Elite Traveler January-February 2016

INFLUENCE ART COLUMN

Martin Hulbert on the perfect suite What’s the recipe for a perfect hotel suite? There’s just one secret ingredient, saysMartin Hulbert, the award-winning interior designer behindCoworthPark andTheDorchester Spa

Contemporary Art Fair for $150,200. You can’t predetermine where a piece of art will go, so when we are installing we are very flexible. Some pieces might be a bit challenging or have an element of surprise – we might position these pieces somewhere guests pass fleetingly, rather than somewhere they will be looking at them all the time. By contrast, art in bedrooms will benefit from a softer composition and tone. Sculpture often works well in a suite, especially when there is enough space to arrange and light it properly. For example, the concrete owl at Coworth Park is all about night time and going to bed. I also love to challenge people’s conception of what art is. In the Presidential Suite at The Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire, one of the artworks that is most commented on is a diamond bustier in a Perspex box that was a prototype for Baccarat. Another piece that worked really well was a rug covered in crystals that we hung in a dark space. It was made by a set designer who worked on the Harry Potter movies, which were shot just up the road from the hotel at Elstree. And at Coworth Park we commissioned a brilliant metal caster from Edinburgh to cast a giant tree in bronze, using a real oak tree. Grouping things together immediately makes them stronger, whether it’s hundreds of old keys or a collection of vases on top of a cabinet. But one exquisite chair or handmade cushion could be equally impactful. Ultimately, craft pieces have the soul of the artist in them and in the end, it is about quality. Quality doesn’t show off, it becomes part of the atmosphere of the suite. You might not know what the perfect piece is until you find it, but when you do, it all clicks. Martin Hulbert is founder of Martin Hulbert Design. He is the designer of The Grove Hotel, Coworth Park and he designed spas for hotels including The Dorchester. He won the Pineapple Achievement award for outstanding contribution to hotel design from House & Garden magazine in 2011

Good art is considered, intellectual and intelligent, as well as aesthetically effective. It doesn’t have to be expensive; it’s not about the value

So many elements have to come together to make the perfect hotel suite . Some are obvious, such as a really special bed, the view from the bath tub, mirrors in the right places and beautiful lighting. Less obvious, but in my opinion the single element that takes a suite from ordinary to extraordinary, is art. Art is what makes a suite truly different. Choosing the perfect piece isn’t rocket science, though the rule of thumb is that whoever designed the space should source the art too. That art should be full of personality and say something about the space in which it sits (so be sure to avoid the bland art out there, often touted to hoteliers by the yard to fill space). One person I really admire is Kit Kemp, the creative force behind Firmdale Hotels, which includes my current favorite, the Ham Yard Hotel. Kit has a brilliant eye for art and his hotels are very original and, well, smile-raising. I too am always on the look out for perfect artworks. I go to all the shows in and around London and wherever I

happen to be, whether Amsterdam or Sotheby’s. I also always have someone in the buying line at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, while director Jay Grierson and I are inside. We telephone them and make sure we get the pieces we want. I remember one particular trip to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, when we came back with a vintage chickpea thresher and a collection of antique keys, which I made into a mural. So what exactly makes good art? In simple terms good art is considered, intellectual and intelligent, as well as aesthetically effective. It doesn’t have to be expensive; it’s not about the value, but whether it works or not. Having said that, we’ve been lucky with clients who appreciate art and let us source good pieces. For Barnsley House we bought a painting by the highly collectable English artist, Ivon Hitchens. For a hotel in London, we commissioned Riccardo Cinalli to create an amazing nine-panel oil painting of roses on Plexiglas, for which they paid $19,500. Now, 10 years later, the piece is selling at Christie’s