Ember Locke promises stays with a location-inspired splash of colour
Ember Locke, the lifestyle hospitality brand's sixth location in London, launches in Kensington and Chelsea in a splash of colour

Ember Locke is the luxury hospitality brand's sixth London outpost – and its most eye-catching yet. In west London’s high-end Kensington and Chelsea neighbourhood, the glamorous aparthotel company that redefines its genre has delivered standout interiors, spread across eight floors on the historic Cromwell Road.
The brand, whose past launches include Munich's WunderLocke aparthotel by Holloway Li and Buckle Street Studios in east London by New York City architecture studio Grzywinski+Pons, has established itself in a key position in its field, blending flexible services and a warm, domestic interior with a design-led approach to luxury hospitality.
Ember Locke: inspiration and creativity
Ember Locke was designed by creative and interior design studios Atelier Ochre and House of Dré. The collaborators drew inspiration from the local area (as do all the Locke venues), in particular the Kensington Roof Gardens and the 'laissez-faire flamboyance' of the iconic midcentury fashion brand Biba, which was created in Kensington.
The result is a wonderfully colourful interior that blends bold tones of red, orange and pink in a composition that feels at once sensual and cocooning. Meanwhile, the furniture populating the space blends art deco styles and 21st-century retro-futurism.
'We’re very excited to be opening our first property in west London, in an ideal neighbourhood for Locke. This part of west London has long captured the attention of leisure and business travellers alike – you have some of the city’s best museums and shopping locations on your doorstep and in the last few years the area has had a real spotlight on it, with some of the best restaurants in London opening here. With the buzzing neighbourhood of Notting Hill close by and tranquil Hyde Park moments away, we are excited for Ember Locke to open its doors for guests,' said Eric Jafari, chief development officer and creative director at Locke.
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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
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