“I worked with Ralph Lauren on his flagship store in London,” Despont recalls. “And he told me, ‘You have to make something that has never existed—but that everyone recognizes.’” In The Chatwal’s guest rooms, this notion emerges in the “steamer trunk” closets, night tables, and desks, which recall the luggage that prevailed in the golden age of the ocean liner. “Today’s traveler is a global nomad,” says Despont, and his surreal design element converts landlocked midtown hotel rooms into oceangoing fantasias. Photo 8 of 10 in The Chatwal Hotel by Marc Kristal

The Chatwal Hotel

8 of 10

“I worked with Ralph Lauren on his flagship store in London,” Despont recalls. “And he told me, ‘You have to make something that has never existed—but that everyone recognizes.’” In The Chatwal’s guest rooms, this notion emerges in the “steamer trunk” closets, night tables, and desks, which recall the luggage that prevailed in the golden age of the ocean liner. “Today’s traveler is a global nomad,” says Despont, and his surreal design element converts landlocked midtown hotel rooms into oceangoing fantasias.