In the heart of Lisbon, Portugal, lies an upscale haven of breathtaking art and bespoke design, highlighting the richness of a culture and the creativity of its inhabitants with a hotel that boasts custom, artfully crafted furnishings and imaginative details that breathes new life into a raw administrative building with an exposed and vacant feel, resting on the banks of the Tangus like an abandoned vessel, stark yet hauntingly beautiful. Stripped of all but the concrete beams and columns, the industrial atmosphere of the Jam hotel is brightened by stripes of color that saunter the walls and exposed piping that caress the ceiling in bursts of joyful reds, yellows, and greens, bare yet stunning in simplicity. While at first impression one may consider the undressed aesthetic to signal that which is unfinished, as one rests within its walls one is struck by the warmth and unique character of its artful embrace, with hand crafted details that incite a wonder of sensuality, joyous and dynamic, contrasting with the austere voids left by exposed concrete and barren wood.
Eclectic, unassuming, and clever, the Jam hotel was born from the impassioned imagination of Lionel Jadot, an interior architect and founder of the collective of creatives known as Zaventem Ateliers, where the brutality of a space is designed to inspire innovation and collaboration. It was Jadot’s vision to find the beauty within the uncovered and industrial, and transform the deserted office space into a tribute to contemporary art and novel designs, collaborating with artists like Bela Silva whose hand-painted tiles line the elongated swimming pool that rests among the Cabana rooftop bar, and the Porto-based Flowco who designed eco-tile headboards made of the recycled soles of shoes, fascinating in its materiality and rugged in aesthetic. Murals by Brazilian artist Ylana Yaari pepper the hotel lobby, in conversation with the brutal though refined concrete chairs and daybeds by Ivan Daniel Cova, while the ceramic mask sculptures of Mon Colonel Spit breathe an unforgettable grace into the Cabana, offset by Omarcity’s handwoven plastic Tucurinca furniture.
With the addition of the Mojjo restaurant, guided by rising star chef Mauro Airosa, guests can also enjoy a tasteful synthesis of the gourmet among solid-cut marble blocks rescued from a nearby quarry and custom furnishings from Emmanuel Babled studio in collaboration with Jisamwe. Whether making use of cork wall or burnt eucalyptus wood to craft modular bunk beds from George Nakashima disciple Mircea Anghel that nest behind sliding doors, or creating signature tiles of lime plaster, cork waste, and terracotta clays from Pieter Van Bruysse, the Jam hotel is plush with particulars that surprise and delight, a true communal of the creative and the unique, a sanctuary of pleasure and repose in the midst of a bustling urban milieu, vibrant and unpretentious.
March 2024
