Mr. Calderwood. You have opened up your hotel together with two other partners in the 1990s. Was it always your dream to own and run a hotel or did it happen by chance?
We traveled a lot, and many of our friends did too, so we had the idea to create a place where the people we knew – DJs, artists, magazine creators, graphic  designers ,  musicians – would want to stay, and could afford to stay. We weren't hoteliers, but we had a good sense of what we and our friends would want and need in a hotel. 

Is it true you employ friends in order to increase the family-type character of your hotel?
The familial nature of the hotels results from a kind of openness that doesn't require prior acquaintance, but if that happens it's okay. We like to see a mix of old friends and new faces. 

Design or boutique hotels are very popular now. When you opened your first hotel in Seattle, this trend has not yet to be foreseen. What is your opinion on this development? How does Ace Hotels contrast from its competitors – if you want to call them competitors?
The more conscious people are, the more diversity of expression there is. We don't see it as competition per se – there are design and art narratives that parallel or influence each other and others that are more or less hermetic.

Interior Ace Hotel New York 

What means design for you personally?
The important thing for me is the communicative nature of design, the universality of it – that it can be a unifier regardless of language and cultural differences. 

Does your personal taste correspond with the design of the hotels?
Our creative team, Atelier Ace, is made up of fellow travellers – there's a wide landscape of influences and tastes represented.

Interior Ace Hotel New York

There is not only a shop with selected design objects in your  hotel , but you have also opened an OC in 2010. Do you plan to bring other shops / designer to your hotel?
We're always open to collaborating with people whose work inspires us – whether at our existing properties, the hotels we have in development in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, or the ones that are still in the dream stage.

Finally, we'd love to know what the future holds. Can we expect Ace Hotels in Europe?
We scout for opportunities that feel right for us. As long as that intangible psycho-geographical criteria is present, it could be anywhere. Home is where the gut feeling is.

Thank you for your time!