Rough Luxe
Imagine an aristocratic English lady in her 80's with no surgically achieved illusion of youth or Botox stiffness in her face. Just the pattern of deep lines attests to her fulfilled and eventful life, and ever-present coiffure and a manicure - to unshakeable self-esteem. Rough Luxe, opened recently in London, seems the very embodiment of such a character in lodging. The designer and gallerist, Rabih Hage, has deliberately overturned any pre-existing notions of a hotel in his project. You will find neither air-conditioned rooms nor marble-decked bathrooms there. Do not expect a soothing palette of surroundings or a chocolate on your pillow either. Just on the contrary! According to Rabih Hage, "Beauty is subjective. Perfection doesn't mean beauty. It's not important. What makes a place great to stay is the location, the welcome you get and how well you are looked after. The material side is irrelevant." At first, stepping over Rough Luxe threshold, it may seem that workers have made off without even finishing their job. Sanded walls, bare floorboards, chipped paint and rough corners coexist with chic wallpapers, fine furniture and pieces modern art. The building itself dates back to the middle of the 19th century and has housed a hotel long before Rough Luxe settled there. Yet Rabih Hage has made layers of time to be taken off, revealing age-old patina and historic texture. Hage calls it "urban archeology", the ultimate goal being to display, not to conceal what has been discovered.
The hotel features just 9 rooms - 9 different stories that skillfully mingle the old and the new. Stripped-off, historic surfaces of walls and contemporary wallpapers, somewhere replaced by huge interior photos by the famed photographer, Massimo Listri, achieving an optic illusion. The original 1960's kitchen is in the basement, while the adjacent dining room boasts a ceiling photo of an impressive Renaissance dome. The hotel has a small library with a diverse range of fiction and coffee-table books, and, sited next to it, is the owner's art gallery. One may wonder, however, what about "the luxe"? It is in the fine quality of beds and other furnishing, in the senses, stirred up by quirky character of this place, and most of all - in the obvious quality of "anti-luxury".
Rates £135 - 260
1Birkenhead Street
London, WC1H 8BA
www.roughluxe.co.uk
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