The Jumeirah Essex House, New York, USA
The stunning art deco hotel first opened its doors in 1931, but has recently been the subject of a $90 million (around £57 million) renovation. Boutique design specialist, Kenneth E. Hurd & Associates, was commissioned by the owners to refurbish the Grand and Petite salons, which make up the primary ballroom spaces in the hotel. Brintons, recently accredited with ISO14001, was appointed as the exclusive carpet supplier.
Client Brief
The owners of the Jumeirah Essex House wanted to re-invigorate the two primary function rooms without compromising the overall French style and décor. They were determined that the greatest impact would be made by replacing the carpet to complement the traditional detailing. Kenneth E. Hurd & Associates – a company with extensive experience of completing historic renovations – chose to work with Brintons because of its proven skills in generating traditional carpet designs that are in keeping with the required sensitivity of detail and colouration for this type of project.
Creative design approach
Brintons was presented with two requirements from the design company. The first was that the carpet design should respond to the ceiling layout that features a dramatic dome and ancillary coffers. The pattern of the borders and the area segments had to roughly mimic those in the ceiling. The second requirement was that the royal blue, gold and palatial red colours had to be rich enough to “carry” the ballroom as it lay empty, as this is often the time when a prospective client first sees the room prior to a booking being made.
Special circumstances or requirements
Because of the requirement for the carpet design to respond to the ceiling layout, there would be very few repeats in the design. This meant the Brintons design team had to generate a single, larger design for the entire project rather than just a small 36” or 72” segment of carpet. Additionally, the combined rooms were irregular in shape, making the task of creating an integrated design even more challenging.
The solution that was delivered
The final carpet design theme was reminiscent of a classic European palace and was perfectly consistent with the surrounding décor. The borders featured multiple bands of repeating patterns – gold on blue backgrounds that simulated the decorative gold-leafed motifs in the ceiling – while the scrollwork and floral motifs within the area segments complemented the garlands and relief mouldings on the fascias and wall panels.
Services provided by Brintons
As the design was so intricate and the colorations were so critical, Brintons prepared numerous hand trials prior to the design firm showing them to the executives of the hotel. Once approval was obtained for the design concept, Brintons prepared detailed layout drawings showing the seaming and pattern matches. After A final design review, the carpet was manufactured at Brintons’ global headquarters in Kidderminster, Great Britain.
Brintons Reaction
Brintons’ senior designer who worked on the project, said: “Brintons is extremely proud of its extensive design archive that dates back to 1791 and, when you’re trying to recreate historically accurate pieces for a project like Jumeirah Essex House, the archive is invaluable. Following a significant internal consultation, I found period source inspiration as a starting point and then presented various design options from which we narrowed down the styling. We were then able to develop the design further relating to the initial brief.
“Although this type of project can be extremely demanding, not only because of the hours of work that go into pieces of this magnitude and intricacy, but also because as a designer they become a labour of love, it is a great help to have a knowledgeable and supportive client. I think with Jumeirah Essex House, we have not only created a ‘one of a kind’ carpet, we have also generated a timeless design befitting of a 5-star, luxury property.”
Client Reaction
The hotel owners were very pleased with the results and everyone involved worked hard to exceed the owner’s expectations for how well the carpet would enhance the existing salons without an extensive renovation. We were equally pleased with the service we received from Brintons to achieve such a dramatic carpet that was perhaps one of the most complex we have ever attempted.
Kenneth E. Hurd of Kenneth E. Hurd & Associates