DE S IGN CENTRE
the existing offices back into a hotel for its London debut. “Hyde playfully pays homage to the Victorian era, we reinstated the right cornicing and skirting styles, chose a palette sympathetic to the period and designed rooms around a Victorian person, discovery or invention,” explains Tom Thorogood, co-head of interiors at Studio Moren. Exuberant flora and fauna wallcoverings bring
guestrooms to life, expressed in two colour schemes, green or blue, inspired by Charles Darwin and botanist Marianne North, respectively. Custom-designed joinery, furniture and lighting add further character, “instead of the usual divan bed bases we elevated the scheme with bobbin-leg details to provide below- bed storage space and we designed a luggage bench and three-legged chair,” says Thorogood. Both are upholstered in Casamance bouclé and bed headboards are softened by Clarke & Clarke fabrics. Meanwhile, the kaleidoscope toy informs the graphic ‘Expressionist’ wallpaper by Arte that enlivens the hotel’s subterranean speakeasy-style ‘vinyl bar’. Studio Moren’s flair for F&B spaces is also showcased across town at blockbuster fellow newcomer, Park Hyatt London River Thames in Nine Elms. Renowned Japanese firm Super Potato is responsible for the interiors in this sleek glass-and- limestone tower, which are clean and contemporary with nods to British heritage – timber panelling, roll- top tubs and William Morris & Co.’s ‘Pomegranate’ wallcovering to name a few – but on the hotel’s first floor, the Tamisé Tea Lounge & Wine Library is by Studio Moren. “It’s got amazing views with full- height glazing around three sides of the space,” says Thorogood, “we wanted something a bit unexpected.
It’s moody; we’ve used deep burgundy hues, antique brass and fluted mirror behind the back bar – there’s a lot of playing with reflectivity.” Like Deniot, Studio Moren is surfing high on the
new wave of London hospitality. Also on Thorogood’s drawing board is a new Fitzrovia hotel encompassing five interlinked townhouses, which he promises will have “lots of cute, amazing little areas and be really fun and playful.” Neighbourhood competition for Kinsfolk & Co’s The Newman perhaps, which with its “intriguing tapestry of Victorian nuances and art deco touches” by Lind + Almond, is very much rooted in the eccentric boho legacy of the area. Local characters
such as writer and activist Nancy Cunard, founder of the Vorticists Percy Wyndham, occultist Aleister Crowley, Quentin Crisp and Julian Maclaren-Ross all inspire aspects of the interiors. And while the doors are not yet open, Brackley says Kinsfolk & Co is already planning a sequel property in the “underserved Victoria, or Pimlico” area. It’s hard to imagine any part of the capital likely to be hotel-free by 2030. One thing is for sure the breathtaking pace of all this urban reinvention guarantees London’s star city status, and our ever-evolving capital will continue to razzle and dazzle ‘em on the world stage. London, we salute you.
OPENINGS Peninsula, Grosvenor Place (2023, Peter Marino)
Raffles London at the OWO (2023, Thierry Despont) The Emory, Knightsbridge (2024, Maybourne) Park Hyatt London River Thames (2024, Super Potato & Studio Moren) Hyde London, Old Bailey (2024, Studio Moren) Chancery Rosewood, Grosvenor Square (2025, Martin Brudnizki) The Newman, Fitzrovia (summer 2025, Lind + Almond) Cambridge House, 94 Piccadilly (late 2025 Reuben Bros – Jean-Louis Deniot) The Whiteley, Six Senses, Bayswater (2025, AvroKO) Admiralty Arch Waldorf Astoria, The Mall (2026, Reuben Bros) The Oberoi, Mayfair (end of 2027)
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