H Edition Global

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EDITION GLOBAL MAGAZINE

Remaining with

SCHUMI

Reflections on F1’s greatest champion as he fights for recovery

AlAIN CrEvET

From Royalty to Rock ’n Roll The Charisma of Super Chef

MASSIMO BOTTUrA

MONGOlIA The Mystical Land Of Genghis Khan

TOP 10 EArTH FACTS

L E A D E R S H I P | B U S I N E S S | L U X U RY | T R AV E L | C U LT U R E

Service for Little Lord, 1931 (Hotel Archive) NoblemanDeLuxe.com

YOUR TRADITION. OUR SPIRIT. S

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MAJESTIC AND ELEGANT, IN THE CENTRE OF ST. MORITZ, AT THE HEART OF THE SWISS ALPS. THIS IS WHERE YOU FIND THE BADRUTT’S PALACE HOTEL. LEGENDARY, UNIQUE AND DISTINCTIVE! SINCE 1896 GUEST WISHES HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATED AND FULFILLED, HOWEVER GREAT THEY MAY HAVE SEEMED. WITH US YOU ARE THE GUEST AND WARMLY WELCOMED.

Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, Via Serlas 27, 7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland, Telephone: +41 (0)81 837 1000, Fax: +41 (0)81 837 2999 Reservations: +41 (0)81 837 1100, reservations@badruttspalace.com, www.badruttspalace.com BadruttsPalace, BadruttsPalace

Whilst writing this I feel inspired. 2016 has arrived and I look back over the last year and wonder how time crept up on me so quickly.

Well, my New Year’s resolution is to be focused, focused on the things that make me happy, which in turn will increase my attention to everything around me, to take life day by day, and to be mindful of how I utilise my time – work, home, friends and family.

This month’s issue is dedicated to a great sports hero, Michael Schumacher.

We reflect on his achievements and pray that this New Year brings him health and love. Without either of these important additions in our daily existence we are void of the things that keep us well. Turn to page 38 and enjoy our reflections on a hero that is still very much with us.

Our Earth is weighed down with many important issues. We speak with leaders from across the globe to bring you articles that allow us to observe what our future holds for us.

How many more years can this magnificent planet sustain being unloved by humans? We touch on this very poignant subject on page 13.

Alain Crevet, CEO of luxury brand S.T. Dupont, talks to us exclusively about his passion for his role and the brand he leads on page 32.

On a final note, love and health also comes from food. So I approached not one, but two of the world’s greatest chefs for interviews. Both accepted and we are honoured to have exclusives from Modena’s celebrated chef, Massimo Bottura and – from across the pond – the King of the kitchen, Thomas Keller.

Wishing you much love, health and happy eating this 2016.

EDITOR’S NOTE

LAND REALLY IS THE BEST ART Andy Warhol

Dina Aletras Editor in Chief

AUSTRIA • CYPRUS • TICINO • LONDON • LUXEMBOURG • MALTA • MIAMI • MONACO • NORTH ITALY • NEW YORK• SINGAPORE • SWITZERLAND H Edition Magazine is published monthly and offers advertisers an exclusive audience of affluent readers. Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that content in the magazine is accurate we cannot accept and hereby disclaim any liability to loss or damage caused by errors resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause.

All rights are reserved no duplication of this magazine can be used without prior permission from H Edition Magazine. All information is correct at time of press. Views expressed are not necessarily those of H Edition Magazine.

For editorial and advertising enquiries please email info@hamblecomms.com Front cover credit: Anke Luckmann, Kai Tietz Designed by Typetechnique, London Printed by The Magazine Printing Company www.magprint.co.uk @HEditionMag

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Editor in Chief Dina Aletras Cosmetic Specialist Dr Ohan Ohanes Luxury Travel Florian Schaible

Contributors Philip Whiteley Joanne Walker Valentino De Pietro Franco Fregni Manish Kumar Arora

Miss Metaverse Barbara Van Veen Matthew Smith Red Consultancy Clementine Communications

Design Kevin Dodd

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EDITION

Okhor Valley Mongolia – the world’s most sparsely populated country.

CONTENTS H EDITION ISSUE 17

8 GLOBAL REVIEW

News From Around The World

14 WATERWORLD Earth In 2100

20 HAPPY 1000th BIRTHDAY Eternal Life – A Possibility?

26 SILVIO TARCHINI

The Business Leader With The Magical Touch

32 ALAIN CREVET, CEO OF S.T. DUPONT From Napoleon III To Keith Richards

30 REMAINING WITH SCHUMI Reflections On F1’s Greatest Champion

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MONGOLIA

Visiting The Land Of Genghis Khan

64 THOMAS KELLER

The First And Only American-born Chef To Hold Multiple Three-Star Ratings

68 MASSIMO BOTTURA A Poet In The Kitchen And An Artist On The Plate

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| HOROSCOPES

LibrA

Aries

(21 March-19 April)

(23 September-22 October)

You may be presented with new money-making opportunities, find a way to manage your finances smarter and have more confidence. You could feel you’re intellectually engaged, learning something new, and find it easier to communicate accurately. You may also spend some time dwelling on your spiritual foundation and come up with a plan to strengthen it. In love, you could bring a relationship to another level, becoming more committed.

Favourable Dates: January 2, 3, 11, 12, 20, 21, 30. Favourable Colours: Yellow & White

You are primed for significant and positive shifts and opportunities coming into your work sphere as well as your well-being and vitality. The key is to tap into your confidence, leadership skills and creativity- and really put them out there for others to see. Whether you are interested in meeting someone new, solidifying a business partnership or just expanding/deepening existing relationships in your life – you have the cosmos on your side.

Favourable Dates: January 1, 4, 10, 13, 19, 22, 28. Favourable Colours: Red & White

TAurus

sCorpio

(20 April-20 May)

(23 October-21 November)

You could feel like you have more energy and vigour, and you want to put yourself out there and be in the spotlight. You’re less likely to do something on a whim with regards to your finances, and could think through thoroughly all financial plans. Stress could also take more of a toll on you physically. You might meet a lot of new people with similar interests as yours and expand your social network.

Favourable Dates: January 2, 8, 11, 17, 20, 26, 29. Favourable Colours: Red & White

You will feel creative and want to enjoy engaging your mind, doing things that are mentally stimulating, and being around other people. You would charm people and win them over with your words. This is a great time for you if you work as a writer, speaker, teacher, or in law. If in a relationship, you would talk more with your partner or leave little love notes for them.

Favourable Dates: January 2, 3, 11, 12, 20, 21, 29. Favourable Colours: Red & Blue

Gemini

sAGiTTArius

This periodwill bring you popularity and success in collective initiatives. You can count on the support of women, friends and arts people. This can be a good time to work on improving your health and making changes to your daily life. If in a relationship you can enter into a new partnership, commit yourself to something, agree to a compromise, and try to strike a balance in your life, or mediate a conflict.

Favourable Dates: January 1, 2, 10, 11, 19, 20, 29. Favourable Colours: Red & Green

This month will bring a time of review, revision and rethinking about your life path, purpose and calling. Addressing boundaries, imbalances, unfairness or repressed anger can be up as well. Major shake ups, wake up calls, and breakthroughs are in order as relationship in your life gets a good cleansing. Certain connections are moving towards transformation, while others are ending- but either way your focus should be on growth and integrity.

Favourable Dates: January 2, 5, 11, 14, 20, 23, 29. Favourable Colours: White & Blue

CAnCer

CApriCorn

There’s also potential for deep spiritual shifts or awakenings- so pay attention to your dreams, intuition and inner knowing.You may come across as quieter, practical, and anxious.. Changes in your beliefs and attitudes, as well as in your friendship connections- can lead to more grounding and happiness. Trust your instincts and move accordingly. You’ve been coming to terms with the transformations made regarding your intimate relationships if single, someone very special will soon walk into your life.

Favourable Dates: January 4, 6, 13, 15, 22, 24. Favourable Colours: Red & Purple

This can be a good time to study the metaphysical, and try to learn through your intuition.

Any ideas you come up with, opinions you have, or knowledge you come across, you keep to yourself. You may need some time alone to give your mind a break otherwise it’ll overload from all of the stimuli. You may experience struggles over your beliefs, and people opposing you over what you believe.

Favourable Dates: January 3, 6, 12, 15, 21, 24, 30. Favourable Colours: Red & Blue

(21 May-20 June)

(22 November-21 December)

(21 June-22 July )

(22 December-19 January)

Leo

AquArius

(20 January-18 February)

(23 July-22 August) The period will bring new beginnings where you can really find your grounding, sense of stability and inner rootedness. It a time to rethink, review and revise what you think, say and believe about the world around you, so be willing to let go of something that tethers you to the past and stay open to new visions and opportunities coming in.You will sense the feelings of any situation, and gain information through that.

Favourable Dates: January 1, 8, 10, 17, 19, 26, 28. Favourable Colours: Blue & White

VirGo

You may become more interested in original ideas and thinkers, unconventional methods, and take an innovative approach to solutions, trying to think outside of the box. Try to clear out any junk, literally and figuratively, from your life, and deal with old baggage. You may experience power struggles and control issues over the next four weeks, but they’re subtle and may be hard to notice at first.

Favourable Dates: January 6, 7, 15, 16, 24, 25. Favourable Colours: Green & White

pisCes

(19 February-20 March)

(23 August-22 September) You will gear up for some amazing developments in your life path, purpose and care. You will have opportunities to align your creativity and passions in a way that allows you to utilise your potential. It would be a great time to rethink, review and revise your life direction and relationships. It is an ideal period for travel, education, learning, and teaching, publishing and expanding your world view.

Favourable Dates: January 2, 3, 11, 12, 20, 21, 30. Favourable Colours: Blue & Yellow

Rethinking, reviewing and revising your passions, creativity and self-expression would be in focus. Getting clear about your bottom line, your bank balance and your inflow and outflow is useful right now. Addressing financial relationships and boundaries will help to bring clarity about how to move forward- so don’t neglect dealing with the details. This month promises a huge time of expansion for you, but it is key that you focus on yourself rather than others.

Favourable Dates: January 1, 2, 10, 11, 19, 20, 28. Favourable Colours: Yellow & White

MANISH KUMAR ARORA 6

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books

By MaTTHew SMiTH Urbane Publications

The nights are drawing in and it’s the perfect time to snuggle up with a compelling book or two. We’ve got some intriguing choices for you this month, including deadly assassins, creativity and inspirational real life stories.

Acapulco 1974: Rina Walker is on assignment. Just another quick, clean kill.

She wakes to discover her employer’s severed head on her bedside table, and a man with an AK-47 coming through the door of her hotel room. She needs all her skills to neutralise her attacker and escape. After a car chase, she is captured by a Mexican drug boss who exploits her radiant beauty and ruthless expertise to eliminate an inconvenient member of the government.

Notting Hill 1956: Fifteen-year-old Rina is scavenging and stealing to support her siblings and her alcoholic mother. When a local gangster attacks her younger sister, Rina wreaks violent revenge and murders him. Innocence betrayed, Rina faces the brutality of the post-war London underworld – a world that teaches her the skills she needs to kill.

Hugh Fraser is perhaps best known as Captain Hastings in Poirot, but his debut novel Harm is a thrillingly original tale of a beautiful and deadly assassin. A brilliant page-turner!

Two Turtle Doves is the story of a life spent making things.

Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world.

Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-carts and guns, crossbows and booby-traps, boats, bikes or scooters. And then, it was jewellery.

From full-out warfare waged against the local schoolboys to the freedom found in daredevil Raleigh bike antics, to the delicacies of dress-making and the most intricate designs for jewellery, Two Turtle Doves traces the intimate journey of how an idea is transformed from a fleeting thought into an exquisite piece of jewellery. It is about where we find our creativity, how we remember and why we make the things we do.

At the age of 45, wife and mother Jackie Buxton was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Lurching between the crippling fear that the cancer had spread, and the great comfort of knowing she was one of the lucky ones who could be treated, she did what she always does when life presents her with a challenge: she wrote it down.

Jackie quickly realised that even with cancer, life was far from bad. Never known for her scientific prowess, she nonetheless became a ‘bit of an expert’ – at least in the field of hair loss, water retention and biscuits – and decided to use her writing to share experiences and help others recognise you don’t have to be defined by your cancer. Tea & Chemo is full of laughter, tears, honesty and hope, and offers inspirational words to everyone facing the life challenges that cancer inevitably brings.

All proceeds from the sales of Tea & Chemo will go to three incredibly important charities, whose compassionate care and professionalism make the difference to so many lives: The Haven, Breast Cancer Now and The Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre, Harrogate.

BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt offers a business bible for a new generation. It’s anarchic. It’s irreverant. It’s passionate. It’s BrewDog. Don’t waste your time on poorly conceived business plans. Forget sales.

Ignore advice. Put everything on the line for what you believe in. These mantras have turned BrewDog into one of the world’s fastest-growing drinks brands, famous for beers, bars and crowdfunding.

Founded by a pair of young Scots with a passion for great beer, BrewDog has catalysed the craft beer revolution, rewritten the record books and inadvertently forged a whole new approach to business. In Business for Punks, BrewDog co-founder James Watt bottles the essence of this success. From finances (‘chase down every cent, pimp every pound’) to marketing (‘lead with the crusade, not the product’) this is an anarchic, indispensable guide to thriving on your own terms.

www.urbanepublications.com HEditionMag

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| NEWS

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GLOBAL

REVIEW

By Roberto Pucciano 1

Myanmar

One of the longest-running opposition leaders in political history won an election in Myanmar (Burma) in November, marking a potentially historic turning point for the south-eastern Asian country. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent many years under house arrest during years of dictatorship, led her National League of Democracy Party to a landslide victory.

Transition to democratic civilian rule is not complete however. The Constitution was drafted by the outgoing military regime, and the army continues to wield influence, with certain ministerial posts and one quarter of parliamentary seats allocated to the armed forces. Suu Kyi is currently barred from assuming the Presidency, which is not a directly elected post under the country’s constitution, but is appointed by a committee of Members of Parliament.

It is likely that Suu Kyi, who has won the Nobel Peace Prize, will have to negotiate carefully and strike a balance between asserting her right to pursue her party’s programme while avoid provoking a military coup.

The country is one of the world’s poorest. It is the world’s largest exporter of teak and has highly fertile soil and offshore oil and gas deposits.

Corruption is a serious problem, and the country is ranked 156th on the Transparency Index. It is 134th on the competitiveness index, scoring especially low on infrastructure and technological readiness.

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Guatemala

In October a former television comedian Jimmy Morales won Guatemala’s Presidential elections on an anti-corruption campaign, following the arrest and suspension from office of President Otto Perez Molina.

He is due to take office in January.

Former deputy President Alejandro Maldonado has held the post since the arrest and imprisonment of Perez Molina in September.

Morales comfortably beat his rival Sandra Torres, a former First Lady who was seen as part of the political elite that has lost support and credibility in the past few months, although there is no suggestion that she had been involved in corrupt activity.

The new regime promises a fresh approach to Guatemalan politics, but some commentators criticise Morales’ lack of experience, and eccentric policy ideas such as electronic tags for teachers to ensure attendance, and giving free smartphones to school children.

The Central American country is relatively poor, and still scarred by the civil war which reached a peak of intensity in the 1980s and was particularly violent even by the standards of the region. The campaign by successive military rulers was ostensibly against leftist guerrillas, but many thousands of civilians perished.

On global competitiveness, it is 78th, with moderate scores for business sophistication, health and primary education, and low scores in other areas. Life expectancy is 71, and the literacy rate is 75%.

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Portugal

Inconclusive parliamentary elections in October 2015 in Portugal caused political and economic uncertainty for some weeks.

The previous centre-right government lost its majority, but the left only had enough numbers for a coalition by including the Communists, which are opposed to membership of the single currency. In late November a left-wing government headed

by Social Democrat Antonio Costa was sworn in, promising to temper austerity, but not breach the EU’s fiscal rules for the eurozone.

The presence of the Communists as a coalition partner had caused concerns among the EU’s elite. However, as junior members they are likely to have to compromise like the radical leftist Syriza party in Greece. Costa has insisted his government will meet international commitments on its budget and debts, but reduce the impact of austerity measures on those on low-incomes.

It is 31st in the Transparency Index.

Broad health and educational indicators are good. Life expectancy is 79 and the literacy rate is 95%. However, recessionary conditions and government cutbacks in the past five years since the euro crisis hit have had their impact; around 12% are unemployed, and 20% live below the poverty line.

It is a small country, with a population of around 10 million, about the same as a large city such as Beijing or New York.

Nearly 500,000 have emigrated since the Eurozone and banking crisis hit in 2011.

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Central African Republic

The landlocked nation of Central African Republic is one of the poorest in the world, ravaged by decades of colonialism, weak governance and ethnic conflict. Life expectancy is just 47 and the literacy rate is 55%.

It does not have a listing in the latest Global Competitiveness Index prepared by the World Economic Forum. Corruption is endemic, with the country placed at 150th on the Transparency Index.

The country has a tropical climate with a prolonged wet season over most of the territory, except for desert in the far north. There is extensive arable land, and potential for hydroelectric power, as well as mineral deposits, but weak institutions and a poor climate for business have hampered economic development.

For much of its history since independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic has been a dictatorship.

Multi-party elections were held in 1994, but a military coup in 2003 installed François Bozizé as President, who ruled for ten years before himself being ousted by an uprising. The current President is Catherine Samba-Panza [update in January] as an interim posting. She has called for dialogue between the sides in the civil war, known as the Central African Bush War, featuring conflict between Christian, Muslim and Government forces.

In November, Pope Francis made a historic visit to the nation, and made a visit to a mosque as part of a bid to overcome ethnic and religious tension.

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Hungary

Hungary, which was at the heart of a significant empire before the First World War, made international headlines during 2015 when thousands of refugees from the Middle East used the country’s transport infrastructure as they sought asylum and economic opportunities within the European Union. Most were heading for Germany, where the Chancellor Angela Merkel had indicated a welcoming policy, especially towards those fleeing the war in Syria. Hungary’s position in central-east Europe places on the route from Turkey to Germany.

At one stage, asylum-seekers were camped in large numbers in and outside the main railway station of the capital Budapest. In early September the authorities closed the station and suspended services. Many were also to be seen walking on the sides of motorways towards Austria. In August 2015, the Hungarian government began constructing a fence along the border with Serbia, to stem the flow of migrants.

The country is a member of the European Union and has been officially committed to replacing the forint with the euro as its currency since 2003, but is not a member of a currency peg, indicating it is still some years away from joining.

It is 60th on the Global Competitiveness Index, scoring well for health and primary education, and moderately well for infrastructure. It is ranked moderately on anti-corruption measures, with a ranking of 47th on the Transparency Index.

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Suriname

The controversial figure of Dési Bouterse, the current President, has been dominant in the politics of Suriname for decades. He headed a military regime in the 1980s, was found guilty of drug trafficking by a court in the Netherlands in 2000 and sentenced in absentia to 11 years’ prison, but continues as head of state.

In 2012 the Parliament approved amnesty for President Bouterse and 24 other defendants on trial for the alleged execution of political opponent during military rule in the 1980s. Former colonial power the Netherlands recalls ambassador and suspends some of its aid payments in protest.

Bouterse won a second term as president in July 2015. His party had not won an outright majority at the general election, but the opposition failed to put forward its own candidate.

The country is at the north-eastern tip of the South American continent, has an Atlantic coast and a wet tropical climate. It is bordered by Guyana to the west, French Guiana to the east and Brazil to the south.

The capital Paramaribo is on the coast.

A major export for decades has been the aluminium ore bauxite. The economy has benefited from cheap hydroelectric power since the construction of the Afobaka dam in the 1960s. It is low on the Global Competitiveness Index at 110th, scoring well only on health and primary education. The literacy rate is nearly 95% and life expectancy is 70.

On the Transparency Index, the country is ranked low, at 100th out of 175 nations.

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Mongolia

At the heart of the old empire of the legendary and infamous Ghengis Khan was the region now known as the modern state of Mongolia. It is one of the world’s largest landlocked nations, and one of the most sparsely populated. Nearly half the population lives in the capital city of Ulaanbataar, while a significant part of the rural population is nomadic. Much of the countryside is grassy steppes, poor for agriculture. The winter is severe.

There are significant mineral and precious metal deposits. A train service connects both Beijing and Moscow, although the distances are huge.

Economic development is limited, but has improved in recent years. The country is ranked 98th on the Global Competitiveness Index, scoring poorly on some indicators, but moderately well on health and primary education. This is reflected in national statistics; there is near-100% literacy, and life expectancy is 68.

The most recent World Bank report praised the country’s multi-party democracy, and the effect of development of mining to reduce poverty. The proportion of Mongolian citizens living in poverty has fallen from nearly 40% to 27% since 2010. ‘Substantial progress has also been made in regard to several Millennium Development Goals,’ the report concluded.

Control of corruption is moderate, with the country placed 80th on the Transparency Index, about mid-way on the list.

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Namibia

Economic development and social programmes have helped reduce poverty in Namibia, with the World Bank praising political stability in recent years. The one negative is the slow rate of jobs growth.

National statistics show that literacy is at 89%. Life expectancy is 62, which is low by international standards, but significantly higher than some sub-Saharan nations, especially those badly affected by AIDS. It was effectively colonized by neighbouring South Africa for several decades, and subject to the apartheid policy of racial segregation. There remain a significant white population of European descent. Independence was not gained until 1990. It has maintained a peaceful democratic system since, with elections dominated by the anti-apartheid SWAPO party (which originally stood for South West African People’s Organization, though only the acronym is now used).

The south-western African country is sparsely populated, with only 2.3 million people in an area of around 825,000 km2 – about the same size as Germany and France combined. It has an impressive 44% of land, including the entire coastline, under conservation protection.

It is placed a moderately high 55th on the Transparency Index. On the Global Competitiveness rankings it comes 88th.

Its rankings on infrastructure and financial market development are better than the African average. Educational levels of the workforce top the concerns of business leaders.

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DESIGN / MOTION www.tofu.pl

BRANDING | BTL | MOTION GRAPHIC | GRAPHIC DESIGN | EDITORIAL

Editor’s Picks PATRÓn TEQUILA Patrón Tequila have teamed up with luxury crystal makers, Lalique to produce the Patrón en Lalique: Serie 1, a limitededition crystal decanter containing a smooth, refined and rare extra añjeo tequila that is aged for at least four years in American and French oak barrels – giving it a balanced oak and agave flavour.

The decanter showcases Lalique’s signature technique of contrasting clear and frosted crystal finishes to showcase its perfect detail and enhance the unique amber colour of the tequila.

OLVERUM BATH OIL Olverum is a highly concentrated, therapeutic bath oil which contains 10 pure essential oils, carefully blended to work synergistically, and a very effective way to naturally relieve stress and help you achieve a great night’s sleep. Olverum is also a great used as a soothing antidote to a cold or flu.

It has a gorgeously aromatic, unisex scent. £36.95 for 200 mls Available from www.olverum.com

Inside each breathtaking bottle of Patrón en Lalique: Serie 1 is an exceptional blend of the oldest and rarest Patrón tequilas, hand-selected from Patrón’s barrel ageing room at the Hacienda Patrón distillery in the hills of Jalisco, Mexico.

Patrón en Lalique: Serie 1 (700ml) will retail for £4,950 at fine spirits retailers and in select duty free stores across the world. It is limited to 500 units.

PREcIOUs MInIATUREs Little Luxuries Precious Treats. Five pocket-sized natural spray fragrances. 5 x 10ml Atropha Belladonna 10 ml Blood Oranges 10 ml Salt Caramel 10 ml Watermelons 10 ml Framboise Noire 10 ml £65.00 Available from www.shayandblue.com

GILLEs VELOUR PURPLE Purple velvet slippers with crystal Swarovski brooches, Calf leather soles and lining, Heel height 1.6 cms, Branded dustbag and box. £275.00 via superglamorous.it

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THE EARTH

“

Sooner or later, we will have to recogniSe that the earth haS rightS, too, to live without pollution. what mankind muSt know iS that human beingS cannot live without mother earth, but the planet can live without humanS. Evo Morales

Waterworld: Earth Towards 2100

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W

aterworld (1995) is a classic post-apocalyptic science-fiction film that captivated audiences of all ages with its dystopian future setting (believed to be around the year 2500) where Earth’s polar ice-caps have melted and oceans have engulfed most of the remaining land.

Two decades after the film’s release, accelerating natural disasters are causing a growing concern among scientists and experts whom agree that at this point, sea level rise is virtually unstoppable but it will be manageable with strategic planning and resources in place.

A rising frequency in recent catastrophic Earth events began following the Indonesian Earthquake (2004), the third largest earthquake (Mw 9.1–9.3) ever recorded using a seismograph and became known as the worst earthquake since 1556. The Boxing Day tsunami which followed was one of the most devastating tsunamis of all time, killing more than 280,000 people in 14 countries, and leaving as many as 2 million people displaced thereafter. The International Federation of Red Cross societies have since provided over 4.8 million people with assistance, 51,395 newly built homes, and 289 hospitals and clinics built or rehabilitated.

Just a year after the Boxing Day tsunami, Hurricane Katrina (2005) became one of the deadliest and most costly storms in American history. Upon making landfall, Hurricane Katrina (which was at one point a Category 5 storm) had devolved to a Category 3 with winds traveling at 127 mph. However, because New Orleans sits between one and two feet below sea level and the levees had broken, about 80 percent of the city flooded, resulting in an estimated death toll of 1,833, a whopping

$108 billion in estimated total property damages, and more than 400,000 people displaced.

Within the past five years alone, humanity has faced several more record-smashing storms and Earth events such as a devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti (2010) that had killed over 316,000 people and left 1.3 million displaced, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland (2010), which disrupted air travel for weeks, the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in T?hoku, Japan (2011) which had caused the Fukushima meltdown and killed an estimated 15,703 people and left nearly 131,000 displaced, Superstorm Sandy (2012) which killed 285, caused $65 billion in damages, and left about 200,000 displaced, and Typhoon Haiyan (2013) which killed 6,340, caused $2.86 billion in damages and left about 4 million displaced.

Renowned climate scientists are greatly concerned about the possible future effects of global sea levels rising, particularly along the coasts of major U.S. cities including New York and Miami. The world’s leading financial center and a media and cultural powerhouse, New York City has the largest urban economy – $1.5 trillion in the United States. In many ways, Superstorm Sandy was a powerful wakeup call for governments and organizations to take preventative measures now to prevent cataclysmic effects in the future.

According to the New York City Panel on Climate Change, sea level rise isn’t a matter of if but when.

Their recent 2015 report predicts that areas near the five boroughs will swell as much as 11-21 inches by the 2050s, 18-39 inches by the 2080s, and as much as six feet by 2100.

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Š Vincent Callebaut Architectures

is estimated to cost about $14.3 billion in U.S. dollars.

More cities that may soon be under water include Jakarta, Indonesia and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

One of the greatest concerns of climate change are environmental refugees and so, meet Lilypad, an innovative floating city concept designed by architect Vincent Callebaut which was designed as a possible relocation destination that could accommodate as many as 50,000 people in its self-sufficient “ecopolis” which is shaped like a leaf from Victoria Water Lily.

Lilypad will have many smart features including three marinas and three mountains which would surround a central lagoon submerged below the water line. The three mountains and marinas would be dedicated to work, shopping, and entertainment, while suspended gardens and aquaponics farms below the water line would be used to grow food and biomass. Of course, no futuristic floating city for environmental refugees would b complete without a full array of renewable energy technologies including solar, thermal, wind, tidal, and biomass to produce more energy than it consumes.

The Lilypads may either be located close to land or set free to float along the ocean currents to wherever they may lead.

There are many more exciting future scenarios to explore, so please subscribe to my newsletter at FuturistMM.com Now, let’s go build a better future! @missmetaverse

© Vincent Callebaut Architectures

According to the report, sea levels around New York City have risen by 1.1 feet since 1990 and rising waters will also soon extend the city’s floodplain further inland, doubling the area that would be affected by a once-ina-century flood, the results of which will flood the city’s coastal neighborhoods up to 15 times more frequently towards the end of the century.

No, the future of New York City won’t look like Waterworld in 100 years but rather, a highly advanced, self-sufficient, climate controlled, smart city of the future, and it’s all beginning right now. In 2014, a Danish company formed by Henk Ovink, a Dutch watermanagement expert, announced that they are building a massive $335 million seawall around New York to prevent rising waters from affecting lower Manhattan and neighboring areas that are expected to flood in the future. The new seawall area, known as “The Big U” will slope upwards as high as 20 feet to block rising seas.

However, to the public The Big U will also appear as fun place for socializing, with shops and a plaza that resemble the current High Line.

For some cities, however, it may already be too late to save from sea level rise. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand and home to over 10 million people is sinking and a recent government study has suggested that Bangkok may be underwater in as few as 15 years.

Bangkok sits a mere 5 feet above sea level and is already flood prone. On top of all that, the tall city buildings are weighing the city down causing it to sink much more quickly. A seawall has been proposed and

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| THE EARTH

Space Mining? It’s an option!

Trend research isn’t always right. Take the popular insights on depletion of Earth’s natural resources. Ever since I started out as a futurist about 15 years ago, lists have been going around, telling us – all things equal – when we would run out. Some precious metals were supposed to be obsolete in 2010 already. Those lists are still there, but the dates have moved up remarkably. It takes lots longer to run out of materials than forecasters originally thought.

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t’s all about the rule of thumb every futurist should know by heart. When you predict something, people will respond to it, behave differently, and your prediction will fail.

However, if we neglect the issue, we run out of rare elements and drinking water, and a worst-case scenario will play out. For example, futurists have warned against water wars, a concept so plausible that it even made it into the Bond movie “Quantum of Solace.”

In various areas of the world, access to drinking water is already causing conflict.

In the meantime, we are using more water than ever, and the climate is getting hotter.

And it’s not just the water. There is also strife and conflict about oil, minerals, and metals.

So yes, depletion of the Earth’s goodness is a serious challenge, but not all is doomed.

The go-to response of any government is reducing the impact of exhaustion of scarce materials. Rules and regulations will prohibit certain uses; taxes will limit practices, and subsidies will sponsor alternative behaviors. It’s an expensive solution that usually does not reach its goals in time, but it helps.

Fortunately, emerging tech also has some answers. Strangely enough, technology is looking at biology for solutions. Biological processes are mimicked or re-engineered to help us.

A promising line of research is the development of self-healing materials.

Self-regeneration is the ultimate form of recycling. New plastics can fix themselves like our skin does: small capillaries with fluids break on impact and form a new surface. It’s a matter of decades before science discovers a way to mass produce it, and recycling will never be the same again.

Avoiding depletion’s impact also means

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re-engineering processes in a way that it won’t happen. In the case of natural materials, synthetics can put a stop to the exhaustion of rare substances. Not only by replacing a natural material by a synthetic version, but also by mimicking natural processes producing clean energy or other resources.

A clever development is the design of synthetic leaves. The leaves look like real ones, and use a process similar to photosynthesis to turn sunlight into chemical fuel directly.

Biological processes can be re-engineered to help us too. Strands of yeast are made to make precious spices and scents as vanilla and patchouli. A similar principle is now used to incite the mass production of spider silk, a material as strong as Kevlar and as flexible as, yes, silk. Spider silk may well be the new biodegradable material to substitute plastics in disposables, and it may help to eliminate the footprint of the fabrication of say bridge suspension ropes and other metal parts. Pass the spider silk water bottle, please.

Perhaps even more intriguing is the application of bacteria. In the past decade, scientists have found a way to harvest energy from the bacteria in our waste water. Bacteria oxidize certain elements in our sewage and release a stream of electrons in return. Put them in a fuel cell, and there you have your energy source.

Recently, the researchers have made the process a hundred times more efficient, and this is only the beginning. In the future, our garbage cans may be connected to a small bacterial fuel cell, powering the appliances in your house.

While bacteria power our appliances, the spores of bacteria can power our engines.

As spores expand and shrink according to humidity levels, they capture the energy of evaporating water. The car of the future may well run on water and spores alone.

And bacteria can be used to mine rare elements. It’s not always that rare elements are scarce. They’re also called rare when the elements in the soil are too dispersed to harvest well. To tackle the difficulty in delving, plants are used to absorb the metal from the soil and bacteria to turn it into a state that we can use.

A lot is happening in the laboratories around the world to make humanity less dependent on energy and scarce materials, less polluting, and more in line with nature.

Biological engineering, synthetic biology, and biomimicry are becoming fierce research fields with powerful disruptive outputs.

If, despite all these efforts Earth’s materials do run out, science can still come to our rescue. We can harvest almost anything we run out of from the universe.

We can retrieve rare elements and tons of ice from planets, asteroids, and other nearEarth objects. We can even collect oxygen in space. It’s all there in abundance, and we only have to find an affordable way of getting it down here.

In fact, several types of satellites have been developed already to select the best celestial bodies to mine. Harvesters, currently used for scientific missions, can mature into robotic machines that drag their prize to high orbit for mining. New corporations are exploring and developing space mining as their core business. A sure sign of new industry evolving.

If the forecasters of a couple of decades ago hadn’t warned against depletion, science may have not been so eager to delve into the problem. But they did, and now many exciting new technologies are emerging. New ways to produce clean energy, to wash the pollution off the planet, to substitute rare materials and dirty processes with sustainable alternatives, and to haul new supplies from space.

Earth is our habitat, and we have to secure the planet for future generations.

But there are more ways of safeguarding it than governmental pressure. Human ingenuity and entrepreneurship will help to make the planet self-supporting, and in the meantime, there is always the universe.

By Barbara Van Veen

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| THE EARTH

Happy 1000th Birthday Eternal life is the stuff of myth and of dreams and the province of Gods.

Every culture we know of, from the ancient to the modern, has had an awareness of the relative shortness of life, and the inevitability of death.

One thing every culture has understood (and inevitably proved) is that life is finite.

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owever, life expectancy is increasing every year, which has led some to suggest that the prospect of living to 1,000 and beyond is not only a possibility, but that the first person who will live that long may have already been born.

According to Aubrey Dr Grey, a biomedical gerontologist and Chief Scientist at the SENS (Strategy for Negligible Senescence) Research Foundation in California, aging is simply a physical phenomenon and at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more powerful, we will be able to treat the symptoms of aging in the same way as we now treat other diseases.

De Grey claims this is not just an idea and explains that there is a detailed plan to repair the seven major types of cellular and molecular damage that occur as a result of aging and that each method to do this is already available either in preliminary form, or will be soon and is based upon combing already known technologies.

De Grey makes it clear that he is not talking about an end to death – people will still die from car accidents, or things like new viruses, but he believes that dying from the process of aging will become a thing of the past. Writing for the BBC in in 2004 he argues that, based on the life expectancy of the very young, if we can fix the molecular and cellular damage of aging, that the average life expectancy could reasonably be within the region of “a few thousand years.” He explains: “If you are a reasonably risk-aware teenager today in an affluent, non-violent neighbourhood, you have a risk of dying in the next year of well under one in 1,000, which means that if you stayed that way forever you would have a 50/50 chance of living to over 1,000. And remember, none of that time would be lived 20

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in frailty and debility and dependence – you would be youthful, both physically and mentally, right up to the day you mis-time the speed of that oncoming lorry.”

De Grey’s vision may seem appealing – according to him, not only do we get to live a long life, but we get to live it without any of the complications of declining old age. But just because we can ‘cure aging’, should we? There are some who feel that doing this is ‘playing God’ and highly unethical. Leon Kass, the former head of US President George Bush’s Council on Bioethics, argues that “the finitude of human life is a blessing for every human individual” and claims that research by organisations like SENS is seeking to unnaturally prolong life.

Others point to the problems that will occur if the birth rate continues to increase at its current rate and the population isn’t curbed by dying. The world’s population, already at 7 billion, is predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2040 and 11 billion by 2050. These rates suggest that human overpopulation of the earth is already a potential problem. Hand in hand with overpopulation come many problems for example: inadequate drinking water; depletion of fossil fuels; increased pollution; deforestation and loss of ecosystems; changes in atmospheric conditions which cause global warming; loss of arable land and an increase in deserts; mass species extinctions as well as an increased crime rate as more people compete for fewer resources, to name just a few.

Despite De Grey’s optimism, many people, for example Dr S Jay Olshanky author of The Quest for Immortality, believe that the possibility of living to 1,000 is still little more than a dream. Olshanky points out that currently nothing in gerontology “even comes close to fulfilling the promise

of a dramatically extended lifespan.”

However, the fact remains that, even without the cures for aging predicted by De Grey, we are already all living much longer – with an average of three months being added to life expectancy every year. To date the oldest death recorded was at the age of 122, and in Japan alone there were more than 44,000 people aged 100 or over in 2010.

Pointing out that life expectancy has already doubled since the year 1900, Professor Rudi Westendorp, comments that: “never before have so many people in the developed world lived for so long – thanks to the enormous changes we have made to our environment, including sufficient food for everyone, clean drinking water and eradication of many infectious diseases.” Based upon this improvement in life expectancy he is confident that the first person to live to 135 has already been born and says that life expectancy will continue to increase. In some ways, he echoes De Grey when he says that “the idea that humans have a genetically encoded, predetermined maximum lifespan has no scientific basis.”

So it seems, particularly in the more affluent parts of the world, that a longer life expectancy is inevitable. It also appears that, even without De Grey’s molecular and cellular cures, the old age we can expect many be somewhat kinder than the old age we sometimes see others suffering.

Research published in The Lancet in 2013 showed “irrefutably” that the physical and mental functions of Danish people now in their 90s are better than nonagenarians in the same country 10 years ago. It seems that the improved health that we enjoy in the twentieth century may naturally delay many of the processes we associate with old age – which means that an older old age may not just be inevitable, but something to look forward to enjoying, however long it may last.

By Joanne Walker

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Wake-up to Planet Earth

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odern life can be so busy. We often rush from home to work, and all of the commitments in between, without noticing the beauty of the world around us or appreciating the wealth of resources that our planet provides for us.

However, as our 21st Century lifestyles take an increasing toll on the Earth’s resources it might be time to wake up and – if not smell the coffee (which is probably in a cardboard cup from Starbucks) – perhaps take note of the world around us and of the impact we are having on it.

The introduction of a compulsory 5p charge for plastic bags at larger UK stores has made many headlines in recent weeks.

The charge is an indication of how seriously the British Government takes the threat to the environment that plastic bags represent and suggests a larger consciousness of the threats to our planet represented by our lifestyle. The fact of the matter is that, in an increasingly populated planet (in 2011 the estimated population of Earth reached an unprecedented 7 billion people), our lifestyle is threatening not just the health of the planet (as by-products of our industrial sectors create pollution that may cause global warming), but also what is left of its precious resources.

In many ways the issues surrounding plastic bags, and our dependence upon them, perfectly summarise the impact that human beings are having upon the planet.

All plastics are made using oil, which is becoming an increasingly threatened resource; a recent statistical review by BP suggested that, unless we discover more oil reserves, at our current level of usage, we only have enough oil to last until 2057.

In addition, because they are plastic, the bags will not degrade naturally, and we do not as yet have a disposal method that helps solve this problem – there are very few recycling schemes available for them, and once they are disposed of, usually via rubbish collections, they are either burned

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(which releases greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming) or they end up in landfill (where they gradually tear/ fall to pieces). The bags that end up in landfill often end up being spread, by the wind, in smaller pieces and end up in storm drains and waterways – when they eventually reach the oceans they can have devastating consequences for marine life.

It’s not just marine life that’s under threat from our dependence upon plastic bags – their contribution to land litter can also have a huge impact on our land based eco systems. They are responsible not just for the obvious hazard of suffocation of animals, but also for inhibiting soil nutrients which can impact upon plant life. It’s been estimated that one plastic bag has the potential to kill one animal every three months. When you understand that it is estimated that more than 500 billion (possibly up to a trillion) plastic bags are in circulation every year, the extent of the problem is clear.

Perhaps the most important resource under threat is water. Whilst around 70% of the Earth is covered with water, only 2.5% of the world’s water supplies are made of unsalted ‘freshwater’. In addition, some 70% of this freshwater is in the form of ice or snow. We only have access to around 200,000km3 of freshwater and demand could very soon exceed supply. The Food & Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations estimates that as early as 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.

Our natural gas supplies, are facing a similar problem to that of our oil supplies – it’s estimated that, at current consumption levels, we have only enough gas to last until 2069. We are also running out of phosphorous – a substance essential for plant growth. The fact that we now need to feed 7 billion people could mean we run out of phosphorous in the next 50-100 years.

Twelve ways you can help save the earth Whilst scientists and Governments are constantly looking for ways in which we can increase and preserve our resources, there are many things we can do now to lessen our impact on our planet. They may be small things – but if everybody did them, the impact might just help save the earth.

1. Take a look at your water use. Little things really do make a difference. Don’t leave the tap running when brushing your teeth. Fix leaky taps. Drink tap water, not bottled water (this will also save waste on plastic packaging).

2. Leave your car at home a couple of times a week.

3. When you do drive – drive smarter – excessive acceleration and breaking reduces fuel efficiency. Also – slow down – driving at 60mph instead of 70mph saves four miles per gallon of fuel.

4. Look after your car – things like under-inflated tyres also decrease fuel efficiency.

5. Walk, or cycle, to work or school if you can – not only does this save fuel, but it will keep you fit.

6. Recycle plastic, paper, tins and glass bottles.

Instead of throwing old clothes away, donate them to charity.

7. Reuse items that you might have thrown away or perhaps buy items you need second hand.

8. Don’t burn your rubbish.

9. Try to have at least one meatless day per week – if everyone on the planet did this, the reduced demand for meat would eventually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as saving the water and energy used to produce meat.

10. Change your lightbulbs to energy saving bulbs, not only does this save energy, it will save you money too.

11. Have a look at how you manage your home energy consumption and how you manage it – programmable thermostats will ensure the heating is on only when your home. Cavity wall and loft insulation will also ensure your home is more energy efficient.

12. Last, but not least, the simplest thing of all – just turn out the lights when you leave a room empty.

By Joanne Walker

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www.heditionmagazine.com

BUSINESS

“

ThaT’s been one of my manTras – focus and simpliciTy. simple can be harder Than complex. you have To work hard To geT your Thinking clean To make iT simple., buT iT’s worTh iT in The end because once you geT There, you can move mounTains.

Steve Jobs

| BUSINESS

The Magic Touch Of

SILVIO TARCHINI

T

here is an old Venetian proverb that says “viazar descanta”; that when one travels it widens one’s eyes and mind. Long ago a young boy took this literally and made it into a reality. That man is Silvio Tarchini and now, aged 71, he is without doubt one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs in Ticino, Switzerland.

His entrepreneurial spirit has always shown a desire for change. A natural leader, aged just twenty, he began his adventure in the world of plastics. He founded a company called Plastar, which he sold in 1975. In my interview I asked him when was the turning point in his life, to which he answered: “I love the new, I love to change direction. I am not a “normal” entrepreneur who is content with what he has achieved. I will always reinvent, go forward. I’m made in this way. I relish new challenges.”

In 1975 he left Switzerland, taking his wife and three daughters on a world tour, finally settling in Argentina in 1977. He had no wish to be thought of as an immigrant with no ambition, but finding himself somewhere completely different, and not even knowing the language, he decided to invest and make his dreams of being a successful entrepreneur a reality.

“I knew there were opportunities in real estate, I began to search – looking at adverts, trying to learn the language. From Argentina’s top tabloid I noticed that it was always agencies that were at the forefront of important business, so I called a company, I asked if there was anyone among them who spoke English and I started to connect with the area. My largest deal involved a huge building in the centre of Buenos Aires – I built it and sold it after three years, making a hefty sum of money. I quickly realized that this was a one off and that it would not be a sustainable business long term so I took my wife and kids back to Switzerland.”

Then your adventure started…?

“Back in Lugano, I realised that there wasn’t any companies that offered company-ready industrial space.

The typical scenario was to: prepare the project, buy the land, ask for permission ... I thought I would take care of all these things and then rent everything complete, ready business spaces. Armed with the knowledge I

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had gained, my new business launched in 1981. To date we have more than 200,000 square meters of industrial space let. We have 250 customers that rent these properties for their activities with sizes ranging from 20 meters to 20 thousand square meters.”

What is/was the concept behind the success of this idea? “‘Ready Keys in your hands.’ An entrepreneur does not want to waste time following non-business issues and wants to concentrate on growth. We offer so many different services to employers and their staff now: from restaurants, to conference rooms, shops and gyms.

So as a business you come to a welcome environment to perform your role. In addition, we provide bespoke space for your requirements. This avoids the problem of having too much or too little. It was a concept that had already taken hold in the United States. We have just completed two new buildings and we have commenced on our third. We get such a satisfaction that our customers are happy. We work with large brands such as Bally and Schindler elevators and provide spaces for dedicated craftsmen, with separate entrances, warehouses, offices and showrooms.

“We have also launched into the world of ‘virtual.’

Back in the 90’s we worked with the Swiss Centre for Scientific Computing. Three years ago they relocated, so we regained the space – then came the idea of holding data based on powerful machines/servers that are located in an environment that offers maximum security.

This really worked for enterprises, in a few months this will be fully operational.”

The other amazing branch of your activity retail outlets, tell us more...?

“The first Outlet launched purely by fluke in 1994.

I had read an article on a new market trend that was spreading in the United States, and I was convinced it was a good idea. So I attended a conference in London based on these themes, from there I flew to Atlanta to an annual meeting of industry consultants where I hired an expert. His comments encouraged me and I decided to go with this new initiative. From reading the article to execution took three months ...

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It was not straightforward but we persevered and in November 1995 we opened Ticino’s Foxtown Mendrisio which is now a reference point not only for Switzerland but also further afield. In this case I also won another bet.”

Which was…?

“At the time the Canton of Ticino was in crisis, flocks of Swiss were crossing the border to buy in Italy thanks to the weak Lira, there were no Italians coming into Ticino.

Now the opposite happens we have people visiting from all countries – Italians, German, Chinese. Suffice it to say that in our Outlet 80% of customers come from outside Canton Ticino.”

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So what is the next project?

“The latest investment has been on our Resort Collina d’Oro. The idea is to combine a classic hotel with first class restaurant and services included, with the bonus of serviced apartments. We have expanded the concept further with a house of 34 apartments in Riva San Vitale for the elderly, which include local services. People need to keep their full independence, but have staff available to help with daily tasks like shopping for meals, going to the pharmacy and so on. They are gorgeous high quality apartments, with no architectural barriers. It’s a niche market, but with a strong demand.”

Foxtown presents some impressive numbers?

You are often noted for voicing your opinions about the political and social scene of Ticino, what are your views?

“There are 160 stores which employ over 1,300 people. We have pretty much all the major worldwide brands and sell their products directly to consumers at discounted prices.

“Let’s say that my relationships with politicians are not always idyllic. I tend to voice my thoughts and not always get along with my local public officials. The main issue is political decisions take a while when in reality

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they need to react immediately. I find politics lags behind society and economic life. Some recent decisions of our leaders, particularly those who have influenced the management of the banks, will have a negative impact on the future.”

convinced of the success of the initiative, not based on vague feelings or intuition, but because of a very accurate analysis of the situation. The key issue is the contribution of the specialists from each sector, which may explain the “secrets” of that activity.”

You are also celebrated for your stance on the issue of the border workers?

So as an entrepreneur with insights, you also have to have confidence in your employees?

“Switzerland’s main customer is Europe. We offer many services to our European customers and we need border workers. As clearly stated by the former ambassador to the US, Urs Ziswiler: if the border workers strike, Ticino would be stuck in a week. “

“It is fundamental for a company to have a varied workforce. No company can survive relying on just one person. I work heavily for nine months but I am fortunate to be able to take three months of vacation a year, so it’s essential that the organisation trusts its employees.”

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to young people wanting to venture into business?

Success … Travel … Fame, it all seems so glamourous?

“I would say that the base of all is to study, then to travel and to learn different cultures and languages.

I speak five and would like to know more! I am an avid traveller and have used this to research and find opportunities and ideas for my businesses. My advice to young people would be is to stay abroad for four to five years before returning to Switzerland and put into practice what they have learned on their return.”

“No, no, I lead a normal life. I have been married for fifty years to a wonderful woman. We have a wonderful family blessed with grandchildren and once a week we spend time with friends. In addition to work and travel I like to play tennis and golf, and go to the mountains.”

So your thoughts on business are to have a technique whilst finding the right way to do business?

“I’m not a typical real estate developer, who builds to sell, I build property to add value. Saying that I’m one that builds beautiful things that once finished I want to keep!”

“Sure. Knowing your client before review brings a possible deal. When we invested in the Outlets we were

By Franco Fregni

You are without doubt a master of entrepreneurism and active in many fields: if you were to describe this what words would you use?

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Junko Kemi Founder and Lead Designer, kay me Entrepreneur Junko Kemi launched kay me in 2011. It came to her that the lack of smart and comfortable office wear was difficult to find so she took inspiration from her ancestors and built the foundations for kay me.

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You began your career as a Management Consultant for the Boston Consulting Group – how does this experience inform the way you run your business today?

At BCG, one of our key metrics was efficiency and how we can leverage massive results with limited time and resources – this was trained into us from day 1. As a marketing consultant, I was also responsible for understanding our clients’ target demographics and targeting messages or using media to deliver content to that customer. These philosophies have carried over to kay me.

Apparel is such a competitive industry, but I like to think that by understanding the needs of our customer deeply and by approaching media in a different way we have carved out our own market, which we also hope to emulate globally.

Your brand of clothing, kay me, is a range of clothing for professional woman – in your experience how important is fashion and appearance for women in business?

I think the two are so closely related. Clothing can be a source of pleasure, but it can also be a source of pain and discomfort.

Office wear often doesn’t quite fit or has no give when you’re moving. Every woman’s body is slightly different, and from personal experience, I often used to get sore shoulders after long hours wearing a suit jacket. Every kay me item is a little stretchy and made from super soft fabrics, while being stitched by hand in Japan. When you feel comfortable at work, you have the energy to be more productive and creative. A nice dress can also be very empowering. I got tired of wearing suits while trying to ‘conform’ to the styles of other colleagues, but once I freed myself with a comfortable dress, I could express my femininity and felt much more confident in myself and my appearance.

A vital feature of the kay me range is that it is kimono inspired – how did you adapt the classic look of the kimono to modern business dress?

The kimono has been a symbol of elegance in Japan through the ages, and we felt that it was time to modernise the kimono for today’s professional women. We had to be conscious of colours and patterns to try to strike a balance so that each item could be ‘office-ready’. We envisioned each dress as a set with a jacket that could be worn during the day in the office and then slipped off at night for after work drinks or other social events. We enjoy the themes of flowers, birds, the wind and the moon (known as ‘kacho-fugetsu’ in Japanese) as these have been considered to be symbols of power and energy since ancient times.

Your Grandmother ran a kimono shop. How important is your cultural heritage in your work and how does it influence the way you work?

Even though kay me is a relatively young brand, it started in earnest when I was a child spending hours and hours watching my grandparents interact with their customers in their shop in Osaka.

Natural elements (kacho-fugetsu) often feature on kimonos, and I could see the transformation of the women after leaving the shop.

Even though many of them seemed so busy, they all seemed re-energised by wearing their beautiful kimonos. I try to pay

homage to my grandmother today by ensuring that we really get to know our customers as much as we can, and can recommend styles that we really think they will like. We also pay respect to the traditions and skills of Japanese artisans, by making sure every kay me dress is handmade in Japan using a combination of traditional and cutting edge techniques.

Your clothing range is described first and foremost as stretchy and machine washable – In your experience how does this differ from the other clothing options available to women in business?

I spent many years in sales and marketing before starting kay me, often having to put in long hours every day. I wanted to fit in with those around me and often wore suits or tight fitting business skirts and jackets. I felt that my clothes should be a partner – a friend or supporter – not my adversary. I looked all over Tokyo for something that would make me more feminine again while also being comfortable to wear. I wanted something machine washable too since I didn’t want to spend the time or the money going to the dry cleaners. I simply couldn’t find any clothing that ticked all of these boxes while being office appropriate. I think kay me has found an underserved market of busy professionals who just want their clothing to be on the same team as them.

Some of your clothes are made from ‘washable silk’ – we all know silk isn’t supposed to be washed at home – how did you create this fabric?

We use a variety of fabrics at kay me, including polyester, which is not always viewed highly in European markets. Japanese polyester is of a very high quality though, and that quality really comes through after customers try on our dresses. Our ultimate goal though was always to create a pure silk dress. We tasked our team in Kyoto to come up with a new technique that would protect the colour during washes and not result in shrinkage.

There’s a patent on the technique they developed; the process takes a very long time, including natural drying in sunlight to lock in the colours, but we’re proud that we’ve finally got there!

This summer you launched a pop up shop in Piccadilly.

How was that?

As with anything subjective, people have different tastes and likes.

The pop up shop in Piccadilly was a great opportunity to get to know the preferences of British customers. London is such a global city, so we had many visitors from abroad too, meaning that we could gather a wealth of data to help us better understand the market and make future design choices.

What are your hopes and plans for the future of kay me clothing?

Just like the enduring elegance of the kimono, we hope to endure, expand and evolve to the ever changing needs of modern women. We want to continue to create clothing that is time saving, easy to care for and ready for both the office and fun afterwards we also aim to open our first kay me shop in London in the coming year.

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Serving NapoleoN III 32

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(and Keith Richards)

I

f Canada can have a Prime Minister with a tattoo, why can’t an august French luxury goods firm have a President who plays rock guitar? The upper echelons of Western society are loosening up. Alain Crevet, of the family-owned S.T.Dupont, went to Britain in his late teens, attended rock gigs, confirming his love of AngloSaxon rock n roll – not just the classic Beatles and Rolling Stones, but the even edgier punk sounds of the Sex Pistols and The Clash. He learned guitar and still performs in his own rock band that plays cover versions of classic tracks.

Times have changed; as well as the ruling classes becoming less formal, rock n roll stars have become more middle class. These days they are more likely to discuss interior décor than throw televisions from hotel room windows. Given their disposable cash, this makes them ideal customers for companies producing beautiful hand-crafted items such as the travel bags, pens, cuff links and lighters of S.T.Dupont. Indeed, M Crevet proudly announces that the firm has been commissioned to produce a limited edition of products on a Rolling Stones theme, comprising cuff links, pens with Stones’ lyrics and a lighter featuring a model of Keith Richards’ famous 5-stringed guitar.

This fits with a company approach of being simultaneously modish but with a sense of tradition.

There’s also a tradition of clever product placement with stylish, influential individuals. But the cachet of ST Dupont is based on first and foremost on product quality, he says. There is heavy reliance on word-of-mouth recommendation, and unyielding emphasis on hand-crafted excellence at the workshop in Faverges, close to Lac d’Annecy in south-eastern France, the same village where Simon Dupont founded the firm in the 1870s.

‘Craftsmanship is the number one priority,’ says M Crevet. ‘With a lot of luxury brands the customers are paying for the marketing. In Dupont, you pay for the quality. We reinvest in the products. People love the products. The quality is so great. They’re not plastic with a circle of gold; they are solid gold or silver. Handmade. They will last 100 years. If you drop it, it is not going to break. Exceptional quality.

We place with politicians, celebrities; they talk about the products to their friends.’

A long-running achievement of the company is its ability to attract the patronage of world leaders through the ages, from Napoleon III to Nicolas Sarkozy. At the wedding of Prince William of the United Kingdom and Kate Middleton in 2011, the French state made a gift of a S.T.Dupont

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travel bag that was the replica of that given to the British Queen at her wedding in 1947 – though the accessories were updated to include a tablet computer.

The backing of former President Sarkozy was valuable. With his glamorous wife and love of fine things, he was always likely to be a fan of the Dupont brand; but the practice of ensuring that the products remain 100% made in France helped ensure his support.

‘I asked for a meeting [with President Sarkozy],’ he relates. ‘I said you want to be an ambassador for French brands, where products are 100% made in France. When [the President] offers gifts to visitors, such as President Obama, or [David] Cameron or [Angela] Merkel, they receive a set of Dupont pens, cuff links, lighters.’

Yet the Dupont tale has not been as smooth and free of imperfections as the products themselves.

When M Crevet took over in September 2006, the company was losing money and some big strategic calls needed to be made. The principal decision, since handsomely paid off, was to shed the diversification into menswear and return the company to its core products: luxury travel bags, pens, cuff links and lighters.

‘They [the previous management] had taken us, from around the late 1990s, into menswear. There were lots of suits, pants, shoes. It wasn’t Dupont;

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not in the DNA. So I closed it down. It was nothing to do with our brand.’

This understanding of the S.T.Dupont’s brand goes deep in his experience; while his understanding of the essence of a brand and its nurturing runs deep in his career.

As a child he recalls his first encounter with a Dupont product being the lighter his grandfather would use for cigars after lunch. ‘My grandfather was fascinated by this beautiful lighter. When I was 18 my father gifted it to me; and I will give it to my children. It is one of the most incredibly well crafted objects you can think of.’

The foray into clothing was probably in imitation of Dupont’s main rival, British firm Dunhill. But there is a difference, he points out: Alfred Dunhill had made gentlemen’s coats from the outset, so it was always embedded in the customer perception of the brand. For Dupont, it was too much of a reinvention, or brand stretch. The return to a strategy of core products has paid off, with the company returning handsomely to profit in recent years.

His first career experience was with the brand giant Procter & Gamble, and later worked on the Givenchy perfume brand at LVMH. ‘I really learned how to build a brand [at Procter & Gamble]; the DNA of the brand: the history, the values. In FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] companies, you spend a lot of time with customers;

in the stores. You do that less in luxury sector, although that’s not good, I think. At Dupont I like to visit [people and stores] around the world. I visit our stores, and competitors’ stores; meeting customers.

That, I think, is most interesting.

‘I spend one third of my time outside of France; I also spend time in the factory, close to development [of products]. Two weeks ago I went to Japan, and spent a day visiting stores; not only our stores, but the competition.’

Such relentless curiosity is one of the core attributes of a successful executive, he says, along with setting a vision – a clear direction; and personal leadership qualities to build a team.

French Presidents have every reason to be proud of S.T.Dupont, and encourage its enterprise: it earns an impressive 90% of revenues as exports. Some Asian markets have been particularly profitable in recent years; especially Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Yet despite the long-established connection with British royalty, Dupont had lost its way in the Anglo-

“

I spend one thIrd of my tIme outsIde of france; I also spend tIme In the factory, close to development [of products]. two weeks ago I went to Japan, and spent a day vIsItIng stores; not only our stores, but the competItIon

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Saxon markets; something the Anglophile M Crevet has been determined to rectify.

‘Between the wars, with Winston Churchill and the Windsor family [were customers]. Dupont had a long-standing relationship with Britain, but this was lost in the 1960s and 1970s. Now is the time to [return].’

The Chairman of the Board retired last year, and the replacement is a British businesswoman Sharon Flood. She has a finance background and worked at the department store John Lewis as Finance Director between 2005 and 2010. ‘I asked: “Why are we non-existent in the UK? We’re going to invest again”.’

Dupont has a presence in Harrods on the ground floor; a corner in Selfridges and others at the House of Hanover, Williams & Sons and Harvey Nicholls in Manchester. A longer-term goal for London is to have a stand-alone store, and to increase presence in department stores, he reports.

The company produces catalogue items, but also limited edition ranges, and bespoke, individual pieces. For individual items, the company can blend the customer’s vision and taste with the experience and inspiration of its own craftsmen. M Crevet relates the story of a wealthy Asian businessman who wanted a diamond-encrusted lighter. Rather than just embed a few jewels into an existing product, the company inquired more deeply into his tastes and preferences to seek something more original, and discovered that he had an interest in French history, especially Louis XIII.

‘That’s interesting, as Louis XIV is the more well known,’ observes M Crevet. ‘But Louis XIII started the building of Versailles Palace.’

It so happened that a Dupont customer is the only person in France with the title ‘Royal’: one Tania de Bourbon, 12th generation descendant of Louis XIII, and a ‘charming lady’, M Crevet reports.

She gave permission to use symbols of the Crown of France, which she has the right to use, and produced the design. S.T.Dupont produced a set of two lighters –one portable, one for the desk – in solid gold, including a sapphire as used by Louis XIII, and sold the bespoke item for Eur 500,000.

Presented as ‘the most exclusive lighter in the world’ the Louis XIII Fleur de Parme is a work of art that suited the customer’s preference for gold and gems, but reflected his taste for French design in a way that only a firm with such a deep knowledge of the country’s history, and a high level of in-house artisan skills, could produce. The table lighter is adorned with Fleur de Parme motifs made of 370 g solid gold; while the lighter and base are set with 72 brilliant-cut, 27 princess-cut and 13 cabochon-cut sapphires.

It takes a broad and inquiring mind to be equally appreciative of Louis XIII interiors and London’s rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s, but M Crevet and the company he leads show that one does not have to compromise quality and craftsmanship in order to stay cutting edge and relevant; able to design for rock stars as well as royalty. He says of Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones’ legendary guitarist: ‘Hopefully, I will meet him one day.’ Even Alain Crevet still has ambitions.

By Philip Whiteley

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© Ankeluckmann

| MOTOR SPORT

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Remaining with

Schumi T

here is a telling anecdote from the young Michael Schumacher that sheds much light into the intelligence and methodical planning of the Formula 1 superstar. Just before the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1991, at the tender age of 22, his team Mercedes organised a cycle race around the circuit, with its drivers taking on media and others.

‘Merc juniors Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger engaged in a fierce duel at the front – a matter of honour between young drivers,’ says Simon Arron, features editor of MotorSports magazine.

‘Schumacher hung around at the back – and spent much of the lap getting off his bike, to check how firm the run-off areas were, to gauge whether he might be able to take extra liberties with the kerbs at certain corners.

‘His team-mates were interested mainly in beating each other, but he saw it as a useful opportunity to gain extra information. Years later I asked [team manager] Peter Sauber how Schumacher had performed that weekend. “He was our quickest driver,” Sauber said, “but at the same time he recorded better fuel economy while also taking less from the tyres and brakes…”.’

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| MOTOR SPORT

from coma in September 2014. On the first anniversary of this development, his friend and former boss at Ferrari, Ross Brawn, told journalists that there remained hope that he could make a recovery: ‘We just keep praying every day that he’ll recover to a stage where…it’s slow, but there’s always hope.’

His family have had him moved to a specialist clinical suite in their home close to Lausanne in Switzerland, by the shores of Lake Geneva, where they quite properly guard their privacy. In the seemingly endless wait for better news, friends and admirers like to remember the great champion, and reflect on the brilliant career.

Just how great a champion was he?

According to the all-time leader board of Grand Prix victories, he is very much in a category of his own, having notched 91 in total, including 13 in just one season, 2004. The driver in second place is Alain Prost, with 51. Admittedly back in the 1950s-1970s there were fewer races, and shorter careers owing to lower safety levels, so it’s impossible to be certain how Juan Manuel Fangio or Jackie Stewart might have fared in more recent decades.

Fangio, for example, comes in 11th in the all-time list of wins with 24, but he only contested 52 Grand Prix, compared with

© Ankeluckmann

It takes more than talent and a flair for racing to become such an elite champion; it also requires thoroughness in fitness and preparation. ‘His natural speed was always abundantly clear, but application and attention to detail set him apart from the rest,’ says Simon Arron.

If tennis has Roger Federer, and cricket has Sir Don Bradman, F1 has Michael Schumacher: the sportsman whose sustained achievements lift him into a category of his own. Seven World Championships, five of them consecutive at the start of the Millennium, are among the astounding statistics in a career that spanned more than two decades, between his first F1 race in 1991 and his semisuccessful come-back in the period 20102012. As a dedicated professional and devoted family man, he was the perfect marketing ambassador for many top brands.

Since then, of course, we have had to come to terms with the terrible consequences of his near-fatal accident on 29th December 2013, ironically far away from the racing circuit, on an off-piste skiing descent in Meribel in the French Alps. His family, friends and fans have had the agony of his long coma, and his painfully slow progress since emerging

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Schumacher’s 306 and Prost’s 199.

Nonetheless, the sheer margin of Schumacher’s superiority on this measure is impressive; one can turn the issue around and note that the ability to maintain such high standards over a long period is noteworthy in itself. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have potentially enough years left in their careers in which to overhaul the record, but with 43 and 42 wins respectively, they’ve still a fair way to go.

In all motorsport, including German Formula 3 and other formats before moving to F1, Schumacher notched 114 wins from 371 starts. So he won nearly a third of all the professional races he entered in a long career.

Mark Gallagher, managing director of consultancy CMS Motor Sport, formerly with senior management positions in F1, was on the Board at Jordan when a young Michael Schumacher began his F1 career. He recalls the precocity and

© Ankeluckmann

determination of the young driver: ‘Being present at his first ever Formula One car test, at Silverstone South Circuit in August 1991. He drove our car, the Jordan-Ford 191, and in spite of being asked to simply do a short run he kept going, lap after lap, faster and faster, until we sent a mechanic out onto the track to wave him down!

You could see he had a lot of skill, speed and determination, even at that stage, but little did we know what he would go on to achieve. I find it hard not to look back on that day as a special moment, the germination of the greatest record-breaking career in Formula One’s 65-year history.’

He adds: ‘Michael had the complete package of skill, work ethic and focus on the task in hand; aside from spending time with his family, Formula One was his complete world and he worked on every area.’

Although some commentators judge that the 91-win record could be overhauled

one day, Mark Gallagher is sceptical: ‘The technology changes in Formula One quite frequently and therefore drivers and teams have fewer seasons during which they can dominate. Also, Michael had, at times, very little in the way of real competition whereas today you can honestly say that there is nothing to separate Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo and others besides if they have a competitive car. The fact that Hamilton has only now won his 43rd Grand Prix demonstrates how far he would have to carry his winning streak to get close to Michael – he would need four more years of utter domination, and that probably won’t happen.’

Another point that F1 insiders make about Schumacher’s exceptional nature as a driver was his high fitness level, which was crucial to maintaining both sharpness and stamina. He was also highly intelligent, able to process information quickly, for example analysing the engineering aspects

of the cars or making quick decisions about race strategy.

Simon Arron picks out Hungary 1998 and France 2004 as highlights of Schumacher’s career that demonstrated his all-round ability. ‘In both, Ferrari was slower than McLaren when the two teams ran similar fuel loads, so the team opted to run its car lighter and make an extra fuel stop.

‘It obliged Michael to drive most of both races at more or less qualifying pace, but he duly delivered. He made three stops in Hungary to McLaren’s two and emerged ahead when it most mattered, then four stops in France to McLaren’s three. The result, though, was the same. Both were the by-product of clever strategy and solid teamwork, but neither would have been possible without a driver of Schumacher’s calibre at the helm.’

Another momentous achievement on the track came at Brazil in 2006, says Simon Arron: ‘I enjoyed [this] because it was the HEditionMag

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© Ankeluckmann

| MOTOR SPORT

perfect swansong to his first F1 career. He came to the race as a title outsider – and his hopes were pretty much dashed by an early puncture – but that didn’t dilute his competitive zest and he pulled off some terrific moves as he fought back to fourth.’

Now that Schumi is facing the biggest race of his life, however, it is an uncertain and fearful fan base that contemplates the future. ‘Michael is still fighting,’ said Jean Todt, President of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile on the weekend of the Mexican Grand Prix in November 2015. His family, friends, fans, former colleagues and rivals can but pray.

And remember.

Most Grand Prix wins in Formula 1 history Wins

No. Grand Prix

Driver

91

306

Michael Schumacher

51

199

Alain Prost

43

165

Lewis Hamilton (career continues)

42

156

Sebastian Vettel (career continues)

41

162

Ayrton Senna

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252

Fernando Alonso (career continues)

31

191

Nigel Mansell

27

100

Jackie Stewart

25

73

Jim Clark

25

177

Niki Lauda

24

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Juan Manuel Fangio

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Boutique @I_amleisurewear I Am Leisurewear Iamleisurewear www.iamboutique.co.uk

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The Twitter guide to

#FITNESS From Tabata to TRX suspension training, there are always new trends in the fitness and wellbeing world. Whether it’s sharing a sweaty selfie or posting smoothie inspiration, Twitter is an excellent platform for fitness fanatics, health food obsessives or even for sports brands to highlight all things fitness related. A whopping 70% of Twitter UK users follow fitness accounts to help with motivation.

Top health accounts to follow

To help you discover more about health and fitness, Twitter has put together a list of the best accounts and hashtags to follow, especially for H Edition readers.

• Men’s Health magazine @MensHealthUK (263k followers)

Eat better, live better, and feel better. For all the best advice on nutrition and wellness, Twitter is a great place to explore the latest in health news and to get advice from the experts: • Madeleine Shaw @madeleine_shaw_ (34.5k followers) • Hemsley & Hemsley @HemsleyHemsley (44.1k followers) • Women’s Health magazine @UKWomensHealth (41.5k followers) • Greatist @greatist (115k followers)

Best fitness accounts to follow

• Honestly Healthy Food @HonestlyHealthy (58.4kfollowers)

From the workouts of bodybuilders to the calming yogis, and some of the fitness world’s most notable advocates, there’s plenty of inspiration on the platform to help boost your fitness:

• The Food Doctor Ian Marber @IanMarber (5.9k followers)

• The Body Coach @thebodycoach (80.1k followers)

• Savse Smoothies @SavseSmoothies (8.7k followers) • Healthy Foods @HealthFoods (72.8k followers) • The Detox Kitchen @TheDetoxKitchen (19.9k followers)

• Fitness & Nutrition @FITNESS (2.48m followers) • Jillian Michaels @JillianMichaels (1.08m followers) • James Duigan @JamesDuigan (17.7k followers) • Fitness First @FitnessFirstUK (44.8k followers) • Virgin Active @VirginActiveUK (40k followers) • Fitness Hacks 101 @FitnessHacks101 (104k followers) • Yoga Girl Rachel Brathen @RachelBrathen (34.6k followers)

Hashtags to monitor for fitness news Discover and join in with conversations about the latest in health and fitness by searching for the following hashtags – there are limitless options as the suggestions below can tweaked to match your own particular interest area: • #Fitness

• #Healthyeating

• #Health

• #Fitnesstraining

• #Fitnessmotivation

• #Fitnesstips

• Fitness Motivation @BeFitMotivation (1.71m followers)

• #FitnessFriday

• #Fitnesstips

• This Girl Can @ThisGirlCanUK (83.7k followers)

• #Gym

• #Personaltrainer

• Sport England @Sport_England (70.4k followers)

• #Workouts

• #Cleaneating

“

70% of TwiTTer UK Users follow fiTness accoUnTs To help wiTh moTivaTion HEditionMag

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London’s most exclusive jet-set lifestyle event

3RD - 4TH JUNE 2016 LONDON BIGGIN HILL AIRPORT

Featuring over 150 luxury lifestyle brands Unique experiences & features . Fine cuisine . Supercar test drives

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LUXURY “

The qualiTy remains long afTer The price is forgoTTen. Sir Henry Royce (1863-1933), co-founder of Rolls Royce Motorcars Ltd

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A HAPPY NEW YEAR Is 2016 a good year to buy a business jet?

A

s we bid farewell to another year and look to 2016 with renewed hope (and best intentions) the reality is that what went before will often spill into the new, directly impacting our choices.

With that in mind, just what will 2016 bring for those planning to buy a business jet? Well, it depends on how you view the market!

“2016 is likely to be as ‘problematic’ as 2015 for some segments,” suggests Jay Mesinger, Founder/CEO, Mesinger Jet Sales. Rollie Vincent, Creator/Director of the JETNET iQ market intelligence program believes that anything that isn’t flat yearover-year in the business jet manufacturing industry will be the result of new programs arriving on the market.

“Year-over-year (YOY) delivery growth from the manufacturers in 2016 will no doubt be centred on new and upgraded business jet platforms,” Vincent elaborates.

“We’re bullish on the new Embraer Legacy

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450/500 and Cessna Citation Latitude, for example, and we see the HondaJet finally delivering in 2016.

“Bombardier, meanwhile, has rampedup output on the Challenger 350 off the back of large fleet orders from NetJets and VistaJet, and is also ramping-up production of its just-certified Challenger 650. And, Dassault’s Falcon 8X should be certified and begin deliveries in 2016.

“These will provide most of the ‘upside’ to the rest of the market’s ‘flattish’ YOY results,” he summarizes.

The Wide-Angle Lens So where has the growth gone from the rest of the market? Mesinger offers a wide view of the external factors impacting buying decisions for 2016.

High on many wish-lists in the US at the start of 2015 were energy independence, low oil prices and a strong dollar. “All three happened on the same day… and the world shuddered,” he recalls.

Oil producing companies and countries suddenly stopped their capital expenditures, and with prices still dropping, capital expenditure in 2016 is off the table this coming year for many of these countries and companies.

“This has all had a big impact on the aircraft manufacturers,” he adds. “Oil companies traditionally are big customers of larger, longer-range business jets. The jet OEMs are in a difficult position for the coming year. Other than offering some modest discounts and training credits to incentivize customers, all they can do is reduce production rates at their plants, but only gradually, and not quickly enough for 2016.

“In addition, the geo-political climate (i.e. terror threats, etc.) moving into 2016 is not so much problematic – they’re a gamechanger in my opinion,” Mesinger explains.

“HNWIs that traditionally buy business jets seem rattled. So how do I see 2016 panning out for the aircraft market? As I said, 2016 is likely to be as ‘problematic’ as 2015 for some segments.”

The HondaJet (pictured above) and the Citation Latitude (left) are both predicted to be key drivers of new aircraft buyer interest in 2016

Widening Delta While manufacturers of new jets remain fairly inflexible on price, sellers of aircraft on the used market are far more able to adjust – creating a widening price delta between buying new and used.

“While the drivers in the corporate aircraft market are slightly different for each category,” notes Jet Tolbert, President, American Aircraft Sales, “we can surmise that a large amount of price movement we’re seeing is impacted by the economic slowdowns in China, currency movement in Brazil, and the drop in oil prices.”

And as Tolbert notes – there are some very attractive aircraft coming onto the used market in 2016. “The used aircraft market shows new availability in the latest technology aircraft – for example the ‘lightly-flown’ Gulfstream G650ER, Bombardier Challenger 350 and Cessna Citation M2 are immediately available as like-new aircraft with delivery time (as

opposed to factory backlog) being the only wait a new owner must endure.

“Then there’s the ongoing dislocation in the used Gulfstream G550 market that today provides an incredible value for ultralong-range jets with the latest technology.”

Be Careful Out There…

Mesinger warns that for 2016 you ignore the wider issues at your peril. “Am I saying not to buy? Absolutely not! But buy carefully, regardless of whether you’re buying a new or used jet.”

“For buyers, there should be tremendous value in the market – both for new and pre-owned aircraft as 2015 closes and 2016 emerges,” Vincent projects. “Buyers certainly have the upper hand in most transactions these days, as the supply of aircraft is in excess of the underlying demand, and as OEMs continue to churn out 700-plus new aircraft per year.”

“Buy methodically and with a trusted professional at your side, or risk overpaying for an airplane in 2016,”

Mesinger continues. “That professional will cost far less to help navigate a problematic market than you could stand to lose without them…

“Compare it to hiring a poker professional – they’ve been counting the cards and know what’s been dealt.

Their complete focus is on the table and their advice and guidance could be the difference between a costly or Happy New Year!”

One to Watch in 2016 One interesting private jet story to watch during 2016 is the reported £10m refit of an RAF aircraft that will be used to transport David Cameron and other senior British government ministers on longdistance trips. It’s believed the aircraft could save an estimated £775,000 in charter costs annually.

By Matt Harris Jets for sale on avbuyer.com

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| TRAVEL

Winter in the Alps

T

oo often people make the mistake of thinking that an Alpine winter break equates to a skiing holiday.

It needn’t. There is so much more to do in the mountains than just slide down the mountain on two planks, which can be lovely, but is not for everyone. In fact, many hotels in the Alps report that only about 50% of their winter guests actually ski, the other half goes – depending on the resort – to see and be seen or simply to enjoy the winter wonderland in one way or another.

One of the high society resorts is Switzerland’s St Moritz, which plays host to a number of top events in the social calendar, such as the Snow Polo World Cup and White Turf (horse racing on frozen Lake St Moritz) every January and February respectively. It’s the kind of place where you’re more likely to find visitors lunching on the sun-drenched terrace of Reto Mathis’s 50

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La Marmite eating a CHF98 Truffle Pizza than schussing down the slopes on skis.

St Moritz is also a haven for adrenaline junkies. The fantastically eccentric, but totally serious, members-only St Moritz Tobogganing Club is home to the worldfamous Cresta Run, a 1.2km-long natural toboggan track that men hurl themselves down head first at speed, lying flat on sleds. It has been going strong since 1884, when it was conceived by Brits as a way to amuse themselves during winter holidays to the resort.

An all-male preserve, women wanting to get their thrills need to head over to the Olympic Bob Run, the world’s oldest bob track. There, both men and women can ride passenger in a four-man bob (with a professional pilot at the front and his brakeman at the back) at speeds of around 135km per hour down a 1700m track with

14 turns – absolutely terrifying, as you invert round high corners held in only by G-force, it’s worth it for the adrenaline rush at the end of the run!

A more modern adventure sport is kite skiing, which was developed by explorers in the noughties as a wind-assisted way to reach the South Pole much faster than walking, skiing or dog sledding. On skis or a board, participants are attached to a small-ish kite that harnesses the wind as it whips along the Engadine valley and propels them across frozen Lake Silvaplana – it might look easy, but don’t be fooled.

All these adrenaline-pumping activities can be booked through the Kulm Hotel St Moritz (www.kulm.com), the legendary luxury hotel where winter tourism is said to have begun with a bet in 1864, when the then owner, Johannes Badrutt, promised the last departing summer guests a free

CloCkwise from ToP lefT: Grand Hotel Kronenhof; The Kronenhof Spa; Skiing in the Dolomites; Kulm kite skiing; The Adler Dolomiti salt grotto; Alder Balance lobby lounge; The Cambrian winter garden; The Kronenhof lobby lounge.

stay from December to the following spring, if their winter holiday in St Moritz was not as sunny and as enjoyable as it had been over the summer. Tanned and full of enthusiasm, the British guests returned home in the spring of 1865 and spread the word about their fantastic trip, laying the foundations for winter tourism.

Prior to that, holidaying in the Alps had been all about rest and recuperation in the summer months, with Brits spending extended periods taking the waters in St Moritz – the thermal baths are still there to visit – and elsewhere. Today, winter spa holidays are just as popular as summer ones. The Kulm Hotel St Moritz’s sister property Grand Hotel Kronenhof (www.kronenhof.com) in the tranquil mountain village of Pontresina, just five miles from St Moritz, offers the perfect spot for “getting away from it all” and

has a week-long “Holistic Life Retreat” packed with yoga classes and massages in January and March 2016.

Guests looking for a strict “New Year, New You” detox break should head to the five-star Adler Balance (www.adlerbalance.com/en/), located in the idyllic mountain setting of Val Gardena, part of the Italian Dolomites, where the programme is based on the internationally recognised Mayr method, which follows four principles, namely protection (through rest), cleansing, training and supplementation, which restore inner balance to the body leaving guests feeling completely rejuvenated. Built with natural materials such as wood and slate according to the principles of organic architecture, Adler Balance guests are thoroughly quizzed and tested on arrival by a doctor, before a personal programme (of weight loss or stress reduction, for

example) is prescribed to meet individual needs.

The Adler Balance programme is hard core (it’s a child-free zone with no children under the age of 12 years), but it gets results and it is not all about deprivation!

Guests have access (via an underground walkway) to all the pampering facilities of sister property Adler Dolomiti, which has the largest wellness area in the Dolomites with three distinct zones: Dolasilla for beauty & vitality, Aguana where the pools, including thermals, are located, and AdlerFit with a full programme of dailychanging leisure activities (such as yoga, meditation and guided walks), which are offered on a complimentary basis. The Adler Balance definitely works well for “ski widows”, if couples are split between an avid skier – the Dolomiti Superski area with 745 miles of slopes is on the doorstep – HEditionMag

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and one who prefers to chill/detox.

Adler Dolomiti, meanwhile, is perfect for families, as it is home to the AKI Kids’ Club, where younger children can be looked after all day long and participate in ski school, as well as two guided ski trips per day, of differing difficulty, so families with teenagers can split into those who want to do blacks and those who prefer wide gentle reds (for which the Dolomites is famous). There is even a daily guided winter walk or snowshoe hike for those who don’t ski or maybe have reached a certain age where they are nervous of falling while skiing and breaking a bone or two. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking it will be easier than skiing, snow shoe hiking in deep virgin snow uphill builds up quite a sweat!

An alternative winter trip to the Alps for families is to Adelboden in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland. This little-known resort is a picture-perfect traditionallooking resort, packed to the rafters with old-fashioned wooden chalets. Every

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March it organises an “Igloo Festival” on Engstligenalp at which teams of enthusiastic “builders” from around the world gather to create a masterpiece – or simply somewhere to spend the night!

You don’t have to be a professional builder to take part: friendly advice is on tap from experts at the Alpine School, while shovels and snow saws, essential tools of the trade, are supplied. All participants need to have in spades are a fierce work ethic, patience and good humour. It’s always popular with families, as it offers the chance to drag everyone away from their computer screens and bond in the great outdoors, while enjoying the chance of a lifetime: to sleep in an igloo you’ve made yourself!

The setting on Engstligenalp couldn’t be more dramatic – the biggest plateau in the western Swiss Alps provides a panoramic, almost lunar, backdrop to the Festival “village” of igloos – and also provides other forms of entertainment

once the hard work is complete. There’s a chance to ride on a dog sled, snow tube down steep slopes and warm up afterwards in a huge igloo, where fondue and hot drinks are served to guests seated on furs on wooden benches.

And, should your igloo building skills not be quite up to scratch, there’s always a chance to retreat to the comfort of the only Mr & Mrs Smith hotel in Switzerland, The Cambrian (www.thecambrianadelboden.com).

Of course, all of the resorts detailed have fantastic skiing facilities, but sometimes it’s the side shows that make a winter trip to the Alps more memorable – and help to keep every member of the family happy!

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MONGOLIA T he world’s most sparsely populated country is a tapestry of mountain ranges, grass-covered steppes and the vast Gobi Desert. Its brutally stark, yet beautiful, wilderness provides the kind of blank canvas that we relish when creating a bespoke luxury adventure.

The directions you get along the road in Mongolia tend to be a tad less precise than your GPS app. But they’re backed by a few thousand years of wisdom – and, more to the point, they get you where you’re going. In a country that encompasses mountain ranges, grass-covered steppes and the vast Gobi Desert, travel can be challenging. Indeed, in the world’s most sparsely populated country, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south,

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that old cliché about a place being unlike any other on Earth becomes a reality.

In the land of Genghis Khan, people still enjoy traditional bokh wrestling and feasting on yak cheese – but in the next moment they’re surfing on their smartphones or Skyping at an internet café. Khan would be impressed – as he would by the chunky 4x4s cruising the streets of Ulan Bator.

The capital’s name, literally “Red Hero,” reflects a legacy of decades within the Soviet sphere of influence, yet since 1990 Mongolia has emerged as one of Asia’s true democracies. Why not chat with politicians and journalists who’ll deepen your understanding of Mongolia today.

The summer season, when it’s best to visit Mongolia, is decidedly short. But that

doesn’t mean you can’t be imaginative. We invite you to think differently about how you plan to get around. While others may head across the barrens in a Russian jeep, why not organise a trek on Harley-Davidsons or in a vintage Bugatti?

By horse is also a charming option.

Visit Hustai Nuruu National Reserve, where Przwalski’s horse was successfully reintroduced into the wild. Set aside as a protected area in 1993 to re-establish the native Takhi, or Przewalski’s horse, which became extinct in the wild in the 1960s, Hustai Nuruu is now home to more than 200 Takhi horses that roam wild on the protected steppe. The last surviving wild ancestor of the domestic horse, the Takhi is a genetically distinct equine species —

“The world’s mosT sparsely populaTed counTry is a TapesTry of mounTain ranges, grass-covered sTeppes and The vasT gobi deserT”

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not a breed — that possesses two extra chromosomes in its DNA. You can head to the wild and remote western edge of Mongolia on horseback, home to a group of Kazakh nomads. Here, among the soaring Altai Mountains, which climb up to 4100 metres, the nomads have lived an isolated existence for hundreds of years. On this rugged frontier, there are no paved roads and the horse is central to the Kazakh way of life.

Setting out from the capital, bring along a ger (yurt) camp – with all the comforts, of course – so you explore the plains on horseback and immerse yourself in the life of the region’s nomadic inhabitants. And we’ll try to ensure your adventures include a traditional naadam festival of wrestling, horseracing and archery – truly an amazing spectacle.

But while Mongolian culture is fascinating, it’s the brutally stark wilderness that gives the country its real beauty. At Khovsgol Nuur, an alpine lake nicknamed the Blue Pearl, you can fish for salmon and sturgeon. Due to its enormous biodiversity, it has been likened to the aquatic equivalent of a rainforest. As the 14th largest freshwater lake on the planet,

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this lake contains 1% of the planet’s freshwater. Nearby you might encounter bears, wolverines, sable and moose, while bird lovers will be intrigued by the many rare species.

West of Ulan Bator is the Darkhad Depression, a massive glacial lakebed that’s now a bleak landscape dotted with forests and smaller lakes. Here you’ll meet Tsaatan reindeer herders who will share secrets of their shamanist culture.

Elsewhere we’ll arrange mountain hikes beneath the peaks of Kharkhiraa Uul and Turgen Uul, both soaring to more than 13,000ft.

For Indiana Jones-style adventure, fly by helicopter to The Flaming Cliffs, site of the first discovery of dinosaur eggs that the world had ever seen. Hike in the verdant valley, Gurvan Saikhan National Park, watching for wild Argali and Ibex. Explore sand dunes on camelback, and witness petroglyphs up to 5,000 years old.

Continue your journey by private aircraft over the vast steppe to the untouched wilderness of the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park with your highly-regarded naturalist guide. Located in the northern part of the Gobi, this fresh green valley was

carved out by an ancient river. Its remaining streams create unusual ice formations at the base of the valley.

The Kazakh ethnic group makes up around 90% of the population of Mongolia’s Bayan-Olgi province, with around 100,000 Kazakhs spread thinly across the wilderness. Kazakh culture is distinct here: the nomads are Muslim and they speak Kazakh in everyday life, using Mongolian only when they need to communicate with other tribes or groups. They can trace their roots back to the 15th century and to Gengis Khan. They settled in this region of the Altai Mountains in the 18th century after fleeing the Russian Empire.

Today, the Kazakhs maintain their traditional lifestyle, typically moving their animals three or four times a year to find new grazing pastures. Living in Kazakhstyle gers they must maximise the summer grazing period to ensure they and their livestock can survive the brutal Mongolian winters, where temperatures regularly fall to -40°C. There are few countries in the world with such a stark difference between the rural and urban populations. While nomadic Mongols live the simple life, their cousins in Ulaanbaatar are lurching headlong into the future. The capital is changing at a dizzying pace and many Mongolians have bought wholeheartedly into the global economy, capitalism and consumerism. Urban hipster or nomadic shepherd, however, both share a love of democracy. The country is often held up as a model emerging democratic state, despite being surrounded by democracy-challenged countries like Russia, China and Kazakhstan.

Mongolia is eager to be part of the global community; by visiting you are contributing to the remarkable developments in this extraordinary land.

Wherever you explore, it doesn’t take much to escape the Mongol tourist horde – because it was never there to begin with.

If we can plan something for you or your family, then get in touch at www. brownandhudson.com

By Philippe Brown, Brown & Hudson

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| TRAVEL

Grand Hotel, Stockholm

Nordic Chic

H

aving had the chance to travel to Stockholm twice this year I could not help but write about this young, vibrant, lively city. Approximately 1.6 million people reside here which is Sweden’s largest City and Capital. Stockholm is also the official residency of King Carl-Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden.

If you are a fan of travelling, Stockholm has many hotels to choose from – one of my favourites is the Grand Hotel Stockholm, which is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and located in the city centre boasting stunning views over the Royal Castle.

This traditional yet luxury five star hotel includes one of Scandinavia’s most reputable Spas – The Nordic Spa. Treatments are luxurious and indulgent and include an indoor pool with several saunas and steam rooms. The fitness area also includes a fully equipped gymnasium keeping the likes of fitness fans like myself happy, do try 58

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their delicious protein smoothies which make your feel like new!

Across from the Grand Hotel Stockholm is the Lydmar Hotel, an on trend boutique hotel and member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World. It is the ‘it’ place to stay if you know what I mean – as the bar is packed and crowded with local “cool” people. It is a place to see and be seen. The rooms are spacious, modern but yet cosy.

For all you foodies out there I would suggest a restaurant where one will find a majority of the local crowd and is called Sturehof. They focus on fresh fish, oysters and seafood – a perfect place to enjoy something light with the taste of the sea. Another hotspot is Operakällaren – a high end gourmet restaurant set in one of the most breath-taking venues of the city – the old opera house.

Grand Hotel, Stockholm

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For a healthy Nordic lunch I would recommend to pop into Renee Voltaire Store “Pepstop” – Renee Voltaire is Sweden’s pioneer in the organic raw food market. Her Pepstop is the ideal place to re-fuel the empty batteries after a strenuous morning of shopping.

Speaking of which – La Chemise is the store you should not miss. Made for the man in your life it is a superb male clothing store – the quality of design, style and service is second to none. Either as gift or to treat oneself, do visit.

Oslo is an open-air capital with pretty beaches and parks, 19th-century architecture and long classical vistas. The city boasts terrific art museums, fine opera and great fish restaurants. It is also only a few minutes drive from the mountains, where you can hike in summer and ski in winter.

Oslo is the capital of Norway you will find that it is very much like Stockholm however much more modern and cutting edge in its architecture. Oslo also offers extremely high quality everywhere you visit. The Continental Hotel for example – is Norway’s only official five star hotel and member of the Leading Hotels of the World. But again should you wish to revel in its culture

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traditional and modern I would suggest spending a couple of nights at The Continental then head to The Thief hotel which is located on Oslo`s waterfront which has an Anthony Gormley statue greets you in the lobby, Julian Opie video installations blink at you in the lifts and an Andy Warhol overlooks diners in the restaurant, Fru K, which serves gutsy, updated Norwegian dishes such as venison with fondant potato and poached turbot with Jerusalem artichoke. The whole effect is more serious art collector than edgy artist.

Dine at Hanami – an Asian Fusion restaurant in the centre of the new harbour district. High up there also is Skur 66 a brand new Mediterranean restaurant right by the sea in an old dock house.

Florian Schaible Luxury Travel Director H Edition Global

From top leFt, clockwise: Dining Room, Hotel Continental Oslo; Conference Room, Grand Hotel Stockholm; Bedroom, Grand Hotel Stockholm; Veranda, Grand Hotel Stockholm.

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| FOOD & DRINK

An EpicurEAn DElight Anyone who thinks a trip to the Aegean is just about beaches and sunshine has not been to the idyllic location of Samos. An island that is nestled in the embrace of the Aegean Sea, just so happens to be the home, and the protector, of some of the secrets of one of Greece’s most unique creations.

W

hen we were lucky enough to visit Samos, H Edition discovered vineyards planted in walled terraces the size of small gardens, scaling the slopes of Mount Ambelos, from which would later be harvested (by hand of course) the Muscat grapes that form the basis of METAXA – the incredibly smooth amber spirit created in Piraeus in 1888.

Samos provides the perfect home for the Muscat grapes essential to the golden METAXA blend. The roots of the vines are fed by the the mineral rich soil and the low humidity and fresh sea breezes natural to the island ensure that the temperature is perfect for the vineyards to thrive METAXA was created by the entrepreneur Spyros Metaxa, who wished to produce a truly smooth spirit that would be different from most spirits available

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at the time, which could be hard on the palate and with little aroma. He did this by blending Muscat wines with aged wine distillates, then blending these with a secret maceration of Mediterranean herbs and floral extracts which include its famously distinctive ingredient of May rose petals.

Spyros Metaxa created a spirit with enhanced smoothness that is today celebrated across the globe and METAXA’s revolutionary founder’s vision and principles are still alive today. Embodied in the form of the Metaxa Master – Costas Raptis – the fifth in a row of masters who have been entrusted with selecting the finest ingredients, to create and recreate METAXA’s distinctive style year after year.

The METAXA Stars Collection ranges from the honey coloured METAXA 5 Stars with its flowery, fruity aromas and slightly

woody flavour, through to the old gold coloured METAXA 7 Stars with its aromas of Muscat and vanilla and full flavour, to the ultra-smooth METAXA 12 Stars, whose amber liquid is flecked with bronze and offers intense aromas of dried flowers and herbs and flavour notes of chocolate, orange peel and butterscotch.

If the METAXA Stars expressions reflect the consistency of the METAXA range over time, the “Reserves” of the House celebrate its exceptional craftsmanship. It’s here that the Metaxa Master showcases his talent in full, by creating the METAXA PRIVATE RESERVE, which is made in a single, unique batch once a year – using only blends that are at their absolute Peak.

Then from the heart of the house, comes the divine AEN METAXA, a precious liquid that is made with over two hundred blends from the legendary Cask No1, the very cask that bears Spyros Metaxa’s name.

This unique spirit is made from the most exceptional blends, that have been aging for over eight decades.

It’s well known that Greece hasn’t had the easiest of economic times recently, so it’s heartening to see this uniquely Greek product thriving – it’s exported worldwide – and its popularity is ever increasing.

METAXA’s path to future success looks as smooth as the liquid within its bottles.

By Joanne Walker

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THOMAS KELLER The French Laundry

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he youngest of five boys, Keller was born in 1955, the product of a meticulous restaurant manager and a Marine drill instructor. “I think my work ethic certainly comes from my mother. My sense of organization and cleanliness comes from my mother. And my sense of hierarchy comes from my father.” So it seemed natural for him to be drawn to the repetitive, military-like precision of the restaurant life.

Instead of going home after school, he would go to the restaurant in a South Florida yacht club where his mother worked, first as a dishwasher, and soon after as a chef. “My parents were divorced, and there was no babysitter at home, so I’d go to the restaurant and wash dishes. I really enjoyed it”.

In the early 1990s Chef Keller visited Yountville, California to find a space to fulfill a longtime culinary dream: to establish a destination for fine French cuisine in the Napa Valley. In his travels, he came across a rustic two-story stone cottage. As he walked into the restaurant’s quaint courtyard, he knew it was where he had been headed throughout his career. The French Laundry, a 1,600 square-foot structure constructed of river rock and timbers, was built as a saloon in 1900 by a Scottish stonemason. The building later served as a residence, and during the 1920s operated as a French steam laundry. In 1978, town mayor Don Schmitt and his wife Sally renovated the structure into a restaurant, which Keller then purchased in 1994.

At what point in your life did you feel that being a Chef was the path you wanted to take on professionally?

My first job in this profession was washing dishes after school to help my mother with her restaurant.

While dishwashers are often thought of as being at the bottom of the food chain and starting in this position may deter some from ever working in a restaurant, I realized early on, that everyone in the entire restaurant

relies on the dishwashers. I grew to respect this position and the dishwashers’ contribution to the team, as well as organization, efficiency, feedback, rituals, repetition and teamwork – six disciplines that have become the foundation of my career and the cornerstone of my success.

How do you manage to keep in control of all of your restaurants?

In addition to the disciplines I learned as a dishwasher, I grew up with my father who was a Captain in the Marine Corps, so I relished in the structure that environment provided.

But first and foremost, I have a great support team.

I can’t do it alone. At some point in my career, I realized that my job was to work on replacing me. If you want to move into a new position or evolve or progress, then you not only have to be preparing yourself to take that next step, but you also have to be preparing somebody to replace you, whether it’s another individual or an entire team.

When preparing a plate of food do you test the dish on various people before adding to your menus?

For us, menu testing really is based on the concept of each restaurant. For example, Bouchon’s Frenchinspired menu is more historic so we don’t really test things because we know what they are supposed to taste like. At The French Laundry it’s about philosophy.

We are comfortable with our philosophical approach to food so our focus is on what the individual ingredients taste like; it’s more about composing a dish of ingredients that are complementary to one another.

At our most recent restaurant, our pop-up called Ad Lib, we conducted some testing of many different flavor profiles, many different variations of the same thing.

Take creamed spinach for example – you can have

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| FOOD & DRINK

six different versions of it. Where as Blanquet de Veau is traditional and classic, it has standards that must be met to achieve the dish. Creamed spinach, on the other hand, doesn’t have these standards, so we ask ourselves what does creamed spinach look like to us? Is it chopped? Is it leafed? Do we use nutmeg? Or do we add bread crumbs on top? We tested these things to come to a consensus.

Who in the world of culinary excellence do you admire?

My first role model, Chef Roland Henin, taught me the basics of French cooking. He taught me the importance of mentorship and helped me realize that the purpose of food is to nourish and give pleasure to others.

When I moved to New York City as a young chef, the chefs featured in the city at that time were at the height of their careers. I would walk around the city from restaurant to restaurant, standing outside to read menus and take notes. I, and others of my generation, relished

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in the fact that we could be in the same room as an André Soltner, an Alain Sailhac, or a Jacques Pepin. We were energized and excited by being in the presence of those French chefs who, like Jean-Jacques Rachou, Jean-Yves Piquet, Georges Perrier, Jean Banchet, JeanLouis Palladin, Christian Delouvrier and Michel Richard, had so much skill and ability that they were willing to share with us.

It is my belief that the best chefs are the ones who came before us: the innovators and influencers who inspired a generation of chefs and whose experience and expertise paved the way for the most refined and advanced culinary era in history.

Do you take time each day to focus on yourself and your health?

Yes, I do, whether it’s working out or eating a healthy meal or snack. It’s not just important for myself, but for my team, as well. We encourage healthy family meals and snacks.

What do you believe a good leader requires to build a strong team? When training new staff what are your methods as a mentor?

As I grew into my role as a chef, restaurateur and then the leader of our restaurant group, I realized that I needed to promote confidence and courage among my team across all departments. Give them a strong understanding of who they are, and what they can contribute, so that they can make a positive impact.

Each and every one of my team members, from sous chef to chef de partie, from coffee server to maitre‘d, from accountant to director – everyone has something to contribute. We must acknowledge their value.

To inspire the team to do the right thing and for the right reason, in the right way, each and every day, we give a set of “core values” to each new employee. These core values are ones that I personally subscribe to and have helped me get to where I am today. I see them as rules to live by and they resonate with the people who come to work at TKRG. We hope it transforms their lives, as well.

Sometimes young chefs come to the restaurant, and they are already aware. They have grown up sharing food with friends and family, and in professional kitchens; they’ve read books, they’ve had some of the training. With others, we have to be a little more specific and demonstrate for them the joy of preparing food that nurtures.

Our food philosophy is really based on our ingredients, and that has been my philosophy for decades now.

Initially, as a young cook, your ambitions overtake some of the fundamentals of who you are – the relationship building with suppliers, for example – because you want to impress and show off what you can do. That is certainly fun for a period of time, but when it passes, you

start to mature and realize what the true significance is of what you’re doing – to make people happy.

When young cooks interact with the farmers, fishermen, foragers and gardeners who supply the ingredients they plan to use, they understand more and more their place in making food to make people happy.

It is impossible not to see the care that goes into each product and how important these relationships are in the final dish that is presented to our guests.

When traveling do you prefer to relax or sightsee?

I prefer to remain curious and engage the senses – taste new flavors, listen to others, explore different cultures and meet new people. I like to leave a place with a new story or two – for my personal memories or to share in our magazine, Finesse.

If you could cook a dish for a historic figure who would it be?

Last year I fulfilled a longtime goal of mine: to arrange a gathering of great chefs from the last generation, among them the culinary icons Soltner, Piquet, Richard and Pepin. I had invited them to Per Se in hopes of honoring them for their contributions to our profession, but through their simple gesture – allowing me to feed and nurture them – I felt deeply honored, too. These chefs had been my role models and my mentors, as they have been for countless chefs and individuals. I am thankful to now call them my colleagues and friends.

What keeps you awake at night?

How to be better tomorrow than we were today.

By Dina Aletras

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Š Paolo Terzi

MASSIMO BOTTURA Osteria Francescana

H

aving watched a TV programme featuring Massimo Bottura I was entranced by his passion for life, his family and his cooking.

A man that when is silent speaks a thousand words.

Massimo Bottura the Italian restaurateur and chef patron of Osteria Francescana has passionately maintained with faultlessness his three star Michelin restaurant based in Modena, Italy, which has been listed in the top 5 of The World’s 50 Best restaurants since 2010. Massimo was born and raised in Modena in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. He developed an interest in cooking from a young age after watching his mother, grandmother and aunt in the kitchen preparing family meals.

Our Editor Dina was granted the pleasure of interviewing the super chef.

Your inspiration for cooking came at an early age, what else in life inspires you?

What inspires me? Tutto! Everything! I see things that others do not. I imagine the unimaginable. My fantasy world is rich and I try to re-create thos ideas in the kitchen by turning my imagination into edible bites.

I squeeze everything –emotions, history, traditions, flavor, and storytelling - into bites of culture. This is what stimulates and inspires me – the compression of everything into the kitchen. Eating is an emotion.

Cooking is an intellectual exercise. What we do is not normal – it is radical – and we are so grateful to be able to practice it everyday.

Are there any plans to expand in the future?

In my future I see more future. We are always expanding and planning and thinking about the future.

Right now we are super focused on Modena and not only our projects Osteria Francescana, Panino, a sandwich shop with optimism opened by our long time maitre/sommelier Beppe Palmieri, and Franceschetta58 our buzzing bistro. There is also the Food for Soul Foundation, the continuation of the Refettorio Ambrosiano project and there is the bright generation of young chefs that is rising up to reclaim Italy as a culinary destiny not only for traditional cuisine but for innovation and the unexpected. These are my plans for the future. There aren’t any plans to expand further in the touchable future. Right now we feel that it is such a gift to have so many people traveling from all over the world to visit us in Modena. That is the greatest award of all!

When training new staff what are your methods as a mentor?

First of all, all students learn by example, not by words.

With this in mind, I am the first one to sweep the floor, pick up the trash, help others and be part of the team.

Being part of a team is the essential lesson young chefs (and waiters) need to learn.

Secondly, order and more order and more order.

There is no room in the kitchen for disorder. In any kitchen, cleanliness is next to god.

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© Paolo Terzi

© Paolo Terzi

© Diego Poluzzi

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© Paolo Terzi

If you could be invisible for a day what would you do?

If I were invisible I would watch my favorite artists working in their studios like a fly on the wall because the creative process fascinates me.

© Paolo Terzi

© Paolo Terzi

And finally, I constantly remind chefs that they are responsible for everything they do. There are no excuses in the kitchen. A good chef is one who takes responsibility for his mistakes, his triumphs and his weaknesses. WE learn from our mistakes. It is what makes us human. Asking questions and being curious can get you far in life.

If you could cook a dish for a historic figure who would it be?

Leonardo de Vinci was very into food and cooking but he was always decorating not really cooking. I’d like to cook for him. But I would also like to cook for the Futurists who had some fantastic (and fantastical) ideas but they did not know how to cook either and so the ideas never really worked. It would be interesting to see what they thought of the contemporary Italian kitchen.

Perhaps they would see that it actually comes pretty close to their wild imaginations.

By Dina Aletras

Osteria Francescana is closed on Sunday and Monday. It is also closed for part of the months of January and August. Reservations are essential.

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| COSMETIC BEAUTY

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Silhouette Soft Thread Face Lift

By Dr Ohan Ohanes M.B.Ch.B., PGDip Clinical Dermatology, H Edition’s Cosmetic Doctor & Beauty Specialist

What is Silhouette Soft?

Is Silhouette Soft® treatment painful?

Silhouette Soft Thread Lift is a technological innovation offering women a treatment based around simplicity: offering restored volume and reduced wrinkles. With minimal invasive treatment that can be done in less than an hour and offers 2 results. The first an instant mechanical lift and secondly, long term collagen stimulation and regeneration, which helps to restore the natural beauty of the face. These results lasts for up to 18 months.

No, the treatment is performed under local anaesthetic that is applied to certain points in the area to be treated.

There is no pain during insertion of the suture. Some patients may find the procedure a little uncomfortable and any pain after the treatment can be managed with over-the-counter painkillers.

How does Silhouette soft work?

Extremely fine sutures (commonly called stitches) are inserted to the chosen area at a depth of about 3-5mm where they are anchored in stable positions with very light pressure. Absorbable, bidirectional cones attached to the sutures grasp lifting soft tissues to ease sagging and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and lines.

Which areas can be treated?

Silhouette soft is recommended for men and women of 30 and above who are trying to combat the signs of ageing. For those who do not wish to have heavy or invasive surgical treatment, but are looking for real and natural results.

Silhouette Soft® can be used to treat various parts of the face including:

Can Silhouette soft be combined with other treatments?

Absolutely. The minimally-invasive nature of Silhouette Soft® means that it works perfectly alongside some other rejuvenation treatments. A common example is the use of dermal fillers alongside a silhouette lift to help restore volume in hollow areas.

What happens immediately after Silhouette Soft® treatment?

Immediately after your Silhouette lift you may experience some slight swelling, bruising or redness which will subside on its own within a few days. There is sometimes a slight wrinkling of the skin which disappears in few days.

Are there any recommendations to be followed after Silhouette Soft® treatment?

• Cheeks and cheekbones

• During the week following treatment, do not undergo any dental surgery, and avoid facial massages or any beauty treatment.

• Eyebrows

• For the first few weeks, avoid any contact sport.

• Neck

• Preferably sleep on your back for 3-5 days.

Is Silhouette Soft® safe?

• In the event of pain, take a pain reliever according to your doctor’s prescription

• Lower jaw

Providing you work with an experienced medical practitioner, Silhouette Soft® is a highly safe treatment with proven results and success.

❝

Silhouette soft is recommended for men and women of 30 and above who are trying to combat the signs of ageing. For those who do not wish to have heavy or invasive surgical treatment, but are looking for real and natural results

❞

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Ten Earth Facts

1

The Earth was once believed to be the centre of the universe. For 2000 years ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was static and had other celestial bodies travelling in circular orbits around it.

They believed this because of the apparent movement on the Sun and planets in relation to their viewpoint. In 1543, Copernicus published his Sun-centred model of the Solar System which put the Sun at the centre of our solar system.

2

Earth is the densest planet in the solar system.

The density of Earth differs in each part of the planet – the core, for example, is denser than the Earth’s crust – but the average density of the planet is around 5.52 grams per cubic centimetre.

3

The rotation of the Earth is gradually slowing down. The deceleration of the Earth’s rotation is very slow, approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years. Eventually this will lengthen our days but it will take around 140 million years before our day will have increased from 24 to 25 hours.

4

Earth has a very powerful magnetic field. This field protects the planet from the effects of solar winds and is believed to be a result of the nickel-iron core of the planet combined with its rapid rotation.

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5 6

The Earth has an Ozone Layer which protects it from harmful solar radiation. This shell is a special type of oxygen that absorbs most of the Sun’s powerful UV rays.

The first life on Earth developed in the oceans through a process called abiogenesis or biopoiesis. This is a natural process in which life grows from non-living matter like simple organic compounds.

7 8 9 10

Earth’s water was initially trapped within the planet. Over time the Earth’s water was brought to the surface by the planet’s volcanic activity.

The lowest point on Earth is called Challenger Deep and at 10.9 km below sea level, it is further than the peak of Mount Everest.

Earth has one of the most circular orbits of all the eight planets. Its axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular of its orbital plane, which produces the seasons we experience.

A year on Earth lasts just over 365 days. It is actually ¼ of a day over 365 days which is why we have a leap year every four years.

Co-educational day & boarding school for children ages 9 to 18 years Caring and supportive environment International primary and middle school curriculum International Baccalaureate (IB)Diploma programme in the final two years All instruction is in English Small classes

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