People who are looking
People who are looking for creativity and something extraordinary can find it in São Paulo and this place will be an inspiration for them RHADA ARORA, ROSEWOOD CEO F ew brands understand the shift in the mindset of global travellers as well as Rosewood. The latest trend, driven by Millennial jet-setters but not exclusive to them, is to forge deeper connections with the places they visit and to have local experiences that are somehow authentic – a once-passé concept (has anyone ever successfully defined “authentic”?) that is very much back in vogue. It’s exactly this modish yen for truthfulness in travel that seems to have shaped the new Rosewood São Paulo. Situated in a former hospital just off the Avenida Paulista, the hotel is part of the Cidade Matarazzo project, a redevelopment of the 3ha area over a decade in the making. The creative team at the heart of the project may be French – including designer Philippe Starck and architects Jean Nouvel and Rudy Ricciotti, as well as landscape designer Louis Benech and developer Alexandre Allard – but the result, both in concept and execution, is overwhelmingly Brazilian, all bold colours and warm hospitality encased in a verdant swirl of forest. It was Allard who had the vision for the development in the heart of the country’s most powerful city. There was some luck with the location – “When we found this place, it was a miracle – an abandoned hospital that no one wanted in the middle of a forest that no one wanted,” Allard says – but when it came to designing the hotel, he ensured he was working with people he knew well, so nothing was left to chance. Take the centrepiece, Nouvel’s tree-lined garden tower. As Allard explains, “I asked Jean to build a tower that [would] become the symbol of this city, because this city does not have one. And this symbol must be green. He built this tower, which, with no doubt, will become a symbol.” Within the 114 rooms of the tower and the 46-room main building, the design also resonates with indigenous culture. Of course, there are touches that make the rooms recognisable as the work of Starck – particularly in the marble bathrooms – but his most important role here is as a curator of the Brazilian culture that is prevalent throughout the property with many site-specific works featuring such creative forces as street artist Caligrapixo and internationally acclaimed artist and photographer Vik Muniz. “I was a slave to Alex’s obsession, of his passion,” says Starck. “For 15 years, Alex collected artwork in Brazil and became a connoisseur of creativity there,” he adds. As a love letter to Brazilian culture, the Rosewood São Paulo is as heartfelt as they come. Does it matter that the letter was sent by way of France? On initial impression, it does not – the attention to detail, involving so many locals and with so much respect for the place, is superb. And in the end, that’s what matters most at any hotel: that it feels like a wonderful, alluring, welcoming home from home. The Rosewood São Paulo is off to a great start. rosewood.com 50 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM PLEASE CHECK THE LATEST GOVERNMENT ADVICE BEFORE BOOKING TRAVEL OR DEPARTING ON ANY TRIP
PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: RUY TEIXEIRA, © THE ROSEWOOD SAO PAULO (2), CRISTIANO MASCARO, ANDRÉ KLOTZ, RUY TEIXEIRA, CRISTIANO MASCARO You don’t build a place just with walls and bricks – but with culture VIK MUNIZ Clockwise from top: the Starck-designed living room in a duplex suite in the new tower; the lovingly restored 1922-built Santa Luzia Chapel, in the Matarazzo complex; the erstwhile maternity hospital, reconstructed with white Brazilian marble; a statue of Count Matarazzo, founder of the maternity complex in which the hotel resides; the colours of the Emerald Garden pool were inspired by the shade of the brilliant natural pools of the Bonito region; Rodrigo de Azevedo Saad – popularly known as Cabelo – handdrew the magical ceiling of the Rabo di Galo jazz bar; the Matarazzo complex pre-reconstruction CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 51
