Raffles
Singapore

Original works for the suites and public rooms, and curated pieces for the Tiffin Room and Writers Bar, all chosen to capture the spirit of a legendary hotel.

Raffles opened in 1887 and spent the next century collecting stories: Maugham and Kipling in the Writers Bar, the Singapore Sling first poured in the Long Bar, a tiger famously shot under the billiard table in 1902, and a ballroom that danced its way through the twenties. When the hotel closed for its restoration, the question for the art was not how to change a building that already had so much to say, but how to help it say it again, in a contemporary voice. The program set out to capture the spirit of the hotel: its glamour, its history, and the particular character of each of its rooms.

Working alongside Champalimaud, we placed original works throughout the property, from canvases in the suites to a sculpture by the Korean artist Yeesookyung, whose Translated Vase series fuses shards of discarded porcelain with 24-karat gold into forms that seem to grow rather than sit. For the Tiffin Room and the Writers Bar, we curated accessories and objects that hold the mood of each space. The collection gives a legendary building a piece of the present that feels as though it belongs to its past.

Michelle led this art program during her tenure at Sweeney Co. Art Advisors, from concept through installation.