THE MARK, NEW YORK WELCOMES A NEW FAN

The Mark, New York is delighted to introduce a signature fan that will become the hotel’s trademark – a creative masterpiece by renowned New York artist, Joe Eula – following the luxury hotel’s recent entry into Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s award-winning portfolio of hotels worldwide.

The fan is the universally-recognized symbol of Mandarin Oriental. Each hotel within the Group has its own unique fan that best conveys the hotel’s individuality. To reflect The Mark’s distinct personality and prestigious Madison Avenue address, Joe Eula’s creation features a broadbrush cityscape of the Manhattan skyline.

Joe Eula’s portraits and posters are coveted works on paper: Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, Frank Sinatra, Martha Graham, Liza Minnelli, Bobby Short, Miles Davis, The Supremes, Lauren Bacall, Diana Vreeland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lou Lou de la Falaise, Babe Paley, Elsa Peretti and Bette Midler are but a few of the international celebrities who have sat for the artist.

“I’ve always been a fan of New York and The Mark is New York”, exclaimed Joe Eula when accepting the request to paint an original masterpiece celebrating the stylish Upper East Side hotel as one of Mandarin Oriental’s newest members. With his original cityscape, Joe Eula has artistically translated the traveller’s desire to make the city his or her own. The fan will reside in the lobby of the hotel.

“I’ve been here forever, seen them come and go, and The Mark is a New York institution. I wanted the fan to say to people walking into The Mark: You have not only arrived. You are here”, he said.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is the award-winning owner and operator of some of the world’s finest hotels. The Group operates luxury hotels in key leisure and business destinations, with two hotels under development, one in Miami, Florida (opening late 2000) and the other in New York (opening late 2003). In total, Mandarin Oriental employs almost 9,000 staff in three continents with 10 hotels in Asia, seven in North America and four in Europe.

Notes

The unique fan symbol of Mandarin Oriental - with its exotic connotation of elegance and comfort - was designed to reflect the hotel group’s luxurious image. As Mandarin Oriental grew, so was the need to create a symbol that was representative of the Group, yet still reflective of each hotel’s local charm and image.

Classically simple, visually elegant and indisputably a part of the Orient, the fan ties together each hotel into a single identity and a single image, whilst still connecting them to the Group. All Mandarin Oriental hotels have their own unique and authentic fan, distinguishing them from each other yet cleverly using a recognisable “fan” shape to achieve Group synergy.

Each hotel’s fan is cleverly linked to the environment in which it resides, taking into account the unique attributes of each country’s culture. Colours, designs and prints are carefully chosen upon consultation with designers, local artists, historians and Mandarin Oriental directors. Authenticity also plays a key role in determining the desired fan for each hotel.

For example, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong’s fan is an authentic Canton fan (circa 1870), red in colour and symbolic of fortune and prosperity in the Chinese spectrum. Due to the social nature of a hotel as a meeting place, the fan was especially chosen for its “1000” faces theme depicting scenes from Chinese courts and social life. Hong Kong’s fan differs from its sister property in Macau – despite also being a Canton fan of the same era, the colours are brighter and feature a different design indicative of the flamboyant tastes of wealthy Macanese trading merchants.

Similarly, the designated fan for The Oriental, Bangkok is an antique Ramayana fan depicting life by the river and dates back to 1810 – aptly connecting the hotel not only to its historical roots but also to its prime location on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

In contrast, the Group’s hotel in Hawaii, Kahala Mandarin Oriental, created its own fan that is a colourful floral masterpiece of local flora. Likewise, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur sought to design their own fan by involving the local community through a national competition. The winning entry was an eclectic masterpiece, reflective of the vibrant multicultural heritage of Malaysia – Chinese, Malay and Indian. Incorporated into the colourful design was the country’s national flower, the Hibiscus, embellished by intricate Indian and Chinese motifs.