The Standard 2014 Calendar
The hip hotel chain transforms 12 of the most bizarre guest comments into a collection of photographs featuring hotdogs and Jesus
The Standard Hotels, which reach from Downtown LA and Hollywood across the country to Miami and New York, are known for turning things upside down—made apparent in the company’s signature upside down logo. The hip boutique chain has made its mark as a relevant culture and lifestyle brand (Beyoncé’s music video for her song “Rocket” was filmed at The Standard, High Line) and leaves no stone unturned—including calendars.
Their 2014 Calendar is a visual interpretation of the most memorable guest letters, request and comments the hotel received in the past year. From calling the staff, “the nicest pooch-lovers in the whole world” to demanding compensation because the hot tub melted the prescription off their glasses to asking, “I lost my kush. Where’s my kush?” the Standard Hotel guests entertain with every turn of the page.
Each of the 12 scenarios were reenacted by hotel staff—and occasionally, a hotel guest who happened to be standing by—on site at The Standard. The calendar was photographed by French multimedia artist Thomas Mailaender, whose work similarly hijacks the art world and pokes fun (he once made a huge, hyperrealistic mussel shell, left it on a beach in Nice and then contacted the local papers).
This brilliant idea came from none other than Amsterdam-based creative communications agency KesselsKramer, who conceived and produced the project. “Our favorite image is in April on the calendar. It’s a comment of a guest who lost faith in life, after losing his wife and job. But after staying in The Standard he felt ‘reborn,'” Erik Kessels tells CH. “One morning during the shoot in the Hollywood branch of The Standard Hotel, Thomas Mailaender and I were having breakfast in the hotel. Suddenly this Jesus-like figure turned up in the restaurant of the hotel and had breakfast; the hotel staff told us he was a regular. So instantly the idea raised to use him in a shot walking on water in the hotel’s swimming pool. We didn’t have to change anything in the photograph we made; he came straight from his breakfast in the hotel. It’s great that you are still able to improvise sometimes while being on a shoot.”
The Standard 2014 Calendar will be available from the The Standard online store starting this week.
Images courtesy of The Standard
