The Art of Ambiance

How we curated Pakistan’s first boutique art hotel — and how your work can inspire a new generation of travellers

Ambiance Boutique Art Hotel opened its doors in October 2020 in Lahore, offering renewed hope for art and design enthusiasts as the country emerged from the dark shadows of Covid’s first wave. The opening itself was a celebration of art, with talented performing artists bringing to life select artworks throughout the hotel, drawing guests into uniquely immersive experiences. 

9 Oct 2020: Guests at the opening of Ambiance Lahore wore masks as they participated in immersive theatre, affording privacy to themselves and the actors

But how did art and hospitality fuse so uniquely at Ambiance? The truth is that it was an organic process: while brainstorming the new hotel’s vision with international hospitality consultant Shireen Waheed, we questioned how we could cater to a new breed of millennial travelers that valued authentic & personalised experiences above all else — and were less likely to stay at larger, more ‘commercial’ hotels. As a long-time art collector (and wannabe aesthete), I hoped to infuse the soul of the new hotel with art and beauty so that it would inspire our discerning guests, many of whom are themselves explorers and collectors. This felt slightly self-indulgent at first but, the more we considered the power of art as a universal expression of beauty and meaning, the more convinced we became that it should become the crowning feature of the hotel.

A key driver of this decision was a desire to promote young and gifted emerging artists, many of whom don’t have the right platforms to showcase their work to the audiences they aspire to attract. (Some of you may understand that being a successful artist is as much about ‘marketing’ and promotion as it is about raw talent — well, almost as much. Talent is a prerequisite. But it is a sad reality that many talented artists go unnoticed.) So why not make the art hotel a platform for young artists to showcase their work — not for sale, as I had to explain repeatedly to people — but to forever inspire and arouse the curiosity of our guests as part of a permanent collection — almost like a contemporary art museum.

A wall at the artsy Cafe Ambiance, Lahore

It was thus that Ambiance Boutique Art Hotel was born. 

The next step was slightly more complex: since art now featured so prominently in the brand, and the brand aspired to promote emerging contemporary artists, how exactly were we going to make this happen? We quickly calculated that, even in our small, 24-room property in Lahore, we would need about 150 works of art to create the desired impact: 48 works for the guest rooms, another 48 (smaller works) for the bathrooms and about 50 for the public areas. But we had a guiding principle: we were not going to adorn the walls with commercial posters and prints and random, meaningless artwork (i.e., the ‘elevator music’ equivalent of the art world). No, we were going to curate an eclectic collection of original artwork from talented, early career contemporary artists — with a few ‘not-so-early career’ artists thrown in. (What is contemporary art, and why am I drawn to it? Read The Beginner’s Guide to Buying Contemporary Pakistani Art).

I started buying art at an almost frenzied pace, my guiding principle being ‘Would I put this in my own home?’ If the answer was ‘not really, but it’s good enough for the hotel’, then the work didn’t make the cut. I visited various art galleries in Lahore & Karachi and connected with dealers while also engaging some artists directly, acquiring a dozen works from the youthful but enigmatic Beygumbano, whose edgy (and frankly bizarre!) limited edition digital art spoke to me (thank you Saiyna & Zaigham for the suggestion!) as well as some fun work from (‘already emerged’ artist) Mohsin Shafi and others.

“The Truth about Forever”: One of Mohsin Shafi’s boxed fantasy worlds at Ambiance Lahore

I must also acknowledge my wife Sophia for her indulgence in letting me ‘borrow’ about 10 solid works from our home in Lahore, including two Atif Khan originals which we had acquired from Taseer Art Gallery when the spirited (and insightful) Sanam Taseer assured me “he only makes prints now, so this is your last chance to get his original work”. Other borrowed works included a large painting by Sonia Chundrigar, an even larger stainless steel work by BNU graduate Hussain Jamil, and oil & acrylic paintings by Doha-based Sara Riaz Khan and acclaimed Egyptian artist Ibrahim El Tanbouli. (I believe Sophia finally lost her patience when I decided to ‘lend’ a Sadequain drawing we had recently acquired to the hotel — it hangs in the lobby, quietly drawing attention to the great modernist’s influence on today’s contemporary artists.)

Sadequain: the one artist at Ambiance Lahore who is neither young nor emerging! The cushions below from House of Cali echo his iconic lines.

In the bathrooms (and a few guest rooms), we framed original Parisian newspapers from the late 19th century featuring old maps, political happenings, and vintage fashion that my wife and I acquired on an absolutely freezing December morning at the world’s largest antique market, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, on the northern (and less touristy) end of Paris. This seemed fitting, given that the agreed design aesthetic of the Lahore property was ‘French chic meets colonial eclectic’. On a later European trip, I acquired two striking mirrors from a vintage market in Brussels, both of which now adorn the walls of Cafe Ambiance.

One of hundreds of indoor and outdoor walkways packed with treasures at Paris’s Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, a sprawling antique market with 14 districts!

But this was still not enough to create the awesome artistic amalgamation that we had envisioned!

It was then that I had the ultimate brainwave (if I may say so myself) of launching a nationwide Call for Art for the remaining 40-50 works of art that we required. I reached out to two big guns in the art world, Prof Nazish Ataullah and Prof Salima Hashmi, both former Principals of Lahore’s NCA, with the latter going on to found BNU’s flagship School of Visual Arts & Design. Along with our hospitality consultant and I, we set up the 4-member Ambiance Curators Committee and floated our first ‘Call for Art’, inviting young artists across Pakistan to submit their works by email. 

Lahore, September 2020: The first Ambiance Curators Committee reviews submissions by young artists. L to R: Prof Naazish Ataullah, Prof Salima Hashmi, Ms Shireen Waheed, and myself (in ‘healthier’ days!)

The results exceeded our expectations when over 200 early-career artists hailing from Gilgit-Baltistan to Balochistan emailed over 600 submissions! The Curators Committee had its work cut out. Over a series of meetings, we shortlisted 53 works from 28 artists including Rahman Zada, Ujala Khan, Anusha Ramchand Novlani, Yaseen Khan, Abdul Rehman, Tehseen Khan, Javaid Iqbal Mughal, and many other uber-talented young artists (see full list of Ambiance Lahore artists here including those whose works were acquired through the Call for Art). 

The Cool Guy (my name for this work): one of my favourite pieces at Ambiance Lahore by young NCA graduate Javaid Iqbal Mughal

I have found it highly gratifying that, despite the Great Depression called Covid (which has impacted the hospitality sector more than most), our young artists’ work has been noticed, and people cannot stop asking me how to contact them. We are now (finally) putting up QR codes near each artwork that, when scanned, will take guests to the relevant artist’s profile on the Ambiance website. I am certain that when we finally emerge from Covid and its variants, our artists will discover an even greater following from the guests of Ambiance.  

We are now excited to embark upon a new adventure: Ambiance Boutique Art Hotel, Karachi, presently under renovation. Expected to launch in Dec 2021, Ambiance Karachi will be a green oasis in the heart of Karachi — a biophilic and sustainably designed property that features a minimal, almost industrial design aesthetic: the perfect canvas for us to showcase some incredible contemporary art to the collectors and aesthetes of Karachi — and indeed those who visit Karachi from around the world. 

The upcoming Ambiance Karachi is a stone’s throw from this famous Karachi landmark!

The new Curators Committee for Ambiance Karachi fittingly includes two cultural leaders from Karachi: Prof Shehnaz Ismail, one of the founders of the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture and Ms Adeela Suleman, a prominent practicing artist & sculptor who heads Karachi’s Vasl Artists’ Association. The new members are joined by Prof Salima Hashmi and myself, balancing the Karachi/Lahore act, as we must in all domains! 

I feel deeply privileged to be able to pursue this soulful and meditative journey that continues to reimagine hospitality through the lens of contemporary art. And while I cannot be certain where it will lead, I have a sense that it will be somewhere beautiful…and possibly unexpected. 

If you are an emerging artist and wish to be a part of our permanent collection in Karachi, visit www.ambiancehotels.net/call-for-art. Last day for submissions is 6 Aug.

The author is Chief Design Curator of Ambiance Boutique Art Hotels and runs a personal blog on Instagram @kasim_kasuri showcasing his engagement in art, hospitality and education.