How design-led hotels shape our experience of a place

That sense of place can begin with where you stay. More and more, culturally curious travellers are drawn to design hotels that reflect their setting. When a hotel is thoughtful about colour, material, lighting and art, it can feel like an extension of the neighbourhood outside, not an escape from it. A stay becomes about more than a room: it becomes a way to understand a place.

That ethos is embodied by The EVE – a Sydney design-led hotel in Redfern shaped by its surroundings.

“This is a hotel that is rooted in its location,” says Adam Haddow of SJB, the architecture and interior design studio behind the hotel. “It is equally about creating connection and providing reprieve,” he adds. “To that end, we’ve used local designers, craftsmen, and fabrics that pick up the flora and fauna of Sydney and wider New South Wales” – a sensibility that carries through every space.

The EVE’s interiors are anchored in local colour and craft. Details do the talking – from Henry Wilson’s sculptural lighting, cast in bronze, travertine and aluminium in collaboration with local foundries is a quiet nod to the neighbourhood’s industrial heritage, to an Australian palette of eucalyptus and red-clay tones – inspired by Redfern’s rooftops – in the carefully considered guest rooms.

Then there’s the art. Sydney-based conservator, curator and collector David Stein of David Stein Art curated the hotel’s art, selecting works that respond to materiality and atmosphere rather than simply filling walls. “The cardinal sin,” says Stein, “is to pick a painting that matches the colour of the sofa.”

That approach is felt from the moment guests arrive. For the lobby, Stein has selected a mixed-media installation – The Moon – by emerging Australian artist Tarryn Gill. Shimmering gold sequins, white Lycra and LED tears combine in a layered work that brings a subtle sense of theatre to arrival – a nod to the creative pulse of the neighbourhood beyond.

Meanwhile, in the hotel’s lobby bar, Bar Julius, art is part of the atmosphere rather than an afterthought.

Works from Australia and beyond line the walls, while overhead, Louise Olsen – Sydney artist and co-founder of Dinosaur Designs – worked with Haddow and the SJB team to create the Barrisol ceiling artwork. This large-scale mural is based on her artwork, Still Life, bringing colour and depth to the bar, visible from the lobby and setting the tone on entry. Originally painted in oil and acrylic on Belgian linen, Olsen’s distinctive bottle-and-vessel pattern has been reimagined as a vinyl mural and installed using the French-designed Barrisol system, stretched under heat along the ceiling’s curves.

Beyond the hotel, Jacob Nash’s outdoor installation, Lines on Country in Wunderlich Lane, reflects Redfern’s deep importance to First Nations culture. Nash’s artistic vision is rooted in connection to land and ancestry, expressed here through a series of organic sculptures suspended above – hand-cast and contemporary in form – with integrated lighting, accompanied by bronze lines set into the ground – an invitation at the laneway entry.

“This artwork explores the intersections of our history with sculptural lines that confront post-colonial narratives which have redrawn geographic and cultural boundaries,” explains Nash. “By doing so, it invites viewers to reflect on the complex layers of history embedded in the country, while forging a visual dialogue about our future, identity, and belonging in contemporary Sydney.”

In many ways, Nash’s words capture why art and design matter in understanding a place – they hold the people, histories, and lived details that make a neighbourhood what it is.

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