One of the oldest and largest hotels in our country has undergone a major transformation. If you were last at Pupp before 2019, the first big surprise awaits you right at the entrance to Malá dvorana. The slightly sleepy lobby bar was recently transformed into a restaurant open all day, and is the most representative area of the hotel. You can’t miss it. It is the place that guests see most often – at breakfast, lunch, when passing through the hotel. That is why an ambitious reconstruction was commenced here. It was here that the atmosphere of the whole hotel began to change.
The newly conceived space is dominated by several distinctive elements, and a new visitor will find it challenging to focus on just one thing – a dazzling 800 kg crystal chandelier, an elegant glass bar decorated with gold leaf, or a wall-to-wall white carpet with a blue pattern that simply can't leave you feeling cold.
Czech crème de la crème
The Karlovy Vary Grandhotel has borne the name of the family of confectioner Johann Georg Pupp since the eighteenth century and has a story similar to the famous Viennese Hotel Sacher. Here, too, they have their Pupp cake, and they also try to continue a famous tradition and confidently transfer it to the 21st century.
A bit like the right cake, the new Pupp is supposed to be magnificent and grandiose, but modern at the same time. CEO Jindřich Krausz says: "We want our guests to come to a hotel that is three hundred years old, but which has not lost its lustre and is still keeping up with the times. We work with all our senses. The overall impression consists of what the guest sees, what they feel, what they taste, but also what they touch and walk on."
The new Pupp cooperates with the best Czech brands. The most famous Karlovy Vary names Mattoni, Becher and Moser receive a lot of space. In the rooms you will find the Czech cosmetics Manufaktura, you can sit on tonettes, while the porcelain bears the traditional local brand name Thun. The visual style is propped up by Najbrt studio, and the level of gastronomic services is supervised by Tomáš Karpíšek and his Ambiente Group.
For all to see
Luxurious blue and white carpets, those "excessive little things" that contribute to the overall five-star impression of Pupp, are the joint work of a team of BOCA experts, new hotel management, architects and designer Barbora Zachovalová. Together we tried to find the solution to a simple assignment that would fulfil the new strategy of the hotel: How to grasp a traditional topic using contemporary means.
The final selection fell on the colour white and an individual graphic design, which would build upon the local aesthetics in an original way. The blue patterns are derived from the rich stucco decoration that you will encounter in Pupp at every step. The ornament simply belongs to Pupp as whipped cream on a cake. The geometrically precise polka dot raster then shifts the whole motif to a more contemporary impression and unobtrusively brings everything together.
Although BOCA has extensive experience in the production of individual printed carpets, an order of this magnitude posed several significant challenges. Imagine that on one side you have almost a thousand square metres of large painting canvas, and on the other an accurate idea of the authors about the individual shades of the chosen colours. Every mistake will be seen.
Achieving the desired result is both science and alchemy at the same time. You need an experienced printer with the right technology, willing and able to tune the whole process to suit your requirements. Unfortunately, a similar combination of technologies and experience is still lacking in the Czech Republic, which is why we finally entrusted the production of carpets to our experienced partners in Germany.
A good carpet makes everything nice
Reconstruction of historic spaces usually brings with it many surprises and unexpected complications. Even in this case, the biggest challenge was the poor and diverse substrate on which the carpet was laid – concrete and parquet. All surfaces had to first be primed in order to seal off the adhesive residue, then underlays and carpet were placed on the prepared substrate. During the laying, it was also necessary to cut the carpet out in places where the bar and columns in the middle of the room are located.
When you install a floor, you usually have an unthankful role on the construction site. Without it, no one in the space can move. Therefore, each project is not only a technical but also a logistical challenge for us, especially for projects where the completion date also plays a role. But every challenge can be conquered, and as always: "A good carpet makes everything nice."
Keeping white white, or a word about maintenance
White carpet is the worst nightmare of practically every thinking person. Even more so in a hotel operation. But today's contract carpets can also be beautiful, exceptionally durable, and with the right handling and regular cleaning with the recommended means, they can serve for almost any length of time.
In order to assure the client that the chosen material and colour will withstand even the most demanding operation, the carpet had to pass demanding tests at the beginning. The condition was that it could handle a thousand people a day and survive staining with coffee and red wine.
