Boutique Design - Fall 2023 - 112

PHOTOS: ELIZABETH LIPPMAN AND THE INGALLS
CHECKING
IN
D E S I GN ER N I NA GOT L I EB GE T S
BACK TO HER ROOT S
By Katie Kervin
THE WELL AT HAC I ENDA ALTAGR AC I A IN COS TA RI CA
Having started her career in luxury residential design
before moving on to roles with design heavy hitters
like Roman and Williams and AvroKO, and stints
with Starwood Hotels and West Elm as director of
design, Nina Gotlieb has developed a wide-ranging
set of experiences that she brings to her newest
venture, Otherworld.
Tell us about your recently launched company,
Otherworld. We are an interior design studio and
advisory. I, along with many other small studio
founders I know, have a collective vision for a new
way of doing things. Hospitality infuses everything
we do, including our own services. We dive beyond a
look and feel, taking a holistic and strategic approach
to curating the right team, and collaborating with
our clients on mission, values, identity, programming,
etc. We aim to really put ourselves in the guests'
shoes at every stage to create beautiful solutions to
complex puzzles.
How do you bring your hospitality and product design
experience to this new venture? I've been living and
breathing this professionally for over 15 years, and
I've been on all sides. I'm re-inhabiting the trenches
of design, bringing all the knowledge from my
experience on the brand side, the operations side,
and the product side. It's easy to create a compelling
photo these days, but if the collective goal is to truly
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help your clients bring a new business to life and
have it last, it has to do more. Nobody comes back to
a hotel or restaurant or spa to take and post another
photo-they come back because the experience they
had there was memorable. They remember how they
felt, and they tell their friends about it. Our job as
designers is to understand our contribution to this.
Are there any surprises or lessons learned as you've
launched? How much space do you have on this
page? I'm learning things ALL the time. Every day.
Things that have to do with running the business,
mentoring my team, writing proposals and contracts
differently, tweaking our process. I keep a " Lessons
Learned " document in each project folder that helps
me approach each new one a bit differently. I'm also
incredibly grateful for my network of small studio
founders that I lean on all the time for advice. I hope
I can be as supportive, transparent, and generous to
them and others as they are to me.
You worked with Hyatt, Host Hotels & Resorts, and
Within Light Studio on the Imaginative Travel by
Andaz Designed Space at BDNY. What were you looking
to create? It was a really fantastic collaboration. The
Hyatt team had a clear vision and delivered us a
concept that was complete and specifi c, but in no
way prescriptive-the perfect jumping off point. We
got it instantly and felt like we had enough room to
create something in our own way. I don't think this
is talked about enough between brands and design
teams. Everyone does this differently, but if it's
done properly, it sets the stage for a very joyful and
inspiring collaboration, which obviously yields the
best end result. Our goal was to pay homage to that
magic hour that truly defi nes every beach getaway:
chilling with a cocktail, watching a vast expanse of sky
cycle through every imaginable color as the sun goes
down. Doing this inside the windowless Javits Center
gave us the opportunity to go a bit surreal with it.
We didn't want to try and be literal about anything,
but we didn't want to go over the top either-this was
still about showcasing a luxury lifestyle brand in a
sophisticated way.
What's coming up for you? We just fi nished doing
a sizeable experience strategy project for a new
concept, and that was an extremely fun and
informative way to set the stage for the actual design
portion of the project, which hopefully will kick off
later this fall. I would love to do more of that for
clients. Beyond that, we have a hotel project fi nishing
up soon, and few F&B projects in the works, along with
something very special and, of course, top secret. BD
Hear more from Gotlieb during BDNY at the Making
of a Designed Space: Imaginative Travel by Andaz
session, November 12 at 10:30AM, display #1869.
Boutique Design - Fall 2023

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