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Wish

May 2009

FOOT ON THE SAND

Wish checks out the new Uxua Casa-Hotel in Trancoso, the latest

creation of Diesel’s designer and stylist.

In Trancoso, located in the famous “Quadrado”, between a pink and a green house, there is a simple wooden gate where you will find Uxua Casa-Hotel, which opened its doors in early April. The area has been under construction since June 2006 and since four months it has been now open for invited guests. With that being said, it was enough to grab the attention of The NewYork Times and it ended up in one of its articles but also many blogs specialized in luxury tourism.

What is so cool about it? To begin, one of the owners Wilbert Das, Dutch, and designer of the brand Diesel, a man with really good taste, put together a place nothing like the hotels of Misssoni, Bvlgari or Armani. The property consists of nine houses in a space of 4.000 square meters which is surrounded by “jaqueiras” (the tree of the jaca fruit). Each house has its particular uniqueness and is decorated differently from each other. Some of the houses have their own private garden, pool or “ofura” (Japanese hot tub). Either built in a “pau-a-pique” style (local building technique) or even on a tree, they all maintained the typical region’s architecture and aspects of the old hippie community, like the Gulab Mahal house, all without lacking the benefits of a hotel. Just don’t get mistaken by the term hippie, Uxua has nothing hippie about it, the design is actually clean and very chic.

At Uxua, nothing is overly done, the houses don’t even have TV (unless, of course, the guest requests it, the hotel then will quickly have someone install a flat screen right away). The furniture is national from the 50’s and is mixed with objects and decor from local artisans, Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo. Everything follows the ecological wave. In the garden an enormous piece of a tree’s root was transformed into a piece of art. The social area includes a pool made entirely of rocks that can be relaxing after a day at the beach. The spacious casas have their own kitchens to better accommodate guests, in which the guest can hire a private chef to cook a special meal. The bathrooms are very different from the standard of a 5 star hotel; they are spacious and have custom made pieces to maintain the design’s rustic look.

A tip: stay at one of the houses facing the “Quadrado”. To have a better understanding of the hotel’s philosophy, have a talk with Wilbert himself. With his simplicity and his “non-fashion” way of being, he began to work as designer at 24 years old. During fashion school, he says he was one of the only ones who made clothes for real people, casual day-to-day clothes. Even with his classmate’s dirty looks he then graduated and was soon asked to work for Diesel. Now 21 years later, he got to consolidate his business worldwide. It is one of the very few brands that maintains the same collection and campaign globally. Wilbert travels all over the world looking for inspiration for his creations. He works in the industry long enough to criticize, with authority, on the fashion world’s speed, “We create new collections every month, the fashion can turn into something disposable”.
You will find in the architecture and the decor the balance of this reality. “I think the Brazilians are very self critical. It is rare, in the world today, to find a place as well-preserved as Trancoso and with such strict laws. I love this place,” he adds.