33 Boutique Hotel

A boutique hotel in dark tones and warm shadows

33 Boutique Hotel is a new addition to St. Julian’s, Malta. Its interiors lean dark and dramatic — charcoal and black surfaces throughout, cut through with warm light and pockets of gold: an amber stone wall at reception, a gold-leafed panel by the indoor pool, and, in the gym, a streak of red. With so little colour to draw on elsewhere, every warm highlight had to do real work, pulling out texture and keeping the mood inviting rather than cold. My assistants and I worked through the space methodically, letting its own considered design lead the way rather than restyling it.

I worked with a blend of natural and artificial light throughout to bring out the materials — brushed stone, timber slats, black metal fittings — that a flatter light would have lost along with the colour. In post, I carried the same balance through: warm enough to feel inviting, without losing the drama of a space built almost entirely in shadow and highlight. The result holds real depth even where there’s barely any colour to lean on.

The set covers the hotel end to end, from the lobby and restaurant and bar through to the guest rooms, the wellness spa and gym, and both the indoor pool and the rooftop infinity pool. Tucked into a quiet residential corner of St. Julian’s yet minutes from St. George’s Bay and Paceville, the hotel’s whole identity is that contrast: intimate and boutique in scale, dramatic in design. I wanted the photography to hold both of those things at once.