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The Dexter Hotel, a 29-room property in Elk Rapids, is built around furniture, lighting, ceramics, art and signage made with regional businesses and artists. The project is led by Kinship Hospitality, co-founded by former Shinola creative director Daniel Caudill, and presents local production as part of the guest experience.
The 29-room Dexter Hotel in Elk Rapids, Michigan, is making regional production a defining part of its design, with custom furniture, lighting, ceramics and signage created in collaboration with businesses and artists from across the state. The project is led by Kinship Hospitality, co-founded by former Shinola creative director Daniel Caudill, and developed with Shore North Development.
Located on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay, the hotel draws on materials, makers and visual references from northern Michigan and Detroit. Caudill and Kinship Hospitality approached furnishings and other design choices by asking whether they could be made locally, he told Design Milk. The effort extended to small items such as soap dishes as well as the main pieces of the interiors.
Grand Rapids-based Wolf Studio made the guest-room beds, chairs, couches and nightstands, designed with Caudill in solid white oak. The studio also produced the linear-patterned reception desk and designed the bar in the hotel’s Noble Lounge. Caudill said the team worked through details such as furniture scale and shape, aiming for pieces that feel substantial and comfortable. The upholstery includes velvet, leather, cotton and canvas.
Other Michigan contributions include ceiling lights designed by Caudill and produced by Traverse City-based Britten Inc., and ceramics made by Traverse City business ClaySpace. Bear Sign Company, also based in Traverse City, created the wayfinding and exterior signage; Detroit’s Motown Hand Painting supplied additional hand-painted signs. The art includes works curated by Detroit’s Library Street Collective and pieces by Michigan artists Pier Wright and Jesse Hickman.
Local Makers Shape the Guest Experience
The hotel’s design makes regional sourcing visible in the everyday objects guests encounter, rather than limiting it to a general statement about place. Furniture, signs, lights, ceramics and artwork all connect the property to makers in Michigan, giving the project a clear identity tied to its location and supply network.
That approach also gives readers a concrete example of how a hospitality project can work with nearby manufacturers and studios. Caudill told Design Milk that local collaboration made it possible to review details in person and refine finishes and lighting. The hotel’s account presents this flexibility as a benefit of working close to production; it does not provide cost comparisons or other data measuring the business impact.
The design carries a particular regional reference: Michigan’s history as a furniture-making center. Wolf Studio’s solid-wood work and custom upholstery bring that connection into the guest rooms, while vintage pieces from nearby antiques dealer Pernette’s add objects with their own local history. The mix is intended to make the hotel feel like a place to spend time, not simply a display of new custom products.
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A Detroit Design Practice Moves North
Caudill previously served as creative director of Detroit-based watch and lifestyle brand Shinola, where he championed made-in-Michigan production, according to Design Milk. The Dexter Hotel carries that interest into a hospitality project roughly three and a half hours north of Detroit. Kinship Hospitality is his venture with co-founder Kamron Bije-Apple; Shore North Development collaborated on the hotel.
Caudill told Design Milk he has owned property in northern Michigan for about a decade and values the area’s freshwater setting, farms and creative community. The hotel’s design incorporates both northern Michigan and Detroit contributors, from Traverse City manufacturers to a Detroit art organization and sign painter.
Regional touches extend beyond the rooms. The Noble Lounge serves a menu that includes cheese from nearby Suttons Bay and Northport, according to the report. Vintage furnishings sourced from Pernette’s in Northport sit alongside custom pieces, connecting the interiors to the area’s existing objects and businesses.
“We looked at every single thing that we were adding to this property through the lens of, ‘Can we make it here?’”
— Daniel Caudill, quoted by Design Milk
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Opening Details and Sales Plans
The source report does not specify the hotel’s opening date, room rates, occupancy, or how many of its products are made entirely in Michigan versus designed locally and produced elsewhere. It also provides no independent assessment of the project’s economic effect on participating businesses.
Caudill said a guest-facing zine was in development and that a gift shop was planned, but the report gives no release date, inventory list or confirmation that either had launched. He mentioned that soap dishes had gone missing from rooms, but the source does not provide a count or indicate whether they would be included in the shop.
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A Zine and Hotel Gift Shop
Caudill told Design Milk that Kinship Hospitality was working on a zine to tell the stories behind the hotel’s designs. He also said he planned to launch a gift shop offering selected items connected to the rooms, including soap dishes. The source does not give a timetable for either project.
For guests, the next developments to watch are whether the zine becomes available and which designs reach the shop. Those details could make the hotel’s network of makers more visible and give visitors a way to take home some of the objects that define the property.
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Key Questions
Where is the Dexter Hotel?
The 29-room hotel is in Elk Rapids, Michigan, on the shore of Grand Traverse Bay.
Who is behind the hotel?
The hotel is a Kinship Hospitality project, co-founded by Daniel Caudill and Kamron Bije-Apple, in collaboration with Shore North Development.
Which Michigan businesses contributed to its design?
Contributors named in the report include Grand Rapids-based Wolf Studio, Traverse City businesses Britten Inc., ClaySpace and Bear Sign Company, and Detroit’s Motown Hand Painting and Library Street Collective.
Will guests be able to buy items from the hotel?
Caudill said he planned a gift shop with selected room designs, including soap dishes. The report does not give a launch date or confirm that the shop is open.
Source: rss
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