12 decades art hotel

image © designboom

located in the east end of johannesburg’s downtown, the 12 decades art hotel is a boutique hotel that
captures the history of the city in its room’s. the concept features 12 rooms each designed by a local
artist or designer that is dedicated to one decade in the city’s history from 1886 to now. the hotel is
part of the developing maboneng precinct which feature a numbers of facilities dedicated to the arts
and design. designboom toured the recently opened hotel and snuck a peak inside some of the rooms.

http://www.mainstreetlife.co.za/art-hotel


hotel front desk
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seating in the hotel lobby
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seating area in the hotel with furniture by dokter and misses
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image © designboom

‘marabi’ by robyn sims and pierre croquet (dedicated to 1926-1936)

johanessburg’s mining history is a key aspect of the city and inspired the ‘marabi’ room by
robyn sims and pierre croquet. early settlers in the city only brought the most basic furniture,
often only having a few essentials pieces. over time, their wealth grew and they slowly expanded
their homes with more opulent furniture. this transition is demonstrated within this room with
a contemporary twist.


gas lamp gone modern
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image © designboom

‘minehaus’ by dokter and misses (dedicated to 1916-1926)

the bauhaus movement had an important impact on johannesburg and was cited as the basis for the
room created by furniture designers dokter and misses called ‘minehaus’. the room features what
the team interpretes as 'bauhaus doctrine graphics' on the walls and a series of furniture that uses
primary colours and angular wood and metal forms. these pieces are based on dokter and misses
designs with slight modifications for the context of the room.


table and stools by dokter and misses
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table and chairs by dokter and misses
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bench by dokter and misses
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image © designboom

‘the house that jack built’ by kim stern (dedicated to 1906-1916)

designed by local designer kim stern, ‘the house that jack built’ is dedicated to the rise of boxing in
the city of johannesburg. stern takes the idea literally creating a box of plywood in the room. the warm
plywood cladding gives the room a coziness that is enhanced by the collection of gold objects spread
throughout the room and on the main shelf.


wood shelf with gold knick-knacks
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image © designboom

‘main street constellations’ by kim lieberman (dedicated to 1956-1966)

artist kim lieberman built on her human constellations body of work, utilizing silhouettes of
characters that played an important role in the hotel’s area from 1956-1966. these figures are
hand painted on the walls and ceilings with long threads of red string connecting them to each
other. the colour read is used to symbolize the connectedness of all people no matter what their
skin colour is. among the figures i nelson mandela, who used to box in the area.


human constellations including nelson mandela on the far left
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human constellations on the ceilings
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