Roger Thomas (designer)

Roger Thomas (born 1951) is an American interior designer best known for his work on resort hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, including Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas. His work also extends to other areas of the world, including Wynn Macau, Encore Macau and Wynn Palace in China. Until 2019 he was the Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Design & Development. He is an advisor to Wynn Resorts and principal of The Roger Thomas Collection.

Thomas has been named five times to the Architectural Digest AD100 list of the world's preeminent architects and designers, and was inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015.

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the 1950s, his father, E. Parry Thomas, was CEO of the Bank of Las Vegas, the only bank willing to loan money to area casinos.

After spending his final two years of high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, Thomas earned a BFA in art history from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in partnership with Tufts University, where he was trained in painting, sculpture, textiles, metalsmithing and ceramics.

Thomas later attended The Interior Design Institute in Newport Beach, CA, where he received his master's degree of Design.

Career

Interior Design

In 1974, Thomas began designing interiors for banks and other financial institutions. He spent seven years running the Las Vegas office of design house Yates Silverman, designed penthouses for the Stardust Hotel and Casino, and designed his first casino, the Lady Luck, in a Saturday Night Fever motif. Thomas felt the standard design of the city's casinos had a disorienting, claustrophobic layout lacking décor, and that their designs relied too heavily on fantasy or a limited set of historical references.

In 1980, Steve Wynn, a family friend, asked Thomas to join a team designing the first major ground-up resort in Las Vegas in 25 years, a hotel and casino more sophisticated than others in the city. This would become The Mirage resort and hotel, which opened in 1989. Thomas's work designing the interiors of the tropical-themed Mirage and swashbuckler-themed Treasure Island, which opened in 1993, began to change the image of properties on the Las Vegas Strip from casinos with hotel rooms to luxury resorts. Beginning with the interior design for Bellagio, a resort which opened in 1998, Wynn and Thomas "reinvented the look of the modern gambling hall by deliberately violating every previously accepted rule of casino design," helping Wynn's hotels achieve an original, more luxurious approach. Bellagio immediately became the standard against which subsequent Strip resorts were measured. It was designed to put gamblers at ease, with high ceilings, European-style furnishings and a wide-open, axial, easy-to-navigate layout. Bellagio would generate the largest profits for a single Las Vegas property in the city's history. At a cost of $1.6 billion, it was the most expensive hotel in the world at the time.

Thomas designed interiors for the Wynn Las Vegas, which opened in 2005. The resort's design added abundant natural light sources, with a garden atrium and pioneering placement of chandeliers above gambling tables. Thomas has also designed interiors for the Wynn Macau in China, which opened in 2006, the $2.3 billion, 2,000-room Encore at Wynn Las Vegas in 2009, and the Encore at Wynn Macau in 2010. The Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas were both departures from the previous style of Wynn-owned resorts, with an original interior design rather than an overall theme. <

Thomas led the creation of the Wynn Palace, also in Macau, a $4.1 billion resort which opened in August 2016. He then completed the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor, in Everett, Massachusetts, which opened in June 2019.

Thomas's opulent style is heavily influenced by 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, 18th-century French architecture and interiors, and 20th-century French, Austrian and US modernists. The New Yorker said that "doing the opposite of what is usual has become Thomas's trademark," while Vegas magazine stated "the history of hotel-casino design on the Strip can practically be seen through his creations." He has been named five times to the Architectural Digest AD100 list of the world's preeminent architects and designers, and was inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015.

Home furnishings and other designs

The Roger Thomas Collection features luxury home and outdoor furnishings, mirrors, carpets, fabric, wall coverings, lighting and jewelry. Thomas has created signature collections and pieces for brands including Edward Ferrell + Lewis Mittman, Townsend Leather, Fromental, Maya Romanoff, S. Harris, Samuel & Sons, SICIS Jewels, Boyd Lighting, Koroseal, OW Hospitality, Rocky Mountain Hardware, Labrazel and Fabric Innovations He has also designed corporate offices, yachts and aircraft interiors.

Honors and awards

• Boston Design Week Lifetime Achievement Award
• Architectural Digest AD100, 2016
• Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee, 2015
• Architectural Digest AD100, 2014
• Architectural Digest AD100, 2012
• Architectural Digest AD100, 2010
• Architectural Digest AD100, 2007
• Art Design Icon of the Year, Academy of Art University, 2012
• UNLV Hall of Fame, 2011
• Sarno Award for Lifetime Achievement in Casino Design, 2009

Personal life

Thomas was raised as a Mormon. He has twice been married to women, and came out as gay in 1996, at the age of 44. He has said that coming out improved his work by allowing him to be more authentic. He is married to Arthur Libera, a licensing agent for artists and designers.

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