Design + Culture + Art…

From the moment you walk into Faena, you are hit with its opulence. I knew this hotel was going to be spectacular and all the days leading up to it, I was tingling with excitement! It’s difficult to describe this kind of beauty.

Vaulted ceilings with gold cathedral-style columns and floor-to-ceiling tropical murals just make the entrance dazzling. It’s worth sitting on the benches for awhile and soaking it all in; it’s akin to the grandeur of say, the Sistine Chapel — South Beach style.

Alan Faena…

It only makes sense that the owner, an Argentinian hotelier, of such a hotel is an equally fascinating character. Case in point: we were waiting for the theatre to open to watch their weekly show Sensatia, when the doors open and in breezes by a man dressed head-to-toe white with matching white silk turban, cape + cane who nodded with a smirk to the butler (yes, they are called butlers here!) we were chatting to. We didn’t realize til later that he was the owner.

After watching The Great Gatsby at the Cannes Film Festival, he hired the director Baz Luhrmann and his wife Catherine Martin, a designer, to decorate the hotel interiors in a larger-than-life theatrical fashion.

And you know what all of it reminded me of? That jet-setting but hippie auntie wrapped in a floor-grazing bohemian skirt made of Indian Silk, of course, with a sage smudge stick in her straw purse and orange leather Hermes slides on her feet (I’m hoping that’s me one day, obvi).

Speaking of floor-grazing, pets can stay for $250 per stay — yes, a high price to pay for such glamour!

[ img credit: Dezeen ]

And what about the room?

The rooms keep the classic Miami Art Deco design with added touches: rich red sofas with fringe, turquoise drapes, intricate rugs and touches of leopard. The room reminded me a bit of Saint James in Paris which also had leopard, red + turquoise decor. Make sure to check out the exquisite spa + gift shop — I discovered an Argentinian fashion designer Carolina K, who I can see myself quickly getting obsessed with.