This article is part of an editorial series following three of today's most relevant tastemakers on their tour across Italy with W Hotels. Stay tuned for our next instalments in Rome and Sardinia.
Breakfast with Andrés Reisinger at W Florence is anything but light. Firstly, there's the food: lavishings of pastries, cheeses, meats, fruit and veg line the entrance to a large indoor courtyard—enough to satisfy multiple appetites before the à la carte menu has even been seen, and an indulgent moment for anyone with a long day of Florentine sightseeing ahead of them.
Then there’s the conversation. As one of the most sought-after contemporary artists of today, Reisinger speaks quietly, reflectively, and with a linguistic precision that sets him apart from the influencer types you’d expect on such a hotel retreat. Known for his manipulation of digital and physical worlds, Reisinger is something of a design legend—the mind behind the Hortensia chair, and a true visionary at the intersection of art and technology.
Reisinger looks right at home in W Florence, a design-forward, five-star hotel opened only last year. Housed in the former Grand Hotel Majestic, originally designed by Florentine architect Lando Bartoli in 1968, the hotel is but a short stroll from the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio. Interiors by AvroKO blend 1960s and '70s charm with a modern, elevated aesthetic. There are marble accents, graphic patterns, and illusory mirrors galore—a fittingly playful, contrast-driven backdrop for a man who relishes contradiction.
The raison d’être of our breakfast meeting lies in these surroundings. We’re waking up for our first full first day of W Hotels’ Italian Tour, a journey which took a small group of acclaimed fashion designers, architects, artists, chefs, and content creators to each of W Hotels’ three recently established Italian locations. Not-so-fresh from our enormous beds (the previous evening had seen many a bottle of vino consumed in one of Florence’s ‘IYKYK’ trattorias, followed by a World Cup viewing party in the hotel kitchens), we armed ourselves with a brace of restorative cappuccinos and prepared for some serious discourse.
So, seated somewhat ceremoniously in the center of W Florence’s gorgeous breakfast room—on a slightly raised platform and surrounded by some artfully placed shrubbery—we spoke with Reisinger about space, travel, and how to design the perfect hotel room.
Hi Andres! So, last night we had a private tour of a Rothko exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi. You’ve had an exhibition there before, right?
Yes – I had an exhibition there a few years ago, in which I showed a 10-minute film about existentialism. It was based on a poem, and I presented it at Palazzo Strozzi in an unexpected way. Instead of screening the 10-minute video piece all together, I cut it into three scenes, displaying it on three different screens simultaneously in one of the spaces.
Your work has often focused on the interaction between a work and the space it sits in. Why?
In the past I would recreate spaces because it was a way to control the context of my work. So the work was both the work itself, as well as the space in which it was presented. With time I started to detangle that, focusing more on the things independently. Just the piece and the context, and not joining it all together.
How do you consider a hotel room, in terms of space and design? I’m thinking in particular about the balance between function and aesthetics…
Function came about a long time ago, around industrialization. It means trying to be very efficient with materials, using the same machines for the best quality of product, utilizing every millimeter of every material and every space. I'm more, let's say… Italian in the way of seeing design. I don't care about utility, because it makes us machines. It removes us from our bodies, from our souls. People think this is a non-traditional way of seeing design, but actually I think it’s very traditional, very ancient, less contemporary. I prefer a table that doesn't work, because it kind of adds to the whole experience.
There are objects that are always the same. You can study them, and a machine can recreate them. You give any AI the correct measurements, the correct weight, and it can design a seat that works for everyone. I believe it’s a soulless way of thinking about objects. Nobody in history has followed utility first. The real advancements have come from actual curiosity, without thinking about making something useful.
Do you find that spirit in Florence?
Yes, it's more common to find in Italy. There aren’t many countries and cities that are more aligned with it. It's not a good thing that you have a coffee shop around the corner that looks exactly the same and makes you feel exactly the same as one in Manhattan. It's impossible. That's my main concern nowadays: that everything is everywhere, and everything is the same. It's such a pity. I believe that if that's exponentially multiplied and repeated across the world, the only things that are going to be unique are the old ones. It makes no sense.
If you could describe the essence of the locality here, how would you describe it?
Renaissance. I mean, that's a period, but there are certain places where something so powerful happened, where something so bold happened, that it altered history—those things are very important.
Why is the place you stay so important to you?
The place you stay adds a lot to the experience. It's not the same experience to stay in this hotel as staying in a very old hotel, where maybe your grandparents would have stayed. So it depends on the life that you want to live. We are creating our lives, our mental spaces, with the physical spaces we find ourselves in. So it's very important to align that with that architecture.
And what would you say is unique about W Florence in particular?
For me, here, I think it’s about the people. You find younger people, and lots of people of different natures. That’s unusual at a luxury hotel.
To find out more about W Hotels' Italian Tour, head to the brand's website here.
