When you’re indulging in a day of pampering, the right setting can enhance the overall experience—but all too often interiors lean toward clinical, with standard fixtures and a white palette. To provide that perfectly calming atmosphere in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, Sana Skin Studio founders Valentina Hernandez Botero and George Dufournier turned to Michael Dolatowski. For the latest iteration of the studio, Dolatowski drew on what he had learned designing every Sana location to date, creating what he sees as a prototype for the brand moving forward.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
Sana Skin Studio launched in 2020, with its first location in Wynwood. The brand takes its name from the Spanish word “sanar,” which means “heal.” It’s an apt moniker for a company that emphasizes healthy skin rather than just surface beauty. As the brand has grown, the original Wynwood studio has been replaced with a new flagship that reflects the evolution of both Sana and its design language. Dolatowski describes the first location, completed on a shoestring budget just before the pandemic, as almost akin to a set design. This time, the goal was to take what the team had learned from subsequent locations in Coconut Grove and Fort Lauderdale and push those ideas further.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
“If anything, we subtracted a little bit in Wynwood and leaned more into the sculptural form,” Dolatowski says. The nearly 15-foot ceilings feel sculptural, with an airy quality that matches the spatial flow. Curves are found everywhere, from arched doorways and mirrors to a circular light feature. The latter grew out of a practical challenge: Existing columns protruding from the wall needed to be concealed, so Dolatowski turned the area into a large illuminated circle that takes advantage of the room’s height. In the hallway, a vaulted ceiling changes direction overhead, creating what he describes as an almost cathedral-like effect.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
A soothing beige palette covers the limewashed walls, where two layers of creamy beige from JH Wall Paints create subtle depth. The restrained material palette was intentional, allowing the architecture to take precedence. Hand-formed terracotta bricks from Clay Imports add texture along the corridor, while fluted travertine on the point-of-sale station introduces a natural stone element. Cosentino Dekton counters are ultra-durable and easy to clean, essential in high-touch zones.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
In a nod to Japanese design, paper lanterns float overhead, while mini Zen gardens built into some retail islands create a meditative effect. The influence also extends to the circular light feature and, for Dolatowski, the intentionality behind each surface and detail. Rather than using partitions to separate areas, tonal linen curtains maintain fluidity as clients move from the front to the back of the studio. That sense of continuity has become increasingly important to Sana’s interiors: Retail areas that were once conceived as individual zones now connect to create what Dolatowski describes as one continuous sculpture.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
There is one notable break from the otherwise neutral palette: The bathroom is drenched in a deep terracotta red, a deliberate reference to the warmer colors found in Sana’s original Wynwood location.
Photography by Jeanne Canto
This modern oasis is a refuge of calm in contrast to the frenetic arts district location. “There is a lot going on visually, and this is kind of a counterpoint to that,” Dolatowski notes. “We always wanted to create this feeling of a deep breath,” he adds. “It is minimal while still being quite expressive in form.”
Photography by Jeanne Canto
That atmosphere also reflects how Sana wants clients to use the space. The brand calls its aestheticians “skin healers,” and Dolatowski thinks of the studio as a place of ritual rather than a destination for a quick fix. “It’s meant to be a place you come back to,” he says. “It’s really about transformation over time.”
Photography by Jeanne Canto
With an intentional blend of architecture, materiality, and proportion, Sana Skin Studio is a place that offers more than temporary treatments. For Dolatowski, the new Wynwood flagship represents the most complete expression yet of a design language that has evolved alongside the brand: increasingly pared back, continuous, and sculptural.
