RR Recommended: Amit Syngle On The Design Addresses That Stand Out To Him

Amit Syngle is the Managing Director and CEO of Asian Paints, a role he has held since April 2020 after more than three decades with the company. Over the years, he has shaped some of the brand's most defining moves, including the ColourNext forecasting platform and Asian Paints' shift from a paint manufacturer into a full home decor and luxury interiors player.

With that kind of design instinct running through his career, it's no surprise his travel list reads like a design lover's map.

Here are five spaces around the world that he finds unforgettable.

Nilufar Gallery, Milan

Nilufar is like an institution. Founded in Milan in 1979 by Nina Yashar, it has spent over four decades spotting design trends before the rest of the world catches on alongside curating one of the most respected collections of vintage design pieces anywhere. Yashar's eye has turned Nilufar into a reference point for collectors, museums and design lovers who want to see how the masters of the past speak to the talents of today. The gallery's guiding idea, "discovering, crossing, creating," runs through everything it does.

What started as a single space on Via della Spiga grew in 2015 into a second, much larger home as a 1,500 sqm gallery on Viale Lancetti, designed with echoes of the La Scala opera house.

Together, the two spaces have become essential stops during Milan Design Week, pulling in an international crowd every year. More recently, Yashar launched Nilufar Edition, a project that pairs design with old-world Renaissance craftsmanship, pushing the gallery into new creative territory while staying true to its roots.

Hida Store, Tokyo

HIDA Midtown is the Tokyo flagship of Hida Sangyo, a furniture and woodworking company from Hida-Takayama with roots going back to 1920. The store is a showcase of Japanese wood craftsmanship, blending time-tested joinery techniques with newer methods like wood-bending and cedar compression.

The facade itself, designed by Hisae Igarashi, is made of 50 per cent compressed cedar and displays actual craftsmen's tools on its walls, connecting shoppers directly to the making process.

What makes Hida special is its philosophy of turning wood once written off as unusable into refined furniture. The brand's story began when a group of locals started building bentwood furniture from beech. That resourcefulness has carried through generations of craftsmen and turned Hida-Takayama into one of Japan's most respected furniture-making regions. The Tokyo store also features collaborations with designers and creative brands, keeping the century-old company in conversation with contemporary design.

Apple Store, Fifth Avenue, New York

Apple's Fifth Avenue store is as much a piece of architecture as it is a retail space. The store is best known for its glass cube entrance, a 32-foot self-supporting structure originally designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and later reimagined with Foster + Partners. It sits above ground but the real experience unfolds below.

The underground retail hall is curved comprises of cloud-like fabric ceilings, 62 skylights and 18 mirrored glass "Skylenses" to flood the space with natural light, while a glass spiral staircase and a cylindrical elevator connect the two levels.

Outside, a public plaza lined with honey locust trees and fountains doubles as a gathering spot, with the Skylenses also functioning as public seating. It's the only Apple flagship in the world open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, which only adds to its cult status as a design and retail landmark.

The Carlton, Moscow

Once known as The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, this hotel was rebranded as The Carlton, Moscow in July 2022, after Marriott suspended its operations in Russia. Independent five-star status aside, its location remains unbeatable as it is right at the base of Tverskaya Street, steps from Red Square, with rooms offering direct views of the Kremlin's towers.

The building sits on the site of the old Soviet-era Hotel Intourist and opened in 2007. Architect Andrey Meyerson designed the facade in the style of 18th and 19th-century Russian Classicism, so it blends into the historic streetscape around it.

Inside, the design leans into imperial Russian grandeur, with dark cherrywood and marble sourced from Portugal and the Altai Mountains. Rooms start at a generous 42 square metres, and the top suites come with decorative fireplaces and malachite detailing. The basement spa spans 2,000 square feet, with 14 treatment rooms and a pool set with genuine Swarovski crystals, an unmistakably lavish touch.

Conrad Athens The Ilisian

This is the hotel long known as the Athens Hilton, which reopened in April 2026 as Conrad Athens The Ilisian, carefully preserving the art and midcentury design that made it iconic in the first place. The building's most striking feature is its facade which is an abstract frieze created in 1958 by celebrated Greek artist Yannis Moralis, drawing on themes of ancient Greek hospitality.

Originally designed in 1963 by architects Emmanuel Vourekas, Prokopis Vassiliadis, Spyros Staikos and Anthony Georgiades, the hotel has now been restored by Aeter Architects, with interiors reimagined by AvroKO. The result blends the building's original midcentury character with Pentelic marble and a curated display of modern Greek design talent.

The hotel holds 278 rooms and suites, a 25-metre outdoor pool, and brings back longtime favourites like the Galaxy bar and Byzantino restaurant. When it first opened in 1963, the Athens Hilton was seen as a landmark of the International Style and a symbol of a modernising, West-facing Athens, a legacy this restoration clearly wants to honour.