The Details: The Hotel on Rivington

by Ami Kealoha

Since the sleek hotel's debut in NYC's formerly grimy Lower East Side in 2004, there's been a lot of talk about The Hotel on Rivington. Opinions mellowed to a simmer over time and a recent stay allowed us to take a second look, experiencing how a few key design details put the hotel a notch above the bevy of generically overdone boutique hotels out there.

It can't be stated enough that the best architectural feature dreamed up by the team behind the building, Grzywinski+Pons, are the floor-to-ceiling windows wrapping most rooms, including the bathroom. The dizzying views have the effect of making it feel like the city is on your doorstep, at your toes, ready for the taking. Watching hoola-hoopers on neighboring rooftops and the exhibitionist thrill (or paralysis) of showering provide hours of entertainment.

Lounging around the room can be fun too, especially with groovy furniture like a plum-colored footstool covered in shaggy Alpaca by Parisian designer India Mondavi (who's responsible for the rooms interior design). It's the kind of furniture that's as fun to play with as it is to sit on and the hippie vibe nicely offsets the vamping of the rest.

One of our favorite hotel pastimes of course is room service, an indulgence that the Hotel on Rivington pulls off well. Propped up in the Tempurpedic bed covered in Frette linens and sipping coffee from their tea service (pictured above left, we're looking into the designer now the stainless steel cozy is felt-lined and the work of Guy Degrenne) has all the luxury expected from a hotel with the modern trappings of 21st century NYC.

To book, visit Mr and Mrs Smith.

The Hotel on Rivington
107 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10001 map
tel. +1 212 475 2600

Sou Brette Jewelry: Fiction Romance

by CH Contributor

by Ezra Natalia

Already known for her illustration and design work, Muqliza Imroni started with making jewelry for herself. When more and more people were asking where to get the pieces, Sou Brette Jewelry was born.

Talking with Lizsa (as most call her), we wondered, “Why jewelry? Why not something else?" And she answered, "A person said to me once that jewelry, unlike clothes, will always be worn and kept forever. You can wear the same jewelry all the time with different clothes, bags, shoes...different personality. You can be old and still wear your favorite jewelry."

But that thinking doesn't prevent the young designer from branching out into other fields. Already making most of her own clothes, she recently collaborated with Resida Irmine to launch their clothing line Proud Parents at A.O.D,, a pop-up store (now closed) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

When asked about her latest collection, Lizsa explains, "When I found my long-lost Buzzcocks record, Operator’s Manual, I listened to it every single day. The memory was all coming back to me. That's why this season is very personal, all the things I love gathered in one collection." Called "Fiction Romance," after a song on the album by the legendary British punk band, the new range also finds inspiration in ballerinas, '90s silk patterns and the colors of seashells.

She adds "To me, ideas came from everywhere. It could be a dress I saw during fashion week or when I woke up in the morning and a certain song is playing. I started seeing visions, shapes. Then I just drew them on to my sketchbook and made samples out of them."

Mainly using solid resin, each necklace is handmade, hand-molded and hand-crafted in Indonesia. To buy her jewelry you can simply check her blog Sou Brette where you can download the look book and price list. Also, join the Sou Brette Facebook group to stay up-to-date.

MPREIS Supermarkets

by Ami Kealoha

by Laura Neilson

I know I'm not alone in my love for grocery shopping in foreign countries. It's a great way to get a sense of a country's consumer culture—not just by seeing what the people of that country buy, but also the particular ways that all the product are packaged and displayed. But what exactly does an Austrian MPREIS grocery store, self-dubbed "The Seriously Sexy Supermarket" sell? The same things as any other local supermarket, only in a seriously cool and modern setting.

It's rare to come across a supermarket that's as revealing on the outside as it is for what's inside, but that's exactly what these stores achieve. For the last fifteen years, the Austrian chain has commissioned a steady stream of up and coming architects to design buildings that make the most of their mountainous settings in the Tyrolean Alps. With the exception of its bright red logo, each MPREIS location differs from the next, making any of its 150-plus stores a worthwhile destination—even if you're just picking up a box of muesli.

Architect Hans Peter Machne's design in Osttirol is a an awesome, space-age sloping structure that looks just as cool at night as it does in bright daylight. A market in Telfs, designed by Peter Lorenz, bears a similar aesthetic while the chain's Giner & Wucherer-designed Achenkirch store exemplifies a completely different style of design. Wooden and curved, the building stands up beautifully against its alpine surroundings.

The construction of the buildings themselves consist of natural and ecological materials such as wood and stone. In addition to the increased use of geothermal heating technologies and the presence of secondary rooms with built-in motion sensors to control the lighting and other conditions, designers also capitalize on the presence of sunlight to reduce electricity usage (as seen in Niederndorf, where the store's outer walls are primarily see-through). Some might consider grocery shopping a mundane task, but clearly MPREIS customers might argue otherwise.