Where money patterns meet porcelain
The Bank Hotel began its life in 1910 as the head office of the Södra Sverige Banking Company. Its architecture is a bold, modern interpretation of a Renaissance palace, blended with Art Deco extravagance and the solid, reassuring presence expected of a bank’s headquarters. The massive bronze double doors, along with more discreet details throughout the building, serve as constant reminders of its original purpose.
Today, the historic aesthetics are preserved but presented through a contemporary lens, enriched with subtle nods to the world of banking. The restaurant, Bonnie’s, takes its name from one of history’s most famous bank robbers, and its most eye-catching dessert—Smash the Piggy Bank—is a golden, chocolate pig served with a small hammer.
For this project, I was commissioned to create a bespoke porcelain décor for the Bank Hotel. I developed the concept of weaving money-pattern aesthetics into the design—a quiet nod to the building’s past, translated into something refined and contemporary. Some details appear white on white, like whispered watermarks, revealing themselves only when the light catches them just right.
Task
Concept / Surface Pattern Design
Client / Cathegory
Bank Hotel / Hospitality
Place
Stockholm (SWE)
Money is really fascinating. Up close they are so decorative and beautiful on such a deep level but they are designed mainly for functional reasons, to make them hard to copy. The porcelain of the Bank Hotel is a translation of the unnoticed world of money patterns. To add a bit of depth and magic some details are printed in white on white, maybe to simulate a watermark. That feature is hard to experience other than in real life.
On the facade of the Bank Hotel there is an owl carved in stone. That owl was later used as the logo and therefore an obvious detail to have appear throughout the porcelain pieces.
With the display of the food in mind and to make the pieces of the collection harmonic together, the complexity of the graphic is balanced differently on the different objects. Some of the objects have a lot of decoration and some are quite minimalistic.
