Shinola Hangs A Sign On Fall 2018 Opening Of New Boutique Hotel In Detroit

If the Harvard Business School isn't studying the development of Detroit's Shinolabrand as a modern-America civic marriage between business and citizens, they should be. This fall, downtown Detroit welcomes the first Shinola brand hotel, created in a refurbished department store on the formerly prosperous Woodward Avenue. 

The 129-room boutique hotel is Shinola's boldest idea yet, with its sign now installed for the world to see. The artisan-inspired, deep community roots brand has been the vision behind a major, block-wide development  that includes residences, restaurants, a fitness center and a mix of national and local retail.

Carolyn Murphy Unveils Detroit's Shinola's Lois Tote As Ford Motor Announces Plans For Michigan Central Station

Supermodel actor Carolyn Murphy and made-in-Detroit success story Shinola introduce us to Lois, the perfect summer tote at just $495. Named after Murphy's late grandmother Lois, the bag brings back countless memories. 

“My Nana, whom I was inspired by to create the bag, we’d always do these road trips in the Oldsmobile from [Washington], D.C. She’d put her bottle of vodka, her carrots, her hard-boiled eggs and her Scrabble in this big bag, and the goal was to get to our annual reunion in Nags Head, [North Carolina]. I always remember that tote,” Murphy recalled.

"I lost my Nana, and three days later, my agent called and said, 'Bruce Weber wants to shoot you for Shinola in Detroit,'" Murphy said. "So I like to think she brought us together. It was a match made in heaven."

Murphy was featured in last Friday's Porter Edit, with news about her longstanding commitments to sustainability and protecting our oceans -- a potentially losing battle. There are now six-- count them six --  large garbage patches swelling in the ocean, making Gaia weep. (Note that a brand new and accidental discovery of an enzyme that is capable of breaking down plastic bottles offers us a ray of hope.)

AOC covered Carolyn Murphy's Shinola partnership in the September 2017 issue of InStyle.  The entire brand story behind Shinola (yes, that name of shoe polish) is so inspiring in terms of what CAN be accomplished in America to fight decay, create jobs and inspire design in America's forgotten inner cities. Detroit received a HUGE bouquet of urban development flowers with big news from Ford Motor Company.