Go to bed with a Fabergé egg, check into a space room, sleep within a hanging installation or under a giant cloud, or even settle down in snail world, all made entirely of ice and snow at this winter’s Icehotel.
These are just a few of the designs which have been announced for the unique hotel built each winter on the banks of the Torne river in Jukkasjärvi.
This year, 26 artists from 11 countries will join the Icehotel’s own design and building team in late November to create the 28th rendition of the hotel. It will open to coincide with the first #IceFlight of the season on 16th December 2017. This flight is now in its 11th year of operation taking Discover the World clients directly to the Icehotel in just 3.5 hours followed by a short 15-minute transfer from the airport.
Last year’s vision for ICEHOTEL
The suite Hang in There features a unique hanging installation. Frozen sheets of ice drape around the central bed, whilst the Last Faberge Egg suite has a giant egg beside its bed and, the Space Room’s design takes its inspiration from a trip into outer space some 100km from planet earth. Many other surprises await with other suite designs hinted at in their names which include King Kong, White Desert, Monstera and Follow the White Rabbit.
A total of 15 unique Art Suites will be constructed, as well as an Ice Church and a dramatic main hall with a chandelier featuring 1,000 hand polished ice crystals.
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British designers and the selection process
Out of the 100s of applications, the artist teams are selected by the Icehotel’s design jury. Excitingly, two artists have been chosen from the UK this year, both experienced having been involved in last year’s hotel.
The two British artists’ designs to be chosen include the Liverpool based brother design duo, Hugh and Howard Miller. Hugh is a furniture designer and Howard an architect, landscape designer and RHS Chelsea gold medal winner in 2015. Their concept is called A Rich Seam – an accidental space created by an ice seam left over from frantic digging.
The second comes from Dorset based sculptor and taxidermist Lisa Lindqvist called a Wandering Cloud, an art installation featuring a gigantic cloud hanging over the bed. Lindqvist’s mother was Swedish, born in Kiruna and she already has several gold medals for England won at international snow sculpting competitions.
Sketch of art suite Wondering Cloud designed by Lisa Lindqvist
The selection process brings together creative minds from all over the world and from vastly different careers. Each team will see their ideas become reality in snow and ice as they personally construct the designs which makes Icehotel so unique.
The amount of snow used to create all the hotel’s rooms would be enough to make 700 million snowballs alone, with 5000 tons of ice harvested each Spring from the Torne River and stored until November when the building process starts in earnest.
www.discover-the-world.co.uk/destinations/icehotel-holidays
