Philadelphia, Penn.—Daltile’s Keystones collection is being featured prominently in the new look of the recently launched Yowie Hotel. Yowie is located in Philadelphia’s Queen Village, a historic neighborhood. The hotel is the brainchild of entrepreneur, Shannon Maldonado, whose adjacent lifestyle shop/design studio was named “The Coolest Shop in Philadelphia” by Bon Apétit magazine. Yowie is billed as “offering a thoughtfully curated guest stay providing a unique experience,” fostered in part by each guest room being designed with a different bright color as its prominent vibe. Daltile’s Keystones tile collection helps bring this vision to life by providing a myriad of vibrant colors from which the hotel’s interior designer was able to choose.
“Color impacts the way we feel and our experience of a space,” said Laura Grilli, director of product design for Daltile. “One of today’s hottest trends, which I like to call ‘Elevate Life,’ is included in our Daltile Trend Report 2023. The trend of Elevate Life embodies a bold positivity, celebrated with mood-boosting colors that foster the desire for fun, surprise, humor and engagement by unleashing vibrant hues. The Yowie Hotel is a real-life example of lifting spirits by making every guest room a custom space, each bathed in a prominent color that differs from the other guest rooms in the hotel. Daltile’s Keystones tile collection was the perfect design tool for this project as it puts today’s most popular vibrant colors at an interior designer’s or homeowner’s fingertips to help them wrap their space in a color that creates just the right feel. For Yowie, Keystones’ Sunshine, Deep Purple, Waterfall, Black, Nautical Blue, Brownberry, Lime Sherbet and a custom Black Ebony and Arctic White pattern were selected to radiate fun energy in each space.”
Another important feature of our popular Keystones for both homes and commercial design is its suitability for wet spaces and its flexibility for both indoor and outdoor installation, including floors, walls, countertops, pools, shower floors and beyond, Grilli added. “The versatility of the collection’s color palette extends to the inclusion of important neutrals too.”
The Yowie’s new guest rooms also feature Daltile’s One Quartz countertops in a white/grey marble design for those parts of each custom space that needed a neutral backdrop—letting the pops of color created by brightly colored objects throughout the guest room shine.
The ground floor of the Yowie Hotel houses a retail space (the Yowie) and an adjacent café (Wim), serving both guests and the larger public. The Yowie store was actually owner Maldonado’s genesis project after transitioning from professional design team member for national brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and American Eagle—to entrepreneur. Her eclectic Yowie shop features many of the furniture and items that populate the hotel guest rooms. She envisions a hotel getaway experience that would be so cozy, guests might want to come downstairs to the gift shop and purchase the same type of coffee mug or chair that has enhanced their stay.
The aesthetic of the Yowie shop and adjoining Wim café favors an art gallery vibe with the wrap-around crispness of a white wall, ceiling and floor continuum. The café features a natural stone granite countertop from Daltile in Absolute Black. The first floor’s restroom floor and wall offset the surrounding white background by boasting custom patterns from Daltile’s Keystones tile collection in 1 x 1 square Nautical Blue, Arctic White and Black Ebony. The juxtaposition of these three colors aim to create movement and energy via a multi-check and striped pattern.