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The Dexter Hotel, a 29-room property in Elk Rapids, Michigan, brings together furniture and design elements made with businesses and artists from across the region. The project is led by Daniel Caudill’s Kinship Hospitality with Shore North Development, and a gift shop featuring selected hotel designs is planned.
The 29-room Dexter Hotel in Elk Rapids, Michigan, has brought together regional makers to furnish and shape the property, extending former Shinola creative director Daniel Caudill’s focus on Michigan production beyond Detroit. The project is a collaboration between Caudill’s Kinship Hospitality venture and Shore North Development, with locally produced pieces appearing in guest rooms, public spaces and the hotel’s signage.
Caudill and Kinship Hospitality worked with makers from northern Michigan and elsewhere in the state on elements ranging from white oak furniture to lighting, pottery and signs. Grand Rapids-based Wolf Studio manufactured the guest room couches, chairs, beds and nightstands, which Caudill designed with the studio. The same company made the linear-patterned reception desk and designed the bar in the hotel’s Noble Lounge.
The rooms combine the custom furniture with velvet, leather, cotton and canvas, as well as vintage pieces sourced from Pernette’s, an antiques dealer in nearby Northport. Traverse City businesses contributed elsewhere: Britten Inc. produced custom ceiling lights designed by Caudill, ClaySpace made ceramic accessories, and Bear Sign Company created wayfinding and exterior signage. Detroit’s Motown Hand Painting added hand-painted signs.
The hotel’s art includes works curated by Detroit’s Library Street Collective, paintings by Michigan artists Pier Wright and Jesse Hickman, and a landscape Caudill found at a local thrift store. The Noble Lounge’s menu also reflects the area, with cheese from nearby Suttons Bay and Northport. Caudill says the team is working on a zine about the designs and plans a gift shop that will sell some items used in the rooms, including soap dishes.
Local Makers Shape the Guest Experience
The project puts regional production at the center of a hotel’s identity, connecting its design to the people and businesses around Elk Rapids. Its sourcing reaches beyond large, visible pieces: Caudill says the team considered whether individual additions, even a soap dish, could be made locally. That approach gives the hotel a way to present Michigan craft through objects guests encounter in daily use.
For the businesses involved, the work also meant close collaboration with the hotel’s design team. Caudill said that working nearby made it possible to review ceramic glazes and refine lighting color and temperature in person. The account does not provide figures for local spending, jobs created or the project’s wider economic effects, so its measurable impact on the regional economy is not established.
From Detroit to Grand Traverse Bay
Caudill previously served as creative director for Detroit-based watch and lifestyle brand Shinola, where he championed made-in-Michigan production. He co-founded Kinship Hospitality with Kamron Bije-Apple; the Dexter is the venture’s latest project, developed with Shore North Development. Elk Rapids is about a three-and-a-half-hour drive north of Detroit, on Grand Traverse Bay.
Caudill told Design Milk that he has owned property in northern Michigan for about a decade. He pointed to the area’s freshwater, orchards, farms and creative community as influences on the project. He also described the furniture as drawing on Michigan’s history in furniture manufacturing, while the choice of solid wood over veneer reflects Wolf Studio’s production approach.
The hotel pairs newly designed pieces with vintage furnishings to give its rooms and shared spaces a lived-in quality. Caudill told Design Milk that he wanted visitors to feel comfortable enough to see the space as a home. He said that when guests say they wish they could move in, he takes it as a sign that the hotel feels welcoming.
““We looked at every single thing that we were adding to this property through the lens of, ‘Can we make it here?’””
— Daniel Caudill, as quoted by Design Milk
Costs and Shop Details Remain Unknown
The source report does not state the hotel’s opening date, room rates, occupancy or total project cost. It also gives no tally of how many pieces were made in Michigan or what share of the hotel’s overall furnishings came from regional suppliers. The account describes the property as a new hotel but does not provide further details on its operating status.
Caudill says a gift shop is planned, but the report does not give an opening date, list of products beyond selected room designs such as soap dishes, or pricing. The zine is also in development; no release date or distribution plan is specified.
A Zine and Gift Shop Are Planned
Caudill says the team is working on a zine that will explain the stories behind the hotel’s designs. He has also said he plans to launch a gift shop selling selected items found in the guest rooms. The source report does not give dates for either project, so their timing and final details remain unannounced.
Key Questions
Where is the Dexter Hotel?
It is a 29-room hotel in Elk Rapids, Michigan, on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay, north of Detroit.
Who developed the hotel?
The project is from Kinship Hospitality, co-founded by Daniel Caudill and Kamron Bije-Apple, in collaboration with Shore North Development.
What parts of the hotel were made in Michigan?
Regional contributors made or supplied furniture, lighting, ceramics, signage and art. Wolf Studio in Grand Rapids made custom furniture, while Traverse City businesses Britten Inc., ClaySpace and Bear Sign Company contributed lighting, ceramic pieces and signs.
Will guests be able to buy items from the hotel?
Caudill says he plans to open a gift shop with selected designs used in the guest rooms, including soap dishes. The report does not give a launch date or product list.
Source: rss
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