Sophie Ashdown

Amongst the business and distractions of Christmas time, I still found my eyes being drawn to patterns.

On a weekend in Edinburgh before Christmas, I stayed at the gorgeous Malmaison hotel with my partner. I hadn’t stayed there before but I’m so glad we did.

It is located centrally near St Andrews Square, and has a fairly unassuming front entrance but with high ceilings from the entry.

From the moment we entered the lobby, there was an incredible environment of luxuriant and lavish decor full of deep colours and fantastic patterns.

This huge tapestry(?) rose from the floor and curved into the ceiling:

These are obviously not my kind of colours but I have to admire the work and artistic skill that went into this piece. It is a work of art in itself.

Even the carpet had its own artistic pattern:

The room carpets also had great multicoloured lines:

Also in the room was this elaborate mural that mixes patterns, Asian imagery, and floral patterns:

There were some interesting artworks, most of them very colourful but this one caught my eye as one of the few monochrome pieces. This one speaks to me massively as there are a lot of Constructivist elements:

This was in the hotel bar which I think is used as a noise dampener but what a great pattern for it:

The lighting also had fantastic spherical patterns, not just in the light fixtures themselves, but in how they cast light on the ceiling and walls:

Even the room divider in the breakfast restaurant had presence and pattern:

I don’t know if all Malmaison hotels are as elaborate and interesting, but I am tempted to stay at more! I’ll certainly stay at the Edinburgh location again.