Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campana have completed their first hotel interior.
Architecture graduates from the University of Thessaly assisted the brothers with the refurbishment of the 79-room hotel in Athens, now known as New Hotel, for the Yes! Hotels chain.
Walls in the reception and restaurant are covered in a jumble of wooden scraps like those used for the designer's famous Favela Chairs, which can be found in some of the bedrooms.
Bedrooms also feature wall-mounted fairy-tale characters and glass eyeballs, which symbolise elements of Greek mythology and superstition.
Bathrooms contain faceted brass washbasins designed to look like fragmented rocks.
A 1940s marble staircase is retained and surrounding walls are lined with tree bark that has been processed into wallpaper.
Other interiors by the Campana brothers include a bank lounge resembling an Amazonian communal dwelling - see all our stories and movies about the Campanas here.
Here are some more details from Yes! Hotels:
‘New Hotel’, Athens opens - First hotel venture by design duo The Campanas
‘New Hotel’ opened in Athens on 1st July, a member of the Yes! Hotels group. ‘New Hotel’ is the first hotel venture by award winning Brazilian designers The Campanas and the Design Hotel features striking interiors, quirky bespoke furniture and handmade fixtures throughout.
The 79 room hotel is located on Filellinon Street, next to Constitution Square (Syntagma Square) and within walking distance of the main sights – the Roman ruins of Plaka, the Acropolis and its new museum, the stylish cafe and boutique shopping district of Kolonaki, and the business zone.
New Hotel houses ‘New Taste’ Mediterranean restaurant and a fitness area and massage rooms.
Brazilian brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana led the design of the luxury hotel, in collaboration with 20 local archiecture undergraduates from the University of Thessaly. In line with the design duo’s love of restoring, recycling and sharing, the team created unusual and stylish chairs, plates and side lamps by hand.
Working with the students for an insight into local culture, the Campanas focussed on three traditional Greek themes. The first pays homage to Karagiozis, a mischievous folklore shadow puppet, with golden fairytale characters adorning the walls. The second theme embraces the ‘evil eye’ – a bead charm used to guard against ill omen, with handmade glass eyes illuminated for an arresting effect. Finally, the third uses a wall collage of historic postcards to offer a glimpse of old Athens through a very modern design twist.
The bedrooms feature floor to ceiling windows, solid bamboo floors and tables, while the bathrooms showcase striking solid brass washbasins in the shape of fragmented rocks with Kiehls and Clarins products.
Corridors are covered in bark cloth from Uganda, a natural wallpaper produced by processing bark from the Moraceae tree.
The hotel was formerly the Olympic Palace Hotel and while strikingly modern in design today, original features have been retained, including the 1940s black marble staircase.
Located on the ground floor, ‘New Taste’ restaurant is inspired by the Campana’s iconic Favela chair, with columns covered in long narrow strips of wood, reminiscent of the favelas in Brazil.