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The Queue: Margo Roberts

Craft is at the heart of the Margo Roberts’s work as the co-owner of Hotel Alma and creative director of Alma Apothecary.

Roberts shares her favorite scent for winter, why she has brought so many craftspeople into the hotel, and whom she would trust to decorate her home.

By Shivaun Watchorn
January 9, 2023

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The Queue
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Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

Margo Roberts aims to make life a little more beautiful and pleasant every day.

Roberts co-owns Hotel Alma in Minneapolis with her husband Alex, where the pair create a sumptuous guest experience encompassing lodging, food, and a shop full of craft treasures. The small—seven rooms—boutique hotel showcases makers from Minnesota and beyond. Roberts herself creates the entire apothecary line. Jennifer Vogel wrote about Hotel Alma in “Craft Stays” in the Winter 2023 issue of American Craft.

How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?

My role is creative director of the Alma Apothecary and retail line. I create a seasonal line of clean, plant-based bath, body, and home products and perform every task involved in bringing products to our shelves. Everything is formulated with the belief that what goes on your body is just as important as what goes into your body.

Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

The shop at Hotel Alma.

What inspired you to invite craftspeople to play such a significant role in the creation of Hotel Alma?

Alma has always been a place that partners with local farmers, vendors, and craftspeople. Doing the same with the hotel was the most natural direction to take.

What are your favorite materials to use in your apothecary products?

My favorite materials are always essential oils rich in healing properties. Currently I’m having a moment with the scent of neroli when you infuse it with a little bit of marjoram. There’s an invigorating, magical thing that happens every time that literally always makes me sigh, “yeahhhh…”

Who and what—craftspeople, artists, ideas, books, music, nature, etc.—inspires your work?

Always the change of seasons! And lately the simple, natural things created by craftspeople. Christine Hoffman from Foxglove Market and potters Alana Cuellar and Guillermo Cuellar have inspired me. They remind me our work as craftspeople makes life a little more beautiful and pleasant for others every day.

Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

The custom interior sewing in rooms was done by Kelly Zoellmer of Custom Interiors, a local tailor and seamstress here in the Twin Cities. Talin Spring of Spring Finn & Co curated the fabrics from international markets and vendors.

  • Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

    Handcrafted soap by Margo Roberts.

  • Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

    Room keys at Hotel Alma. The leather key tags were also made by Talin Spring of Spring Finn & Co.

  • Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

    The custom interior sewing in rooms was done by Kelly Zoellmer of Custom Interiors, a local tailor and seamstress here in the Twin Cities. Talin Spring of Spring Finn & Co. curated the fabrics from international markets and vendors.

If you could have any craft artists decorate a room in your home today, who would they be and why?

Easy! It would be my bedroom. I would copy room 5 of Hotel Alma by having Spring Finn & Co. design and decorate, Marvin Freitas handcraft a new bed frame, Gomez Whitney build a bookshelf and armoire with brass shelves, and I’d finish it with art on the walls by Mary Jo Hoffman.

Which craft artists, exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why?

Recently, I was inspired by all that’s happening in the Food Building in Minneapolis, particularly the work of Marco Zappia and his partners at 3Leche. Their “laboratory” is a place that literally distills the essences of the natural world into flavors that surprise, delight, and intrigue the senses.

 

Shivaun Watchorn is the associate editor of American Craft.

Photo by Eliesa Johnson at the Restaurant Project

Margo and Alex Roberts.

Visit Alma online.

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

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