Diane von Furstenberg once said: “When you get into a hotel room, you lock the door, and you know there is a secrecy, there is a luxury, there is fantasy.” Hotels thrust their occupants into a state of limbo even as they serve as a bulwark from the outside world. They can be both a welcome refuge and unsettlingly cold; homelike in their decor but cell-like in that what is there is often nailed down, and certainly not yours to keep. If part of a large chain, the rooms appear similar regardless of location, as Swiss photographer Roger Eberhard reveals in his photographic study Standard which showcases the unnerving sameness This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Eight Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 43 Essay: Open Relationships What happens when private therapy becomes public entertainment? Arts & Culture Issue 42 An Open Mind The making of a modern public intellectual. Arts & Culture The Touch Hoshinoya Kyoto At the edge of Kyoto, a slow sailboat takes hotel guests downriver to a bygone world. Arts & Culture City Guide Issue 32 Hoshinoya Tokyo A modern ryokan. Arts & Culture Hotel St. George A new Helsinki hotel deeply rooted in the arts. Arts & Culture City Guide Ryse Hotel A hotel tailored toward creative professionals in a fashionable Seoul neighborhood.
Arts & Culture Issue 43 Essay: Open Relationships What happens when private therapy becomes public entertainment?
Arts & Culture The Touch Hoshinoya Kyoto At the edge of Kyoto, a slow sailboat takes hotel guests downriver to a bygone world.
Arts & Culture City Guide Ryse Hotel A hotel tailored toward creative professionals in a fashionable Seoul neighborhood.