MID-TIER MAGIC Paris’ fantasy-inspired Hôtel Original is in the vanguard of three-star properties emerging as thought leaders in hotel design. BY MARY SCOVIAK /1/ / / / Hôtel Original is one more reason the midscale is becoming home to some of the most interesting experiments in hotel design. What’s fueling this creative fire is the mandate from a new generation of three-star hotel owners for stand-out style. The private company that acquired the pleasant-but-complacent Hôtel Lyon Mulhouse with a plan to reposition it as property distinctive enough to be called “Original” wasn’t after mass appeal. Its leadership approached Stella Cadente about taking the commission after staying in her fantasy-inspired bed and breakfast, Maison d’hôtes Stella Cadente, in Provins, France, They wanted her precisely because she could deliver Alice’s wonderland or a crystal cave in a midmarket room bay. “My clients asked me to design spaces in my particular style so that travelers could live in a dreamlike environment during their stay,” says multi-tasking fashion/product/ interior designer Cadente (the nom de dessin for the firm’s founder, 32 HOSPITALITYSTYLE.COM / FALL 2012 CHRISTOPHE BIELSA, PARIS