What, in a layman’s perception, distinguishes a luxury hotel from a business hotel? Is it the food? The service? Or is it in actuality an ambience, a feeling of quiet luxury hallmarked by rich art on the wall, carpets that glisten like jewels on an already sparkling floor, where one can listen to hushed conversations accompanied by the muted tinkling of fine cutlery on crystal and china…
Luxurious spaces, hotels, and even private homes rely on art, antiques, and bespoke furniture to create spaces that call for relaxation, lazy days, pampering, and class. First impressions matter, and as soon as you step into a hotel that seems to be designed with care, filled with artwork and furniture that calls for a second or even a third glance, you know you’ve stepped into luxury.
Minimalism, with its straight lines and brutalist colours, is something you can get anywhere today—at airports, metro stations, malls, and especially office places. But the comfort and luxury of well-curated vintage and antique finds, if on offer, can transport you out of the mundane and into a world of fantasy. It gives you an experience that is not available in your daily life. One can reminisce of yonder years, be transported, and feel one with the time gone by.
A converted vintage home or a haveli cannot be marketed as thus if they are filled with modernistic, factory-line furniture. An aura or ambience has to be created using thematic curation that can help bring a particular story or experience to life. The theme can be area-specific or subject-specific. Using antiques not only creates the bygone era, it also transports visitors there. Who doesn’t want to feel like a king or queen in today’s micro-attention span of life? I assure you, if asked, more than 80% of the people would answer in the affirmative. When given a choice to stay in a hotel while travelling, don’t we always look for luxury spaces? Why is that? It’s because being in the lap of luxury transports you. Coupled with the services of the hotel, you feel as if you are a VIP too, and pampering does us all good.
The use of antiques and vintage products in hospitality is much like a prop in theatre. It helps to lift the mood, lends character, and creates a milieu where one feels like royalty and wants to be treated like one. Ordering the staff and getting what is asked for—gold-plated service—all go to equate the hotel with aristocracy, eminence, and nobility. All qualities translate to extravagance and lavishness and lead to extravagance on the clients’ part too.
Some hotels pick a theme and carry it through the entire property by using period-specific products. Some use a colour—blue room, for example—and use only Dutch ceramics or Wedgwood and Blue Willow China from the UK. Similarly, old jade and ceramic vases from China are used in oriental rooms, and in the twinkling of an eye, the guests are transported to the Ming, Tan, or Han dynasties of China.
Some hotel chains have become known for their art collections; they have even started bringing out magazines cataloguing their collections, explaining about them, their provenance, and their journeys, all of which not only add mystery to the spaces but have become collectors’ items. I have been to hotels and restaurants that have a guided tour of their artwork and antiques. It’s an interactive activity, and while free of cost for the in-house guests, it automatically involves the guests when the guide weaves a story around their acquisition and makes the guests realize the importance of the pieces.
An instant warmth, an instant opulence, and a feeling of affluence are all that the usage of antiques can do, so is it any wonder that all luxury hotels make copious use of them?
We at Circa can help you create your own thematic spaces that are time/period-specific, geographical area-specific, colour-specific, or even material-specific. Delve into our treasure trove online or visit us in our own Circa World in Anjuna, Goa.
