Room service, fresh sheets and a lobby bar - what's not to love about hotels?

And while we use them for travel and the occasional watering hole, hotels are about much more than thread count. Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life, the expansive new exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, explores the value and impact of hotels in culture, tourism, architecture and art.

The show is a mix of mediums and full of fascinating pop-culture stories (Katherine Hepburn being tossed out of the Claridge's lobby for wearing pants) and curious historical facts (like Pan-Am Airlines founding InterContinental Hotels to expand influence in South America). The hotel as a creative hub is explored in depth, with photos and works of writers, poets, musicians and filmmakers who've made spots like the Chelsea in New York City and the Chateau Marmont in LA infamous to this day. 

Also inside the exhibit is a stellar Ace Hotel pop-up shop. Part exhibit, part boutique, many of the custom items with Grand Hotel/Ace branding are for sale, including post cards (People Come and Go / Nothing Ever Happens, a line from the exhibit's inspiration, 1932 film Grand Hotel, $1.50), Tees and leather hold-alls.

Time to check in.

Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life on now at the Vancouver Art Gallery, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

See more photos from the exhibit on our Editors' Diary.

(Photo by Rachel Topham for Vancouver Art Gallery)

If jewellery for men conjures up images of piled on gold chains over a hairy chest, wipe that picture out of your head-immediately.

Now that Karl Lagerfeld has made men's rings cool (he's been stacking both hands with his own men's creations for H&M) we think any guy'd flip for Elsa Smith's new ESLA range of men's jewellery, inspired by human anatomy.

Think chunky, spiky, brass-knuckle-like silver rings and tuff cuffs.

He'll for sure scrap those gold medallions for this.

Buy the ELSA line at the Vancouver Art Gallery Gift Shop, 750 Hornby St.,604-662-4706, www.vanartgallery.bc.caand at Ice Jewellery Design, 982 Denman St., Vancouver, 604-678-4600,www.ice-jd.com
Read about the designer at www.elsasmith.com