Hospitality Design - August 2013 - 59

products

proﬁle

alicia adams
By Michael Adams
Photography by Tom Moore

1

2

3
1. Travel sets feature an
airplane-ready blanket
and eye mask.
2. Luxurious woven
Classic Throws are
available in more than
40 different colors.

SHEAR BEAUTY

3. A Classic Throw,
made from 100 percent
baby alpaca, in plum
wine herringbone.

Where there’s wool there’s a way

As a child Alicia Adams could not have
foreseen that her early life in Germany
and Mexico City would eventually lead to a
bucolic farm in New York’s Hudson Valley—
one that she would share with her husband
Daniel, three children, a dog, and some 200
Suri alpacas.
The family had been living in Munich
when Daniel—a co-founder and former CFO
of Design Hotels—traveled to Australia and
became smitten with the alpaca, so much
so that he quickly convinced Alicia (at the
time working in fashion PR) to uproot the
family and move to an area of the U.S. he
felt was conducive to breeding these gentle
domesticated animals known for their
luxurious wool.
Daniel’s business quickly flourished and
was well established when Alicia began
to use the wool—known as “the gold of the
Andes” in the alpacas’ native land, Peru—

for small gifts for family and friends. “The
design seeds were planted early in me,” she
says. “The arts are a passion throughout
generations of my family.”
Others clamored for these items, which
led Adams to expand her portfolio to include
homewares, accessories, and clothing. “The
alpaca is one of the rarest species in the
world,” she says. “Today, the world of high
fashion cherishes alpaca not only for its
scarcity but also for its natural attributes: its
fineness, durability, and hypoallergenic and
lightweight qualities.”
Supplying hospitality projects was
an inevitable step. “We’ve been fortunate
to have worked with hotels around the
world,” she says. “They often buy our core
collection—throws, pillows, bathrobes—
and they order custom products to add a
luxurious touch to interior spaces, or to sell
in gift shops.” Among her high-toned clients:

the Mark, the Mercer, and the Chambers in
New York; the Waldorf Astoria in Chicago;
and Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
Adams calls her life “a daily adventure.
In the summer season baby alpaca are
born to the delight of the entire family.
And currently we are nursing Raisin, an
abandoned chick alongside the other ducks,
chickens, and guinea hens that inhabit
the farm.”
Not surprisingly, she is most inspired
by her natural surroundings, “and these are
absolutely bountiful in the Hudson Valley.
But that is not to say a drawing by my
children won’t prompt me to experiment
with a color combination. And with my
Mexican and German heritage I have rich
cultural stores to pull from.” hd
ali ci aad am salpac a.com

hospitalitydesign.com August 2013

059
http://www.aliciaadamsalpaca.com http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - August 2013
