GLOBAL VIEW
SHEDDING LIGHT – AND BEAUTY
The long-awaited first JW Marriott in Charlotte, North Carolina, celebrated its grand opening on 18 August this year. The upscale hotel is described as an urban luxury retreat and boasts an impressive rooftop bar and pool, an oyster bar, a Spa by JW, a restaurant and luxurious, wellappointed rooms. However, one standout feature truly lights up the establishment: an exquisite chandelier in the welcome lobby. This custom chandelier is monumental. The one-of-a-kind piece requires an impressive 26m³
50
of hanging space and weighs over a ton. Though it now hangs magnificently over a curving staircase, it originated on the other side of the Atlantic, travelling all the way from Cape Town, where it was created by leading South African lighting company willowlamp. The organisation’s award-winning founder and creative director, Adam Hoets, was commissioned by Fabiola Troncoso, an associate at Chicago’s Simeone Deary Design Group, on behalf of Marriott International in 2018.
This was not Hoets’s first commission from the group – in 2014, the American design firm commissioned willowlamp’s Flower of Life chandeliers for the Hotel Allegro in Chicago. For this most recent project, Hoets initially conceptualised two proposals before deciding on the way forward. “The piece takes its inspiration from the original version of our very first Mandala design, that we (Above and right): Technical triumph and creative innovation are exquisite features of the new JW Marriott.
SOUTH AFRICAN BUILDER DECEMBER 2021
