The entrance to the new Missoni hotel in Edinburgh is as hard to miss as one of the house’s signature knits: oversize ceramic vases covered in that unmistakable geometric pattern serve as a welcome mat. Rosita Missoni, creative director of the firm’s home collection, hopes these pieces will be a giveaway to the hotel’s branded design and serve as a model for more outposts.
“I didn’t want big, bold signs, but something iconic and distinctive,” she says.
Though the discreet basalt facade blends in with the surrounding buildings, the hotel’s interior features a bold exercise of color: acid green, fuchsia, red, orange and purple are all used to kaleidoscopic effect. Six floors of 137 rooms and seven suites are peppered with furniture by Marcel Wanders, Eero Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner, at times upholstered with the brand’s colorful prints. And Missoni even gave a nod to Scottish heritage, including works by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, like his famed ladderback chair.
The project, which opened last month as part of a 15-year license with the Rezidor Hotel Group, is “a natural evolution of our home business, which was initiated 30 years ago,” says Massimo Gasparini, Missoni’s ceo.
The venture has served as an experiment of sorts: The company had to develop a specific fiber for the black-and-white fringed curtains — originally made of viscose — through which guests view the majestic Edinburgh Castle, sea and rugged volcanic hills beyond. And, naturally, employees all sport Missoni-designed uniforms.
It is the first of many hotels from the fashion house. A second will open in Kuwait this fall; another will be completed in Cape Town, South Africa, in time for the 2010 World Cup football tournament there. A future resort is slated for Oman in 2011, and an ecological one is planned for Brazil.
Hotel Missoni Edinburgh, 1 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, +44-131-220-6666,hotelmissoni.com. Rooms start at 210 pounds, or $347.
— Luisa Zargani
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