“Buying art is the same thing as falling in love,” so goes the motto at Amsterdam’s newest hotel. It’s a moniker I can attest to. Art’otel is the latest tenant to occupy the former headquarters of a shipping company, now a historic landmark. Situated just opposite Central Station, it’s close to the Dam Square, and makes for easy access to the airport train.
Art’otel has style in spades, and announces its intentions the minute you enter the lobby, with life-size sculptures crafted by Marcel Wanders, one of the most decorated Dutch designers. His work makes a few appearances throughout the public spaces of Art’otel, which could pass for a small museum of modern Dutch design.
A public gallery is set on the lower level with rotating exhibits. And, Rotterdam-based design studio, Atelier Van Lieshout, known for their vivid, provocative sculptures of individual body parts and entire human forms, is the “house” team. Their theme, Course of Life, begins downstairs with a “fertility” sculptured lamp. I’ll leave the explicit shape to your imagination.
Suffice to say, Atelier Van Lieshout know their audience — they might take in a museum, some shopping, maybe even a bicycle ride, but this crowd certainly won’t blush easily. The Course of Life symbolism runs continuously throughout the rooms and public spaces, with custom-painted illy coffee cups to match the in-room espresso machines, and an atrium with grass “egg” mounds below floating sperm sculptures.
Public spaces, like the library bar are populated with furniture you’ll want to take home, created by an international set of designers.
The lounge inspires laziness with its enveloping, cushioned chairs and well-stocked stacks of games and foreign newspapers. The attitude is all day food, anywhere you’re comfortable. In fact, it’s so comfortable, you’ll wish this wasn’t a city with so much to see. This place is cozy and cool, without putting on airs or arrogance.
Rooms are modern. What else would they be? And all the essentials are well-looked after. Fast, easy to access wifi — check. Soft sheets — check. Comfy bed s — check. Black out curtain — check. Good shower — check. There’s a sense of intuition with a spare tray in the mini-bar for personal goodies, like my aged gouda waiting to be devoured at home.
Four spin bikes and other up to date equipment make for a great workout in the gym, but the swimming pool’s the real star. Rather than suffering the usual subterranean cave syndrome, Art’otel’s pool is set within a sunken well of light with a tall, glassed ceiling, lounge chairs, and decking which does a good job of masking the gloomy winter weather outside. It feels miles away from the masses hunting down Starry Night.
Apart from its goal to attract art and design fanatics, Art’otel also makes a big deal of its Italian restaurant and bar, 5&33, named for its physical address. It manages to do what so few other hotels have — it’s created a separate, local identity with an already strong fan base of sophisticated Amsterdammers.
On Friday and Saturday nights, relaxed, but well-dressed 30-50 somethings come for after-work drinks and stay for the sax player and the DJ, spinning tunes until 2am. It’s a great opportunity to mix with locals, just make sure you’re room is high above, or at the opposite end. The DJ was a sweetheart, but the bass thumped all the way up to my room on the second floor.
Signature cocktails, like their own take on the Moscow Mule are easily downed while staring at the interactive wall. Created by the WeTransfer team, the wall of narrow, hanging threads displays animation, reacting to light and touch. Who needs a pick-up line when there’s an interactive wall?
Dinner is an Italian affair at beautiful, dark wood tables by a fireplace, where small sharing plates of mushroom salad, scallops crudo on little beds of samphire, and creamy, wet burrata set the tone. Small, delicate parcels of home-made goats cheese ravioli in a light veil of truffled butter had me shamelessly stealing the last one.
A tour of the kitchen revealed the most important secret of all — the granola. It’s not only home-made but slow cooked over 24 hours to get the fruits and nuts dried just so they maintain enough of their original fleshiness.
They could sell jars of it if only they could hire more staff to do the overnight oven duty. It may not be art as we know it, but it is most definitely a thing of beauty.
