038 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA MAY 2017
HOTELS
A boutique hotel near
Melbourne puts daring
design front and centre.The
New
Black
i
t sounds like the setting for
a thriller — a moody farmhouse
with black walls and a hidden
cellar, perched on a ridge in the
middle of a vineyard. But this striking
property on the Mornington Peninsula
is actually the first hotel by Jackalope,
a brand founded by 28-year-old
Melbourne entrepreneur Louis Li.
Li and his team of Australian
architects and designers committed
fully to the idea of a property with a
mysterious soul, installing a 30-metre
inky-black infinity pool overlooking the
vineyard and decorating the guestrooms
with austere furniture and minimalist
Japanese bathtubs (also black).“The mission of Jackalope Hotels
is to provide an escape from reality,”
Li explains. “So I wanted to work
with people who have never been
satisfied with the status quo. I chose
my creative team because of their rare
perspectives on the world and their
desire to construct a unique voice.”
Strange artworks abound, including
an installation of 8000 light bulbs
that makes the ceiling of the hotel’s
restaurant look like it’s bubbling.
The property’s centrepiece
is a seven-metre-tall sculpture
of a jackalope, the North American
folkloric creature from which the
brand takes its name.