Brady Yee, founder Pacific Contract

Brady Yee, an entrepreneur with 16 years of experience in interior furnishings, types away on his keyboard in a quaint stand-alone studio overlooking a lush backyard. Through the open double-doors he can see a manicured display of tropical foliage, modern outdoor furniture, a plunge pool and a gazebo he built from reused materials. This is Yee’s sanctuary, one he’s meticulously created over the last 10 years. From the bohemian master bathroom he hand-built to the wide assortment of fruit trees he’s planted, the space is full of his personality and character.

Yee currently owns and operates Pacific Contract, a contract importer and design company that works with designers and architects to create furnishings—furniture, fixtures and equipment—for high-end resorts across the state. The 42-year- old has also worked in the industry as the head of business development for Summa International, a provider of hospitality renovation management services for hotels, resorts and restaurants. “Hospitality is really about strong, lasting relationships,” Yee says. “And it’s such a fast-moving industry.”

Yee understands the ins and outs of Hawai‘i’s hospitality industry, from the perspective of the guest as well as the business. His reputation and attention to detail reflect his dedication, creativity and tenacity. The Kailua native graduated from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in 1997 with a degree in fine arts. After meeting his wife, Aubrey, in 2000, the two moved to Europe to work for a dot-com startup. The venture fell through and they returned to O‘ahu. Both self-starters, they made an aggressive business move and founded the importing company Indo Trading Co.

Starting their business was no easy feat. Their first container of goods arrived two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. All of a sudden, luxury furniture was a tough sell. “Two main reasons for our drive was our love for travel, and we knew that we needed to create something to live here. We wanted to work for ourselves,” Yee says. “We went out to Indonesia, and we were kids in a candy store. We pulled together our small savings and started to design our own furniture.”

Yee’s story is a classic tale of rags to riches. He started with virtually nothing, but fought his way out of a hole to climb to where he is today. “The first few runs, we lived under a thatched roof with a Balinese family, a place that was six dollars a night,” Yee recalls. “We were on a shoestring budget on our first container.”

Fortunately, Yee managed to sell the first container, which eventually led to a business. In 2003, Yee and his wife founded modern-lux furniture store Pacific Home, where she and their two partners took the reigns of retail operations and Yee continued to manage the importing side. While working at Pacific Home, which serves the residential market, Yee also turned his attention to the hospitality market. In 2007, Pacific Contract was born.

Since then, Yee has had a hand in the majority of high-end hotels across the state, from the Halekulani on O‘ahu to Hotel Wailea on Maui. He works with designers and architects to custom-design case goods, seating, lighting, carpets and other furnishings and décor. Essentially, Yee’s role is to match the property designer with the global manufacturers that can realize the designer’s vision.

“I’m a bit of a design consultant because I go in and I meet with designers and architects and whatever their vision is—whatever they’re thinking of, whatever they’re ripping out of a magazine—there’s a good chance that I have the resources to find it and create it,” Yee says.

Although Yee embraces the challenges and fast-paced nature of his job, he acknowledges it’s a never- ending stream of work. Per industry standards, in order for a five-star hotel to stay current, it needs to undergo renovations every eight years. “You can’t avoid weathering and abrasion,” Yee says. “We’re an indoor-outdoor state.”

Yee says that Hawai‘i’s visitor industry has done a superb job of going above and beyond expectations, pointing to the redevelopment of Waikiki and Kaka‘ako. In fact, Yee believes Hawai‘i will surpass the majority of the nation in terms of fastest growth as the Asian market, dot-comers and retirees expand their footprint here.

Yee recently expanded Pacific Contract to handle mainland accounts. He’s working on projects in the Pacific Northwest, a market that he believes has potential for growth, but his love for what he does in Hawai‘i is what keeps him going. “Hawai‘i has arrived in the world of design and is become high end. That’s a strength for me because I’ve focused on that category for a long time, and that’s the category I love,” Yee says.

 

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