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• MEET THE ORIGINAL

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MEET THE ORIGINAL: STEFANO UGOLINI

“We wish to be remembered as the initiators of a new, revolutionary hotel philosophy, not just as the owners of a bundle of successful leisure hotels,” says Stefano Ugolini. He is the founder and president of Hotelphilosophy, the group responsible for Design Hotels™ members Palazzo Barbarigo in Venice and Leon’s Place in Rome, along with twelve other retreats set amidst some of Italy’s most stunning backdrops. Ugolini, a prominent hotelier, founded Hotelphilosophy in 2002. He learned the rules of hospitality from his family in his native Rimini, but decided to move elsewhere and start his own hotel business. “Rimini is Rimini,” he explains,“it’s a mass-tourism destination. There, it’s all about quantity, and the quality remains utterly mediocre. I had to leave.”

Throughout his career he has made a name for himself by creating unique settings that stir powerful emotions through their obsessive attention to detail and a tasteful contemporary gusto. This approach has clearly reached its acme in his most recent creation: the much-awaited Maison Moschino Milan’s Corso Como district, set to be unveiled in early spring 2010. Situated in a neoclassical rail station originally built in the 1840s to serve the Milan– Monza route, the hotel was developed in close collaboration with Moschino, the luxury fashion label known for its genuine Italian originality marked by a whimsical irreverence that is paired with a strong sense of nothing new, one could argue. Several other Italian fashion houses – among them Armani, Versace, Krizia, Salvatore Ferragamo, Bulgari and Missoni – have also opened their own hotel brand in recent years. “This project shares little with the ‘fashion’ hotels,” Ugolini proudly claims. “Unlike them, where the fashion designers actually carried out little creative work, I wanted to give birth to a hotel that takes the synergy between fashion and hotel design a step further, a place entirely pervaded by the genius of a fashion designer. Our venture is dash of the first where the interiors are entirely conceived by the label’s creative staff. And by choosing Moschino for this project, one of in the most eccentric and boundary-pushing fashion labels on the Italian scene, I had in mind an elegant and absolutely exclusive ambience that my guests could experience thoroughly, the kind of hotel you just die to tell your friends about.”

Visiting Maison Moschino is, indeed, an unforgettable experience. In direct contrast to its original neoclassical façade, the hotel’s interiors, which were realised by Moschino’s creative director Rossella Jardini in collaboration with art director Jo Ann Tan, are reminiscent of a Lewis Carroll-esque fantasy world. The main entrance hall is vaulted by a dreamlike sky from which dangle origami clouds. It is illuminated by lamps in the form of Moschino’s trademark corset dress. The common thread connecting this four storey hotel’s 63 rooms and 2 junior suites is fairytales. As Jardini puts it, “To sleep means to dream, and dreams are fairytales that we experience first-hand.” Faithful to Moschino’s quirky love for surrealism, each room evokes lush fantasies suggested by dreamlike décor. “Times have changed and so have the expectations of an urban leisure hotel such as this one,” asserts Ugolini.

“This hotel appeals to an emerging niche of clients who want to have new experiences, people who crave something more individualised than the conventional hotels. It is ironic how the luxury industry has destroyed individualism. The overwhelming majority of shopping strips around the world features the same brands, the same products, the same hotels. For us, luxury is a hotel that captures the true essence of a habitat, giving the seduction of materials back to the guests. Most of all, it is about giving them an unforgettable experience.” Ugolini likes to refer to all the Hotelphilosophy hotels and resorts as locus amoenus, a term dear to classic and Shakespearian literature that suggest a romanticised place of protection and comfort. “We approach interior design as though we are creating a theatre set for a play in which we would want to have a role. That’s why lighting, for instance, as on a real stage, is so important to us. We cuddle and wrap our guests in elements of pure uniqueness.” Being a man with vision he is convinced that in the same vein as fashion and cuisine, the art of hotel design and service is part of the treasure trove of Italian traditions. For some historical or marketing-related reason, it never reached the level of international visibility that it actually deserves.

“Name a world-famous Italian hotel chain, if you can,” he repeatedly asks from a tufted Moschino red heart chair that contrasts quite dramatically with his sober, refined business attire. “Yet everybody in the world knows that we are a very hospitable culture. We make people feel at home like few others can.” Ugolini insists that the undervaluing of upscale Italian hotels has led to a hole in the market that eagerly awaits filling, and that a little sprinkle of fashion-world fairy dust could play a crucial role in attracting visitors as well as investors. “I strongly believe that Italian strengths can come together to attain powerful added value. Fashion and cuisine can work as Trojan horses to help Italian design hotels achieve higher international visibility.”

In Ugolini’s vision, Maison Moschino represents only the first step in a long-term expansion in the world’s premium urban hotel market. “It’s just a test. If it works, we’ll build new hotels with Moschino in other cities. We have already been inundated by requests.” One look into his eyes and it becomes immediately clear that his “if” in that sentence is pure Italian rhetorical play.