The designer Suzanne Sharp revolutionised the business of contemporary rugs when she and her husband Christopher launched the Rug Company in 1997. Appealing to 21st-century tastes with time-honoured craft, the Sharps lured savvy homeowners into their orbit and popularised designer collabs with fashion legends. Next week they will open the new guesthouse Casa Bonavita in Malta, and the historic limestone mansion bears all the hallmarks of a Sharp enterprise: vivid colour, traditional craft and modern motifs. It reminds us of the magic that happens when established creative minds expand their vision to tourism. Of all the hotels with boldface creative names behind them, these are our favourites.
Casa Bonavita, Attard, Malta
Suzanne Sharp was born nearby and her daughter runs a pottery in town, so the family was intimately familiar with the island when they spotted this dilapidated 18th-century mansion for sale years ago. They’ve since chipped away at the interior and carved 17 bedrooms out of the property, including seven guest rooms in the main house. There’s a restaurant with a River Café-trained chef and a bar with hand-painted wallpaper. A 19th-century folly across the road will become a secluded pool suite.
Vermelho Melides, Melides, Portugal
Christian Louboutin founded and designed this hotel outside the Lagoas de Santo André e da Sancha Nature Reserve, adding his trademark red-lacquer touches to the traditional plasterwork and tiling across 13 guest rooms and an ornate house bar. He combed the village for handcrafted furniture and tableware and commissioned local artisans to paint murals and craft accessories. Meanwhile the gardens are the work of an import: French sensation Louis Benech. The hotel’s 2023 launch proved so successful, Louboutin will launch a second, Vermelho Lagoa, later this spring in Comporta.
The Lafayette Hotel, San Diego, USA
Ahead of its 80th birthday this year, this tired colonial-style hotel in the sultry city of San Diego underwent a $31-million end-to-end restoration. The more-is-more aesthetic was driven by London designers Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle, founders textile source House of Hackney. Floral, zebra, tiger and snake prints now feature prominently, along with the house’s popular tropical patterns and toile. The original pool, designed by Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, is now the centre of this So Cal social scene, along with the flamboyant restaurant and retro bowling alley.
Chesa Marchetta, Sils Maria, Switzerland
Swiss art impresarios Iwan and Manuela Wirth expanded into hospitality in 2014 with a company called ArtFarm, and their most recent project is a takeover of Chesa Marchetta, a restaurant and inn beloved of artists since the 1940s. Together with Paris-based designer Luis Laplace, the couple restored the property’s 16th-century plaster and wood panelling and used it as a canvas. They enlisted British-German artist Corin Sands to etch wall murals in each of the 13 bedrooms, inspired by traditional sgraffito frescoes found on local façades. And they rounded up dozens of blue-chip art works by Hauser & Wirth favourites, including Philip Guston, Adriaen van Ostade, David Zink Yi and local legend Alberto Giacometti. The bar features a Louise Bourgeois spider.
Radisson Collection Royal Hotel, Copenhagen, Denmark
The SAS Royal Hotel, per its original name, was Copenhagen’s first skyscraper and widely considered the world’s first design hotel when designer Arne Jacobsen unveiled it in 1960. Recently renovated by Space Copenhagen with a decidedly light touch, the Corbusier-esque building still exudes Jacobsen’s signature minimalism and maintains his graceful spiral staircase as a central feature in the lobby. Egg and Swan chairs — designed specifically for this hotel and now ubiquitous worldwide — pop up in every room. There’s even a time-capsule guest room (Room 606) furnished in soft green Drop chairs.
