Jorge Cañete

Career

After a career in luxury products during which he took part in marketing Luxe watches in Asia and helped to launch perfumes for Emanuel Ungaro and Bvlgari, Jorge Cañete managed the international development of the perfumes Thierry Mugler and Azzaro. After several years travelling the world he decided to study interior design.

He graduated in “Interior Design” from London Metropolitan University and undertook several projects in architects’ studios in Rome and Geneva. In 2006, he founded his own studio, Interior Design Philosophy in Switzerland. He initially worked in Geneva and then moved to St-Légier, before settling in the chateau of St-Saphorin sur Morges in the Swiss canton of Vaud in 2013.

Jorge Cañete and his Interior Design Philosophy studio are active worldwide, in private homes, public institutions (museums), stores, stands for watchmaker brands and even at events such as the inaugural gala of the charity World Cancer2. Jorge Cañete’s work always bears a style characterised by poetry that expertly blends memory and modernity.

He has curated several exhibitions, which notably include:

International awards

Jorge Cañete’s poetic style was selected for the sixth year running by Andrew MARTIN, creator of the world Oscars for interior design.

Each year, Andrew Martin publishes his work “Interior Design Review”, which features the most significant designers of the moment. In 2014, Jorge Canete and his Interior Design Philosophy studio were chosen as the winner and collected the 2014 International Interior Designer of the Year Award. The judges are well-known figures and artists. Anouska Hempel, Yasmin Le Bon, Jo Malone, Twiggy, Sarah, Duchess of York and Tim Rice have taken part in different editions.

Previously, the Andrew Martin Oscar was awarded to interior designers such as Kelly Hoppen (1996 - UK), Kit Kemp (2008 - UK), Axel Verwoordt (2009 - Belgium), Martyn Lawrence Bullard (2010 - USA) and Rabih Hage (2011 - Lebanon).

In 2013, Jorge Cañete received the Interior Design Award Best of the Year Honoree and, in the same year, the prize for the Best Swiss residential project of the European Property Awards in London.

In 2012, he collected the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Global Excellence Award for best residential project in an international competition honouring the best interior design projects worldwide. Competition winners were chosen from among 92 interior design studios from 32 countries worldwide. The dreamlike quality of the “Aile et la Plume” project presented by Jorge Cañete charmed the International Interior Design Association. This award was presented at the Salon Maison et Objet in Paris in January 2012.

The Society of British Interior Design (SBID) offered him honorary membership in 2012. He has also twice been a finalist of the SBID International Design Excellence Awards (2013–2014).

Jorge Cañete has also been a member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) since 2008.

Media and publications

The work of Jorge Cañete’s Interior Design Philosophy studio has appeared in numerous magazines and publications in Switzerland and elsewhere in the world. The following is a recent selection:

Jorge Cañete has given several interviews to explain his approach and to present the work of his studio. There follows a small selection:

In 2010, Jorge Cañete was a regular guest on the television programme Dolce Vita (TSR1) ) as a décor columnist on the broadcast of the journalist Muriel Siki.

He is also co-author of the work “Architecture émotionnelle, matière à penser”, written for the First International Conference on Emotional Architecture, organised by Barbara Polla, in which he took part in January 2011.

In 2012, he was published in the book “Architecture d’intérieur”, by Oracom.

Following on from different artistic collaborative projects, he published the e-books in the series “Interior Design Philosophy donne carte blanche à” (Interior Design Philosophy gives carte blanche to..) artists such as Peter Wüthrich, Riccardo and Sandrine Barilla, and Isa Barbier11. As Jorge Cañete has always been unconditionally committed to writing, the profit raised from these works is used to support the International Literacy Foundation the purpose of which is to fight against illiteracy in the world.

Teaching

Jorge Cañete teaches his method to students at the Athenæum, the School of Architecture and Design at Renens, Lausanne.

He has also taught on a master’s programme in luxury management at the BSL.

He also runs design workshops for individuals at his studio in the castle of St-Saphorin sur Morges.

Projects