{"id":113273,"date":"2026-08-09T05:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/113273\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T05:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:06:00","slug":"from-limavady-to-lake-geneva-a-co-derry-mans-journey-to-create-some-of-the-worlds-most-luxurious-hospitality-settings-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/113273\/","title":{"rendered":"From Limavady to Lake Geneva: A Co Derry man\u2019s journey to create some of the world\u2019s most luxurious hospitality settings \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking out at the yachts gliding on the water from the window of the Ritz-Carlton in Geneva, where he\u2019s sitting with clients, who happen to be the owners of the five-star luxury hotel, Ryan Crown has just experienced another \u2018pinch me \u2018moment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long way from Limavady<\/a> to Lake Geneva, but somehow he\u2019s got here through a combination of talent, hustle and hard work.<\/p>\n

Just days later, he\u2019s back in Crown Creative\u2019s brightly lit design studio overlooking Hill Street in Belfast\u2019s Cathedral Quarter, where the agency\u2019s project wall includes framed images of a five-star resort in the Dominican Republic, a dog hotel in New York and a chippy in Galway.<\/p>\n

The business, which was forged in New York City before relocating to Belfast amid the global catastrophe of Covid-19, now employs 25 people across offices in Belfast, New York and London.<\/p>\n

\"Reprieve<\/a><\/p>\n

For a small largely Belfast-based team to be designing and crafting the branding and surrounds of some of the world\u2019s most luxurious hotels and restaurants isn\u2019t strictly conventional, but then Ryan Crown\u2019s career path never was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I wanted to be an actor,\u201d he recalls departing his Limavady home to study in Belfast.<\/p>\n

But those creative juices were soon directed elsewhere. While his friends were working behind the counter in Centra and pouring pints in local pubs, the Co Derry student spent his days at Queen\u2019s University designing websites and doing digital marketing for the likes of Bogart and Beannchor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friends were earning minimum wage and I was sending invoices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Largely self-taught, he soon landed himself his \u201cdream job\u201d at The Lyric theatre as a digital marketer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was still hustling, creating websites in the evening. I just thought that was natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CrownCrown Creative relocated to the former AV Browne studio on Hill Street two years ago. <\/p>\n

Two years into the job he took his first major punt in life, when he successfully sold himself to north Belfast pair Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, who had just opened The Dead Rabbit pub in New York\u2019s financial district.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first day in the job they were awarded the best bar in the world. I remember thinking \u2018Christ, the shoes you have to fill\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first month, the Belfast founders were on the cover of Forbes magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting there thinking, six months ago I was sitting at home in Limavady and Belfast, now I\u2019m in the heart of New York doing a photoshoot with Forbes. It felt crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling the \u201cwild ride\u201d of those early days in New York, where he relocated with his partner Emma, he considers the decision to cross the Atlantic as \u201ca complete game-changer and a gearshift\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Dead Rabbit was Ryan Crown’s first job in New York. <\/p>\n

When The Dead Rabbit became part of the HPH Hospitality Group, Ryan found himself part of a much larger hospitality universe filled with Michelin starred restaurants and New York steak houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking this is an industry I love being in and a city I love being in.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you feel small in the vastness of New York. It was incredibly humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was during a break driving down the west coast of the US with his partner Emma that he admitted out loud that he was thinking of leaving is job to set up his own company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing was, I was in my dream job, I was 27 years of age and completely in love with it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe project wall at Crown Creative’s Hill Street studio. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut my thoughts were if I don\u2019t do this now, I\u2019m never going to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the time to roll the dice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever the hustler, the Limavady man convinced his employer to convert his salary into a retainer for his burgeoning creative agency.<\/p>\n

HPH went for it and became Crown Creative\u2019s first client.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were working out of this tiny space, but we were working with a Michelin star restaurant, a huge food hall in the financial district and this incredible steak house.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just grew from there and good work gets you good work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA recent project Crown Creative did for the New York pizza and Italian restaurant group Seppe. <\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s reputation grew, and Crown Creative began to earn new clients outside HPH, including New York restaurant Seppe, which remains a client to this day.<\/p>\n

After an early flirtation with all kinds of creative work to pay the bills, Ryan soon decided it was time to double down and focus on hospitality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that niche some people would tell you is bonkers because you close yourself off to so many industries. But for us, it has paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has happened is that other industries have approached us to apply that hospitality thinking and hospitality mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current clients include a very large UK real estate agency and a very well-known Belfast retailer.<\/p>\n

Starbucks has also sought the design agency\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2020, everything changed.<\/p>\n

With coronavirus spreading and New York in lockdown, the couple decided to move home for six months until the smoke cleared.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive-and-a-half years later here we are,\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quality of life here is fantastic. To be able to raise kids here and build a life here has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After effectively \u201cfalling off the face of the earth\u201d in the post-pandemic world, which decimated many hospitality businesses, Ryan set about rebuilding his agency with Belfast as its new base.<\/p>\n

Almost six years on, the small team has grown into a staff of 25 working from Belfast\u2019s Cathedral Quarter, with offices also in New York and London. <\/p>\n

Two years ago, Crown Creative moved into the former Hill Street studio occupied by AV Browne, which collapsed in 2023 after nearly a century in business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now offer interior design, we offer strategy, we offer website design. We see ourselves as a full service creative partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come to us with an idea, you really only need to speak to one agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe St Regis Cap Cana project for Marriott was Crown Creative’s largest to date. <\/p>\n

What is unusual for the Hill Street studio is its global reputation in hospitality. <\/p>\n

Crown Creative has just completed work on one of the world\u2019s most anticipated new five star resorts of 2025 in the Dominican Republic for Marriott.<\/p>\n

St Regis Cap Cana, where guests enjoy their own butler, is the agency\u2019s largest project to date.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, Crown Creative recently completed Birch Cabins for the Lagan family in Killinchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re super proud to be from Belfast and have a studio here. But one thing I\u2019ve always been really cognisant about and conscious of is not calling ourselves a Belfast agency, because it can make you feel small.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always had a global outlook. I spend a week in my month in New York. I\u2019m constantly in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mindset at Crown is our work is global, so we should act and feel like we\u2019re a global agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Limavady man recently managed to spend a couple of weeks at the St Regis Cap Cana resort with his family. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are kind of pinching yourself thinking we designed this, in Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do a project like St Regis, the floodgates open, you get a lot of enquiry and interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChipeenChipeen in Galway and Neighbourhood caf\u00e9 in Belfast. <\/p>\n

Those enquiries have included Waldorf Astoria and the Ritz Carlton in Geneva.<\/p>\n

All have produced more \u2018pinch me\u2019 moments for Ryan and his talented team.<\/p>\n

But the Limavady man is keen to point out the diversity of the agency\u2019s hospitality offering.<\/p>\n

Sitting in his beautiful sunlit red brick studio, he points to images on the wall of Galway takeaway Chipeen and luxury New York dog hotel Barkhouse.<\/p>\n

Crown Creative is also currently working with a large restaurant group in Norway.<\/p>\n

He remains convinced that building good relationships has been key to the success.<\/p>\n

He prioritises face-to-face contact, spending a week out of every month in New York and lots of time in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our clients from four years ago are still our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside his design work, Ryan became a hospitality business owner himself in 2021, launching Neighbourhood caf\u00e9 with Ois\u00edn McEvoy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship with Ois\u00edn has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NeighbourhoodRyan Crown with his Neighbourhood Caf\u00e9 co-founder Ois\u00edn McEvoy. PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN <\/p>\n

Describing it as \u201ca marriage made in heaven\u201d, he said key to Neighbourhood\u2019s success has been the decision by the partners to stick to their own strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely appetite from both of us to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

What that might look like is still unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve clearly got something good going with Neighbourhood, so we\u2019re going to keep refining that one unit, and keep making it better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the ambition for both of us is to keep creating exciting new concepts that make Belfast better.\u201d <\/p>\n

In 2023, Ryan submitted a planning application to turn the old Crown Creative offices at 52 Hill Street into a restaurant.<\/p>\n

Planning permission for the project just came through at the end of July. But Ryan says things have changed in the intervening three years.<\/p>\n

As of now, the project remains on hold.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s incredibly excited by the new wave of hospitality businesses popping up across Belfast and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an exciting younger energy I think coming through Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super positive and I\u2019m very optimistic about Belfast. We\u2019re a tough city, a resilient city, but the more optimism we have here, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looking out at the yachts gliding on the water from the window of the Ritz-Carlton in Geneva, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[55179,55180,27046,65,23817,2521,3253],"class_list":["post-113273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-belfast","tag-cathedral-quarter","tag-creative","tag-geneva","tag-hospitality","tag-new-york","tag-restaurant"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117063816751353738","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}