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Tighten your old leather belts amigos as this week’s Sunday Edit goes all-out male – a gentleman’s salute to the masculine kinfolk who have crafted some of the finest hotels, guesthouses and downright seductive dens.
Agrarian gents, patrician hosts, rule-bending travellers and cultural provocateurs deliver style des hommes with a deft, graceful hand. Think armchairs that swallow you whole, fires that outlast the logs, the sigh of a cork, and coffee steaming as the mountains wake.
We meet the hotel men who share passions for classic cars (quite a few, as it happens), wine, cigars, music, art, design, farming, culture, finance, architecture, landscapes and wildlife. Among them: a former music producer of Christina Aguilera, a Hollywood legend, an eco-minded Italian and an Australian design patron with a taste for the bold.
It’s a man’s world of creations and one worth lingering in. Talking of which, I reveal my piston-head loves, warm to a hint of pink, armagnac and old maps...
Who says men’s interiors are all brown, beige and a whiff of despair? Give me deep layers, a love of antiques, the odd design diva – an Eileen Gray here, a Le Corbusier there, or a Nimrod seat by Marc Newson if you really want to see me smile – and I’ll show you a room that has both backbone and a little hip-sway. The best masculine spaces have a touch of femininity in their stride, like a Savile Row suit worn with battered trainers.
While there are cornerstone differences in style to our female amigas, I have always been an advocate that we men are more than capable, mentally and emotionally, of creating a home, a hotel, a guesthouse and an experience that comes from the same deep personal sense of place. The difference is that indefinable je ne sais quoi: a wink in the detailing – a knowing pause in the conversation.
Step into my London Casa and you will immediately feel this edit: a certain matured masculine click softened at the corners by a quirky floor lamp with an oversized dirty-pink shade, a white chaise, a painting of a pudding by the Dutch artist Arnout van Albada opposite a large canvas of a lone man carved into the wood. My tastes lean towards Armagnac over Aperol, oil paintings with a hint of scandal in the brushwork, maps that look like they have seen a war, Le Labo Santal drifting from the hallway, a Wagyu steak cooked to perfection and a bottle of gorgeously aged wine liberated from its rack with time to breathe. Harris Tweed competes with Liberty prints, polished wooden floors cuddle up with a 300-year-old Afghan rug inherited from grandmother, and old poetry books sit pretty with raunchy pages by legendary photographer Helmut Newton, which I picked up living in Berlin.
My heartthrobs are a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE Cabriolet (which buddy Christian owns) and original Land Rover Defenders in Bronze Green LRC001 (sorry, not a fan of the new imposter). But like the guys featured this week, it's not all action man. I am as happy arranging balcony plants as I am watching Audrey Hepburn on a Sunday, followed by a Bond film for balance. Grit and grace. I suspect that is why these featured landmark hotels and the men behind them intrigue.
We have often toasted the Sibling Hotel Darlings and applauded the fierce individuality of Rebel Femmes (see below for more), so fittingly, this week, we spotlight the gents. Their hotels may carry the DNA of a chiselled chin, but they are equally swaddled in creature comforts narrated by an alchemy of seductive design.
Meet les Hommes of style,
Hugs
Iain & Co.
Spot faithful Edie, La duchess des chiens, guarding my XXL tote while 'Uncle' Iain grabs a beer. Wish she were mine.
Once a New York music executive, now a Tuscan innkeeper housed within a former convent with a front-row seat to Val d’Orcia’s golden light. His beat is slower now, but the rhythm remains in the syncopation of stone walls and modern lines, and in the easy banter over a Negroni as the sun folds into the hills.
Welsh-born, Alpine-settled, with a soft spot for old Range Rovers and classic Porsches. Grant brings the same discerning eye to his hotel as he once did to his career as a wealth adviser. The Brecon is part mountain lodge, part bohemian salon, an adults-only enclave of grown-up design with a whimsical nod. Patinated leather, ski-lodge warmth, and a convivial spirit turn strangers into dinner companions before the fire burns low.
An architect at home in the mountains, Ike shapes Miramonte as both lookout and refuge. Glass and timber frame the valley like a living painting, while inside the spaces hold the warmth of a well-worn armchair and the precision of a drawn line.
Abstract artist and fashion designer, Andre builds spaces like compositions, layering colour, rhythm and texture. The house is filled with their cultural treasures, from paintings and salvaged floors to designer icons that land like perfectly timed stage cues. With Sandy Solano, Cuban dancer and musician, he turns their Havana residence into a stage for art, music and the poetry of daily life.
With a past life in landscaping and as a wild animal ecologist, Martin brings a rare sensitivity to both garden and guest. His day begins in the orchard, among apricots and vines, where nature dictates the pace. The house is his inheritance, but also his canvas. Breakfast is poetry in fruit, and each antique is placed with the same patience and care as the pruning of a tree.
Designer by trade, art curator and restorer by heart, Peter shapes Doornberg with a sensitivity that balances heritage and modernity. His Sri Lankan retreat blends colonial echoes with European clarity, verandas open to the breeze, and interiors that sway between tropical ease and precise design. Every space feels composed, like an artwork curated to be lived in.
Actor, collector, New Yorker. Robert’s Greenwich is less a hotel than an urban salon, where leather, art and low light form the mise-en-scène. The city hums outside, but inside it is all conversation and the comfort of being in the right room.
Benny and Patrick have given Lech's grand dame of chalet hotels a hip, contemporary, urbane twist of originality. They have bottled the very essence of the Alps, run it through a fresh filter, and poured out something equal parts heritage and now. Think honeyed timbers turned dapper, classical luxury loosened up for casual living, heirloom charm wearing tailored design. They have also introduced a new clubhouse + restaurant hotspot to the village – a bold and pioneering move that marries chalet warmth with cosmopolitan swagger.
A passionate farmer and biodiversity ambassador, Manfredi returned to his family’s 18th-century farmlands to create Susafa - an eco-resort accented in quiet luxury. The land is both legacy and lifeblood. He lets the stone breathe, the seasons lead, and nature dictate the rhythm. Here, olive groves, wildflowers and the scent of freshly turned soil shape a stay where sustainability is not a slogan but a way of life.
The Lake, distilled. Alessandro sees Como not as a postcard but as geometry and reflection. His precision is nautical, his lines modern, his hospitality quietly assured, like the glide of a Riva over still water. Filario - his lakeside retreat of smooth design captures the essence of old-time crafts cleverly reimagined into a contemporary template of modern Italian luxury: decidedly chilled.
Owner and native Tuscano, Riccardo Barsottelli travelled the world as part of his job in fashion, always keeping an eye out for the perfect place to lay down roots. His thoughts strayed to Latin America, yet the heartfelt culture and historical beauty of Tuscany called him home. Starting with a modest bed and breakfast, it wasn’t long before Riccardo was pouring his heart and soul into the growing project of Locanda al Colle, merging his life’s passions of art and hospitality. He therefore brought his collection of art into the Locanda, the historic warmth of the farmhouse proving the perfect backdrop for his worldly pieces, sculptures, artwork and furniture.
Part hotelier, part cultural instigator, Andreas runs Blaue Gans (a 650-year-old hotel) as an ever-changing gallery, with old masters sharing walls with contemporary provocateurs. In Salzburg’s baroque embrace, he has carved out a stage for art to play freely.
Daniel Erne, with his family, rescued this 19th-century patrician house from the brink of quiet decay. With a designer’s eye and a custodian’s respect, he preserved its larch floors, stencil-painted ceilings and tiled stoves, weaving in mid-century furniture and contemporary lighting. The result is a home that feels both anchored in its Alpine village and open to the world, a cultural salon where artisan goods, art, and conversation mingle as naturally as the mountain air.
South Tyrolean roots, cosmopolitan polish, and an adventurous streak that dives deep. A passionate deep-sea diver, preferably alongside sharks, Jakob is also a yoga guru of wellness, bringing balance and vitality to every corner of Magdalenerhof. His charisma infuses the hotel, making it both a mountain refuge and a crisp urban address where Alpine air meets the elegance of a city terrace.
My Greek Island Home by Claire Lloyd is always out of the bookcase, an ever-present friend that tells the tale of falling in love with a Greek island and finding that a simpler life is not so bad after all.
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A city of effortless cool & pioneering Scandi design Copenhagen has long been at the heart of the world’s ceramics stage, from practical to the performative.
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Lisbon, Portugal's legendary capital simply bursts with heritage, azulejo tiles, Pastéis de Nata & art - this is a design guide you can shop, see & drink.
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Director of internationally acclaimed Vienna Design Week, Lilli Hollein had never yet turned her eye to interior design until Vienna's Hotel Altstadt came knocking.
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Peek into our Hotel Altstadt Vienna interior design series at room 64, this time designed by celebrated Viennese architect, Adolf Krischanitz.
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Porto for culture seekers - we explore the Serralves Foundation comprising of a dusty pink 1930-40s’s Art Deco villa designed by Porto architect José Marques da Silva, a landscape-specific contemporary museum designed by Álvaro Siza.
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Creativity at Otto Wiesenthal’s iconic Altstadt Hotel Vienna is never in short supply. The new United Nations Suite is a fantastic design narrative related to the UN, John Lennon, Le Corbusier to 'Make carpets, not war'.
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Escapism in the wilderness of Scotland is more accessible than ever, with a raft of design boltholes, boutique crofters’ houses for two and everyone’s-invited country piles offering a redefinition of the luxury Highland experience.
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Anchored to specific genres of hotel design, The Aficionados print editions: Farmhouse Fabulous, Casa Gorgeous, Blueprint Beauts, Neu Heritage and Alchemists of Italy take the reader through the creation narratives. A sourcebook for hoteliers, travellers, style aficionados and those who appreciate design.
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Cult furniture brand Wittmann has accumulated a distinctive mark over four generations, working with Austrian and international designers and architects, from Josef Hoffmann and Friedrich Kiesler to Matteo Thun and Edward B.Tuttle.
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The Trubrigs have a trained curatorial eye when it comes to sourcing both the established and the new-comers in design. The couples' strong bonds with creative talent and influential designers of the day have fostered the relationships to be always one step ahead of the curve.
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An emporium of decorative pieces, glassware, jewellery and painted Ostrich eggs - it is filled with fabulous curiosities which headline this wunderkammer store of curatorial finds.
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Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.