Year in review: bespoke designs and positive vibes from Modieus

Modieus has shared some inspiring new projects this year, including the first new build voco in the world. Located in the heart of Melbourne, voco Melbourne Central is part of the 380 Melbourne skyscraper and moments away from Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne Central Station and the Emporium, the hotel has a modern charm with spectacular views of Melbourne central business district. Modieus designed the beautiful Axminster carpets and hand tufted rugs throughout the hotel, incorporating specialist hand cut high/low pile for a new level of detail.

Image credit: Modieus

The beginning of the year also saw positive vibes being reported in many industry reports looking at the Asia Pacific hospitality sector, and we caught up with Xander Okhuizen, founder of Modieus to hear if this optimism was being felt on the ground. “I am seeing Aussie positivity every day,” confirmed Okhuizen. “I am relieved that China has finally opened its borders. International students are returning to Australian campuses en masse, as face to face learning starts on 1st March 2023. Melbourne Airport is hiring additional 2,000 staff to deal with influx in tourists.”

Image credit: Modieus

Modieus’ skill in creating opulent carpets and rugs, with a hand tufted look but in Axminster quality came to the fore at The Royce. Originally built in the 1920’s as a luxury car showroom, the building had all the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood Hills mansion. Following two years of renovations, this iconic Melbourne’s hotel was revitalised once more.

Image credit: Modieus

“Our business is built on the firm belief that our customers should never have to compromise,” discussed Okhuizen, on the approach Modieus took on this historic project. “It was vital we encapsulated the right look, whilst ensuring the carpets and rugs are a suitable specification for each area of the hotel”.

“The projects we work on can take anything from six months to four years to complete,” added Daren Griffin, General Manager, Modieus. “Our success comes from having processes in place and making sure the team has a shared responsibility to deliver the best solution for our everyone. I review each project and ensure we are offering a commercially viable solution to both our customer and our business. We review every completed project; the whole team has visibility of costs and profit – and there is no ceiling on the bonuses the team can earn. It is a different way of working, but one that engenderers a team approach from sales, design, and project management”.

Image credit: The Royce Hotel

The Royce is fine example of the timeless allure of the Art Deco period and the carpets and rugs encapsulate the opulence and glamour of the time. They don’t look it, but the guest rooms and corridor carpets are all Axminister, woven in a solid plain colour. Modieus used its specialist knowledge in bevelled carving to create a hand tufted look. The carving pattern is a stylised art deco geometric shell/fan design.

Image credit: Modieus

Not to be outdone, The Playford Hotel, member of Accor’s exclusive MGallery Hotel Collection opened its doors following a multi-million two-year renovation. Located in Adelaide’s cultural precinct and notionally anchored in the Art Nouveau style, the hotel had lacked a single, unifying design approach. The client brief was simple – bring back the wow!

Image credit: Modieus

A strong, consistent design language has returned a sense of place to this iconic hotel, which is now set to appeal to the next generation of travellers and guests. Modiues worked with Hachem who revived this tired space through careful reuse of existing elements to minimise waste and delivered an Instagram-worthy destination.

Image credit: Modieus

Providing high performance, beautifully designed carpets and rugs is what Modieus does best. So, when it came to the $65m renovation of Wrest Point, Australia’s first legal casino, The Federal Group called on Altis Architecture who chose Modieus to help bring our interior visions to fruition.

In addition to creating beautiful bespoke designs, 2023 saw the launch of the BELLO Collection of broadloom and rug designs and Mineral Form Axminster Tile collection with non-critical match designs to provide ultimate flexibility to their clients.

Italian for good-looking, lovely, and handsome, BELLO is a fine-looking collection that is beautifully designed with an unapologetic masculine nuance. There are three distinct chapters to this Italian inspired design collection. Each chapter has an original colour palette, developed by the team as part of their 2023 colour trends forecast. The team are currently working on the 2024 trends which will be exclusively announced by Hotel Designs in early 2024.

The Mineral Form Ax Tile Collection is the perfect fit for high traffic spaces that demand great design, but need the flexibility that broadloom Axminster carpet can’t deliver. The design inspiration behind the Mineral Form is nature, and the beautiful structures and colours we find in naturally occurring minerals. The ability of minerals to fracture and rearrange their appearance provided the perfect vision for tile designs that could be laid randomly, with no need for pattern match.

Looking ahead at the latest JLL Hotels and Hospitality Australian Operator Sentiment Survey for 2024, it sounds like there will have many more exciting projects to share. The survey reports that the hotel sector in Asia Pacific has enjoyed a period of strong recovery following the pandemic, despite cost increases and lower tourism volumes. As the industry looks ahead to 2024, the outlook continues to be buoyant with trading momentum positive and cost pressures easing.

Modieus is one of our Recommended Suppliers and regularly features in our Supplier News section of the website. If you are interested in becoming one of our Recommended Suppliers, please email Katy Phillips.

Main image credit: Modieus