Molonglo

“The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life.” We love that quote by George Bernard Shaw and we love hotels; not for their swank but for reminding us of our transience and the importance of romance.

Hotel Hotel was a hotel in Canberra, Australia that was owned and operated by Molonglo. It veered away from mass production and pursued plurality through its collaborations with many artists, makers and designers.

Hotel Hotel’s 68 rooms responded to the textures of Australia’s dry bush capital through reclaimed oak, earthen clay, concrete, cork, linen, brass, grass wallpaper and woollen carpets. We custom-designed many of the pieces in it by working with local craftspeople. We also filled it with salvaged and restored 20th century furniture made predominantly in Australia. These objects came with a history, having soaked up stories from their makers, their owners and the homes they once occupied before arriving at the hotel. The hotel’s collection became an active catalogue of pieces by little-known designers such as Paul Kafka, George Kóródy and Gerstl. It is (to our knowledge) the largest public collection of its kind in Australia.

The rooms of the hotel were complemented by a ground floor that blended public and private through its public library, fireplaces and the Monster kitchen and bar (and salon and dining rooms), along with an extensive series of public programs.