The Dexter Hotel Makes a Case for Made-in-Michigan Design

As the former creative director of Detroit-based watch and lifestyle brand Shinola, Daniel Caudill has long championed made-in-Michigan production. Now, he’s bringing that same approach upstate with the Dexter Hotel, a new 29-room property in Elk Rapids, Michigan.

A three-and-a-half-hour drive north of Detroit, the hotel is the latest project from Caudill’s Kinship Hospitality venture, co-founded with Kamron Bije-Apple, in collaboration with Shore North Development. From its furniture to its lighting, many of the getaway’s elements were created by Kinship Hospitality in collaboration with makers from the surrounding region.

“I’ve owned property in northern Michigan for about 10 years, and it’s the best of all worlds—it’s got incredible fresh water, beautiful orchards and farms that make for amazing food, but also such a vibrant creative culture,” Caudill says. While Detroit is well-established as a craft and design hub, he says just as much talent is waiting to be discovered upstate.

“We looked at every single thing that we were adding to this property through the lens of, ‘Can we make it here?’” Caudill says. “Through my time in Michigan, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of different people who have gone on to become friends, so I was moving through that list. Taking that extra time when it came to sourcing something—even if it was just a soap dish—ended up leading to some amazing designs.”

With a waterfront location along the shore of Grand Traverse Bay, the Dexter Hotel showcases its Michigan setting right from the get-go. Step inside, and you’ll discover that the guest rooms offer just as much natural beauty, thanks to a handsome lineup of custom white oak furniture. Building upon Michigan’s legacy as a key hub for mid-century modern furniture production, the property’s couches, chairs, beds, and nightstands were all designed by Caudill and manufactured by Grand Rapids-based Wolf Studio.

“Michigan has played such a huge role in furniture manufacturing in the past 100 years, and Wolf still creates very classically American designs—everything is solid wood and very substantial, with no veneers,” Caudill explains. “We worked with them a lot on the scale and the shape of the pieces—whether it was the bend of an arm or the slope of a back—because we wanted furniture that you can really sink into. And then we also added in a lot of textural elements—in velvet, or leather, or some heavy cottons and canvases, just to bring in as much soft tactility as possible.”

A selection of vintage furnishings and decor from Pernette’s—an antiques dealer based in nearby Northport, Michigan—adds to both the Dexter Hotel’s sense of regional history and its relaxed, welcoming feel.

“Some of the vintage chairs look like they came right out of your grandmother’s basement,” Caudill says. “They give the spot a real hangout vibe. We wanted this to be a space where everyone feels comfortable. Whenever people say, ‘I want to move in here,’ or ‘I wish this was my house,’ that’s one of the best compliments, because it means it’s a space where they really feel at home.”

Moving to the lobby, the linear patterning on the handcrafted front reception desk (again by Wolf Studio) is another strong showcase of American woodworking. The same studio also designed the bar in the on-site Noble Lounge—a dining destination that extends the hotel’s regional focus to its menu, which includes cheese from nearby towns Suttons Bay and Northport.

Michigan pride continues throughout the hotel with custom flush-mount ceiling lights (also designed by Caudill, and produced by Traverse City–based manufacturer Britten Inc.) as well as ceramic trays, vases, and other accessories (fabricated by ClaySpace, another Traverse City business). Caudill found the close collaboration process especially satisfying.

“When you’re working with someone local, you can just go over to look at a glaze,” he says. “You can refine a product as many times as you need to in order to get the perfect color or the right light temperature. It’s a luxury to be able to create like that—and to produce something that people on both sides are proud of.”

Even the Dexter Hotel’s typography bears local fingerprints: Traverse City’s Bear Sign Company produced the interior wayfinding and main exterior signage, while Detroit’s Motown Hand Painting contributed additional hand-painted signage throughout the property. Dexter’s art collection includes works curated by Detroit’s Library Street Collective, canvases by Michigan artists Pier Wright and Jesse Hickman, and even a landscape Caudill found at a local thrift store.

With so much Midwestern charm on display, Caudill acknowledges that most guests might not pick up on every last detail. “We’re working on a zine that will tell some of the stories behind these designs,” says Caudill. “But even if they don’t know the full backstory, they’ll recognize that the lighting, pottery, and lamps here aren’t something that’s in every other hotel—they’re specific to us, and that gives them a particular feel.”

Caudill is planning to launch a gift shop that will sell a few of the guest rooms’ other distinctive designs, including the soap dishes—which he says have gone missing after more than a few stays. Given how well the Dexter Hotel showcases its surroundings, perhaps it’s no surprise that people leave wanting to take a little bit of Michigan home with them.