Catalina's Hotel Metropole

S.K.I.N. Design Studio is embarking on the redesign of the guest rooms and lobby at Catalina Island's Hotel Metropole. In 2008, S.K.I.N.'s Deniece Duscheone led the design and renovation of the boutique hotel’s luxury suites (pictured here), while helping the owners to re-brand their hotel as Catalina’s first sustainable luxury boutique hotel.

The Hotel Metropole has a long history for being the first hotel on Catalina Island located on Avalon Bay, and it has been an honor for S.K.I.N. to assist the hotel in raising the level of experience on Catalina Island. This southern California island, which is host to Outstanding In the Field as well as the annual Jazz Festival, is continuing to evolve with new additions this season.
The Hotel Metropole has just recently unveiled M Restaurant, the first farm-to-table dining experience on Catalina Island. The oceanfront restaurant features Chef Michael Stewart, who has created an innovative New American cuisine with an emphasis on sourcing the finest seasonal ingredients from local purveyors.


The clean and simple design expression in the suites evokes the historic Hollywood origins that the island is known for and the calm energy of the adjacent harbor, cultivating a liveliness and experience that expresses eco-luxury in a timeless and elegant composition.

Boutique Design Magazine Features S.K.I.N.

This month's Boutique Design magazine features an interview with S.K.I.N.'s Deniece Duscheone, discussing the redesign of San Diego's La Pensione boutique hotel. Three nationally recognized interior designers reveal clever design solutions: view the article here.

Inspiration from the Italian Masters

We feel that boundaries are often blurred when it comes to interior design and art. In creating an interiors concept for the redesign of La Pensione, a boutique hotel in San Diego’s historic Little Italy district, S.K.I.N. looked to the masters of Italian painting and sculpture.

We approach an interior space with a desire to first create a strong and lasting foundation, reminiscent of the background palette of a painting or the dramatic form of a chiseled sculpture. For La Pensione we selected shades of grey and white for the walls and floors of the rooms. These tones, along with textural elements such as crown molding, mimic the play of light and shadow on the surfaces of a Bernini sculpture.

This simple yet elegant beginning allows for an essential element of any design project: versatility. We incorporated accent colors – in this case bright golden shades of ochre –into textiles and custom designed furnishings. The objective of the color palette is to both capture the imagination yet remain flexible. Additional colors may be introduced in future yet the foundation colors and texture remain timeless, allowing the spaces to effortlessly evolve as the surroundings and context inevitably change.

As artists, designers, and architects we contribute our creations to a long history of works by those who came before us. We seek to inspire and foster connectedness by drawing on the past to inform our future.