The project that shaped me: Pernille Lind & Richy Almond, LIND + ALMOND
In our recurring series, the co-founders of the eponymous London studio reflect on their first commission, an ambitious hospitality project in Copenhagen.
LIND + ALMOND is an ambitious studio specialising in interior design, product design and branding, based in London and working internationally. The studio’s founding members, Pernille Lind and Richy Almond combine a diverse background of experience in hospitality design and luxury residential interiors. Having previously worked with some of London’s most high-profile design offices, the pair formed LIND + ALMOND after a string of successful collaborations.
The project
Located in the historic heart of Copenhagen, Hotel Sanders sits just behind the Nyhavn Canal, a stone’s throw away from the royal residences of Amalienborg Palace and the Royal Danish Opera. Each of the 54 luxurious rooms are singular in their style and design, ranging from Single Coupé rooms inspired by a bygone era of intimate, luxury train cabins to the spacious Sanders Apartments, complete with plush lounge seating and inviting open fireplaces. In-house cocktail bar TATA is named after the red velvet curtain at the neighboring Royal Theatre, while Sanders Kitchen is ready and waiting to serve guests three decadent meals a day.
The why
Hotel Sanders was not only our very first commission, but one on which we have been fortunate enough to build our careers upon. We were young, eager and incredibly determined to make a success of the opportunity that had been offered to us. Our client was immensely ambitious with his brief, and this allowed us an almost unrestricted creative expression.
We put everything we had into the project and believe this is evident in the result. We were fortunate that this seminal project was a hotel which would attract visitors from throughout the world, and the subsequent buzz played a vital part in the establishment of our studio.
Photography courtesy of Hotel Sanders
The challenge
Our client had a hugely ambitious brief. He wanted to create the best hotel in Denmark, and to rival the best in Europe. Crucially, he wished to introduce an entirely new hospitality style to Copenhagen. It was a little daunting in hindsight, but we were blinded by excitement and unfazed by the challenge.
We did almost everything ourselves, including the full interior design, FF&E procurement, branding and styling. Our greatest challenge was to channel such an exciting and outward-looking brief into an offering which felt grounded in the great design capital of Copenhagen. Sanders needed to feel like a place for locals as much as for visitors, and the concept was entirely novel for Denmark.
The education
It’s impossible to summarise what we learned in those two years, but above all it taught us resilience and how to stand on our own feet as designers.
The collaboration
The development of Sanders was a true collaboration between us and owner Alexander.
Alexander is himself very creative and a collaborative approach to the design process is always important to him. He wished to be fully immersed in the creation of the venue which would bear his name. As a former ballet star and later a choreographer, he enjoyed the process of assembling a team to create the ‘performance’ of Sanders.
Much of our initial role was interpreting and refining a vast range of Alexander’s creative references into a coherent identity, before implementing this as a destination hotel. Sanders was also collaborative in balancing our own creative styles. As the first project we had undertaken together, we were very much learning about each other at the same time as learning about our client.
The result of these collaborations, in our opinion, was a far richer and more interesting project than might have been created otherwise. The three creative voices led to something unquestionably unique.
Project Gallery
