A set of paintings based on the lives of Queen Marie and King Ferdinand I of Romania which included a mural in the Rotunda of the Historic Grand Hotel Du Boulevard in Bucharest.

Aptly built by jeweller Jacques Herdan in the late 1800s, this jewel-box of a hotel relaunched in March 2025 following a ten-year restoration period – and amid a lot of expectation from curious locals. On the surface, its latest incarnation as the Corinthia Bucharest is classical luxury: all extravagant chandeliers, neoclassical architecture and smart service. But those who lean in a little closer will glimpse the stories skating beneath the surface, like the elegant ghosts of inhabitants past now showing up for the next grand party.

This is most evident in the art collection curated by Minda Dowling; paintings from British artist Simon Casson first appear to be historical paintings of the Romanian Royal Family, but on closer inspection the eyes of the subjects are smudged out like an old videotape stuck on pause and buildings float like spaceships in the corners of the canvas, a surreal slant that takes the hotel out of museum territory. A huge tapestry in the lobby by Irish artist Jude Cassidy in understated silvery creams turns out to be woven from vintage scarves from the nearby Peasant’s Museum, with over 10,000 hand-placed pearls mirroring the energy and movement of people dancing in the original ballroom. The spindly gold-leaf prints that line the hallways are abstract tributes to the national crop of wheat, and the pattern in the carpets is drawn from embroidered peasants’ blouses. The details are always hiding in plain sight – fragments out of time and place, but utterly right for now.

Olivia Squire Conda Nast 2025

Further details can be found in the PROJECTS section.