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Founded 29 years ago by David Collins, who died last July, and business partner Iain Watson, this London firm is renowned for its global portfolio of swank hospitality and commercial spaces, though it also does exceptional residential work. Electrifying drama and lavish finishes are two specialties of the company, now led by creative director Simon Rawlings (pictured). The recently opened One Canada Square restaurant and bar in London’s Canary Wharf is a hot spot featuring jade-green marble, ruddy polished wood, and silver details, while the new Alexander McQueen flagship in Manhattan is piped with leafy plaster tendrils and paved with white-veined black marble slabs laid in octagons. A London house, on the other hand, exudes spalike serenity, with accents such as café-au-lait hues and sensational book-matched marble. Next on the group’s agenda are a mixed-use development in Azerbaijan and a trilevel glass bar atop Bangkok’s 77-story MahaNakhon Pavilion. As for products, the Collins furniture line for Promemoria turned many a head at last year’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. davidcollinom

Meet the other architects and designers on the 2014 AD100 list.