The second site for LEVEN, named aptly LEVENverse, will shelter creative and ‘social’ spaces that evoke a new sense of wellbeing. Here’s everything we know about the experience that will be launching this Autumn…
From the masterminds who were instrumental in the development of Ennismore, LEVEN is the new lifestyle hotel brand launched by industry innovators Wellbrook Hospitality and entrepreneurs Joshua and Ben Senior’s investment vehicle Branco Capital. Following its successful arrival in Manchester, LEVEN has just released plans to launch its second site – in the Metaverse.
“We’re excited to push traditional boundaries, bring the LEVEN brand to new audiences and explore the opportunities the digital future holds.” – Joshua Senior, Co-Founder, LEVEN.
It all sounds rather far-fetched, right? But given the noise around virtual social spaces becoming harder to ignore, we thought we would give this concept a chance, so we spoke to the brand’s Co-Founder, Joshua Senior, to help put it all into perspective. “As the Metaverse evolves from a sci-fi concept into a reality, every industry disrupted by the digital era will feel its impact,” he said. “We believe the potential for creative hospitality brands is limitless and in building the LEVENverse we will be one of the first lifestyle brands to blaze a digital trail in the early Metaverse. We have some exciting partners lined up as we connect our real life space with the online, and create a digital amenity space for our customers. We’re excited to push traditional boundaries, bring the LEVEN brand to new audiences and explore the opportunities the digital future holds.”
Set to launch in Autumn 2022, the LEVENverse will be formed around the key pillars of social, creative, wellbeing and V-commerce.
Render credit: LEVEN
LEVEN means ‘to live’ and is a brand that has freedom at its heart, to be experienced on a guest’s own terms. The LEVENverse is expected to be a place open to all, enabling global networking of likeminded people in an immersive, fun virtual hotel environment, expanding upon LEVEN’s physical social spaces to reach a broad audience. Users will be able to create their own social and game experiences when they visit the LEVENverse.
The LEVEN brand – defined in detail by Co-Founder Tim Griffin on the DESIGN POD podcast recently – is known for supporting local creative and artistic talent through collaborations, exhibitions and pop-ups. We’ve been told that the LEVENverse will provide an extended platform for makers, creators and innovators to showcase their work, as the physical LEVEN hotel does, through commissioned NFTs and creative digital experiences for users to enjoy and acquire. Visually fantastical, the LEVENverse will embrace freedom of design, with the traditional hotel spaces of elevator, lobby, guest room, spa and gardens reimagined, often defying physics and logic.
The LEVENverse will also be a resource to help make wellness and self care a part of everyday life for users. Practitioners will share tools and resources to support physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual health, such as virtual fitness classes with personal trainers and guided meditation sessions, linked to real-world classes taking place at LEVEN.
As we discovered in Manchester, The LEVEN brand already includes retail, with a popular line of merchandise commissioned for the Manchester hotel. In the LEVENverse there is scope for elevated e-commerce with brand extension product collaborations, bespoke NFTs and wearables. The brand is currently exploring integrating cryptocurrency payments, enabling Bitcoin payment in both IRL and AFRL locations.
Crucially, in order for this to be a meaningful move from the LEVEN brand, The LEVENverse (AFRL) will fully integrate with life at LEVEN (IRL), with shared values, online and offline events, partnerships and activities, including artist collaborations with names such as Lillie Bernie, who will design NFTs for the LEVENverse galley, launched together with an exhibition of physical work at LEVEN Manchester.
More details on the LEVENverse to be announced soon. For now, LEVEN, along with other brands that are emerging to research social spaces in the metaverse, continue to prove that the universe is their oyster..
Main image credit: LEVEN
