In late April, ‘Jeweller to the Stars’ Harry Winston opened its largest salon in the brand’s history – right here in Shanghai. The free-standing pavilion at the entrance to the upscale Xintiandi district has been designed as a new-generation counterpoint to its stately heritage salon on Fifth Avenue in New York.

Last October, Scribes sat down with Frédéric de Narp, President and CEO of Harry Winston Inc, to talk about the upcoming salon, China’s love of big bling and the most precious gemstone in the world – the Hope Diamond. See an excerpt from our interview below.

You can also check out our piece on Harry Winston’s Ultimate Adornments collection and the company’s changing fortunes published in Prestige Hong Kong, here: http://bit.ly/IlCQxv

Scribes: Why did you choose Shanghai for the biggest flagship salon in the history of Harry Winston?
Frédéric de Narp: You can’t come to China without making a big impact. So, we are building the most important salon for Harry Winston in 80 years – which tells you how important Shanghai is for us. We already have many clients here and recognise in them a great appreciation for true luxury. Nothing is too big, beautiful or expensive in China, as long as it’s the best. The potential for growth here is extraordinary. Personally, I love Shanghai’s adrenalin. I may have just stepped off a 14-hour flight with no sleep but the excitement of business, development, past and future in Shanghai always gives me energy.

How can Harry Winston ensure supply meets demand in fast-emerging new markets?
We have a big advantage in that we own 40 percent of the Diavik Diamond Mines in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The mines sell three million carats of raw diamonds every year. While Harry Winston only uses the finest diamonds, other raw stones are sold to polishers around the world, who in turn allow us access to the rarest gems from other parts of the world.

Are you taking the brand mainstream?
We are not Cartier. We have to develop but at the same time we want to continue to honour the crazy audacity of our founder as a brand of extremes and to push the boundaries of technology and creativity, whether it be in high jewellery collections like Ultimate Adornments or our Opus watches.

What’s the most audacious thing you’ve done recently?
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Harry Winston’s donation of the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution last year, we flew in our top buyers from around the world and held a Court of Jewels in our New York salon. It featured USD1.5 billion worth of precious gems gathered around the Hope Diamond itself. It was quite a party.

In January, Scribes headed to Taiwan for a behind-the-scenes peek at the opening of the new design hotel, amba Taipei Ximending. The pre-opening of a hotel is like being on stage just before the curtain rises – the venue is filled with an excited buzz, while attention is devoted to last-minute drills and adjustments.

For the amba team, anticipation was particularly high. This is the launch hotel of amba – Taiwan’s first homegrown design hotel brand, which has been created in collaboration with some of the island’s hottest creative talents.

During our visit, we met with the delightful Grace Cheung, Principal of Taipei-based Xrange architects, whose projects have been splashed across the pages of Monocle and the The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture. Her 12-metre-high “cathedral” of recycled fringing marks the entrance to amba Taipei Ximending. We also chatted with interior designer Eugene Yeh as he styled a vintage apothecary in ‘The Lab’ bar (pictured), and sampled new creations by French Sommelier Jean Narc Nolant, whose own alchemy infuses liquors with fresh Taiwan fruits and spices for the hotel cocktail list.

Outside the hotel, we slurped the famed local beef noodles in Ximending’s pulsing alleys, visited the Palace Museum and picked up souvenirs at a nearby artists’ night market. It was our first trip to Taipei and we loved it – we’ll definitely be back soon to check-in to amba after its Spring opening.

Our review for Wallpaper was published as part of the January 2012 Editor’s Picks.

And so to 2012, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which kicks-off with some exciting new projects. National Geographic has commissioned us to update its Shanghai/Beijing travel guide and Mintel has asked us to research a comprehensive new analysis report on Southeast Asian Outward Bound Travel. In early January, the Scribes team will also undertake our first project in Taiwan for an all-new (and very chic) hospitality brand.

We’ll be reviewing Shanghai hotels and restaurants for Conde Nast Traveller, Jetsetter and DestinAsian, too. On magazine stands in January, look out for articles penned by our team on everything from high jewellery (Prestige Hong Kong), to hotel development on China’s Hainan Island (Time Out HK), and the Select Guide to Shanghai published by Insight Guides UK.

For the latest news on our current and upcoming projects, visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2012 from Scribes of the Orient.

Published at the end of every year, the DestinAsian Luxe List is an annual collection of the finest hotels opened across Asia Pacific during the previous 12 months – each with one thing in common: “a singular sense of place and style that lets them stand out from the rest.” The 2011 Luxe List features 36 hotels spread across 13 countries. In our third year of contributing to the Luxe List, Scribes reviewed five China hotels – two in Shanghai, one in Hangzhou, one in Lijiang and one on Hainan Island. Follow the links below to the full reviews.

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund, Shanghai

“A century later, Asia’s first Waldorf Astoria has updated this neo-classic beauty for travelers with a taste for old-world charm.”

Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund, Shanghai

“The 184 whitewashed rooms feature wall murals of Chinese pavilions, hanging lanterns, dragon-motif rugs, and blue-and-white mosaic-tiled bathrooms.”

Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, Hangzhou

“Imagine being a part of a Chinese watercolor painting as you wander the manicured bonsai gardens, traditional rockeries, and sun-dappled pagodas, against the mist-laced backdrop of the lake.”

Pullman Lijiang Resort & Spa, Lijiang

“High in the mountains of Yunnan Province, Pullman Lijiang Resort & Spa takes cues from local Naxi villages, with wing-tipped roofs, meandering courtyards, and reflection pools set against the moody majesty of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.”

Renaissance Sanya Resort & Spa, Hainan Island

“From the seven restaurants and bars (including a seaside seafood pavilion and an English pub with karaoke rooms) to a gaming arcade with its own 10-pin bowling alley, cinema, Wii console, and snooker table, the Renaissance has something to suit every age and taste.”

Throughout 2011, we contributed a regular column on global business travel trends, issues and developments for AmEx’s Business Travel Connexion online publication. Among the topics we covered during the year were the impact of the March earthquake and tsunami on Japan’s tourism industry, the use of social media in travel, business travel and data security and creating the hotel brand of the future.

Below are the three most-read articles contributed by Scribes in the second half of 2011 – with a sample paragraph from each feature.

1) Legacy vs Low Cost: Are Majors and LCCs Meeting in the Middle?

– A report by Deloitte Touche, called Flight Path to Success, suggests aviation business models are blurring and network and low-cost carriers are converging on a “middle ground” model. “As low-cost carriers pursue ambitious expansion plans and move toward a full-service model, they risk losing their competitive advantages. At the same time, restructuring plans are taking network carriers toward a lower-cost model,” the report says. –

2) Global Travel 2011: First Half-Year Report

– Expecting the unexpected could not have foreseen the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster; the deep-rooted upheavals in the Middle East; the scale of flooding in the United States and Australia; or the devastating mudslides in Brazil. We have witnessed another Icelandic volcano eruption, ongoing aftershocks following the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, and other natural disasters around the globe. –

3) Luxury Travel Journeys to the Next Level

– “South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, and Zambia stand out as most popular for adventure tourism in the luxury market. Uganda and Rwanda (gorilla sanctuary) are reportedly gaining in popularity,” the report says. “Worldwide, emerging adventure destinations include Iceland, Ethiopia, Utah, Bhutan, Easter Island, Myanmar, Peru, Greenland and Antarctica.” –

Business blogging is both a Scribes passion and a speciality. The penultimate article in our 2011 global travel blog series for AmEx’s Business Travel Connexion addresses a critical issue for all business travellers – data and device security.

— “Most business travellers understand their company’s technology policy. But on the road, you have so much to think about – basic processes do get neglected.”

It began as a casual conversation. Two business travellers in a hotel lounge exchanging words over coffee and laptop screens. But the impeccably dressed man next to me was no ordinary traveller. A former military computer engineer, he had joined a multinational company to fix tech-security issues for business travelers.

During a fascinating two-hour conversation, he recounted sobering stories of travellers losing laptops, misplacing flash drives, encountering malicious viruses from insecure Wi-fi networks and failing to encrypt data that no one else should ever read. He scared me with sinister phrases like identity theft, spear phishing, session hijacking, and packet sniffing.

But the most important thing he told me was this: “Ensuring data security wherever you are is not difficult, but neglecting it is easy. It’s all about mindset.” I grabbed my laptop in my arms and promised never to let go. —

The full article can be read here.

In 2011, Scribes was commissioned by Mintel to research and write a 15,000-word consumer travel analysis report entitled Backpacker Trails in Asia Pacific. The report addresses the evolution of backpacking in the region, current trends and economic and technological factors impacting backpacking, the backpacker information market and future developments. Below is the outline summary of the report published by Mintel.

— Thirty-five years ago, two British adventurers, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, published a cheap-and-cheerful guidebook based on their travels, called Across Asia on the Cheap. It proved so successful that two years later their second title, South-East Asia on a shoestring, became – and remains – a standard text for budget travellers to the region. In essence, those two titles recognised the arrival of low-cost backpacking as an established tourism genre, and catalysed the growth of a multi-million-dollar media and retail industry focused on low-cost, long-duration travel – or ‘backpacking’.

The choice of Asia for launching a travel publishing endeavour was emblematic of the time. In the late 1960s and 1970s, independent and free-spirited travellers whose luggage was contained in easy-to-carry backpacks were increasingly drawn to the Asia-Pacific region. They travelled through nations still finding their way in an uncertain post-colonial world of self-expression and self-government. A potent combination of mystical Eastern philosophies and cuisines plus spectacular landscapes enriched by ancient temples, soaring mountain ranges, untouched beaches and pristine rainforests enchanted young travellers from the affluent nations of Europe and North America.

This report starts with a brief history of the evolution of backpacker travel across Asia Pacific, followed by the key factors impacting its current and future development. Destination summaries are divided into three sections: established destinations, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand; the emerging nations of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and Vietnam; and places traditionally less visited by backpackers, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Analysis is also provided of the established backpacker gateway entry/exit hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore, and alternative entranceways such as Bangkok in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Finally, commentary is provided on established and emerging backpacker trails, plus insight into the future of the Asia-Pacific backpacking consumer and the budget travel economy that sustains them.—

We previously blogged that Scribes had been commissioned in July by Turner Commercial Productions Asia Pacific to research and prepare 12 feature articles on different aspects of Japanese lifestyle, culture and tourism for a joint project with the Japanese National Tourism Organisation (JNTO).

The project was timed to coincide with the JNTO’s promotional efforts six months after the devastating March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear alert at Fukushima. The first phase of the project was published in October.

In late November, four additional articles were added to the Japan: Endless Discovery package, which is published on the CNN website. The new articles are: Winter Wonderland, Trends in Retail, Osaka Dining and Staying in Style.

The other eight article subjects featured are: Japan: Design Central, Travel by Train, On Top of the World: Japan’s FIFA Women’s World Winners, Green Japan, Kyoto and Nara, Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics Bid, Healing and Wellness and World Heritage Japan.

Bilingual publications, written in English and Chinese, are increasingly popular in China. The lack of textual interface between the two languages (one being alphabetical and the other character based), however, creates numerous editorial problems. Content written in one of these languages and then translated into the other needs skilled editing to ensure that critical meanings and subtle nuances are not lost for the reader.

Scribes has worked on several editorial and communications projects to edit and enhance English text translated from original Chinese copy. These projects have ranged from a bilingual staff magazine for Citi China to a tenant service manual for the Wheelock Square office development in Shanghai, and from a corporate brochure for Shui On Land property developers to a marketing presentation for The Peninsula Residences in Shanghai.

In addition, we have worked for the past three years with Beijing-based Bai Media to edit, enhance and proof-read two bilingual magazines; EliteStyle, a bi-monthly luxury travel, art and lifestyle magazine distributed throughout hotels across China, and the official quarterly magazine for Kempinski Hotels in China.

A couple of years ago, we gave a presentation about ‘Enhancing Consumer Connections’ to a meeting of hotel general managers in Shanghai. One of the subjects covered was business blogging and how GMs could use this as a personable outreach tool to make new, meaningful connections with guests, both past, present and future. The audience listened carefully, and asked some insightful questions during the Q&A session.

After the presentation, several GMs spoke privately in a slightly altered tone. The concept really addressed their frustrations at not being able to reach out online and connect with future and previous guests in a similarly personal way that they could with guests currently staying at the hotel. The sense of disconnect a GM feels when a guest checks out and leaves was palpable. At that point, they simply do not know if that person will ever return.

The idea of creating a personalised GM blog to speak intimately with guests past, present and future appealed to many of the hoteliers, but the logistical barriers were, they felt, insurmountable. International hotel group websites are not generally structured to incorporate blogs by individual properties, and even if they were, the centralisation of corporate communications might mean long delays in approving and posting blog content. The consensus appeared to be: “This is a great idea, but I’m not sure it will happen for a while.”

We were reminded of those conversations recently when hearing Elliott Gould’s scathing put-down to Jude Law in the movie Contagion: “Blogging is not writing. It’s just graffiti without punctuation.” That phrase set the blogosphere ablaze, and the debate about blogging’s true purpose in an expansively proliferating world of online content continues with renewed vigour.

With that debate in mind, we recently revisited the complex ‘first-step’ issues of blogging for travel businesses in a specially commissioned blog article, entitled Building a Blog to Engage Your Target Audience, for AmEx’s Business Travel Connexion.