Hotel Furniture; Silent Translators of Countrie's Cultural Identity

The changes of lifestyle are exhibited in various ways as well as in the very elements of artefacts; like office furniture or the furniture of public places such as hotels and embassies. Amongst the very¡ the hotel furniture is the one with which a tourist’s first contact is made. It is¡ therefore¡ argued that to convey Iran›s rich cultural identities to local and international tourists¡ these artefacts must be appropriately customized & localized. This investigation measured local and international tourists’ expectations and interests for hotel furniture in order to define a process through which Iran’s cultural resources to be extracted¡ refined and later amalgamated into the furniture. To that end¡ 30 guests of four and five-star hotels in major cities of Iran )Both local and International tourists( were interviewed. Results indicated that international guests are looking for “cozy & traditional environment” while local guests are looking for “cozy yet aestheticallyminimal environment”. A conceptual model is also developed to that effect¡ recommending how to integrate countries’ cultural heritage into furniture.