The Catskills’ Piaule Gets a Design Within Reach Upgrade
The description sounds like bait for design enthusiasts: modernist cabins tucked in the trees. When Piaule Catskill opened in 2021 with two dozen stilted cabins spread across 50 acres in New York’s Catskills, the boutique quickly became a go-to destination for woodsy retreats from the city — the type of quiet place to start a book (and actually finish it).
And now, Piaule enters a new chapter. A collaboration with DWR (Design Within Reach) brings a three-bedroom residence into the fold, while even more coveted furnishings (from the likes of Charlotte Perriand to Louis Poulsen and Fritz Hansen) pepper the property and its refreshed suites.
It’s not a massive leap for the design hotel; the boutique and the brand share a reverence for craft and iconic design, which means it was destined to stick to the landing. Here’s a look at the refreshed retreat.
Craft meets nature, in situ
The crux of the partnership, according to Piaule founders Nolan McHugh and Trevor Trevor, lies in the modernist concept of “truth to materials”, a principle that shaped the hotel even before DWR came into the picture.
“It basically means using things for their best-suited purpose, and not trying to modify them to look like something else, or be something else, or do something they’re not suited to doing,” explains Nolan on a crisp fall afternoon. Standing in front of the hotel’s Main House, with the Catskill Mountains rising in the distance, he rattles off a handful of examples: oak for strong furniture, glass for diffusing light, cashmere for soft surfaces.
That ethos informed the hotel’s architecture and ultimately guided every choice they made in the new partnership; with design icons and new classics in the retailer’s portfolio that align with the modernist principle, partnering with DWR wasn’t a stretch.
Of course, the concept of ‘shoppable’ hotels is nothing new to hospitality—nor to Piaule itself, which opened with its own line of home goods (like supreme waffle towels and cedar-scented soaps) alongside locally made furniture that guests could special-order. But the collaboration does take it up a notch: instead of treating the hotel like a showroom, they’ve integrated pieces into the very landscape. “The hotel’s new spaces invite guests to stay with our pieces and engage with the DWR lifestyle on an immersive, deeper level,” says Debbie Propst, President of Global Retail at MillerKnoll, DWR’s parent company.
In short? Guests experience furnishings that feel integral to the setting, pieces that make sense in a hotel built to foster direct, almost meditative connections to nature.
A refreshed Main House
(Image credit: Adrian Gaut for Design Within Reach)
In the Main House, home to check-in and the hotel’s restaurant, the brand’s nature-first ethos is hard to miss. “For us, everything ladders back to nature, and building that connection,” says Nolan. “Furniture and the right pieces and the right design choices can enable and further that connection.”
As they refined their picks with DWR, one material was at the forefront: oak. The retreat is set within an oak forest, and the material quite literally shaped Piaule’s architecture. That gesture inspired the Main House’s striking oak-clad interiors, with a shed roof that reaches toward the mountainous landscape and a wall of windows framed in the same material. To enhance the panoramic view, the common area is now furnished with pieces that wear their materials with pride.
Chief among them is the new Pawson Drift Lounge Chair, designed by the British minimalist John Pawson. Set on either side of the central wood-burning fireplace, the chair’s wooden structure and leather upholstery anchor the room without demanding attention. You can’t overlook the wooden and straight-edged frame — but the wood itself nods to the forested landscape just beyond the windows.
“When you see what goes into growing something that will then turn into your sofa, or your chair, and you understand how many factors come together for that thing to come to life and exist for 50 plus years, to turn into these beautiful, straight, clear boards that you’re using in furniture, it just hits harder,” says Nolan.
For Nolan and Trevor, context is everything. Orienting these pieces within an actual oak forest allows guests to appreciate the design on another level, better understanding the beauty endowed upon each piece by nature.
524 Tabouret Berger Stool
Inspired by alpine milking stools, an obvious choice for Piaule’s location in the Catskills, the three-legged oak stool can add a touch of nature—and texture—to any home in need of a little warmth.
Poul Kjærholm’s lounge chair goes by the moniker of Hammock Chair for a reason: the curvy design cradles the human body. Set this in front of any window with space to breathe, and you’ll have yourself a statement piece.
Pawson Drift Lounge Chair
With its clean lines and architectural silhouette, the hard and soft balance of this upholstered John Pawson lounge can anchor a space without overshadowing it.
The new Oak House experience
(Image credit: Adrian Gaut for Design Within Reach)
Broadening Piaule’s connection to the land, Nolan and Trevor collaborated with DWR on a new three-bedroom home aptly named the Oak House. Tucked uphill on its own 20-acre parcel—completely surrounded by mature forest—the shared booking is a natural extension of the cabins, scaled for friends and family to experience the landscape together.
It may be larger than the hotel’s original cabins, but the home still keeps an eagle eye on nature. Every bedroom has its own door to the outside, allowing guests to have their own one-on-one connection with the land. Inside, the interiors encourage an outward view, with oak window frames that create constant sightlines to the forest.
“For us, that means stripping away unnecessary flourishes and letting nature be the focus, opening up and modifying apertures to frame views and using a palette of all natural materials that reflect the house’s surroundings,” says Nolan.
Slightly cozier than the spare cabins, the home maintains Piaule’s restrained look with a more residential feel. Oak and warm woods, of course, are everywhere you look, and the furniture selection gives Fritz Hansen its moment, with upholstered Series 7 Chairs around the dining table and PK4 Lounge Chairs in the living room; there’s an Eames lounge chair, naturally, for settling in by the fireplace and taking in the views, while a Wrensilva record console supplements nature’s soundtrack in the evenings.
Refreshed double cabins
(Image credit: Adrian Gaut for Design Within Reach)
Not to be overlooked, select Double Cabins—two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a shared living room—are also updated with pieces that refresh the space while strengthening a nature-first ethos. Dark, slender and discrete Louis Poulsen AJ Floor Lamps punctuate the living rooms without overshadowing the view, while John Pawson Drift Lounge Chairs anchor the cabin with warm earth tones. Fritz Hansen’s PK4 Lounge Chairs are a clever choice in the bedrooms; with their minimalist steel frames and airy rope seats, the chairs are placed in front of windows without interrupting the view.
Other additions, like Charlotte Perriand’s 524 Tabouret Berger stool, bring another layer of narrative: the iconic design was originally inspired by alpine milking stools, making the piece entirely at home at the foot of the Catskill Mountains.
“You’ll see it in everything from exterior and interior finishes, material palette, and again, the furniture selections,” adds Nolan. “Everything is about connecting with nature, whether it’s conscious or subconscious.”
And if, while watching the sun set over the mountains—or catching a sight of a deer cutting through the woods—you happen to fall a Poul Kjærholm lounge or a John Pawson loveseat? Well, getting a little shopping done while you soak in the elements is nothing to complain about.
Fritz Hansen
Pk4 Lounge Chair
This design by Fritz Hansen was a shoe-in for Piaule, with its stylish restraint and airy look that’s totally attractive without shouting for attention. The halyard-weave around the steel frame is also surprisingly comfortable — beautiful, functional, it has it all.
Louis Poulsen
Ph 2-1 Portable Light
Making their appearance at night the restaurant, the cordless version of these Louis Poulsen fixtures align with Piaule’s ‘truth to materials’ philosophy — in this case, a light fixture that embraces materials (glass and brass) that shine. Set on any dining table, this piece is a little piece of stunning architecture.
Fritz Hansen
Between Lines Deck Chair
Sculptural and striking — and yet again, designed with restraint — these teak Adirondackdeck-style chairs are seen all throughout the grounds at Piaule. They feel just as much an architectural gesture as a place to watch the sunset; even just one of these will bring Scandinavian flair to your outdoor space.
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