The art of hospitality

Formed 25 years ago, UK-based The Art Group is looking beyond Europe and towards the Middle East’s hospitality sector as a possible place to expand its operations.

After meeting The Art Group export sales manager Gemma Birch at the company’s stand during May’s Hotel Show in Dubai, HME.com decided to follow up a few months later with a series of questions on the firms progress in the Middle East’s hospitality market.

The Art Groups’ Birch reveals why the company is targeting the region’s hospitality industry, what makes its products unique and how closely it works with the 800-plus artists on its books.

Can you provide some background on The Art Group and explain why its plans to capitalise on the Middle East hospitality market?

The company was established in 1987 and are considered a market leader in publishing contemporary and photographic art, servicing customers all over the world.

Our object in the Middle East is to open up this relatively untapped market for us, through various different routes — so as well as concentrating on the retail sector we are also very keen to open up commercial opportunities through the hotel sector and turnkey operations.

This sector is extremely attractive to us as it allows us a different forum in which to showcase our portfolio of more than 800 artists.

It also allows us to offer our vast experience and expertise as publishers, to work alongside interior designers and service them with our knowledge of what directions trends are taking.

We work internationally so we have a large resource of data at our fingertips, enabling us to identify what works in what territories and how European influences change and shift across the globe; equally we feedback into Europe what is happening elsewhere.

What feedback from potential Middle Eastern clients did you receive following May's Hotel Show and what future plans do you have in respect to the region’s hospitality market, if any?

We received several opportunities following The Hotel Show exhibition, all rather small in scale at the moment; we have, however, been able to strengthen relationships with several galleries in the region and have started building relationships with some turnkey operators and large retailers.

Our aim is to grow with our customers as a preferred supplier offering unequalled service and content; therefore it is very important that we understand the expectations of the market, what it requirements are and how best we can fulfil those needs — consequently we are extremely happy with the progress so far.

We are currently reviewing our creative content to ensure that we build on our existing portfolio, whilst having the breadth of product to encompass all elements of the hospitality sector.

Ultimately, from previous experience, I understand that [the Middle East] is a market and sector that continually needs developing and revisiting, and it is definitely on our radar in terms of our export strategy.

We work exclusively with all our artists, meaning that you will not have access to any of our work through anyone else.

We control all of our own printing and production at our manufacturing plant in the UK, meaning that we have complete quality control; we are also price competitive and can work to smaller minimums with every item being checked before it leaves the factory.

We ship all over the world and therefore can work to extremely tight deadlines.

Our dedicated creative team are continually pushing the boundaries with artists and new product development, meaning that we are able to constantly evolve our collections and work on bespoke projects as required; I do not believe that you will find all of that from one company anywhere else.

Would you be able to provide a full solution for interested hotels in the region, and how would you approach this?

We can absolutely provide a full solution for hotel projects within the region.

We would put a team of our own people on site to fully manage the project to achieve the deadlines set out.

From my experience I believe there are such a diverse range of hotels in the region that there is a huge mix of art work — which is great.

What is so wonderful about art is that it is subjective, not everyone likes the same thing, which is why trends evolve and it is fundamental in any market to have that.

For larger hotel chains, they are constantly considering who their customers are and how to make them happy, while maintaining their core brand image, which is no easy task.

Combined this with global cultural diversities and experiences makes it a real challenge, which is why I believe we are equipped to help these people.

Dubai is heavily advertised as the tourist destination throughout Europe and therefore I guess there is a current trend for more European tastes; having said that, Europeans visiting Dubai want to experience the Middle East, so it is essential to get the right mix.

How involved are the artists and photographers in the selection and selling process and what do you look for in a good artist?

We work very closely with all of our artists and are constantly championing new up and coming artists.

These are very passionate and creative people who truly believe in what they are doing and that ethos is generated throughout our company.

Our creative team is regularly in our meeting rooms viewing brand new collections from artists, who come to our offices with their families, their pets or sometimes just to get away from their families and pets.

Our artists are heavily involved in the selection process, because it is very important for us to understand where they have come from, the experiences that they have drawn from and ultimately what direction their art is travelling in.

We are constantly challenging our artists with different requirements; for example, we are able to work on specific commissions for certain projects with all of our artists, which ultimately offer clients a really unique one-off piece.

By exposing our artist to these projects and involving them in this process, we help them to understand what elements of their work are producing revenue streams in specific markets or with specific customer types.