Who? Not who, but what; A new luxurious hotel located at the waterfront at Aker Brygge/Wharf. Named The Thief because of its location at Tjuvholmen/Thief Island which used to be a home to criminals and shady dealings back in the 18th century but has now been turned into a prime location with restaurants and art galleries. My husband and I were curious to check it out, after reading about it in the newspapers. Sunday brought glorious but cold weather as you can see reflected in the windows of the reception at The Thief. I admired and enjoyed the art outside and inside the hotel, curated by Sune Nordgren, several pieces on loan from the nearby Astrup Fearnley Museum. Yes, a sponsorship agreement, highly unusual for an hotel. He claims: “Redefining hotel art is about giving the guests quality experiences, causing reflection and perhaps changing their perception of reality for a brief moment.” Thief Artists in 2013 include Peter Blake, Magne Furuholmen, Antony Gormley, Marianne Heske, Kjell Nuppen and Andy Warhol among others. See the complete list here: thethief

The architects is the award winning Mellbye Architects: “The facade has been given a dark expression giving the arriving guest a bit of surreal feeling. It does take a few blinks to realise it is an hotel and not a mirage or computer rendering.” Granite, black and dark colors and gold distinguishes the five star hotel from its lighter design hotel cousins. One review criticized the dark interior and compared its style with its owner Petter A. Stordalen. More on him in this interesting article: To Catch a Thief: madebyoriginals. And yes I agree, his love of leather trousers and jewellry does make him fit in extremely well. But I would so much rather visit such a dark innovative hotel any day than a neutral one…

You will find more interesting stories in The Thief’s web magazine here: thethief. And finally, I do like their mantra: At The Thief we treat rock stars as guest and guest as rock stars…