Back from Missoni

Functional frame and picture

Functional cupboard

A short stay in a Missoni Hotel and I'm quickly reminded of my age, cynicism and lack of a cosmopolitan background. All the staff are young, non-UK and slightly camp and cheerfully stripy. Each hand picked and groomed to exude style over substance and intelligence but they are still polite, professional and helpful. Those stripes are also a big part of the message. Good design is fine in small doses, it doesn't work so well for me when it's repeated Warhol style to the point of being nonsensical and meaningless, it's dazzling but as unattractive as newsprint. After a while your head aches and you long to be away from the funky ambient music and great red washes and just sit in somewhere disguised as normal  in dull magnolia and old leather. Having said that the bed was very comfy, the room warm and the breakfast slickly produced. What else do you want from a hotel? I just wouldn't want to be paying their facilities management company's bills or be trying to copy their business plan, it's all high maintenance stuff and the edges are beginning to fray.