Communal Kutaisi

Looking beyond Tbilisi and the Kakheti wine region for a fourth addition to its clutch of boutique hotels, The Communal Company turned to the small city of Kutaisi (population: 180,000), the unofficial cultural capital that is reclaiming its status as a hub for Georgia’s creatives and tastemakers. Interior designer Katya Samsonadze flexes her flair for contemporary nostalgia by conjuring the city’s artistic past (it’s known for its 20th-century novelists and symbolist poets). An onsite restaurant, Doli, evokes the intimacy of a writers’ salon, with sultry charcoal ceilings and a restored ceramic fireplace. Breakfast is served family-style—part of Communal’s effort to encourage dialogue and an atmosphere of collaboration. Out of respect for the historic Galaktion Tabidze Street residence, each of the 10 rooms has an unorthodox floorplan that accommodates the original contours of the former private house. Take the Signature Suite, for example, where guests enter via an open-plan bathroom featuring a clawfoot tub set beneath a frieze of Jason and Medea.

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