Montage Healdsburg

The Montage Healdsburg opened in 2020 in the northern Sonoma County town of Healdsburg, California, one of Northern California wine county’s most popular destinations. One of Forbes Travel Guide’s 20 Most Anticipated Hotel Openings of 2020, the Montage Healdsburg quickly earned accolades as the premier resort accommodation in Sonoma County. At 258 acres, 130 guest rooms, and 25 residential villas, Montage Healdsburg is truly extraordinary.

SkLO, with its US Headquarters also located in Healdsburg, worked with the interior designer, EDG, as well as the developer, and the Montage team on multiple commissions within the project. In all, SkLO provided light fixtures for nearly every public space within the Montage Healdsburg project, most of them custom fixtures, and was involved in years of coordination with the project team to insure a successful result.

SkLO was selected by EDG, the designers of all of the resort interiors, to provide feature lighting at multiple locations within Hazel Hill, the destination restaurant at the Montage Healdsburg.

At the entry to Hazel Hill, SkLO designed a custom multi-pendant fixture to hang above the reception station. The pendant consists of three Hold 12 Pendants in opaque Gray glass, with black cords and dark oxidized brass hardware. The three pendants hang in a staggered composition.

One of the two Private Dining Rooms at Hazel Hill is nicknamed “The Treehouse” because the room has glass walls on three sides and floats far above the ground in a grove of mature live oak trees. For The Treehouse, EDG designed a unique dining table that could be used as a single, long table to seat large groups of up to 14 or divide into two tables to seat two separate groups of 6. EDG asked SkLO to design a chandelier for The Treehouse which would accommodate both table configurations.

SkLO designed a chandelier based on the Drape collection platform, consisting of two separate fixtures of 6 lit pendants each. The pendants are a mix of two sizes of white glass spheres, and the canopies of the fixtures were custom-designed to integrate within the suspended wood slat ceiling of the room.

3 parallel steel rails are suspended below the wood slats and run the length of the room. Each pendant is suspended on a rigid brass stem with a hook on the top, and a black fabric cord swags to the canopy. This allows the pendants to be hung anywhere along the length of the rails, in different compositions. For a single long table, the pendants can be composed in one large organic group centered on the table; for two separate tables, the pendants can be separated into two groups, each centered over its own table.

The result is a beautiful solution to an interesting design brief, which elevates the experience of dining within this already amazing environment.

For Hazel Hill’s other Private Dining Room, a cluster of large and small Float 1.0 pendants in transparent “olivin” glass and dark oxidized hardware is suspended above the dining table. And in the Hazel Hill restrooms, a custom grouping of Hold 18 pendants and sconces hang at the vanities.

At the resort’s gourmet grab-and-go coffee shop and market, the General Store, SkLO provided a row of 3 Wrap pendants that hang above the counter. The sculptural white glass “wrap” elements provide a sculptural focus in the space. Suspended on black fabric cords and dark oxidized brass hardware, the palette is rustic but sophisticated.

The premier accommodation at the Montage Healdsburg is the Guest House, a 4,600 square foot residence consisting of three individual bedroom suites sharing separate living quarters with a fully appointed kitchen and pantry. For the Guest House dining area, SkLO provided a custom Drape Hook 5 pendant to hang above the table. With custom white ovoid glass, the elegant lines of the fixture layer over the tremendous views of the landscape and mountains beyond.

The Spa at Montage Healdsburg reflects Montage’s commitment to offer its guests a broad range of fitness and wellness services. SkLO was commissioned to provide custom lighting in almost every space and room of the Spa. SkLO developed multiple custom wall sconce fixtures which appear in the hallways and at the vanities of the locker and dressing rooms. SkLO also developed a custom triple pendant for each of the Spa’s treatment rooms.

The Ballroom at Montage Healdsburg is the stylish multi-purpose center of the resort, used for elaborate weddings, meetings, and events. SkLO provided the lighting for the Montage Healdsburg Ballroom, a field of Drape pendants with a custom plated hardware finish. EDG designed a complex custom wooden ceiling system for the room, with shifting geometries of wooden slats, which conceal the sophisticated technologies and services for the Ballroom. SkLO worked with the design team to develop a custom canopy that would accommodate the needs of the ceiling system.

SkLO provided many other additional light fixtures for the project, including custom table lights at the resort lobby, and custom bathroom sconces in various locations throughout the public areas of the resort.

Since SkLO is also located in Healdsburg, we got to know the management at Montage Healdsburg, as well as the internal creative team at Montage International. As the result of a series of discussions, Montage commissioned SkLO to create custom wine decanters for the resort. The extensive resort property contains many acres of vineyards, and winemaking from the resort’s own fruit is a unique aspect of the resort.

SkLO worked with the Montage team to develop a unique design just for them: A rounded vessel with a short neck and a wide spout, the decanters are given a splash of color that starts at the mouth and fades to clear at the bottom, allowing the color and the character of the wines to remain clearly visible. Each vessel is intentionally off-center, to speak to its handmade origins.

The decanters quickly became an integral part of the resort, used at table service in the Hazel Hill restaurant, offered for sale at the resort General Store, and an ongoing gift offering for corporate event clientele.