Hospitality Design - July 2022 - 85

insights, but then the project happens and they feel leſt out. I want
to make sure people are compensated for that time and helping us
present something to their community that really refl ects it.
The lobby at Hotel Colee, a Practice Hospitality
project designed by Andrew Alford
On respecting cultural nuance
DL: We could talk about Memphis, DC, Detroit, Chicago, New
Orleans, Inglewood [California]. All of those places have their
individual cultural nuance that makes them unique. That's the
reason why we travel to these cities. The food is diff erent, the
language is diff erent, the dancing is diff erent. That's the beauty.
When we talk about culture, we're really talking about Black
culture. Let's be honest. When we're talking about music, when
we're talking about fashion, when we're talking about trends that
lead in the world, we're talking about Black culture. My identity
in being the leader of the brand matt ers. People are automatically
going to know if it's a Homage property because it came from our
brain and we created it.
DF: You're creating a space that is of a culture and you're working
with that culture. We've worked on hotels in Mexico, and we
worked with the community who creates textiles on the textiles
for the hotel. We went to them and said, 'Okay, we have a design
intent for this space, but you tell us your story.' Now we're not only
working within the communities but supporting families. That's
not exploiting the community. They can tell their story themselves
as opposed to [us] taking it and applying it somewhere else.
A rendering of Homage Hospitality's upcoming Hotel
Gordon in Albany, Georgia, with a design by Curioso
Bashar Wali, CEO, This Assembly and Practice Hospitality: On that
note, something I learned along the way, you know how everybody
loves those Native American blankets with their beautiful designs.
Whoever is profi ting from that isn't giving any back to the amazing
artist who created it. There's a company that's doing blankets now
that says we're not using any of the original designs. We're going
to the Native American community to have them create new
designs for us, and we'll share the wealth with them. There's a lot
of nuance to what we do that can have a big impact. We have to be
more thoughtful about it.
The upcoming Shanghai location for newly
launched lifestyle brand Caption by Hyatt
The penthouse suite at the Fives Downtown in Playa
Del Carmen, Mexico, a Denizens of Design project
On paying it forward
CVT: From a creative point of view, [with] one of my brands, we
want to create a platform for creatives to be able to build-studio
time, for example. How do we use our spaces as a place for them?
Because it oſt en costs money to do that. Where we can lend our
services and education and teach? We're trying to do that more.
DF: From a design perspective, there are ways of contributing to
smaller jobs that help [under-resourced companies] out. Being able
to provide a more equitable service and a more scalable service
so that you can get what you need, and even helping you with
funding, that's where design can come in.
DL: I receive information for free. I give it free. There's so much
that you don't know until you're actually doing it. And you start
discovering things along the way. Anything I can do to pass that
information forward, I'm willing to do and not put a paywall
behind that. Just reach out. I continue to learn, but anytime that I
can pass on that information to someone else, I'm happy to do it.
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Photos and renderings courtesy of DENIZENS OF DESIGN, HOMAGE HOSPITALITY, HYATT, PRACTICE HOSPITALITY, and PWP STUDIO

http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

Hospitality Design - July 2022

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