December 17, 2018
Year in Review 2018: Lessons from Hospitality
Our contributors comment on an event or a moment from the last year that demanded more of how we should practice, frame, and respond to design.
This past spring, I found myself in drought- stricken Cape Town, as the city was counting down to an apocalyptic “Day Zero” of extreme water rationing. The crisis had forced residents to drastically change their lifestyles, but as a visitor, I found it easy to revert to my American ways. After my long flight, I had been dreaming of a hot soak in one of the famed Ellerman House’s luxuriously deep tubs. You can imagine my surprise to find a bronze cheetah blocking the drain.
The hotel had placed sculptures by Dylan Lewis in all of its tubs as a not-so-subtle reminder that baths were off-limits. In less dire situations, this nudge might have taken the form of a door tag or a note placed on a nightstand. But in an over- stimulated world, such reminders can be easy to miss. Unlike a door tag, a cheetah in the bathtub is impossible to overlook. Hotels like Ellerman House have smartened up and are shrewdly employing design as a coconspirator in sustainability—first, by making us pause and say, “Wow,” and then by compelling us to reconsider our actions.
Hotels have accordingly become showcases for cutting-edge social and sustainable companies. The chunky, Pop Art–inspired bathroom fixtures at Lisbon’s new Casa Fortunato, for example, were my introduction to Fantini, an Italian brand that devotes a portion of its profits to digging clean wells in Africa. And the Shoreline Hotel in Waikiki, with its hot-pink recycled- vinyl flooring, put Swedish company Bolon on my radar.
Smart moves in hospitality not only help us make better decisions on the road— they can also inspire us to embrace green ideas at home. In my mission to cut back on my own plastic use, I’ve purchased cardboard hangers, an idea lifted from 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. I’ve also adopted candy cane–striped Aardvark paper straws, introduced to me by a barista at the Hoxton in Williamsburg.
Not every hotel (or person, for that matter) can go off the grid. But we can all make the planet a better place by being more purposeful—and even clever—with design, both at home and in our travels.
Jen Murphy is a travel writer and editor based in Boulder, Colorado.
You might also like “Top Design Trends of 2018: Look East.”
