- Dutch designer Peet Dullaert is the first winner of the New Crafts Awards, the new design prize launched by Swissôtel as part of the partnership between Accor and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.
- Demanding selection: 80 emerging brands candidates via the FHCM’s SPHERE programme, 5 finalists, a jury of experts.
- His award-winning sculptural piece will be featured in Swissôtel hotels over the coming months.
- La Revue des Hôtels was in Paris and spoke to the winner: “It’s not a fashion story, it’s a life story”, he told us.
Hotels and haute couture are officially meeting. On July 7, 2026, Swissôtel named Dutch designer Peet Dullaert as the very first winner of its New Crafts Awards, a prize born from the strategic partnership between Accor and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. La Revue des Hôtels was on site in Paris and had the opportunity to ask the main person involved a question.
A prize born from the Accor x Fédération de la Haute Couture partnership
Driven by the in-house philosophy of “Crafting Pure Living”, the New Crafts Awards aim to reward designers whose work embodies precision, creative intent, and sustainable expertise. The selection process demonstrates the ambition: 80 emerging brands invited to apply via SPHERE, the FHCM’s programme for supporting young brands, followed by five finalists chosen by a jury comprising industry experts and representatives from Accor and the Federation.
Peet Dullaert, draping as a signature
Based in Paris, Peet Dullaert founded his eponymous fashion house in 2012, the same year he won the Frans Molenaar prize; he was also nominated for the International Woolmark Prize in 2016. His work is distinguished by an artisanal approach to bespoke tailoring, where draping creates a direct link between the garment and the wearer. But it was his proposal for object design that won over the Swissôtel committee: a central sculptural piece evoking the calm, precision, and subtle poetry of nature, directly echoing the brand’s values: Swiss precision, purity, and harmony between form and function.
“It’s not a fashion story, it’s a life story”: our interview
Fresh from his haute couture show at the Hôtel Wagram in Paris, the designer grants us a few minutes. The first winner of a prize that has no history yet: no one can tell him what this award opens up. We therefore asked him what he had bet on in accepting it.
“I was deeply grateful that Accor and Swissôtel understood that it’s not a fashion story: it’s a life story,” Peet Dullaert replies (words collected in English and translated by us). “It’s a story of movement: the place where we live, where we stay, and the connection that is created. That’s what I deeply appreciate about this prize. It’s the artisanal gesture, the act of being there, in a kind of spiritual space… like a home.”
A conviction that echoes his official statement word for word: “We share a common commitment to precision and harmony in design, and I look forward to seeing how these shared values can be expressed in the world of hospitality.”
Our report in video, from the show to the interview:
Behind the scenes of the show
Packed rooms, draped silhouettes, and the buzz of last-minute adjustments: our exclusive images from Peet Dullaert’s show at the Hôtel Wagram, where couture found a hotel setting, just minutes before our conversation.
A signature piece soon in Swissôtel hotels
In the coming months, the brand and the designer will work to adapt this emblematic piece within the establishments, an object capable of transforming a space and enriching the guest experience through its mere presence. “In Peet Dullaert, we recognise a designer who creates with purpose and whose work has lasting resonance, mirroring the experience we aim to offer each of our guests,” praises Benoît Racle, Global Premium Brands President of Swissôtel. Founded in 1980, the brand now has over 40 hotels in more than 20 countries, from the Swissôtel The Bosphorus in Istanbul to the Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore.
Our perspective
After spa collaborations and branded suites, hotel groups are now institutionalising their dialogue with fashion: a recurring prize, backed by the FHCM, is a much more structuring move than a simple one-off partnership. For Swissôtel, a brand with a discreet positioning within the Accor portfolio, this is a clever identity lever: adopting the language of craftsmanship rather than bling. And for young fashion houses, the hotel industry offers what catwalks no longer provide: spaces lived in all year round, where design is experienced daily. The choice of a designer who thinks about “life and movement” rather than fashion fits perfectly with this direction.
