Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Schneider
Hi Carolyn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I founded Corner Booth, a creative hospitality agency that builds and evolves hotel brands. I have over 15 years of experience in hospitality and work to transform spaces into magic experiences that guests can’t wait to return to. I partner across architecture, interior design, visual identity, operations and programming with an approach where guest experience is essential, ease of operations is always minded and every detail is thoughtfully considered.
In 2019, I co-founded Casetta Group, a hotel brand and management company that gives new life to architecturally significant, historic properties. With a portfolio including Casa Cody in Palm Springs, Hotel Marina Riviera in Big Bear, The Pearl Hotel in San Diego and in-development projects Hotel Lucile in Silver Lake, Hotel Willa in Taos, NM, and a hotel in Hudson, NY, I transformed boutique hotels from concept through construction and repositioning. I led all creative teams at Casetta, from interiors and branded partners to art programs, graphic design, cultural programming, photography, social media, website design and PR. Casetta’s properties have been awarded Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Awards for several consecutive years, and they have been featured in such publications as The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Cool Hunting, Surface Magazine and Dwell.
Prior to Casetta, I was part of the pre-development and opening for landmark boutique hotels in Los Angeles, including properties for Ace Hotel Group, Proper Hospitality and NoMad Hotels.
In 2021, I was named Boutique Design Magazine’s Up-and-Coming Hotelier, an award that recognizes the hoteliers who are redefining guests’ expectations regarding how hotels look and operate.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The challenges of what I do are tied to all of the moving parts. There are many, many teams that need to be in sync to open a hospitality business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I really enjoy creative collaboration and partnership – there are so many players involved to bring a hospitality project to life. Recently for Los Angeles Design Weekend 2024, Corner Booth collaborated with artist Jaclyn Rusher-Mendoza (Trash Gurl Treasures) to customize a pair of bar stools by RAD Furniture. The stools have been upholstered in hand-stitched salvaged fabrics, and woven into a quilted textile. The fabric resembles organic shapes in creams, blues and greens; born out of Rusher-Mendoza’s daily practice of photographing tree shadows and recreating them in fabric form. With this collaboration, they pay homage to the full-circle process rooted in a natural cycle, slowing down to observe, and appreciating the details. The stools were displayed at Woon in Historic Filipino Town and Justine’s Wine Bar in Frogtown during LA Design Weekend.
Schneider and Rusher-Mendoza envisioned the stool as the perfect product to illustrate what they believe makes hospitality – bars, hotels, restaurants – such magic spaces. “Pull up a stool” is a universal concept that inspires conversation and community. On the other hand, it allows us to be alone in our thoughts (drinking whiskey solo at the bar…) Stools are suitable in many contexts – public spaces, at home, in an artists’ studio. And furthermore, when you grab a seat at the bar, you’re front and center with the “makers” and people supplying the goods. It’s a very human place to be and introduces many choices of how to interact; opening yourself up to those around you, or purposefully closing yourself in. Rusher-Mendoza’s hand dyed indigo quilts serve as a metaphor for this layered experience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I actually don’t really believe in luck! I feel that all of my choices are intentional and that productive movement happens through connecting with people, forming the right relationships and making it happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://corner-booth.com
- Instagram: @lecornerbooth
Image Credits
Sergio Abuja
Kevin Rousso
