Q + A

Boutique Design | September+October 2011

term “cultural spy”—a design approach that involves observing guest behaviors to create spaces that reflect their values and meet their needs—into the industry’s lexicon. And now, he’s touting an “S-Factor” approach to creating memorable hotels by integrating three fundamental elements: style, setting and story.

BD: When and how did your first over-

seas design project come about?

Ornstein: In 1995, we were in a competi-tion for hotels in India to be built by an American-based developer, so I traveled at my own expense to India to see the hotels’ sites and learn about their local markets.

miles). J/Brice’s roster of overseas projects includes the Grand Heritage Doha Hotel and Spa; the Admiral Plaza Hotel and the Al Khaleej Palace, both in Dubai; as well as a Hyatt locale in Sri Lanka and a Hilton hotel in Osaka, Japan. The firm has also achieved some prominence in its home country, having done interior design work on such locales as the Helmsley Hotel and The Muse, both in New York, and the hotel aboard the berthed Queen Mary ocean liner in California.

A native New Yorker and graduate of Brandeis University, Ornstein is an innova-tive thinker on design trends and philoso-phies. A few years back, he introduced the

Every couple of months, Jeffrey Ornstein makes the 12-hour-plus flight between his home base in

Boston and a satellite office in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia (as well as other Gulf-region cities such as Jeddah, Riyadh and Doha). And that willingness to jump on a jetliner is essential to winning overseas design projects, says the founder and ceo of J/Brice Design International. A presenta-tion without an accompanying designer “is just a piece of paper” that probably won’t even get looked at, says Ornstein.

When it comes to landing international design commissions, Ornstein’s firm has clearly walked the walk (and logged the air

Q+A: Jeff OrnsteinJ/Brice Design International’s jet-setting founder and ceo details the do’s and don’ts of landing design commissions in overseas markets.

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The Grand Heritage Doha, a project J/Brice Design International created for client Sheikh Hamad Jassim M.A. Al Thani.

Jeff Ornstein

Q + A

Boutique Design | September+October 2011

BD: What’s your take on the outlook for

developing boutique hotels in the Gulf?

With the exception of the Kempinski Al Othman we’re designing in Saudi Arabia, all the projects we’ve worked on or are working on are non-branded. (The Grand Heritage Doha is a under contract with an American management company that specializes in one-of-a-kind properties, so their standards are strictly operationally/service related.) The Arabians we work for are all very clever and adept, so the idea

ences can be fabricated or embellished (their words), so they need to trust the individual to have confidence in their capabilities. Creative challenges aren’t as numerous, as they have an amazing sense of style and appreciation of “all thing rare and beautiful” (again, their words). They also have absolutely no sense of urgency, and that is the biggest hurdle to get over, as we Americans are so deadline-driven. Meetings change, are missed or resched-uled at a moment’s notice all the time.

While there, we were introduced to the Taj Group—I happened to be staying at the company’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. We had a wonderful meeting, and after two hours they hired us to design the Tata Theatre National Opera House Restaurant-Rangoli. When we returned about two months later with the designs, they then invited us to go with them to Dubai to design a hotel being built there that they had just taken over. So when we went home from that trip, we had yet another new project, and things have grown from there.

BD: Much of your overseas work in the

intervening years has been in the Middle

East. What have you found to be some of

the major cultural and/or creative chal-

lenges associated with doing business in

that region?

The Arabians have a very definite and rather different mindset about the art of doing business than we do in the West. First, you would never win a commission unless they felt they knew you person-ally and trusted you beyond all measure. All the beautiful pictures, awards or refer-

A dining area created by Ornstein’s firm on the berthed Queen Mary ocean liner.

A J/Brice-designed guest room at the Helmsley Hotel in New York.

Q + A

Boutique Design | September+October 2011

you would call a “sponsor” in the Gulf) or contact in each marketplace, again based upon the trust issues. That being said, once I established a relationship in Qatar, I met perhaps two dozen members of the Royal Family my �rst trip.

In China, we’re expecting to have more of a challenge linguistically, as English is not as prevalent as it is in the Middle East. Anyone who just arrives in either region and starts knocking on doors without having a sponsor or corporate partner would have a very big challenge ahead of themselves. How do you �nd someone? Again, we had the luxury of being referenced in by the Taj Group, which is a formidable force in Asian hospitality, so that helped quite a bit in the beginning. In China, our associates are connected to an exceptionally presti-gious law �rm (jointly U.S./China staffed) and that too is immensely helpful in estab-lishing credibility and having doors opened at the highest level of decision makers.

BD: J/Brice has worked on several high-

profile projects in the U.S. How has that

work influenced your designs for over-

seas markets—and vice-versa?

Well, I wouldn’t say they in�uenced the design, but they certainly in�uenced the clients. The names Helmsley and TheQueen Mary are synonymous with iconic style. I even got a personal email from one of the Sheikhs I work for that said, “How proud I will be to tell my sons that our designer and my friend Jeff designed the Queen Merry.” (Let’s not be to too quick to judge that misspelling until we can spell Khalifa or Souk in Arabic.) This was valida-tion to my clients that they had made the right choice by selecting J/Brice.

BD: What’s your favorite hotel in the

world, and why?

The Martinez in Cannes. I try to stay there once a year in summertime, and I love everything about it. Of course, I have family in France, so the whole experi-ence also conjoins personal time with rela-tives as well as R-and-R in a wonderful locale with beautiful ambience. And who wouldn’t enjoy the convenience of buzzing up the coast for a night in Monte Carlo? BD

strong investment in the Chinese market-place. In addition, the Chinese mindset, I’m told, is very similar to the Arabian one. Through our Chinese representatives, I’ve been given a lot of assurance that if we meshed well in the Gulf, we should have no problem transitioning in the Asian marketplace. Again, it centers on the trust issue: “Are you coming back?” I think our extensive work for Hilton and Marriott—we’ve done about 35 hotels in total for those two companies—will serve us well for developers seeking a �agged product.

BD: In more general terms, how impor-

tant are locally based partners in

landing/executing an overseas design

projects?

For introductions, it isn’t just important, it’s essential to have a rep (which is really what

of turning over the reins to a management company that’s beholden to franchises’ standards would be unappealing to them. They very much appreciate the concept of self-determination, so they are in essence interested in and comfortable with creating boutique locales.

BD: Earlier this year, you joined forces

with Strategic Resource Consultants, a

company that specializes in helping U.S.

businesses enter the Chinese market via

joint ventures. What’s behind that move,

and what kinds of work do you expect it

will bring your way?

The Chinese hotel market is about to burst wide open. In talks with Hilton, I am told they are committed to having 50,000 new guest rooms there in the next �ve years alone. Starwood, too, is making a very

The Kempinski Al Othman in Al Khobar, a branded J/Brice design commission, is slated to open next year in Saudi Arabia.

Also in Saudi Arabia, Ornstein’s �rm has designed the Maghrabi Hotel that’s planned for Mecca.