Interior Designer
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 Resort and Casino, and designed his first casino, the Lady Luck (now the Downtown Grand), in a Saturday Night Fever motif. [1] [13] 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. [1]
In 1980, Steve Wynn, a family friend, asked Thomas to design the guest rooms, as well as the Spa Suite Tower and Carson Tower, at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas. [2] Their next major collaboration was 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. [13] [16] [17] It was the Las Vegas’ first megaresort, having 3,044 rooms. [18] Thomas's work designing the interiors of the tropical-themed Mirage and swashbuckler-themed Treasure Island, which opened in 1993, played a key role in reshaping Las Vegas properties. [1] [3] [19]
Beginning with the interior design for The Bellagio, 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. [1] The Bellagio immediately became the standard against which subsequent strip resorts were measured, with a heavy focus on luxury and art. [3] [20] It was designed to put gamblers at ease, with high ceilings, European-style furnishings and a wide-open, axial, easy-to-navigate layout. The Bellagio would generate the largest profits for a single Las Vegas property in the city's history. [1] At a cost of $1.6 billion, it was the most expensive hotel in the world at the time. [21]
Following the sale of Mirage Resorts to MGM Resorts in 2000, [22] Thomas led design for the newly formed Wynn Resorts, beginning with the Wynn Las Vegas, which opened in 2005. [1] The resort casino design included changing from a low-ceiling, dimly-lit feel to bring in natural light, adding a garden atrium and pioneering the placement of chandeliers above gambling tables. [1] [23] 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, [13] and the Encore at Wynn Macau in 2010. [24] He oversaw design of the Wynn Palace, also in Macau, a $4.2 billion resort which opened in August 2016. [25] [26] His final project for Wynn was designing the interiors for Encore Boston Harbor, which opened in June 2019. [27] Thomas retired from Wynn in 2020, and was succeeded by Todd-Avery Lenahan. [2] [28]
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. [7] Jonah Lehrer said that "doing the opposite of what is usual has become Thomas's trademark," [1] while Interior Design Magazine states how "His hotels embody a two-pronged approach. They are dazzling to look at, as befits the capital city of illusion and abandon, but they work on a personal level." [11]
Home Furnishings and Other Designs
In 2006, Thomas founded The Roger Thomas Collection, [6] as a design consultancy for luxury furnishings, mirrors, carpets, fabric, wall coverings, lighting and other decorative accessories. [29] [19] [30] Thomas has created signature collections and pieces for brands including Quintus, Global Views, Eric Brand, Townsend Leather, Speakman, Fromental, Maya Romanoff, S. Harris, Samuel & Sons, Sicis Jewels, Boyd Lighting, Koroseal and OW Hospitality. [31] He received three Interior Design Best of Year Awards nominations through the Roger Thomas Collection, and won in 2019 for his work on the Scorpio sconce for Boyd Lighting. [32] [33] He designed the private homes of Steve Wynn, [14] including his Manhattan duplex, where he focused on enhancements such as a lighting scheme that would suit Wynn's art collection, and custom-made furnishings. [34]
Book
In 2024, Roger Thomas wrote his first book, Resort Style: Spaces of Celebration. [39] Published by Rizzoli, the book has a collection of essays discussing “Evocatecture”, and the emotional themes and layouts of his resort designs. [39] He participated in a book tour throughout 2024 into 2025, which included appearances in Las Vegas, [40] [41] Paris, [42] Milan, [43] New York City, [44] Los Angeles, [45] and San Francisco [46]
