KEE Club brings high society to China (hktdc.com)


	Inside KEE Shanghai’s main lounge, Maria and Christian Rhomberg sit in front of an original two-tone classic style painting by artist Konstantin Bessmertny

	The Red Salon at KEE Club Hong Kong has hosted international celebrities attending luxury lifestyle events

Having attracted the cream of international celebrities to visit their swish private members’ club in Hong Kong, KEE Club founders Christian and Maria Rhomberg are taking their successful formula to Shanghai.

KEE Shanghai, opened last month in the prestigious heritage site Twin Villas, the couple’s first club in the Chinese mainland. It is set in a beautiful and unique environment, aimed at "people who are interested in being part of a certain lifestyle that embraces the ultimate in art, music, food, wine, and people."

Christian Rhomberg, originally from Austria, and Maria, from Hong Kong, had worked in clubs and restaurants in Hong Kong for 20 years before opening KEE Club in 2001. The idea was to provide an elegant and chic dinner venue, which then turns into a nightclub when the younger crowd arrives around 11pm. KEE Club, said the Rhombergs, is "a home to its members, and a place for modern people who are interesting, influential and fun."

"I think the secret of KEE Club’s success is that we like to host people, bringing them together in an atmosphere where they feel at home. Very often, we introduce people if we think they have a common interest or something to share, and they feel comfortable to be looked after," Mr Rhomberg said.

Sophisticated city

Hong Kong was an ideal place to launch the concept, according to Mr Rhomberg, who has lived in the city for more than 28 years, because of the city’s sophistication.

"I tried to leave Hong Kong once, but came back very quickly. It is such a unique and sophisticated city, with a cosmopolitan mix of people who were born in Hong Kong and studied abroad, and a strong international business community. People are very open with each other. If I want to call up anyone in Hong Kong, no matter who it is, I can get them on the phone in five minutes. In any other city, you have to make an appointment. In Hong Kong, they say then and there if they can see you. It’s very straightforward, very casual, but with respect. What makes Hong Kong is, really, the people. It's not a snobby city, even though there are people who are very wealthy."

KEE Shanghai will offer the same unique salon and dining environment that has drawn a chic local and international following in Hong Kong, including members of royal families, heads of state, renowned film directors and international celebrities such as Jude Law, Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Michael Jordan and Sting. Asian celebrities Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat, Maggie Q, Wong Kar-wai and Hidetoshi Nakata have also visited.

Revisiting old Shanghai

Yet it will be slightly different. Visitors to KEE Shanghai can expect rich fabrics and textures, antique furniture and art collections from past centuries, in rooms reminiscent of European salons. This "recalls an age that was known for its artistic decadence and intellectual conversation, much like the old Shanghai of the 1920s," Mr Rhomberg said.

It also fills a need. Except for the very expensive five-star hotels and some trendy local restaurants, affluent Shanghai people have no place with the "social quality," where they feel comfortable meeting other people, he said. "In this perfect location on Huai Hai Lu, people can drop in from shopping, leave their bags and have tea. We want to become in some way ‘the Peninsula lobby of Huai Hai Lu,’ and of course, much more. The garden is very special as we don't have the luxury in Hong Kong of having a beautiful garden as part of our club."

Where to from here?

Nearly every week, the Rhombergs say they receive an offer to open a KEE Club in places, ranging from Moscow to Istanbul, the mainland, Japan and all over Southeast Asia. "We have been very careful in committing ourselves," Mr Rhomberg said. Discussions have included a "very special offer from (Swiss luxury goods group) Richemont," and projects in Beijing and Jakarta.

One specific project is a luxury retreat and health resort in Bhutan, "where we have been invited by the royal family who have given us land outside of the capital. This is very close to our hearts, and Maria and I have always been interested in working on a health retreat in such a unique location.

"Our strategy is that we don't want to just build other KEE Clubs – we want to take the concept further and expand it into a club hotel in an interesting city, like Tokyo. It would be a KEE Club in a boutique hotel and in the centre, there would be a very interesting function area and a luxury retail environment. We would reinvent luxury retailing and work together with our friends in the luxury environment to create that. Especially in a highly sophisticated consumer market like Tokyo, it would be very challenging to do that. It would be something completely different because the Japanese society has very different preferences to societies in Hong Kong or the mainland. These challenges are really driving us and we will play with them and see what happens."