152 Marketplace
Winter 2014
Malin Lonnberg takes you on a tour of some of the world’s best-designed hotel interiors
Five hotel stars KRIMSA Laucala Island Resort
THE RAPID GROWTH of leading neuroscience research and brain-training company Lumosity led to THE LAUCALA ISLAND RESORT, Fiji is the $300 million tropical hideaway owned by Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz. a recent relocation. The new offices are downtown in the 38,000 square foot, newly renovated Pacific Designed by London-based architect Stephen Albert, the twenty-five Fijian-style villas are built to blend into the surrounding Telephone & Telegraph Building, and are furnished with Amadi rugs from KRIMSA. environment of coconut plantations, deserted beaches and dense jungle. Combining style with sustainability, Designer Rugs, the Project designer Lauren Geremia, who founded the Bay Area Geremia Design in 2010, is no stranger to Australian rug company, collaborated with interior designer Lynne Hunt of Hunt and Hamilton to provide soft design solutions for the a large-scale corporate workspace, having been involved with the office design for Instagram and Dropbox. secluded villas, Gold Club House and bar and dining areas. ts were the inspiration for the space. Custom furniture and distinctive lighting in sophisticated dark woods, Designer Rugs has drawn on its in-house collections, supplying the Spider Shag rugs as well as pieces from the Dinosaur Design brass and leather mingle with bold modern art and antique finds. Collection, in addition to more than fifty unique custom-made carpets. The result is organic and playful, with smooth rounded works To match the teasing brain-game atmosphere, the industrial chic styling is lightened by incorporating enhancing the free-flowing shapes of the rest of the decor. The overall impression is one of relaxed sophistication, matching the ‘more exciting and fun elements like contemporary lighting, vintage airport seating, and the rug,’ explains. philosophy of this six-star resort. www.designerrugs.com.au www.krimsa.com
Photos courtesy of Laucala Resort & Advantage Corporate Communications
[Interiors]
Issue 37
Marketplace 153
[Interiors]
Park Hyatt NY WHEN THE PARK HYATT NEW YORK opened in August, its fabulous carpets, courtesy of Creative Matters Inc., had been five years in the making. Ana Cunningham was the rug company’s lead designer, working tightly with interior design firm Yabu Pushelberg. For the project, Creative Matters Inc. produced six pieces, all in a 90% wool and 10% silk mix, handtufted in Thailand. Five of the rugs were in the Glow design from the Aerial Collection, with a modified colour scheme to fit the warm taupe marble floor without blending in. The chosen hue is a bluer grey than the original silver, with a hint of violet. A custom-made piece was created especially for a lounge known as the Courtyard. ‘In both cases, we knew we were working with spaces that were fairly neutral, giving the rugs centre stage,’ says Cunningham. ‘With the Courtyard, we were really able to play with the design and include a variety of colours. With Glow, the organic orbs gave relief to the undulating linework in both the walls and floor.’ creativemattersinc.com
154 Marketplace
Winter 2014
[Interiors]
03
WestHouse Hotel New York LOCATED IN THE HEART OF MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, WestHouse Hotel New York is a new boutique hotel putting a contemporary twist on 1920s elegance. For the lounge, evocatively named The Den, interior design firm Jeffrey Beers International commissioned contemporary rug maker Emma Gardner to create two sister carpets channelling the Art Deco spirit of the space. Gardner’s rugs are bold statement pieces, dominated by blue, gold and yellow tones. ‘Along with the joy, incorporating the mermaid and other nautical motifs native to the hotel’s original provenance came with its challenges,’ says Gardner. ‘Chief among them was deciding how best to render the complicated designs in the many colours of the setting. The task was to capture the elegance of the lounge while at the same time making sure there was enough blending and variegation to provide adequate coverage in what would be a well-trodden area.’ www.emmagardnerdesign.com
Marketplace 155
Issue 37
[Interiors]
Ulrichshof DEEP IN THE BAVARIAN FOREST, the ultramodern wood and glass structures of the reinvented Bio Resort Ulrichshof unfold against a forbidding backdrop of trees. In charge of the family resort’s transformation was noa* (network of architecture), turning the former farmstead into a place of magic. The starting point for the design came from the mystery and legends of the surroundings. ‘Things were pretty much all there already, but elements were out of sight,’ says Stefan Rier, co-founder of noa*. ‘They did not communicate with each other and were hiding beneath the forest, the farm and the existing hotel.’ Championing a holistic approach, noa* designed every element of the hotel from curtains to lamps and sofas, items that were then produced by local craftsmen. The lobby plays with the idea of a fairytale forest, spinning off in various directions. A braided textile feature hangs from the ceiling, bringing to mind the story of Rapunzel. Soft features play an important part throughout the Ulrichshof, with curtains visually connecting different planes and guiding the eye to experiments with depth and scale. www.n-o-a.it
Photos courtesy of Hyatt International and the project
04
Marketplace 157
Issue 37
Photo credit: Hyatt International
[Interiors]
Hyatt Regency Delhi THE HYATT REGENCY DELHI, one of New Delhi’s premier five-star hotels, has recently launched The Mansion’s Oval Room, a brandnew event space. Covering the floor is a splendid carpet designed by K. Michelle Evans – an award-winning interior designer with twenty years experience of luxury hospitality and the founder of rug company Ayka design. Asked by the owner to create something Indian, modern and residential, Evans set to work, focusing on the floor and ceiling. ‘I custom designed the fibre optic chandelier with a lighting designer in the UK. I took elements from this, which had golden and copper mesh, as a starting point for my carpet colours,’ says Evans. Working also with the grey and green tones from the architectural elements, she created distinctly Indian but modern patterns. ‘I was very conscious not to create a standard repeat so that the eye did not stop in the space.’ she explains. Introducing two accent colours, copper and raspberry, animated the surface and brought a further Indian influence to the design.