Gachot Studios-Designed Shinola Hotel Opens in Detroit

By Kristie Garrell

The Living Room, with interior design by Gachot Studios, is Detroit-inspired. Photography by Nicole Franzen.

Luxury watchmaker Shinola branches into hospitality, opening a hotel—the brand’s first—in the heart of downtown Detroit earlier this week. The 129-room boutique property was developed by local real-estate firm Bedrock, which has spearheaded numerous urban revitalization projects in the Motor City.

Shinola Hotel’s 129 guest rooms feature locally crafted furnishings with a nod to the buildings’ historic past. Photography by Nicole Franzen.

Located in the Woodward Avenue shopping district, the Shinola Hotel occupies two early-20th-century buildings—an erstwhile department store and the former Singer Sewing Machine Company headquarters—along with three adjacent new-build structures conceived in a period-simpatico vein. Detroit firm Kraemer Design Group served as the architect of record and historic consultant.

Interiors inspired by the locale’s industrial élan are the brainchild of Gachot Studios, the New York firm behind Shinola storefronts in Los Angeles and Brooklyn. Guest rooms incorporate exclusive Shinola products, including desk clocks, turntables, and Bluetooth speakers. “The intent was to create a fully immersive Shinola experience for the guest,” says Daniel Caudill, the brand’s creative director.

Public spaces are likewise experiential, Caudill adds: “We took a residential approach to the interiors by creating Detroit’s ‘living room’—a beautiful, inviting, and comfortable space to which guests and locals will enjoy returning.”