LUX May 2015 issue

LUX A MONTHLY GLIMPSE INTO THE WORLD OF THE GLAMOROUS

Having the distillery located on the farm allows Chase Distillery to keep a watchful eye over how their produce moves from field to bottle. It’s this single-estate approach that makes them different, something you can taste in their award-winning vodka.

Chasing Potatoes

Telling The Tale

We take a closer look at IMMUNITY, the new book from author and Senior Editor at Vogue, Taylor Antrim. lux.acquisition-intl.com

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Contents Welcome to your May edition of LUX, your glimpse into the world of the glamorous!

With summer just around the corner, it’s time to relax and take a well-deserved break. We take a sneak peak at the luxury lodges at Tydd St Giles, where the spa experience is surrounded by a picturesque golf course.

We hear from Diana Cherry, Director of Operations for Oxford Private Travel for her top summer travel destinations, which are guaranteed to inspire.

We all know that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, so we are focusing on the work of the highly inspirational Thelma West, the only female, Nigerian diamond dealer in the world and an expert at creating beautiful jewellery.

We are taken on a tour through the history of wine through celebrity guest, Oz Clarke’s new book and we catch up with Senior Editor at Men’s Vogue and acclaimed author, Taylor Antrim, about his new novel, Immunity.

Plus, our art section is jam packed this month, featuring work from Gianfranco Gorgoni, John Byrne and world famous singer/songwriter Bob Dylan.

We hope you enjoy the issue.

See you next month!

Lyndsey Parry, Editor

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retreat taste pampering

4. Time to Relax

7. Coffee Break 8. Dream Dining

11. The Art of Beauty 12. Luxury Lodges

explore jewels tipple

14. Spa Sensations

17. On Board the New Azimut Yacht 18. Summer Travel Inspiration

23. Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

26. Something Special Brewing 28. History of Wine 34. Chasing Potatoes

style

36. Ridiscover Rose this Summer

39. Styling the Stars 40. Shoes and Cocktails

art

40. Beach Ready 42. A Matter of Life and Death 44. Rolls Royce Perception 46. A Call to Beauty 48. Millionaire’s Villiage 50. Telling the Tale 52. Captivating Colours

drive

54. Through the Lens 57. On Track for Glory 58. Rolls Royce Wraith: Inspired by Fashion

tech

60. Journey to the Arctic

65. If You Can Imagine it, They Can Create it

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Retreats

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Time To Relax

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Retreats - Time to Relax

Song Saa is a unique jungle wellness retreat on offer through Full Circle Travel.

Full Circle Travel is an independent, boutique travel brand based in the UK who creates bespoke itineraries to incredible destinations. This is a stand out wellness retreat package they offer, which is eco-aware and focused on sustainability and preserving the natural world.

Song Saa - Luxury Wellness Retreat.

This package is available for eight nights, full board and inclusive of a five-day wellness retreat program and all flights/transfers.

Escape from it all and rejuvenate at Song Saa Private Island resort, one of Cambodia’s best kept secret paradises. Lose yourself in the natural world. No intrusions, no work, just you.

Song Saa Private Island Resort is Cambodia’s first luxury private island resort, which lies secluded in a dazzling seascape amidst the Gulf of Thailand, just 35 minutes by boat from the port of Sihanoukville.

Most of the islands remain undeveloped and deserted oases of virgin rainforests, tropical reefs and sandy white beaches. Guests to Song Saa will be among a handful of lucky adventurers to experience this beautiful, untouched paradise. Walk among old-growth rainforest, watch dazzling reef fish swim under your villa or see rare hornbills land on your balcony.

The food offered at Song Saa will in itself be a sumptuous and enriching experience, with a focus on fresh, sustainable and local produce and cuisine. Each dish is inspired by the local environment and Cambodian culture, combined with the best of modern techniques.

On top of the dinner menu, guests enjoy a specially designed spa menu designed to detoxify their bodies and uplift their spirits, preparing them for their lush five day wellness retreat.

The five-day wellness retreat will be incorporated into the stay, and includes: •

Consultation with head of Wellness 30 Minutes

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Karuna Kaya Massage 90 Minutes

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Manipura Massage 90 Minutes

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Personal Yoga or meditation session 60 Minutes

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Bio-rhythms 120 Minutes

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Rainforest Facial 75 Minutes

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Mani or Pedi 60 Minutes

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Stillness Bath Ritual

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Nightly Turn Down Bath Rituals

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Daily Spa Treats from the Kitchen

Packages booked through Full Circle Travel include flights from London via Bangkok and Siem Reap, transfers are also included.

Cost: From £2,990 per person (based on 6th – 15th June 2015).

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Taste 6 LUX - May 2015

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Coffee Break St. Helena Island, which is situated around 1,200 miles from the coast of Africa, is where you will find the St. Helena coffee being cultivated and bred. Its popularity is all thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, who praised it and sowed seeds himself on the St. Helena Island. If you can afford to spend around $79 a pound for your cup of Joe, then by all means, go ahead and give the St. Helena Coffee a try.

St Helena coffee is wet processed to the highest possible standards, with a wonderful semi translucent sheen in green bean form. This delicate bean, medium roasted has a high lively acidity, with good balance and good body.

This coffee has a superb fragrant bouquet with no off flavours and pleasant floral fruity hints of citrus and caramel strongly hinting of its Yemeni origins.

Quality Control St Helena coffee is subjected to the most rigorous quality control. Due to the relatively small quantity of coffee produced, it is possible to give the coffee more attention than a larger coffee industry could expect to do.

One of the major challenges for coffee production in St Helena is the deep scarcity of local farm labour.

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lux Opened in December 2002, Sketch was masterminded by French chef, Pierre Gagnaire, and restaurateur, Mourad Mazouz.

The site consists of the Lecture Room & Library, the Parlour, the Glade, the East Bar, and the Gallery.

The Lecture Room & Library was awarded its first Michelin star in 2005, and was awarded a fifth Rosette in the AA Restaurant Guide 2009. In 2012, the restaurant won its second Michelin star, which it retains today.

The triple dream of launching a centre, a “lieu” or destination, for food, art and music has been realised by Mourad “Momo” Mazouz and his team of chefs and designers over two expansive floors of a converted 18th century building in Conduit Street, Mayfair, London.

Sketch is a complex and unique site that has attracted unprecedented media reaction for its myriad food, drink and entertainment styles since it opened in December 2002. Gagnaire’s culinary genius has inspired the menus throughout sketch and his eponymous Michelin threestarred Paris restaurant has a distinctive menu style, which Gagnaire has adapted for sketch.

The team at Sketch understand that the dining table is an auxiliary exhibition space, a platform for the presentation of new work.

This ‘work’ comprises new ceramic tableware featuring Shrigley’s distinctive mordant drawings and texts, in a holistic interaction with Gagnaire’s food.

The meal itself becomes a site-specific sculptural work that references Sketch’s location in the heart of London and invites diners to respond with their own thoughts and reactions.

In addition, fashion designer Richard Nicoll has been enlisted to create bespoke uniforms for the Gallery restaurant staff to wear. For the girls, the design is a play on Nicoll’s signature T-shirt dress silhouette; for the boys, a smart, grey boiler-suit.

“For the Sketch uniform project I liked the idea of creating elegant and utilitarian uniforms for the staff that reference a diner look but in a very modern and sophisticated way,” said Richard Nicoll.

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Dream Di

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Taste - Drean Dining

Mourad Mazouz: A recognisable figure in France for celebrated restaurants such as Au Bascou and 404 in Paris, Mourad Mazouz opened Momo restaurant in London in 1997, winning ‘Bar of the Year’ in the Evening Standard for its clever mix of world music, chic staff and sexy interiors.

In 2006, Mourad opened Almaz by Momo in Dubai, a superb amalgamation of modernist North African design and food. Mourad teamed up with the Prada Foundation in 2008 to open the Double Club, a Congolese ‘pop-up’ restaurant and bar, designed by world renowned artist Carsten Holler. Another Paris opening soon followed with the opening of Derriere and Mourad has also published ‘The Momo Cook Book’ and founded the record label Mo’Zik. Pierre Gagnaire: Born into a family of restaurateurs, Pierre Gagnaire’s 40-year rise to culinary superstardom began with his first restaurant in 1980 in St Etienne.

Clean Artwork is Good Artwork.

Celebrated British artist, David Shrigley, has transformed the Gallery at Sketch as part of a long-term programme of artist-conceived restaurants.

Open for afternoon tea and dinner the project follows the huge success of artist, Martin Creed’s restaurant commission at Sketch in 2012.

Twice awarded the coveted third Michelin star accolade, his influence continues to receive recognition worldwide for his restaurants in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Dubai. The name ‘Pierre Gagnaire’ has become synonymous with adventurous and iconoclastic cooking and his unique culinary rhythm and technical mastery.

Executed for Pierre by Romain Chapel and Herve Deville (Executive Chefs at Sketch) the food promises to be imaginative, bold and delicious.

More than 239 new works line the restaurant’s walls, forming the largest group of original drawings that David Shrigley has ever exhibited.

India Mahdavi, who has created a backdrop for David Shrigley’s artwork, conceived a soothing, monochromatic, strikingly comprehensive interior.

The classic, almost bourgeois design invites a deliberately playful contrast with the witty, outré art works; all is most certainly not what it seems.

While matching sketch’s delight in the avant-garde, this harmonious disorder breaks with the Gallery’s usual eclecticism.

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Pampering 10 LUX - May 2015

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TheArt of Beauty Japanese beauty line, Cle de Peau Beaute, celebrated its 30th anniversary by launching the most lavish moisturiser known to woman.

For anybody doubting just how exclusive and indulgent La Creme moisturiser really is, let us put things into perspective. At £8,440 a special edition 50-gram jar is over five times more expensive per gram than gold.

Fronted by Mamma Mia star, Amanda Seyfried, the brand’s luxurious creams are delivered encased in 30 layers of crystal, in collectable handmade jars, each adorned with three platinum rungs.

“We do not usually make limited editions of our products, but this is to mark a special occasion for the Cle de Peau Beaute line,” spokesman Megumi Kinukawa said.

“We hope it will appeal to our loyal customers and people who are interested in gorgeous brands.”

For customers who would like the cream but are not able - or willing - to take the hit on its £8,000 crystal jar, they will also release another limited edition 50-gram container, which will be a snip at just over £627.

The brand’s website says of its ambassador, Seyfried: “As the exciting embodiment of luminous sophistication and natural radiance, Amanda Seyfried captures the very essence of Cle de Peau Beaute. She is pure of heart, vibrantly alive, and brings joy to the lives of others.”

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Luxury Lodges In the heart of the picturesque Cambridgeshire Fens, Tydd St Giles Golf and Country Club is described by its owners Pure Leisure Group as the UK’s answer to Royal Westmoreland, Barbados.

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Pampering - Luxury Lodges

Like its big brother in the Caribbean, Tydd St Giles is an exclusive development of luxury holiday homes that have been built around an award-winning golf course.

Two hours north of London, the 150-acre estate has established itself as the ideal getaway for city dwellers with lodge owners having access to a recently opened £2 million leisure complex as well as golf, fishing, horse riding and miles of stunning nature trails that have earned it numerous conservation awards.

“The same team that operates the exclusive Royal Westmoreland estate in Barbados was behind the design and development of Tydd and in a very short space of time it has developed into a very special community,” explained John Morphet, the leisure entrepreneur who owns Pure Leisure Group. “The micro climate in the Cambridgeshire Fens gives us far less rainfall than anywhere else in the UK, making it a wonderful place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.”

Enjoy a different lifestyle on Pure Leisure Group’s beautiful country estate in the heart of the stunning Cambridgeshire Fens.

Just 15 minutes from Kings Lynn and the gateway to northern Norfolk, Tydd St Giles Golf and Country Club is an exclusive community of luxury holiday homes that has been built around a stunning 18 hole, par 70 golf course.

Spanning more than 150 acres of carefully landscaped grounds, this picturesque getaway is perfect for those wanting a holiday home away from the hustle and bustle.

Sat on the Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire borders, close to Spalding and Peterborough, the golf and country club is home to a large fishing lake and has all sorts of amenities on the doorstep, from horse riding and bird watching, to river trips and mile upon mile of nature trails, populated by wild deer, woodpeckers and unusual flora and fauna.

A £2m leisure complex, which opened in 2013, includes an indoor heated swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna, steam room and fitness suite. There’s also a bar and restaurant and an on-site beauty therapist if you can drag yourself from the comfort of the range of two and three bedroom lodges on the estate.

Ian and Nicola Cross bought their two-bedroom holiday home, overlooking the third green, after happening upon Tydd by chance.

“We saw an advert for the luxury lodge development and thought we’d pop along and see what it was all about,” says Ian, a paramedic from Norfolk. Within two weeks they’d bought a luxury lodge and now the couple – who have two sons – visit “every possible weekend”, taking their two spaniels with them for walks on the nature trails that wind around the five star estate.

“We knew very little about the area before we bought our lodge,” adds Ian. “I always thought the Fens were a bit flat and boring but it’s absolutely lovely. The area seems to have its own micro-climate so the weather is almost always beautiful and we’ve no longer any need to holiday abroad. We feel like we’re a million miles away when we’re here.”

Tydd St Giles Golf and Country Club is one of the most exclusive among the award-winning Pure Leisure Group’s 11-strong portfolio of holiday parks here in the UK. While its British flagship is South Lakeland Leisure Village in the southern Lake District, its overseas development is the stunning Royal Westmoreland estate in Barbados – a 750 acre haven for the rich and famous that was the inspiration for Tydd St Giles, being built around a world-class golf course itself.

Holidays at Tydd St Giles Golf and Country Club start from £174 for a three night break in a Superior Lodge in low season, up to £460 in high season.

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The Spa by ESPA Renowned interior designer Amanda Rosa has teamed together with ESPA to create a unique and distinctive design whilst incorporating all the requirements of a world-leading spa. From the moment you step through the magnificent double doors to the Spa, calming music and the serene atmosphere set the tone for your experience.

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You can relax in the crystal steam room or hot sauna cabin and then have a refreshing ice rub or an Arctic mist shower. Skin tingling with wellbeing, unwind further in the unisex vitality pool with its massaging swan necked fountains. The changing rooms themselves are an indulgent space, with large power showers and limestone heated flooring. The Courtyard Garden is bathed in natural light from the glass roof and allows both male and female guests to share some time together by the gently flickering fire.

Encompassing holistic medicine, sports injury, and personal training, they are carried out by the ESPA Life team which includes naturopaths, physiotherapists, traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturists, personal trainers and spa therapists.

The team is led by Louise Westra, a skilled naturopathic practitioner who is fundamental to every guest’s unique experience at ESPA Life. From an initial consultation, which may include a range of wellness tests, Louise advises on the appropriate combination of treatments and fitness sessions for both short and longerterm lifestyle goals. After this assessment, the naturopath reviews the information in detail and, during a second appointment, outlines a guest’s path to wellness. This may include dietary advice, recommended supplementation and lifestyle changes, or referrals to the appropriate complementary and alternative medicine, fitness or spa professionals.

Programmes include: Optimal Energy; Optimal Weight; Sleep More; Total Woman; Total Man; Fertility & Conception; Relaxation & De-stress; Meno-ease; Fit for Golf; Detox and Action your Corporate Medical.

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Spa Sensations The state of the art destination spa by ESPA was opened in 2008 and offers a warm and tranquil atmosphere, including 20 treatment rooms, a vitality pool lit by fibre optics to stunning effect, and a host of indulgent treatments.

ESPA has created a selection of powerful and highly effective signature treatments for The Spa at Gleneagles that uniquely reflect a fusion of the latest scientific advances with potent European therapies, Eastern philosophy and Ayurvedic infuence.

An expert team of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners and experienced spa therapists together create revolutionary packages to address the stresses and strains of modern lifestyles. Bespoke programmes are devised with a clear aim: to bring guests back to their optimal wellbeing.

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The Club An exciting £5 million refurbishment of The Club leisure complex was completed in December 2013, creating separate adult and family areas and transforming the facilities into a gorgeous space to escape, relax and unwind.

The new Club features: An adult zone with the latest heat experiences including a Jacuzzi style tub, sauna and steam room, and heated loungers arranged around a water front.

A large leisure pool with a waterfall feature, fun bubble jet crossing and bubble pool for all the family to enjoy.

An outdoor ‘Alpine Onsen’. This combines the look and feel of a hot mountain pool with the tranquillity of a highland landscape.

Fully-equipped gym and fitness studio, where personal training sessions are available Daily fitness classes, bike hire and access to outdoor tennis courts.

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Pampering - Spa Sensations

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Explore 16 LUX - May 2015

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On Board the New Azimut Yacht The Azimut 77S seems to have already taken the road to success as four boats sold in the pre-launch. The yacht embodies that special synthesis of stylistic innovation, technology, and functionality found in all the Italian boatyard’s latest models. The pivoting stern platform for maximum flexibility, the wave-piercing vertical bow - for the first time introduced with the Azimut 55S - the single large deckhouse window, the glazed roof, superior performance, and enhanced fuel efficiency thanks to three engine configuration coupled with Volvo Penta IPS transmission are just some of the main features.

The new 77S joins the other upcoming season offerings - the Azimut Grande 95RPH and the Azimut 50 Fly - debuting at the September

2014 boat show in Cannes. The yacht embodies beauty and sportiness, further incontrovertible proof of Azimut Yachts- role as “ambassador of Made in Italy boating worldwide”.

Azimut Yachts materials have been designed and developed to offer users the most accurate representation of the yacht possible.

The finish, standard equipment and range of optional on offer may vary from hull to hull.

With its swanky modern interiors, open-deck jacuzzi and fishing, water sports and diving equipment, the new 30m-long Azimut yacht

by Cheval Blanc Randheli resorts is a dream come true for newlyweds seeking a lavish oceanic honeymoon.

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lux Summer is fast approaching, however the warm winter has meant that holidaymakers have not been in a rush to book their summer holidays as they bask in the spring sunshine. This is great news for those who haven’t yet booked their holiday, as there are still some fabulous luxury properties still available. Here is a selection of the top five picks of where you could travel this summer.

We hear from Diana Cherry, Director of Operations for Oxford Private Travel, a luxury tour operator which provides a personalised concierge style service to its international discerning clientele about key places to visit this summer. Focussed on providing the very best in luxury travel, the destinations and properties are personally inspected by the team who can personally recommend the right property for each client’s specific requirements, organising every detail of their trip.

1. France Villa Pendana, France (from £8,900 a week) is the ideal destination for families and groups. Its gorgeous location overlooks the ridge 350m above sea level with views across the valleys surrounding Grimaud and La Garde Freinet, out to the sea and distant hills of Gassin and La Croix Valmer.

Sleeping ten people, the villa is now open for 2015 following a complete refurbishment after an extensive 18 month operation. The owner is an interior designer which is evident in its beautiful yet understated style. Designed to take advantage of the hillside breezes, the subtle colours provide a fresh, classic feel and this sophisticated yet homely villa provides excellent value for money. Complete with pool and beautiful gardens it is more than adequately equipped for entertaining large groups of friends and family with double fridges, two dishwashers, two ovens as well as gas BBQ,

2. France Only 30 minutes from the stunning beaches of Cannes lies a spectacular gem nestled in 1.4 hectares of beautifully sculpted gardens. Recently completed in May 2012, La Bergerie (from £33,200 a week) is set within the exclusive golf resort of Terre Blanche minutes away from the historic villages of Fayence, Seillans and Caillian in an area renowned for its natural beauty, typifying the tranquillity of Provence. The villa’s interior design uses a smooth blend of antique and contemporary furnishings and the distinctive real estate combines superb elegance with excellent five star service including resident chef, hostesses and dedicated concierge.

Sleeping 12, the six double bedrooms all have luxury en-suite facilities, and includes heated swimming pool, pool house barbecue, outdoor kitchen, terrace, wine cellar and cinema room. Guests can enjoy a host of activities nearby including canyoning, paddle surfing, mountain biking, climbing, sailing as well as take advantage of the facilities available within the world class golf resort and spa.

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Explore - Summer Travel Inspirations

Summer Travel Inspirations

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lux 3. Ibiza Despite its hedonistic reputation, Ibiza exemplifies the true meaning of Mediterranean life – with its rural charm, clear turquoise waters and white sandy beaches the sun kissed island is equally family friendly. Brand new Can Zama (from £17,230 a week) is completed and ready for the 2015 season. Situated in Northern Ibiza amidst the rolling hillside the villa offers spectacular views of the ocean expanse which sits metres from Benirras Beach.

Inside, the ultra-chic property is unlike other villas in Ibiza that offer more style over substance.

The owners have incredible attention to detail, rigorously testing all aspects of the design to ensure extreme comfort - from choice of beds to the best music system. Its wall to ceiling windows frame the interiors of modern artwork which stylishly complements the local culture. The electrically operated panorama windows slide open creating an inside/outside home and the large open plan area of the villa is perfectly spacious families who can enjoy al fresco dining, cinema room and BBQ – as well as the heated infinity pool.

4. Mallorca (Main Picture) The Mediterranean island of Mallorca always delivers as an excellent holiday location with its beautiful beaches, ancient towns, an impressive mountain range all sprinkled with jet-set glamour, Oxford Private Travel has something to suit everyone and Can Melcion (from £12,500 per week) blends the wonderful structure of solid walls, high ceilings whilst retaining the character of this luxurious villa complete with a contemporary twist.

The villa sleeps 12 people and is perfect for families with its beautifully furnished sitting room, open fireplaces, open plan dining area, pool, BBQ, snooker room and tennis courts.

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Explore - Summer Travel Inspirations

5. Greece The modern design, magazine-featured Villa Eurydice (from ÂŁ14,286 per week) offers spectacular views over the town of Mykonos, Greece and enjoys the peace and tranquillity in its secluded hideaway location.

Complete with all the modern amenities and designer furniture and decoration, this spacious five bedroom are all dressed in white and focused on comfortable island living. Guests can relax on the outdoor terrace or by the amazing pool with stylish loungers. The fully stocked bar makes the villa a joy to stay in night or day.

Sleeping eight people, the five spacious bedroom suites come with en-suite bathrooms, private terraces and are all air-conditioned of your comfort. Guests can enjoy use of the library, table tennis and the large living room

6. UK For those looking for a staycation, the very best can also be found on home soil with Gossel Riddings all white and wood hideaway with stunning views of Lake Windermere. Set in eight acres of gardens and woodlands, the property sleeps 13 people with its seven bedrooms and has enough space to accommodate everyone’s needs from a quiet hideaway to full on entertaining with its three reception rooms.

Enjoy the views from the large bay windows of the Billiard Room, or sip cocktails around the Grand Piano of The Adam Room. The Cinema Room also provides a chilled out atmosphere with its real log fire, enormous day bed and black out blinds.

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Jewels 22 LUX - May 2015

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lux The highly inspirational Thelma West is the only female Nigerian diamond dealer in the world. She is also an expert at creating beautiful jewellery sourced from the rarest gems, for esteemed clients around the world.

Having entered this traditionally male dominated industry at such a young age, Thelma defied what most people today stereotype as a typical diamond dealer, shaking up the industry. Thelma had the intention of living in London to study engineering, but didn’t return to the city after her year out because she’d fallen in love with Antwerp - the diamond centre of Belgium.

Thelma flew back to London and at just 20 years old, was offered her first job in Hatton Garden as a diamond manager, a role which people in the industry could only dream of having at that age. And now, 10 years later, Thelma boasts an established client base across the world.

Thelma is also working on her own charity, an education-based programme for primary, secondary and university level students in Nigeria. There are a huge number of students who graduate but can’t find jobs, so Thelma is trying to build workshops instead, possibly a place to learn the jewellery trade and craftsmanship. The charity is all to do with the changing situation for students who want work and giving Nigerian children and young people the opportunities they deserve.

Part of her newest collection includes: • Fancy Yellow and White Asscher-cut diamonds ear-rings set on 18ct white and yellow gold offset with rare blue diamond’s P.O.A. •

Pink diamond ring set on platinum with white diamond surround P.O.A. •

Old cut diamond ring set on platinum in a vintage style P.O.A. •

White Asscher-cut & yellow kite shaped diamonds set on platinum, £70,000 •

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Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

Sapphire & Diamond Ring P.O.A.

Fancy yellow diamond ring set on platinum & yellow gold with white diamonds surround, £150,000.

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Sapphire and diamond ring P.O.A.

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Whether you are planning to pair them with summer frills and florals or clean lines and minimalism, Thelma West sunglasses are the perfect complement to any wardrobe this season. High quality acetate frames, detailed with diamonds and 18k white, yellow and rose gold will add star quality to any outfit. All sunglasses are handmade and can be customised and made bespoke on request.

Let’s take a sneak peak at the hottest, most luxurious sunglasses from diamond jeweller and gemmologist, Thelma West.

Sunglasses £2,500 and Rays £1000- £2500.

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Tipple

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Company: The Nils Oscar Company AB Name: Jonas Kandefelt CEO Email: info@nilsoscar.se Web Address: http://www.nilsoscar.se

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Tipple - Something Special Brewing

Something Special Brewing Nils Oscar Brewing Company is the largest independent Craft brewery in Sweden in terms of turnover and production volume. We find out from CEO, Jonas Kandefelt, what’s next for the fast-growing firm...

As well as being the largest independent Craft brewery in Sweden in terms of turnover and production volume. The company is also a thriving distillery which makes a range of Vodkas, Gin and Aquavit. The spirits are produced on Tärnö Säteri, beautifully situated in the heart of Södermanland, where we also have our malt house. Our products are sold in restaurants and at Systembolaget throughout the country. The company has grown steadily in its 19 years of existence.

Nils Oscar has received several awards at national and international events, including the World Beer Cup. Today the company exports to USA, Finland, Denmark, and the UK where it can be found in Waitrose and Tesco. The company makes a number of exciting beers which include Imperial Stout, Hop Yard, India Ale and the famous God Lager. The brewery has been established since 2006 and is located in Nyköping, a 1 hour drive south of Stockholm, where we brew our delicious beers.

Our company name is based on a real person, our founders grandfather Nils Oscar Sundberg. And Nils Oscar personifies all the values we want our products to stand for honest, energetic, modern, with respect for nature, firmly grounded, a sense of craftsmanship and a bit of mischief of course. Nils Oscar is real! We value his name as our brand.

High quality, solid structure, consistency, good and solid economics are our main focus within the company. Our flagship product, God Lager is the most selling craft beer in Sweden. Nils Oscar stands out, not only because of the consistent quality of beers, but also the fact that we control the whole process from grain to glass. Nils Oscar is playing its role and helping to lead the way for Scandinavian Craft brewers and there´s a lot more exciting times ahead.

The future has never been so exciting! A completely new brewery with huge potential and beer interest all around the world that have exploded. Craft breweries are increasing volumes rapidly. “Everybody” is talking beer at the moment.

The Nils Oscar Brewery has been expanding during 2013-2015 and we are building one of Swedens finest breweries. The year 2013 was only the beginning of something new and big. Nils Oscar have been making the largest investment ever; a brand new brewery in Nyköping with a new brewhouse, new malthandling, new bottlingline and new warehouse.

The next step is to build new offices, new staff facilities and last but not least new visiting facilities of 150 sq.m. There will be beer tastings, a pub, theme nights, bar mingle, food and members only pub nights where you can try our new beers before it reaches the shelves at Swedish Systembolaget.

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The History of Wine Who better to take you on a journey of discovery about the history of wine, than Oz Clarke, our best-loved wine writer. A journey that takes you from the buried clay urns of Georgia in 6000 BC, to the fraudsters who have rocked the world with their multi-million-dollar counterfeiting scams. Along the way, you’ll pass through the taverns of Pompeii, discover the oldest bottle of wine that’s ever been drunk, meet an Englishman who might have invented champagne, and visit the highest and coldest vineyards in the world. This entertaining and informative book tells you all you need to know about the history of ‘bottled poetry’.

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Known throughout the world for his phenomenal palate, irreverent style, accurate predictions and enthusiasm, Oz Clarke is Britain’s most popular wine writer. He is the author of a collection of bestselling and award-winning wine books – and his BBC television and radio broadcasts keep audiences captivated and entertained.

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Tipple - The History of Wine

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Monasteries – Clos de Vougeot The easy way to look at the Dark Ages is to think of it as a period of unremitting gloom and slaughter and the loss of all the finer things in life, with the flickering flame of culture being kept alive in the silent halls of Europe’s monasteries. And the preservation of a wine tradition brought to the rest of Europe by the Romans is central to this.

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ell, there’s no doubt that a mix of bishops and monasteries did play an important role in keeping wine going until the Middle Ages, but there’s also quite serious evidence that the marauding tribes who kicked out the Romans were pretty keen on wine and were also keen to keep the supply of it healthy.

Burgundy is thought of as the birthplace of the great tradition tying wine to monasteries, although the first monastery was probably at Trier on Germany’s river Mosel in the early 4th century. But it was the power of the bishops that supported vineyards and winemaking for the next few hundred years.

And this was not just through preservation. The bishops had the power to promise salvation and eternal life. Lots of noblemen thought a gift of good vineyards would help towards this goal. And the view that the Church had to create and work its own vineyards to produce wine for the Eucharist is only partly true – tithes in wine were common, as were simple gifts.

The importance of the monasteries stems from the Middle Ages. The Benedictines were the first great order to influence the world of wine. The Cistercians were the next. Both of them had their greatest abbeys

in Burgundy: the Benedictines at Cluny in the hills behind Macon, and the Cistercian order at Cîteaux in the dark forests opposite Nuits-Saint-Georges. The Benedictines rather lost their reputation for austerity as they built up vineyards in Burgundy’s GevreyChambertin and Vosne-Romanée, but also in the Rhône, Champagne and the Loire. Many of these may have been donations, but the Benedictines were also planters. Since the 6th century they had been active in Germany, planting in the Mosel and Rhine valleys, and Franken, and also in Austria and Switzerland.

The Cistercians were founded in 1112 as an austere riposte to the indulgent Benedictines. But they too knew the value of vines and wine, to use for themselves, but also to trade. They developed vineyards in Champagne, the Loire, Provence and Germany – the great, gaunt Kloster Eberbach on the Rheingau was theirs. But their biggest influence was in Burgundy. They may well have been helped by the fact that there were eight Crusades between 1097 and 1291, and knights would try to shore up their chances of eternal salvation with donations of land before they left. Their greatest legacy is the walled vineyard of Clos de Vougeot, which was fully enclosed by 1336. But all along Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, or Golden Slope, they set to work to minutely understand and define every tiny parcel of vineyard land, painstakingly plotting the good and bad points of their geology and microclimate, and then comparing and defining their different flavours. Each plot was delineated, and the ‘cru’ system by which each batch of wine is kept separate and named separately – a fundamental part of how Burgundy is judged and appreciated – was started by the Cistercians at Vougeot.

A rather splendid arch leading to the vines of Henri Rebourseau, one of the many proprietors of Clos de Vougeot.

30 The History of Wine in 100 Bottles

The restored monastic buildings of Clos de Vougeot, now largely used for promotional purposes by the Burgundy wine trade. You can see how the vineyards on the slope behind the building are all divided up into little parcels. These will either be separate ‘crus’ (plots with a particular character) or the individual holdings of proprietors within a cru.

The walled vineyard of Clos de Vougeot has more than 80 different proprietors, the result of the French inheritance laws set out in the Napoleonic Code. Since everything must be divided equally between heirs, some plots are now just a few rows of vines.

This modern Dom PÊrignon bottle is pretty similar to the original eighteenth-century champagne bottles. It’s nice to see timeless elegance adopted as a sign of prestige rather than the wilder flights of fantasy of trendy fashion designers.

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Prestige Cuvées Prestige Cuvée champagnes don’t get a massively good rap among normal wine drinkers.

They’re fiendishly expensive and they often seem to be drunk only by celebs and Eurotrash who’ve definitely got more money than sense.

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f you let the whole glitzy nonsense get to you, you could become pretty irritated at the amount of this supposedly gorgeous foaming nectar that is swilled down the gormless throats of the glitterati. So are Prestige Cuvées the pinnacle of the winemakers’ art, or are they an awful lot of style and not a lot of substance?

Or can they be fantastically beautiful wines despite being dolled up in courtesan’s glad rags? Well, some of these bottles have a very long heritage. Indeed the rather beautiful pear-shaped and narrow-necked bottle that has its most striking manifestation in the simple elegance of Dom Pérignon—Moët & Chandon’s Prestige Cuvée—dates right back to 1735, when a Royal Decree standardized the size and glass quality of the champagne bottle. Exactly two hundred years later, in 1935, Moët & Chandon produced a couple of hundred bottles very similar in design to the originals as a defiant blow against the ravages of the Great Depression—Dom Pérignon, the first unashamed luxury brand. They make an awful lot more Dom Pérignon nowadays, and it can almost be accused of being too successful a brand to be exclusive any more. Until you taste a perfectly matured bottle, and understand what all the fuss is about.

Roederer Cristal was Czar Alexander II’s favorite. The orange cellophane is to protect the clear glass bottle against sunlight—not a common commodity in czarist Russia.

Roederer Cristal is another wildly successful Prestige Cuvée which genuinely did seem to be exclusive, until “Cris” became all the rage on the New York music scene—and I’m not talking Mozart here. It comes in a clear glass bottle wrapped in orange cellophane. Just a gambit? No, there’s a good reason for it. Although the first commercial release of Roederer Cristal was in 1945, its popularity in Russia began in the mid-1800s.

Part of the reason for this was because Roederer played mercilessly on Czar Alexander II’s sweet tooth. Not only did they add 20 percent of sweet liqueur to their wine for the Russian court, but for good measure they threw in a dollop of yellow Chartreuse as well. To distinguish the wine at the czar’s table from the stuff his subjects drank, Roederer came up with the see-through bottle— just for the czar. The others got green bottles. Nowadays, a glass of properly matured Cristal is beautiful wine— and regally dry.

Of course these Prestige Cuvées are drunk by the rich and famous, and of course the companies will charge as much money as they can get away with. And they’ll take advantage of the worlds of music, film, and fashion as much as they can.

Perrier-Jouët launched its impressive Belle Epoque Prestige Cuvée in a Paris nightclub to celebrate Duke Ellington’s seventieth birthday.

Piper-Heidsieck launched a supercuvée in 1999 “dressed” by Jean Paul Gaultier. But for all the surface froth, most of the Prestige Cuvées from serious producers really are their most rigorous selection from their very best vineyards, in the finest vintage years.

And for that, you’ll pay.

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Piper-Heidsieck gets the Jean Paul Gaultier treatment.

lux Tyrrell’s crisps (named after Will’s family farm) was created in 2002 and expanded rapidly all across Europe and America. A seed to crisp phenomenon of a sexy retro-packaged 100% natural crisp. And we all love a good crisp.

A humble potato supplier for over 20 years, Will needed to diversify. Despite producing a healthy turnover the profit wasn’t worth all the effort and in 2002 he decided to branch out and launched a crisp factory from his Herefordshire farm.

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Chasing

As the brand grew, Will began traveling in pursuit of better equipment and flavourings. During a stopover in America – where else do you go to learn more about deep fat frying – he discovered a small batch artisan distillers. Back at home the problem of a huge surplus of potatoes too small to make crisps from made his next decision a no-brainer: the first start up distillery in the UK in more than 250 years.

History lesson over – where is Chase today?

Did making crisps drive you to drink?

No, we just decided to make people happy instead of fat… In fact the brand is doing so well that we’re now selling our vodka to Russians – coal to Newcastle you might say. While we distill a range of products, everything in our business leads back to vodka and since selling the Tyrrells business we are 100% focused on spirits.

Where is the vodka made?

Our farm is based in Herefordshire, a region that boasts some of the richest farmland in the world. It’s here that we grow King Edward and Lady Claire potatoes for the distillery, as well as cider apples for our Naked Chase Apple Vodka and Williams Gin. Having the distillery located on the farm allows us to keep a watchful eye over how our potatoes and apples move from field to bottle. It’s this single-estate approach that makes us different – something you can taste in our award winning vodka.

How does the fermentation process work?

We start by mashing up our potatoes and apples, which are all harvested from the fields and orchards surrounding the farm. Apples are sweet enough to ferment naturally, but we add a brewer’s yeast to the potato mash to help it along the way. After about a week, we’re left with a low alcohol wine.

So you distil on site as well?

We put the low alcohol wine from the fermentation stage into our bespoke copper batch pot and wait patiently as it’s distilled four times here and twice more in our rectification column. The column is the tallest of its kind in the world, at 70ft it rises through the roof of the barn. At this point, the spirit reaches the dizzying heights of 96%abv and is well on its way to becoming Chase Vodka.

After distillation, the raw spirit is tempered with water drawn from a source at the heart of the farm. Once it’s reached a much more drinkable 40% abv, we hand bottle our vodka and seal it with a handmade cork.

The whole process, from farm to bottle, takes up to two weeks. We’re a stone’s throw away from the Malvern Hills - home of the Queen’s favourite water.

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Will Chase’s story is an earthy tale of a maverick all over again to create a second international brand

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Potatoes

k farmer who works hard, sells well, and then starts d setting new benchmarks for quality and pedigree.

Tipple - Chasing Potatoes

You make gin as well as vodka now?

Unlike most distilleries, we opt out of buying in a readymade neutral grain spirit. In our quest for traceability in the industry, we use either our Chase Original or Naked Chase Vodka as the base to our Williams Gins.

Opening the belly of our 250l Carter head style still, Ginny, we add in the raw spirit at 96% along with the same amount of water from the farm. The botanicals are stuffed into a pillow case and placed into the carter head, where the flavours are infused into the vapours passing through. This method provides a very floral style with great length and depth.

What makes Chase so special?

Very small volumes are produced: 16 tonnes of potatoes makes only 1,000 litres of alcohol, which after 40 hours can be disheartening, but it is testament to the quality of our vodka – a supreme quality over all of the other mass produced vodka. Most gins on the market buy in what’s called a neutral grain spirit and simply re-distil, this can be sourced in the market for around 50 pence a litre, our base spirit costs around £4.00 a litre to produce, so the cider is a great way of showing off the pedigree of our gin.

When did you have your earliest tipple and what was it?

Good honest Herefordshire cider as a young boy.

Growing up on the farm most summers we’d help with the harvest. To celebrate, the harvest farm-hands would gather to tell tales of the previous weeks hard work washed down with lashings of cider.

What inspires the different flavours?

We try to preserve quintessential British flavours; things like Seville orange marmalade or rhubarb vodka, which we hope will evoke lost memories and tastes. They are all distilled in season but can be enjoyed all year round.

I hear your rosé is rather good – how has the transition from potato to vine evolved?

My father, Will, can’t stand lying on a beach, and is always looking for the next adventure. A few summers ago while in Ibiza, he headed to the bar for a glass of wine. While talking to the sommelier he realised his farming credentials put him in good stead to take on a vineyard – a holiday dream which became a reality the following year in Provence. The rosé debuted this year and sold out by the end of August.

Yours is a real family business - how does it work and what’s the secret apart from drinking copiously?

I have huge admiration for family run vineyards and distilleries. There are so many aspects of the business that help engage different members of the family.

We each focus on our own area of the business contributing to the main goal we are all pushing towards. Communication is key and we constantly talk to gage myriad ideas and motives.

There has been a resurgence of craft distilling in the UK recently, how does Chase compare to the rest?

Since we began distilling in 2008, Chase has come a long way and the restaurant and bar scene has changed and progressed dramatically. Greater choice of spirits has certainly increased but the transparency involved in our production process sets us apart from all other spirits. Like a fine wine, you would never dream of buying without knowledge of its origins, the grapes, the terroir and even the winemaker. We can trace each bottle to the very field we harvested, refusing to buy in neutral grain spirit, our process is incredibly laborious but, in our opinion well worth the effort.

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Rediscover RosĂŠ This Summer

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lux Alain Ducasse’s Rivea London at Bulgari Hotel & Residences To celebrate the start of the summer, Alain Ducasse’s Rivea London at Bulgari Hotel & Residences, London, will showcase an extensive and varied rosé list by offering top wines by the glass from both iconic and artisanal producers.

As with the menu at Rivea London, the new list draws a large part of its inspiration from the wines of Provence.

A particular focus on rosé wine showcases both renowned producers from Côtes de Provence next to some smaller offerings from lesser-known appellations such as Les-Baux-de-Provence.

Exclusive to Rivea London, the star of the show is one of the best rosé vineyards in Provence, “Chateau Barbeyrolles” owned by the charming Régine Sumeire.

Ms Sumeire is recognised for growing fragrant rose bushes amongst the vines, with their celebrated rosé named Pétale de Rosé, due to its light pink colour.

Specifically developed to compliment the restaurant’s star rosé wine, Executive Chef and Alain Ducasse’s protégé, Alexandre Nicolas, has created a light summer menu to perfectly match the new wine menu. Dishes will include Sautéed gamberoni, squid, cuttlefish, crispy vegetables and borage and Red mullet, fennel and olive taggiasca.

Tipple - Rediscover Rosé This Summer

purple broccoli, mussels & chilli, with true highlights including Roast guinea fowl breast with cabbage, fontina cheese & pancetta. The menu also features lighter dishes such as tempting salads and grills.

A passion for pasta, Franco’s pasta is freshly made in-house and favourites include Linguine with lobster, tomato, chilli & garlic and Pizzoccheri with cabbage, potato & bitto cheese with every menu item available as a low-gluten, spelt pasta alternative.

Why did Franco’s decide to focus on rose?

Historically Rosé wines have been considered to be a cheap wine that could not be taken seriously.

Unfortunately this was not entirely unfounded as some earlier rosé wines were made by simply mixing a red with white wine, a practice that has thankfully stopped.

The rosé offering started with only 6 rosé wines. This initial selection proved so popular the next year we doubled it to 12 wines. In fact each year the number of rosé wines doubled so that today at the start of the ‘season’ Franco’s lists over 60 different rosé wines from around the world.

Rosé wine has not always had the popularity it does today.

Comments from Jason Phillips, Director of Franco’s.

Today part of the LVMH Group, Bulgari was founded in Rome in 1884 as a single jewellery shop and progressively imposed itself with its magnificent jewellery creations, emblems of the Italian excellence.

The international success made the Company evolve into the current dimension of a global and diversified player in the luxury market, with a store network in the most exclusive shopping areas worldwide and a portfolio of product and services ranging from jewels and watches to accessories, perfumes and hotels.

Rivea London opened in May 2014, offering French and Italian cuisine inspired by the many years Alain Ducasse spent visiting the vibrant food markets in Italy and Provence. Protégé of Alain Ducasse and Executive Chef Alexandre Nicolas’ menu showcases the vivid flavours of the Rivera within the chic, convivial and relaxed setting of Rivea London.

Franco’s Franco’s has gained a reputation for offering the largest rosé wine list of any restaurant in London with over 60 quality wines, many available by the glass. Franco’s was initially founded as Italian café called Frank’s in 1946. Some believe Franco’s was the first Italian restaurant in London!

Guests can enjoy sipping on a chilled glass of rosé while watching the world go by from Franco’s terrace.

Franco’s rosé wine list features a diverse selection of rosé, from seven different countries and from more than twenty different grape varieties. Eight of the wines are exclusive to Franco’s and includes the world’s most expensive rosé, the Chateaux d’Esclans, Garrus, Domain Sacha Lichine 2008.

Italian Chef, Stefano Turconi, forsakes pomp for genuine and refined cooking, presented with a modern flare. New menu dishes from the north of Italy include Baccala scaloppini with soft polenta & morel mushrooms whilst from the south, Pappardelle with

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Style 38 LUX - May 2015

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Style - Styling the Stars

Marion’s story Marion Ayonote, who was mentored by Jimmy Choo himself designs beautifully innovative and feminine and masculine footwear and accessories. Her designs are unique, bold and eye catching, using the finest leather from Italy.

Marion creates collections that appeal to women the world over and her approach to design has been sought by individuals around the world keen to exploit and experience the creativity imbued in her work. Marion is currently stocked in high end boutiques around the world including in the U.S, China and Japan.

Marion was born and educated in Nigeria attending the University of Maiduguri and has been living in Britain since graduating. Marion works with a factory in the U.K where her designs are created, using the finest materials from Italy.

Her first collection simply titled “Shoes” under the Marion Ayonote label was launched in 2000. Since her launch she has been invited to exhibit at a number of international events.

In 2002 Marion was selected to attend the Xperience UK event in Dubai entitled “Best of British” showcasing alongside Paul Smith, Janet Reger and others. She also received a special recognition award from Ovation Magazine as Africa’s top shoe designer, and designed shoes for Miss World 2002.

Marion draws inspiration from her childhood in Africa.

Her parents recognised and nurtured her talents from an early age. These were mainly in the Arts from private piano lessons to theatrical performances, fine art and literature. She is well travelled and draws inspiration from her journeys.

Marion is really successful in China, Japan and the U.S and is now working on building her portfolio in her own country.

Her career highlight was when Tyra Banks asked to wear Marion’s shoes during filming for America’s Next Top Model. Her range is also really popular with other stars including Kelly Clarkson and Whitney Port.

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Beach Ready Luxury beachwear brand Frescobol Carioca embodies the spirit and style of Rio de Janeiro, providing that laid back luxury feel from the shores of Brazil’s most iconic and breath- taking beaches.

Launched in 2009, with a simple yet beautiful handcrafted beach bat, Frescobol has grown to include not only beach wear and accessories but also casual wear that reflects the effortless, cool ‘Carioca’ culture. Founders, long-term friends Harry Brantly and Max Leese give the following tips on how to stay stylish in beachwear this summer using examples from their latest collection.

Channel Rio de Janeiro with our classic, wide brim, Panama hats Be cool like a Carioca with the iconic handcrafted beach bats. If there’s a sport to play on the beaches of Rio, it would be Frescobol - the traditional Brazilian beach game using these beautifully hand crafted beach bats - each one individually handcrafted by Brazilian artisans.

Shorter is better. The last thing you want is a pair of knee-length surfer shorts that make you look adolescent. This summer, when it comes to buying shorts, go shorter. Walk like a Brazilian with a pair of boardwalk printed shorts and team this with one of Frescobol’s super soft 100% fine Italian linen shirts tailored to perfection Make waves with the Frescobol Carioca surfboard, hand shaped in Brazil using ecological wood and a beeswax finish.

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Art

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A Matter of Life & Death Scottish contemporary artist, ex-Mr Tilda Swinton, and writer of six-time BAFTA-winning show Tutti Frutti John Byrne will be holding an exhibition of new work at The Fine Art Society in London from 2 - 25 June. As one of Scotland’s leading painters working today this show will include new works, including still life paintings which is the first time he has ventured into this area.

The Fine Art Society presents the fourth solo exhibition of paintings by acclaimed painter John Byrne. A Matter of Life & Death comprises a group of new paintings shot through with wit, drama and dark humour.

A dedicated and prolific painter as well as renowned playwright, John Byrne draws in all his creative endeavours from his upbringing in Paisley, near Glasgow. A childhood resident of the Ferguslie Park housing scheme, Byrne’s work recalls the danger, trepidation and drama of life in what was purported to be Scotland’s murder capital.The paintings are infused with vivacity and energy; complex narratives play out in alleyways and dark corners; graffiti proliferates and shadows are cast long and spindly, with the streets dramatically lit like stage-sets. The characters are portrayed with sensitivity and intrigue and reveal Byrne’s dedication to theatre and storytelling.

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lux With work that is fearless and challenging, Byrne invites us to become part of the narratives and communities he portrays. His painting style is unique and instantly recognisable, which has helped propel him to international acclaim and popularity. Emily Walsh, Managing Director of The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh commented: “John Byrne is one of the most inventive and contrary artists working in Scotland today. The work is underpinned by technical mastery and the varied subject matter explores John’s imagination from memories to fantasy.”

As well as being an accomplished fine artist and a designer of theatre sets and album covers, Byrne is one of the most notable playwrights of his generation.

In 1986 Byrne wrote the six-time BAFTA award-winning television series ‘Tutti Frutti’ starring Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson. This was followed by another series ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ with Tilda Swinton and countless other plays and films to the present day. He has designed record covers for Donovan,The Beatles, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly.

Byrne resists similarity and repetition. He draws on his subconscious to drive the narratives and connections within and between the paintings. For the first time, in this body of work he takes occasional breaks into still life, and landscapes depict ominous symbolism and the spectre of death and old age. As his subject matter develops, Byrne’s reputation as a serious and fascinating artist continues to grow.

Byrne himself lives a humble life in Edinburgh, producing work from a studio in his home, grounding his work with an honesty and charisma that is equally infectious as it is enchanting.

About John Byrne John Byrne (b.1940) in Paisley, Scotland and in 1965 attended the Glasgow School of Art where he won the Bellahousten Award followed by six months in Italy. His work is held in major collections including The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. In 2004 he was made an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy and a full member in 2007. Byrne is an Honorary Fellow of the GSA, the RIAS, an Honorary Member of the RGI and has Honorary Doctorates from the universities of Paisley, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Strathclyde. In 2011 he was awarded an MBE.

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lux These spectacular artworks, donated by some of the biggest names in contemporary art, will be on show from 20-25 May 2015 at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London in Berkeley Square to raise valuable funds for Breast Cancer Care.

The model motor car has been transformed to create an extraordinary collection of one-off art pieces, created by artists including: Maggi Hambling, Richard Wentworth, Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger, JJ Adams, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Charming Baker, Natasha Law, Angela Palmer, Andrew Salgado, Stuart Semple and Yinka Shonibare.

London artist Charming Baker, known for his emotionally charged work, explains the thinking behind his artwork, ‘One in Eight’. “It is important to me that the work I produce for this brief is relevant to the subject matter we’re dealing with. One in eight women in the UK will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. So I have set the car in a clear block of resin, suspended in the middle of the block – floating, pristine. The block has been drilled 16 times, in a very orderly and simple grid pattern. Fourteen drill holes pass through the clear set resin only, two pass through the resin and the model car. It is a sculptural piece which looks very simple, but with an underlying reference to the huge numbers of people who are touched by breast cancer in the UK each year.”

Richard Carter, Director of Communications, RollsRoyce Motor Cars commented, “This revered group of contemporary artists use Rolls-Royce Ghost models to create thought provoking works, all of which will be auctioned to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care. This has been an exhilarating collaboration which promises to raise valuable funds for a very worthy cause.”

The Auction Preview will take place from 20-25 May 2015 at the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars showroom in Berkeley Square. Opening times Monday to Friday 09:00 – 18:00, Saturday10:00 – 16:00, Sunday 11:00 – 17:00. The collaboration will conclude with a private auction at the Royal Automobile Club on 30 June 2015.

The full list of artists who have donated their work to Breast Cancer Care for the project include: JJ Adams, Charming Baker, Maggi Hambling, Natasha Law, Angela Palmer, Andrew Salgado, Stuart Semple, Yinka Shonibare, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger and Richard Wentworth.

About Breast Cancer Care Breast Cancer Care is the only specialist breast cancer support charity working throughout the UK. The charity was founded in 1973 by Betty Westgate, who was herself diagnosed with breast cancer. In the ensuing forty years the charity has supported millions of women and their families through face-to-face, phone and online services. The charity also provides training, support and networking opportunities to specialist breast cancer nurses and Breast Cancer Care publications are used by the majority of breast cancer units throughout the UK. The charity campaigns for better support and care involving people with breast cancer in all that they do, whilst promoting the importance of early detection

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Rolls Royce Perception Twelve leading artists have created unique artworks, each featuring a 1:18 scale replica of the iconic Rolls-Royce Ghost, for a one-of-a-kind collection.

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Art - Rolls Royce Perception

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A Call toBeauty Kallos Gallery are proud to announce Kalesis: A Call to Beauty, a new selling exhibition that will run throughout the summer of 2015

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Art - A Call to Beauty

Kallos Gallery are proud to announce Kalesis: A Call to Beauty. A new selling exhibition that will run throughout the summer of 2015 (exhibition dates: 23 June – 28 August).

Created to mark the Gallery’s first anniversary, the exhibition, the opening of which will coincide with the start of Masterpiece 2015 (25 June – 1 July) will showcase several significant new additions, and spotlight an extremely rare work of the Sixth Century BC that the Gallery will unveil at the show’s launch.

At its heart, Kalesis (meaning ‘a calling, summons, or vocation’ from ‘kaleo’, ‘to call’) presents an appreciation of the 2,500 years of Greek artistry that precede the Classical Era, and of the talent and devotion that drove early Greek artists to innovate, emulate, and strive towards ever more extraordinary beauty.

As such, the exhibition provides a companion piece and prequel to the British Museum’s celebrated show, Defining Beauty: The Body in Greek Art, (until 5 July) with its focus on the world changing achievements of the art of Classical Greece.

Highlights of the exhibition will include a beautiful stemmed marble ‘pyxis’ (cosmetic container) (440-400BC) and an Archaic black-figure amphora attributed to the Antimenes Painter (c. 530BC), both going on display in the gallery for the first time.

About Kallos Gallery Founded in 2014 by Baron Lome Thyssen-Bornemisza- part of the fourth generation of one of the world’s best­known art collecting dynasties, and a long-standing champion of the Classical World .

Kallos Gallery (the word means ‘beauty’ in ancient Greek) offers for sale some of the most arresting and best preserved artworks from the Ancient Greek world, of a quality rarely seen outside the world’s greatest museums. Kallos Gallery is the only gallery in the world to specialise exclusively in the antiquities of the ancient Greek world.

The gallery acts as a forum for discussion and learning, hosting regular talks, performances and events, with a central aim being to inspire and guide a new generation of collectors. In addition, it operates an educational outreach programme in classics and classical archaeology, opening its doors to primary and secondary school children from central London and the UK, and working closely with UK based educational charities and organisations.

The show will also draw new connections between objects, including a bronze bull’s head ‘protome’ (ornament) (520 – 480BC), which straddles the boundary between the late Archaic and the early Classical Periods; a graceful and abstract Geometric Bronze Horse Votive (c. 750-30 BC); and an ancient copper-alloy sculpture of a lion and prey (Near-Mesopotamian; c. 2,000 – 1,800 BC).

The objects on view as part of Kalesis will be on offer to collectors (prices on request).

Dr Glenn Lacki, Gallery Director and curator of Kalesis, said: ‘The Greeks reached the soaring artistic heights of Classical Athens only on the broad shoulders of Archaic sculpture, and in the light of over two thousand years already spent exploring craft, form, and all that delights the eye and inspires the soul.

Kalesis will highlight the devotion to beauty that drives Greek art from its earliest forms, and those characteristics, inborn or foreign to the Greeks, that helped them to sculpt the cultural identity they immortalised for themselves in bronze and marble in the Classical Period.

In line with the Kallos ethos, the objects on display will represent the best of the best in their genre.

We are especially excited to be able to unveil an extraordinary work, exemplifying the finest qualities of pre-Classical art, as the culmination of this anniversary exhibition.’

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Millionaire’s Villiage High end property company, Excellare, has begun work to develop the last sizeable parcel of land in one of the most exclusive addresses in Britain.

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Art - Millionaire’s Village

Located in the millionaire’s playground of Sandbanks, Luscombe is set in 3.5 acres of woodland, boasting breathtaking views across Poole Harbour.

Excellare is working with award-winning architect, David James, to construct three luxury detached four bedroom homes that combine pioneering engineering and contemporary design, with an outstanding quality of fit and finish.

Nestled against the backdrop of Luscombe Valley Nature Reserve, Luscombe complements its beautiful surroundings by seamlessly blending indoor and outside space to offer an unparalleled living experience.

Nicholas Blakemore, director of Excellare, said: “We had been looking for the perfect site in the Poole area for a while when local estate agents, Tailor Made, contacted us with this extraordinary opportunity. After years of looking at the usual hum drum stuff, we couldn’t believe what we had found - over three acres, hidden away between the nature reserve, Parkstone golf course and Poole Harbour.

“With 10 miles of golden sandy beaches and a wealth of watersport activities just beyond the garden gate, the three Luscombe properties are ideally placed to enjoy the very best of the south coast. Our approach is to very much work within this beautiful environment and not create a concrete jungle.”

In striving to create a haven for the discerning home owner, Excellare considers every detail, incorporating high tech specifications for ease of living and green credentials to reduce running costs.

Excellare has added nature and wildlife specialists to the team to ensure the protection of the fauna and flora during the construction phase of the project.

With guide prices starting from £3,500,000, the homes will range between 4795 - 7303 sq ft of living space.

Excellare’s newest development Luscombe is considered by the experienced developer as the top property tip for 2015.

Be it a mansion or a town centre apartment, Excellare employs contemporary thinking to create homes of quality and style. Contact Excellare with new opportunities for development to add to its balanced portfolio.

About Excellare Excellare is a company with a refreshing new attitude to housebuilding. We’re applying the contemporary thinking that goes into the creation of multi million pound properties across every project that we undertake, culminating in exceptional and individual homes of distinctive quality and style, no matter how large or small. Homes where every detail has been carefully considered, where high tech specifications make life easier, and where our green credentials help reduce running costs.

In essence, they are creating homes for those who know what they want, and who ultimately know that only the best will do.

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Telling the Tale

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lux Taylor Antrim is the author of the novel, The Headmaster Ritual. His short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Five Chapters, American Short Fiction, and Best American Short Stories. A senior editor at Vogue, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

In his new novel, IMMUNITY, Taylor plunges readers into a chilling future not so distant from our own. Set in a violent, dangerous New York City with detours into the wilds of the Hudson Valley, the quarantine wards of Newark, and one of most desolate places on earth, Scotland, IMMUNITY’s world revolves around the ever-present threat of disease, and extreme disparity between rich and poor. While an underclass struggles to survive the lurking threat of a lethal virus, the privileged few squander their money and prey on the masses for sport.

We recently spoke to Taylor to get a behind the scenes insight into his personal life and goals.

Tell us, what inspires you to write?

I’m not clear where inspiration comes from or what psychological or emotional need the act of writing serves for me. That said, I started writing short stories when I was about ten, so obviously there’s always something necessary to me about the activity. Still, the source of inspiration can feel mysterious—not to mention frustrating when I’m not feeling inspired.

I don’t reach well beyond my own experience for ideas. (Hats off to writers who can.) Aspects of both of my novels are autobiographical. In my first, The Headmaster Ritual (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), I wrote about a New England boarding school very much like the one I attended, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In my new one, IMMUNITY (Regan Arts, 2015), I wrote about a world of privilege that I covered as a magazine editor and journalist at Forbes magazine.

Both books are also driven by plot and incident that are not autobiographical. There’s a subplot of international terrorism in The Headmaster Ritual and IMMUNITY is a cautionary tale about one young woman’s journey through a pretty frightening nearfuture New York. Its set two years after a catastrophic pandemic and the plot has elements of a medical thriller: My heroine, Catherine, has a small device implanted under her skin that is supposed to keep her immune from any outbreaks. She gets mixed up with some twisted people who cater to the outrageous whims of the 1% - and finds herself in quite a bit of peril. The story is a little violent, a little scary, a little funny, a little sexy, and definitely fast-paced.

How do you keep your audience engaged and entertained throughout your books?

I am a firm believer in novels that move and I’m ruthless when it comes to my own writing. I don’t like to bore a reader - or bore myself for that matter.

So I’m constantly cutting, asking myself if that description needs to be there, if there is too much dialogue, not enough movement - that sort of thing.

My first draft for IMMUNITY was over 400 pages. The final edit was half that.

I think some of this instinct to cut and simplify and take a more direct and efficient route through material comes out of my experience as a print magazine editor. I’ve worked in magazines for over a decade and so much of editing involves cutting (since space on a magazine page is limited). Over and over again I have to figure out how to craft a sentence or tell a good story in a small space. All of this I consider good training. Joan Didion (a writer I revere) worked for a time at Vogue — where I am now an editor — and told an interviewer for The Paris Review about how even composing captions made her a more economical stylist.

“In an eight-line caption everything had to work, every word, every comma,” Didion said. “It would end up being a Vogue caption, but on its own terms it had to work perfectly.”

I love that.

How do your books differ from others, both in style and subject matter?

My two novels could be described as literary fiction with some elements of genre thrown in. The Headmaster Ritual is a young man’s coming of age story set at an elite New England boarding school - where the headmaster is a North Korean sympathizer who pals around with shadowy terrorists. IMMUNITY is about a young woman in her late twenties trying to get a grip on her life. She’s lost her mother to a car accident and needs to find a job to pay off her debts. That’s fairly familiar terrain for a literary novel, but this one is also a propulsive medical thriller involving government agents, cryptic conspiracies, and an experimental implant designed to protect you against sickness.

What is your main inspiration when you start planning a new book and what steps do you take on the road to getting it finished?

As I’ve said, inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. I usually start ruminating about a time in my life - a memory of something I’ve gone through - and then I begin to think of ways to fictionalize that memory. I don’t outline or do much in the way of preparation. That kind of thing doesn’t really help me as the writing itself always takes me in unexpected directions. So I just plunge in.

Art - Telling the Tale

house in Provence - he and my mother live in a small village called Simiane-la-Rotonde during the summer - and I would ride point-to-point in a big multi-day loop. After I met my wife, Liz, I started bringing her along and we ranged farther afield, riding in northern Italy and northern Spain.

Those trips were always exciting, always had an element of the spontaneous. We would do very little advance planning and decide our next destination only over breakfast each day. It’s the best way I’ve ever found to travel. Sadly we’ve had to take a break from our cycling adventures now that Liz and I have two young kids but I know we’ll be back at it again as soon as they’re older.

How does it feel to have accomplished what you have and to have achieved so many goals?

You never really feel that you’ve accomplished all you want, do you? Aren’t we always dissatisfied in some ineffable way? I certainly find that to be true. I feel incredibly lucky to be healthy and have a wonderful family, and, of course, to have had two novels published and to have a good job - but there is plenty of life ahead of me and much I still want to do, so I don’t ever really relax. Or rarely. Ask my wife.

What advice would you give to a budding writer?

The best advice I can give is to write every day - or five days a week. Treat it like a job, not like a hobby or something you do when inspiration strikes. Early on I learned to wake up early and write for an hour or two before I went into the office. I did this Monday to Friday, never on the weekends, and that pattern has served me well.

What are your next steps and ambitions for the future?

As for the future, I’d like to write another novel - in fact, I’m on contract with my publisher to write another one, so I better get to work!

How long from start to finish would you say it takes you to write a book?

My first book, The Headmaster Ritual, took just under two years to complete, start to finish. IMMUNITY took much longer: more like five years of writing. It turns out second novels are as difficult as people say, plus I had a few other things going on. I got married, had two kids, changed jobs a few times. Life gets in the way of writing!

Please tell us about one of your favourite or standout life experiences.

I love cycling and for about eight years of my life, every summer, I would ride for five days or so in the south of France. These were not highly organized, supported rides; I would just buy a Michelin map, pack a few clothes, strap a bag on the back of my road bike and go. I would depart from my stepfather’s

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Captivating Colours World renowned singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan, further makes his mark as an artist with ‘The Brazil Series’; a captivating set of works inspired by his travels to the South American country.

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Art - Captivating Colours

Universally acknowledged as one of the most culturally significant figures of the past century, Bob Dylan’s reputation continues to grow beyond the world of music, thanks to his prowess as an accomplished artist. Here we take a look at his most recent collection, ‘The Brazil Series’, a number of studies taking a vibrant but unconventional look at the bustling South American nation.

Dylan’s subject matter steers clear of the nation’s impressive skylines and popular beaches, and instead celebrates the infamous favelas, the busy markets and the young men of the working class. Dylan offers up the many faces of Brazil to intrigue and inspire the viewer, capturing moments he has stumbled upon, rather than sought out. His works invite us into the secret places of Brazil, back streets and houses where tourists would never normally go.

Following on from Dylan’s previous collection, ‘The Drawn Blank Series’, these new works offer an insight into the artist’s nomadic existence, which has characterised his life on the road for the last fifty years.

‘The Brazil Series’ charts Dylan’s fascination with the country, especially what he has seen off the beaten track in between his schedule of rehearsals and concerts.

Kate Hale, Castle Fine Art, South Molton Street’s Gallery Manager, said: “’The Brazil Series is an interesting and exciting departure from ‘The Drawn Blank Series’, and really does capture Bob Dylan’s strength as an artist first and foremost.

“He paints the unexpected and elusive, elevating an image from a scene viewed as a passing glance or stolen moment to an enduring work of art. It really is an honour to have his work on display at the gallery for people to enjoy.”

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About Gianfranco Gorgoni Born in Rome and originally from Abruzzo, Gianfranco moved to Milan and after a trip to London in 1965, where he devoted himself entirely to photography. After a year as an assistant, he opened a studio in Porta Ticinese, Milan. On October 28, 1968, attracted by the beauty of America, he embarked on a freighter ship in exchange for a photo essay of life on board. After 14 days at sea, he landed in New York and started photographing the representations of the Open and the Living Theatre. It was with these pictures, he began his collaboration with the Italian weekly, L’Espresso.

In 1969 in an old Pontiac bought for $99.00 (US), he travelled across America coast-tocoast photographing Hippy communes. On the way back he decided to pass by Woodstock to attend what would become the world’s most famous rock concert in history. Reflecting on achievements now, Photographing the massive event and ultimately reaching the stage where, at dawn, Jimi Hendrix would play the American anthem, are still vivid memories.

Recovered, and back in New York, the photos sold to Twen, a German monthly magazine, as well as to L’Espresso, which commissioned him another photo story on New York art’s scene. With the hopes that the legendary art dealer, Leo Castelli would put him in contact with all the artists of his gallery. Just where Gianfranco needed to be. Among them, some of the first greats, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, Johns, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Rosenquist and Chamberlain. As his luck continued, one evening at Max’s Kansas City, an American bar frequented by many young artists and intellectuals, he had a chance encounter with Serra, Smithson, Flavin, Morris and Carl Andre. With the support of Leo Castelli, Gianfranco began his project on the New Avantgarde, which would bring him into the American desert to photograph massive works of Land Art. The book was published in 1972 and Castelli Gallery organized his first exhibition in New York.

He soon returned to Italy, only after a short stay, he left again for South America. His adventures brought him to Chile, where he photographed the events that led to the fall of the government of Salvador Allende. Understanding the importance of this event, he did not hesitate to send the material to Time Magazine, that would later publish them.

Ready for the big leagues, Gianfranco along with other photographers, joined the Contact Agency in 1976 and began his career as an international photo-journalist. He travelled and worked for heavy weights, Times, Life, Newsweek and New York Times making Cover stories on the area’s most at risk: Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Faulkland Islands, Japan and China.

Visiting Mexico, he decided to fly to Cuba for the celebration of May 1st, in 1980. A love at first sight that led him to return to this land many times over the years. This forbidden love affair with the country and its People, would come together in a published book titled, “Cuba Mi Amor”, 1985 with a preface written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and text

by Fidel Castro.

In 2000 he returned to Bomba, the small Italian town of his family, where he decided to buy an old 18th century farmhouse. This project of restoration and love for community and family tradition is his drive to perfect his work of Art. It is here that he has established the headquarters of his foundation. He currently divides his time between Harlem, New York

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Through theLens

Art - Through the Lens

ContiniArtUK is delighted to announce the opening of a photographic exhibition of works by eminent Italian photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni in June.

Through the Lens: Icons of Contemporary Art will include photos of significant artists from the 20th Century alongside a portrait series of renowned Abstract Canadian-American painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004), who is soon to be exhibited at Tate Modern in celebration of her five-decades spanning career. An iconic portrait of the artist by Gorgoni has been selected for the cover of the exhibition catalogue as well as the advertising campaign to promote the long-awaited retrospective of this incredibly influential 20th Century artist.

During the late 1960s, Gorgoni was commissioned by the Italian weekly L’Espresso to create a photo story on the vibrant New York City art scene. Through his close contact with legendary art dealer Leo Castelli, Gorgoni was introduced to all the key artists of the day including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Gorgoni created a series of candid and telling portraits of artists who would become leading figures in the art world for decades to come. He captured his sitters in a variety of manners, both in posed and spontaneous settings. The intensity with which the artists showed his sitters resonated through the art world and captured the attention of world-leading publications, resulting in a highly successful career as an international photojournalist.

From the mid-1970s onwards, Gorgoni’s photographs graced the covers of publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek and The New York Times, and continues to do so up to this day.

His portraits of artistic icons such as Warhol and Willem De Kooning, Gorgoni capture the humanity behind artists who inspired generations of artists to come, with extraordinary honesty. His portrayal of the new social aspects of the contemporary American frontier, led chiefly by a young group of artists, directed him towards the creation of a particularly personal style of photography, which he continues to implement in both his portraits and photo-journalist works.

Gorgoni’s photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world, from Stockholm to San Francisco and from Tokyo to Venice. The exhibition with ContiniArtUK, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, will focus chiefly on the icons of contemporary art he has taken over the past four decades. The exhibition will offer a unique opportunity to look through the lens of a photographer who captured numerous pivotal and deeply personal moments in the lives of the most celebrated artists of our time.

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Drive

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On Track For Glory Introducing the Aston Martin Vulcan, a track only supercar and the British luxury brand’s most intense and exhilarating creation to date.

Born out of extensive motorsport experience and using the brand’s acknowledged flair for design and engineering ingenuity the 800-plus bhp, all carbon fibre Aston Martin Vulcan promises truly extreme performance.

Born out of extensive motorsport experience and using the brand’s acknowledged flair for design and engineering ingenuity the 800-plus bhp, all carbon fibre Aston Martin Vulcan promises truly extreme performance.

Uniquely for Aston Martin the new supercar, limited to just 24 examples worldwide, will allow owners the opportunity to precisely tailor their track day experience through a graduating scale of detailed power and dynamic performance adjustments.

CEO, Dr Andy Palmer, said: “Aston Martin Vulcan is, by its very nature, a rare and thrilling supercar.

Designed and engineered to deliver a genuinely bespoke driving experience that draws on our rich heritage, this car tailors its power and handling to both the capabilities of the driver and the characteristics of the track.

“A sports car for true sports car lovers, I believe the Aston Martin Vulcan – and the unique ownership programme that sits behind it – sets a whole new standard in the ultra-high luxury supercar class.”

Motorsport-inspired Styled entirely in-house by the Aston Martin design team led by Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman, and with a design language hinting at the next generation of Aston Martin sports cars, this supercar is powered by the most potent iteration yet of the company’s naturally-aspirated, 7.0-litre V12 petrol engine.

Utilising the techniques of world-class motorsport engineering, the supercar sees its power-to-weight ratio exceed those of the GTE cars which compete in the FIA’s annual World Endurance Championship.

on their learning journey, offering them the chance to refine their track driving technique and increase their ability through a carefully-constructed series of practical and theoretical driver training events.

Comprising cutting edge engineering including that sourced from the brand’s successful GT racing campaign, the car features a carbon fibre monocoque and body constructed by Aston Martin’s long-term specialist body engineering and manufacturing partner Multimatic, integral limited-slip differential, magnesium torque tube with carbon fibre propeller shaft and Brembo racing calipers acting on carbon ceramic racing disc brakes which measure 380mm in diameter at the front and 360mm at the rear.

Using a number of exciting high performance Aston Martins including the V12 Vantage S and One-77 road cars and the Vantage GT4 race car, customers will gradually build experience and develop their track technique, before beginning their thrilling personal journeys into the immense performance potential of their Aston Martin Vulcan.

Drive is channelled to the 345/30 x19 rear wheels and Michelin race specification tyres through a racebred rear mid-mounted Xtrac six-speed sequential shift gearbox.

Track-derived pushrod suspension with anti-dive geometry is complemented by Multimatic’s Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve (DSSV) adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars front and rear, driver-adjustable anti-lock braking, and variable traction control.

The new track car will comply with all relevant FIA race safety requirements.

Aston Martin’s Director of Special Projects and Motorsport, David King, said: “Taking the extensive learning from our various successful racing programmes and applying it to this exceptional track car for customers has been an exciting and sometimes challenging task for the team here at Gaydon.

“Our deep and broad motorsport experience, allied to our renowned road car expertise, has allowed us to make the Aston Martin Vulcan the absolutely compelling proposition it is today.”

Fast-track training Prior to taking delivery of their cars, owners will be offered the opportunity to take part in an extensive and detailed programme of intensive track driver training.

David King said: “We will be running a series of exclusive track day events commencing in 2016 that will offer the opportunity for these customers to explore their driving capabilities, and the car’s performance potential, on some of the world’s most famous and glamorous race circuits.”

There will also be the option of time in the virtual race car world of Darren Turner’s Base Performance Simulators, where buyers will have ample opportunity to further refine their driving style in the safety of the digital race track.

No longer the exclusive preserve of Formula 1, it is widely acknowledged that using a simulator can help prepare a driver for any race; improving technique and consistency as well as, ultimately, lap times.

Almost infinitely flexible in terms of colour and trim options, the exclusive new sports car will be offered to buyers through Aston Martin’s VIP sales programme, using the expertise and luxury customer service that is now a hallmark of the brand’s ‘Q by Aston Martin’ bespoke personalisation service.

Dr Palmer added: “We have already received strong interest from the customers we have spoken to about Aston Martin Vulcan.

“The cars will blend our traditional Aston Martin values of Power, Beauty and Soul with an unrivalled ownership experience; a unique combination that will guarantee their place in the brand’s rich and charismatic history.”

Experienced racers including Aston Martin Racing’s Le Mans-winning Darren Turner will support owners

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Drive - Wraith inspired by Fashion

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and the world of Haute Couture have long been bound by a common philosophy to take the very finest materials and craft them into the most exquisite and desirable luxury goods, appointed to the customer’s exact specifications. In this spirit, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to unveil ‘Wraith – Inspired by Fashion’.

Fittingly, the marque’s first showroom in Conduit Street, Mayfair was founded a short step from London’s famous centre of tailoring excellence, Savile Row. Here, Sir Henry Royce and his partner, the honourable Charles Rolls echoed the offerings of their illustrious neighbours by providing London’s most stylish denizens with the automotive equivalent of the finest cloths; a perfectly engineered Rolls-Royce chassis and running gear. The customer would then call upon their preferred coachbuilder, who would furnish the car with personal touches and accoutrements specified perfectly to their requirements.

A century later, a bold new generation of customers continue to share the same appetite for commissioning expressions of their taste and lifestyle. ‘Wraith – Inspired by Fashion’ provides a modern take on this grand tradition. Akin to commissioning a fine suit or elegant piece of couture, the journey of creating a highly Bespoke Rolls-Royce motor car begins at the marque’s equivalent of the tailor’s atelier, the Bespoke Design Studio at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England. Here, the Designers honed the aesthetic theme of the car, drawing inspiration from colour palettes, materials and techniques used in the world of high fashion. The result is an extraordinary interpretation of Wraith’s characteristic blend of power, style and drama.

Giles Taylor, Director of Design for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, commented, “This iteration of Wraith provides a canvas for materials and finishes most commonly associated with the world of fashion. Inspiration was sourced from international catwalks and Bespoke Tailors, resulting in an aesthetically stunning and sartorially on-point motor car.”

‘Wraith – Inspired by Fashion’ two-tone exterior colour scheme of Andalucian White and Arctic White offers a neutral setting for a choice of accent colours, namely Jasmine, Tailored Purple or Mugello Red. Wraith’s signature shoulder-line is accentuated deftly with the addition of a hand-applied feature-line in the chosen highlight colour, alluding to the divergent interior of the motor car.

Like the finest Bespoke garments, beauty is found in the subtlest details. On opening Wraith’s coach-doors you will find a contemporary impression of the car’s classic Arctic White and Black interior colour scheme. Beyond the traditional placement of embroidered headrests, seat stitching and piping, the accent colour has found an elegant new application via a striking two-tone composition steering wheel. A seamless stitch, a highly complex craft technique from the world of fine tailoring, was mastered and applied to the wheel by the craftspeople in the Leather Shop at the Home of Rolls-Royce.

The very finest garments are crafted exclusively from the most luxurious materials with tactility, comfort and quality as important an attribute as the aesthetic of the piece itself.

The Bespoke design team took inspiration from this approach in appointing the cars front and rear door pockets with fine silks, adorned with an abstract representation of the Spirit of Ecstasy with each emblem set precisely at fifty five degrees to complement the lines of the door.

The remarkable craftsmanship and attention to detail employed in the creation of any Rolls-Royce is evident in the exquisite application of wood to the dashboard, with the lacquering process for ‘Wraith – Inspired by Fashion’ alone taking nine days to painstakingly complete. This is completed elegantly with the integration of a Bespoke Clock, set as a piece of jewellery, styled exclusively to emit a pearl effect, reminiscent of silk fabrics.

The contemporary fashion theme is completed with the integration of welting, a specialist technique most commonly associated with Bespoke tailoring. Presented as a colourful silk strip, the welting stylishly frames Wraith’s signature leather door-panel.

To mark the occasion of the creation of this timeless Wraith, the motor car took part in a landmark shoot on the production line at the Home of Rolls-Royce in the South of England. The luxurious materials and distinctive features presented in the motor car were accentuated by fashion models, set against a backdrop of the handmade motor cars.

The remarkable success of Wraith in attracting a new generation of successful entrepreneurs to the marque has been underpinned by a surge in demand for bespoke personalisation. A remarkable 95% of all Wraith motor cars left the Home of Rolls-Royce with an element of Bespoke design last year, giving bold expression to the notion that Bespoke is Rolls-Royce.

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Journey To The Arctic

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Drive - Journey to the Arctic

It’s 7pm at the border of the Arctic Circle, and the temperature has just dipped below -20ºC. This invisible line – at 66º32 – has been crossed by some of the world’s greatest explorers – and now we’re about to join them, having driven 2500 miles from the English midlands. Yes, they have been the hardiest of humankind, brave beyond belief, but none of them have done it like this. ‘Cup of tea?’ my colleague asks. We came here with an Airstream.

The journey starts 10 days earlier near Birmingham in the UK, at Land Rover’s Engineering Centre, where we collect our new Range Rover Sport Hybrid. Our idea is simple: the new hybrid car can tow big loads (up to 3000kg) and operate in low temperatures, attributes rare for a hybrid. So why not test both at the same time, by towing a luxury Airstream 684 to the Arctic Circle?

We wave goodbye to Gaydon in all-electric silence. Available in selected regions across the world (although, not the US), the new model combines a 3.0-litre, supercharged SDV6 diesel engine with an electric motor to produce a total of 340PS and 700Nm of torque. Officially, it can average 64L/100km, emitting 169g/km of CO2.

After having driven through France, Belgium and a small slice of the Netherlands, the next morning we arrive in Merenberg, Hesse, at the glistening, aluminium Americana-filled home of Airstream Europe.

Our Airstream 684 is ready for us outside. It’s been specially adapted for the sub-zero adventure: the water pipes are heated and insulated, there’s an on-board gas-fuelled generator for electricity wherever we go, and we’re even trialling a prototype gas bottle warmer. Other than that, this is a standard, luxurious Airstream. At the front end, the U-shaped lounge is upholstered in soft, red leather upholstery, from where you can watch one of the two satellite TVs (the other’s in the rear bedroom). The kitchen is smart and modern, with a solid Corian gallery worktop. Drawers close softly, while cupboards shut with a reassuring clunk. Everything feels solid and of the finest hand-built quality.

European Airstreams differ to American ones, although both are built on the same production line in Jackson Center, Ohio, where Airstream has been building its iconic trailers for 84 years. The riveted aluminium aircraft-construction body is shared, as are the construction methods, but the European and US markets have their differences – European trailers are slightly narrower, roughly 20-30 per cent lighter, have wider beds, and are fully homologated for all of Europe.

Our first overnight stop is at Camping & Ferienpark Falkensteinsee, near Hamburg. It’s 0ºC on our first morning, and we already feel cold. But a breakfast of porridge and heady coffee – all created on the four-ring hob inside the Airstream – soon warms us all up.

Our aim for the day is to drive to Padborg Park race circuit in Denmark. Alas, when we arrive it’s completely covered in snow. But then again, there aren’t many hybrid cars that could tow 2500kg of Airstream to a snow-covered race circuit and complete a lap – we probably even set a niche lap record.

We take a look into this breathtaking adventure from Peter Adams, journalist from Samuelson Wylie, a leading PR, marketing and events company.

That night, my colleague stays in the Airstream, while the photographer and I stay at a nearby bed and breakfast. Come morning, my colleague is by far the most awake out of us all, beaming as we start to waken up over breakfast. But soon the conversation becomes more sombre, and brows furrow as we realise that the tail-end of Hurricane Ole is passing over – and today we’ll be crossing gargantuan bridges through Denmark, including the mighty Øresund Link that connects Copenhagen with Malmö in Sweden.

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lux We arrive at First Camp Malmö unruffled in the afternoon – the car and Airstream are inherently stable, and feel rock solid. The Range Rover Sport has Trailer Stability Assist – but there wasn’t even a flicker of intervention. The weight of both car and trailer, even balance, and slippery aerodynamics combine to fight off any strong winds.

We spend the evening relaxing around the table with food and drink, listening to music on the Airstream’s in-built stereo system. This is what big adventures are about, and it’s a chilled-out end to a long day.

The next morning starts badly when I walk into a signpost, but a bit of shouting helps to clear the pain, and we’re on the road.

The first stop is Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city after the capital Stockholm. The picturesque and historical port is a hub for education, industry and culture. We drive into Haga, one of the city’s oldest districts, in EV mode. Under normal driving, the electric motor helps to fill in torque lower in the rev range, but at urban speeds the car can run solely in electric. Pedestrians, who fill the bustling, narrow and cobbled streets, pause to take in the spectacle.

After Gothenburg, the long days begin and that night we rest at Krono Camping in Lidkoping, next to Lake Vänern. It’s the largest lake in Western Europe – about 16 times the size of Yellowstone Lake in America, or 100 times the size of Loch Ness in Scotland. Not so surprisingly, we’re the only caravan there. The snow is thick, the air is freezing, yet come sunrise the sky is clear and the surroundings beautiful.

By lunchtime, we’re back on the road en route to SweCamp Flottsbro near Stockholm, and arrive in the early evening, where two inches of snow mask a layer of slippery ice. Just a week earlier, the country had been covered in a thick duvet of snow, prompting a weather warning from the national weather agency – warnings reserved only for when the conditions could become dangerous. Bearing in mind Sweden is well used to snow, it shows just how precarious it became when, at the start of February, 43 accidents were reported in Stockholm alone in the space of six hours.

Thankfully, mercifully, the conditions are much kinder by the time we arrive, and our next move is to get studded tyres fitted in Stockholm. Despite the weather warnings and the vast amount of snow around us, we doubt whether we will really need them. Plus, on normal roads, studded tyres produce a crackling sound that’s noticeable at lower speeds, as though pressing the brake has filled the exhaust with popping candy.

That evening we arrive at the Rullsand campsite near Gävle, north of Stockholm. The approaching road is translucent with thick ice – ice that has thawed and refrozen. Setting up the Airstream takes longer than usual – for half an hour we shuffle and slip across the ice like penguins with haemorrhoids, terrified to stretch too far. Every so often, one of us lets out a frightened shriek. I try to get inside the car, but am immediately stumped as I realise that pulling the handle requires more force than my boots’ grip allows.

Morning justifies it all, with spectacular views across the Gulf of Bothnia. According to Anna and Mathias, the beaming and lovely couple who run the campsite, visitors flood the area in the summer, thanks to the big, 62 LUX - May 2015

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Drive - Journey to the Arctic

golden beaches and stunning views. In one day alone, 1000 people visit their on-site restaurant. But right now, it’s the reserve of weekend campers – who site their caravans here for the winter season – and, well, us, some weird English gents who thought it would be a good idea to drive 2500 miles to the Arctic Circle to make a point.

We set off north, settling into a rhythm, stopping off inland near Solleftea, before heading back out along the coast and then in again. Towns become more industrial, the landscape more rugged and intimidating.

We’re soon driving through vast areas of forest, and soon the industrial towns make way for small villages, separated by more forest and plains. The roads begin to get icy, with sporadic and big patches of matt white making the outside lane a dangerous place to venture.

When we arrive in Blattniksele – roughly level with Pitea on the coast – it’s about -10ºC. We’re all shattered, but trying to keep spirits high is painful, simply because smiling hurts. It’s like filling your mouth with ice cream after a bowl of hot soup.

The conditions aren’t brutal, but they’re unforgiving, and we’ve been spoilt. With two Range Rover Sports – the hybrid towing, the other acting as a support and photography car – we’ve been able to fine-tune our temperatures thanks to the dual-zone climate control (I found 22 centigrade/71 farenheit to be about right. Or perhaps 21.5C/70F. Either or, really), and remain constantly comfortable. For long journeys in treacherous conditions, it’s hard to imagine a better car for the job.

Our penultimate destination is the small town of Arjeplog, where ice lakes are at the centre of its economic survival. This is where Land Rover, along with the world’s other biggest manufacturers, do the bulk of their winter testing. Each year, the town’s population of 2500 doubles to 5000 because of all the engineers that come in. One of the hotels there is open only for the car-testing season, from the end of November until the end of March. Seeing camouflaged cars pulling into supermarket car parks almost seems normal. Almost.

For the final stint, we set off in convoy, as we have done for the past 2450 miles. It’s testament to the stability of the car and Airstream that they feel so comfortable to be driven at 90kmh on winding main roads on thick ice. Then again, the lakes of Arjeplog is where this car was developed.

The car just grips, and the trailer obeys, with plumes of dusty snow billowing out from beneath the Airstream.

Think of the great misty vortexes that are pushed out from beneath a jumbo jet as it lands, and you’ll get an idea of what I saw in my mirrors.

After 90 minutes of driving, we turn into the modest layby where the normal world stops and the Arctic Circle begins. The sun has set and the thermometer reads -20C. We’ve driven 2500 miles through seven countries in 10 days, through gale-force winds and along ice, towing an Airstream all of the way in a brand-new Range Rover Sport Hybrid that made every mile as effortless as it was luxurious. As we stand there, hot mugs of tea in hand, my colleague sums it up perfectly: ‘We made it,’ he says. ‘We actually made it … But God its cold.’

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Tech 64 LUX - May 2015

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If YouCan ImagineIt, They Can Create It George Bamford, son of JCB Chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, counted himself incredibly lucky when, for his 18th Birthday, he was given a Rolex Daytona with a black dial and Zenith movement. He instantly fell in love with the watch, and was incredibly proud to own such a wonderful timepiece. Then, in 2002, George was at a dinner party with some friends, looked around the table, and realised that everyone there was wearing exactly the same watch as him. He instantly went from smitten to massively underwhelmed with his beloved Daytona.

BWD also create a series of Limited Editions, the latest of which is the Limited Edition Rolex Milgauss Aftershock. These are also available through a network of 37 dealers that are located globally in interesting stores like Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and New York, Maxfied in LA and The Webster in Miami etc.

The modifications void the original warranty, but such is BWD’s confidence that its own two-year guarantee can be extended indefinitely for a nominal fee. As for the military grade coating, the colour is guaranteed for life

Last year, George extended his mantra of ‘If you can imagine it, we can create it’ to the world of competitive road cycling and launched the Bamford Cycle Department and he is further expanding his passion for personalisation to include cars, grooming products and luxury leather goods. It doesn’t stop there – BWD will be opening in New York and Hong Kong and each location will have its own service centre.

This was the beginning of a sharp learning curve that started with the realisation that in our massmarket world, luxury is no longer true luxury, and this meant making luxury personal again. As a first step, George created two blackened watches; a Rolex Plexiglass Submariner and a Rolex GMT – one for himself and one for his father. He wore that watch on a holiday to Italy and returned with twenty-five orders for customised black watches.

That was 2004 and the beginning of the Bamford Watch Department (BWD).

Today, BWD is the world’s leading luxury watch customisation company. “I started BWD because I wanted to make luxury personal again”, explains George. The name Bamford Watch Department is synonymous with uncompromising style and quality. BWD are proud to be the first company to personalise a range of steel sports watches based around the personalisation of various iconic sports watches from some of the major brands in the watch world. The process of treating the watches has evolved, and Bamford has developed a process called MGTC (military grade titanium coating), which makes a deposit of 4-5 microns on top of the watch surface, but also penetrates 3-4 microns into the steel making it scratch proof.

Using the motto “If you can imagine it, we can create it” BWD encourages clients to create their own designs using the online “customiser”, or by visiting the client rooms in its brand-new Mayfair townhouse. Once inside and having been ushered in to one of the several “client rooms” you will find a roaring fire, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves full of the most interesting and historically important horological reference books and watch memorabilia to help inspire your customisation. “We are driven by our passion for engineering excellence and innovation. Inspired by the demand of our clients to wear watches that are exclusive and invidivual”.

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http://lux.acquisition-intl.com/

I am George Bamford. In 2003, over 10 years ago, I started customising luxury watches for friends, family and clients.

What started as a passion for individuality and personalisation quickly snowballed and became the Bamford Watch Department, the world’s leading luxury watch personalisation company. Today, we have an extensive network of A-list clients, over 30 dealers around the world and service centres on four continents.

I started the Bamford Watch Department because I wanted to make luxury personal again, like it used to be. Following up from the Bamford Watch Department, I launched the Bamford Cycle Department, to bring our mantra of “if you can imagine it, we can create it” to the world of competitive road cycling. Following on from this, I have decided to further expand my realm of personalisation to include cars, grooming products and luxury leather goods. Now, Bamford.com is the world’s ultimate hub for personalised luxury products, with more unique and customisable pieces on offer here than anywhere else.

Welcome to www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com Welcome to my world.

66 LUX - May 2015