A Memphis hotel suite opens at New York Design Week 2018

Conceptual hotel suite with black and white striped wall

Conceptual hotel suite by Hannah Bigeleisen and Steven Bukowski and HotelTonight at Sight Unseen Offsite. Photography: Charlie Schuck

(Image credit: Charlie Schuck)

By Sujata Burman

last updated 31 July 2022

in Features

Booking app HotelTonight are waving goodbye to the muted palette of hotel rooms with a playful hospitality project for New York Design Week. In a collaboration with Sight Unseen Offsite and Brooklyn-based design duo Hannah Bigeleisen and Steven Bukowski, they have realised a conceptual suite with vibrant contemporary interiors that are available to purchase via the HotelTonight app.

‘It doesn’t just feel like a single room with a single function’ explains Bukowski. The design team set out to challenge the idea of a hotel room as a place to repose for the night, turning it into a space that inspires creative thoughts, as seen through the primary palette, textured surfaces and bespoke artworks by Bigeleisen. ‘There’s a place to rest, a place to read, a place to sleep, and space to entertain,’ Bukowski continues.

The initiative aligns Sight Unseen’s ethos to support emerging talent with HotelTonight’s mission to promote boutique independent hotels. This interactive and accessible nature of the installation is further bought to life by allowing guests to purchase the mini bar, desk lamp and vanity mirror – all designed by Bukowski and Bigeleisen – in the same process as making a hotel reservation between 18-20 May.

Black, white and yellow wooden lounge chair in front of black and white striped wall — Conceptual hotel suite by Hannah Bigeleisen and Steven Bukowski and HotelTonight at Sight Unseen Offsite

The furniture inside the space (all originally created for the project) combines via a playful use of graphic prints and bold, architectural lines. These details draw inspiration from both Memphis and Op-art movements with a monochromatic striped pattern acting as as a motif across the room from the walls to the Bubble lounge bed (its streamlined wood frame also slides out with a niftily stealth drawer).

‘Too often, hotel rooms are sterile, with nondescript furniture that’s meant to be invisible rather than noticed. says Bigeleisen. ‘This space is the opposite, with wall treatments that augment the perception of the room and reinforce the linear elements of the furniture.’

See more from New York Design Week here

Conceptual hotel suite with black and white striped wall and colorful furniture

INFORMATION

New York Design Week is on until 23 May. For more information, visit the HotelTonight website

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Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.

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