Antony Cestra is a dynamic entrepreneur and design leader with over 20 years of experience shaping transformative environments across hospitality, residential, cultural, and commercial sectors. He brings a holistic design approach rooted in the conviction that the built environment can shape human behavior and enhance social well-being.
Educated primarily in Italy, Antony earned his first professional degree in Civil Engineering, followed by a degree in Architecture and Interior Design from La Sapienza University in Rome. Inspired by the evolving landscape of modern architecture, he relocated to the United States to pursue new professional opportunities, completing a Bachelor of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, where he graduated magna cum laude.
After several years working across globally recognized firms, Antony founded Studio Antony Cestra, a design practice with a strategic focus on hospitality and lifestyle development. Initially launched after his time at Foster + Partners, the studio remained dormant while he held senior roles at other influential design firms in the industry.
Today, the studio serves as a platform for new ventures, integrating design, development, and real estate strategy with a focus on hospitality and lifestyle projects. Under Antony’s leadership, it operates at the intersection of creativity and purpose, shaping environments that are both visionary and grounded in long-term value.
At Lemay_id, the interior design studio of Lemay, Antony served as Principal, Studio Leader and VP of Development, leading the New York studio and guiding the firm’s U.S. market expansion. He played a key role in advancing immersive, brand-centric hospitality and residential projects, while helping shape the firm’s Net Positive™ approach and its broader decarbonization and sustainability goals.
Prior to Lemay_id, Antony was part of the celebrated Rockwell Group, where he worked on a wide array of experience-driven spaces that blend architecture, interior design, and narrative. His work there strengthened his focus on placemaking and hospitality, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to bring globally recognized concepts to life.
Earlier in his career, Antony joined Foster + Partners as a Project Architect, where he played a key role in the design and delivery of high-profile projects across the globe. Working within interdisciplinary teams under the direction of senior partners, he was responsible for leading concept development, coordinating across international consultants, and ensuring design integrity through all project phases. His work spanned a range of typologies, including commercial, residential, cultural, and retail, reflecting the firm’s signature integration of architecture, sustainability, and advanced technology.
His global experience also includes a formative collaboration with IBUKU in Southeast Asia, where he contributed to sustainable bamboo structures for local communities and the award-winning Green School, recognized by the USGBC as the greenest school on Earth.
From his early apprenticeship at his family’s construction company in Italy to leading cutting-edge design initiatives around the world, Antony blends technical rigor with entrepreneurial vision, crafting environments that are innovative, impactful, and deeply meaningful.