“The first thing you’ll see is the blue of the ocean and the sky—and a wicker swing chair,” says Osklen designer Oskar Metsavaht of JANEIRO, the boutique hotel he’s opening this week as the international art set arrives in Brazil for ArtRio. Though JANEIRO is but a 10-minute drive from the Fasano—the Philippe Starck-designed Ipanema beach watering hole whose oft-Instagrammed mirrored rooftop infinity pool has, until now, been practically synonymous with our lavish and extravagant vision of Rio de Janeiro—it feels a world away. All minimalist blond freijó wood and Travertine marble with breathtaking views of the white-cliffed Ilhas Cagarras from each of its 53 rooms, JANEIRO feels a bit like a Tulum eco-resort beamed down in the midst of Brazil’s seaside megacity.
“For me a hotel is a curation of a city,” Metsavaht says, explaining why as the founder of Brazil’s premier luxury brand he’s now decided to become a hotelier. “It’s another kind of platform where you can express your lifestyle.” Rio de Janeiro is of course known for its sexy beaches and hedonistic Carnival festival, but like all truly great cities, Rio is also so much more than that. Rio is Oscar Niemeyer land, the birthplace of Modernist architecture. It’s also a place of great natural wonder wedged between jungle-covered mountains and monoliths of granite jutting from the sea.
JANEIRO is located in Leblon, a residential oceanfront neighborhood away from the touristic epicenter at the Ipanema and Copacabana beachs. The hotel picks up on recurring themes from Metsavaht’s Osklen designs, such as the integration of urban life with nature. “When you walk down Rio’s mosaic sidewalks on the right you see black asphalt, the buildings, the city,” Metsavaht says. “On the left side, you see white sand, palm trees, the ocean and the islands. I like to have that contrast.” JANEIRO’s open floor plan suites boast double rainforest showers right up against the plate glass windows, so you almost forget you’re sleeping in a high-rise instead of a cabana. And of course there are those swing chairs—perfect for savoring a breakfast of tropical fruits and tapioca—to extend the indoor-outdoor vibe.
Metsavaht was an early proponent of what we now call sustainable luxury: for nearly three decades, Osklen has been working with ecologically sound materials such as organic cotton, recycled PET, and pirarucu fish skin leather. Through his foundation Instituto-E, he recently launched an initiative called ASAP (a clever acronym which stands for both “as sustainable as possible” and, yes, “as soon as possible”) to spark awareness of the urgency to adopt daily life attitudes towards sustainability. “I want JANEIRO to be a living embodiment of aligning aesthetics with positive environmental practices,” Metsavaht says of the hotel, which boasts reusable glass bottles and paper straws for beach club beverage service, all natural toiletries form the Brazilian beauty label Granado, and locally sourced decor and amenities like organic cotton laundry bags made by community group of weavers and blown glass lamps handcrafted in the south of Brazil from recycled glass bottles.
The hotel restaurant features farm-to-table ingredients amidst wicker chairs shaped like shells, and Metsavaht’s atmospheric black and white photography of Rio’s beaches hang on the walls. Up a thoroughly Modernist floating staircase you’ll find the Little Pool Bar, a perfectly intimate space to sip a caipirinha, cool your heels in the plunge pool, and watch the sun set through a circular window over the majestic Two Brothers mountain. “This is what I call healthy hedonism,” Metsavaht says.
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