mpeople2011_4_Nigel Ali

Giselle Laronde West Your beauty queen 25 years on

Adrian Camps-Campins An artist in context

South Architect, Nigel A. Ali A king and his castles

Cold Turkey

issue 4 • DEC 2011 • us $2.95

How to survive Christmas and get in shape for Carnival 2012 Mpeople

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Contents

Editor’s Note

34 8 The Reluctant Celebrity 14 How To Make Money And Sleep Well 18 We Drinking Dat 20 Singing Praises

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28 Melange Magic 32 Baileys Day Challenge Five magazines in 12 months— what an adventure. We’ve come a long way in the past year and we’ve done it as a team. This is our last hurrah for 2011 and we hope you find it to be as glittering and exciting as we do.

Twenty-five years on, Giselle Laronde-West proves to be a timeless beauty queen. She opens up to writer Bekim Rauseo about beating Halle Berry in 86, growing up as a tomboy and her long held desire to inspire young people.

33 Editor Loves

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34 Anything for Nigel Ali 40 The Revealing Of An Icon 42 Countdown To New Year’s Eve

Publisher: Toute Bagai Publishing Limited Managing Editor: Nikola Lashley

Adrian Pinheiro spotlights the quiet career of Trinidadian artist, Adrian Camps-Campins, in an interview that challenges the definition of ‘Caribbean Art.’

50 Steeped In Luxury

The iconic local brand, Solo, stirs up sweet memories and gospel singer Russell Leonce is a perfect A.

52 All Hail Queen Giselle

Design & Layout: Daryl Nagil Writers: Celine Barnard, Shaun Gianetti, Bishop Jason Gordon, Skye Hernandez, Nikola Lashley, Carolyn Lee, Adrian Pinheiro, Bekim Betoni Rauseo

Have a splendid Christmas and a superb New Year!

From all of us at Toute Bagai Publishing we wish you love, good health and happiness!

Finally, as always I extend my invitation to you to get in touch with your comments, feedback and suggestions. facebook.com/macomagazines and on twitter at twitter.com/macomagazines or drop me an email at nik@macomag.com.

NIK LASHLEY Managing Editor

58 The Swarovski Universe

Photography: Christopher Daniel, Steve Hernandez, istockphoto. com (aluxum, 77 studio) Gary Jordan, Daryl Nagil, Graeme Ottley,

60 If You Not Red...

Bertrum Rivers, Gregory Reyes, Antony Scully MACO People Trinidad Issue 4 , 2011

64 The Flair Of Perfection

For Advertising Inquiries please contact: Michelle Hart - michelle@macomag.com Nasma Mohammed-Chin - nasma2002@aol.com

66 Camps-Campins Redefined

P: 868.622.0519 F: 868.628.6909 Toute Bagai Publishing Limited 26 Kelly Kenny Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad Tel (868) 622-0519 Fax (868) 628-6909, Email info@macomag.com Web www.macomag.com

74 A Legacy Full Of Bubbles 76 A Time For Gifts 80 Last Call - Cold Turkey

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Printed by: The Office Authority Printing Division The cover and content of M People are fully protected by Toute Bagai Publishing Ltd and cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in these pages are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MACO Magazines, Toute Bagai Publishing or any of its advertisers and collaborators.

H ead

south to

Trinidad’s

oil belt. I gnore the boxy

housing developments along the highway. I gnore the decades of dud town planning . I gnore the half-built naked concrete structures and the bumper-tobumper traffic .

Anything for

nigel ali

Writer: Nikola Lashley Photography courtesy: Antony Scully and Nigel Ali

By the time you hit Vistabella, your

spirits will begin to lift.

Welcome to The South. Home to one of Trinidad’s most feted architects.

Nigel A. Ali prides himself not only on building grand homes, but also lasting relationships with his exclusive clients. The list reads like a veritable who’s who of Trinidad’s high society.

His warm-hearted, affable manner, laced with southern charm is disarming. Wearing a white polo shirt and easy-fit blue jeans, he exudes a casualness that is tough to reconcile with his credentials as a leading Trinidadian architect.

Ali’s success can, in part, be credited to a small homegrown, yet influential, social network.

“The difference with people from San Fernando compared to people from the North is that everybody knows everybody. We’re a very close-knit community— St Joseph Village, Gulf View, Bel Air. I was really a big limer when I was at school. All your friends’ parents had businesses. This one had a little renovation to do on a restaurant or at home and that’s how I started.”

We sit and chat for an hour or so in his comfortable Valsayn home office; he cites it as a work in perpetual progress and chuckles about his half-finished stained-glass window.

He’s made an endurance sport out of the homes he builds for others, but admits to being the proverbial shoemaker with respect to his personal projects.

Raised in San Fernando, from a modest background, Ali, now 50, has risen to the highest ranks of professional esteem, aligned with some of Trinidad’s most prestigious names. But, you don’t choose to work with Ali; he chooses to work with you. “I build personal friendships with my clients. The drawing process alone can take as long as a year. I have to like you. I blow off one of the biggest names in Trinidad already. I told him what he could do with his money: roll it up and stick it up his arse.”

But, the result of doing it Ali’s way can be glorious. During his apprenticeship with local

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Home of the Lutchmansingh’s, St. Joseph Village, South Trinidad

architect Barry Franceschi he was encouraged to study abroad. In 1988, Ali returned from Miami University, School of Architecture and was commissioned by Keith Lutchmansingh, owner of Paramount Transport, to design and construct his family home in St Joesph Village.

As an entrée into the industry, the light-filled house he designed is a palace of supreme quality that draws on Ali’s passion for Mediterranean and Italianate styling. However, his penchant for luxury doesn’t end there; it extends beyond his architectural preferences to his love of German engineering.

We pile into his newly acquired black, full performance AMG (performance package)

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Mercedes Benz CLS 55 with full leather customized interior and upholstered cashmere Alcantara ceiling. In style, we cruise south to the first house that Ali built. “The original house was about 15 years old and I was given carte blanche. We went in, knocked it down and redesigned it completely with no interference from them or anybody. The standard with my homes is that they take about two and a half years because of the detailing involved. Up till now, this remains my most favourite home.”

The Lutchmansingh house is constructed around a large existing courtyard. An oversized wrought iron patio gate leads to a full-size swimming pool. Each room on the ground floor is accessed via a stunningly designed atrium

space that is airy and a natural crowd puller.

Hand-crafted teak frames the 24-foot windows.

Floor finishes in marble and flagstone lie beneath a dome-shaped glass roof with a stained glass centre.

The house is an enviable legacy to Ali’s 27 years in the business. The name he’s now made for himself is due to his keen sense of craftsmanship, an eye for interior design but above all for his versatility.

“I’ve always been hands-on with contractors, you could walk onto one of my projects and not know who I was. You would see me cutting wood with the contractor and bending some

A Nigel Ali house in Palmiste, South Trinidad

iron with the iron man to show him how to do the vaults.”

The name he’s now made for himself is due to his keen sense of craftsmanship, an eye for interior design but above all for his versatility.

He laughs. “I now start to make money, I’ve been building my reputation for 20-odd years.”

And staying close as he does to the entire building process has certainly paid off. “Once I built my portfolio with these kind of upper, high-end clients, well, girl. that’s it, everybody else just….”

What followed the Lutchmansingh house project?

Lutchmansingh’s son’s house and Lutchmansignh’s brother’s house in Palmiste.

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The Buoys, Chaguaramas

As an entrée into the industry, the light-filled house he designed is a palace of supreme quality that draws on Ali’s passion for Mediterranean and Italianate styling.

Home of Elias Moses

The Buoys in Chagauramas came along, as did the Sanctuary Resort in Tobago. From here his glittering client list continues to grow. The word was out. Nigel A. Ali was in.

A lover of art since his school days at Pleasantville Secondary, Ali has a soft spot for interior design—it’s an additional service he offers to prospective clients.

Woe betide the local interior designer who indirectly suggested he stick to the core disciplines of architecture. She was commissioned alongside Ali to work on the interior of the spectacular house he designed for local restaurateur, Jenny Dan-Sharma (owner of Jenny’s on the Boulevard), in St Clair.

“What this girl did to my interior is absolutely not what my house required. I built a grand French design with all the pretty detailing so you expect the inside to be wow, which are

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what my interiors are like. She just screwed up the inside, she just came and dropped in this red wood floor on the entire house, on top of that she brought in a contemporary kitchen that did not reflect the style of the home I built!”

His minor professional fall-outs are nothing compared to the popularity he enjoys amongst his clients. He treats us to lunch at Mohammed’s BBQ Pit in Cross Crossing, San Fernando, after which he drives us to a client in Gulf View whose house he built some years ago.

We’re unannounced; Ali drives up to the doorway. “How you going, girl” he says. I just bring some people to look at the house.” She smiles, hugs him warmly, throws open the massive double doors. “Anything for Nigel Ali,” she says.

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Prime Restaurant JWB event.

ADVERTORIAL AS Brydens team and Arturo Savage.

Restauranteur Peter George reviews the JWB bottle

Mr & Mrs Sadiq Ali

icon

Randy Dharrie-MAharaj, Ramona Brahim, Arturo Savage - JW Regional Brand Ambassador.

The Revealing Of An Editorial and Photography courtesy AS Bryden

Johnnie Walker Regional Brand Ambassador Arturo Savage recently visited Trinidad as part of his world

in three phrases, rare craft, rare cask and rare character, Savage explained.

wide tour revealing the iconic launch of the new

Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle.

During his visit Mr. Savage and the local distributor AS Bryden hosted two exclusive functions attended by a cross section of connoisseurs of the brand and icons in their own right. “Today Johnnie Walker Blue Label is the world’s number one awarded super premium blend. A liquid attached to nearly 200 years of rare craftsmanship.” He explained to the gathering at the luncheon function held at Chaud Restaurant. Guests included Hotelier Basil Aleong, Businessman Dane Lewis as well as popular event icons such as the Beach house team Curtis Popplewell and Paul Charles as well as media personalities.

Later at the luxurious Prime Restaurant, Arturo Savage revealed the new Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle while Chef Cristian Grini’s Johnnie Walker infused menu danced on the palate of the distinguished guests “The secret of this extraordinary whisky is about rarity and lays

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The illustrious guests were invited to view the carefully themed Sensory Room where they were schooled in the finer ingredients of the Brand by local Brand Ambassador Shyam Seukeran, and later dined on exquisitely prepared “Alexander Walker” Lobster Thermidor with Blue Label infused béchamel sauce and double cut Prime Filet Mignon in creamy Blue Label mushroom sauce.

Guests included sports icons Hasely Crawford and Brian Lara, Business icons Ken Charles and Peter Ganteaume, and restaurateur Peter George to name a few.

The distinguished group was led by Savage in a Gaelic toast “to your very good health”, they responded heartily with glasses raised “Slan juh va”!

For more information on Johnnie Walker Blue Label visit www.johnniewalker.com, For more information on AS Bryden visit www. brydenstt.com