Jacus Strauss, co-founder and creative director of the Lore Group
“I’m trained as an architect, but I’ve realized that design touches so many different aspects of a project. Landing in hospitality is something that I’d never planned for, but hospitality really works for me when it comes to combining disciplines that aren’t design-related. It’s about service, it’s about experience and all those things are very important for me when it comes to design.”
Jacu Strauss is speaking from his home in London, a little more than a year after the opening of One Hundred Shoreditch, the latest in a series of hotels imprinted with the designer’s unique style.
Owned and operated by the Lore Group, where Strauss is co-founder and creative director, properties like Shoreditch, Pulitzer Amsterdam and Sea Containers London each reflect his diverse interests. From the décor and artwork to the restaurants and bars, each offers an almost cinematic sensory experience. But the accommodation auteur has a humility to his craft, and his designs are about people and attitudes, rather than objects.
In the case of One Hundred Shoreditch, née Ace Hotel London, understanding the East London neighborhood’s identity was an exciting challenge for Strauss despite living in London for the past several years. Finding a balance that felt authentic to guests and the energetic, youth-driven neighborhood became a journey of discovery for the designer. The finished product is intimate in some places, expansive in others, with diverse outlets offering a variety of experiences at guests’ discretion.
“The rooms are much more like a sanctuary and the rooftop is this kind of oasis, but the lobby is really alive,” said Strauss. “People work there all day, so even as a guest you feel like a local for the day or two. I like that.“
WHEN INSPIRATION STRIKES
To give the hotel’s 258 rooms their own vibe, Strauss painted individual abstract art for each. It’s not his first foray into high-end crafts—he’s created design elements and even furniture before, should the situation call for it. Sometimes it’s to be practical and cost-effective, but they can also pay homage to his experiences living in the city, like the two-story glass exhibit case in the lobby of the Riggs Washington D.C., inspired by one in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.
Growing up in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert—a place known for neither architecture nor design—Strauss learned early to create by hand what didn’t exist in his world. After studying architecture in New Zealand, a stint in the Tom Dixon Studio as a senior designer and plenty of world traveling, he has a wealth of artistic inspiration and craftsmanship to draw from when necessary.
“It’s a very difficult thing because I’m not a control freak. I’m not a megalomaniac at all,” he said. “But when I have a vision, I think it really makes a difference. People may not know it [was] me, but they immediately know that someone did this just for this room, because, in a way, it was. I understood the design and the journey and that building so well that I knew exactly what the right thing would be to put in there. And I wanted to create that. It just makes it feel so much more special. And to me, the satisfaction from someone else’s reaction to something like that is priceless.”
PIANO MAN
While working on the Pulitzer Amsterdam, Strauss’s design choices experienced a rare hurdle from the city’s historic preservation society, affectionately titled “the Beauty Committee.” Renovating within a UNESCO World Heritage Site required matching the committee’s standards for historical accuracy, but the call for multiple iterations refined the design plans. When they agreed on designs for the 25 Golden Age Canal Houses, each centuries old, it earned the community’s trust, while also pushing his artistic ability to new heights. He got to construct his first building as an architect, and even hung a piano over the entrance, making use of the building’s old-fashioned pulley.
“In Amsterdam I saw people move in and out of the apartments that way, and thought: ‘What a wonderful living relic this is.’ When I had to do something for this entrance space, people assumed [we’d] put a chandelier up there, and I was like, no, I want to hang a piano.”
With the completion of One Hundred Shoreditch, Strauss and Lore Group are experiencing their first break between projects in years, affording them a rare opportunity to sharpen their teeth for what comes next. But Strauss is staying busy.
By the end of 2023, he plans to move out of the 400-year-old cottage he owns in the English countryside and into a former school built in 1850, a passion project that will require plenty of renovations. He can’t wait.
“That is my favorite thing in design, when buildings don’t get demolished and people find ways of repurposing them,” said Strauss. “To turn an old school into to a little house—or the part of this school, anyway—into something that’s livable for me is a wonderful challenge, and I’m really excited about that. I’ve been walking around that building for the last few weeks now in my head.”