Lion & Wilde

There is ordinary, and there is Lion & Wilde.

Part cafe, shop, laboratory, and suites, Lion & Wilde is a gathering place for the curious, a room built for conversation. It is where one comes to think.

Every detail here answers to one of two names. Lion is the fearlessness of deep sleep. Wilde is the wit and clarity that follow it, the brilliance that only a rested mind can afford. Lion & Wilde is that sequence: rest, then brilliance.

In the Café lives the ritual: tonics, teas, and sipping chocolates, crafted for the hours before sleep and the moments after waking. And a space reserved for intellectual company and unhurried conversation amongst our namesakes and their books.

The Shop is deliberately small. Just a handful of products, not found elsewhere. Each item is paired with a specialist’s guidance and expertise.

The Lab sits behind switchable glass, clear or frosted at will, a quiet piece of theater in itself. Step inside for brain mapping, and understand your mind.

The Suites are where a stay achieves what a single appointment cannot. Equal parts clinical care and restorative getaway, this handful of private rooms is where the Sleep and Brain team assesses and cares for you, so you can sleep fearlessly and think brilliantly. Just moments away, you'll find Saratoga's finest dining, massage therapy, golf, tennis, and scenic trails.

This is the space where elite medical science meets artistic inspiration, and where the pursuit of a better night's sleep and a sharper mind gets the time and space it deserves.

Lion: Sleep fearlessly

Phase 1: The Vision

We are collaborating with the artists at Animal Replicas to craft our lion. Designed to inspire tranquility, our lion will rest within a bed of crimson roses, elevated on a plinth. The installation aims to contrast the raw power of a lion with the delicate, soothing embrace of a floral sanctuary. It is the visual embodiment of sleeping fearlessly.

Phase 2: Clay Sculpture

We recently received a first look from Ami, the talented artist leading the lion build. Currently in the foundational "block-in" phase, the serene energy of the piece is shining through.

Oscar Wilde: Think brilliantly

Phase 1: The Vision

Designed to set a sophisticated, welcoming tone, the bronze-finished bust will sit atop a mahogany pedestal in our reading nook. Positioned beneath deep navy walls, classic library shelving, and warm leather accents, Wilde’s presence invites guests to sit, sip, and indulge in brilliant conversation.

At Lion & Wilde, every corner is designed to inspire storytellers, thinkers, and dreamers. To bring our literary namesake to life, we partnered with the renowned prop artisans and sculptors at Tom Spina Designs. Follow the artistic journey below, from early 3D digital modeling to hands-on physical clay sculpting, as Oscar Wilde takes his rightful place in our sanctuary.

Phase 2: 3D Digital Sculpting

• 360° Likeness: Tom Spina Designs built a complete 3D digital model to ensure historical accuracy and expressive depth from every vantage point.

• Period Details: Every detail was meticulously crafted in software, from his signature sweeping hairstyle and charismatic expression to the crisp lapels of his Victorian suit.

Phase 3: Clay Prototype

• Sarony Reference Materials: To achieve an authentic likeness, the artisans drew directly from Napoleon Sarony's iconic 1882 photograph collection, using those historic profile images to accurately capture Wilde's exact posture and facial structure.

• Physical Prototype: The digital render was translated into a physical clay sculpt to refine textures and tactile depth.

• Artisanal Touch: Sculptors hand-finished the clay, adding organic skin texture, subtle folds in the fabric, and a realistic warmth before moving into the final mold-making and bronze-casting stages.

Phase 4: Bronze Casting

• Cast in Bronze: The foundry has completed the casting of Wilde’s bust, translating the clay prototype into bronze.

• Patina: Warm copper tones catch the light across the face and lapels, deepening into the waves of his hair and the folds of the Victorian suit.

  Next: Wilde will be mounted on his pedestal and installed on campus as construction progresses.

The Library: Wilde's personal copy of Salomé

A book he held

Among the books in the Lion & Wilde library will be Oscar Wilde's copy of Salomé, the play he wrote in French in Paris in 1891. England's Lord Chamberlain banned it from the stage before it could open, and it was published in 1893.

This book was a gift to Robert Ross, and his story is part of its charm. Wilde met Ross in 1886, when Ross was seventeen. Although young, Ross was already at ease with his own homosexuality. As biographer Neil McKenna noted, "there was no doubt, no self-recrimination... Oscar could not help but be dazzled, fascinated and intrigued by a boy who was...so gloriously accepting of his sexuality." Both men later acknowledged that it was with Ross that Wilde experienced his first sexual encounter with a man. The romance was brief, but Ross later admitted that part of his lifelong loyalty stemmed from the responsibility he felt for having initiated Wilde into homosexuality, and for the devastating consequences that followed.

Less than two months after The Importance of Being Earnest opened, Wilde was arrested for gross indecency. Ross hurried to the poet's home on Tite Street. Finding the rooms locked, he broke into Wilde’s bedroom to pack a bag, returning a few hours later to force open the library door and salvage what he could of Wilde's manuscripts before the Marquess of Queensberry could seize them. Ross's mother, reading in the papers that her son had been with Wilde at the time of the arrest, begged him to go abroad and eventually promised him £500 toward Wilde's defense if he left.

Ross returned to England in time for Wilde's bankruptcy proceedings, fighting his way through to the corridor to comfort his friend. It was a gesture of profound significance to Wilde. In the letter to Lord Alfred Douglas that became De Profundis, Wilde recalled the moment: "when I was brought down from my prison to the Court of Bankruptcy between two policemen, Robbie waited in the long dreary corridor, that before the whole crowd, whom an action so sweet and simple hushed into silence, he might gravely raise his hat to me, as handcuffed and with bowed head I passed him by. Men have gone to heaven for smaller things than that."

Ross then became Wilde’s literary executor and cleared Wilde's estate from bankruptcy. Ross won back the rights to many of Wilde's works that had been sold and administering the estate on behalf of Wilde's sons. After Wilde's death in 1900, Ross commissioned Jacob Epstein's monument for Wilde's grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. On November 30, 1950, the fiftieth anniversary of Wilde's death, Ross's ashes were placed in a small compartment within the monument, as he had requested, so the two rest together.

The physical artifact of this bond, Wilde’s personal copy of the 1893 first edition of his French play Salomé, is the book that will be displayed on campus. Inside, the pages hold original ink caricatures drawn especially for Wilde by Max Beerbohm, an illustration by Charles Ricketts, and a handwritten sonnet by Pierre Louÿs.

Read the provenance of the book here: https://www.christies.com/en/stories/oscar-wildes-personal-copy-of-salome-gifted-to-his-lover-27bd1df9ab4f494784584685d9c1009d