SA-born and raised, Jacu Strauss is the creative director at London-based hospitality company Lore Group. His stellar career has seen him design luxury hotels in the US and Europe – including One Hundred Shoreditch in London.
WORDS Martin Jacobs PHOTOS James McDonald, Courtesy of One Hundred Shoreditch
A purple bathroom and sponge-paint living-room walls in the Northern Cape town of Warrenton are a far cry from designing hotels. Still, Jacu Strauss’s apartment adjacent to his parents’ home was evidence of the 18-year-old’s passion for interior design. It’s this hands-on approach to decorating that offers insights into his art-filled interiors of hotels in Amsterdam, New York, Washington DC and London.
“Leaving Warrenton was my first-ever trip overseas, and I never returned home,” he says. “I feel at home in big cities.”
After a few years in London spent working in a bank, he moved to New Zealand to do a bachelor’s in architectural studies at the University of Auckland. From there it was back to London to qualify as a licensed architect at Westminster University. “The global financial crisis at the time meant that finding work as an architect was challenging, so I looked for jobs that didn’t necessarily involve pure architecture.”
He landed a job at Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio. It was here that he worked on his first hotel, Sea Containers – a London commission from Lore Group. “Tom taught me the importance of storytelling,” he says of the project. So impressed was Lore Group with Jacu’s work, the company offered him the position of creative director. With his background in architecture, Jacu’s position at Lore Group affords him the privilege of designing and decorating the brand’s hotels, which today total seven. These include his designs for Kimpton De Witt and Pulitzer Amsterdam, both in the Dutch capital; Riggs and Lyle hotels in DC; Lore Group’s first New York hotel (and his most recent project), Hotel Park Ave; and One Hundred Shoreditch in London.
Situated in the heart of London’s hippest suburb, One Hundred Shoreditch was designed in the early days of the pandemic. Walk through the hotel’s lobby or spend time in its rooms, and it’s clear that Jacu’s bosses value his honed eye and encourage his creative expression. As with his designs for other Lore Group establishments, he brings to One Hundred Shoreditch a wealth of creativity that manifests not only in his interior design, but in a sculptural collaboration with Jan Hendzel Studio in the lobby, and in the paintings he’s created for the hotel’s public and private spaces. “I am an artist too. I painted large, abstract, surreal-like landscapes for the rooms, and designed the tapestries that bring texture and warmth to these spaces,” he says. “I love to position art in unexpected places – like the oversized paintings of mine, oft en Instagrammed, in each of the elevators.”
In the lobby and subterranean Seed Library bar, Jacu’s artworks are more energetic, indicative of a shift in his approach to decorating One Hundred Shoreditch’s livelier spaces. “I wanted to create a hotel that provided sanctuary from East London’s buzz, but at the same time tapped into that energy in its public spaces,” he explains. Thus in the hotel’s rooms, intentionally conceptualised as calming spaces, pale biscuit tones are off set by white and the bold blue in Jacu’s paintings – but in the lobby and Seed Library, the material palette is darker, richer and sexier, and accentuated by more focused lighting.
Wood, leather, exposed brick, cork and off-shutter concrete were his go-to materials for these low-lit communal spaces and – paired with a restrained colour palette of black, tan and red – they at times evoke an Eastern aesthetic. There are moments when the look has undertones of something more tribal, with sculptural vessels atop plinths, wooden bowls and hanging colour-blocked tapestries suggesting an influence that’s ethnographic. A series of wooden totems and benches at the entrance and in the lobby contribute to this. “These works really add some much-needed nature to the hotel, but in an expressive and artistic way,” says Jacu. “When the afternoon sun pours into the lobby through the round, orange disc of one artwork in particular, it fills the interior with a dusk-like glow.”
On the demands on the creativity that was, no doubt, required to design a hotel in a neighbourhood widely regarded as London’s creative hub, Jacu says, “Shoreditch is known for its sense of community and East London spirit. Hotels should be part of the local community, and I always want locals to feel welcome – even proud – of what I have created.”
Asked about his secret to this success, he says, “It’s all about finding a balance. I never want interior design to dictate an experience. Instead, I like to find that sweet spot where – with a few surprise moments here and there – an interior delights and, overall, confidently comes together. That makes for a space in which guests can immediately feel at home.” loregroup.com | onehundredshoreditch.com
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