yinjispace

For Michael Schickinger, a “brand” is not a superficial visual identity, but an integrated perception that flows through space, experience, and narrative — a core idea he has continuously studied, reflected upon, and been deeply inspired by throughout his work in hospitality design. This October, during the Yintour journey in Greece, we were honored to welcome Michael Schickinger, founder of the renowned German design studio Lambs and Lions, to En Kyanó for an in-person masterclass. Centered on “Hotel Brand Design and Realization,” the session drew on a series of Lambs and Lions projects to systematically unpack how a brand is constructed and perceived within space.

In Michael’s understanding, a brand is a feeling, and it is also a sense of place. It is not created to please the market, but to enable every traveler who arrives to form a genuine connection with the environment. In the course, he broke brand-building into two essential dimensions — which also formed the two major parts of the masterclass: First, the narrative dimension: emotional and perceptual, rooted in the atmosphere, soul, and story behind the space; Second, the structural dimension: rational and systematic, reflecting the methods, frameworks, and design logic that allow a brand to materialize.

Michael believes that a meaningful hotel is not an accumulation of complex forms, but a response to nature and to the traveler — shaped through an attitude of restraint and intentional simplicity. “A space is not a stack of luxuries; it is a place where people feel held.” He emphasized that the foundation of a brand comes from what is essential and elemental — the wind by the sea, the light moving across a wall, the rhythm of footsteps through a corridor. These subtle yet deeply authentic experiences, he notes, are the true core of hotel design.