Hotels are shifting away from a standardized place to rest your head and towards a space designed to immerse guests in a uniquely local experience. Trained architect and native New Zealander Jacu Strauss, Creative Director at the Lore Group and Founder of Lore Studio, delivers all that and more with an approach that delights both hotel guests and the neighborhoods they inhabit.
This creative Kiwi graciously took a timeout from his recent relocation efforts to chat with Ketra. We discussed how he built an international career, his recent work on the Riggs Hotel in Washington DC, and how Ketra’s lighting helps him craft distinct moods and colorful spaces where people walk in and immediately smile.
1. Tell us a little bit about what you are doing these days.
As Creative Director of the Lore Group, my job is to uncover and bring to life the stories of the Lore Collection hotels through design. Because each of our properties is very distinct from the next, I specifically founded our in-house design division, Lore Studio, to put emphasis on exploration and experimentation as a means to showcase the beauty and unique characteristics of each project and its context.
2. What has your career path been like?
I trained in New Zealand and London as an architect. But instead of working for an architect when I qualified, I wanted to work for a designer called Tom Dixon. He’s a well-known UK designer who does lighting, accessories, and furniture. I did interiors for him; my first project was for one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants in London. And gradually, I started getting bigger and bigger projects, until we won a pitch for a hotel on London’s South Bank, which is now called Sea Containers. I designed that with Tom Dixon and the property’s owner, a bigger hospitality group, offered me a job. I’ve been the Creative Director with them for eight years now.
About two years ago, our hospitality projects were up to seven and we decided to start a hotel group within the larger company: Lore Group. So we’re technically a startup, though we’re part of a much bigger company. To be honest, I never thought I’d end up working in hospitality like this, but I wouldn't change a thing. I get to design so many exciting things — I’m involved in everything, down to accessories inside rooms. It’s very challenging, but I love it.