Does a Hotel's Art Collection Now Count as Design?
Last updated: 29 October 2026
In short: Increasingly, yes. Hotel Designs, the UK hospitality-design title, has added a For the Love of Art Award to its 2026 Brit List, honoring art collaborations, one-off commissions and curated collections, with winners announced on 5 November 2026. Art consultant Polly Orton says the role of art in hospitality “has vastly changed in the past 20 years.” For a designer, that makes the artwork a line of the brief, specified early, and no longer an accessory chosen last.
What is the new For the Love of Art Award?
Hotel Designs describes the category as celebrating “the artists and the artwork” that adds “more than just a splash of colour to the walls of hospitality projects.” In the magazine's own words, “Art plays such a huge role in design, by giving a sense of place, and adding depth to space.”
Nominees can be individual artists, studios, curators and collaborators, shown through work in hospitality projects completed in the last 18 months or due to finish by the end of 2026. Applicants must have a studio or agency based in the UK, and the projects can be anywhere in the world. Shortlisted finalists are invited to the awards ceremony on 5 November 2026 at Ministry of Sound, London.
How has the role of art in hotels changed?
In Hotel Designs' “Beyond the frame” feature (Pauline Brettell, 29 September 2025), Polly Orton of Art Story says the role of art within hospitality “has vastly changed in the past 20 years,” and that this “has driven hotel owners to challenge interior designers to create unique spaces.”
Wilhelm Finger and Melita Skammaki, directors of Double Decker, describe the same shift from the curator's side: “At Double Decker, we've seen how art has moved from the periphery to the very heart of hotel design.” They add that “Guests are seeking more than comfort and good food: they are looking for meaning, resonance, and a sense of place.”
Is art as decoration a wasted opportunity?
Jacu Strauss, creative director at Lore Group and founder of Lore Studio, takes the strongest view in the same feature: “I have always felt that ‘art as decoration’ in a place like hotels are a wasted opportunity, sometimes even lazy.”
Curator Susan Walsh, whose projects include The Langham London and Mandarin Oriental Macau, wrote in an older Hotel Designs piece (2018) that art “creates the opportunity for a moment that can reflect humour, awe, shock or just sheer dramatic impact.” (Walsh's words are given in the article as her own explanation and are not set off in quotation marks there, and the piece is eight years old.)
What does a hotel commission look like from the painter's side?
I know this from the working side. The Conrad Nashville holds 33 of my original paintings across the private suites, the public and gallery areas and both dining rooms. Interiors are by Champalimaud Design, and the art placement was by Tammy Parmentier, who placed the art for the project and with whom I worked directly. A hotel commission is a conversation about rooms, not a single canvas: how a corridor is lit, how far a guest stands from a wall, how a lobby painting reads from the door.
For multi-room programs the studio will also license reproductions, always labeled as reproductions, as with the licensed reproduction in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Nashville.
How should a designer brief an artist for a hospitality project?
Treat the art as a line in the brief from the first drawings. Name the rooms, the scale of each wall and the light it gets. Say whether the program needs originals, reproductions or both. Ask the artist how they paint for a specific wall, and ask to see the work in motion, since a painting in a lobby is seen from many angles and at many hours.
Learn more about art for hospitality and commercial projects, the Trade Program and how a commission works, or browse available originals.
Frequently asked questions
What is the For the Love of Art Award?
It is a new category in Hotel Designs' 2026 Brit List honoring art collaborations, one-off commissions and art collection curation in hospitality projects. The ceremony is on 5 November 2026 at Ministry of Sound, London.
Who can enter the For the Love of Art Award?
Applicants must have a studio or agency based in the UK. Their work must appear in completed hospitality projects from the last 18 months, or in projects due to complete by the end of 2026, and the projects can be anywhere in the world.
Why does art matter in hotel design?
Art consultant Polly Orton says the role of art in hospitality has vastly changed in the past 20 years, and Double Decker's directors say guests are looking for meaning, resonance and a sense of place, which original art can supply.
How do I commission original art for a hotel or hospitality project?
Bring the artist in early, with the rooms, wall scale and lighting named. This studio paints originals for specific walls and can license reproductions for multi-room programs, always labeled as reproductions. Designers can start with the Trade Program.