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Entrepreneur George Wong uses his provocative art and furnishings collection to stimulate conversation at his Hotel Éclat.
By Mary Scoviak
How would you feel about dining on a camel bone chair? Would you rest easy if you knew the bed you were sleeping on cost $48,0000? Design elements like these are basic ingredients in the food for thought George Wong serves up throughout his 60-room Hotel Éclat in Taipei. This five-star boutique property in the city's fashionable Da-An district is his personal take on a hotel as art. Like Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Yin Jun, Zeng Fanzhi and the other artists he collects, Wong set out to engage people and force them out of their comfort zones. The goal was to create a “What is that?” dialogue among the guests and set a new fashion for Asia.
Wong handed that tall order over to the Hong Kong office of LRF Designers Ltd. for the hotel and Thomas Schoos Design (Los Angeles) for the property's Ming Yuen restaurant. Both firms not only got carte blanche in crafting their design concepts; they also received access to their client's extensive collections of fine art and furnishings and his encouragement to select pieces that would serve as conversation starters.
That treasure trove, like Wong's gift of creative free rein, represents a once-in-a-career fantasy. What makes the Éclat relevant in the real design world is LRF's and Schoos's flair for torquing the basics into something fresh.
Take the way Charles Robertson, LRF's managing director, curates the art. While he may have been tempted to show off his client's multi-million-dollar Dalí sculptures as the centerpieces of the lobby, he instead stationed the pair off to the side at the entry to the Éclat Lounge. Part design statement, part business driver, that positioning compels guests and locals to seek out a smallish space that otherwise might have languished as a retreat for footsore shoppers. It also gives more customers a reason to move deeper into the hotel where they can observe the other restaurants and bars. And, given their controversial nature, these masterworks invite conversation and speculation—which mean guests will be more likely to linger and, hopefully, to spend more. It helps to have sculptures that are world-famous and dazzlingly gold, but new works by affordable up-and-comers could easily mimic the effect.
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