World’s Fair) in the Austrian capital, the project reflects DesignAgency’s growing presence in Europe and its ability to translate cultural nuance into contemporary luxury.
“DesignAgency re-imagined the hotel’s historic interiors with a graceful balance between past and present—spaces feel elegant yet vibrant, classic yet modern,” says Daniel M. Antonio Reales, vice-president of Projects, Construction and Design for Minor Hotels Europe and Americas. “[They] brought incredible insight and experience to the project, interpreting our vision with sensitivity and creativity. Every detail enhances how guests experience the timeless charm of the city.”
With more than 100 staff across continents, DesignAgency operates as a living network of cultural perspectives. The firm’s influence hasn’t gone unnoticed. In recent years, its work has earned recognition from the Interior Design Best of Year Awards and Hospitality Design Awards, cited for its “sensitivity to context and atmosphere.”
Whether it’s a place where commerce and luxury collide or an environment in which personal growth and wellness are paramount, DesignAgency’s focus remains fixed on carving out spaces where people can feel more at home in the world.
Today, the partners are less interested in scale than in depth, and are focusing their efforts on continuing to spread their vision across cultures and communities. They speak often about passing the torch: nurturing a new generation of designers who share their curiosity and cultural fluency. It’s a mindset that feels refreshingly human in an industry that’s otherwise obsessed with speed and spectacle.
With files from Ria Elciario-McKeown.
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