Known for her impeccable taste and the sumptuous and sleek homewear and fashion of her super-successful retail empire The White Company, it surely wasn’t long before someone asked Chrissie Rucker to design a hotel…
First up though, she has created a penthouse home, Haus Alpina, in royal ski favourite Klosters. And we can all live The White Company dream with a stay there - well, if we have 30,000CHF to spend that is, or £19,810.
But that’s for a week, and Haus Alpina sleeps up to 12 guests in six spacious bedrooms, so of course, if 12 guests chipped in, that’s £1,650 each for a week, all in en-suite bedrooms.
The penthouse also comes with its own driver to drop and collect you from the ski lifts, a fully fitted ski-room with lift access straight into the penthouse, dedicated staff, champagne reception on arrival, breakfast, tea, canapés and dinner plus daily housekeeping. A bargain.
The gorgeous home belongs to Rucker and her equally entrepreneurial husband Nick Wheeler, the founder of Charles Thrwhitt shirts.
The pair enlisted the interior design skills of fellow Brit Nicky Dobree, credited with setting the trend for luxury chalet residences and also known for her own chalet, Ferme de Moudon in Les Gets.
“What’s really special and unique about Haus Alpina is the space; you rarely find ceiling heights and spaciousness like this in the mountains,” says Dobree.
Trademark home comforts from The White Company include beds with toppers and goose down pillows, high thread count cotton sheets and scented candles.
Haus Alpina has a TV room, spa treatment room, two living rooms with open fireplaces and a balcony library with Apple Mac - if anyone absolutely has to work - as well as a formal dining area and a traditional-style Swiss Stübli.