Home Green Design Eaton Workshop, Brand with Progressive Business Model, to Launch in Early 2018

Eaton Workshop, Brand with Progressive Business Model, to Launch in Early 2018

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Eaton D.C. exterior. Rendering courtesy of Gachot Studios.

HONG KONG—Eaton Workshop is a new global brand merging hospitality with progressive social change. Launching in early 2018, it will bring to the international market a hybrid model of a hotel and co-working members club, with an extensive content and programming agenda underscoring its core advocacy values at the intersection of arts and social impact. As the first brand of its kind to serve as a gathering place for an inclusive tribe of changemakers and creatives, Eaton Workshop consists of distinct parts—Hotel, House, Media, and Wellness—that together form an ecosystem based on a pro-social, proactive ethos.

A digital content platform addressing urgent and artistic themes will unite all locations, while each Eaton Workshop property will offer the physical resources of a hotel, modern day social working club, radio station, cinema, wellness center, restaurants and bars, retail, art gallery, event spaces, and more. Through these elements, and an environment that promotes the all-important art of having fun, Eaton Workshop will bring together activists and artists from around the world to instigate meaningful and positive impact, and to simply hang out, indulge (cocktails, anyone?) and follow their bliss.

Eaton Workshop is the brainchild of its Founder and President, Katherine Lo, who harnesses her interests and experiences in activism, anthropology and film with this new enterprise. Eaton Workshop is part of the portfolio of Hong Kong based Great Eagle Holdings Ltd, which is also the parent company of Langham Hospitality Group, both helmed by Chairman, Ka Shui Lo. Eaton Workshop will open its first property and flagship hotel concept in the downtown area of Washington, D.C., in early spring 2018. A second outpost will open in 2018 in Hong Kong’s emerging Kowloon neighborhood, with ensuing locations in San Francisco and Seattle.

Best-in-Class Partners Assembled

Eaton Workshop has aligned with best-in-class partners and emerging local talent from diverse fields to bring to life a new concept unlike anything in the hospitality industry. Lo has formed a collective hailing from multidisciplinary backgrounds to transform the sector into a force for creative evolution and social change. Partners and collaborators include Sagmeister & Walsh and Project Projects on the brand’s design and digital content platform; Gachot Studios, Parts and Labor Design, and Avroko for interior design; and Leong Leong and Kengo Kuma and Associates for the design architecture. At the helm of food and beverage for the new properties are Chef Tim Ma and Derek Brown in Washington, D.C., and renowned local icon Alan Lo in Hong Kong.

Eaton DC library. Rendering courtesy of Gachot Studios.

Taking cues from political and countercultural movements that have changed the world for the better, from the Beatniks and East Village Radio to the Vietnam War protests and this year’s Women’s March, Eaton D.C. will serve as a hub for journalists, pioneers and changemakers. Going beyond a hotel, Eaton D.C. aspires to be a press club, a sanctuary for intelligent thought, and a canvas for rising neighborhood talent. Its culinary vision will be led by Chef Tim Ma (of Kyirisan in D.C.). Eaton D.C. will have 209 hotel rooms, a radio station, a 50-person cinema, a wellness center with yoga, meditation and alternative treatments, a coffee shop and juice bar, a restaurant and bar, a rooftop bar, an event space for up to 182 people, rotating art exhibits, and a co-working club that can accommodate up to 370 members.

Inspired by the gritty retro nostalgia of its neighborhood, Eaton Hong Kong, located in the emerging district of Kowloon, will reflect a dynamic collision between postcolonial east and global youth culture. Eaton Hong Kong will soft launch in January 2018 with a two-story food hall curated by local tastemaker Alan Lo. The hotel will officially open for guests in summer 2018 and will have 465 guestrooms, a coffee shop, a juice bar, retail, a signature bar with a live music element, a radio station, two recording studio guestrooms, a rooftop pool and yoga studio, a rotating art gallery, a speakers’ auditorium, an event space that holds up to 700, and a co-working club that can accommodate up to 320 members.

Diverse Portfolio Aligned with Shared Mission

Eaton Hotel will offer a novel type of hotel experience in key cities around the world to those seeking inspiration, innovation, and impact. The properties will provide amenities for residing guests, locals and house members to congregate over a shared mission to foster creativity and consciousness-building. Eaton Hotels will offer provocative content and programming, social and creative incubators, as well as a new and thoughtful approach to food and beverage, wellness and the arts. Each hotel’s ethos and design will reflect the city it resides in, resulting in a diverse portfolio of properties that are aligned with a shared mission.

Katherine Lo (Photo courtesy of Eden Batki)

Eaton House is a dynamic take on a working club, a physical hub for a global tribe of innovators, progressive thinkers, and creatives. Eaton House will offer private, shared and communal workspaces in each Eaton Hotel, providing an optimal setting for brainstorming, meeting and collaborating. Members will have full access to the adjacent hotel’s hospitality offerings, and to the House’s own networking series and member events. With the resources of the hotel and the coworking community, Eaton House reflects the company’s mission to provide the best space for disruptors and thought leaders to fulfill their goals and aspirations in inspiring locations around the world.

Eaton Workshop’s media arm will promote dialogue and debate, enable forward thinking change with clear calls to action, and support artistic endeavors. A global digital content platform will communicate to viewers on an international scale, while live events and programming will be distinct to each individual location. There will be opportunities for engagement through multiple portals: a radio station, cinemas, artist residency studios, recording studios, wellness and meditation centers, intimate music venues, speaker auditoriums, original commissioned artwork, and more. Through a rich and varied media program, Eaton Workshop will produce, curate and distribute digital content, creating an honest take on today’s important issues—immigration, women’s rights, race in the United States, climate change, food waste, health care and more—from modern thinkers, dreamers, and doers.

Hotels Will Host Music & Art Shows

Endeavoring to present a rigorous and artistic point of view, the multimedia editorial platform will feature exclusively commissioned digital content and curated documentary and creative storytelling across film, video, photography, journalism and prose. Eaton’s social channels will serve as hub for further community interaction, reflecting provocative minds and kindred spirits the world over. Across its properties, the brand will host music and art shows, activist and thought-leader speaker series, film screenings, curated dinners, residencies, radio interviews, fireside chats, wellness retreats, and more.

Eaton Workshop is committed to giving back to the local community and making a positive, lasting impact. From providing job opportunities for local youth to hosting artists-in-residences for refugees and activists, conferences for changemakers, and public art, music and film festivals exploring topics of social change, Eaton Workshop will be a catalyst for today’s creative and awakened youth and a tribute to their mentors and predecessors. Eaton Workshop properties will be equipped with public spaces as a resource for the community and incubator for emerging talent. Examples include: a chef’s table where top chefs can offer master classes to apprentices; an experimental art installation with direct philanthropic impact, and more. In each market, the brand will focus on mentorship of local youth through a variety of in-house offerings and programming, training and job opportunities.

Part of Eaton Workshop’s mission is to build an impactful brand from the inside out by approaching sustainability from three angles: economic, environmental, and cultural. Eaton Workshop will play a constructive role in pushing the hospitality world towards a greater ecologically conscious practice by selecting construction materials from sustainable sources, creating partnerships with organic bath products and organic mattress companies, installing a rooftop organic garden and wind turbine, practicing aerobic food waste decomposition, monitoring the sustainability of its food sourcing, and more.

Indoor Redwood Forest Park Planned

Eaton Workshop’s approach to architecture, interior design and graphic design is informed by storytelling, nostalgia, innovation, and the commitment to building a sense of community within an urban center. Equally reverential of analog, homegrown aesthetics and forward-thinking innovation, each outpost’s aesthetic and materiality will tell the specific story of the site’s history, heritage, neighborhood and location—from downtown D.C., and Hong Kong’s historically gritty Kowloon neighborhood to an indoor Redwood forest park planned for San Francisco. The brand collaborators share a dedication to bridging the past, present and future through thoughtful, lasting design that respects the planet.

Eaton D.C. rooftop bar. Rendering courtesy of Gachot Studios.

Wellness for Eaton Workshop and its properties will go far beyond a hotel gym to become an elevated lifestyle and philosophy for guests and members. The wellness program is inspired by new age practices and experiential learning traditions that embody a holistic approach built on the mind-body connection. Eaton Hotels will offer community-building classes such as yoga and meditation, alternative therapies such as reiki and acupuncture, and sensory experiences including infrared saunas and sound baths. The brand’s wellness values will also be carried through in other ways, including vegetable-forward and detox food and beverage offerings, as well as guest speakers that are leaders in the health and wellness industry.

Across Eaton Workshop, the culinary experience will play a pivotal role in the brand experience. With a belief in reviving lost traditions through old masters and rising talent, the food and beverage offerings will preserve the legacy of craftsmanship and storytelling. Through a variety of concepts—creative bar outlets, intimate dining occasions, curated food halls, and live music venues—Eaton Workshop will bring a fresh approach to cuisine through local artisans and food and drink visionaries. Both Hotel and House guests will have full access to each location’s restaurant, café and cocktail options.

‘Ultimate Utopian Gathering Place’

“Each step in realizing Eaton stems from my goal of cultivating the ultimate utopian gathering place for global innovators and creatives who seek to change the world,” says Founder + CEO Katherine Lo. “This brand is the manifestation of me ‘following my bliss,’ so others can follow theirs. Recent political events make our first hotel in D.C. that much more trenchant. The Eaton that we are creating will be a safe space and sanctuary for all: international, people of color, LGBTQ, and more. Beyond the eco-minded design and community-oriented offerings, through the power of our programming and content we will take a moral stance and catalyze productive, positive change through dialoguing, following the recent examples of tech companies refusing to serve extremist violent racist ideologies. We are an ethical business, welcoming all those who share our desire to build a better world and protect not just the planet but one another. It’s exactly the kind of place you’d want to go during a hurricane.”

At the helm of Eaton Workshop as Founder and President is filmmaker and entrepreneur Katherine Lo, who has tapped the top creative and game-changing minds from multidisciplinary fields to bring her vision to life. Eaton’s team and collaborators hail from an exciting range of backgrounds, including journalism, politics, music, social impact, visual arts, digital content, tech, and more. At each hotel, Eaton Workshop will partner with hyper-local talent at every opportunity, offering new emerging voices a space and opportunity to express their own creative and cultural vision, while bridging talent across international locales to form a global tribe.

Eaton Workshop is part of the Great Eagle portfolio of brands, which includes the acclaimed luxury hotel brand Langham from Langham Hospitality Group, under the leadership of Chairman Dr. Ka Shui Lo. This is the first time Great Eagle, the commercial real estate corporation, has ventured into a new international hotel brand aimed at a more mindful, conscious, and creative consumer. Eaton Workshop is a brand created and run by Katherine Lo, along with an independent team of diverse interdisciplinary individuals based in the United States and Hong Kong.

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