Luxury London Magazine August 2019

MAGAZINE

August 2019 £7.00

PE NÉLO PE CRUZ ACTRESS. ICON. ACTIVIST.

JEAN-MARC PONTROUÉ THE PANERAI CEO ON PREDICTING THE FUTURE

VA L É R I E M E S S I K A DISRUPTING DIAMONDS WITH THE PARISIAN JEWELLER

ROBIN GILL THE REASON FOODIES ARE FLOODING TO NINE ELMS

T H E

HEAT I S

O N

AS THIS YEAR’S ‘WORLD’S 50 BEST RESTAURANTS’ LIST IS ANNOUNCED TO ACCUSATIONS OF TOKENISM, WE ASK IF SUCH GUIDES ARE TRULY REFLECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL TALENT AND TASTE

TIME IS PRECIOUS MAKE THE MOST OF IT

T H E U LT I M AT E AIRPORT EXPERIENCE PRIVATE ENTRANCE BUTLER | LUXURIOUS SUITE EXCLUSIVE SECURITY EXPERIENCE CHAUFFEUR | PL A N E H EATH RO WVI P.C O M

LENNY KRAVITZ

PERFECTING

NORTH

PIAZZA,

ROYAL

TUMI_SS19_065_434x280_LUXURY_LONDON_MIXTE.indd 1

OPERA

ARCADE

COVENT

GARDEN

•

REGENT

STREET

JOURNEY

ZOË KRAVITZ

THE

WESTFIELD

SHEPHERDS

BUSH

•

LONDON

CITY

AIRPORT

•

TUMI.COM 13/05/2019 12:39

240_London_Ads_DPS_Wellness_434w x 280h_ch_v3.indd 1

05/04/2019 12:20

240_London_Ads_DPS_Wellness_434w x 280h_ch_v3.indd 2

05/04/2019 12:21

CONTENTS

14 UP FRONT

50 40 BAUHAUS IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR STREET

10 EDITOR’S LETTER

The German design movement marks its 100th anniversary

13 THE BRIEFING

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants

47 EN GARDE

revealed and a new cigar lounge

A lesson in swordsmanship at

opens in Knightsbridge

84

64 EARNING HIS STRIPES South London’s culinary star Robin Gill opens his biggest restaurant to date

COLLECTION

the Knightsbridge Fencing Club

26 PENÉLOPE CRUZ

50 SPACE ODYSSEY

72 JEAN-MARC PONTROUÉ

The Oscar-winning actress on

The investors contemplating

Panerai’s CEO talks e-commerce

her new film and championing

a life on Mars, 50 years after

conscious luxury

the first moon landing

and experience-based selling 78 WHAT SWATCH GROUP DID NEXT

C U LT U R E

CONNOISSEUR

34 THE AGENDA

60 HIGH STANDARD

84 DIAMOND DISRUPTOR

See Dale Chihuly’s glass

Inside The Standard, the new

How Valérie Messika’s

Why the Swiss manufacturer boycotted Baselworld

sculptures in full bloom at

King’s Cross hotel championing

innovative designs flipped the

Kew Gardens

a 1970s vibe

jewellery industry on its head

4

26 COUTURE

72

40

120 VIETNAMESE WHIRL Discovering the cultural

92 HEAT WAVE

spoils of Vietnam’s lesser-known

The summer trends to tap

Quy Nhon

into, from limoncello yellow to

126 LICENSE TO CHILL

carnival-themed couture

The Seychelles retreat that

102 COOL BRITANNIA

inspired Ian Fleming’s eighth

The Thom Sweeney founders

James Bond book

challenging Savile Row

106 EASY BREEZY

PROPERTY

Laidback menswear for lazy summer days

ESCAPE

133 HOUSE STYLE Inside fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic’s dream King’s Cross home

112 CAPITAL GAINS

140 STREETS AHEAD

Why Washington DC isn’t just

The best properties hitting the

for politics

market this month

COV E R Alain Ducasse (right) with Romain Meder, executive chef at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée (p.13).

Image courtesy of Pierre Monetta, alainducasse-plazaathenee.com

FROM THE EDITOR

EDITOR Richard Brown DEPUTY EDITOR Ellen Millard

August 2019 Issue 15

The basic premise behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list was hashed out in the Shaston Arms, a battered old boozer off Carnaby Street, by the editorial team of trade magazine Restaurant in 2002. “How hard can it be?” someone said, presumably over a pint, seeing as though the pub doesn’t serve food. The magazine compiled its first list by eliciting recommendations from contacts around the world, throwing in some suggestions of its own for good measure. “In its first year, the list wasn’t intended to be at all definitive,” Restaurant’s then-editor, Chris Maillard, told The New Yorker.

Spain’s three-Michelin-starred El Bulli (since-closed) might have claimed top spot, but the inaugural 50 Best was notable for its inclusion of informal Canadian farmhouses and openair African buffets alongside the sort of highfalutin restaurants that dominated the Michelin Guide. An awards ceremony in Mayfair was organised; Roger Moore recruited as master of ceremonies. Chefs had to buy their own drinks, but enough of them showed up to turn ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ into a thing.

Today, the annual awards are sponsored by, among other businesses, Lamborghini and American Express. For the extent of its influence, see Noma in Copenhagen. The day after Noma secured number one spot in 2010, head chef and owner René Redzepi told Bloomberg that 100,000 people tried to book a table. When another Spanish restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, knocked Noma off its perch three years later, the restaurant’s website received 2.5 million hits in 24 hours. The waiting list stretched to a year.

With success comes scrutiny. In recent years, the list has faced accusations of elitism, egotism, tokenism, sexism, racism, lobbyism, dogmatism, everything, essentially, other than dynamism. Ninety per cent of the restaurants in this year’s guide are headed up my male cooks (p.14). Africa is represented by just one restaurant. Ditto mainland China. Hmm. Can one list ever take into account the culinary output of every country on earth, every food type at every price point, in the space of a calendar year? Obviously not. Better to call such round-ups what they are. ‘A Small Selection of Restaurants We’ve Blagged Invitations to in Recent Months.’ (Unlike Michelin, the 50 Best doesn’t pay its panel of critics).

Admittedly, that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

We’re about to launch a gastronomic guide of our own. The idea is simple. We aim to shine a light on restaurants and people that inspire; places that are unpretentious and fun; menus that provide that increasingly elusive of attributes – value for money. We’ll report on places we’re privileged enough to visit through work, but also lift the lid on the lesser-celebrated finds we’ve discovered, and paid for – shock horror – in our personal time. We’re starting small, grouping our findings around food types and areas of London. Those are lofty enough ambitions for us. You can follow our findings from next month at LuxuryLondon.co.uk.

ONLINE EDITOR Mhairi Graham CONTENT DIRECTOR Dawn Alford EDITOR-AT-LARGE Annabel Harrison SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITOR Anna Prendergast EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Abisha Sritharan HEAD OF DESIGN Laddawan Juhong SENIOR DESIGNER Ismail Vedat GENERAL MANAGER Fiona Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Alice Ford COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Rachel Gilfillan BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS Samantha Lathan Danielle Thirsk BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE Madelyn Curnyn BRAND EXECUTIVE Dom Jeffares MANAGING DIRECTOR Eren Ellwood PUBLISHED BY

In the meantime, welcome to our August issue. Bon appétit.

RICH ARD B ROWN Ed itor

ONE CANADA SQUARE, CANARY WHARF, LONDON, E14 5AX T: 020 7537 6565

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

WWW.LUXURYLONDONMEDIA.CO.UK

FRESH, EVEN-TONED SKIN STARTS HERE Foundation for Every Skin Tone and Concern.

Visit Your Nearest Bobbi Brown Counter for Your Free 7 Day Sample.

AWAKEN THE RADIANCE The Next Level of Skin Perfection

Recapture skin’s energised, radiant look with Intensive Skin Serum Foundation. With its Active Skin Energising Complex-featuring Cordyceps and Artemia - this silky serum foundation recharges skin’s appearance while providing an instant, luminous finish. With UVA/UVB protection to defend skin against environmental stressors, this formula with Argireline® Peptide helps prevent collagen damage and fight the visible signs of ageing.

Visit the Bobbi Brown Counter in the new Beauty Hall at Harrods, London for your free 7 day foundation sample or shop online at bobbibrown.co.uk.

PEAS IN A POD Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, the three-Michelin-star chef’s temple to classic French haute cuisine, re-entered The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017 having fallen off the guide in 2016. This year, the celebrated, Swarovski chandelier-crowned restaurant, located in the Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, climbs to number 16. The restaurant features one of the world’s most distinguished dining rooms, thanks to podlike curved benches that are sheathed in glossy steel, which derive their inspiration from cloches – the silver domes used to cover plates.

TH E B R I E F I N G T H E L AT E S T N E W S F R O M T H E W O R L D O F L U X U R Y

J essica Préalpato, Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée’s head pastry chef, was named World’s Best Pastry Chef this year (p.17).

The 2019 World’s 50 Best Restaurants I T S E L L S I T S E L F A S A ‘ C E L E B R AT I O N OF THE UNIVERSALITY OF CUISINE’, BUT AS THE 2019 ‘WORLD’S 50 BEST R E S TA U R A N T S ’ L I S T I S A N N O U N C E D TO AC C U S AT I O N S O F TO K E N I S M , I T P O S E S THE QUESTION: ARE SUCH GUIDES T R U LY R E F L E C T I V E O F I N T E R N A T I O N A L INGREDIENTS, IDEAS AND THE TOP C U L I N A R Y TA L E N T ?

Words: Anna Prendergast

I

n June 2019, the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ were announced. Having received his third Michelin star earlier in the year, Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur in Menton, on the French Riviera, took top spot – the first French restaurant to take home a win since the list’s inception in 2002. This year, the rules changed – restaurants that have won in previous years can no longer appear in the list, instead transferring into ‘The Best of the Best’ to make space for new entries.

But increasingly the list faces scrutiny. Unlike the Michelin Guide, in which inspectors’ identities are confidential and visits unpredictable, the World’s 50 Best is organised by an Academy – more than 1,000 industry experts, including journalists, restaurateurs and chefs. Tourist boards and even individual restaurants are not banned from targeting members or lobbying – lavishing judges with invitations and free meals. Furthermore, the ‘World’s Best Female Chef’ award has been accused of tokenism (last year’s winner Clare Smyth has yet to make the main list), and despite organisers describing a ‘strong female presence’ this year, 45 of the 50 kitchens were run by male head chefs. With just nine women making the extended top 120 list, perhaps they meant the

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

THE TOP 10 1. Mirazur, Menton, France Mauro Colagreco makes the most of Mediterranean ingredients grown on the border of France and Italy.

MIRAZUR, MENTON

Despite organisers describing a ‘strong female presence this year’ 45 out of the 50 kitchens were run by male head chefs

Despite the controversy surrounding the list, its impact on kitchens and epicureans alike can’t be denied, and the ripple effect has been felt far and wide.

Noma was the catalyst for Copenhagen to become the capital of Nordic cool; Osteria Francescana made Modena a destination in its own right. And Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur will no doubt have the same effect on Menton, a small French Riviera town that – up until now – has flown relatively under the radar.

Mirazur’s name roughly translates as ‘look at the blue’, located as it is with stunning views of the Côte d’Azur, and Colagreco’s cuisine signals a harmony between the trend for foraged local ingredients and a return to classic fine dining. He utilises three levels of cascading vegetable gardens and delivers dishes inspired by his surroundings as well as his Argentinian upbringing.

Signatures include salt-crusted beetroot from the garden with caviar cream, and an abundance of Colagreco’s favourite ingredient – tomatoes. The chef trained under Bernard Loiseau, Alain Passard and Alain Ducasse – all of whom have received three Michelin stars – so it’s fitting that Colagreco was also awarded his own three stars earlier this year. mirazur.fr

2. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark René Redzepi’s ‘New Nordic’ cuisine has taken the top spot four times, but its new location made it exempt from the guide’s new rules (see main text).

3. Asador Etxebarri, Axpe, Spain A Spanish wood-fired barbecue by Victor Arguinzoniz, who smokes and grills high-quality local ingredients to bring out their flavour.

4. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand Gaggan Anand’s progressive Indian cuisine is creative and evolutionary – but the restaurant has announced its planned closure for 2020.

5. Geranium, Copenhagen, Denmark Rasmus Kofoed produces 17-course tasting menus with artistic vigour in his modern Scandinavian stadiumside restaurant.

6. Central, Lima, Peru Husband and wife duo Virgilio Martínez and Pía León put Peru on the culinary map with their contemporary take on the country’s most interesting ingredients.

7. Mugaritz, San Sebastián, Spain Andoni Luis Aduriz’s avant-garde approach aims to open diners’ minds with dishes named ‘How Long A Kiss Lasts’ and ‘Haiku’.

8. Arpège, Paris, France Alain Passard’s three-Michelin-star restaurant stands out because of his willingness to embrace vegetarian cuisine and farm-fresh produce.

9. Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain Elements of surprise and platefuls of paradox prevail at the hands of Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch.

10. Maido, Lima, Peru Mitsuharu Tsumura and Cesar Choy’s Nikkei style takes clientele on a journey through Peru and Japan, with an emphasis on seafood that shows off their knife skills.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

15

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT STEIRERECK, VIENNA; SINGLETHREAD, CALIFORNIA; FLOWER CRAB WITH HOKKAIDO UNI, MITSUBA, AND SUDACHI FROM RONIN HONG KONG; DUCK MAGRET WITH ROASTED SQUASH, PERSIMMON, RADICCHIO AND LOQUAT OIL FROM MANÍ, SÃO PAULO; RAW, TAIPEI; ULTRAVIOLET

BY PAUL PAIRET; BEEF TONGUE CRACKER AT RAW, TAIPEI; RESTAURANTE 040, CHILE; PASTE, BANGKOK

women themselves are strong enough to stomach the predictable imbalance.

In addition, Euro-centric cuisine prevails, and in the list’s 18 years only European and North American restaurants have taken first place.

Regional diversity has somewhat increased this year, but only one restaurant from Africa, one from mainland China (run by a French chef) and not a single restaurant from India made it onto the list.

How can a list with 26 spots out of 50 hailing from Europe and six hailing from the USA claim to represent the talent and taste of the whole world? Some have taken solace in Cosme’s appearance in the list: a New York restaurant run by a Mexican woman, chef Daniela Soto-Innes, seems to be a powerful argument against certain far-right political propaganda being driven in America right now.

Back on home soil, Brits have also been questioning the only two UK entries – The Clove Club (number 27) and Lyle’s (number 33) – both of which are located in Shoreditch. Has our edgy east London district become – whisper it – mainstream? Those who championed the artistic cafe culture that made the neighbourhood cool again are being priced out by the urban commercialisation of the area, which has attracted the sort of big businesses that can sustain places like The Clove Club – where the tasting menu is priced at £110.

Challenging the elitist attitude and questionable criteria of the World’s 50 Best and the Michelin Guide are ‘anti-ranking’ guides such as Le Fooding, which has announced plans to launch the Priceless Cities Best New Bistro awards. The price per person must be €30-€100; the public will have a vote when it comes to the finalists and reviewers can submit three favourites per city. The French source is well-respected for advocating new openings and raw talent across France, so its list is expected to underline the idea that the best places to eat aren’t necessarily the ones approved by the establishment.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

17

THE FEMALE CHEFS BRINGING THE HEAT In 1998, critics hailed Alain Ducasse as the first chef to earn six Michelin stars. In fact, the honour had gone to Eugenie Brazier 65 years earlier.

Not enough has changed in the past two decades: female chefs are still being disregarded, with only five taking spots in the 50 Best. Of those five (a record high), three share their position with a man, throwing up the question: is the list the problem, the industry – or both? Some believe that many fine dining establishments rely on tradition and an outdated sense of propriety – making it difficult for women to acquire top roles – and others blame the industry’s failure to tackle institutionalised sexism, not to mention the gender pay gap.

Flying the flag for female chefs this year were Daniela Soto-Innes, Elena Arzak, Pia León, Dominique Crenn, Ana Roš and Jessica Préalpato (pictured above), who was awarded Best Pastry Chef having spent the past four years at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris. These women are proving that, in a professional sense, their place truly is in the kitchen.

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

CONCOURS OF ELEGANCE CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF THE FERRARI 166 THE ITALIAN MANUFACTURER IS BRINGING FOUR OF ITS FINEST MODELS TO THE UK THIS SEPTEMBER

N I G H T & D AY or the second consecutive year, German fine F watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne will be acting as a headline sponsor of the Concours of Elegance. To celebrate the partnership, the horologist will debut the ninth piece of its Lange 1 25th Anniversary Collection – the Lange 1 Moonphase (from £37,300). During the daytime, the watch’s moon is depicted against a bright blue starless sky; at night, it contrasts against a dark blue disk with 383 sparkling stars. alange-soehne.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

19

Despite almost dying in a Ferrari (he was driving his mistress home having been caught by his wife, and crashed into a meat truck at 120mph), Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli spent his life pursuing and driving motorcars by the marque, several of which were one-off commissions. He loved being behind the wheel so much that he would often make his chauffeur sit in the backseat, and he once evaded a terrorist completely by accident, unknowingly driving too fast for the criminal to keep up.

Agnelli’s personal collection included a 166MM Barchetta, which, like his immaculate Caraceni suits, was tailor-made to his taste with a distinctive two-tone paint job and teardrop-shaped rear lights.

With its instantly recognisable tube frame, designed by engineer Aurelio Lampredi, competitive engine and light build, the car became historical as the manufacturer’s first successful sports car.

Now, 70 years after the 166 model was victorious at the 1949 Mille Miglia and 24 Hours of Spa, Agnelli’s very own chassis is gracing the UK for the annual Concours of Elegance. It will be joined at Hampton Court Palace by three other remarkable examples of the 166 Barchetta and accompanied by more than 60 of the rarest vehicles ever built, in one of the UK’s most exciting motoring events. AP Tickets from £40, 6-8 September, Hampton Court Palace, Molesey, KT8, concoursofelegance.co.uk

INSIDE LAKE COMO’S WINE SYMPOSIUM THE EXCLUSIVE ANNUAL EVENT HELD AT VILLA D’ESTE

Designed by the 16th-century architect Pellegrino Pellegrini, Lake Como’s Villa d’Este was built as the Cardinal of Como’s summer palace and is considered to be among the most beautiful architectural works of its time. It’s also an ideal setting for a spot of wine tasting, as guests at the Villa d’Este Wine Symposium can attest.

Held over three days in November, the exclusive networking event has attracted the great and the good from the world of elite wines for 10 years, and hosts around 200 high-networth guests (think Davos with bottomless fine Burgundy).

The annual affair is not just for producers, buyers and restaurateurs – anyone who enjoys acquiring fine wines for their cellar is welcome. But be warned: this is for serious oenophiles and comes with a price tag to match.

Wines at the tastings, lunches and dinners range from a few hundred pounds a bottle to many thousands of pounds. For the most exclusive wines, such as the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, there’s an extra cost of up to £2,000 per tasting seminar on top of the attendance fee, which is approximately £4,000. DA The Villa d’Este Wine Symposium returns this year from 7-10 November. For more information visit vdews.com

LUXURY LONDON

NEWS

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

21

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

22

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

MANHATTAN’S NEW APARTMENT BLOCK HAS JAGGED EDGES THE CUBIST-INSPIRED BUILDING HONOURS TWO CONTRASTING NEIGHBOURHOODS

New York’s strict zoning laws limit construction in Gramercy Park to certain heights, but this did not dissuade architecture firm OMA (the brain behind Sotheby’s New York and London’s Design Museum) from being creative with its first ground-up building in Manhattan.

The new property on 121 East 22nd Street comprises two blocks that sandwich an existing 11-storey tower, creating a new courtyard space in the middle. The artistry comes in at the corner of 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue, which straddles two very different neighbourhoods: the residential Gramercy Park and the bustling Madison Square Park.

In a bid to capture the meeting point of the two contrasting areas, the otherwise nondescript apartment block has a Cubistinspired corner, which sees

The building’s amenities include a swimming pool, fitness centre, and an indoor/outdoor lounge area

Residents have access to a rooftop terrace, complete with firepit grill and private dining and screening rooms

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

23

the façade’s geometric window panes bend in and out, creating unique interior views both upward and downward.

“We have conceived a new, dynamic building for the neighbourhood that communicates both history and modernity,” OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu told Dezeen.

“The design appropriately responds to and harnesses the energy of the city and duality of the site’s urban context – the dynamic intersection of Gramercy Park and Madison Square is expressed by a three-dimensional, prismatic corner that introduces a new identity to the neighbourhood.”

The apartments themselves range from one-bedroom units to a 3,577 sq ft, five-bedroom apartment. EM 121e22nd.com

LUXURY LONDON

THE BRIEFING

EUROPE’S LARGEST CIGAR HUMIDOR OPENS IN LONDON THE WELLESLEY KNIGHTSBRIDGE UNVEILS ITS CIGAR TERRACE AND LOUNGE

‘Famous cigar lovers’ is a niche category, but it’s one with surprisingly seminal characters: Sir Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro are among the greats, and it’s these faces that stare down on you – cigar in hand, natch – from the walls of The Wellesley Knightsbridge’s new cigar terrace.

Crafted by Londonbased artist Lee Simmons and architecture firm Make Architects, the space comprises individual terraces, each made up of transparent glass columns and beams, cantilevered glass panels and vertical bronze fins.

The design has been carefully

considered to complement the surrounding views of Hyde Park.

But what of the cigars? Well, there are more than £1.5m worth of the world’s finest smokes available to purchase on a stick by stick basis, from Montecristos to Cohibas and limited edition Bolivars. The humidor in which they’re kept is the largest in Europe, and features a laser-cut marble inlaid map of Cuba on the floor. If you’re feeling spoilt for choice, cigar experts are on hand to advise in selection, and can tailor to personal tastes, cutting and lighting. EM thewellesley.grandluxuryhotels.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

24

FROM TOP THE WELLESLEY KNIGHTSBRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPHY

BY JACK HARDY; DESIGN FEATURES IN THE CIGAR TERRACE; THE CIGAR LOUNGE & TERRACE

LUXURY SHOPPING & DINING IN THE CITY PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR A FULL LIST OF STORES THEROYALEXCHANGE.CO.UK THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, EXIT 3 BANK, CITY OF LONDON EC3V 3LR

PENÉLOPE

CRUZ S H E ’ S O N E O F T H E WO R L D ’ S M O S T FA M O U S AC T R E S S E S B U T FA R F R O M L I V I N G IN A BUBBLE, PENÉLOPE CRUZ IS USING HER POSITION TO PIONEER A LESS G L A M O R O U S V E N T U R E : S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y. O V E R T E A A T T H E M A N D A R I N O R I E N T A L , T H E O S C A R -W I N N I N G AC T R E S S D I S C U S S E S H E R N E W F I L M PA I N A N D G LO RY , REALISING CHILDHOOD DREAMS AND TRAILBLAZING CONSCIOUS LUXURY

Words: Ellen Millard

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

27

SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL MOONSUN BY PENÉLOPE CRUZ COLLECTION

P

enélope Cruz isn’t one to make an entrance. The petite actress slips unnoticed into The Rosebery tearoom at the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park, stealthily passing the gaggle of press that awaits her. She announces her arrival with a polite but shy “hello”, and seats herself on the chartreuse chaise longue, self-consciously arranging her ruffled Chanel dress before turning to fix her audience with that doe-eyed look that won over viewers of Vanilla Sky (2001), Nine (2009) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).

This is not the Hollywood actress I was expecting. Far from being the life and soul of the room – she is being somewhat overshadowed by the formidable Nadja Swarovski, more on whom later – Cruz appears reserved. That is, until she speaks.

Affable and charismatic, her sultry Spanish lilt still firmly intact, Cruz emits the same charm that has seen her rack up more than 70 cinematic credits.

We’re here to discuss her latest synthetic jewellery collection with Atelier Swarovski, and as the tearoom’s fuchsia cushions, gold cake stands and chattering diners are cleared to make way for jewellery display cases, Cruz waxes lyrical about the importance of conscious luxury.

“I really care about having a positive impact on the planet, in what I do, what I wear and what my family and I consume,” she says, gesticulating passionately as she explains her commitment to sustainability. Her fervour comes as something of a surprise – Hollywood isn’t the first place I’d look for environmentalists. But Cruz instils a passion into

FROM TOP ÁNGEL HALO RING WITH SWAROVSKI CREATED SAPPHIRE IN 18K FAIRTRADE WHITE GOLD, £1,990; ÁNGEL EARRINGS WITH CREATED SAPPHIRES, GENUINE WHITE TOPAZ AND 120 ROUND SWAROVSKI CREATED DIAMONDS, £3,790

everything she does. From Hollywood to haute joillerie, if she’s involved, she says, she’s in it for the long-haul.

“With my message it’s all honest,” she shrugs. “I don’t want to give my name to something if I have not been involved, because that’s fake.”

Born in a working-class suburb of Madrid as the eldest of three children to Eduardo, who worked in a hardware shop, and Encara, who ran a hair and beauty salon, Cruz was interested in performance from the off. She initially dreamed of dancing, and studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain’s National Conservatory. Today, she says her years perfecting demi-pliés were crucial to her future acting career, crediting dance with generating the discipline required for a life on screen.

Her fascination with film began aged 13, when her father bought home a Betamax video player. In lieu of a nearby cinema, she wore it out, watching the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren storm the screen.

“Nobody around me had a job related to the arts, music, anything like that,” the 45-year-old told Esquire in 2017. “The dream was much more humble, but it was big for me. It was: ‘I want to be independent when I’m older and have a job that I love. It’s either going to be a dancer or an actress’. Just to be able to eat from that, that was my dream.”

It was watching Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s 1989 film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! that convinced Cruz acting was the career for her. Aged 14 and alone in a cinema in central Madrid, she was mesmerised, so much so that afterwards she wandered the streets for hours, concocting a plan that would change her life. She decided she needed representation and bugged a talent agency to give her a screen test. She failed three times due to being too young but, at the final hurdle, nabbed a spot thanks to a flawless improvised performance.

She still has the same agent 30 years later.

Her feature-film debut came in 1992, when she starred in the raunchy comedy Jamón Jamón aged 18. Her performance earned her the first of many Goya awards, the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars.

It was a pivotal role, not just for kick-starting her career, but because it was where she met her husband, her co-star Javier Bardem – although the relationship didn’t start until 16 years later (they married in 2010).

Today the couple are something of Spanish royalty – to date they are the only Spanish actors to win Academy Awards, the first of which went to Bardem in 2007 for No Country for Old Men, and the second of which went to Cruz for her role as Maria Elena in Woody Allen’s 2008 hit Vicky Christina Barcelona, in which Bardem also appeared. They live together in Madrid with their two children, a son and a daughter, and while they have an agreement not to speak about one another in the press they are often seen together on screen.

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

29

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

In fact, some of their best films independently are the ones in which they star together: The Counselor (2013), Loving Pablo (2017) and Everybody Knows (2018), to name a few.

Her second big break came courtesy of her favourite director: Almodóvar’s Live Flesh (1997). So impressed was the director with Cruz that he wrote and expanded the role of Isabel Plaza Caballero especially for her. They’ve since released five more films together.

This August, they will release their seventh: the emotionally potent Pain and Glory. The director’s semiautobiographical flick charts the life of Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), an aging filmmaker at crisis point.

Suffering from chronic back pain, Mallo, who is considering retirement, experiences a series of encounters – some of which are real and some remembered – that alter his course. Cruz plays Mallo’s mother in the flashbacks that flit throughout the film.

Seven movies in, the buzz of working with her favourite director hasn’t worn off for Cruz. “He is one of the reasons I became an actress, because of his films that I saw growing up,” she tells me. “Whenever I get his blessing I feel like I can breathe, because he can be a very tough judge – but it’s good that he’s honest. If he doesn’t like something, he will say.”

The film made its debut at Cannes earlier this year, received a standing ovation at La Croisette and was hotly tipped to take home the much-coveted Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize (it narrowly missed out to French drama Parasite). France has held a special place in Cruz’s heart after she was awarded an honorary César award (the French equivalent of an Academy Award) for lifetime achievement last year, and being at the nation’s largest film festival was an honour, she says. “I was so happy to be at Cannes with Pedro, for this film that I love so much.”

Today, the jewels that she wore to the Pain and Glory screening at the Palais des Festivals glitter from plinths that surround us in The Rosebery. Launched last year, the line of Hollywood glamour-inspired necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings is exquisite, not just in design but creation too – the entire collection is crafted from Swarovski lab-grown diamonds and gemstones. Married with synthetic rubies and sapphires, as well as sustainably sourced topaz and fair-trade gold, the diamonds sparkle as pendant chokers, pear-cut strings of necklaces and double-drop earrings designed by Cruz.

“This has been my dream since I was a little girl; I used to draw on the top of my mother’s magazines and change all of the designs,” she explains. “I wanted this collection to feel a little bit vintage, to feel like some of the jewellery pieces that have had an impact on me from watching movies with Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe; jewellery seemed more present in cinema in the 1940s and 1950s than it does now.”

A family heirloom also provided inspiration. “My grandmother Modesta had a ring that was garnet and gold, and since I was a little girl I was asking her to give me that

FROM LEFT LOLA TOI ET MOI RING WITH SWAROVSKI CREATED RUBIES AND SWAROVSKI CREATED DIAMONDS SET IN 18K WHITE GOLD, £2,390; LOLA LONG DROP EARRINGS WITH SWAROVSKI CREATED RUBIES AND 268 ROUND SWAROVSKI CREATED DIAMONDS, £5,790

ring. She gave it to me and my sister but it was lost,” she recalls. “The value was sentimental, but it was the most important thing we had. I was so sad to lose this piece, so I have designed a ring in her honour, which I am very proud of.

It is crafted from three rubies surrounded by Swarovski-created diamonds. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

The collaboration arose after the Swarovski team sent the actress a few pieces to wear to an awards ceremony, along with a booklet on their sustainable stance. Cruz read it cover to cover. “I feel this collection brings my responsibility to a higher level,” she tells me now. “Sometimes people know what to say to capture the attention of the world, but in this case it is a totally honest message. From now on, if a company like Swarovski is able to work [sustainably], everybody has to make the effort. It raises the bar very high.”

As our interview comes to a close, the brand’s creative director Nadja Swarovski begins to rhapsodize about having the actress onboard. “I feel like I’m working with an angel,” she exclaims. “You’re such a role model.” Cruz blushes and brushes off the compliment, but there’s a sense she understands the responsibility her position comes with. A week after we meet, she joins Gwyneth Paltrow at a Goop wellness summit, and unintentionally becomes a spokesperson for women the world over when she criticises the pressures she felt post-childbirth and the stigmas that come with menopause.

Conscious luxury, it seems, is just one of many strings to Cruz’s bow. As fellow actress Marion Cotillard said when she presented her friend with the César award, Cruz is “an icon of the people” who has “remained the daughter of craftsmen, rooted in real life.”

Atelier Swarovski’s Fine Jewellery by Penélope Cruz collection is exclusive to Harvey Nichols, 109-125 Knightsbridge, SW1X, swarovski.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

31

ORIGINAL, LIMITED-EDITION ART DECO POSTERS

Limited to editions of 280, our newly-commissioned Art Deco posters feature glamorous holiday destinations around the world, ski resorts in the Austrian, French and Swiss Alps, and the world’s greatest historic automobiles. Over 100 designs to choose from, all printed on 100% cotton fine art paper, measuring 97 x 65 cms.

Priced at £395 each.

Private commissions are also welcome.

Pullman Editions Ltd 94 Pimlico Road Chelsea London SW1W 8PL www.pullmaneditions.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7730 0547 Email: georgina@pullmaneditions.com

Our central London gallery

All images and text copyright © Pullman Editions Ltd. 2019

View and buy online at w w w.pullmaneditions.com Pullman Ed Luxury London.indd 1

09/07/2019 12:13

KATE MOSS, NEPAL, BRITISH VOGUE, 1993, ©ARTHER ELGORT/ATLAS GALLERY

P.34 DAIRY DATES The best exhibitions and events in the capital this August

P.40 100 YEARS OF BAUHAUS The German design movement marks its centenary

P.47 BLADES OF GLORY A history of fencing, one of the Olympic’s longest running sports

P.50 LIFE ON MARS Exploring the realities and possibilities of space tourism

C U LT U R E MUSIC,

MUSEUMS AND

MASTERPIECES

Atlas Gallery’s 25th anniversary exhibition features works by the many photographers it represents – and the list is extensive.

Look out for snaps by some of the best photographers from the 20th century, including Ansel Adams, Arthur Elgort, Florence Henri and Jimmy Nelson.

Until 31 August, atlasgallery.com

T H E A G E N DA YOUR CURATED GUIDE TO CULTURE IN THE CAPITAL Words: Ellen Millard

COV E N T G A R D E N KEITH HARING’S JOYOUS GRAFFITI-INSPIRED WORKS ARE REMEMBERED IN A RETROSPECTIVE To coincide with a blockbuster exhibition at the Tate Liverpool, Covent Garden’s Rhodes Contemporary gallery presents ICON, a new selling exhibition of prints, paintings and posters by Keith Haring. Items of the artist’s wardrobe and artefacts from his life are also due to go on display, alongside photographs

by Martha Cooper, a collaborator of Haring.

Until 5 August, 42 New Compton Street, WC2H, rhodescontemporaryart.com

STRAND WINNERS OF THE WORLD ILLUSTRATION AWARDS 2019 ANNOUNCED THIS PAGE SQUARE EYES, ANNA MILL, PROFESSIONAL BOOKS CATEGORY WINNER OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP UNTITLED (MAN ON DOLPHIN), KEITH HARING, 1987, £ 42,500; POP SHOP 1, KEITH HARING, 1987, £19,000

The winning and shortlisted works from the annual World Illustration Awards 2019 have gone on display at Somerset House. Hosted by the Association of Illustrators, the event received 3,680 entries from 68

countries, offering an insight into the ideas, trends and styles from illustrators working across the globe. The full 200-strong shortlist, which ranges from 3D models to embroidery to animation, can be seen at Somerset House until the end of July, before it will embark on a tour around the UK in 2020.

Until 28 July, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R, somersethouse.org.uk

TWIGGY IN-FRONT OF THE UNION JACK, 1966, TERENCE DONOVAN, © THE TERENCE DONOVAN ARCHIVE/ ICONIC IMAGES

CHELSEA ICONIC IMAGES GALLERY CELEBRATES THE SWINGING SIXTIES Celebrating the work of seven photographers who captured the fame, fashion and frolics of Chelsea during the 1960s, Chelsea Girls & Likely Lads recalls the heady days of the Chelsea Set – a group of creatives who frequented Kings Road during this pivotal era.

Photographs by the likes of Norman Parkinson, Terry O’Neill and Terence Donovan capture the characters who defined a generation: Michael Caine, Keith Richards, Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy, to name a few. A rare signed print of Alan Aldridge’s Chelsea Girls movie poster, designed for Andy Warhol’s cult film, is also on display.

Until 31 August, 13a Park Walk, SW10, iconicimages.net

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP UNTITLED #577, CINDY SHERMAN, 2016/18; UNTITLED #204, CINDY SHERMAN, 1989, ©CINDY SHERMAN AND METRO PICTURES, NEW YORK

SOUTHBANK TATE MODERN HONOURS SELFPORTRAITIST CINDY SHERMAN WITH A NEW EXHIBITION From teenage boy to soccer mom to silver screen siren: Cindy Sherman artfully flits between characters in her self-portrait series Untitled Film Stills, all 70 of which are now on display at the National Portrait Gallery in a major retrospective of the American photographer’s work. Highlighting her ability to challenge class, gender and identity through her powerfully posed photographs, the exhibition includes around 150 works in total – some never before seen in a public gallery – which showcase the enigmatic photographer in her many guises.

Until 15 September, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, WC2H, npg.org.uk

GIA DOLUPTIBUS VOLUPTASPEL MO ENDAM DOLO EA NONSENTIAS ALISTIAM

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

37

KEW DALE CHIHULY’S COSMIC GLASS SCULPTURES BLOOM AT KEW GARDENS Kew Gardens has been transformed into an outdoor gallery space courtesy of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.

In Reflections on Nature, the towering crystal works bridge the gap between art and the natural world.

The showstopper is the striking Temperate House Persians, a nine-metre long pendant of blue-green blooms, which hangs from the ceiling of the recentlyrenovated glasshouse. From August, you will be able to see the works illuminated after hours as part of Chihuly Nights, a new evening event with a rotating roster of live musical acts and a chance to see the glass sculptors lit up in all their glory.

15 August – 26 October, £18, Kew Gardens, TW9, kew.org

FROM LEFT TURQUOISE MARLINS AND FLOATS, 2015, DALE CHIHULY; SUMMER SUN, 2010, DALE CHIHULY, BOTH ©CHIHULY STUDIO

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

R E G E N T ’ S PA R K FRIEZE SCULPTURE RETURNS TO REGENT’S PARK

FROM TOP ONE THROUGH ZERO, 19802002, ROBERT INDIANA; RECEIVER, HUMA BHABHA, 2019, BOTH © STEPHEN WHITE/FRIEZE

There’s no need to miss out on the sunshine to get your cultural fix this summer. The annual Frieze Sculpture has returned, showcasing the work of 20 artists with a public exhibition in Regent’s Park. Curated by Clare Lilley, director of programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the display includes When I Sleep, a four-metre long bronze figure by Tracey Emin. The event is accompanied by a free audio tour

by Lilley, which can be listened to on the Frieze Art Fairs app.

Until 6 October, frieze.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

39

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

THE BAUHAUS ART SCHOOL BUILDING DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT WALTER GROPIUS IN 1925, © CLAUDIO DIVIZIA/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

40

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

BAUHAUS IN

THE

MIDDLE

OF

OUR

STREET

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO BAUHAUS BROUGHT CONCRETE, JUMPSUITS AND DESIGN REVOLUTION T O W E S T E R N E U R O P E . B U T WA S L O N D O N R E A D Y F O R T H E R E V O LT ? R O B C R O S S A N E X P L O R E S H O W B R I TA I N E M B R A C E D O N E O F T H E 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y ’ S M O S T B E G U I L I N G D E S I G N M O V E M E N T S

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

41

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

‘L

OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP ISOKEN BUILDING ©NICK KANE, COURTESY OF AVANI ARCHITECTS; BAUHAUS ARCHIVE, BERLIN, GERMANY, ©ELECTRIC EGG/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; THIS PAGE WALTER GROPIUS (RIGHT) WITH HIS WIFE, ISE, AND MARCEL BREUER AT A PARTY TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAWN ROAD FLATS IN HAMPSTEAD, 1935, ©PRITCHARD PAPERS

et us leave the continent to pursue their own tricks and go our own way traditionally.’

So wrote, seemingly in something approaching a cold fury, Frank Pick, the chief designer for London Underground, back in the late 1930s in a letter to the architect Oliver Hill.

The object of Pick’s wrath was Bauhaus, the brand new architectural, design and fashion movement that was sweeping across mainland Europe in the pre-war years but, clearly not finding favour in this corner of the UK. The movement was the brainchild of Walter Gropius, a soldier from the German city of Weimer who had an especially traumatic experience in the Great War, being buried alive for three days and experiencing flashbacks of grenade explosions for the rest of his life.

Founding an arts academy back in his home city after the war, which he named Bauhaus (after ‘Bauhitte’, the name of the medieval stone masons guild which previously occupied the building that would become the first hub for the movement), Gropius’ influence was extraordinary.

With an emphasis on new materials and methods, his glass, steel and concrete constructions felt like modernist cathedrals. Factories, apartment blocks and civic buildings across Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands emerged with distinctive floor to ceiling glass windows, flat roofs and simple colour schemes of beige, grey and white alongside everyday items of furniture, from tubular looking armchairs to chess sets to tableware.

‘The Bauhaus strives to bring together all creative effort into one whole’, wrote Gropius. ‘To reunify all the disciplines of practical art – sculpture, painting, handicrafts, and crafts – as inseparable components of a new architecture.’

So is it true that Britain really was woefully reluctant to join in with this bright new future? Upon first glance, it would seem London would be a natural fit for this kind of thinking.

Gropius himself was inspired by the late 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement which originated in the UK with its emphasis on hands-on design and craftsmanship.

But the accepted narrative, which holds to this day, insists that the movement stalled in the UK due to resistance from the likes of Frank Pick and a general lack of forward thinking among architects and designers during this period.

This somewhat frustrating theory has some enormous holes in it however; not least of which being the fact that Gropius himself spent time in the UK, moving to London in 1934 after the new Bauhaus HQ in Dessau was occupied by Nazi troops, who destroyed everything inside the building and turned it into an officer training school.

During his time in Britain, Gropius, along with his Bauhaus colleagues László Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer, did manage to bring their aesthetic to these shores in the form of Impington Village College on the outskirts of Cambridge and the Wood House in Shipbourne in Kent.

This country’s most famous Bauhaus creation however, was one that the trio actually lived in themselves for a time, even though they played no direct role in its construction.

The Isokon building in Hampstead was the very first structure in Britain to be built using reinforced concrete.

It’s creator was Wells Coates, a British designer who, after a fact finding trip to Germany, collaborated with plywood salesman Jack Pritchard to create an entirely new (for the UK at least) type of residential flat in the Bauhaus style.

With Pritchard providing plywood furniture for the flats and with a laundry service and in-house restaurant, the striking look of minimal design but maximum functionality had simply never been seen before on these shores.

“All you needed was a rug, a vase and your favourite picture,” says Leyla Daybelge, co-author of a new book on the movement in the UK: Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain.

“The furniture was built in, or Isokon would p ­ rovide what you needed. It was very radical.”

Agatha Christie was impressed. ‘A giant liner’ was her description of this vast white invader upon the rows of Georgian and Victorian houses which she would end up living in herself, alongside many of the infamous Cambridge spy ring.

Almost a century on from its completion and the building, now called the Lawn Road Flats, remains in operation. In keeping with the socialist politics of the

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

43

movement (in the opening ceremony beer rather than champagne was smashed against the exterior wall) many of the flats are reserved for key workers, though the in-house restaurant has long gone.

A couple of miles away, London Zoo was also embracing Bauhaus, combining it with the aquatic to create a penguin enclosure complete with interlinked ramps of concrete and an elliptical pool. The construction was criticised by conservationists for appearing to encourage the penguins to parade along the ramps like catwalk models. The birds themselves didn’t seem to mind though; the zoo continued to house them there until 2004.

Bauhaus may not have been entirely rebuffed by Britain after all. But for Gropius and the other Bauhaus pioneers, their tenure in the Isokon building would be brief.

Wanting to move further away from Nazi clutches, they had all taken relatively lucrative academic positions in the United States by 1937.

A century on from their exodus and although the physical presence of Bauhaus buildings for us to live, eat, learn, work and admire penguins around Britain are, admittedly, modest, the fashion and style arm of the movement would go on to become a colossal influence on some of Britain’s leading post-war designers.

For beginners, take a look at the still transcendent form of Ziggy Stardust. The jagged thunder bolts, colour explosions and tight figure-hugging form of David Bowie’s ultimate alternative persona was designed by Freddie Burretti, who drew on the outfits designed for the Triadic Ballet, a costume ball that Gropius and his fellow Bauhaus designers regularly staged during the 1920s. By matching geometric forms with parts of the human body, the players in this surreal performance became themselves living, breathing Bauhaus designs.

The movement’s aesthetic demands of simplicity of form combined with ultra-efficient functionality also rubbed off on designers for half a century; from Mary Quant’s clean and sleek 1960s fashion designs to Mary Katrantzou’s winter 2018 collection, which included prints that paid tribute to posters for the 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar, Germany.

Paul Smith has long spoken of his admiration for the work of the textile designer Anni Albers, one of the key Bauhaus designers. “So many people look, but they don’t know how to see,” Smith once said when asked about the artist he readily admits to being his muse. “Anni really saw… The ideas they were playing with were so modern – all that lateral thinking. The rest of us are still struggling to catch up.”

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP DAVID BOWIE EXHIBITION IN THE MARTIN GROPIUS-BAU, BERLIN-TIERGARTEN, PHOTOGRAPHY ©360B/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; COMPOSITION IN RED, BLUE AND YELLOW

BY PIET MONDRIAN FRAMED PRINT, £90, HEALS.COM; HABITAT SS19 COLLECTION; TRENT CUSHION, £50, HABITAT.CO.UK

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT BAUHAUS CONCRETE WALLPAPER, £60 PER 52CM X 10M ROLL, MINIMODERNS.COM; DESIGN K TEAPOT, £68, HEALS.COM; GRASHOPPA FLOOR LAMP, £667, HEALS.COM; ANNI ALBERS CASHMERE SWEATER, £460, PAULSMITH.COM; KAISER IDELL LUXUS TABLE LAMP, £590, HEALS.COM

But the biggest Bauhaus imprint on this country has undoubtedly been spearheaded by Sir Terence Conran and his Habitat stores.

“The Bauhaus was my favourite style,” Conran stated in a recent interview. “The school taught design for mass production, so people could afford their products... I look for intelligent design at a price people can afford.”

That sparse style, abstract shapes, clean lines and accessible designs that Conran brought into millions of living rooms across Britain is still evolving in brand new work from other designers, such as the geometric shapes of the new Bauhaus wallpaper, unveiled earlier this year by Mini Moderns.

And then there’s the legendary Heals department store. After stocking Bauhaus designs way back in the 1920s, this year sees the launch of their Bauhaus 100 collection of accessories and lighting.

The dresses, tables, lampshades and jumpsuits that have emerged from the Bauhaus movement may hint at a sterility and coldness in their geometric purity. And perhaps it was this, erroneous, conclusion that stopped Britain embracing Bauhaus more than it has.

For what really seems to shine through the intervening decades isn’t so much about labels and fashion as it is Bauhaus’ embrace of raw, new materials and how they were used not to intimidate or luxuriate but to genuinely improve our lives. As Walter Gropius himself wrote towards the end of his long life: “Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society.”

“The school taught design for mass production, so people could afford their products” BAUHAUS GOES WEST BY ALAN POWERS IS PUBLISHED BY THAMES AND HUDSON, £24.99 ISOKON AND THE BAUHAUS IN BRITAIN BY LEYLA DAYBELGE IS PUBLISHED BY PAVILLION BOOKS, £25

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

45

EN GARDE F E N C I N G I S O N E O F O N LY F I V E S P O R T S T H A T H AV E F E A T U R E D I N E V E R Y O LY M P I C S S I N C E T H E M O D E R N G A M E S W E R E F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 6 . I N V E N T E D I N I T A LY, R E F I N E D I N FRANCE, THE SPORT’S FOLLOWING IS NOW GROWING IN THE UK. LUXURY LONDON G E T S A L E S S O N I N S W O R D S M A N S H I P AT T H E K N I G H T S B R I D G E F E N C I N G C L U B

Words: Hugh Francis Anderson

“

R

aise your épée and salute your opponent,” says Julianna Révész, a multiple World Fencing Champion and cofounder of the Knightsbridge Fencing Club. En garde is called, I pull my mask over my face, and take a few steps back. “Fence,” cries Révész. It’s the ninth point.

Sweat is pouring from under my mask, my vision, concealed by the mesh, blurs in and out of focus, as the tip of my brother’s épée glides past mine and plunges the blade hard into my chest. The scoreboard lights up. “5 – 4,” says Révész, “Unlucky.”

Even as complete novices, we can feel a physical and psychological element to fencing – both elevate and drain you. Indeed, I’d argue that there are few sports that require this much concentration. “The goal is to outsmart your opponent, like a game of chess,” says Révész, as I collapse, exhausted. “You must have a strategy, a game plan, and you have to execute it perfectly.”

“Fencing is the art of sword fighting,” writes master fencer Nick Evangelista in The Art and Science of Fencing. “It has a proud tradition that stretches back hundreds of years. Kings and commoners both have engaged in fencing, which has been practised as both a skill for killing and a sport.” While swordsmanship and sword fighting schools have been traced back to the 12th century – with records even suggesting the Ancient Egyptians practised a similar pastime – fencing as we know it today has its foundations in Renaissance Italy. The sword had always stood as a symbol of masculinity, nobility and pride, but its migration from a weapon to a sport lies heavily on the shoulders of one Domenico Angelo, who, in the mid-18th century, opened Angelo’s School of Arms at Carlisle House, London, and began teaching the British aristocracy, the Royal Family, and, curiously, the children of composer Johann Sebastian Bach, the art of fencing. It was Angelo’s dedication in focusing on fencing’s poise, grace and skill that ultimately turned it into a modern sport.

Today, there are three forms of fencing. “Épée, foil and sabre,” explains Révész. “At the Knightsbridge Fencing Club, we practise épée, which means that the whole body is the target; you can hit from head to toe. Sabre is a slashing sport, and only for the upper body. And foil is only the torso and back; no limbs or head. Épée is very simple, you hit your opponent and you get a point.”

At competition level, fencers compete to 15 points, comprising a total of three three-minute

bouts, with a one-minute break between each.

The sport may have been modernised by way of electronic blade tips for accurate scoring, but the épée itself remains true to its barbaric beginnings.

Révész revels in telling me that the small channel that runs the entire length of the épée was originally used to funnel blood away when duelling. She also adds that the uniforms are white because when the sport began, the tips were dipped in ink so judges could see where fencers had been hit.

Foil and sabre were inaugurated into the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with épée joining in 1900. “Most [top-level] fencers today are European,” says Révész, “because it’s traditionally a European sport – but it’s getting bigger and bigger in the UK.” At the Knightsbridge Fencing Club, the next generation of fencers is in the making. Many of its 150 members are children, and it was recently awarded the highly-contested Cutler Prize for raising a European Silver Medallist in the Cadet (13-17 years

“You must have a strategy, a game plan, and you have to execute it perfectly” old) category, and for training multiple British Youth Champions. In fact, it was after the huge success of smaller taster classes in nearby schools that Révész founded the Knightsbridge Fencing Club with fellow fencing champion Tamás Kovás in 2009.

Today, Révész and Kovás run classes every day for every type of competitor, from those trying fencing for the first time, like us, to those with an eye on international competitions. One club member represented Switzerland at Rio 2016 before returning to London to study at Imperial. He now works in hedge-fund management and trains with the team in his spare time. I ask Révész who her typical adult members are. “We have many who come with fencing on their bucket list; people who have always just wanted to try it. More and more adults are taking up the sport, and it’s amazing to see just how talented some of them become.”

Raised in Budapest, Hungary, a city famed for producing fencing protégés, Révész was nine years old when she first tried the sport. “When I went to the first session, I knew this is what I wanted to do. I loved it. I loved the atmosphere. I loved the coaches,

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

held at St. Luke’s Church Hall, Earls Court, where both private and group classes are available. In the final week of May and August, Knightsbridge Fencing Club also runs a week-long academy at the five-star Forte Village Resort in Sardinia.

A sport that requires quick-wittedness, stamina and agility, I highly recommend giving fencing a go, especially if you’ve never done so before. You never know; under the tutelage of Révész, you may just develop into a champion of the future.

the fencers, everything. It was like a family.” By the age of 13 she had been selected to join the National Team and competed at her first World Championships; by 2002 she was ranked the world number one junior and amassed numerous national and international championship victories.

“I’ve just returned from a two-year break after the birth of my child and will be heading to my first [post-childbirth] competition soon,” she says. “The goal was always to become an Olympic Champion, and my dream is set on Tokyo 2020.”

All weekday and weekend fencing sessions are

knightsbridgefencingclub.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

49

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket taking off on 11 April 2019

W H E N A S PAC E S H U T T L E TO O K S C I E N T I S T S TO A LU N A R B A S E I N T H E

R O W E N A M A R E L L A - D AW O R B I T S A R O U N D T H E R E A L I T I E S O F S PA C E T O U R I S M

T R AV E L W I T H I N I T. F I V E D E C A D E S O N F R O M T H E F I R S T M O O N L A N D I N G ,

VA S T N E S S O F S PA C E , B U T A L S O AT T H E T H R I L L I N G P O T E N T I A L O F PA S S E N G E R

1 9 6 8 F I L M 2 0 0 1 : A S PAC E O DY S S E Y , M A N Y M A R V E L L E D N OT J U S T AT T H E

ODYSSEY

S PAC E

MAN’S FASCINATION with the universe knows no bounds. It’s as if our brains had been pre-programmed to unravel the mysteries and magnitude of space, pre-destined to explore the depths of our solar system and beyond. Space travel, moon landings, time travel: these amazing concepts fascinated the likes of H.G. Wells with stories such as The Time Machine (1895) and The First Men in the

Moon (1900), along with Jules Verne’s prophetic From the Earth to the Moon (1865). These men imagined a future that is now our present.

Warp speed to 1969, a year of milestones in aviation and space exploration. In March that year, the Concorde made its first supersonic flight across the Atlantic, cruising at more than twice the speed of sound.

On 20 July, astronauts Neil Armstrong

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

52

and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, the biggest scientific achievement in human history. But what was deemed as “one giant leap for mankind” took huge sprints backwards as a result of government funding cuts and waning public interest in NASA’s space exploration programmes, rendering the 1972 Apollo 17 flight the last mission to the moon. In December that year, US president Richard Nixon

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

put the final nail in the coffin of space exploration by announcing: “This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the Moon”. Indeed it was.

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing this year, there is good reason to be excited once again, as private companies, wealthy investors with multi-billion dollar stakes in space

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

53

Left: Footage of the Earth from Virgin Galactic’s test launch of SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity in December 2018.

Below: The SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule mounted aboard the Falcon 9 on the launchpad in March 2019, with the gangway arm extended from the launch tower to the capsule.

tourism and exploration take on the challenge to catapult man back to the moon, then Mars.

This rapidly emerging industry referred to as New Space encompasses global aerospace initiatives developing technologies that will provide faster, more efficient and cheaper access to the outer limits of our world. The space race is on once more.

All the major players in this race share the same vision of eventually building settlements on the moon and Mars. They all promise a life-changing experience that may be a once-ina-lifetime journey, or perhaps a one-way ticket to another world. But before you get carried away, it’s important to know what you’re signing up for.

SUB-ORBITAL SPACEFLIGHTS

Space tourism, still in its infancy, is taking baby steps. Starting with a sub-orbital flight, the spacecraft needs to be propelled to an altitude of 100km (62 miles) above sea level in order to reach the Kármán line (the border between the earth’s atmosphere and space).

At this trajectory, the spacecraft is not capable of orbiting the planet as some might expect.

Instead, it will simply fall back to earth.

I had the privilege of speaking to retired astronaut, Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space. He has taken part in two Space Shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station. He describes what the experience would be like on board a sub-orbital spacecraft.

“A ride on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic or [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin sub-orbital rocket is going to be dramatically different than a ride that is established in orbit. You’ll be lying down as you lift off, so the blood won’t drain from your head. You’ll feel

as though three people are lying down on top of you. That’s what G-force is – multiples of your own weight. The carrier plane ride takes the better part of an hour, then the spacecraft’s rocket fires and shoots straight up, and you’ll feel weightless for four to six minutes. As the rocket slows down, you’ll start feeling the effects of gravity again, and deceleration will squish your back for another few minutes. If you’re in a Virgin Galactic capsule, you’ll feel like being in a glider as you come back to earth. On Blue Origin, your capsule will land with a parachute.

“The three main things you’ll experience are: riding a rocket into space, being weightless for more than 20 seconds at a time (similar to being on a zero gravity aeroplane), and the view from the window. You are way above the atmosphere, the sky is perfectly black, you can see a thousand miles to the horizon, and you’re high enough to see the curvature of the earth.”

The buzz-word in 21st-century new-age spacecraft technology is ‘reusability’, which will cut down the cost of sub-orbital spaceflights, and Virgin Galactic is one of several enterprises utilising reusable spacecraft technology. During a successful test flight in December 2018, its VSS Unity WhiteKnightTwo mothership transported SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of 50,000 feet (16km). The spacecraft then rocketed its way to an altitude of 51.4 miles to reach the edge of space, before heading back to earth in less than 15 minutes. The ultimate plan is to take tourists up to an altitude of 110km (360,890ft or 68 miles), and a seat on this thrill ride will set you back $250,000.

And this doesn’t include travel insurance, which could be astronomical.

ORBITAL SPACEFLIGHTS

Orbital spaceflights are the real game changers.

To attain orbital trajectory, a spacecraft has to reach a minimum altitude of roughly 150km (93 miles) to complete at least one full orbit without propulsion. “A rocket has to cruise at 8km a second to stay in orbit,” explains Hadfield. “That’s 28,800km (17,895 mph), which translates to five miles a second, and nearly 25 times the speed of sound.” In comparison, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth at an average altitude of 400km (240 miles).

A major contender for orbital spaceflights is SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002. In 2012, the brand’s spacecraft Dragon successfully delivered cargo to and from the International

Above left: Falcon 9’s Leaving Hangar at Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. Right: Starman, the Tesla Roadster electric sports car that served as the dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy test flight in February 2018.

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

55

At 200 miles above sea level, the all-inclusive deal comes with weightlessness, a Holodeck VR experience, private ‘suite’ for two people, free WiFi and orbits around earth every 90 minutes, meaning you’ll get to see a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes.

Training as an astronaut will be an integral part of the experience, condensing the usual astronaut training programme duration from two years to three months. Apparently, it will be done in stages, comprising online tutorials, followed by in-person training three months prior to take-off. During this crash course, a passenger is expected to learn the ‘basics of space flights, orbital mechanics and the pressurised environments in space’.

Passengers who get through the initial training will also have to complete a modular training programme while in space, and those who make it will earn an Orion Span Astronaut Certification (OSAC).

REALITY CHECK

Space Station. Launching Dragon with its seven passengers into orbit requires enormous power from Falcon 9, the first orbital-class reusable rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to build the next generation of fully reusable launch vehicles capable of transporting humans to Mars and beyond. Not to be left behind, Jeff Bezos entered the arena with Blue Origin’s New Glenn spacecraft designed to take paying passengers and payloads into orbit.

LIFE IN SPACE

Above: An artistic rendering of the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) at stage separation; astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Houston-based Orion Span’s primary mission is to ‘build and sustain human communities in space’, although its more immediate goal is to launch the ‘first luxury hotel in space’, selling the dream of going on board the Aurora Station as though it was a packaged holiday. It plans to launch the Aurora Station in 2021, then take four passengers and two crew up in 2022. A 12day sojourn will cost each passenger $9.5 million ($750,000 a night).

“Is it worth the risk?” I ask Hadfield. He gave a stark warning: “It’s going to be dangerous, especially early on. It’s not perfect and the technology is new – there will be crashes”, he warns. “There is a much higher level of risk involved. This [spacecraft] is a rocket, and if it fails then there is no guarantee your vehicle is going to save you.

“When we first started flying the space shuttle, we weren’t wearing space suits. And then we had the Challenger disaster.” There have been debates about whether the pressure suits might have saved the lives of some of those on board. “As an astronaut, I want to wear a pressure suit, because if one little valve fails, or one of the windows blows out, if you’re not in a pressure suit, you’re dead. After the Challenger incident, NASA learned its lesson, and since then every astronaut had to wear a pressure suit.”

Virgin Galactic is collaborating with a sports brand to design space suits for its passengers and pilots. SpaceX is not taking any chances either, so its custom-made space suits will feature cooling systems, touchscreen-compatible gloves, a flame-resistant outer layer and audio protection during ascent and re-entry, among other things.

Safety is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and despite all the warnings, necessary

LUXURY LONDON

C U LT U R E

Right: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on July 20th, 1969.

Below: SpaceX’s proposed Interplanetary Transport System passenger module on the surface of a moon orbiting Jupiter.

WA N T TO KN OW MOR E? Chris Hadfield, chrishadfield.ca Blue Origin, blueorigin.com Orion Span, orionspan.com SpaceX, spacex.com Virgin Galactic, virgingalactic.com

precautions and potential risks, those who have the funds to boldly go are likely to be rewarded with a truly unforgettable experience.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PRALINE

Dining in space has improved since the days when an astronaut’s sustenance came from a toothpaste tube. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the International Space Station’s menu comprises more than 100 items, and astronauts can choose their daily three-course meal prior to the space flight. A great majority of the food is freeze-dried or dehydrated, and includes fruit, pre-packed meals, frozen vegetables, desserts and dairy. Salt and pepper come in liquid form, although salt is said to accelerate bone loss while in space. Extra Vitamin D is required to compensate for lack of sunlight. Banned foods include bread, alcohol, soda and pizza. Apparently, a person’s sense of taste diminishes in space, and with the absence of pizzas and carbonated drinks, obesity may actually vanish in space.

The good news is, tourists spending some time in space will be able to take a few treats.

Retired Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier worked for ESA for almost 30 years, and during that time he took Swiss chocolates with him on space missions. “I took mainly pralines, but the owner made special ones in the shape of space shuttles, Hubble space telescopes and satellites, and delivered them a few days prior to launch, so we always had very fresh chocolates on board,” recalls Nicollier. “It was so much

fun and delicious, and I am of the opinion the chocolates contributed to success on my four space missions, because they had such a positive effect on crew wellbeing and morale.”

EARTH AND ABOVE

The starting pistol has already been fired, the sprint for space is on – a thrilling prospect that could come with a price. Researchers estimate that as many as 1,000 sub-orbital spaceflights per year will be launched by 2020, which translates to potential emissions of 600 tonnes of black carbon. The effects of climate change are visible from space. And in time, space debris will also increase. So the big question we should be asking is what these space companies are doing to counteract that.

Seen from space, planet earth appears to have no borders, territorial segregation, poverty or conflict. If only that were true. “I’ve been around the world 2,600 times and it changes my fundamental philosophy of the sheer nature of the human existence. I think it would be healthy for us to have access to a vantage point where people can have an improved perception of the world”, says Hadfield. Astronauts and scientists working at the International Space Station are looking for solutions not just for space exploration, but for improving and saving lives on earth.

There’s no doubt that space tourism is set to be an exciting part of our future. Orbiting the earth and travelling to distant planets will become a reality. And perhaps being able to look down at our own beautiful but fragile planet will prompt us to treat it and the vast space above us with the respect they deserve.

P R I VAT E D I N IN G ROOM S AT SA RTORIA Celebrate every occasion in sophistication in the heart of Mayfair at Sartoria, a charming Italian restaurant neighbouring London’s most stylish eating & drinking destinations. From private dinners to drink receptions, canapé soirées to product launches, Sartoria is the perfect spot to entertain guests, ensuring each event is executed to the highest standard.

To enquire about private dining or events, quote “Luxury London Magazine” to Events Manager arianem@danddlondon.com, and receive complimentary canapés.

CALL: 020 7534 7000 EMAIL: reservations@sartoriarestaurant.com

SARTORIA | 20 SAVILE ROW | LONDON | W1S 3PR 020 7534 7000 | sartoria-restaurant.co.uk @SartoriaRest @SartoriaRestaurant

CONNOISSEUR TA ST I N G N OT E S FO R T H E U R B A N E E P I C U R E A N

P.60 BON VIVEUR The Standard opens the first of many European hotels in King’s Cross

P.64 ROBIN GILL The Dublin-born chef commandeering south London

Dating back 130 years, Bangkok’s the House on Sathorn was once the base of the Soviet Union’s Asian operations during the Cold War, the Korean War and the Indochina Wars. Today, it is one of the capital’s top restaurants, headed up by chef Fatih Tutak, whose experiential Asian dishes are as fabled as the building they’re cooked in. thehouseonsathorn.com

H I G H S TA N DA R D Words: Nick Savage

T H E S TA N D A R D H O T E L G R O U P, M O R E E X U B E R A N T T H A N I T S N A M E S U G G E S T S , O P E N S I T S FIRST LONDON OUTPOST IN KING’S CROSS, A COLOURFUL THROWBACK TO THE 1970S

I

’m not 100 per cent clear what happened the first time I visited Le Bain at The Standard High Line, but I have a kaleidoscopic recollection of smoke machines, Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem playing records, swimming in open air bathtubs and vertiginous bathroom vistas overlooking southern Manhattan.

I remember the next morning better, sadly, as it comprised a cringing, torturous hangover.

Since then, the hotel chain has always been synonymous with a certain brand of licentiousness in my mind; a sense compounded by a particularly raunchy game of bingo at The Standard Spa, Miami Beach, a few more hazy weekends patronising the Boom Boom Room and the hotel’s rooftop bar Le Bain, and news snippets touting various acts of exhibitionism in the High Line’s floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as the filming of Steve McQueen’s film Shame on the premises.

In spite of my better angels, my ears perked up when I heard that The Standard would be arriving in London, and I was keen to catch an early glimpse of what the hotel had in store for the unwitting denizens of King’s Cross.

The Standard King’s Cross has taken over the 1974-constructed

building that formerly housed the Camden Town Hall Annexe and has supercharged it with incredibly extra 1970s interiors by Shaun Hausman Designs (Hausman similarly oversaw the five other hotels in the chain in Los Angeles, New York and Miami).

Over the past two decades in London, Brutalist architecture has come back into vogue and The Standard not only conserves its striking Brutalist exterior but also outfits it with the technology and panache that it always deserved.

In the words of my guide Teamy, “it’s Stanley Kubrick through the colour lens of Wes Anderson”.

This is evident from the ground floor up. Here you’ll find two restaurants, a recording studio, a stage for live performances and, perhaps most notably, a carmine-red exterior lift that will whisk visitors up to The Standard’s rooftop restaurant and terrace helmed by Peter Sanchez-Iglesias of Casamia fame.

There’s also a lending library and resident librarian, Carrie MacLennan, with whom I crossed paths during my visit. Paying homage to the original library that spread across the ground floor, MacLennan has rummaged through local shops such as Skoob and Judd Books for texts with 1970s graphics and typography.

This adjoins the recording studio, which will host podcasts, recorded

Man-about-town, Innerplace’s Nick Savage, gives you the insider lowdown on London’s most hedonistic haunts Innerplace is London’s personal lifestyle concierge.

Membership provides complimentary access to the finest nightclubs, the best restaurants and top private members’ clubs. Innerplace also offers priority bookings, updates on the latest openings and hosts its own regular parties. Membership starts from £75 a month, innerplace.co.uk

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

The Standard is “Stanley Kubrick through the colour lens of Wes Anderson” interviews and live performances, which in turn adjoins Isla, the all-day restaurant headed up by executive chef Adam Rawson, who trained under Nuno Mendes before making his mark on London’s culinary scene with Lucky Chip and Pachamama. Guests will be able to enjoy a nutritious array of food with an emphasis on fermented products such as kombucha and pickles all made in house, as well as a minimal intervention wine list.

Isla spills out onto an outdoor terrace with a retractable awning, which is sure to be an alluring spot during the summer months, if second fiddle to the amazing 360 degree rooftop terrace that takes in views of pretty much every notable London landmark.

The other ground floor restaurant and bar is Double Standard, which will cater to those with more indulgent appetites, splitting the difference between traditional British pub fare and New York City bar staples. They’ve got a slew of events lined up including The Standard’s infamous bingo evenings.

All in, there are 266 rooms in the hotel, ranging from immense suites overlooking the prepossessing gothic architecture of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel across the street to ‘Cosy Core’ rooms in the centre of the building, which do not feature windows.

At first I thought this might be a bit off-putting, but then I remembered the state of my head post inaugural visit to Le Bain in Manhattan, and realised to whom The Standard is catering with their blackout rooms…

10 Argyle Street, WC1H, standardhotels.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

63

“I EARNING HIS STRIPES I F Y O U ’ V E T R AV E L L E D S O U T H O F T H E R I V E R F O R S U P P E R R E C E N T LY, C H A N C E S A R E I T WA S AT T H E H A N D S O F R O B I N G I L L . T H E R E S TA U R AT E U R ’ S L AT E S T O P E N I N G , D A R B Y ’ S , O F F E R S U P OYST E R S W I T H A N I R I S H ACC E N T AND IS SET TO BECOME A NEIGHBOURHOOD FAV O U R I T E AT N I N E E L M S ’ E M B A S S Y G A R D E N S

Words: Chris Allsop

n terms of flavour, sea truffle is 20 per cent the most incredible umami anchovy and 80 per cent white truffle.” Robin Gill, the Irish restaurateur and chef, is discussing a gastronomic eureka moment he had while hunting for produce for his new restaurant, Darby’s, at Embassy Gardens, Nine Elms.

“My oyster supplier in Ireland didn’t even realise he had these seaweeds on his doorstep,” Gill continues. “So we brought it up to a local bar with some oysters, and there was this fire burning in the corner of the bar. I chucked some of these oysters directly onto the fire, and what we found was that they would burst open and plump right up, delivering a slightly smoky, peaty flavour. We infused some of the sea truffle into the local whisky, and we ate the oysters with the sea truffle and the whisky. It was just magic.”

Chance – or Gill’s willingness to take a risk – seems to play a pivotal role in his success. That he’s become a ‘one-to-watch’ player on the capital’s intense restaurant scene, appeared as a judge on MasterChef Ireland and been head-hunted for the high-profile restaurant serving Embassy Gardens and its emblematic Sky Pool, is all something – by his own admittance – of an accident.

Gill, 39, was born into a showbiz family in Dublin. His mother was a Riverdance choreographer and his jazz musician father also produced iconic Irish bands such as the Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners, so it’s easy to imagine the pressure to follow in their footsteps.

“When I got to the end of school, I panicked,” Gill recalls.

“I’d tried music, dance, acting – I didn’t follow through with any of it. What was I going to do? I couldn’t find my niche. So I ended up in the kitchen.”

Coming from a “foodie world” with family who dabbled in the industry meant that the move wasn’t a complete punt, although he only ever received on-the-job training.

When some friends made the move to London to further their careers in Michelin-starred kitchens, the 19-year-old Gill came too. With Michelin Guide in hand, he knocked on the doors of the capital’s best restaurants until he found work in the three-Michelin-starred Oak Room Marco Pierre White at Le Méridien Hotel, Piccadilly.

“It was a massive step up,” Gill says. “I had been working in very fast-paced brasseries in Dublin, but there wasn’t the same kind of perfection and finesse as the Oak Room.

I was way out of my league. For three to six months it was extremely stressful.”

He recalls being in charge of ordering all the vegetables and not being equipped to recognise their quality. “I would be given a bollocking by someone throwing peas at me saying, ‘What the f*** are these? These are useless – have you tasted them?’ It was a different world.”

Nevertheless, Gill persisted and improved. Four years of six-day weeks at the Oak Room saw Gill become fully trained in classical cooking. Afterwards he travelled to Italy – working

LUXURY LONDON

CONNOISSEUR

in the two-Michelin-starred Don Alfonso 1890 in Naples – where the importance of seasonality began to take hold (a priority reinforced later during a stint working at Noma in Copenhagen). His return to the UK to work at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons was to introduce him to Raymond Blanc, the man he credits as his chief mentor.

“I still talk to him all the time; he’s kind of an advisor,” says Gill. “Raymond’s not only a great cook, but a great peopleperson and wonderful at bringing young talent into the industry – he’s like the godfather of cooking.”

Emerging from beneath Blanc’s wing, Gill’s first head chef role came at Sauterelle at The Royal Exchange; this was also the moment when his personal style began to take shape. “I’d been doing versions of dishes I’d learnt from other kitchens for about two years,” he recalls. “But I built up a good team of like-minded people and they encouraged me to experiment.”

One particular trip to Paris brought a moment of clarity.

“I was surrounded by food markets and the restaurants there offered a market menu – led by the markets, led by the best ingredients, the terroir dictating what was cooked. I returned to London and completely changed what we were doing, stripped it right back. Smaller dishes with fewer ingredients on the plate that were cooked really well. That was the beginning.”

CLAPHAM UNCOMMON Today, Gill is a restaurateur, cookbook author, and former Good Food Guide Chef of the Year known principally for transforming Clapham into a culinary destination, thanks to the presence of his trio of award-garnering restaurants – The Dairy (his first, opened in 2013), Sorella, and Counter Culture. The cuisines served are diverse – British, Spanish, and Italian – but the menus are unified by Gill’s approach to serving the very freshest produce, each dish shaped by what’s available. Sustaining this high standard of ingredients means a plot of West Sussex farmland dedicated to his restaurants, beehives kept on The Dairy’s roof, and scanning social media for supplier recommendations.

Gill acknowledges that it can be hectic, describing how their farm posts photographs of ingredients on his chefs’ WhatsApp group, giving them a week’s notice on yields.

“There are constant discussions about ingredients and what to do with them… Too much of something? Pickle it.”

But Gill recoils against the idea of making a fuss about it to customers, despite a fairly widely encountered, rather earnest phenomenon of waiters pointing out the provenance of a dish, or the thinking behind it. However, the forthcoming Darby’s offers him a way of doing so, without doing so.

When he was contacted by Embassy Gardens two years ago and shown the sizeable (and, for Gill, rather intimidating) 544-square-metre space for his prospective fourth restaurant, he says he could visualise the concept immediately, one that allowed him to highlight the farm-totable strategy without “a waiter screaming farm names”.

“From the moment you walk in, you see and smell the bakery. There is a large oyster bar with fresh produce on display, a generous mix of drinks at the 360-degree bar, and a large open kitchen with all the grilling and action. Above the bakery is our in-house butchery and house-made charcuterie.

I just want people to listen to some good music – get drunk if they want – and eat well. It’s about the whole atmosphere.”

Named for his father, Darby’s (the original name Earth, Grain and Fire sadly didn’t stick) will be decked out in mid20th-century design and helmed by Gill, back in the kitchen full-time. It’ll be “big, bold, and exciting”, with live music and a daily ‘oysters and bubbles’ happy hour. The menu draws on the breadth of his European experience, but there’ll be an emphasis on Irish cuisine and produce, with fresh-baked Guinness soda breads served up alongside burnt banana miso muffins, and mains of lobster ravioli or grilled wild turbot. All washed down with homemade vermouths and Irish spirits.

“I’ve spent my whole life running away from food in Ireland, learning Italian cooking, French, British,” he says, “so I really wanted to pay a little homage to where I came from – using ingredients such as Connemara oysters and, of course, that serendipitous sea truffle”.

3 Viaduct Gardens, SW11, darbys-london.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

67

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

MADE TO MEASURE S A R T O R I A’ S N E W PA S TA B R U N C H M E N U B R I N G S A D O S E O F S P R E Z Z AT U R A T O S AV I L E R O W

I

t’s convenient that Sartoria is located on Savile Row, where London’s most highly-regarded tailoring houses sit side-by-side, because after a meal at Francesco Mazzei’s mercy, you might consider having your trousers taken out a few centimetres.

The Calabrian-born chef joined the team in 2015 after David d’Almada’s re-design of the restaurant, and describes his approach to Italian food as “mamma’s cooking with chef hands”. Regulars return for his fregola, which became

a signature at his previous restaurant, the now-closed L’Anima, and walk-ins are enticed over the threshold by the smell of freshly-shaved truffle and Amalfi lemons dribbled over Scottish lobster.

Sartoria’s latest offering is the capital’s first pasta-based brunch. The concise, carefullycurated menu reads like a list of irresistible leftovers you might find on a lazy Sunday morning after an Italian feast the night before – crab and lemon crocchetta; pasta fritta with poached egg and salmon; tortello fritto, a parcel of ravioli filled with marsala zabaione and chocolate sauce.

For £32.50, you can indulge in three courses and a glass

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

68

of rosé. Take a table on the terrace and watch some of the city’s best-dressed dandies pass you by – fine suits and bespoke shoes march purposefully into neighbours Henry Poole and Chester Barrie, while Ozwald Boateng (opposite) attracts a contemporary crowd of newgen Savile Row worshippers.

Like the Italian tailoring it’s named after, Sartoria has got that thrown-together effortlessness that Mazzei’s best dishes exude, but with the delivery of a man who takes great pride in bringing his native recipes to London.

Just give your tailor a heads up to make room for that tortello.

20 Savile Row, W1S, sartoria-restaurant.co.uk

WINEGROWER / CREATOR / COGNAC VISIT LA MAISON RÉMY MARTIN RESIDENCY AT CLAUDE BOSI. 81 Fulham Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 6RD Please drink responsibly

To apply for membership and receive access to exclusive events, visit lamaison.remymartin.com or scan this QR code

P.72

COLLEC TION HIGH

JEWELLERY

AND

HAUTE

HOROLOGY

WATCH THIS SPACE Discussing the future of Panerai with CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué

P.78 TIME TO MOVE Why Swatch Group snubbed Baselword in favour of a solo show

P.84 DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH How Valérie Messika dazzled the jewellery world

Bulgari captures the magic of the silver screen in its spellbinding Cinemagia collection, a high jewellery ode to modern cinema with pieces inspired by The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

POA, bulgari.com

THE CEO INTERVIEW

JEAN-MARC P O N T R O U É L O YA L T O L U X U R Y G O O D S C O N G L O M E R A T E R I C H E M O N T FOR 20 YEARS, JEAN-MARC PONTROUÉ SERVED MONTBLANC AND R O G E R D U B U I S B E F O R E B E C O M I N G C E O O F PA N E R A I I N A P R I L 2 0 1 8 . S I N C E T H E N , T H E F R E N C H M A N H A S L A U N C H E D T H E PA N E R A I C H A L L E N G E R T R O P H Y A N D M A S T E R M I N D E D A PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H L U N A R O S S A , T H E C H A L L E N G E R O F R E C O R D F O R T H E 3 6 TH A M E R I C A ’ S C U P. E A R L I E R T H I S S U M M E R , L U X U R Y L O N D O N J O I N E D P O N T R O U É O N P A N E R A I ’ S V I N TA G E S A I L I N G YA C H T, E I L E A N , W H I C H WA S M O O R E D I N S T K A T H A R I N E D O C K S , T O D I S C U S S P R I C E S , P R E D I C T I O N S A N D P R E - O W N E D WA T C H S T R A T E G Y

Words: Richard Brown

P

anerai manufactures one of the most recognisable silhouettes in mechanical watches – but is it risky to be so reliant on one specific aesthetic? All luxury brands strive to create an iconic product family, whether they’re in eyewear, telephones, watches or handbags. We had two families, now we have four: Luminor, Luminor Due, Radiomir and Submersible. We have no plans to launch new families but next year will probably be the biggest ever in terms of new products within the same families – new sizes, new dials, new straps.

At the beginning of the year, Panerai started selling watches alongside experiences. Explain the strategy. We want to offer customers access to more than just watches – to limited-edition experiences. We are running three experiences in the next six months, allowing customers who purchase certain watches to dive alongside French free-diving world champion Guillaume Néry; accompany extreme explorer Mike Horn to Svalbard; or train for two days with commandos of the Italian Navy. To be honest, it was an experiment because we had no idea what the response would be – but it’s been a huge success. We had one customer who took all three watches.

The price of mechanical watches has soared in the previous decade. Why? The price isn’t really the issue; it’s how much added value you bring to your product. The price is a cocktail of how much you bring to the table creatively, how much you bring in terms of limitation. We want to remain an exclusive brand; we will not increase production quantities in the next five years; the increase in business will come through creativity – new materials, new movements, more complications.

Panerai’s two-mast ketch, Eilean, was designed by Fife Shipyard of Scotland in 1936 – the same year the watchmaker created its first timepiece for the Italian Navy It wasn’t until 1993 that Panerai began producing watches for the civilian market Both Panerai’s Radiomir and Luminor watch families take their name from luminescent materials developed to make the hour markers and hands legible in the dark and underwater

Pre-owned watches have become big business – what’s Panerai take? We are running a special test here in London. You can come to our boutique in Bond Street with your pre-owned watch – it can be from any brand – and we will give you a quotation in association with Watchfinder [both Panerai and Watchfinder are owned by Richemont] as to how much the timepiece is worth. You can then put the value of that watch towards a new Panerai timepiece.

Watchfinder will sell your old watch on our behalf.

How is e-commerce performing for Panerai? It’s still a single digit share of our business, but it’s no longer a single digit after a zero. I totally believe in e-commerce because e-commerce and social media is about content – product is what you get at the end.

Content is what provides your brand with relevance. Panerai is a brand of content – it’s expressive, with a bold product, bold performance and an association with high-performance and extreme sports. As long as we have that, we have a voice on social

THE BRAND OF THE H O L LY W O O D HARDMAN In 1996, while considering watches for his character in Daylight, Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone reportedly stumbled across Panerai in a jeweller’s window in Rome. Not only did the Rocky actor purchase a watch for himself, but several Mare Nostrum and Submersible models to gift to friends. He gave one to bodybuildin buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger, who chose to wear it in Eraser (1996).

Courtesy of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Panerai has since enjoyed screen time in all three The Expendables films (2010-2014), as well as in Jason Statham’s The Transporter (2003) and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s The Rundown (2003).

While less strapping leading men have also demonstrated a penchant for the brand’s brawny dive watches – see Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Josh Hartnett in Hollywood Homicide (2003) – a cameo in last year’s triggerhappy Death Wish, in which vigilante Bruce Willis is gifted a Radiomir 1940 3 Days Automatic for his birthday, confirms Panerai as the brand of the Hollywood hard-man.

Submersible Luna Rossa, £18,300

media and in e-commerce. We put our Submersible Bronzo on Mr Porter and it took one minute and 30 seconds to sell the first five models. We are launching another exclusive product with Mr Porter next year.

In August, Max Sirena, skipper of Italy’s Luna Rossa, will take to the waters of Sardinia in a bid to become the official challenger of 36th America’s Cup. Thanks to Panerai, the venerated yachtsman will do so wearing a watch manufactured from the same material as the space-age hull of his 75ft sailboat. Joining compatriot title sponsors Prada and Pirelli, the Florentine watchmaker has created the Submersible Luna Rossa – a 47mm dive watch constructed from super-lightweight, corrosionresistant carbon fibre and a dial made from the same cloth as Luna Rossa’s sails.

An increasing number of brands – Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Blancpain, Omega – are abandoning the watch industry’s largest trade shows. Do you still believe in the relevance of such fairs?

I strongly believe that Panerai needs a central show. Why? Because we still have 500 doors worldwide and because we speak to a couple of hundred journalists during a show like SIHH. If we had to travel all over the world to meet these people it would take a couple of months, at least. Instead, we spend a lot of money, energy and resources in seeing everyone over a four-day period.

It’s not a business-relevant show anymore because our orders are already placed before the show begins. Instead, we should be looking at how we can bring 300 VIP customers to SIHH each year.

How is Panerai addressing its social responsibility? We are about to launch a new programme called Panerai

Ecológico, which will see us develop products with integrated recycled elements. We did a watch with explorer Mike Horn earlier this year with a plastic strap made from recycled bottles.

Today, about 20 per cent of the value of that product is made from recycled components. Next year we will launch a product made of 40 per cent recycled components. Our target is to be the first brand to have 100 per cent of a watch made from recycled components – including the movement. Hopefully we will achieve this in between three and five years.

Sustainability is not just about products; the biggest problem you have as a brand is transportation of people.

So we are looking at how we can reduce our exposure to carbon. One way is by holding more video conferences between our headquarters in Geneva, Milan and Neuchâtel, so that less people are travelling between these three locations.

We have reduced the amount of material we print by 80 per cent.

Is it possible to predict trends in the watch industry? I’ve never looked at trends.

When I was with Roger Dubuis, we were the anti-trend brand. Remember that it

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

“The luxury industry has never been so strong – as long as you are bringing creativity and disruption” was Panerai, in 1993, that pioneered the big, bulky watch when successful watches were small and discreet. I strongly believe in disruptive concepts.

Today, I’m more informed by what’s happening in the aerospace business, the yachting business, the supercar business than by what’s happening in the watch industry. When you look at the car industry, there’s a big shift, away from diesel to electric and hybrid engines. Governments are imposing new rules. In our business we have no governments imposing regulations on what we can do with our watches – we have the freedom to be disruptive.

What’s the outlook on the luxury landscape from Panerai’s perspective? The luxury industry has never been so strong – as long as you are bringing creativity and disruption in terms of your product development. We don’t see any elements of our business slowing down. There are so many more positive factors than negative because you have a growing number of rich people in the world; in China and India today, and in Vietnam and Indonesia tomorrow.

THE SUBMERSIBLES

SUBMERSIBLE 1950 BMG-TECH™ 3 DAYS 47 MM, £13,000

Panerai Challenger Trophy SUBMERSIBLE 42MM, £22,600

SUBMERSIBLE CARBOTECH™ 47MM £15,200

SUBMERSIBLE MIKE HORN EDITION 47MM, £34,800

SUBMERSIBLE CHRONO GUILLAUME NERY EDITION 47MM, £33,900

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

77

In 2018, Panerai and the Royal Yachting Association announced the Panerai Challenger Trophy: an award that recognises an outstanding young person who has overcome physical, economic or social challenges to achieve a significant milestone within sailing or windsurfing. This year the accolade was granted to Bradley Pedrick, an 11-year-old who sails at Polkerris Beach in Cornwall.

As a three-year-old, Bradley had his leg amputated below the knee due to a rare condition; at seven, he had to have kidney surgery and then, shortly afterwards, he suffered serious burns in an accident. Bradley received a grant of £5,000 to continue his development in sailing. Polkerris Beach will also receive a grant of up to £10,000. Three runners-up will receive £2,500 along with £5,000 for their clubs. The trophy, designed

by Simon Hasan (pictured), is inspired by Panerai’s classic yacht, Eilean.

T I M E TO M OV E

W H AT S WAT C H GROUP DID NEXT

T H I S Y E A R WATC H C O N G L O M E R AT E S WATC H G R O U P C H O S E TO B OYC OT B A S E LW O R L D , T H E I N D U S T R Y ’ S L A R G E S T T R A D E FA I R , TO T H R OW A W E E K- LO N G , C O U N T R Y-W I D E PA R T Y O F I T S OW N . A S A N INCREASING NUMBER OF BIG B R A N D S F O L L O W S U I T, I S T H I S THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR HOROLOGY’S OLDEST ANNUAL G E T-TO G E T H E R ?

Words: Richard Brown

B Ever since Hayek’s stinging rebuke, there had been speculation as to what the Swatch Group supremo would do with the 50 million Swiss francs it reportedly cost him to exhibit his 17 brands at Baselworld

efore the internet, Swiss watchmakers had to rely on traditional media outlets and a network of retailers to sell their watches. Each year, just as the snow in the Jura Mountains began to thaw, companies would unite under one enormous roof – a gable that assumed truly gargantuan proportions in 2013 following a £340 million extension by Herzog & de Meuron, the architects behind the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing – and invite wholesalers and watch journalists to a champagne-fuelled trade show in Basel (home, coincidentally or not, to Herzog & de Meuron). Baselworld, as the event was renamed in 2003, has existed in various guises since 1917 – but for how much longer?

In watches, as in other industries, technology has undermined the fundamental purpose of the trade show. Brands can now communicate directly to their intended audiences through social media and targeted digital marketing campaigns. They can control their own message. Cut out the middle man. Consumers, it’s now clear, have become comfortable purchasing thousand-pound products over the internet, meaning that manufacturers are increasingly less reliant on bricksand-mortar retailers. Watch companies can sell their mechanical wares for retail price, rather than wholesale value, through their own websites.

Suddenly, spending millions on exhibition space in order to schmooze buyers and press doesn’t seem like

such a bankable business proposition.

Nicolas Hayek Jr, CEO of the world’s largest watch conglomerate, Swatch Group, certainly no longer thinks so.

“Today everything has become more transparent, fast-moving, and instantaneous,” he said, in a press release issued in July 2018.

“Accordingly, a different rhythm and a different approach is needed...

In this new context, annual watch fairs, as they exist today, no longer make much sense... The MCH Group, which organises Baselworld, is clearly more concerned with optimizing and amortizing its new building… than it is in having the courage to make real progress and to bring about true and profound changes. For all these reasons, Swatch Group has decided that from 2019 onwards, it will no longer be present at Baselworld.” Ouch.

Hayek’s decision to quit Basel mirrored choices made by Corum, Maurice Lacroix and Raymond Weil.

In April this year, Breitling became the latest big-name horologist to confirm that, as of 2020, it would no longer attend the fair (exhibitor numbers fell from around 1,500 in 2016 to 520 in 2019). Elsewhere, both Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet have declared themselves out of next year’s SIHH – a splinter trade show that takes place in Geneva every January.

Ever since Hayek’s stinging rebuke, there had been speculation as to what the Swatch Group supremo would do with the 50 million Swiss francs it reportedly cost him to exhibit his 17 brands at Baselworld.

The answer arrived in March in the form of an invitation to the irreverently-named ‘Time to Move’, a week-long, two-fingered-salute to Baselworld that would take watch press on a whistle-stop tour through Switzerland’s watchmaking heartlands.

On the itinerary were visits to the ‘manufactures’ of six of Swatch’s most prestigious houses: Blancpain and Breguet in the Vallée de Joux; Harry

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

81

OMEGA’S FIVE-STOREY FACTORY FEATURES A FULLYAUTOMATED, FIREPROOFED STORAGE FACILITY THAT RISES THROUGH THREE ENTIRE FLOORS.

THE HALF-DOZEN TIMEPIECES THAT GRABBED THE HEADLINES FROM SWATCH GROUP’S INAUGURAL SOIRÉE…

SIX OF THE BEST

Winston and Glashütte Original in Geneva (Glashütte showcased its latest creations in a hotel, the brand hailing from Germany); Jaquet Droz in La Chaux-de-Fonds; and Omega in Biel.

No one from Swatch Group would confirm how much the week cost, unsurprisingly, but there’s no doubt the company got more for its money than it would have done out of Basel. From Omega’s five-storey industrialscale factory, through Blancpain’s Métiers d’Art enamelling studios, to the 200-yearold lathes that Breguet uses to chamfer and polish every element of its in-houses calibres by hand – even components you’ll never see – lab-coat tours of each brand’s workshops breathed life into stories that would have fallen flat in a city-centre exhibition space.

Especially as appointments at Basel are typically confined to half-hour slots.

So, what now for Baselworld? The fair’s reaction following Swatch Group’s shock announcement was uncharacteristically swift.

The very next day, Michel Loris-Melikoff, Baselworld’s managing director, issued his own statement: “We want to conduct the fair in 2019 as attractively as possible, in a new style and with a new way of thinking,” he said. Within a week, René Kamm, CEO of MCH Group, the company that organises Baselworld, had resigned. Soon after, the fair announced that it had persuaded the town’s five-star hotels to cap their prices during the show at, drum roll, £750 per night – which tells you everything you need to know about what Baselworld had come to represent to the city’s hospitality industry.

Next year, Baselword and SIHH have agreed to synchronise their schedules. The former (30 April to 5 May) will immediately follow the latter (26-29 April). LorisMelikoff revealed that he had 829 meetings in the run up to this year’s Baselworld.

For 2020, he promises “new experience platforms”, a state-of-the-art press area, CEO talks and better hospitality options.

It might just be enough for Swatch Group to consider a future U-turn. Hayek hasn’t ruled out a return. If he does so, managing to negotiate a discounted fee to a more worthwhile show in the process, the watch industry patriarch will have proven himself quite the puppetmaster.

1

APOLLO 11 50TH ANNIVERSARY L I M I T E D E D I T I O N , £ 7, 3 7 0 , O M E G A The hotly-anticipated Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition proved to be the watch of the show (perhaps the year). Designed to commemorate 50 years since the Speedmaster became the first watch on the moon, the 42mm stainless steel timepiece features a bezel, indexes, hands and logo in ‘Moonshine Gold’ – a new alloy, slightly paler than traditional yellow gold, that, says Omega, is more resistant to fading. A laser-engraved image of Buzz Aldrin descending from the lunar module appears in a subdial at 9 o’clock. On the case-back is an astronaut’s footprint and the immortal words: ‘That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind’. omegawatches.com

4

G R A N D E S E CO N D E D UA L T I M E , P OA , JAQ U E T D R OZ What Omega manufactures in a day, 50 kilometres away in a bucolic, valley-floor setting on the outskirts of La Chauxde-Fonds, Jaquet Droz takes an entire year to produce. The boutique horologist is best known for limited-run dress watches with exquisitely-finished dials. This year’s Grande Seconde Dual Time is a case in point.

Faithful to the figure-of-eight DNA of the brand’s halo collection, the Dual Time has been updated with an azimuthal map of the Earth’s continents as viewed from the North Pole. Chapter rings around the map display the current date and the time back home. Local time is presented in a smaller dial at 12 o’clock. World-time watches have a habit of looking cluttered and chaotic.

Jaquet Droz’s is a lesson is elegance. jaquet-droz.com

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

2

3

A I R C O M M A N D, £ 1 5 ,1 7 0 , B L A N C PA I N Not even Blancpain knows how many Air Command chronographs made it out of its Villeret headquarters during the 1950s and 60s. The brand believes around 12 prototypes found their way to America, where they were offered to pilots of the U.S. Air Force. Blancpain is now reissuing the sought-after stopwatch in a 500-piece run. This year’s model takes design cues from the original prototype, which featured a black dial, luminous hour markers and a tachymeter chapter ring. Like its predecessor, the updated Air Command houses a high-precision, fly-back chronograph movement, though the case has been upped to 42.5mm (from 42mm). blancpain.com

5

S E A Q , F R O M £ 7, 0 0 0 , G L A S H Ü T T E ORIGINAL Glashütte Original’s first subaquatic timepiece is based on the fantastically German-sounding Spezimatic Type RP TS 200 – no, not a Terminatorstyle cyborg sent from the future, but a well-figuredout dive watch from 1969. (Back then the company was operating under the control of a state-owned watch consortium – which, presumably, didn’t go in for whimsical-sounding watch names). The SeaQ is available in three stainless-steel versions.

All three models feature a unidirectional bezel in scratch-resistant ceramic. All look sharpest on a grey synthetic strap. glashuette-original.com

6

CLASSIQUE 5177 GRAND FEU BLUE E N A M E L , £ 1 8 , 7 0 0 , B R E G U E T Breguet still possesses a collection of 200-year-old lathes in its L’Orient manufacture, where the brand chamfers and polishes every element of its in-house calibres – even components you’ll never see – by hand, including the 18kt gold rotor inside this year’s Classique 5177 Grand Feu Blue Enamel.

The watch is the first Classique with a blue enamel dial, the result of buttressing several layers of enamel powder after they’ve been heated to 800 degrees Celsius. Inside the timepiece you’ll find the latest in anti-magnetic silicon technology.

On the outside are hour markers based on calligraphy drawn by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1787. breguet.com

HISTOIRE DE TOURBILLON, P OA , H A R RY W I N STO N Unveiled within the black-and-white confines of Harry Winston’s Geneva-based manufacture, the 10th and final chapter in the brand’s Histoire de Tourbillon series is full-on theatrics. Four tourbillons with four separate balances (a world first), three differentials and two mainsprings regulate the hour and minute hand on a raised, centralised sub-dial (curiously, there is no second hand). The rectangular timepiece is topped with a colossal sapphirecrystal case and comprises 673 components.

Three editions are being produced; 10 pieces in white gold, 10 pieces in rose gold and a one-of-akind model in ‘Winstonium’ (platinum in English). harrywinston.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

83

DIAMOND DISRUPTOR IN LESS THAN TWO DECADES, MESSIKA HAS BECOME A BYWORD FOR R E F I N E D Y E T AVA N T- G A R D E D I A M O N D J E W E L L E R Y W I T H J O I E D E V I V R E A N D A R E S O L U T E LY M O D E R N A E S T H E T I C . F O U N D E R VA L É R I E M E S S I K A DISCUSSES BREAKING THE MOULD IN A MAN’S WORLD

Words: Mhairi Graham

“W

hen I launched Messika, Place Vendôme in Paris was a maledominated world. Apart from Victoire de Castellane at Dior, all of the creative directors were men,” recalls Valérie Messika, whose namesake jewellery brand, founded in 2005, offers a contemporary alternative to the historic area’s prestigious heritage labels. “Jewellery felt heavy and sanitised. I wanted to change that and create pieces that were light, modern and cool.

I wanted to break the mould.”

And break it she did. Messika quickly gained the moniker of ‘diamond disruptor’ for her refined, feather-light fine jewellery with modern sensibility. Early favourites included twisting cuffs, double rings and delicate chokers, made up of conjoined stones that hover above the body like floating diamonds.

Valérie, like her brand, is the embodiment of modern glamour.

When we meet at The Connaught, she is dressed in a trademark leather jacket and skinny jeans, with a stack of bracelets insouciantly slid on her wrist. She is spending a fleeting afternoon

OPPOSITE PAGE VALÉRIE MESSIKA; THIS PAGE FROM LEFT 18KT ROSE GOLD, WHITE DIAMOND AND ROSE RADIANT CUT DIAMOND NECKLACE, POA; 18KT WHITE GOLD AND DIAMOND SNAKE DANCE EARRINGS, POA; 18KT ROSE GOLD AND DIAMOND GLAM’AZONE DOUBLE FINGER RING, £3,260, ALL MESSIKA.COM

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

in London before returning to Paris, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

The jewellery designer is the daughter of selfmade diamantaire André Messika. As a child, she would play with loose diamonds scattered on the kitchen table. It taught her to respond intuitively to the shape and lightness of a stone, and to “erase the gold. A diamond against your skin is enough.”

Valérie studied marketing before working at Chanel. “People would talk about Madame Coco as if she was still right there. Working at Chanel taught me the importance of a brand’s DNA and I quickly understood that if I were to launch my own jewellery brand, I needed to have my own story; I had to be different.”

With her father’s encouragement, she launched her debut Move collection at Baselworld in 2005, which remains a bestseller. Each piece features an abacus-like design, set within rings and bracelets, or suspended on chains, that allows diamonds to glide freely across a hidden wire. The most recent addition is the swinging Lucky Move pendant, the brand’s take on the current medallion trend.

Her next collection was the innovative Skinny line, dubbed “elastic gold”, which features diamonds threaded on a flexible wire, thus allowing a bracelet to slip on the wrist with the ease of a hair tie.

Messika’s smaller pieces start from £640 and prices climb steadily upwards, with the High Jewellery and Haute Couture collections selling for millions.

The brand’s unconventional approach to jewellery design has earned it a growing following among the fashion set, and Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner are both fans. In 2014, Beyoncé asked to borrow a Glam’Azone ring after seeing it in the Messika window at the Le Royal Monceau hotel. The Grammy award-winning singer later posted a picture of the ring, unprompted, on Instagram, where she has more than a 100m followers.

“Instagram is a such powerful tool. It allows you to grow closer to your consumer and really showcase the integrity of your brand.” Valérie says. She recalls posting a picture of an anklet: “I had calls and messages from all over the world – America, Canada, the Middle East – all down to this one image.”

Last year, Valérie received another call from Beyoncé’s stylist, this time to borrow more than £1m worth of jewellery. “She could not tell me what it was for and

OPPOSITE PAGE ASSEMBLING THE COLLIER SUN TRIBE NECKLACE ©MESSIKA/PIERRE VÉREZ; THIS PAGE FROM TOP 18KT WHITE GOLD AND DIAMOND LUCKY MOVE EARRINGS, £3,440; 18KT ROSE GOLD AND DIAMOND LUCKY MOVE BRACELET, £1,720; 18KT YELLOW GOLD AND DIAMOND SUN TRIBE NECKLACE, POA, ALL MESSIKA.COM

would not allow any bodyguards, which violated our insurance policy.” She lent the pieces regardless and two weeks later, Beyoncé and Jay-Z dropped their surprise collaborative album, Everything is Love. In the now-renowned music video for the song Apes**t, Beyoncé stands in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum, dressed in a pink Peter Pilotto suit and Messika’s Persian Drops necklace and matching earrings. “I could not believe the news. It was an incredible moment.”

In 2017, Messika recruited another global icon, Gigi Hadid, to design two jewellery collections for the brand.

“I want to appeal to a new generation of girls who like to mix-and-match diamonds with jeans and sneakers. Gigi is the perfect embodiment of this.” Mert and Marcus shot the campaign, which features Hadid wearing diamondencrusted chains and safety pin-shaped earrings.

Today, the Messika brand totals more than 200 employees with a turnover of more than $140m. There are more than 400 points of sale globally, including Harrods and Selfridges in London, and a flagship boutique on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.

Is her dad proud? “Yes. As a diamond dealer, my father always had to be very discreet; in that job, you do not reveal your face. Now his name is on billboards across the world. He supplies many of the Maisons on Place Vendôme and they tell him, your daughter broke the code; she pushed us to go forward.”

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

87

LUXURY LONDON

COLLECTION

FLIGHTS OF

FA N C Y BOODLES’ NEW WONDERLAND C O L L E C T I O N PAY S H O M A G E T O T H E ART OF STORYTELLING THROUGH 27 STRIKING JEWELLERY PIECES

A

pink and white diamond songbird bathing in a waterfall of white jade; two diamond and rock crystal parakeets balanced on a diamond perch; and pink star sapphire turtles scuttling along a bed of tourmaline seaweed – these are just a few of the playful motifs imagined in Boodles’ latest iteration of its exquisite Wonderland collection. Semi-regular (this is the fifth collection in almost a decade), this haute joaillerie line of one-off pieces explores the fruits of Boodles’ designers, jewellers and craftspeople.

This year’s dazzling collection is Always a Story, so-named in homage to the art of storytelling. Each of the 27 unique pieces has a whimsical name and a tale to match. For the Classicists, the story of The Garden of Hesperides is told through a pair of imperial topaz, green beryl and tsavorite earrings. Sand Storm & Solar Eclipse, a bracelet of black star sapphire and white and yellow diamonds, takes you on a journey through the desert, while Bamboo in the Moonlight ventures east, with paraiba tourmalines and diamonds set in a platinum necklace.

Given free rein, the designers let

their imaginations run wild and this is no better represented than in the exceptional Just Beyond the Setting Sun cuff, a gold and pastel diamond-set bracelet so detailed it required 400 hours to create. So complex is each component that they were crafted separately, before being brought together to create the final piece – an awe-inspiring cuff that perfectly embodies the ingenuity and prowess of Boodles’ chief designers and master craftsmen.

LEFT BAMBOO IN THE MOONLIGHT NECKLACE; RIGHT JUST BEYOND THE SETTING SUN CUFF

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

88

POA, Boodles, 3 The Courtyard, The Royal Exchange, EC3V, boodles.com

TO READ TO MORE READ TO ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ LIKE ARTICLES MORE THIS LIKE ARTICLES VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THIS READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT LIKE THIS LIKE VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THIS TO READ TO MORE READ TOwww.luxurylondon.co.uk ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ ARTICLES MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk LIKE THIS VISIT READ MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk TO READ TO MORE READ TO ARTICLES READ MORE TO MORE ARTICLES READ LIKE ARTICLES MORE THIS LIKE ARTICLES VISIT THIS LIKEVISIT THIS LIKE VISIT THIS READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT TOTO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk www.luxurylondon.co.uk

@luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial   @theofficialll @luxurylondonofficial  @theofficialll  @theofficiall  @ @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial @theofficialll @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial  @theofficialll @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial   @theofficialll @luxurylondonofficial  @theofficialll  @theofficiall  @ @luxurylondonofficial @luxurylondonofficial @theofficialll @luxurylondonofficial  @luxurylondonofficial  @theofficialll

LIFTING ELEVATED TO NEW HEIGHTS REMASTERED WITH

CAVIAR PREMIER

GOING BEYOND WHAT WAS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT POSSIBLE, CAVIAR PREMIER CAPTURES THE FULL POTENTIAL OF CAVIAR FOR NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN LIFTING AND FIRMING PAIRED WITH A NEW DIMENSION OF SENSORIAL INDULGENCE.

P.92 SPIRIT OF SUMMER The textures and tones to inject into your wardrobe this season

P.102 MADE TO MEASURE The Thom Sweeney tailors redefining men’s formalwear

P.106 THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IDLE Sleepwear, sneakers and speakers for lazy summer days

COUTURE CUT FROM A DIFFERENT CLOTH

Big Bird is your style icon this summer.

Take cues from Marc Jacobs, whose frothy feather number has been seen on Kylie Jenner, Dua Lipa and Rita Ora (p.92).

Marc Jacobs SS19

HEAT WAVE THIS SUMMER, GET FEATHERED AT CARNIVAL, PLAY WITH PROVENÇAL PURPLE, TAKE AN ACID TRIP IN CITRUS YELLOW AND SCOOP THE SEASON’S FRESHEST PALETTE. Edited by Anna Prendergast

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

Shake your

TAIL FEATHERS

Take inspiration from the colour, chaos and camp of Notting Hill carnival this August bank holiday

Feather earrings, £428, Ranjana Khan, net-a-porter.com

At his SS19 show in New York, Marc Jacobs sent a flock of feathery frocks down the catwalk with tactile pink plumes evoking whisps of cotton candy.

The ostrich trims were all a-flutter, accentuating every step – bouncing, swaying and dancing in unison to the rhythm of Peter Allen’s I go to Rio. Tickle the trend with accessories such as shoulder-skimming earrings from Ranjana Khan and Attico’s graphic party dress.

A L L T H AT GLITTERS

DA N C I N G S H O E S These red-hot heels were made to move; Rihanna was spotted wearing Charlotte Olympia’s Salsa stilettos in Paris, so what better way to channel the queen of Carnival herself? £495, charlotteolympia.com

Satin clutch, £695, Jimmy Choo, net-a-porter.com

Mini dress, £3,447, Attico, farfetch.com

Enamel ring, £950, Alice Cicolini, net-a-porter.com

GOLD RUSH

Moschino Resort 2019

Just in time for festival season, several designers looked to carnivals, circuses and fairgrounds for inspiration this year, and Jeremy Scott performed the role of ringmaster at Moschino’s Resort 2019 show.

Gold aiguillette braids, glinting belly chains, metallic underwear-as-outerwear and gold jewellery equals a polished yet playful look.

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

93

Sequin dress, £643, Vivetta, farfetch.com

Christian Siriano SS19

Cushnie Spring 2019 RTW

ZEST

Best of the

The zingy yellow of Balenciaga’s satin mules are as cool as a limoncello spritz on a hot summer night. £545, Balenciaga, mytheresa.com

Erdem SS19

Surprisingly versatile and undeniably summery, citrus yellow passes the acid test this season, cropping up in flirty, feminine dresses and statement accessories. From Cushnie’s off-the-shoulder slip dress to Christian Siriano’s tiered evening gown, the mouthwatering shade is ripe for the picking.

Ceramic earrings, $740, soniabstyle.com

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

SHEER Delight

Imagined in delicate swathes of sheer organza and slips of silk, blouses have emerged as a sensual warm-weather staple.

Volume is key, creating space between seam and skin, and the seductive quality of the translucent fabric is off-set with button-down fronts and high, ruffled necklines. Try to resist the romance of whimsical cloud-like sleeves at Shrimps, Simonett and Shaina Mote: the attitude here is sexy but subdued, and the joy is found in wearing shapes that wouldn’t work in any other fabric.

Checked organza shirt, £119.99, simonett.us

Cordelia blouse, £250; Libra trousers, £350, shrimps.com

Blouse, £150, Ganni, net-a-porter.com

SILK SCREEN SIREN Milliner Federica Moretti adds a little old school Hollywood drama to a classic straw boater with reams of frayed-edge silk organza; knot loosely to one side for lofty, Holly Golightly-style nonchalance. £380, Federica Moretti, matchesfashion.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

95

Ruffle shirt, £1,038, Marc Jacobs, net-a-porter.com

F LO R A L N OT E S

Christian Cowan SS19

PURPLE HAZE Jacquemus AW19

Full

low res

BLOOM Last year Jacquemus broke Instagram with that giant straw hat. This year, his entire AW19 show had us all geolocating Valensole, where these fields of lavender flower every June. The collection featured fringed skirts that evoked armfuls of purple blossoms fit for a bouquet, and the heady scent has got under the skin of several designers. Dodo Bar Or’s bohemian gingham dress features a cross-stitch effect petal motif, while the flattering tone was applied to retro eyewear at the Olsen twins’ label Elizabeth and James.

Sweep Nars’ Strada palette over lids for a summertime take on the smokey eye. The powder contains just enough sparkle to glimmer in late-afternoon light. £17, narscosmetics.co.uk

Gingham dress, £695, Dodo Bar Or, net-a-porter.com

BOTTLE IT

Acetate sunglasses, £105, Elizabeth and James, net-a-porter.com

Jo Malone’s amber and lavender cologne is longlasting and intoxicating; spray it in your hair to leaving a trail of fragrance wherever you go. £94 for 100ml, jomalone.co.uk

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

Soft

SERVE This season’s prettiest palette is so cool it’ll give you brain-freeze. Taking cues from retro ice cream flavours (think: the Neapolitan three-stripe), it’s saccharine but sexy and is best served by the scoop. Rich accessories in berry-red and chocolate-brown stop the whole thing being too sickly-sweet; Gucci’s cream embossed clutch is the cherry on top.

Scallop-edge swimsuit, £305, Marysia, matchesfashion.com

Tulle dress, £820, Molly Goddard, net-a-porter.com

MINT CONDITION Stella McCartney, Valentino and Tibi all presented outfits in pick-and-mix shades of sorbet pink, vanilla and mint in their SS19 shows, with graphic two-tone tops and elegant draped bottoms that flow faster than gelato in July, while Molly Goddard quenched our thirst for light, layerable eveningwear with her sherbet-lemon chiffon dress that has the shade of Sicilian granita.

Tibi Spring 2019 RTW

SET THE CONE

Mini bag, £370, Gucci, farfetch.com

Woven leather mules, £470, Souliers Martinez, net-a-porter.com

Stella McCartney Spring 2019 RTW

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

97

Leather cardholder, £160, Chloé, net-a-porter.com

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

SKIN DEEP B O B B I B R O W N ’ S 1 6 - H O U R W E A R F O U N DAT I O N PROMISES FULL-COVERAGE WITH A WEIGHTLESS FEEL

F

inding the best foundation for your complexion can seem like an impossible task.

Much like the perpetual hunt for the perfect pair of jeans, sourcing the best base to suit your skin

comes not without its problems.

It is a task the cosmetic wizards at Bobbi Brown have been tackling for the brand’s 28 years – and it appears the company has found the solution with its latest foundation formula.

Heralded as a base ‘made for real life’, the Skin Long-Wear Weightless Foundation SPF15 (£32) is made using a high-speed cold fusion process, rendering it lightweight and blendable without compromising on coverage. The silky emulsion, which reduces redness and pores, boasts a 16-hour staying power and oil-controlling ingredients to reduce shine.

Clever pigmenting, encased in an

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

98

emollient gel base that floats on the skin’s surface, catches the light and enhances your skin’s natural contours, while moisture-binding glycerine provides hydration.

Of the shades, there are many.

Choose from 43 skin-true hues, which range from Alabaster to Warm Honey and Cool Espresso.

To complete the look, prep your skin with Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin Enriched Face Base, a primer and moisturiser hybrid, and set with a brush of Sheer Finish Pressed Powder.

Visit your nearest Bobbi Brown counter to receive a free seven-day sample, bobbibrown.co.uk

SUMMER IN THE CITY T H E R O YA L E X C H A N G E H A S A L L T H E I N G R E D I E N T S Y O U N E E D F O R A SCORCHER OF A SUMMER – EVEN IF BLUE SKIES CAN’T BE GUARANTEED...

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, EC3V THEROYALEXCHANGE.CO.UK

3

1

2

MORGANITE AND DIAMOND PENDANT Designed in-house by Searle & Co jewellers, this exquisite 18ct white and rose gold necklace is set with a loop of diamonds, which circle a striking central morganite stone. £6,850, 1 Royal Exchange

SABRINA BAG This green crocodile-print Sabrina tote from Sage Brown is the ultimate dayto-night accessory – big enough to hold your belongings yet suave enough to swing from your shoulder come evening. £225, 31 Royal Exchange

LILY OF THE VALLEY & IVY CHARITY CANDLE Each year Jo Malone London unveils a limited edition charity candle, of which 75 per cent of the profits go to mental health charities. This year’s philanthropic wick is the refreshing Lily of the Valley & Ivy. £48, 24 Royal Exchange

4

ELLA SLIPPER Fit for royalty, Pretty Ballerina’s latest collection is designed in partnership with Princess Olympia of Greece and includes a quirky reimagining of the brand’s signature Ella pumps in a statement tapestry print. £219, 30 Royal Exchange

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

5 IVORY SILK SCARF An ode to Great Britain, Halcyon Days’ sleek ivory silk scarf makes a nod to Her Majesty The Queen’s Grenadier Guards with a ceremonial drum print in eye-catching colours. £125, 27 Royal Exchange

8

SUN AND MOON CUFFLINKS For a twist on formalwear, these celestial-inspired cufflinks from Tatteossian are just the ticket.

The waning moon and rising sun are crafted from antique silver and contrasting black and white mother-of-pearl. £425, 1-4 Royal Exchange

6 PATEK PHILIPPE NAUTILUS 5711/1A-010 This men’s automatic blue dial timekeeper from Patek Philippe has a 40mm steel case and bracelet. The 2015 model has been refurbished to meet Watchfinder’s strict standards, rendering it (almost) as good as new. £59,950, 13-14 Central Courtyard

7 LEICA Q2 Leica’s second generation Q camera delivers 95 per cent more resolution than its predeccessor thanks to a 47.3 MP full-frame sensor, a speedy lens and precise and rapid autofocus. £4,250, 10 Royal Exchange

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

101

9

GRIND COFFEE PODS Enjoy your favourite cup of joe from the comfort of your own home with Grind’s compostable and Nespresso-friendly coffee pods. Mail subscription services are available for those who require a regular caffeine fix. £12 for 21 pods, 34 Royal Exchange

C O O L B R I TA N N I A C H A L L E N G I N G T H E T R A D I T I O N S O F S AV I L E R O W W I T H I T S C O N T E M P O R A R Y C U T S A N D F I X AT I O N O N FA B R I C , T H O M S W E E N E Y I S T H E E N G L I S H TA I LO R W I T H T H E A- L I S T C L I E N T E L E . W I T H I N T H E S T Y L I S H CONFINES OF THE BRAND’S BRUTON PLACE EMPORIUM,

LUXURY LONDON DISCUSSES THE RESURGENCE OF FORMAL MENSWEAR W I T H O N E H A L F O F T H E CO M PA N Y ’ S S H A R P - S U I T E D FO U N D E R S

W

Words: Richard Brown

here were you at 9pm on 27 July 2012?

Don’t remember?

Yes, you do. We were both sitting in front of the television – different televisions in different living rooms, probably – waiting to see how Danny Boyle was going to capture our collective national identity, package it up and project it to the rest of the world in a threehour broadcast from the Stratford stadium.

The answer? Stick a besuited David Beckham in a speedboat with the Olympic torch and have him power up the Thames, James Bond-style. As the camera panned in, the ex-England football captain locked his jaw and aimed for steely 007. But in one of the most endearing moments of the evening, even the king of cool, completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the occasion, couldn’t suppress a thousand-mile smile as he passed under the open arms of Tower Bridge. It made you proud, didn’t it? Not as proud as Thom Whiddett.

On the Friday of the week before, Whiddett (far right) had received a call from the ceremony’s organisers,

explaining that they were looking for a home-grown tailor to dress ol’ Golden Balls. Having accepted the challenge, Whiddett consulted his close friend and business partner, Luke Sweeney, and between them they decided on an open-weave, peaklapel navy suit paired with a white shirt and navy tie. Simple, but suave.

Given that the ceremony’s stylists had the whole of Savile Row to choose from, that they turned to Thom Sweeney, Whiddett and Sweeney’s eponymous label, when looking for a sartorial expression of contemporary Britain, said a lot about the standing of the then-nascent suit-maker. Founded in 2007, it had taken just five short years for Thom Sweeney to ascend to the top of English tailoring. Then again, even by that point, the company was enjoying something of a reputation among our country’s most stylish sons.

David Gandy has acted as a Thom Sweeney ambassador. Dermot O’Leary got married in a Thom Sweenwy suit. Michael Fassbender is a fan, so too are Harry and Jamie Redknapp (the younger Redknapp approached Whiddett during a dinner at Zuma to ask where he got his suit from – he has since commissioned more than 60

pieces). Last year, Daniel Craig, the real 007, for the moment at least, attended the launch of ‘Bond 25’ in a Thom Sweeney two-piece. Across the pond, both Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling have proved themselves admirers.

“It’s all been very natural,” says Whiddett, speaking from a brown-leather sofa in his Bruton Place style emporium, a members’-club-meets-man-cave situated off one corner of Berkeley Square, when I ask how he’s achieved such a strong following among the rich and well-dressed. “We haven’t gone out aggressively and said we want to dress celebrities, it’s just that we might know a certain stylist, or that a celebrity or sports-person has found us by themselves. Harry and Jamie are very good customers; Jamie, especially, always looks great in our stuff, so many people pick up on what he’s wearing.”

Whiddett (from Kent) and Sweeney (from Essex) met when they were 19 and 22 respectively. The pair were working at east London tailor Timothy Everest.

Whiddett was an apprentice cutter; Sweeney – whose father had been a trimmings merchant and mother a seamstress – on the made-to-measure side of the business. “We got on really well,” explains Whiddett, now 39, in cockney-esque Estuary English. “We both wanted to do our own thing. We had similar ideas and it kind of made sense what we brought to the table, me on the bespoke side, Luke on madeto-measure, so we thought ‘Let’s do something together.’”

The pair quit Timothy Everest in 2006 and took a couple of months off “to research and study some Italian tailors to mix with our Savile Row training”, before setting up their brand in a six-by-six room in Stratford Place, directly opposite the main entrance to Bond Street station. “We had one tailor there, myself and Luke, and a guy called Rich who came with us at the start.

It was kind of risk-free in a business sense, because you took an order, you got a deposit and then the balance got paid at the end. We didn’t need to be a brand. We just needed a good product and hoped our business would grow through word of mouth.”

Thom Sweeney’s first clients were a “combination of friends we’d grown up with who had done pretty well for themselves, a couple of guys we’d taken care of at Tim’s, and then you sort of meet people when you’re out and about.” People like Jamie Redknapp, if you go to the right restaurants.

“We didn’t just want to do a classic Savile Row-cut suit, that wasn’t really what we were into wearing”

LUXURY LONDON

COUTURE

The first Thom Sweeney atelier, a three-storey space on Weighhouse Street, opposite the south entrance of Bond Street station, opened in 2009. The tailors launched their first ready-to-wear collection via menswear website Mr Porter in 2013. The Bruton Place store opened a year later. That Timothy Everest has a shop next door is purely happenstance.

“Addresses have never been that important to us,” says Whiddett, “although we needed to be in Mayfair, because that’s where is convenient for our customers. Mayfair is an international hub of the right sort of guys, but the actual street name didn’t really matter to us. Sometimes an address means that you can get pigeon-holed, especially if you’re on Savile Row or Bond Street. Our thing is to be a bit off-destination.

It’s about being understated.”

If one word summarises the Thom Sweeney aesthetic, ‘understated’ is it – which, of course, is to say something completely different from ‘simple’.

Colours are kept neutral, mostly.

Fabrics are sourced from timehonoured mills in Scotland and Italy. The company’s house cut is a softer, modern interpretation of a classic British shape, with marginally wider lapels, slightly less padding and narrower sleeves – less military, less stuffy.

“We didn’t just want to do a classic Savile Row-cut suit,” explains Whiddett. “Tim [Everest] did that, but that wasn’t really what we were into wearing. It felt a bit too stiff, the shoulder pads were a bit too built up, we didn’t feel that sort of cut appealed to younger, international clients – it felt too rigid, too British. We liked a lot of Italian stuff so we mixed our favourite elements – a slightly softer shoulder, a higher arm hole – and kept the British shape, but added the fluidity of an Italian suit, softer through the body. It’s not a suit of armour.”

In 2017, Thom Sweeney took its inimitable brand of contemporary Britishness to New York City, establishing an uber-trendy store in SoHo that placed the company’s ready-to-wear range alongside its bespoke and madeto-measure services. “New York was

always going to be our first step abroad,” explains Whiddett, who moved to the city with his wife and two children for six months prior to opening. “It was all about getting the timing right, making sure we had a wide enough product range, that we had enough clients out there. We built up our presence through trunk shows for six years, built up our name, built up a following, so we knew that when we opened the doors we had enough people to do a decent turnover in the first year.”

So successful has the store been, that it’s forced Whiddett and Sweeney to reconsider their set-up in London. “It’s gone so well over there because we can offer everything under one roof – we can elevate the whole experience. Having the ready-to-wear alongside the bespoke business works really well. We are currently in the process of moving our operations to one space in London, which will combine Bruton Place and Weighhouse Street into one store.”

This summer, Thom Sweeney launched a collection of made-to-measure, fully customisable denim jeans. Clients can choose anything from a modern-tapered fit to a classic bootcut jean, low-rise or high rise, with contrastor plain-stitched seams. You can even have your initials embroidered on the ticket pocket.

Says Whiddett: “It’s always about the stuff that Luke and I struggle to get ourselves, whether it be the right knitwear or the right pair of jeans, which has always been something that we and our clients have struggled with. We found a manufacturer in Italy and picked out the right denims. We’re not complicating it. You choose from a certain amount of washes, which we think are the best ones, you choose a stitch colour, although, to be honest, there’s only one or two that work really well, and then it’s about getting the right fit. That’s what a lot of guys struggle with when it comes to jeans – getting the right fit.”

My personal introduction to Thom Sweeney came by way of the Selfridges Christmas sale a few years back. It was a twill-weave wool, alpaca and silkblend overcoat constructed from a vintage fabric found in the archives of renowned Neapolitan clothier Caccioppoli. Not that I knew any of that at the time. I just tried it on and knew I had to have it. Double-breasted, unbelted, with the brand’s signature soft shoulders and exaggerated lapels, it was flattering across the chest and tapered through the body. It was as if the coat had been made just for me. Whiddett and Sweeney don’t make suits of armour, they make 21st-century chainmail – just ask Becks, Redknapp, Cooper et al. thomsweeney.co.uk

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

105

EASY BREEZY L A Z Y, L A I D B A C K M E N S W E A R F O R L A N G U I D D AY S T H A T T U R N I N T O L A T E N I G H T S A N D L E I S U R E LY M O R N I N G S

Edited by Anna Prendergast

EASY LIKE S U N D AY M O R N I N G

Blurring the boundaries between loungewear and sleepwear, Hamilton & Hare’s hybrid shirting makes getting dressed simple. The pyjama-style fit features a retro camp collar, cut in quality fabrics such as linen, cotton and Lyocell – a zero-waste sustainable fibre that doesn’t compromise on comfort which you’ll want to wear all weekend.

Short-sleeved shirts, £90, hamiltonandhare.com

CAMERA READY

Slip of the tongue

1

C.QP’s sneakers have marched the street-style circuit for several seasons now, but this summer’s staple is an elegant take on a 1980s design beloved by the skate and surf community. The effortless slip-ons are wholecut in supple suede, with a thick sole and calf leather lining.

2

Slip-on shoes, €310, c-qp.com

3

Digital cameras have long been lauded for their technical abilities - but with smartphones taking better pictures than ever, pioneers in the field have focused on turning cameras into design-led investment accessories. Leica and Fujifilm have turned to military-inspired features, nostalgic shapes and German engineering to inspire a new wave of analog amateurs.

1 Leica M10-P Safari Edition Digital Camera, £6,900; 2 Fujifilm X-E3 Compact Camera With 18-55mm Lens, £1,130; 3 Leica TL System Summilux-TL 35mm Lens, £2,000, all mrporter.com.

Ahead of the Curve Bang & Olufsen’s Beoplay A9 does away with the usual speaker blueprint: its round shape is minimalist in design but maximalist in visual impact. The futuristic 70cm-wide frame turns the volume up to 11, and aesthetes can choose between four optional colourways to seamlessly co-ordinate with surrounding interiors. The sound quality has been cranked up a notch too, with 400 watts of power, superior acoustics and intuitive controls.

A9 speaker, ÂŁ2,500, bang-olufsen.com

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

FINISHING TOUCHES

THE WATCH

The striped canvas nato strap on Bell & Ross’ 41mm, beige-dial automatic V2-92 comes in a vintage-look colourway that’s ready for adventure. £2,200, bellross.com

Leather Report I N T R O D U C I N G B I L LY TA N N E R Y – T H E U K ’ S F I R S T M I C R O TA N N E R Y

THE COLOGNE

craftsmen in Northampton on his journey to producing purposeful, practical designs such as this hardwearing rolltop backpack with a natural grain finish.

Acqua di Parma’s sensual unisex fragrance, Signatures of the Sun Oud, evokes the spirit of the Middle East and comes in a handsome black and gold bottle. £197 for 100ml, harrods.com

Backpack, £650, Billy Tannery billytannery.co.uk

POLO P L AY E R S

Jack Millington, co-founder of Billy Tannery, works with British goat farms to reduce wasted by-product, using mimosa powder from South Africa to dye the skins at his very own microtannery.

Millington also sought expertise from leather

Cotton-twill shirt, £690, Burberry, matchesfashion.com

Knitted polo shirt, £345, Etro, farfetch.com

Cotton-piqué polo shirt, £215, Wool polo shirt, £225, Paul Smith, matchesfashion.com Joseph, matchesfashion.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

109

WANT TO BE LED ASTRAY?

Find and book your next escape at mrandmrssmith.com

ESCAPE TO STRIVE, TO SEEK, TO FIND...

P.112 STATE OF PLAY Washington DC is best served without a side of politics

P.120 OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Exploring Vietnam’s lesser-known coastal town Quy Nhon

P.126 FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Discover Ian Fleming’s favourite Seychelles retreat

The view from Mallorca’s Bikini Island & Mountain Hotel is worth drinking in, and its new rooftop restaurant, NENI, provides the perfect vantage point from which to do so. Marvel at the postcard-worthy vista while tucking into delicious Isreali-Oriental fusion dishes. nenimallorca.com

CAPITAL GAINS A S T H E 2 0 2 0 P R E S I D E N T I A L C A M P A I G N G E T S U N D E R W AY, A W H I S T L E - S T O P T O U R O F W A S H I N G T O N S E R V E S A S A T I M E LY R E M I N D E R O F T H E B I G G E R P I C T U R E

Words: Rob Crossan

THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL BUILDING

THE FRONT LAWN OF THE WHITE HOUSE

F

or the capital of the free world, I can’t help but notice something, ironically, more than a little Soviet about Washington.

Riding by bicycle with my DC bornand-bred guide Jay, we pedal down wide, long, ruler-straight boulevards passing immense and severe-looking concrete and stone public buildings, none of which, in true hammer-and-sickle style, have any branding on them whatsoever.

It’s just past the commuter hour and the sun beams down upon gleaming asphalt, freshly mown grass, panting joggers and besuited government officials on a cloudless morning.

Gradually braking as we pass a plethora of bombastic war monuments, shaded parks and the odd street vendor selling Polish sausages, the sense of order and serenity here creates an atmosphere that is entirely un-American in feel and poise.

Because only the great cities of the former Eastern Bloc can really compare with Washington for its commitment to

such a gargantuan scale of purpose and design and a zealous devotion to self-improvement and veneration of its own history.

Though, I’m thinking it’s probably best that I don’t say this too loudly as Jay and I stop our bikes in front of a building with a curved frontage that, given the neoclassical surroundings, actually looks like a fairly humble abode.

The White House isn’t easy to get close to these days. Layers of fencing, a concrete blockade, guards and more fences mean that I’m a good 40ft away from the first stretch of the lawn. I ask Jay if the atmosphere of the city changes depending on who’s currently incumbent in the Oval Office.

“Actually the level of protestors always remains about the same, no matter who’s President,” he tells me, eyes squinting against the fierce orb of the sun as the midday heat ramps up another notch.

“They’re not allowed to go up against the White House fence anymore but they still come. The protests can be about

STATE: N/A – Washington DC (the District of Columbia) is its own federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress

LUXURY LONDON

ESCAPE

SMITHSONIAN METRO STATION, WASHINGTON DC

absolutely anything. The effort people go to with their placards is just incredible.”

Regardless of whether the current administration is listening or not, there’s a sense that Washington is a city that is getting a little better at loosening its starched collar and embracing its longrepressed hedonistic streak.

Areas such as the U Street Corridor and Navy Yard, both partially destroyed in the riots that followed the murder of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968, have been altered beyond recognition in the past decade.

Navy Yard is home to myriad Scandichic styled bars and restaurants, all sleek expanses of glass and exposed steel.

A pioneer among the raft of recent openings here is District Winery, where more than a dozen different wines are all created on the premises, using grapes harvested from across the nation from California to New York.

Taking a seat at the wood-hewn bar and sipping my way through some outstanding pinot noirs and a wonderfully floral gewürztraminer is sybaritic enough. But what’s even more gratifying is seeing the amount of Washingtonians also imbibing early in the afternoon. Maybe the reputation of this being a city of endless meetings and late nights in the office is beginning to fade in favour of a little more fun.

Pastoral and refined as the Navy Yard district is, let us not forget that this city is

Washington DC FOUNDED: 1791 CITY POPULATION: 681,170 METRO POPULATION: 6,097,684 DENSITY: 11,158/sq mi (London:14,500/sq mi)

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE, IMAGE COURTESY OF POLINA LVT/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

115

still known to some as ‘the swamp’, not just because that’s precisely what DC was built on but also due to the political chicanery that has always been concomitant with the noble ideals and chest-puffing of countless administrations.

Nowhere embodies this more than the modernist behemoth known as the Watergate. Richard Nixon’s apotheosis, it was here, back in 1972, that the Democratic National Committee Office (located in the then-new hotel, apartment and office complex) was burgled on direct instruction from the Oval Office.

Almost half a century on and the hotel, given an immense refurb after a decade in mothballs, is now embracing its notorious past in the form of the Scandal Room, the suite that once hosted a certain E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, ringleaders of the burglary operation.

Now decorated in a wonderfully hardboiled early 1970s style, the room features a vintage typewriter, a reel-to-reel recorder, vintage Saul Bellow hardbacks, swivel chairs and piles of 1972 seven inch singles. Best of all is a free-standing record player to spin them on alongside numerous framed newspaper front pages from the day of Nixon’s resignation, a full two years after the break in.

The Watergate, now that it has come to terms with its past, feels more like an idealistic monument to 1960s modernism than to early 1970s political murk. But Washington, in many other ways, is getting more holistic with its history, nowhere more so than in the recently-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

FROM TOP TOP OF THE GATE ROOFTOP BAR AT THE WATERGATE; ONEBEDROOM SUITE AT THE WATERGATE

The latest addition to the miasma of Smithsonian museums in the city, the building is a curious creation standing on the Mall. Its three-tiered shape, made with thousands of bronze coloured panels, is designed to resemble a traditional Nigerian Yoruba crown.

Consistently objective and pleasingly non-hectoring or judgmental in tone, the three floors contain a dizzying wealth of artefacts ranging from a whip used on a slave ship to a Bible belonging to Nat Turner (the man who led one of the most famed slave rebellions); from a statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos in their Black Power salute pose at the 1968 Olympics, to Chuck Berry’s Cadillac and Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves.

Washington DC’s fine dining scene is worth exploring, too. A decade or so ago, the city promised little more than an overdone New York strip steak at eye popping prices. Yet chefs such as Cedric Maupillier at the innovative FrenchAmerican (and Michelin-garlanded) Convival, Michael Santoro at Kingbird inside the Watergate, and Roberto Santibañez’s upscale Mexican creations at Mi Vida are all redressing the balance in favour of flavour over formality.

But for the most authentic taste of DC, I knew that, on my final morning, I would need to roll my sleeves up. With past diners including Barack Obama and Bono, Ben’s Chilli Bowl is all about just one dish here in the U Street Corridor ’hood.

The ‘half-smoke’ is to DC what the beignet is to New Orleans and the tamale is to the Mississippi Delta. To the uninitiated,

B R I T I S H A I R WAY S CLUB WORLD EXPERIENCE

it is a half-beef, half-pork sausage, pressed almost to flatness on the grill, wedged into a hot dog bun and slathered with herbs, onions and chilli sauce with a small volcano of chilli cheese fries. The retro booths and Formica tables of Ben’s are testament to a business that’s been feeding the city at all hours since 1958.

With only the most minor of chilli stains on my collar, I take a cab back to the Washington Memorial for one last look at the giant obelisk. A quiet chugging sound overhead makes the crowd at the base of the monument pause. “Is that Trump in his helicopter?” one asks. “I thought he was out of town today,” says another.

The sun is too bright to make anything out for sure. Within seconds, the helicopter is gone into the cloud scattered beyond, a tiny moving smudge above the city.

Perhaps this is as it should be. Because more than anywhere else in the United States, Washington is a constant reminder that no matter who you are and how important your role is, the ideals that surround you in this city are, and always will be, so very, very much bigger.

From £303 per night for a double room, thewatergatehotel.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

116

Spicy salami, pancettawrapped figs, lemon and coriander hummus. Oh, and a zesty glass of Lovivalo Verdejo de Rueda. Am I in an upscale tapas joint in Madrid?

I could be. Although most tapas joints don’t let me fall asleep in my seat afterwards with a pillow from The White Company that’s so huge and soft that I feel I could sleep right through an entire box set of The Affair.

I have all those choices, indulgent as they are, with BA Club World. Its new bedding and food options complement a journey that prioritises the three must-haves on a flight to the States: hospitality without fawning, comfort and quiet without interruption and, best of all, a feeling that life in the air is still a special place, where the ‘getting there’ part of the journey is still a pleasure, not a chore.

Plump up the pillow, order another Verdejo, stretch your legs and relax: America is just a few hours away…

Club World return tickets from London to Washington DC start from £3,378, ba.com

Machu Picchu, Peru

Discover South America Discover the diverse and breath-taking landscapes of South America with an immersive voyage onboard Azamara Pursuit SM paired with a pre or post land tour, visiting two of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

13 Night tANgo, SAlSA & SAMbA VoyAge

Suite Prices From

£3,757pp*

6 Night PoSt CruiSe tour - MAChu PiCChu, CuSCo & hirAM biNghAM trAiN

Escorted Tour Prices From

£6,195pp*

Climb to the top of Corcovado Mountain and gaze in awe at Christ the Redeemer

Explore the history of the ancient Incan City, Machu Picchu

Relax on the glistening white sand beaches of Punta del Este

Enjoy a whirlwind tour through Buenos Aires, the ‘Paris of South America’

For more information and to book: Call 0344 481 7690= | Visit Azamara.co.uk *Prices and itineraries subject to change and availability, price shown based on lead in Suite price only. T&Cs apply.

Please see website for category availability and prices. **Provided the minimum participation of guest level is met. †Calls cost the same as calls to geographic numbers (01 or 02) and are included in your landline or mobile free call package.

Customer Rating based on independent verified reviews.

DUNN & DUSTED S C O T T D U N N H A S B E E N TA K I N G T H E H A S S L E O U T O F H O L I D AY S F O R M O R E T H A N T H R E E D E C A D E S , M A K I N G I T T H E G O -TO TO U R O P E R ATO R F O R T R AV E L L E R S L O O K I N G F O R U N I Q U E , TA I L O R - M A D E E X P E R I E N C E S

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

S

ometimes it feels like you can spend more time planning a trip than actually enjoying it – flights, airport transfers, packing, visas, childcare, excursions – and the sheer logistics can leave you needing a holiday from your holiday. Who among us hasn’t dreamed of having someone take care of it all on our behalf?

Regularly voted Favourite Specialist Tour Operator by the readers of Condé Nast Traveller, Scott Dunn has spent 33 years designing bespoke trips for sun worshippers, thrillseekers and everyone in between. The travel specialist manages everything from take-off to touchdown, co-ordinating personalised itineraries and custom-building your break away. Even the planning process is turned into a calm, collaborative experience, whether you know exactly what you want or are looking for a little inspiration, and the professional, attentive team works on an individual basis.

The Scott Dunn team has got the insider knowledge to make a trip memorable for all the

Scott Dunn manages everything from take-off to touchdown, co-ordinating personalised itineraries and custom-building your break right reasons – whether it’s catching a cricket match in the Caribbean, skiing your first black run in Switzerland, taking a culinary tour of Calabria, introducing your kids to indigenous species of Antarctica or embarking on a gorilla safari in Rwanda. Attention to detail, creative solutions and 24/7 communication are all part of the service.

Each travel consultant personally visits the areas in which they specialise, hunting down friendly tour guides, efficient concierges, authentic kitchens, romantic viewpoints and secret beaches – as well as making connections so they can provide guests with private access to cultural sites and outof-hours experiences. They do the legwork for you – so that you can spend less time on Google maps and more time in the moment. scottdunn.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

119

VIETNAMESE

WHIRL

O V E R S H A D O W E D B Y V I E T N A M ’ S L A R G E R C O A S TA L C I T I E S F O R D E C A D E S , T H E W O R L D I S S L O W LY D I S C O V E R I N G T H E HISTORIC CHARMS OF UNASSUMING QUY NHON

Words: Jo Foley

LUXURY LONDON

ESCAPE

M

r Phuc is tiny, wiry and scary. He’s the sort of guy you do not mess with, particularly when you see his left foot inches from your jaw. The champion of Binh Dinh province, he is a master of Viet Vo Dao, a fiendishly fast and clever Vietnamese martial art, which you can, should you wish, learn in Hoxton, but much better to learn it in situ, preferably on a beach in the early morning.

Mr Phuc is not just head of security at the newly-opened Anantara Quy Nhon Villas, he also runs classes there for guests. And while his verbal English skills may not be as fast as his physical moves, there is little danger of even the ineptest pupil not understanding what he means with each thrust of a fist or twist of the body. He is very keen that female guests should learn some serious self-defence.

Quy Nhon is the capital of the Binh Dinh province and until recently almost unknown on the tourist trail of central Vietnam, where its flashier cousins Da Nang and Nha Trang have attracted the bulk of the tourist trade. Gradually, however, locals of a certain age and within a certain income bracket began to enjoy its quieter charms and uncrowded beaches, which in turn brought the development of villas and resorts of discreet luxury to its coastline. The newest of these is the Anantara villa complex – just 26 spacious villas, each complete with outdoor decks, private lap pools and vast sunbeds, some of which open directly onto the beach while others, built into the mountainside, look down from on-high and across to the tiny islands opposite.

Seductive as your villa may be – with butlers, daily delideliveries and your own wine rack, not to mention the largest, deepest baths imaginable – you may at some stage want to leave to explore your surroundings. The resort offers a number of special guided tours – so much of the decision making is done for you.

Quy Nhon is a growing and busy small industrial town which belies its history as the birthplace of an emperor, a significant seaport in the 18th century and an important part of the 11th-century Champa kingdom, whose temples and towers are still remarkably well preserved. More recently it housed a large American military and naval base. And while the war is rarely mentioned, the local museum does chart the plight of the local Communist party. A visit to the magnificent Thap Banh Champa Temple, which overlooks the entire area, elicits the information that was where the VietCong hid during the day. Strategically, it is a magnificent location with endless possibility of cover through overgrown graves and monuments, and affords 360-degree views of the surrounding area. It is also a wonderful place for an early morning yoga class – glorious once you’ve climbed 500 steps and recovered your breath.

Easier to access are the Cham Towers, locally known as the Twin Towers – one big one, one slightly smaller – 11th-century

temples almost in the middle of town in their own pretty little park. And wherever you go, it is always time to stop for coffee, a national pastime throughout Vietnam. If you can’t develop a taste for its very sweet, milky flavour then stick to beer or water.

Apart from Champa archaeology, the other great visitor attraction is, of course, food. From roadside stalls making on-the-spot rice pancakes and spring rolls filled with the freshest of fish to a hotel-organised private candlelit banquet in a hidden cove along the beach, the food offering during our trip was outstanding.

Best of all was a trip to a local fishing village, arranged by Anantara, some 20 minutes from the resort, where every type of fish and shellfish is waiting. Simply peer into a bucket or barrel of freshly-caught fish and point – lobster, langoustine, sea snails, mussels, clams, blue-tipped crab or a simple seabass. Your choice is then weighed, cooked and brought freshly-steamed with chilli, garlic or lemon seasoning to your table. Sadly, you then have to work to enjoy the fish – but hammers, scissors, tweezers and the occasional chopstick are all provided. This is anything but elegant dining, but it is rare to taste the ocean as sea-salt-fresh as this.

In-house dining at Anantara is just as spectacular, and a lot more refined. From the breakfast offering – a plethora of smoothies, juices, fruits, cheeses, breads, pastries, all before you get a chance to order your cooked preference – to the lavish choice of local, fusion and international foods served at lunch and dinner. The hotel is also able to organise private suppers, beach barbecues and romantic picnics in the gardens, on your terrace, in a hidden bay or on a nearby island. There’s even an in-house salt sommelier on-hand to offer you a choice of 19 different salts. Choice, you will understand, is exactly what Anantara Quy Nhon Villas is all about. And when you are too exhausted to make any more decisions, simply head to the spa for a massage.

Anantara Quy Nhon Villas Vietnam costs from £382 per villa per night including breakfast, anantara.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

123

FLIGHT CLUB K I C K - S TA R T Y O U R H O L I D AY AT T H E A I R P O R T W I T H T H E H E AT H R O W V I P S E R V I C E

T

here’s a certain irony in the fact that the route to relaxation often comes via a crowded departures lounge. From passport control to security, the airport check-in procedure is one of the less enjoyable things about travelling, only made bearable by the fact that a holiday awaits at the end.

But at Heathrow, there’s a much more tranquil way to begin your journey.

Heathrow VIP is an exclusive service available to Business and First Class passengers and designed to ease the necessary airport transit.

The experience begins with a luxury chauffeur service in a 7-Series BMW – complete with massage seats – taking you from your home to the Heathrow VIP private entrance. Once inside, a concierge will take your luggage through a designated screening room before escorting you to your private lounge, which is individual to you – allowing you to truly wind down ahead of your flight.

Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton is behind the contemporary lounge menu, which has been created with travellers in mind. The dishes are inspired by those served in Atherton’s award-winning restaurants, including Pollen Street Social and Berners Tavern, and are made using locally-sourced produce – think roasted stone bass and French meringue. If you’re a frequent flyer, don’t worry – the menu is updated

on a monthly basis, so there is always something new to tuck into.

If you fancy taking advantage of the duty free shops, Heathrow VIP offers a complimentary personal shopping service, allowing you to explore the airport’s lengthy array of boutiques and brands at your own pace. Non-EU citizens can arrange for a specialist to assist with any VAT refunds from the privacy of your own lounge.

When it’s time to board the flight, a member of the Heathrow VIP team will escort you through a private security check before guiding you to the aeroplane door. The service is available on all journeys, including connecting flights – so you can relax and unwind from the get-go.

For more information on the Heathrow VIP service, visit heathrowvip.com

LUXURY LONDON

PROMOTION

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

125

LICENCE TO CHILL I N S I D E T H E S E Y C H E L L E S H O T E L T H AT I N S P I R E D I A N F L E M I N G ’ S E I G H T H J A M E S B O N D B O O K , F O R Y O U R E Y E S O N LY

Words: Sophie Halse

I

n 1958, Ian Fleming suffered a bout of writer’s block. Seven books into his James Bond series and stumped on how to start the eighth, he sought inspiration abroad.

A holiday, he decided, would solve the problem. So it was that in spring of that year he touched down on Mahé, the largest of the 115 or so islands that make up the Seychelles and home to its capital, Victoria. Here he spent several weeks exploring, snorkelling in the

turquoise Indian Ocean and chasing after pirate lore treasure fabled among the local Seychellois.

When For Your Eyes Only, a collection of five short stories, was published two years later, the Seychelles’ influence on the author was evident. So enamoured was Fleming of the island nation that he made it the sole setting of one of the stories, and peppered references to his trip throughout it. The Hildebrand Rarity sees Bond up sticks to Mahé at the request of M, where he

LUXURY LONDON

ESCAPE

befriends a businessman and his wife, Milton and Liz Krest – Krest being the name of a tonic and ginger beer brand popular on the island. The couple convince 007 to join them on a fishing trip, where they attempt to catch the fictional hildebrand rarity – or, as keen snorkellers have pointed out, a species that closely resembles the yellow-tipped squirrelfish, found (you guessed it) in the Indian Ocean surrounding the Seychelles.

During his time on Mahé, Fleming’s base was the Northolme Hotel, located on Beau Vallon Beach on the north-west side of the island. Built before the First World War, this historic bolthole was one of the first hotels on the island. Today it is a five-star retreat and the third largest hotel in the Seychelles, having been rebuilt by the Hilton group in 2005.

Housing 56 stilted villas, each a blend of traditional Creole architecture and modern decor, the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa sits pretty on its hillside home, resplendent with coconut palms, hibiscus, mango trees and a single cannonball tree, of which there are only two on the island.

Fifteen pool villas, launched in 2015, come with their own private infinity pool, while the ocean-front rooms and suites have direct access to the white-sand beach. Sweeping views of the Indian Ocean can be marvelled at from the spacious private terraces, where sunloungers and daybeds provide ample opportunity for a post-lunch snooze.

Surrounding the hotel are small coves that make ideal spots for sunbathing, and turquoise lagoons where guests can snorkel or try their hand at kayaking. Excursions such as glass-bottom boat tours and helicopter rides are on offer, and can be organised through the onsite recreation host. For those looking to relax, the ocean-front Eforea spa offers three different treatment menus, each themed around Africa and the Seychelles – try the Seychellois massage for true R&R. For dinner, there are three restaurants to choose from, each serving Creole-inspired dishes overlooking the Indian Ocean. Views are best at the relaxed Hilltop Restaurant, where each night has a different theme and cuisine to match – think Surf & Turf and Creole barbecues. For something a little more refined, dine under the stars at the flagship restaurant Les Cocotiers, where the à la carte menu blends Creole dishes with international flavours. Or raise a toast at the Oceanview Bar and Restaurant, which has live music and a lengthy cocktail list. If the drink options leave you spoilt for choice, simply take heed of Fleming’s leading man and order a martini – shaken, not stirred, of course.

When For Your Eyes Only, a collection of five short stories, was published, the Seychelles’ influence on the author was evident

From approx. £399 per night for a King Sunset Villa including breakfast, seychelles.hilton.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

129

Seychelles...

the call of the islands

www.seychelles.travel

P.133

P R O P E R T Y T H E F I N E S T H O M E S I N T H E C A P I TA L

DESIGN INTERVENTION Roksanda Ilincic creates her dream home

P.140 STREETS AHEAD The best homes hitting the market this month

ROKSANDA PENTHOUSE AT GASHOLDERS LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHY © MICHAEL SINCLAIR

Caroline Denervaud’s graphic mural brightens up the walls of this King’s Cross penthouse (p.133)

A superb and luxurious mews house in a prime location.

1 3

3

2

3

2

Laverton Mews, SW5 This immaculate, redesigned property enjoys excellent living and entertaining space along with an exceptional south-west facing roof terrace.

• • • •

Giles Barrett looks forward to helping you. giles.barrett@knightfrank.com 020 3641 6123

Pristine, high quality en suite bathrooms Fantastic open plan reception room and kitchen Benefiting from a beautiful roof terrace Approximately 1,838 sq ft

Guide price

£3,750,000

Freehold knightfrank.co.uk Connecting people & property, perfectly.

LUXURY LONDON

PROPERTY

E

ncased in three majestic Grade II-listed iron gasholders, King’s Cross’s Gasholders London is a trio of cylindrical buildings housing north London’s newest set of luxury apartments.

The jewel in its crown is The Penthouse, a threebedroom apartment curated by fashion designer and former King’s Cross resident Roksanda Illinic.

Inside, the duplex space riffs on the designer’s signature aesthetic, with sculptural form, unusual colour combinations and mismatched textures. The focal point is a large geometric mural in the dining room, painted in berry hues by Parisian-based artist Caroline Dernervaud, one of the many female makers championed throughout the apartment – furniture is by Lino Bo Bardi and Charlotte Perriand, ceramic works by Australian artist Alana Wilson and Berlin-based potter Christine Roland, and twisting ribbon lamps by Claire Norcross. Even the bookshelf is lined with tomes written by a female pen: Eva Rothschild, Marina Abramavoci and Alice Rawsthorn, to name a few.

Each of the nine penthouse apartments at Gasholders London has its own roof garden; for Illincic’s space, she worked with Suzanne Wallgren on a bespoke design, which includes a striking Pallas table designed by Konstantin Grcic and concrete stools by Gitta Gschventer. The dazzling rainbow hues pop against the urban backdrop of Illincic’s former stomping ground.

“As a previous resident of King’s Cross, one of the first people to build a home here when the first regeneration took place, the Gasholders were an iconic landmark that always captured my attention and one which I found particularly beautiful,” Illincic says. “Architecture, art and design are disciplines which consistently inspire my own collections. This project has created the opportunity to expand my own ideas about creating a true reflection of my own aesthetic, beyond fashion.”

HOUSE STYLE FA S H I O N D E S I G N E R R O K S A N DA I L I N C I C PAY S H O M A G E T O F E M A L E M A K E R S I N A N A R T- F I L L E D P E N T H O U S E AT GASHOLDERS LONDON

Words: Ellen Millard

The Penthouse is available to buy fully-furnished for £7.75m, or unfurnished from £7.5m, gasholderslondon.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

133

NEW YORK

Paris Forino Designed Sublime 5,444sf Full Floor Five Bedroom Masterpiece/ 66 Ninth Avenue Residence 6 - New York City After years of dreaming, designing and constructing, this breathtaking masterpiece has come to life and is simply stated, extraordinary. Sublime, contemporary, tailored beauty at every turn, residence six is a dream home in every detail, in every square inch and is the new definition of an ultra-luxurious, tailor-made private residence.

Discover. Explore, adore. Acquire. 5,444 square feet full floor, 5 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, separate library and den, private terrace. $29,000,000

Jessica C. Campbell 1-917-621-7815 jessicac@nestseekers.com

Grand European Villa 13319 Mulholland Drive Beverly Hills Hidden behind gates & down the private cobblestone driveway is Villa Soigni with commanding views of the San Fernando Valley. On over 2/3 of an acre & apx. 7,900 sq. ft the home is distinguished by over sized rooms with abundant natural light and 30 ft. ceilings. Stunning marble floors, exquisite moldings & an 8 ft fireplace, pool and spa. Upstairs are 4 ensuite bedrooms, extremely large master suite with room like walk in closet, grand remodeled bathroom, fireplace & 2 terraces complete. Main floor includes guest suite and library. Three car garage & large motor court complete this wonderful private mini estate. $8,490,000

Marisa Zanuck 1-310-913-1741 Marisa@nestseekers.com

NEW YORK | HAMPTONS | GOLD COAST, LI | NEW JERSEY | MIAMI | SAN FRANCISCO | BEVERLY HILLS | LONDON | SEOUL Nest Seekers International is a Real Estate broker. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and has been compiled from sources deemed reliable. Though information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice.

Harrington Gardens, South Kensington Modern living in a classic London location. A bespoke, 2500 sqft, three bedroom triplex apartment in the heart of South Kensington, with cool design touches throughout.

The space would suit those looking for a turn-key, one-off¬ place, just moments from world class amenities around South Ken, Chelsea and Knightsbridge. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 floors and terrace. Tenure: leasehold, 135 years. £5,250,000

Solly Strickland +44 7702 669 647 SollyS@NestSeekers.com | Daniel McPeake +44 7809 351 114 DanielMc@nestseekers.com

Burns Road, Battersea

The Observatory Penthouse, Fulham

A completely bespoke property which forms part of one of London’s finest loft developments, Southside Quarter, just moments from Battersea Park and only 1 mile from the new American Embassy. The ground floor features a wonderful reception room, with double height ceilings, vast period windows and beautiful stone floors. This 2036sqft property is perfect for those looking for a completely unique home with great security and off-street parking just across the river from Chelsea.

Tenure: Freehold. £1,600,000

Iconic West London Penthouse. Located in the heart of Munster Village, the penthouse at Brandon House is the perfect marriage of post-industrial warehouse living with striking modern architecture, with over 3000 sqft of internal space. 3 bedrooms , 2 bathrooms, 60ft living room, glass observatory, huge roof terrace with panoramic London views, direct lift access, double garage.

Tenure: leasehold, 978 years. £2,850,000

Solly Strickland +44 7702 669 647 SollyS@NestSeekers.com Daniel McPeake +44 7809 351 114 DanielMc@nestseekers.com

Solly Strickland +44 7702 669 647 SollyS@NestSeekers.com Daniel McPeake +44 7809 351 114 DanielMc@nestseekers.com

NestSeekers.com

Enchanting period studio house Britannia Road, SW6 Fulham Broadway Underground Station: 0.3 miles 4 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, gym, utility room, patio/terrace, roof terrace, communal garden, off-street parking, EPC = E

Leasehold, approximately 965 years remaining plus Share of Freehold | 5,199 sq ft | Guide ÂŁ7.5 million

Phillippa Dalby-Welsh Savills Fulham Parsons Green Residential Sales 020 7731 9420 pdwelsh@savills.com

Impressive family house Pelham Place, SW7 South Kensington Underground Station: 0.2 miles This Grade II* listed house is situated in one of the best positions at the southern end of Pelham Place, entrance hall, 2 reception rooms, kitchen, dining room, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, study, South-west facing garden, access to communal gardens

Freehold | 2,693 sq ft | Guide ÂŁ7.5 million

Tom Lamb Savills Knightsbridge Residential Sales 020 7824 9016 tlamb@savills.com

Superb mews house Ensor Mews, SW7

Gloucester Road Underground Station: 0.4 miles

Reception room, kitchen, dining room, 3 bedrooms (2 en suite), guest cloakroom, patio gardens, EPC = E

Freehold | 1,724 sq ft | | Guide ÂŁ2.95 million

Daniel Carrington Savills Earl's Court Residential Sales 020 7578 6901 dan.carrington@savills.com

Desirable mansion flat Carlisle Place, SW1P

Victoria Station: 0.3 miles St. James's Park Underground Station: 0.5 miles

Second floor lateral mansion flat within a period building, reception room, kitchen/dining room, 2 bedrooms (1 en suite), further bedroom/study, bathroom, EPC = C

Leasehold approximately 148 years remaining | 1,386 sq ft | Price on application

Matthew Morton-Smith Savills Westminster Residential Sales 020 3430 6861 mmsmith@savills.com

STREETS AHEAD DISTINCTIVE HOMES ON THE PROPERTY MARKET THIS MONTH

ELM TREE R OA D, N W 8

Built 27 years ago for its current owner, this palatial five-bedroom house in St John’s Wood feels more country retreat than townhouse, despite being moments from central London. Spanning 5,190 sq ft and spread across two floors,

the property is accessed via a secure gated pathway.

Inside, grand period features and a centrepiece staircase give this house a characterful edge. A capacious landscaped garden, complete with patio terrace and a garden room, provides the cherry on top. £10.8m, 020 7722 9793, beauchamp.com

LUXURY LONDON

PROPERTY

R U T L A N D G AT E , S W 7

This elegant two-bedroom apartment comes complete with secure garage, a porter and access to communal gardens. Inside, seperate kitchen and reception and dining rooms provide ample room for entertaining, while a bijou terrace is the ultimate place to escape the city when the weather heats up. ÂŁ2.895m, 020 7581 5234, savills.com

O N E P U T N E Y, S W 1 5

The Thackery Estate has unveiled ONE Putney, a series of apartments located on Putney High Street. Designed by PHASE3 Architecture and Design, the Art Deco-inspired development houses 15 two- and three-bedroom apartments, no two of which are the same. Secure video entry, bicycle storage and access to a communal terrace are offered to all residents.

From ÂŁ695,000, 020 8099 1111, jamespendleton.co.uk

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

141

Halsey Street, Chelsea SW3 £3,000 per week

Unfurnished

Hereford Road, Notting Hill W2 £3,950 per week

Unfurnished

A stunning family home which has been refurbished throughout and presents beautifully.

A beautifully refurbished family home only a few moments from Westbourne Grove.

2,185 sq ft (203 sq m) Two reception rooms | Kitchen/breakfast room | Conservatory | Four bedrooms | Four bathrooms | Cloakroom | Balcony | Garden | Patio | Residents parking | EPC rating D

2,841 sq ft (263.9 sq m) Entrance hall | Dining room | Kitchen | Five bedrooms | Four bathrooms | Playroom | Utility | Garden | EPC rating D

Chelsea 020 3504 5588 | chelsea.lettings@struttandparker.com

Notting Hill 020 3773 4114 | nottinghill@struttandparker.com

Tregunter Road, Chelsea SW10 £25,000 per week

Kensington Court Mansions, Kensington W8 £2,300 per week Unfurnished

Unfurnished

An impressive five/six-bedroom semi-detached house with off street parking, pool and garden.

A recently refurbished, first floor flat, situated in a smart mansion building with the benefit of a balcony, lift and porter.

8,175 sq ft (760 sq m) (Including under 1.5m) Two drawing rooms | Dining room | Study | Kitchen | Five double bedrooms | Nine bathrooms | Seven en suite bathrooms | Family room | Cinema | Swimming pool | Garden | EPC rating C

2,184 sq ft (202.93 sq m) Drawing room | Dining room | Kitchen | Master bedroom with en suite shower room | Three further bedrooms | Family bathroom | Cloakroom | Lift | Porter | Balcony | EPC rating C

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10lettings@struttandparker.com

Kensington 020 3813 9477 | kensington@struttandparker.com

*After an offer is accepted by the Landlord, which is subject to contract and acceptable references, the following charges and fees will be payable before the commencement of the tenancy: Preparation of Tenancy Agreement £222 (Inc VAT),

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

SP_DPS 1_LHP.indd 1

10/07/2019 14:41

SP_

Bramham Gardens, South Kensington SW5 £2,250 per week Furnished

Brookville Road, Fulham SW6 £975 per week

A gorgeous three-bedroom, top floor, lateral apartment with roof terrace, lift and a porter.

A lovely four-bedroom terraced house located on a desirable residential street in the heart of Fulham.

2,079 sq ft (193.13 sq m) Three bedrooms | Two reception rooms | Three bathrooms | Roof terrace | Communal gardens | Lift | EPC rating E

1,427 sq ft (133 sq m) Drawing room | Kitchen/dining room | Master bedroom with en suite shower room | Three further bedrooms | Bathroom | Cloakroom | Garden | EPC rating F

South Kensington 020 3504 5901 | southken.lettings@struttandparker.com

Fulham 020 8023 6671 | fulham.lettings@struttandparker.com

Chelsea Embankment, Chelsea SW3 £3,950 per week

Chesham Street, Belgravia SW1X £3,950 per week

Furnished

Unfurnished

Furnished

An exquisite five-bedroom penthouse which has been refurbished to the very highest specification.

An impressive three-bedroom flat situated in a secure building in the heart of Belgravia.

3,080 sq ft (286.1 sq m) Double reception room | Dining room | Kitchen | Master bedroom suite | Three further bedroom suites | Further bedroom | Further bathroom | Cloakroom | Lift | Two balconies | Utility | EPC rating C

1,905 sq ft (177 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Master bedroom en suite | Two further en suite bedrooms | Lift | Private terrace | Excellent condition | EPC rating C

Chelsea 020 3504 5588 | chelsea.lettings@struttandparker.com

Knightsbridge 020 3504 8796 | knightsbridgelettings@struttandparker.com

References per Tenant £54 (Inc VAT), a deposit – usually between 6-10 weeks of the agreed rent. Any rent advertised is pure rent and does not include any additional services such as council tax, water or utility charges.

Strutt & Parker is a trading style of BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited, which provides a full range of services across the residential, commercial and the rural property sectors.

14:41

SP_DPS 1_RHP.indd 2

10/07/2019 14:41

Markham Place, Chelsea SW3 £3,250,000

Freehold

Chepstow Crescent, Notting Hill W11 £6,950,000

Freehold

A superb three double bedroom non basement house discreetly located off a private road.

An outstanding five-bedroom family house with a lovely garden and off-street parking.

1,668 sq ft (155 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Master bedroom suite | Two further bedrooms | Further bathroom | Patio | Roof terrace | EPC rating E

3,004 sq ft (279.1 sq m) Entrance hall | Drawing room | Kitchen | Dining area | Family room | TV/playroom | Five bedrooms | Four bathrooms | Dressing room | Utility room | Cloakroom | Off-street parking | Garden | EPC rating E

Chelsea 020 3504 5588 | chelsea@struttandparker.com

Notting Hill 020 3773 4114 | nottinghill@struttandparker.com

Pitt Street, Kensington W8 £5,950,000

Freehold

Old Church Street, Chelsea SW3 £5,950,000

Freehold

A stunning four-bedroom house, occupying 2,844 sq ft, newly refurbished to a very high specification.

An excellent five-bedroom townhouse with a pretty west-facing landscaped garden and a roof terrace.

2,844 sq ft (264.2 sq m) Drawing room | Kitchen/family room | Master bedroom with dressing room and en suite shower room | Top floor bedroom suite | Two further bedrooms | Bathroom | Cloakroom | Two terraces | EPC rating B

3,370 sq ft (313.07 sq m) Drawing room | Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Study | Master bedroom suite | Three further bedrooms (all with en suite shower rooms) | Bedroom five/staff suite | Roof terrace | EPC rating B

Kensington 020 3813 9477 | kensington@struttandparker.com

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10@struttandparker.com

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

SP_DPS 2_LHP.indd 1

10/07/2019 14:50

SP_

Holmead Road, Fulham SW6 £2,450,000

Freehold

Royal Avenue, Chelsea SW3 £6,000,000

Freehold

A fabulous Victorian terraced house, immaculately refurbished to an exacting standard throughout.

A very well presented bright five-bedroom freehold house in stunning decorative order.

2,313 sq ft (214.88 sq m) Reception/dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Drawing room | Master bedroom suite | Gym/further bedroom | Three further bedrooms | Bathroom | Cloakroom | Garden | Utility | EPC rating E

2,870 sq ft (266.6 sq m) Drawing room | Kitchen | Master bedroom suite | Four further bedrooms | Two bathrooms | Study | Cloakroom | Garden | Conservatory | EPC rating exempt

Fulham 020 8023 6671 | fulham@struttandparker.com

Chelsea 020 3504 5588 | chelsea@struttandparker.com

Clareville Grove, South Kensington SW7 £5,950,000 Freehold

Lygon Place, Belgravia SW1W POA

A beautiful five/six-bedroom mid-terrace townhouse with landscaped flat roof.

A grand seven-bedroom period townhouse with a lift, underground parking, 24-hour security and porterage in Belgravia.

3,158 sq ft (294 sq m) Dining room | Kitchen | Drawing room | Study | Master suite | Dressing rooms | Four further bedrooms | Four further bathrooms | Playroom | Cloakroom | Landscaped flat roof | EPC rating D

7,250 sq ft (673.5 sq m) Entrance hall | Reception room | Drawing room | Dining room | Kitchen | Seven bedroom suites | Media room/gym | Lift | Garden | Private underground parking | Porter/concierge | 24-hour security | EPC rating E

South Kensington 020 3504 5901 | southken@struttandparker.com

Knightsbridge 020 3504 8796 | knightsbridge@struttandparker.com

Freehold

Strutt & Parker is a trading style of BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited, which provides a full range of services across the residential, commercial and the rural property sectors.

14:50

SP_DPS 2_RHP.indd 2

10/07/2019 15:05

Cadogan Place, Knightsbridge SW1X

£3,450 per week Furnished

An excellent first and second floor furnished maisonette with an outstanding drawing room, garden views, two bedroom suites, a study and a 416 sq ft roof terrace.

1,574 sq ft (156 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Master bedroom suite | Further bedroom with en suite shower room | Further shower room | Study | Terrace | Balcony | EPC rating C

Knightsbridge 020 3504 8796 | knightsbridgelettings@struttandparker.com *After an offer is accepted by the Landlord, which is subject to contract and acceptable references, the following charges and fees will be payable before the commencement of the tenancy: Preparation of Tenancy Agreement £222 (Inc VAT),

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

SP_IBC DPS_LHP.indd 1

09/07/2019 13:18

SP_

Hurlingham Square, Fulham SW6

£1,950,000 Freehold

A substantial double fronted townhouse overlooking South Park, benefiting from double off street parking and a large garden with a summer house.

2,244 sq ft (208.5 sq m) Reception room/kitchen | Pantry | Further reception room | Two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms | Bedroom with en suite shower room | Further bedroom | Cloakroom | Utility Room | Storage | Garden | Summer house | EPC rating C

Fulham 020 8023 6671 | fulham@struttandparker.com References per Tenant £54 (Inc VAT), a deposit – usually between 6-10 weeks of the agreed rent. Any rent advertised is pure rent and does not include any additional services such as council tax, water or utility charges.

Strutt & Parker is a trading style of BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited, which provides a full range of services across the residential, commercial and the rural property sectors.

13:18

SP_IBC DPS_RHP.indd 2

09/07/2019 13:19

EXTRAORDINARY

Some people travel just to see the rest of the world.

Carrier clients travel to experience the best of the world.

Discover travel through our eyes and you’ll never see the world in the same way again Established since 1980 and with royalty and celebrities amongst our clients, Carrier’s discreet, attentive and bespoke service is held in the highest regard.

Your every need, every preference and every whim is catered for, no request is too small and no challenge too big.

Search Carrier Holidays

Visit: carrier.co.uk Call: 0161 826 1914