Words nova

Boutique hotel brand Aethos has opened its first London outpost in Shoreditch, and the interiors — by Barcelona-based Astet Studio — refuse to pick a side. Set inside a Ron Arad Associates building that was formerly home to Nobu Hotel Shoreditch, the hotel keeps the building’s industrial bones and softens them with a Japanese material palette, in what co-founder Oscar Engroba calls an “East meets East” approach: “Rather than recreating Shoreditch’s industrial past, we wanted to bring its existing character into conversation with the precision and craftsmanship of Japanese design traditions.”