Living
Dwelling In Design: Hotel Swag Worth Taking Home
Not ready to check out? These creative design items from hotels across the globe invite you to extend your stay right into your own home
A good hotel stay can be magical: if a well-designed hotel is doing its job, you won’t want to leave, and when it’s time to return home, you’ll want to take a bit of that special hotel magic with you. We’ve selected some of the best souvenirs from hotel shops around the world to help you recreate that just-checked-in feeling in the comfort of your own home.
TWA Hotel’s Swizzle Sticks
JFK Airport’s landmark TWA (Trans World Airlines) Flight Center is a mid-century design icon, a New York City designated landmark and a property on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The former airport terminal, designed by legendary architect Eero Saarinen, is living out its twilight years as a boutique hotel, complete with a shop full of perfectly curated mid-century design. If you remember flying during the golden age of aviation, these cocktail stirrers will awaken your nostalgia. Replicas of the swizzle sticks used on TWA flights, they were inspired by the destinations the airline once served.
Pellicano Hotels’ Monopoly Game
The Italian suffix -issimo means ‘very’. Naming a lifestyle website dedicated to travel tips, culture updates and covetable things from Italy, ISSIMO indicates confidence in the quality of those tips, updates and things. For Pellicano Hotels, the boutique brand behind ISSIMO, the name epitomises the Italian “love for the very best”. The site’s online shop offers signature accessories from three iconic properties, like yellow-striped beach towels from Il Pellicano, thyme-scented body lotion from Mezzatorre and handcrafted scented candles from La Posta Vecchia. To relive your Mediterranean road trip, invest in Monopoly ISSIMO, a custom edition of the classic property game, which doubles as an insider guide to the Italian coast.
El Cosmico’s Merit Badges
Both the original El Cosmico (an “artistic campground of vintage trailers, yurts, tents and other nomadic accommodations” in Marfa, Texas) and the newly envisioned version (a 3D-printed “cosmic campground” in the desert, slated to open in 2026) share a vision “to create a living laboratory for artistic, cultural and community experimentation”. What better way to commemorate a stay there than with a merit badge… or five? One to celebrate your type of accommodation (yurt, teepee, safari tent or trailer), one for the key attraction that brought you there (hiking, the Marfa lights or the region’s unique art), and one each for your favourite pastimes while there (like acoustic guitar, hammock, drinking or mind expansion).
Mandarin Oriental’s Orlebar Brown Swim Shorts
Perhaps the most well-known items designed for Mandarin Oriental are its signature fans referencing the hotel group’s logo. Each property has its own unique fan, inspired by the culture and history of its location or the hotel’s interior design. The fan also finds its way onto other selected items, such as this chic pair of swim shorts by British swimwear and resort fashion brand Orlebar Brown. Perfect for lounging at the hotel pool – or for declaring yourself “a fan” of the pool or beachside anywhere in the world.
White Elephant Hotel’s Elephant Corkscrew
In the 1920s, Nantucket’s historic harbour inn turned what was once a slight into its name; today, the island hotel’s gift shop is teeming with white elephants. Everything from throw cushions and decorative cabinet knobs to jewellery, clothes and towels is emblazoned with the pachyderm mascot. A particularly clever rendition comes in the shape of this elephant bar accessory, with the trunk serving as a bottle opener and the tail as a corkscrew.
The Standard’s Salt & Pepper Shaker Set
The interior design at The Standard is filled with loud, attention-grabbing details that serve as conversation pieces or social media fodder, and add character to each of the brand’s hip properties. The same goes for the boutique chain’s Standard Label Goods line of clothes and accessories. These sets of doggie salt and pepper shakers are an endearing touch found at The Standard, High Line’s grill cafe, where each of the tables features a pair of magnetic smooching labradors, chihuahuas, pugs or dachshunds.
Borgo Egnazia’s Epicurean Accessories
Borgo Egnazia is a sprawling luxury resort built to resemble an Italian village. Located in Puglia, at the heel of Italy’s boot, it features paved streets, alleys and piazzas, as well as townhouses, villas and a palace. The resort is renowned for its food, with the bars and restaurants sourcing much of their produce from the estate. You can shop the pantry for delicious Puglian treats and, for something more enduring, take home candles hand-painted with tomatoes, or ceramic tomatoes to hang in your kitchen at home. Both products are also available in a chili pepper motif.
Firmdale Hotels’ Acrylic Trays
As founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels, Kit Kemp has 11 properties across London and New York that showcase her exuberant style and lavish use of colour, texture and pattern. In her interiors, bold hues are mixed, matched and layered, and her custom-designed fabrics aren’t just found on bedding, cushions and upholstery – they’re also on mannequins, patchwork animals and these eye-catching acrylic trays. The sleek, transparent shape paired with a vibrant, textured fabric adds an element of interest to any coffee table.
The Fife Arms’ Outdoor Gift Box
A visit to The Fife Arms is not just about experiencing the Scottish Highlands. It’s about celebrating the elevated, stylised vision of the great outdoors found in this remote, romanticised corner of Great Britain. From its custom house tartan and tweed to a stunning locally sourced antler chandelier and the hotel bar’s eponymous taxidermied flying stag, the hotel is filled with thoughtful flourishes that embrace the region’s rich traditions of craft and design. The gift shop offers a slice of that aesthetic to take home; its outdoor gift box is filled with playing cards, notebooks, postcards, a stag horn magnifying glass, a house tweed thermos and a picnic rug.
Soho House’s Crystal Glassware
Soho House single-handedly made members’ clubs fashionable at the turn of the century. Today, members and guests can bring the look and feel to their abodes with Soho Home. The interiors brand offers everything from furniture and lighting to tableware, textiles and accessories. Dedicated interior design studios in the UK and US let you browse and shop, while an interior design service can help you recreate the signature look at home. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: if you want to start small, pick up a piece of crystal glassware from the signature Barwell range, the first Soho House design to be made available to the public when Soho Home launched in 2016.
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