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The best masculine interiors are not all brown, beige and a whiff of despair. The finest have backbone and a little hip-sway: deep layers, a love of antiques, the odd design diva, an Eileen Grey here, a Le Corbusier there, or a Nimrod seat by Marc Newson if you really want to see me smile, and a touch of femininity in their stride, like a Savile Row suit worn with battered trainers.
Men are more than capable, mentally and emotionally, of creating a home, a hotel, a guesthouse, an experience drawn from the same deep personal sense of place as our female counterparts. 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 feel the edit at once. A matured masculine click, softened by a quirky floor lamp under an oversized dirty-pink shade, a white chaise, and a painting of a pudding by the Dutch artist Arnout van Albada set opposite a lone man carved into wood. My tastes lean to Armagnac over Aperol, oil paintings with a hint of scandal in the brushwork, maps that look as though they have seen a war, Le Labo Santal drifting from the hallway, and a bottle of well-aged wine liberated from the rack with time to breathe. Harris Tweed competes with Liberty prints; polished floors cuddle a 300-year-old Afghan rug inherited from my grandmother; old poetry books sit beside the raunchier pages of Helmut Newton, picked up while living in Berlin.
It is not all action man, though the heartthrobs are there: a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE Cabriolet, an original Land Rover Defender in Bronze Green. I am as happy arranging the balcony plants as watching Audrey Hepburn on a Sunday, chased by a Bond film for balance. Grit and grace. Which is precisely why the gentlemen gathered here, and the landmark hotels they have shaped, hold such intrigue. Their hotels may carry the DNA of a chiselled chin, yet each is swaddled in creature comforts and narrated by an alchemy of seductive design.
Meet les hommes of style.
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 that once served 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.
Designer by trade, art curator and restorer at 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, interiors that sway between tropical ease and precise design. Every space feels composed, 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.
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.
Which hotels feature in The Aficionados' Manmade collection? The edit gathers La Bandita in Tuscany, The Brecon in Adelboden, Miramonte in Bad Gastein, Doornberg House in Galle, The Greenwich in New York, Susafa in Sicily, Filario on Lake Como, Locanda al Colle in Tuscany, Blaue Gans in Salzburg and Pontisella in Switzerland.
Does Robert De Niro own a hotel? Yes. Robert De Niro is a co-owner of The Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, New York, a property known for its art, low light and salon atmosphere.
Which of these hotels are adults-only? The Brecon in Adelboden is an adults-only mountain hotel, designed as a grown-up enclave that mixes ski-lodge warmth with bohemian salon style.
Which is the most sustainable stay in the collection? Susafa in Sicily is the most sustainability-led. Set on 18th-century family farmlands, it is run as an eco-resort where biodiversity, seasonal produce and the working land shape the experience.
What do hotels designed by men have in common? The hotels in this edit share a sense of personal authorship: deep layers, collected art and antiques, architectural precision and a strong point of view, balanced with comfort and warmth.
Words by Iain & Co. for The Aficionados
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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.