MELISSALAND

I happened upon the website of a new hotel in London called Rough Luxe via the 2009 consumer trends listed on trendwatching. The hotel’s website states:

“So this is Rough Luxe. Half rough, half luxury. A little bit of luxury in a rough part of London. A little bit of rough in a luxurious London. Our philosophy is simple; you are staying with us in our home, so just ask.”

After wandering through their site, I found my way to the ‘Rough Luxe Network’ - their philosophy really resonated with me….

Rough-Luxe is a new way of looking at luxury as a moment in time and not only part of an object of consumption. Luxury is an enriching personal experience and not only an ownership of an expensive object. Therefore, the Rough-Luxe definition of Luxury is: time for reflection, personal encounters with people, nature, architecture and environment as well as food and social and cultural experiences linked to geographic locations. It is also, the intellectual solicitation, listening to ones own feelings as well as comparing objects and time and thinking of their hierarchy.

Rough-Luxe is about the experience, the surrounding, the intrinsic value of objects, art, culture and the people surrounding us as well as the ‘‘consumable’’ items, that you come across in a Rough-Luxe hotel or affiliated business or event.

…this philosophy reminds me of the reasons why Hudson, New York became the destination that it did for many New Yorkers. Hardly a manicured or polished city, Hudson is certainly rough around the edges - but it has a tremendous amount of soul.  Many creative types have flocked here over the years because you can feel that soul pour out of every shop and building lining the street. A simple place, yet at the same time, full of such inspiring detail. How can you not love it here?

If you want to explore Hudson a bit more, check out this Flickr group

(Photo by Peter Spear)

(photo by Sam Pratt)