Puro Hotel
Located in the heart of Kraków’s historic old town, PURO Hotel was recently renovated and reimagined by Paradowski Studio.
PURO Kraków Old Town renovations result in an elegant living space, grounded in Kraków’s sophisticated past, but realised through the vision of the city’s most youthful generation of designers.
As guests approach the building, they are greeted by a façade evoking the grandeur of Kraków’s socialist-era utopian suburb, Nowa Huta. With the completion of its recent renovation, the hotel now boasts a new and stylish interior. Led by the Paradowski Studio, PURO Kraków Old Town has been refashioned so as to evoke the chic of a bygone Kraków, all the while using contemporary craftsmanship – including natural oak, stone, and Polish-made glass and ceramics – to realise this vision.
Drawing on a multitude of unconventional inspirations – such as the city’s interwar cafés and the iconic Hotel Cracovia and Forum Hotel – the new interior sheds light on chapters of Poland’s design history that are largely unknown to international aficionados. The change of the functional layout was a nod to the 60s with a spacious bar area and a restaurant in a form of old school canteen. Across each of the hotel’s rooms and common spaces, guests are encouraged to relax among stripped back European furnishings sourced from Scandinavia and Italy, as well as The Netherlands, Britain and Germany.
The new design of PURO Kraków Old Town is rounded off by an extensive reshuffle of the hotel’s art collection. Upon entering the lobby, guests are greeted by a detailed mosaic – designed and curated by Paradowski Studio – as well as a wooden bas-relief and a sgraffito-decorated ceramic wall. These works created in collaboration with young artist Tomasz Opaliński incorporate inspirations that span from the modernist mosaics of the 1970s to the vast natural beauty of the nearby Tatra Mountains, thereby guiding the committed craftsmanship of a collection that echoes the distinct styles and shapes of Poland’s cultural heritage. The bas relief also in a neat way hides three pairs of doors.
The common spaces of the hotel act as an introduction to the youthful vibrancy of Kraków’s very own art scene. Throughout the foyers, hallways and recreational spaces, guests are drawn towards abstract painting, collage and photography by local artists including Tomasz Baran, Małgorzata Malwina Niespodziewana and Tomasz Wiech. Meanwhile, the hotel rooms are home to a set of artworks that further reflect artistic diversity in their presentation of woodcuts, mixed gouache-collage, hook weaves and lithographs, created respectively by Marta Wojtuszek, Tomasz Opaliński, Agnieszka Owsiany.
Design: Paradowski Studio
Photography: PION STUDIO
