On Board Experience Project

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The Art of Cruising

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T Galleria Artisan Project

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GUMA

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Cultivating and Award-Winning Team

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The Art of Intensity

Everyone should live in Hong Kong, at least once.

Hong Kong is an experience in intensity. If you have ever eaten authentic Szechuan food, you know what I mean. Levels of flavor gradually pour in and quickly and abruptly overwhelm your senses until you finally gasp for air.

In Hong Kong, I was immediately absorbed into an environment that is at a constant level of intensity and change. There is a fascinating dynamic of contrasts within the city. While living there I developed an awareness of the unpredictable influences that can quickly change everything overnight.

Living and working in Hong Kong is exciting. There are tremendous resources at your fingertips. Everything functions seamlessly. There is a rhythm to the constant current of millions of people, an intensity made up of people and cultures from all over the world blending together in this singularly contained vertical space.

Hong Kong is a powerhouse. The magnitude of daily activity in and out of the city is awe inspiring, and the dense coexistence of commerce and humanity is humbling. Building a business in Hong Kong is an introduction into a world of complimentary forces ultimately fueling the growth of a dynamic economy while being able to control it.

In Hong Kong I spent most of my time in the sky. My home and office were perched high up within this vertical arena. Occasionally, I landed on the ground in between. I made my home in an apartment that looked out into the heart of Hong Kong’s architectural marvels. It’s interesting how much your perceptions change depending on what floor you live on. You find yourself thinking acutely in three-dimensional terms. I could find serenity up high with a view of the city down below, or seek excitement down low right in the heart of it all.

Taxi rides in Hong Kong are a lesson in intensity. While you see your destination across the harbor in Kowloon, the apparent ease it takes to get there becomes irrelevant to the experience you are about to have. Getting there can be a ten-ticket ride. It starts with a series of twists and turns throughout the jungle maze of city streets. Often the driver will hit bursts of speed, yet suddenly and miraculously maneuver into the fastest traffic lane without event. Layer upon layer of gravity-pulling starts and stops brings you closer to your destination, then ten traffic lanes condense into two, and you disappear into a tunnel for a short break.

As you emerge from the quiet hum of the tunnel on the other side, the intensity kicks in again. Eventually, you learn to assert authority from the back seat and influence the outcome with your taxi driver – mastering the starts and stops of your experience while calmly enjoying crystallized ginger now and then. That was just one half of the daily commute.

Even Mother Nature throws intensity at you. My first test was a T10 Typhoon. I questioned my decision to live in a high-rise glass apartment building, set precariously into the edge of a cliff, which suspiciously swayed in the wind. I found myself debating whether the building was going to hold tightly to the hillside, or slide into the heart of the city. And yet we both stood up to it. Two years later, another impending T10 became an opportunity to relax at home with a glass of wine.

The “Art of Intensity” is the ability to stay focused and controlled while a dynamic environment swirls and shifts around you. Hong Kong was where I discovered I could live my life as an adventure in the sky. Hong Kong became an opportunity to experience heightened contrasts. It was a remarkably dense, diverse community I was fortunate to be a part of, and an ideal place to master skills both in and out of the workplace.

And Hong Kong is where my intense love of Szechuan food was born. The hotter, the better.

Legends: Designers and Artisans

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Wear Bamboo, Plant Bamboo

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Jobs for Life

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The Art of the Soul

Karya Tangan Indah (KTI) jewelry manufacture in Bali, which is also a sustainable farm, was the setting for a compelling opportunity with John Hardy Jewelry.  I was recruited to lead the development of the Brand product strategy and oversee the Bali jewelry manufacturing operation. I sold my home in San Francisco to move into an antique wood joglo set in the midst of a rice paddy featuring limited electricity, occasional wireless, several animated geckos, and outdoor plumbing.

With the promise of adventure and an opportunity to experience a fascinating culture rich with ceremonial and artisanal tradition, this was a captivating next step.  It was a pivotal decision, and one of my most inspired career moves. Overnight, I became responsible for 550 employees and their families, their welfare consistently at the forefront of my decision-making.  Bali became my home for three years.

Bali is a study in contrasts and balances as epitomized by the black and white checkered cloths that dot the landscape.  Numerous temples spoke of the deep-rooted ceremonial traditions of the Balinese, whose religious origins are based in Hindu and Buddhist practices.  Amid the tranquility of tropical-island living was a vibrant, staccato urban energy, all blending perfectly.  These were constant reminders for me to balance everything I have learned so far with everything I was quickly learning.

The KTI organization is predominantly Hindu and Muslim.   This was my first opportunity to lead an organization with a diversity of religious preference, and there was a beauty in the diversity, a tolerance for everyone’s differences.   People came together with a similar interest in the “Art of the hands” to create beautiful handmade jewelry.  I appreciated how everything just worked.

Creating jewelry is an art.  I am a firm believer that the art of the process determines the outcome.   When skilled artisans come together to craft an object, you can feel it.  At John Hardy, we referred to it as the “soul” of the jewelry. The silversmith tradition in Bali has been handed down over generations.  Weaving palm fronds into daily offerings, designing penjar, carving wood, embroidering kebaya, amongst the many examples of artisanal tradition in Bali are skills many start to develop as a child and some become masters of their craft at a very young age.

Being surrounded by a community of incredibly talented artisans is a privilege to witness first hand.  My role was to create an environment where everyone was inspired to create, and also challenged to enhance expertise.  We created momentum – staff from the kitchen to production to design filled with an appreciation and pride of what we were achieving, while becoming even better at achieving it.

Bali inspired my journey into the “Art of the soul.”  When you experience the “Art of the soul” captured expertly in children, and throughout the fabric of an entire community, you understand the importance of sustaining and protecting it.  Taking pride in the “Art of the soul” helps generate interest among youth, and engaging youth promotes sustainable resources for our business.  Sustainable growth for our business protects traditions.  The success of my mission at John Hardy rested in the creation of handmade jewelry and at the same time helped reinforce and nurture the soul of the community.

Bali was a window into a diverse community.  How the diversity of language, culture, religious preference, can be condensed into one community.  We are all part of a community.  We have an opportunity to broaden the scope of what we consider our community to be.