HOTEL · NAROOMA, NEW SOUTH WALES
Some hotels are designed for the camera. The Whale Narooma is shaped around slower acts: sitting, lingering and allowing a day to remain unplanned.
Keeping the motel soul
Located in Narooma on the far South Coast of New South Wales, the project was led by design director Nasim Koerting and Merivale’s in-house Design Studio. Rather than erase the coastal motel, the almost three-year transformation retains its character and layers it with earthy finishes and the relaxed spirit of 1970s Ibiza.
The original pool keeps its form while becoming a magnesium pool, and the former carpark is now dense with palms, frangipani and hibiscus. Arrival unfolds through vegetation, light and water rather than a single photogenic gesture.
Rooms assembled rather than specified
The rooms resist a repeated template. The Palm Room combines Japanese tiles, a custom tapestry and lighting by Lana Launay; the Double Sea Grass Rooms introduce hand-woven Indian rugs; and the Mountain View Rooms bring Moroccan knitted lights, Italian terrazzo, Indonesian woven bedheads and art from Papua New Guinea into one setting.
This maker-by-maker approach makes furniture, textiles, ceramics, murals and bespoke finishes feel accumulated over time. Refinement comes not from uniform luxury surfaces, but from carefully controlled tension between distinct crafts.
Designing for doing nothing
The Ocean View Penthouse opens to a rooftop garden, layered with a wall-hanging tapestry, a hand-crocheted Canadian light and a curved vintage Featherston sofa. Beneath a circular skylight, the hexagonal lava-stone basin turns daylight into a measure of passing time.
A sauna and ice bath face the water, while Queen Chow’s sunroom invites guests to linger over board games. A sunken lounge rediscovered during construction now holds new seating and a record player. There is plenty to do, yet the project’s real luxury is permission to do nothing.
The Whale Narooma does not rush to create an instant impression; materials, craft and the coastal rhythm turn the act of staying into the design itself.
Project — The Whale Narooma
Interior design — Merivale Design Studio
Design director — Nasim Koerting
Photography — Sean Fennessy
Images courtesy of — The Whale Narooma
Original feature — Yellowtrace
Editorial adaptation — 01DES
