Features & Essays

Craft Stays

Whether you’re looking to take classes or inhabit a well-curated guest room, these hotels provide a tangible connection to craft and place.

By Jennifer Vogel
December 1, 2022

Winter 2023

Ceramics

Fiber & Textiles

Furniture

Photo by John Cho

The El Jefe Desert Cantina at Saguaro in Palm Springs.

When entering a hotel, often after a grueling drive or flight, it’s gratifying to find that you’ve arrived at a place that feels like a place, that embodies the city or town or corner of countryside in which you are standing.

Unlike hotels that evince a mass-produced appeal that positively eradicates any sign of character, the craft hotel embraces the well-designed, the unique, the quirky, and the cozy.

Sometimes this comes down to a set of brightly colored, hand-embroidered pillows on a custom-upholstered sofa, or a hand-hewn wooden bedframe with inlaid brass accents. Or locally made ceramic and glass tableware, or a collection of rainbow-colored dioramas. Perhaps the wool blankets on the beds are loom-woven. Or the soaps are crafted by a local artisan who cares that you experience the natural scents of cedar or mint.

These are beautiful offerings that are, in fact, acts of generosity by the hoteliers, designers, and craft artists who have given something of themselves in order to create a tangible connection—to let you know where you are and that you are among the people who live in this place.

In some cases, craft hotels go a step further and offer ways for you to express your creativity. These opportunities might include pottery classes—even outings where guests collect and refine raw clay—jewelry-making classes, or the simple provision of a sketch pad and pencils in each room.

Here are five great craft hotels. Each has what it takes to ensure that you inhabit the exact spot where you stand.

“I wanted to create an environment where people who like to read, write, cook, and create felt at home and felt inspired by their surroundings.”

— Kathy Setzer, Heywood Hotel

Heywood | Austin, Texas

Upon first glance, you might mistake this seven-room hotel inside a 1925 Craftsman bungalow for a private home. That would be music to the ears of owner and operator Kathy Setzer, who evangelizes about what she calls “handcrafted hospitality.” The Heywood Hotel, located in the East Austin neighborhood, is designed to feel like a friend’s comfy digs.

When Setzer and her husband and co-owner, George Reynolds, installed the room air conditioners, for example, they realized the black cords would be visible to guests. Setzer’s mom came up with the ingenious fix: hand-crocheted cord koozies.

The Heywood (its name is a nod to furniture maker Heywood Wakefield), while down-home, is modern and stylish as well. A soaring central staircase leads to a new courtyard patio full of native plants. Says Setzer, “Guest rooms are built around this patio, with a ‘Marfa meets Palm Springs’ aesthetic.”

Color and flair abound. “I wanted to create an environment where people who like to read, write, cook, and create felt at home and felt inspired by their surroundings,” says Setzer, who has outfitted the hotel with textiles by local designers Leah Duncan and Shay Spaniola, leather accessories by Noah Marion, wooden vases by Brian David Johnson, and ceramics by Kristen Saksa Juen.

heywoodhotel.com | @heywoodhotel

Photo by Casey Dunn

The Heywood Hotel lobby in Austin, Texas, includes textiles by Leah Duncan. The hotel is filled with work by local craftspeople.

Photo by Casey Dunn

A Heywood room with cabinetry and walnut bed by George Reynolds, wooden vase by Brian David Johnson, and textiles by Leah Duncan.

Photo by Erin Thomas

In the gift shop, a vase by Johnson; a leather desk pad by Noah Marion; and a soapstone shaving set, leather journals, and personal accessories by Son of a Sailor.

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Tides Inn | Irvington, Virginia

Located on a private peninsula surrounded by the clay-rich Chesapeake Bay, the Tides Inn has been around for 75 years. This classic coastal hotel, which serves local oysters and crab, expresses its creative side with a designated “maker space” where resident artist Theresa Schneveis leads classes in nature-inspired collage, candle-making, crocheting, and throwing and hand-building clay. Schneveis, whose pottery is featured in the dining room, told us she’s adding a new class, “where I take guests to collect clay, bring it back to the studio, and then teach the process of refining.”

tidesinn.com | @tidesinn

Photo by Kate Thompson

Resident artist Theresa Schneveis leading a “nature’s art” workshop at the Tides Inn.

Photo by Kate Thompson

Guests may participate in pottery classes. Schneveis fires each of the pieces after guests depart, then mails them.
Photo courtesy of the Tides Inn

The maker space at the resort is a contemporary, light-filled studio.

“We’ve been inspired by and honored to be in partnership with the creators in our community.”

— Margo Roberts

Alma | Minneapolis, Minnesota

When entering the elegant Hotel Alma, you are immediately torn: Go up the stairs to the guest rooms? Or hang a left and browse the craft shop for treasures, such as walnut bowls from the Holland Bowl Mill in Michigan and clay mugs by Minnesota ceramist Guillermo Cuellar? You’ll also be tempted by the sights and smells of Alma’s award-winning cafe and restaurant, located just beyond the shop.

Let’s say you head up the stairs (or choose the accessible guest room on the first floor). Alma’s seven impeccable rooms are designed to make travelers feel cared for, even pampered. The owners, Margo and Alex Roberts, have lavished attention on every detail of this hotel, which is located two blocks from the Mississippi River and the Stone Arch Bridge, in a historic building that once housed a wooden speedboat manufacturer.

Margo says the couple envisioned Alma as a place for guests to dream, relax, and rejuvenate. They accomplished this with the help of myriad craft artists. “We’ve been inspired by and honored to be in partnership with the creators in our community,” she says. Each room blooms with crafted amenities, including wooden furniture by Marvin Freitas, hand-sewn robes from KISA Boutique, brass work by Jonathan Gomez Whitney, and apothecary specialties by Margo herself.

almampls.com | @almampls

Photo by Tara Sloane

Bed frame designed by Spring and made by Freitas.

Photo by Liz Gardner

Minneapolis makers at Alma’s front desk: brass key hooks and rings by Marvin Freitas and leather and numbering by Talin Spring (now living in Paris).

Photo by Liz Gardner

Throw blanket designed by Spring, purse handmade by Spring, and handwoven vintage rug.

Photo by Tara Sloane

Desk by Freitas, tassel by Spring, and vintage Japanese calendar art.

Photo by Tara

Apothecary products by proprietor Margo Roberts.

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The Maker | Hudson, New York

Want to sleep like an architect, a writer, or someone who lived in a Paris studio in the 1920s? In collaboration with craft artists in the Hudson Valley, this lush hotel has been described as a “curated sanctuary with a bohemian sensibility.” The Maker, located near the Hudson River between New York City and Albany, features 11 rooms across three historic buildings, each lovingly outfitted according to themes such as “Architect Studio” and “Artist Studio.” The majority of the furnishings are vintage and have been refurbished by local artisans, including Gary Keegan, who hand-carved many of the restaurant tables and restored several mantles; Steven McKay, who, with hotel cofounder Lev Glazman, designed light fixtures and restored the silk shades in the conservatory; and Steve Delmar, who reupholstered many pieces including a George Smith sofa. In addition, local DC Studios designed a stained glass skylight for the top floor of one of The Maker’s buildings. The hotel even features a line of custom perfumes inspired by the “travel fantasies we’ve lived or long for.”

themaker.com | @themakerhotel

Photos by Francine Zaslow

The “Artist Studio” room includes furniture, objects, and artwork from a variety of time periods.

Saguaro | Palm Springs, California

For big, bright, eye-popping fun in the desert, visit the Saguaro. This stylish hotel not only features a pool surrounded by rainbow-colored room balconies—architects Peter Stamberg and Paul Aferiat selected colors that mimic the surrounding desert’s wildflowers—it’s furnished with art and craft galore.

The Saguaro bills itself as a “getaway for spirited travelers in search of uncomplicated fun,” where the main values include “community, collaboration, and creativity.” The lobby features furniture and a ping-pong table handcrafted by California’s Amigo Modern, while multiple dioramas by Sarah Scheideman show Barbie dolls in different parts of the hotel, including the pool and spa. The hotel also offers an array of programming, such as a class on making paper flowers taught by artist Gina May.

thesaguaro.com | @saguarohotels

Jennifer Vogel is a contributing writer to American Craft. She has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for many publications and outlets, including Minnesota Public Radio, City Pages, and Mother Jones. Jennifer, who holds a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, published a memoir, Flim-Flam Man, that won the Minnesota Book Award. She is an avid reader, a decent cook, an enthusiastic boat passenger, and an appreciator of things that are beautiful and also useful.

Photo by John Cho

The El Jefe Desert Cantina features a 10 x 25 ft. mural of luchadores adorned in pool floats by Orange County–based artists Yusufu Bwire and family, custom light fixtures by Minneapolis duo Zach Dutton and Thomas Brown of Dutton Brown Design, and a live edge table sourced locally from Madera Millworks in Riverside, California.

Margo Roberts, owner of Hotel Alma, was featured in The Queue.

Read the interview

This article was made possible with support from the Windgate Foundation.

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