Walk, swim, or surf just over one mile east of the sweepingly beautiful shores of Byron Bay’s main drag, and you’ll reach the star-studded inlet of Wategos, Byron’s understated little sister. A lazy coastal retreat packed to the brim with all manner of creatives and surf aficionados, there’s something indescribably magic about this idyllic corner of the world.
And at the heart of this bucolic enclave is Raes, an exceedingly chic boutique hotel, which for three decades has been a stalwart of this beachy pocket, a holiday destination which deals in escapism.
During its lifespan, Raes has been a haven for some fabulous visitors as they pass through town (Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet have reportedly rested their weary heads on Raes’ pillows). But beyond its star magnetism, the hotel design has a legacy — it brought a novel, distinctively European stamp to Australian hotels, all the while preserving the laid-back charm of Aussie hospitality.
This is in no small part thanks to the hotel’s masterful redesign in 2016, the brainchild of Australian interior designer Tamsin Johnson. “Raes, to me, has always been an opportunity to demonstrate that detail, uniqueness, substance and personality have a place in Australian hotels,” says Tamsin. “Raes has become a benchmark small hotel in this country, and that wasn’t instant.”
And thirty years after opening the original hotel, Raes has expanded to a second ten-suite guesthouse property, a stone’s throw away from the original site. Tamsin was once again enlisted to give the guesthouses the distinctively Raes-flavoured treatment, and extend Raes’ status as a heavenly slice of Spanish-infused paradise tucked within the New South Wales coast.
Tamsin’s task was to recreate the same character of the original Raes hotel in the new site, while also crafting a new character for the addition. As the bones of the building were very different to the first site, according to Tamsin, it already needed substantial re-working and a lot of customization to match it to the first. “The original building is petite, quirky and communal and that is really charming, so it was a case of focussing on those feelings and embellishing them,” Tamsin recalls.
This sense of communality is central to Raes’ ethos, and is part of what sets it apart from other, stuffier luxury hotels. The communal areas are also where Tamsin’s leaning into Balearic influences are most evident, where she takes advantage of the quirk of Spanish and Neo-Jacobean design. Playfully pairing together unexpected elements, Tamsin has created a warm and inviting environment that guests will want to dwell in, rather than simply disappearing into their rooms.
When it came to the individual suite rooms, Tamsin used a blue and green pastel color palette to breathe a gust of coastal freshness into the interiors. Another important element of the design for Tamsin was to give each room its own distinct character, “rather than [being] lazily homogenized,” she says. “I wanted the guest to respond with a feeling of ‘wow, this is really considered.’”
Adding molded plasterwork into the rooms also created a sense of dimension and character depth, carrying “some of the architectural language of the original Spanish-Hollywood style into the much more modern Guesthouses.”
This Spanish-Hollywood style has become synonymous with the Raes brand – perhaps counter-intuitively, given its glamorous origins in such a relaxed, no-frills coastal setting. But Tamsin believes this is all part of the atmosphere of the place: “I see it as a little decadent but it should be, it is a holiday spot and with it comes a hedonistic side that needs to be indulged,” she observes.
By threading a playfulness through her design, Tamsin created an environment which encourages this touch of hedonism: a spot for guests to let their hair down and kick their shoes off. Flashes of maximalist interior design in Tamsin’s idiosyncratic style are used throughout, as in details like the multicolored tasseled canopy hanging above the bed frame in one of the suites. This, alongside all of the suites’ bed frames and canopies, were custom-made by a local craftsperson. It was important to Tamsin to source as much of the interior materials locally, and stick to Australian–made materials as she could.
Price: $130
Get the same look at the candy cane-striped lamps that Tamsin uses in the communal spaces with this playful lampshade
Price: $160
Emulate the same Mediterranean influence as in the bedroom suites with this Greek patterned pillowcase.
Price: $9.99
Inspired by Rae's coastal blue and green palette? Bring an ocean hue into your own bathroom with this accent mirror.
It’s in the interaction between the playful and ultra-polished design elements that Raes achieves a masterful feat of balancing true luxury with its chilled-out, surfy, truly Australian mood. This requires a delicate back-and-forth between not taking oneself too seriously, while still being mature, and never veering into the comical. “I feel there needs to be a little playfulness to create surprise and joy, I don’t expect anyone to be amused necessarily, just stimulated,” Tamsin remarks. “It is about stimulating memories too.”
And by weaving together classic Spanish-inspired design with elements of levity and fun, Tamsin has certainly created a perfect canvas for guests to stimulate memories, opening a new chapter in Raes’ legacy.
