ELODIE NOËL, SVP GLOBAL BRAND DESIGN, ACCOR: “OUR APPROACH DOES NOT FOLLOW TRENDS, IT SUBLIMATES TIMELESS KNOW-HOW”
The Accor Design Awards 2024 simultaneously celebrated innovation in hotel design and the 60ᵉ anniversary of Sofitel. |
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ELODIE NOËL, SVP GLOBAL BRAND DESIGN, ACCOR: “OUR APPROACH DOES NOT FOLLOW TRENDS, IT SUBLIMATES TIMELESS KNOW-HOW”
The Accor Design Awards 2024 simultaneously celebrated innovation in hotel design and the 60ᵉ anniversary of Sofitel. |
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Interview made by Sonia Taourghi on 2024-11-18
 Elodie Noël, SVP Global Brand Design for Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems
Photo credit © Sonia Taourghi / Journal des Palaces
Under the direction of Elodie Noël, SVP Global Brand Design for Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, MGallery and Emblems, and an interior designer by profession, the competition highlighted a distinctive philosophy of luxury design.
“Our approach is not to follow trends, but to sublimate timeless know-how by ensuring that each project is deeply rooted in its destination”, she emphasises, perfectly embodying Sofitel's “Cousu Main” vision.
This edition, chaired by renowned designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán, challenged participants to reinvent the concept of the Sofitel lobby, fusing art, sustainability and French art de vivre.
The event, supported by luxury hotel brands such as Laufen, Ligne Roset, Roca and Flos, is a testament to Accor's commitment to design excellence and to shaping the future of luxury hospitality, where each project becomes a unique expression of creativity and cultural authenticity.
In an interview with the Journal des Palaces, Elodie Noël tells us more about the group's initiative and what it means for the brand's positioning.
Journal des Palaces: Why did you create the Awards?
Elodie Noël: We created the Accor Design Awards (ADA) in 2016 to invite the young talents of tomorrow to think about the challenges facing the hotel industry.
Each year, one of the Group's brands is associated with a specific issue on which it can work with students from different architecture and interior design schools around the world. Our new organisation within Accor, which can be summed up in two distinct structures, Luxury & Lifestyle (L&L) and Premium, Mid-Range and Economy (PME), allows us to oscillate, and to choose each year a brand belonging to very different universes to show the diversity and richness of our portfolio.
Choosing Sofitel was also an opportunity to reveal the brand's new ambitions, to explore, through its values, its new partners and new muses. “The Encounter”, Sofitel's latest campaign created for the occasion, is also available on our various platforms.
Sofitel, the leading French luxury hotel brand, is continuing its transformation while celebrating 60 years of the Brand. While the fundamentals of its essence remain unchanged, such as the French Zest, its identity has evolved to position it as closely as possible to what the brand has become: a luxury that is committed, timeless, modern and authentic.
How was the theme of design chosen rather than another discipline?
From the outset in 2016, and on the initiative of Damien PERROT (Chief Design & Technical Services PME brands), the ambition was to create an event around design to serve and magnify the customer experience. Design is a discipline at the heart of the hotel industry.
One of the main objectives is to contribute to the future of design in the hospitality sector, by offering a visionary perspective on customer expectations in terms of culture, sustainability and well-being. The Accor Design Awards represent a unique opportunity to reinvent the luxury hospitality sector of tomorrow, discovering new talent and trends through the vision of each school. Asking international students about Sofitel, the most French of luxury hotel brands, has led to more than just meetings, the creation and conceptualisation of refined, committed and avant-garde projects.
In the end, design has an impact on the customer's stay even before they enter the hotel and will continue to do so in the future. Hotels have become living spaces, and designers are their creators, articulating the promise of an enhanced experience through the contribution of the many players involved in the project. A multi-disciplinary approach and a genuine vector for change, design helps to make the experience more sustainable. In addition to beauty, design also brings goodness.
What did the jury like about the winning “Midori Hotel” project?
In their own words, here's a summary of the hotel imagined by the Nantes Atlantique design school:
“For Sofitel's 60th anniversary, we decided to establish a new hotel in Kyoto, Japan. Our aim was to showcase the authenticity of this cultural capital, highlighting its exceptional craftsmanship that harmoniously combines modernity and tradition.
Kyoto, with its 17 UNESCO sites and breathtaking natural landscapes, offers an ideal setting for creating a luxury hotel in harmony with nature. In addition, the common interests of Japan and France in crafts, art, gastronomy, fashion and architecture have been highlighted. This space aims to offer a distinctive and rich experience for local and international visitors, who will be immersed in the rhythm of the seasons.”
Luxury, harmony and traditional know-how were the ingredients they used to reinvent the art of hospitality. Without ever forgetting the essence of the Sofitel brand and its art of living, the students have sublimated the characteristics of these two cultures and imagined an innovative, immersive and responsible hotel.
In the end, it was the poetry of their concept, their vision of committed, responsible luxury and the sincerity of their approach that made them the lucky winners of the first ADA Luxury Awards!
Will the winning project be realised?
That's not the primary objective, although the students were able to work with the same tools as professionals. Nonetheless, their work has enabled them to showcase their identity to an informed audience, and for some of them, projects are already coming to fruition!
Inevitably, one of the aims of the ADA is to build bridges between students, schools and the professional world. Every year, we're happy to open our doors for an internship or to facilitate an experience in the agency of the jury chairman, who is a well-known figure who listens to young talent.
This year, for example, it was designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán who took this role to heart and helped the students develop their ideas. Several of these internships have led to professional opportunities. A sponsoring partner also launched an object design competition following the ADAs, dazzled by the richness of the exchanges and responses.
The ADAs are a real springboard and help build lasting links between Accor and the designers of tomorrow, which explains the success of this unique programme in the hotel industry.
Winners:
1st prize: Axelle Féret, Jeanne Duval, Ilann Picard, Julie Louveau from the École de design Nantes Atlantique, France, for their project “Midori Hotel’.
2nd prize: Eloïse Bour and Nicolas Chircop from Esail Lyon, France, for their “L'Éclat de Bulles”project
3rd prize: Rocaille Lelaina Argos, Tia Yapp, Lin Lin Win Tun, Christine Pazpinis from UNSW Sydney, Australia, for their project “(re): trouvaille’.
Jury President's Prize: Ruoxuan Li from École Camondo Paris, France, for his “Sofitel Nourishing Garden”project
People's Choice Award: Ziyan Wu, Yushu Zhuang, Yirong Zhang, Yunyu Huang from the Pratt Institute, USA, for their project “The Light Beyond’.
 1st prize: ”Midori Hotel” project from Axelle Féret, Jeanne Duval, Ilann Picard, Julie Louveau from École de design Nantes Atlantique, France
Photo credit © Sofitel Hotels and Resorts
 2nd prize: “L’Éclat de Bulles” project from Eloïse Bour and Nicolas Chircop from Esail Lyon, France
Photo credit © Sofitel Hotels and Resorts
 3rd prize: “(re) : trouvaille” project by Rocaille Lelaina Argos, Tia Yapp, Lin Lin Win Tun, Christine Pazpinis from UNSW Sydney, Australia
Photo credit © Accor
 Jury President's Prize: “Sofitel Nourishing Garden” project by Ruoxuan Li from École Camondo Paris, France
Photo credit © Sofitel Hotels and Resorts
 People's Choice Award: “The Light Beyond” project by Ziyan Wu, Yushu Zhuang, Yirong Zhang, Yunyu Huang from Pratt Institute, United States
Photo credit © Sofitel Hotels and Resorts
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