The last thing the world needs is yet another boutique hotel. Except maybe for Shanghai, where the hotel market has till now been more about grandeur (the Four Seasons, the Grand Hyatt, the Pudong Shangri-La) than intimacy. Twenty-eight-year-old wunderkind developer Yenn Wong hopes to change that with her—yes, her—new JIA Shanghai. While she collaborated with the ubiquitous Philippe Starck on the original JIA in Hong Kong, Wong has gone in a different direction here, eschewing showy starchitect flourishes for something more refined—not such a bad thing in a city already full of glitz. Located in the busy Nanjing Road shopping district, the property is housed in a renovated twenties-era building with an ornate, balconied facade and a sleek new interior by Australian upstarts BURO. (Their choices lean Italian, with furnishings by Minotti and lights by Artemede.) The JIA's Euro atmosphere extends to its 56 timber-walled and -floored guest rooms, which feature antique Chinese objets d'art alongside the obligatory home-theater systems. "They're warm, sexy spaces that combine the beauty of Old Shanghai with the energetic vibe of the new," Wong explains, all "linked by moody, dark, and secretive corridors." Well, given the local government's reputation, hopefully not too secretive.
Via Men.Style.Com
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