Three findings on hotels

It looks as if it’s time for a visit to Barcelona. Although my last visit there resulted in a picked pocket, I’m willing to risk a shameful visit to the local police station for a stay at Casa Camper (spectacular website, by the way), a design-y dream in the Catalan capitol’s El Raval district.

Adjacent to the hotel is FoodBall, the shoe manufacturer’s new health-food shop which features simple, reasonably priced natural rice balls (without additives, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or genetic manipulation) that come with condiments and are served in natural or biodegradable wrappers (see this nice overview in Food & Wine).

Hotel interiors were designed by architect Fernando Amat, owner of Vinçon, Spain's answer to Terence Conran. Foodball whimsy is due to Martí Guixé (slogan: "brilliantly simple and curiously serious") in collaboration with the Camper Innovation Centre Son Fortesa. And then, of course, there are always the shoes.

Invisible Hotel, a Greek conference and exhibition promises a little more than it can deliver, at least for those of us unable to attend the actual forum in Athens (from 19 through 23 April). The site, although a little obtuse, is worthy if only to take in the event's smart logo: portions of the letterforms are rendered invisible.

Next up: Project Fox, a collaborative effort to support and promote young artists and designers by marrying the talent to the developers, is celebrating its big launch of their Copenhagen hotel, club, and recording studio this month—for just about the entire month. From the website, "Project FOX brings together young artists, designers, cooks, hotel industry professionals and managers to develop and implement their own ideas." Check out the room thumbnails above, and then click through and gape. I never thought of visiting Denmark until now.