60 60 YEARS YEARS OFOF ADVENTURE ADVENTURE AND AND DISCOVERY DISCOVERY
CA109208_Superocean CA109208_Superocean Heritage II_420x297_The Heritage II_420x297_The City.indd Toutes City.indd les Toutes pages les pages
03/07/201703/07/2017 08:54 08:54
| ed’s letter |
from the editor issue no.
121
NO V E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Edit o r- in-Chi e f Lesley Ellwood
Editor Richard Brown
a s s is ta n t Edi tor S Bethan REES david taylor
J EWEL L E RY EDITOR MHAIRI GRAHAM
London is a fantastic place to visit. The best city in the world in fact. Some wizards at WeekenGO, a German flight comparison website, have done the maths and the capital has come out on top. It beat Berlin, Vienna and Hamburg. Choose to live in London, however, and other studies suggest you should go and get your head examined. Doing their own sums are mathematicians at Monocle magazine and the Economist Intelligence Unit. According to them, London is, essentially, one big crap heap. Considering factors such as crime, culture, transport, the economy, the environment, Monocle says that we should all up sticks and move to Tokyo. The Economist disagrees. It says Melbourne. The Australian city, along with Vienna and Hamburg are listed in the top 10 of both reports. London – a cesspit of criminals, congestion and malevolent landlords, apparently – failed to make Monocle’s Top 25 Most Liveable Cities. It came 53rd in the Economist’s rankings. Which begs two questions: one; if London is such a shit pile, why does it continue to attract some 300,000 more inhabitants each year? And two; can liveability metrics ever capture the fabric of a city? “The pace differs at each of our restaurants,” says Claudio Cardoso, corporate chef at SushiSamba. “Miami and Amsterdam are more relaxed. London is go, go, go.” London is now 24 hours. A city that never sleeps. It has spent the past decade chomping away at the Big Apple’s reputation as the world’s greatest metropolis. It now rivals its American counterpart for art, culture, food and entertainment. Britpop, beer-swigging nineties London would never have supported foreign fusion restaurants like Nobu and SushiSamba. In cocktail-sipping, skyscraper-building, 21st-century London, the former brand has just launched a hotel – along with its first ever brunch menu – in still-got-it Shoreditch (p28); while the latter is so successful that it’s just dropped a set menu dedicated to its most-ordered dishes (p29). For anyone claiming that London has lost its eccentric, entrepreneurial spirit, ask yourself which other world city would open a booze-fuelled ball pit exclusively for adults? Then ask yourself who would have called it Ballie Ballerson? (p27). Keep your Vienna and Hamburg. We’d rather slum it in London, mate. Sushisamba, EC2, sushisamba.com
ART E DITOR DANIEL POOLE
G en era l Mana ge r Fiona Smith
Pro du cti on Hugo Wheatley Alice Ford Jamie Steele
Pro pe rt y Di rector Samantha Ratcliffe
Ex ec u t iv e D i r ec tor Sophie Roberts
M a n a g in g Di r ec tor Eren Ellwood
Published by
RUNWILD MEDIA GROUP
One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AX T: 020 7987 4320 rwmg.co.uk Members of the Professional
Richard brown, editor
Publishers Association
Runwild Media Ltd. cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs. While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and Runwild Media Ltd. take no
Other titles within the RWMG portfolio
responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved.
Cover Image
(p.14): Extreme athlete Ray Zahab during his 650-kilometre run across Siberia’s Lake Baikal, shot for Canada Goose’s Assouline collaboration Greatness Is Out There, © Luis Pena
6
Subscriptions
A webs it e. A m in ds et. A l if es t y l e.
A free online subscription service is
www.lu xu rylo ndo n. c o .u k
Visit the subscriptions page
available for The City Magazine. on our website: rwmg.co.uk/subscribe
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
issue no.
121
Contributors
contents
NO V E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Chris Allsop Chris is a Bath-based freelance journalist and photographer who mostly writes about travel, film and cheese. Turn to page 114 for Chris’s surprisingly extreme break in the glitzy Swiss ski resort of St Moritz.
110
Davey Baird competes in the Swatch Xtreme Verbier FWT17 event. We visit the famous Swiss resort on page 110, to see if VIP hotel openings have affected its chocolate-box charm Photograph: Jeremy Bernard
on the cover 12
McLaren P1 The British hypercar celebrates half a decade in pole position 23 Packing a punch The City’s latest boxing gym combines oldschool values with a cutting-edge approach 30 Raising the Bar London’s best cocktail bars – we did the hard work, so you don’t have to 34 Bloomberg Arcade The City’s latest food and drink hub has attracted the best in the business 62 Tommy Hilfiger The small-town boy turned all-star design mogul is a blueprint for the American Dream 70 Objects of Desire A gentleman’s guide to Christmas gifting – keep it classy 84 Triumph Street Triple RS How does the track-focused racer fare on regular streets? 88 Ferrari 488 Spider Behind the wheel of the formidible twin turbocharged convertible 97 Ski & Snowboard special Before you hit the slopes, peruse your personal piste planner for the season ahead
8
city life
21 tech Luxury French audio hits the Royal Exchange in the form of Devialet 25 Living Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, and a rather curious credenza
Rob Crossan Rob works regularly for the BBC, and across publications including GQ, The Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. On page 92, Rob visits the Royal Academy to look at the life’s work of Jasper Johns, Pop Art trailblazer.
city social
28 The Monthly Digest Brunch at Nobu Shoreditch, and a new Michelin star in the City
city collection
43 48
Watch News Has Zenith reinvented the wristwatch? Jewellery News De Grisogono’s diamond necklace on tour
city style 78
Party Season With party invitations flowing in, here’s how to dress for the revelry – and after
out of office 92
J asper Johns A new exhibition details the work of an oft-neglected pioneer of Pop Art
Nick Savage Nick is editor of London concierge service Innerplace. He provides the low-down on London’s most hedonistic haunts. Nick takes a tour round Bloomberg Arcade, the City’s new culinary haven (p.34).
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
CITY LIFE Photographer Leo Thomas started his career on Instagram, where he currently has 162,000 followers. After meeting fellow German photographer Lennart Pagel in the American northwest, and seeing the scope of his nature imagery, Leo decided to train as a professional photographer himself. Many of his shots are taken in bad or extreme weather, portraying the natural world in a powerful light. “I’ve never been the type of person that likes clear blue skies,” says Leo. Get inspired at @theolator. instagram.com/theolator
city edit (p.12)
The McLaren P1, Canada Goose at 60 & supreme partners the north face
city tech (p.21)
the world’s most powerful wireless speakers arrive in the royal exchange
city Fitness (p.23)
The boxing gym mixing old-school values with a cutting-edge approach
[ city life ]
city edit half a decade in pole position
Time flies, especially in a McLaren. It’s been five years since the P1 previewed as a design study at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris, with the arduous aim of becoming the world’s best driver’s car on both road and track. Billed as the spiritual successor to McLaren’s legendary F1 road car of the 1990s – still considered one of the greatest supercars in history – the P1 didn’t disappoint. The modified 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine rocketed the car from 0 to 62mph in 2.8 seconds, and 0-186mph in 16.5 seconds. Each car takes 82 technicians 17 days to complete. Good things come to those who wait. mclaren.com
the car
12
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| the edit |
The commodities and consumables raising our interest rates this month
the jacket
The Butterfly Effect
Vollebak’s super-reflective jacket takes its inspiration from the natural world. Mother Nature’s most reflective creation is the Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho Menelaus), the microscopic scales that cover its wings reflecting light and giving off a vibrant blue that can be seen from more than a kilometre away, according to pilots flying over the Brazilian rainforest. The Blue Morpho Jacket has more than two billion blue glass spheres in resin on its surface, with 40,000 per square centimetre, creating that butterfly effect. £495, vollebak.com
Marine-style hood and high collar
More than two billion glass resin spheres
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
13
Greatness is out there
Canada Goose is a brand that defies genres, existing at the intersection of luxury and functionality, worn in both the most extreme elements on Earth, and on the streets of London, Paris and New York. Greatness is Out There celebrates 60 years of success in a hefty tome; 204 pages of frosty vistas, sincere interviews and case studies of the true users of Canada Goose, with over 250 illustrations and a foreword by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Greatness is Out There, ÂŁ135, published by Assouline, 196a Piccadilly, W1J, assouline.com
14
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| the edit |
THE BOOK
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
15
A group of snowboarders make their way through backcountry in the Saint Elias Mountains, on the border of Alaska and Canada. Backed by The North Face, the athletes were there to test the limits of the brand’s new Steep Series clothing. Find out more in our Ski & Snowboard special, starting on page 97. thenorthface.com
16
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| the edit |
the collaboration
Supreme X The North Face
Serial streetwear collaborator Supreme has once again partnered with The North Face, this time on a range of hardy, extreme-weather jackets and accessories. The leather-based collection includes day packs, base camp duffel bags, gloves, bumbags and these leather Nuptse jackets, which boast 700-Fill down insulation for those long nights in the Arctic, or cold winter mornings on the commute to work. Leather Nuptse Jacket, ÂŁ998, supremenewyork.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
17
Bespoke bikework
Bespoke Cycling, in Gresham Street and Canary Wharf, gives cyclist the tools to create their own racer from scratch, with a huge range of parts and design options from different brands. This example, a Trek Project One Domane SLR, has an adjustable rear IsoSpeed unit, meaning the ride can be tailored to the riding surface. Perfect for racing over French cobbles, or London’s cracked roads. bespokecycling.com, trekbikes.com
the BIKE
18
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| the edit |
the SHIRT
Mountain Man
Navigate the trans-seasonal weather divide with a mountain shirt from McNair. This mid-weight merino number from the Yorkshire-based clothing company is comparable to a heavy-weight fleece, just a lot more stylish. Established in 2013 by Richard Hamshire, Natalie Stapleton and Neil McNair (a professional snowboarder), every McNair shirt is weaved, milled, raised and steamed within a 10-mile radius of Huddersfield – a city that’s to wool, what Northampton is to shoes. From £335, mcnairshirts.com
the Toolbbox
tools for the job
Basel-based artisanal carpentry brand WohnGeist imbues the spirit of Switzerland into each product it builds. Each tool is held in place by magnetic retainers, and the box is available with personal engraving. WohnGeist is a member of the World Wildlife Fund’s Wood Group, committed to fashioning sustaibable products that will stand the test of time. wohngeist.ch
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
19
E
Uniform wallwashing Wall offset/luminaire spacing of up to 1:1.3
Maximum longevity Lumen maintenance L90/B10
Minimalist ceiling design Linear downlights
Efficient visual comfort Glare-free working environment UGR <19
Individual dimming Continuously from 1% to 100%
Effective zoning Oval flood 35° x 90°
High efficiency Low connected load
Zonal lighting for office workstations Compar – a high performer for linear looks ERCO has perfected the potential of superior architectural lighting for high-quality office designs. The slim luminaires offer a subtle decorative detail in the ceiling whilst with five different light distributions also providing extremely efficient lighting tools with high standards of visual comfort, making them ideal for offices, conference rooms and foyers. www.erco.com/compar
Light is the fourth dimension of architecture
170510_de_en_fr_cluster_work.indd 1
19.07.17 17:54
[ city life ]
city TECH
Essential apparatus for keeping ahead of the curve Words: david taylor
Audio City
Parisian brand Devialet opens in The Royal Exchange
new store opening, EC3
Luxury audio company Devialet has opened its doors in The Royal Exchange. With more than 100 patents and 60 global awards, Devialet will fit in pretty well at the luxury shopping hub. Customers who buy a Phantom or Expert product can also have it delivered free anywhere in London within two hours. devialet.com
Remote, £129 Does what it says on the designer box. The super intuitive and ergonomic wireless remote accomplice for the Phantom uses a control wheel for extra precision.
Cocoon, £249
If you want to show the world your new toy, Devialet’s own high-tech travel case is your best bet. Made individually in a French saddlery workshop, the second skin technology fits snugly around your precious cargo.
Gecko, £169
Phantom’s designer wall mount. Minimalist and supremely stable, the Gecko can be set up anywhere to keep your speaker steady and stylish.
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Gold Phantom, £2,190
Simply put, this is the world’s most powerful wireless audio device. It’s protected by 108 patents, and pumps out an incredible 4,500 watts, making it six times more powerful than its Phantom predecessor.
21
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never too late...
LUXURY BODY BUTTER IN WHITE CASHMERE FROM THE BATH & BODY COLLECTION
www.lilouetloic.com
| FITNESS |
[ city life ]
city Health
The City’s latest boxing gym, 12x3, combines old-school values with a cutting edge approach Words: David Taylor
DARREN BARKER
Q&A with DARREN BARKER
W
How much did Repton influence 12x3? DB: It’s an institution, and we’ve tried to carry over a lot of its ethics. The slogan “No Guts, No Glory” was on the wall at Repton on a big old poster, and we knew we had to plaster it on the wall here.
Why did you start 12x3? DB: My business partner, Ryan [Pickard, former England boxing captain] and I sat down, and felt there wasn’t anything with an elite level of coaching, but we wanted something that all comers can do. If you want to keep fit and learn how to box, we can be that place. We’re so lucky to have some fantastic coaches down here. Most of them have represented their country, and won national titles. I think that’s where we differ from everyone else.
Where does 12x3 come from? DB: When I competed at championship level, I don’t think there were many out there fitter than me. We created a circuit where you had to complete 12 threeminute ‘rounds’. It’s not something you go straight into, it’s something you build up to. When the coach thinks you’re ready, you’ll complete it. Each coach has their take on the 12x3 – it might be shadow boxing, bag work, pad work, and then circuit training,
Inside the box
Some more of the City’s elite boxing and fighting gyms
e’ve arranged to meet at the gym, a few minutes’ walk from Aldgate East tube station, at 8am. I arrive at 8:07, and Darren Barker lets me know. “Seven minutes late, David,” he laughs as he looks at his watch with exaggerated movements. I’ve come down to talk to the former IBF middleweight world title holder and Commonwealth gold medallist about his latest venture, 12x3 boxing gym. Designed with City workers in mind, and only five minutes away from the revered Repton Boxing Club, 12x3 is the next level in boxing for fitness.
Fight City Gym brings elite MMA training to the City. EC2, fightcitygym.co.uk
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
but then I’ll do it differently. To be able to complete it is a feat. The fitter you get, the harder you can push yourself, so it doesn’t get any easier. Have you seen more people getting into white collar? DB: It seems to be on everyone’s bucket list. When there’s a crowd, and you have a guy who wants to hit you more than you hit them, it’s a frightening place, but I can tell you, there’s no feeling like winning. It can’t be replicated. On the flip side, when you’re naturally competitive like myself, losing is hell, but showing the courage to get in there is a special thing.
The Ring was originally opened in 1910 and reincarnated in 2003. SE1, theringboxingclub.com
How many members do you have? DB: We’re not actually membership-based here, it’s all personal training. We keep it intimate. We also do 5-on-1 training, where a maximum of five clients train with one coach. The 5-on-1s are really popular, because you get a lot. There’s banter, camaraderie and encouragement, but it’s still a lot more intimate than a class of 30. You’re still getting that elite level coaching. It really doesn’t matter what level you’re at, whether you’ve never put on a pair of boxing gloves or thrown a punch in your life. 12x3gym.co.uk
Kobox promises to be a mixture of Fight Club and nightclub. EC2, koboxlondon.com
23
Showroom: 1 Western Avenue, London, W3 0BZ 020 8993 4415 | info@thesofaandchair.co.uk www.thesofaandchair.co.uk
| INTERIORS|
[ city life ]
CITY LIVING
Standout homeware, because it’s what’s inside that counts Words: BETHAN REES
Drink, sir?
A life of leather
THE PERFECT ARMCHAIR FOR ULTIMATE COMFORT
You’d be fooled into thinking this was a setting pulled straight out of a private members’ club, but this look is easy to achieve with the right furniture. The Berstone armchair is buttery soft and difficult to get out of once you sit down due to serious comfort levels. We recommend pairing with a dram of whisky and a cigar box. Berstone archmchair, £995, OKA, oka.com
C o f f ee Tabl e B ar Pure E l eg an ce The name might not roll of f the tongue, but you can roll this coffee table around your living room . With bottle holders inside, it’s the perfect surprise at your next party. Coffee table, £POA, KARE, kare-design.com
american dream
Curiosity killed the credenza
Handmade in Britain, this credenza (cabinet) has white gold leaf panels, and it can be ordered in bespoke sizes. Curiosity Credenza £12,858, Amy Somervile, amysomerville.com
from the kitchen
Ralph Lauren Home is in its 34th year of trading but it doesn’t appear to be slowing down much. The autumn collection, called Modern Icons, is a range of revamped classics including a martini glass, a panther statue and a walnut wood poker set. ralphlauren.com
This is a Buster + Punch candle holder made from raw stainless steel in collaboration with British chef Tom Sellers. The holder is used as part of Sellers famed beef-fat candle dish, served at his Michelin-starred restaurant in London, Story. Fat candle, £89, Buster + Punch, busterandpunch.com
E arn your st ri pe s You can recognise these vibrant stripes from a mile off. Yes, of course it’s from Paul Smith. This metal Mini model by the British designer is a handsome addition to any room. Model car, £39, Paul Smith, farfetch .com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
25
Available exclusively in fine wine shops and in the best restaurants. www.champagne-billecart.com
AP 210x297_Mise en page 1 11/07/2016 16:37 Page1
Signe dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;exception
CITY SOCIAL Following on from its successful Dalston pop-up, Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only adult ball pit has set up shop in Shoreditch. Ballie Ballerson has filled its 4,000 sq ft space on Curtain Road with one million balls, ready for grown adults to re-live their childhoods, while bartenders create cocktails based on retro sweets, including this, the Skittle Sour. 97-113 Curtain Road, EC2, ballieballerson.com
Monthly Digest (p.28)
Nobu Shoreditch, Sushisamba and a new Michelin Star for the City
Raising the Bar (p.30)
a tour of the capital via its most innovative cocktail bars
Bloomberg Arcade (p.34)
The food and drink hub looking to knock the ned off its perch
[ city social ]
The Monthly Digest review
Sunday brunch at Nobu Shoreditch, EC2 If music be the food of love, London needs to change its set list, Writes richard brown
A couple of years back, I followed the hourglass silhouettes of Kate Upton, Charlotte McKinney and Emily Ratajkowski in dining at Andrea’s, Las Vegas. Other visitors to the strip’s most upmarket pan-Asian eatery, nestled in a ground-floor corner of its smartest hotel, Encore, include Nick Jonas, Elijah Wood and George Clooney. Serving silly-money sushi alongside Wagyu beef and sizzling pork belly, Andrea’s does nothing that Mayfair does not. Brown-carpeted, beige-walled and lit by hundreds of beautiful teardrop fairy lights, the open-plan, Art Deco eating place wouldn’t look out of sorts in Pulp Fiction. More seventies chic than spectacular. What made this restaurant a magnet for the country’s most eligible bachelors, and its most lusted over ladyfolk, wasn’t the menu but the sex appeal. And it was sexy because of the music. Andrea’s had named Steve Angello, the exSwedish House Mafia mega-DJ, as its ‘musical head chef ’. That meant that dishes like Saikyo miso black cod and garlic lobster tempura arrived to a nuanced playlist that – mercifully – avoided Angello’s trademark dance-music-for-dummies Euro-pop and instead rolled from Little Richard to Aretha Franklin to Bruno Mars. The set revved up as the night unravelled. Angelo had it nailed. Andrea’s had vibe. London, for whatever reason, decides to serve its most exciting food stuff to a backdrop of elevator music. Some of the worst culprits are Rainer Becker restaurants Roka, Zuma and, to a lesser extent, Oblix. There are plenty of others, too. Why a restaurant would be so meticulous about its menu yet so blasé about its beats, only it will know. SushiSamba seems eternally abuzz because of an upbeat playlist that sets the tone before you even set eyes on a cocktail list. MNKY HSE was one of the most talked about restaurant openings of 2016 OLD STREET because it married inventive Mexican with live DJs and washed it all down with lashings of Mezcal. This side of the pond, Nobu occupies poll position among the plethora of premium pan-Asian-cum-Latin-American hybrid restaurants that it helped inspire. The restaurant everyone still most likes to namedrop, Nobu has recently opened a hotel and restaurant in Shoreditch, where it debuts its first ever Sunday brunch. Three set menus, priced £45, £55 and £65, all give you access to a tasting menu that includes nine new and signature Nobu dishes, unlimited access to a sushi and sashimi bar, as well as a dessert trolley. If you can suffer Prosecco over Veuve Clicquot, the £55 option will do just fine. The food is superb, particularly the baby corn tempura with yuzu kosho honey aioli, and the grilled skirt steak with honey truffle teriyaki. The sexy, subterranean space, two minutes from Old Street roundabout, is surely one of London’s most Instagramable new social spots (especially the enormous, backlit bar area). It’s fantastic value for money. And I appreciate that it’s a Sunday; it’s just a shame about the elevator music. Sundays, 11am-3pm, 10-50 Willow Street,
NOBU
noburestaurants.com
28
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| NEWS |
Keeping the epicure nourished with the Square Mile’s latest launches and culinary crazes Words: DAVID TAYLOR & RICHARD BROWN
New & noteworthy
sushisamba, ec2 the forerunner in fusion launches a set menu of favourites, writes richard brown
“Every SushiSamba has its own vibe,” says the restaurants’ corporate chef Claudio Cardoso. “They all share the same music, street art and food, but the pace differs between cities – review Miami and Amsterdam are definitely the most relaxed.” SushiSamba London is anything but. Opening on the 37th floor of the Heron Tower in 2012, the buzzy, bamboo-lined, black-and-orange Brazilian-cum-Japanese-cumPeruvian mash-up has become, almost by proxy, the capital’s number one de facto destination restaurant. Yet here’s the rub; if you’re not particularly well versed in the nuances of Nikkei, the fusion-based cartes du jour can be as daunting as the external glass elevators that get you there. What’s the correct number of small plates to order? How many slices of sashimi does that £12 get me? What in God’s name is a tobanyaki? Ordering can be Russian roulette, and leave you with a rather lumpy receipt. So props to Cardoso and colleagues for devising the Omakase offering – essentially a set menu comprising SushiSamba’s most popular plates for people angling after the signature dishes on which the restaurant has built its name. It costs £82 per head – so, still lumpy – and is only served between 11.30am and 7.30pm. It does, however, grant you access to 12 courses, which include lamp chops, wagyu dumplings, a spicy shrimp, squid and sea bass stew, and a shed load of sushi. So what’s the restaurant’s numero uno most popular dish? “The shrimp tempura is one,” says Cardoso. “Along with the green bean tempura, churrasco and ceviche. We sell a lot of sushi, too.” Opt for the Omakase menu and you get to try them all. Omakase menu, £82pp, minimum two people, maximum seven people, sushisamba.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
The Deervastator, Mac & Wild, EC2
Current holder of ‘UK’s Best Burger’, Mac & Wild, has launched its first off-menu item – and it’s a monster. Six patties (three venison and three beef), four layers of candied bacon, three brioche buns, cheese, béarnaise sauce and caramelised onions. Request it, or show an Instagram snap of the burger to order. If you conquer it, there’s a congratulatory Scottish surprise on the house. £22, 9A Devonshire Square, macandwild.com
City Star for La Dame de Pic, EC3
The Michelin Guide 2017/18 has ordained another star for a restaurant in the City, adding to the area’s burgeoning food scene. La Dame de Pic, opened by French superchef Anne-Sophie Pic this year, was awarded a Michelin star in September, giving her a sixth star, and City foodies another reason to celebrate. The City Magazine visited in April, and predicted as much. Congratulations, Mme Pic. 10 Trinity Square, ladamedepiclondon.co.uk
29
[ city social ]
spotlight
Raising the bar American Bar
The Savoy, Strand, WC2
V OTE D
BEST BAR
The American Bar in The Savoy hotel takes IN THE WOLRD its name from the late 19th to early 20th 2017 century, when transatlantic travel was the height of glamour and drinks were mixed American style – as cocktails. The cocktail menu is extensive and varied, following a British coast to coast story. Cocktails start at £16 and go up to £5,000 – make sure you check out the vintage section of the menu. The Savoy Martini and Oysters couples Grey Goose vodka with the Savoy’s bespoke vermouth and martini bitters. The chosen garnish is a caviar-stuffed olive and the drink is served in a Baccarat crystal martini glass with a selection of fresh oysters. The Blue Alpin blends Johnnie Walker Blue Label with Geisha coffee cordial and vermouth and is a homage to Kenneth MacAlpin, the 9th century warrior believed to be the first king of Scotland. Having been a cocktail mainstay for more than 125 years, and recently taken top spot in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2017 awards, there is literally no better bar in which to enjoy your cocktail. fairmont.com/savoy-london/dining/americanbar
Dukes Bar
Dukes London, 35-36 St James’s Place, SW1
This legendary St James’s bar is internationally renowned for its martinis and personalised cocktails. If you want to feel like the quintessential English gent, look no further than Dukes Bar – the timeless luxury and sophistication of this historic hotel bar manages to avoid pretentiousness. Frozen spirits are poured into iced glasses by white-jacketed bar staff and beautifully finished with organic Amalfi lemons (to get the oil from the peel in your drink not the wax). The Signature Dukes Martini or Dukes Bellini is the perfect drink to have on your table. dukeshotel.com/dukesbar
30
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| news |
Whether you’re looking for a post-work tipple or a weekend knees-up, choose from the capital’s best cocktail bars Words: Ruth Frances Beer / Cocktail imagery: Alexander Beer
Holborn Dining Room
Rosewood Hotel, 252 High Holborn, WC1
If you love a G&T, then visit the Holborn Dining Room within the Rosewood Hotel. It has London’s largest selection of gins – 536 and counting – and with perfectly paired tonics, there are over 14,000 possible combinations. The atmosphere is vibrant in this brasserie-style restaurant with two copper-topped bars, red leather seating and reclaimed oak to give an understated yet opulent feel. The staff are on hand to educate and entertain, and the gin bar and a number of tables are kept available for walk-ins. The East India Company version of the G&T is citrussy and spicy with a peppercorn tonic, while Nordes is a floral Spanish grape-based gin paired with a citrussy tonic. holborndiningroom.com
Millie’s Lounge
The Ned, 27 Poultry, EC2
Walking into the vast former banking hall of The Ned, the view of grand high ceilings, marble pillars and rich wood everywhere is quite astounding. There are 3,000 sq m of history, beautifully preserved and restored, with musicians housed in the central plinth adding a special touch. In one corner is Millie’s Lounge, a comfortable, plush British bar. The bar snacks are British classics such as sausage rolls and scotch eggs, but baked Orkney scallops with Dorset nduja is available if you fancy a classier nibble. The refreshing Eastern Standard is a cocktail of Grey Goose, lime, mint and cucumber, and the Nedgroni is a more British version of the Negroni featuring the British Aperitif Kamm & Sons and a touch of rose. thened.com/restaurants/millies-lounge
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Mr Fogg’s Residence
15 Bruton Lane, W1
If you like creative cocktails, this is the place. It’s definitely advisable to book beforehand as this discreet Mayfair bar is a cosy establishment with limited tables. Inside the imaginary explorer Phileas J Fogg’s would-be residence, the décor is all books, birdcages and bicycles, and the eclectic theatrics make for a left-field post-work setting. There are 80 cocktails to choose from, as a nod to Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, but one highlight is The Illusionist – inspired by the USA with a woody, rich and bitter flavour, stirred and the magical element – smoke in the glass. The Emperor’s Honeymoon is a spicy, aromatic Japanese concoction, whisky fusing with ginger, honey and lemon, and served on smoking whisky barrel staves. mr-foggs.com/residence
31
The Iceman Cometh Philip Hughes, ice expert, brings a slice of the Arctic to Christmas By The River, located near Hay’s Galleria, from 30 November – 3 January Words: Bethan Rees
A
n ice bar in Egypt. A full-size ice model of an Audi TT. For Philip Hughes, there is no limit to frozen water’s potential. Hughes is the creative director and producer of Eis Haus, a pop-up ice bar and alpine experience based within shipping containers, which is coming to London’s riverside this festive season as part of Christmas By The River at London Bridge City.
Back in the ’90s, Hughes visited an ice-making factory in Boston, Massachusetts and realised the full potential of ice. After years in the hotel industry, he left to start an ice delivery service, and from here he branched out from this and bought an ice-making machine and a van. He began to create and supply ice sculptures, but these weren’t the standard swan and dolphin figures – these were lifesize palm trees and a three-metre high replica of Tower
32
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| promotion |
thames tipples Espresso Martini made with Mamont Siberian vodka and Heering Coffee Liqueur Eis Haus hot winter cider Mountain-style hot chocolate Jägermeister Heering Cherry Liqueur Eis Haus Planke with four ice shots Pommery Champagne POPs
Bridge. Hughes’ experience in learning, designing and building major ice installations and ice bars around the world led him to his latest venture, Eis Haus. Bringing the après-ski experience to the Thames, located by Hay’s Galleria, Eis Haus is a highly portable, container-based destination bar in a ski resort-style. But this isn’t just any bar. Upon arrival, guests are greeted and escorted through, provided with warm coats and gloves (advisable in temperatures between -5 and -7°c) and served a shot in a glass made from ice. Expect DJs on the decks and artisan drinks flowing, while being surrounded by all many of ice installations, including howling wolves and a giant bear. The main attraction, however, has to be the ice throne. Take a pew, it’s surprisingly not cold, and give the camera your best frosted regal pose.
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
The 260 sq m space includes an outdoor heated area too, where there will be a programme of events running across the five weeks such ice carving and live bands – including a performance on the roof of the containers. Eis Haus is a place to hang out after work, and most certainly on weekends. It would make a perfect date night, too - especially if you opt for the VIP package, which includes Champagne. This urban Alpine-style bar isn’t in town for long. So make sure you head down to Eis Haus before it’s too late, and all the ice has melted. Tickets from £15, 30 November 2017 – 3 January 2018, Eis Haus at Christmas By The River, eishaus.co.uk
33
| news |
[ city social ]
bon viveur
Man-about-town, Innerplace’s Nick Savage, gives you the insider lowdown on London’s most hedonistic haunts
THE CITY’S NEW PRECINCT the Bloomberg Arcade
A
s goes the City, so goes the citizenry. In this case, toward good eating. The latest endeavour revolutionising London’s financial district has been spearheaded by the data, software and media company Bloomberg, which has created a culinary oasis in the pedestrian arcade of its new Innerplace is European headquarters. It London’s personal lifestyle will encompass 3.2 acres concierge. Membership provides between St Paul’s Cathedral complimentary access to the finest and the Bank of England, nightclubs, the best restaurants and top private members’ clubs. Innerplace with 1.1 million sq ft of also offers priority bookings, updates on office and retail space. the latest openings and hosts its own Perhaps more regular parties. chefs and restaurateurs, interestingly, it will also Membership from £50 a month, innerplace.co.uk discovering what works boast an A-list line-up best for them and for of London restaurateurs, Bloomberg for a long time. I’ve including Brigadiers from been writing about food in London since JKS Restaurants (Gymkhana, Trishna, 2004 and I’m lucky enough to dine out Hoppers), Koya, Bleecker Burger, Ahi Poké, several times a week, so I had a good idea of Caravan, Homeslice and Vinoteca. Ahead the kind of places that might be interested, of its launch, I catch up with Bloomberg’s and food writer Nicholas Lander worked on resident food critic Richard Vines, who, the project, too. Between the two of us, we in collaboration with fellow foodie and restaurant adviser Nicholas Lander, helped had London covered. put this project into action. How do you think the Bloomberg Arcade will affect how people view the Is this your first time curating a Square Mile? restaurant project? RV: Yes. I have been a journalist all my RV: A lot of people have misconceptions adult life and never dreamed I would get about the City. I bought a flat here more a chance to do something like this. than 20 years ago and friends warned me that it was dead in the evenings and How did you find the process? at weekends. But the whole area around RV: The building speaks for itself, so the City is buzzing these days and that is we’ve not had to try too hard to attract the starting to spill over into the Square Mile. restaurants. We’ve had discussions with Places like The Ned and Sushisamba help.
FROM TOP Bloomberg Arcade; Vinoteca
How did you choose the restaurants? RV: More than 350,000 people work in the Square Mile across a variety of sectors, not just finance. We want to serve that community and attract new visitors, by introducing
34
restaurants that offer something new and reflect the diversity of London, cuisines from different parts of the world, various styles and different price points. Can you explain how the restaurants reflect Bloomberg’s ethos? RV: You walk into any Bloomberg building in the world and the first thing you come into is a pantry where people are sharing food, and chatting. It’s a hospitable approach to doing business and the Bloomberg Arcade is designed to extend that hospitality. Are there any dishes that you are particularly interested in trying? RV: Indian is my favourite cuisine, so I am especially excited by Brigadiers. It will be an Indian barbecue restaurant and drinking tavern from the owners of Gymkhana and Hoppers. They haven’t finalised the menu yet, but dishes are likely to include kebabs and roasts, and I like the sound of the Lamb Chop Rack Bhuna Masala. I hope that makes the cut. What would be your ideal meal from the Bloomberg Arcade? RV: I’d start with wine and charcuterie at Vinoteca, then head to Brigadiers for some curry and rice, and end up at Caravan for cake. Do you feel a rivalry with The Ned? RV: The Ned has done a great job and is part of the great food revolution that we’re now seeing in the City. Adding more quality restaurants will play an important part in the cultural shift in the area. We believe Bloomberg Arcade will breathe even more life into the City. bloomberg.com
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
La Grade Arche Š 2016 Johan Otto Von Spreckelsen, a signature building of Paris
30 St Mary Axe, a signature building of London
4 World Trade Centre, a signature building of New York
State University of Music and Performing Arts, a signature building of Stuttgart
All great things are alike. They are built on their defining essence. LG SIGNATURE. Delivering state of the art to the most discerning individual.
Find your LG SIGNATURE at www.lg.com/uk/lg-signature
GH.LG.Signature.The_City_Magazine-210x297.09.08.indd 1
09/10/2017 18:09
a p r e c a r i o u s
36
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| feature |
One of the great ancient empires, modern day Egypt has descended into turmoil. Two books look at the mysteries of the country’s past, and try to make sense of its future Words: Jack Watkins and of the Pharaohs, or ailing 21st century basket case? If either, or both, of these aspects of Egypt intrigue you, two very different new books cater for your interest. Robert Springborg’s Egypt is a systematic dissection of a country whose current condition will shock the many who retain a romantic fondness for a land he describes as being, along with China and Iran, “one of the three great empires of antiquity” still surviving today as nation states. Such durability attests to the “special, if not unique, nature of both rulers and ruled,” he adds. Yet the country is now emmeshed in such a downward spiral that it is in danger of becoming another failed state like neighbouring Libya. Its leadership has grown increasingly repressive, once respected state institutions have been allowed to decline, and a growing proportion of the population is sinking into poverty. Springborg, an emeritus professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, California, has held various employment positions in Egypt since 1965 and has witnessed the corruption and decline at first hand. His sharply focused book is another volume in Polity’s Global Politics series, each one looking at an individual “hot spot” nation; others to date include Northern Ireland, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. For Egypt to be included in such company is a measure of its shocking decline. For Egypt, as Springborg tells us, was not only the first modern state to emerge in the Arab world; it was the first to form a unified national Arab consciousness, aided by the bulk of the population concentrating itself along the fertile lands of the Nile, and the country’s position at the junction of two continents (Asia and Africa), and as the gateway to a third (Europe). The comparative absence of the kind of rugged, remote territory which might have sheltered insurrectionists also enabled the state to enforce its authority throughout the land. Egypt flourished long beyond ancient times. When Ibn Battuta, the travelling Moroccan scholar, arrived in the first half of the 14th century, Cairo’s population of 600,000 was 15 times that of London, while Alexandria was the largest port on the Mediterranean. Though often conquered in the intervening years, PHOTOGRAPHY © Mark Lehner, courtesy of Thames & Hudson
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
37
Springborg maintains that the rot only set in after General Nasser’s coup d’état in 1952. The monarch he overthrew, King Faruq, may have been an “ineffective dissolute”, but he still presided over the most developed executive, legislative and judicial institutions in the Arab world, along with a buoyant economy. In place of all this has come a martial republic, the military infiltrating most aspects of the state in a manner akin to the intelligence services in Russia. Despite the outward impressiveness of being able to claim to have the eleventh largest army in the world, just behind those of Germany and Italy, two countries whose GDP per capita is 12 times greater, the failure to give civilians a voice means that democracy seems further away than at any time since the 1750s and Ottoman rule. The current president, Field Marshal Sisi, seems cut from the same dictatorial cloth as the Machiavelli-admiring Nasser, though his policies may be even tougher, and certainly a far cry from the “soft authoritarianism” of Presidents Sadat and Mubarak, who ruled successively between 1970 and 2011, until the latter’s overthrow during the so-called “Arab Spring.” The self-serving interests of the officer elite are having tragic consequences. The inability to refresh brainpower by bringing in expertise from
clockwise from left Protesters demonstrate on the streets of Hurghada, Egypt, on 2 February 2011. ©James A Dawson / Shutterstock.com; Sphinx © Mark Lehner, courtesy of Thames & Hudson; The outskirts of Cairo View from air ©Mike Dotta / Shutterstock.com; Egyptian people protesting in Alexandria, Egypt, on 30 June 2013. ©MidoSemsem / Shutterstock.com
outside their narrow circles is depriving the country of the ability to respond to the challenges and opportunities of globalisation. Egypt’s agriculture was the envy of the colonial world in the 19th century. Not any more. It has ceased to be a net exporter of gas and oil, and income from Suez Canal tanker traffic tolls is stagnant. Tourism, for so long a big contributor to the country’s GDP, has been hit by the region’s political turmoil and terrorism. Tourism revenues fell by 40 per cent in 2014-15 and seem unlikely to recover quickly, a reality underlined by Egypt’s position of 142 among the 164 countries ranked in the 2016 Global Peace Index, maintained by the Institute for Economics and Peace. In his final chapter, Springborg considers how the future might unfold. It says much about the country’s parlous state that, among the possible scenarios he outlines, the one involving total breakdown seems as likely as the more optimistic potential outcomes.
38
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| feature |
You may find yourself wishing to retreat into the mysteries of the ancient past. Giza and the Pyramids is a fittingly slab-sized tome. Its authors, Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, have been involved with the project of writing it for 40 years, longer than it took to build the great Great Pyramid, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world still standing. As with Springborg, their writing gains weight from their long engagement with their subject. Giza’s three giant pyramids are its most famous monuments, though the plateau on which they stand is populated by the remains of a vast number of other constructions, including the Sphinx, a necropolis, chapels and temples, tombs and walls. The plateau has drawn countless generations of not merely archaeologists and historians, but seekers
Egypt, by Robert Springborg, published by Polity (£15.99 paperback)
conceivably facilitated the bringing and moving around of material for the building of the pyramids, with evidence that each one had its own basin containing a docking point or harbour. Yet curiosity about the site remains as strong as it always has been. The Greeks and Romans marvelled at Giza, and even in the first century AD the pyramids were attracting tourists. Napoleon led a French expedition to Egypt in 1798. He visited Giza and entered the Great Pyramid, making his way up to the King’s Chamber, where he asked to be left alone for a time. He is reputed to have been unwilling or unable ever to answer those who asked him what he had experienced. The pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid was Khufu, or Cheops, as the Roman historian Herodotus called him. Sadly, given that the Fourth
Stones were recycled and tombs robbed, while cemeteries were left to sand over of spiritual sustenance, each of them looking for answers to a variety of questions. New Age theorists who attribute the creation of the pyramids to some lost Atlantis-type civilisation, or even to extraterrestrials, receive short shrift from the authors, however. Isn’t trying to uncover the true story of the most advanced culture of its time, they ask, that of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from around 2500 BC, enough? One of the reasons for the often wild speculation about the Giza pyramids is their vast size. How could such an early civilisation have possessed the technology to build so big? But, as the authors remind us, everything is about context. Stick the Empire State Building in the middle of the desert and it would look strange. Studies have shown that the Nile Valley was subject to flooding during the rainy season, creating a series of natural basins. As the locals learnt to control the flow of water, this
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Giza and the Pyramids, by Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, is published by Thames & Hudson (£75 hardback)
Dynasty rulers of ancient Egypt hardly concerned themselves with narrative history, we know little about him. The only known statue is a tiny ivory figurine about 7.6cm high. But his pyramid is the largest in Egypt, covering 5.1 hectares and originally reaching 146m in height (today, without its outer casing, it is 137m). The Great Sphinx is the other widely celebrated monument at Giza. Today it’s a national symbol, endlessly reproduced in motifs, yet when originally carved – in an unknown year – directly from the living limestone rock of its location, it was almost certainly the first statue to have been created with such colossal proportions (72m long and 20m high). It would be a millennium before another was built on such a scale. The authors maintain that the Sphinx was the last major element of the pyramid complex of Khafre, builder of the second pyramid at Giza. They point out that whereas we tend to see the pyramids in isolation, they were just one part of a series of satellite pyramids, temples, courtyards and causeways that played their part in the ritual and pageant of the funeral and burial process. How these came to be built and their functions are explained and illustrated in fascinating detail, though much remains unclear. We can be pardoned our pyramid-centric obsessions, however. The abandonment and destruction of the monuments at Giza had begun by the time of the Middle Kingdom (2nd century BC). Stones were recycled and tombs robbed, while cemeteries were left to sand over. Giza enjoyed a revival under the New Kingdom pharaoh Thutmose III, but the pyramids were quarried for stone under the great Muslim sultan Saladin in the 12th century, and his son launched a concerted, but futile effort to dismantle the third pyramid. The nose of the Sphinx was cut off centuries before Napoleon visited in 1798. Today the pyramids remain a marvel. The authors present us with their story as far as state-of-the-art archaeology allows us to go without destroying their enduring mystique. We can only hope that Egypt itself shows the same stability as its most famous icons.
39
CITY COLLECTION The watch industry lost a prodigy last month with the passing of Mr Roger Dubuis. His legend lives on in the brand’s last collaboration with Lamborghini. The Excalibur Aventador S houses a new calibre inspired by the supercar’s engine. £199,000, rogerdubuis.com
REINVENTING THE WATCH (p.43) ZENITH RETHINKS THE WAY A MECHANICAL WATCH TICKS
A gem of an idea (p.44)
HOW THE tradition of gouache continues to defy the tech ERA
STREET SMART (p.48)
Stephen Webster PARTNERS WITH streetwear label, THAMES
fine mechanical watchmaking, from japan.
Trimatic symbolizes three Seiko inventions that ensure the highest levels of reliability and durability in its mechanical watches.
| collection |
Has Zenith just created the world’s most accurate timepiece? Words: RICHARD BROWN
REINVENTING THE WRISTWATCH
H
ow to future-proof an analogue product in the digital age? While TAG Heuer is pinning its hopes on capturing Generation Z through smartwatches and partnerships with EDM DJs, LVMH stablemate Zenith is looking forward by revisiting the past. The Le Locle-based brand has been working with mathematical physicist Guy Sémon, a one-time jet pilot whose
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
reputation in watches was acquired through a series of specialist precision projects for TAG Heuer. Sémon’s latest innovation does no less than reinvent the way a mechanical watch ticks. Since 1675, when Dutch horologist Christiaan Huygens presented his sprung balance principle to the French Academy of Sciences, mechanical watches have relied on the force of a coiled spring to drive a gear train via a pallet fork and an escape wheel (known collectively as an escapement). Packaged inside the new calibre ZO 342, which finds a home in Zenith’s new Defy Lab series, is a regulating system that does away with an individual balance wheel, hairspring and pallet fork, and instead incorporates some 30 components into a single, circular disc. The Zenith Oscillator, as the component has been coined, measures just 0.5mm thick and, being etched from silicon, is impervious to both magnetic fields and that other great obstacle to accurate timekeeping, friction. The result, says Sémon, is an accuracy to within one second across the calibre’s 70-hour power reserve. If that’s true, the ZO 342 will be the world’s most accurate mechanical movement. Zenith has produced ten, all slightly different, Defy Lab watches, selling them collectively in one, ultimate gift box, reportedly to meet the stipulation of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève –
The result is an accuracy to within one second across the calibre’s 70-hour power reserve colloquially referred to as the ‘Oscars of the watch world’ – which specifies that all entries must have been available for sale. All ten timepieces feature a 44mm case constructed from Aeronith, a new aluminium composite that’s 2.7 times lighter than titanium and, incredibly, ten per cent lighter than carbon fibre. After a three-year hiatus, organisers of Switzerland’s International Chronometry Competition, the industry’s most rigorous independent testing panel, have said that the contest will return for 2018. We might have to wait until then to see if Zenith and Sémon have really rewritten the watchmaking rule book.
43
A GEM OF AN IDEA
As the time-honoured tradition of gouache continues to defy the tech era, discover the craftsmen turning paint and paper into precious jewels Words: Rachael Taylor
This page The Coeurs Enlaces bracelet from the Van Cleef & Arpels Le Secret collection; Right: A to-scale drawing of a necklace from Boucheron’s Hiver Imperial collection
44
If you’re not familiar with gouache, you could be forgiven for thinking it sounds vaguely like an awkward fashion mistake or hearty Hungarian dish. Dig a little deeper and a ravishing world of colour opens up. Gouache is the art of painting in opaque watercolours and was used by masters such as Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec. What is less well known is that bespoke jewellery designers use it to create fabulous pieces. Both the precious jewels and the drawings charting their design are beautiful works of art. Top houses like Boucheron, Dior and Piaget insist on the delicate process which designers have been using to guide craftsmen for centuries. It’s known as a render in the trade and is passed from stone setters to goldsmiths to polishers.
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| COLLECTION |
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
45
“I believe what goes from the head to the hand truly has an emotional influence and there is something about its beauty that moves you from within” Chelsea-based fine jewellery designer Luis Miguel Howard explains: “The process of creating a gouache is quite straightforward, but it is time consuming and requires some skill. “Most are painted on vellum, tracing paper or coloured Ingres paper. Shadows are painted in Chinese ink, metal and stones in washes of gouache of varying intensities, often leaving areas unpainted to give a sense of lightness and delicacy.” Once the jewel has been created, brands will keep the gouache on file, dated and signed by the designer. This will be used in the future for designers to refer back to and also when trying to authenticate a gem. Cartier’s archives include 30,000 sketches that track the history of the brand from its origins in the 19th century. They are kept in pristine conditions in temperature and humidity-controlled rooms. And the gouache is managing to survive modern technology. Although computer programmes can take the place of hand sketches, the finest houses insist on the creation of jewels in paint and ink before gold and diamonds. Chopard artistic director Caroline Scheufele recently unveiled a new series of gouache to celebrate its Silk Road collection. She says: “The process of
46
This page, clockwise from right Conchiglie bracelet in titanium with pearls and gemstones by Giampiero Bodino; Primavera ring with three rubies by Giampiero Bodino; A sapphire, pearl, diamond and enamel cocktail ring from the Hiver Imperial collection by Boucheron
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| COLLECTION |
creating gouache can take from a few hours to several days for the most complex pieces. “It doesn’t have to be 100 per cent accurate – another more technical design will then be made from it and used by the jeweller– but it still has to give the best possible idea of the final piece.” Scheufele relies on her in-house designers, but some jewellery creators prefer to do the work themselves. Giampiero Bodino, art director of luxury brand Richemont, is also the master of his own fine jewellery brand. Passionate about his art, he explains: “I am blessed by being very fast – once I get inspired, the whole process can take less than an hour.” His latest collection, revealed during Paris Couture Week, was a radiant ode to the Mediterranean Sea, with seed pearl shells on bright titanium and azure rolling wave motifs in diamonds and sapphires. He adds: “The high jewellery world is still very much craft oriented, therefore the original handmade drawing must be part of the process, from creation to purchase.”
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
This page, clockwise from TOP Message des Hirondelles necklace from the Le Secret collection by Van Cleef & Arpels; Earrings from the Silk Road collection by Chopard
While the handing over of gouache is a rite of passage at Bodino’s eponymous label, it’s a case of don’t ask, don’t get at other houses such as Chopard. Scheufele says: “We normally keep them for our archives, but if a client wishes to keep it, we would of course gift them with a copy.” In fact, some designers believe that having the original could add up to 20 per cent to the price should the piece go to auction. Jewellery gouache is valuable enough on its own. A collection of 17 Cartier drawings recently fetched £5,000 at auction house Bonhams. Exclusive jeweller Nirav Modi who opened in London last year says: “It is about the entire process – the vision behind it and the creativity, the craftsmanship that goes into making each and every jewel a piece of art. “I believe what goes from the head to the hand truly has an emotional influence and there is something about its beauty that moves you from within.” He adds: “As someone who has always looked up to art and architecture for inspiration, the allure of an actual sketch is certainly a whole lot more [inspiring] than that of a computerised rendering.” It’s good to know that in our tech-dominated world, the traditional method is hard to beat. This year, designer Anna Hu became the first contemporary jeweller to host a solo exhibition at Christie’s. Her art is so enchanting that she often sells jewellery straight from gouache to clients. She says firmly: “It’s a very important process and one that I focus on the most. Often during this stage I’ve got to communicate with my clients and learn more about their personal stories and needs, which always touch me so much. “This is not something that technology could replace.”
47
| collection |
UNDER THE HAMMER
The Art of de Grisogono diamond necklace will tour New York and Dubai before being auctioned at Christie’s in Geneva this November. The largest D colour, flawless diamond ever to come to auction, it weighs 163.41 carats. and is suspended from an elegant emerald and diamond necklace. The Art of de GRISOGONO will be auctioned on 14 November 2017, christies.com, degrisogono.com
jewellery
A street-smart collaboration
British jeweller Stephen Webster has joined forces with Thames, a streetwear label founded by skateboarder Blondey McCoy. The starlike ‘T’ from the Thames logo is a recurring theme throughout the 12-piece capsule collection of pendants, rings and earrings, embellished with diamonds, black onyx and citrine. Thames by Stephen Webster, £340 - £11,000, stephenwebster.com
Words: mhairi graham
Pinky promise
The new Boodles collection of Pinky Rings is a creative play on words, made up of rosy rings for the little finger. Decorative designs are inspired by traditional henna hand-painting and feature butterflies, flowers and swirls, set with white and signature pink diamonds. Pinky Rings from £4,000, boodles.com
Perfect geometry
Chanel’s storied history twinkles in the new Gallery collection, which reinterprets the iconic chain of the 2.55 handbag and the octagonal shape of Place Vendôme, Paris. Elegant, geometric designs in yellow gold are fashioned with diamonds, vivid green tourmaline and malachite for a mesmerising finish. POA, chanel.com
48
COCKTAIL HOUR
Add a burst of colour on dark November nights with a striking cocktail ring by Hirsh London, a fine jeweller renowned for its unique stones and unusual cuts. Rare rubies, sapphires and tourmalines are flanked by diamonds, handcrafted in Mayfair. POA, hirshlondon.com
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
winter fashion monsoon, canada Place
See the latest trends come to life at Canary Wharf’s Winter Fashion Weekend, from 24 - 26 November; watch the fashion shows and make the most of the exclusive discounts
Winter whites Nothing says winter quite like the colour white; incorporate it into your wardrobe this season with some key pieces.
Tie-neck Cosblouse, £89 Hobbs, Canada Place
High-neck dress, £115, COS, Jubilee Place
Frill shirt, £59, Monsoon, Canada Place
Pebbled crossbody bag, £17.99, Mango, Canada Place
Biker jacket, £69.99, Zara, Cabot Place Knitted jumper, £64.95, Massimo Dutti, Cabot Place Selena Grace bag, £375, Coach, Cabot Place
canarywharf.com
@yourcanarywharf
@canarywharflondon
Ankle boots, £315, Sandro Paris, Jubilee Place
metallic mayhem The party season is officially on its way, and there is no time like the present to break away from autmunal colours and brighten up your wardrobe with metallics. Use the exclusive discounts and invest in a statement sparkly dress or some staple accessories. Silver crossbody bag, £65, French Connection, Jubilee Place
Silver backpack, £32, Accessorize, Canada Place
Sequin dress, £260, French Connection, Jubilee Place
Silver sequin dress, £58, Oasis, Jubilee Place
Metallic bag, £150, Karen Millen, Jubilee Place Pleated skirt, £145, Karen Millen, Jubilee Place Satin blazer, £275, Reiss, Jubilee Place Silver boot heel, £225, Karen Millen, Jubilee Place
green with envy Moss green is the colour of the season for men. Its versatility allows it to easily mix and match with other muted tones for a classic autumnal look. Checked shirt, £69.95, Barbour at Waitrose Food, Fashion & Home, Canada Place
Crewneck jumper, £140, GANT, Canada Place
Hooded jacket, £190, The Kooples, Canada Place
Spot print t-shirt, £49, Ted Baker, Canada Place
canarywharf.com
boss, cabot place
Slim-fit chinos, £110, Reiss, Jubilee Place
@yourcanarywharf
@canarywharflondon
ALL I WANT FOR
CHRISTMAS Avoid last minute panic and shop our guide to the luxury gifts youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll wish you could keep yourself
Shine Bright Catherine Best’s handmade fine jewellery is renowned for its use of unusual gemstones. The Antiquity diamond pendant in 18-carat white gold is set with an exceptional 1.5-carat tourmaline from Brazil, and is reminiscent of tropical seas in its azure brilliance. For an even more extravagant offering, opt for the classic Flutterby earrings, which can be bought alongside a matching ring and pendant. £POA, catherinebest.com
Buying Time A gift that offers the chance to relax and unwind during the hectic festive period is sure to go down well, and Rituals has the perfect product combinations, and scents, to fit the bill. The Ritual of Dao’s white lotus and yi yi ren create a sense of calm, while The Ritual of Ayurveda balances body and mind with Indian rose and Himalaya honey. The environmentally-friendly keepsake boxes come in four sizes. From £19.50, rituals.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
53
Tuck In Harvey Nichols food and wine hampers take the hassle out of mixing and matching festive treats. The Buyers’ Picks contains a selection of the newest products on the shelves this year, from artisan gin to coffee, while Party Starter is packed with prosecco and pre-dinner snacks including pepper and chilli mixed olives and duck pâté. Each comes presented in a matt black wicker hamper with leather straps and silver detailing – perfect for future picnics. Hampers from £60, harveynichols.com
Treasure Trove Family-owned jewellers Hancocks has been in business since 1849 and is the expert on vintage pieces, which it showcases alongside its own contemporary collections. Engraved signet rings offer a personal touch, while this pair of 1950s Van Cleef & Arpels diamond earrings, with petals centred on a claw-set round brilliantcut diamond, is a gift to be passed down through the generations. Signet ring, from £775; Gold and diamond ring, £8,500; Earrings, £65,000, hancocks-london.com
54
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
Reinvent the Wheel
For a gift that speaks of contemporary craftsmanship, BOSS has collaborated with luxury toy car maker Playforever. Its Holiday collection features bespoke motoring motifs, which adorn clothing – look out for a satin bomber jacket embroidered with a retro-style race car – and stocking fillers, including key charms, phone covers and wallets. Zipped pouch, £219; Key ring, £89, hugoboss.com
Future Classics
Vintage Art Deco posters can be hard to track down at auction, but Pullman Editions provides a far easier way to adopt the style. It commissions artists to depict the themes of historic automobiles, glamorous holiday resorts and winter sports. Each design – and there are more than 100 to choose from – is signed and numbered, with editions limited to 280, to ensure exclusivity. £395 each, pullmaneditions.com
Raise a Glass
Rémy Martin XO is a mixture of up to 400 eaux-de-vies from the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne vineyards of the Cognac region. Combined by its expert Cellar Master, the velvety blend of candied orange, hazelnuts and cinnamon is a worthy dinner party gift, and the perfect pairing for dark chocolate and parmesan cheese. £134, thewhiskyexchange.com
Ship Shape Viking, Creed’s first major scent launch for men in seven years, takes inspiration from the boldness and ingenuity of the intrepid Scandinavian explorers and their longships. Spicy, gritty peppercorn is warmed by Indian sandalwood and invigorated by Sicilian lemon to evoke a spirit of determination and success in the new year. From £185 for 50ml, creedfragrances.co.uk
Say My Name
You can count on Aspinal of London to make a gift personal, and this year its signature monogramming service ties in with its theatrical-inspired A/W17 collection. Choose either one or two hand-embroidered letters from its golden Aspinal Alphabet to customise an iPhone case in croc, lizard or saffiano leathers. £75 for an iPhone case with one letter, £95 for two letters, only available in store, aspinaloflondon.com
In the Frame It might be winter, but Tom Davies’ exquisitely crafted sunglasses deserve to be on show all year round. The Silver 925 collection couples classic shapes with handmade sterling silver frames, with nine styles to choose from, while lenses come in platinum, 18-carat gold or coloured mirrors. Choose from the ready-to-wear options or a custom made-to-order pair, for a gift no one can match. From £1,300 per pair, from £1,500 for bespoke frames, tdtomdavies.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
57
Queen Bee Only 120 editions of this luxury coffret by Valmont have been produced, as part of its Essence of Bees collection. The lacquered wooden box contains three vials of its Cure Majestueuse antiageing beauty oil, with one housed in an 18-carat gold-plated sheath inspired by the intricacy of honeycomb and the work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. £3,042, available at Urban Retreat at Harrods, harrods.com
Lucky Charm Each Bee Goddess jewellery collection is designed around mythological and talismanic symbols. Fitting for the festive season, the Star Light collection features star shapes set in both 14-carat yellow and rose gold, adorned with white pavé and baguette diamonds. A gift to symbolise hope, guidance and new beginnings for the wearer. Earrings £6,490; Ring, £1,750, harrods.com
58
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Luxury London Discover more covetable Christmas treasures in your curated guide to the festive season on our website...
luxurylondon.co.uk
CARDS AS UNIQUE AS EACH FLAKE OF SNOW
CITY STYLE In 2015, cult ’90s brand Maharishi returned to the mainstream rails with a triumphant return at London Collections: Men. The A/W17 collection is called Members of the Maharishi Mountain. Photography by Alastair Strong
PARTY SEASON (P.62)
STATEMENT WOMENSWEAR FOR THE APPROACHING FESTIVE SEASON
TOMMY HILFIGER (P.76)
THE FASHION MOGUL ON LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM
GET THE BOOT (P.80)
DISCOVER MR PORTER’S URBAN EXPLORER CAPSULE COLLECTION
h 62
i
l
f THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| style |
t o m m y From a small town in New York State, Tommy Hilfiger started a fashion empire that changed the world. His first show in London for 20 years indicates he’s out to reinvent American style once again Words: david taylor
i
g
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Tommy Hilfiger is the American Dream. Born Thomas Jacob Hilfiger in 1951, he grew up in Elmira, New York State – a town whose motto is, rather proudly, ‘A Great Place to Live’. The second of nine children, his father was a watchmaker of DutchGerman descent, and his mother an Irish nurse. He founded his first store, People’s Place, with two friends in 1969 aged 18, doing so with the $150 life savings he’d earned from working at a petrol station. The store was stocked with clothes from New York City, incorporated a record shop, and held rock concerts in the basement. “As a teenager, I was really influenced by rock ’n’ roll artists and the cutting-edge fashions they were wearing,” Hilfiger tells me. “It was impossible to find those styles in Elmira, so I decided to design them myself, inspired by the musicians I loved. “I then opened my first store, People’s Place, where we sold the coolest clothes while blasting our favourite rock tunes. This is when I discovered my passion for designing.” It’s not just rock and roll that has informed the direction of Tommy Hilfiger. The brand’s ability to traverse the preppy, rock and R&B scenes is
e
r 63
unique. The '90s was a particularly rich decade for Hilfiger’s collaboration with the R&B world, with superstar singer Aaliyah becoming the brand’s spokesperson in 1997, and artists as varied as Snoop Dogg, TLC and Destiny’s Child wearing its range (when Snoop wore a Tommy sweatshirt while appearing on Saturday Night Live, stores in New York sold out within a day.) The brand is now worn by the likes of Drake and A$AP Rocky. “Pop culture has influenced my designs throughout my career,” says Hilfiger. “I’ve always embraced change, evolution and innovation – that’s what pop culture is all about. “Staying on the pulse of pop culture has helped to keep our brand relevant generation after generation.” The latest project, TommyNow, is a global fashion roadshow. The first three events (#TOMMYNOW in New York City, TommyLand in LA, and now RockCircus at the Roundhouse in London) have changed the definition of what it means to put on a fashion show. Similarly to the London Palladium events put on by Joshua Kane, TommyNow is more of a set piece than a show; it ended with flying dancers, and a performance by The Chainsmokers, recently employed as the new faces of the brand. As much a spectacle as a chance to look at the new collection, RockCircus had an air of the extravagant, with fashion glitterati mingling with style enthusiasts after the show. Central to the project’s success is the brand’s modern outlook – Tommy Hilfiger was an early adopter in an industry slowly realising and understanding the power of social media. The new campaign’s central star, Gigi Hadid, currently has more than 36 million Instagram followers, and the list of social ‘influencers’ at Tommy’s shows grows with each guest list. RockCircus was also streamed online, and all
“My vision for TommyNow was to create a platform that we could take on tour and bring to new audiences around the world” items on the catwalk were available immediately from the venue and on the brand’s website. Last year’s New York Fashion Week show was the first time Hilfiger had embraced the see-now, buy-now concept. Traffic to tommy.com increased by 900 per cent. “We break conventions,” says Tommy. “We’re always looking for new ways to democratise the runway. The livestream connects us with our global audiences in a powerful way. “My vision for TommyNow was to create a platform that we could take on tour and bring to new audiences around the world. Social media is another fantastic platform, where we can share our inclusive spirit, bring ourselves even closer to our consumers, and introduce our brand to the next generation of fans.” Reinvention is core to the brand, but some things don’t change, one of them being the ‘preppy’ factor of Hilfiger’s collections. Although the latest collection is decidedly ‘rocky’, influences of Ivy League schools and over-the-shoulder sweaters remain. When I ask him whether the preppy style will survive in a future fashion landscape, Hilfiger is enthusiastic: “Fashion is constantly evolving. Our brand DNA is all about adding a fresh twist to classic American cool designs. I love seeing how our fans combine their own style to our modern designs.” It also helps that his clothes are supremely comfortable, something that could be attributed to Hilfiger’s time in India. In a book produced by Assouline, aptly titled Tommy Hilfiger, the man himself details how, towards the beginning of his brand’s expansion in the early ’80s, he would spend time in the factories
64
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| style |
clockwise from far left Model looks from the 2017 RockCircus event at the Roundhouse; the set for RockCircus, Hilfiger’s third TommyNow show; Gigi Hadid takes a moment to relax during the event; Tommy Hilfiger outside his first store, People’s Place, founded in 1969
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
where his clothes were produced, “with my pile of sketches and watch [the clothes] being made, tweaking as I went. There’s no better design school in the world.” RockCircus marked a return to London Fashion Week after a 20-year hiatus, but, says Hilfiger, it is a city that he loves. “London has an amazing fashion and music heritage. I first visited because I wanted to explore the style. I was influenced by the British bands of the time like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who. They had and have a style very different to anyone else.” Hilfiger dressed the Rolling Stones for their 1998 world tour, and was an official sponsor of The Who’s Pete Townshend’s 1993 Psychoderelict tour. His company also became sponsor for artists from varying genres, including Sheryl Crow, Britney Spears and Lenny Kravitz. Besides the glamorous catwalks and exclusive parties, Hilfiger is a serial charity worker, having launched the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, supporting charities that help at-risk young Americans. He and his second wife each have a child on the autistic spectrum, and both are on the board of directors for charity Autism Speaks, with Hilfiger recently designing a T-shirt to support the 2017 Autism Speaks Walk. Hilfiger was also a big name in the campaign to build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., completed in 2011. Indeed, when I ask him who he looks to for inspiration, Hilfiger is unequivocal in his choice: “One of my idols is Martin Luther King, Jr. He was one of the greatest forces for change in American and world history, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for his passion, devotion and what he stood for as a leader.” In the fashion world, he hopes to be a leader himself, in sustainability. After reports on factory workers in Bangladesh found major welfare problems, Tommy Hilfiger’s parent company PVH signed a factory safety pact, and invested money in improving the lives of those making clothes for many Western brands. “It’s our mission to be one of the leading sustainable designer lifestyle brands, and our future success is dependent on bringing sustainable practices into everything we do.” As always, Hilfiger is looking to the future. It’s down to the rest of the fashion world to keep up.
65
Words: David Taylor
Your monthly sartorial meeting
The Style Brief
Ermenegildo Zegna After the success of its ‘Defining Moments’ campaign this summer, Ermenegildo Zegna has returned for a second season. The partnership with Robert De Niro continues, this time in conversation with choreographer and dancer Benjamin Millepied. The Frenchman won critical acclaim for his choreography in Black Swan, in which he also starred. defining-moments.zegna.com
Corduroy’s return
Brunello Cucinelli’s winter collection is described as ‘Sartorial Casual’, with a mix of more relaxed fabrics and highly tailored pieces. One of the best examples is its use of Sea Island corduroy, a cotton grown in the Caribbean, double the length of normal cotton, making it more durable and much finer. brunellocucinelli.com
O l ive r Brown It’s been a good summer for Oliver Brown. The Lower Sloane Street tailor became an Official Licensee to Royal Ascot, and its flagship store expanded to over twice its original size. Now, the brand has introduced a dedicated bespoke and formalwear department in which its in-house, third-generation master tailor, Juan Carlos, can do what he does best. oliverbrown.org.uk
66
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| style |
Mo r ja s Spanish craftsmanship and Swedish aesthetics combine in new shoe brand, Morjas. Founder Henrik Berg grew up in southern Spain, and moved to his mother’s native Sweden, where he hatched a plan to sell direct to consumers, cutting out middlemen – and prices. All shoes are handmade using the Goodyear welt technique and the best hides for maximum comfort. morjas.com
Hardy Amies AW17
Savile Row stalwart Hardy Amies cuts a more modern figure in its A/W17 collection. A lighter, cleaner feel than previous collections, the current range employs wool and cashmere to create more unstructured pieces. Hardy’s military roots are displayed through a restrained colour palette and military detailing. Knitwear is a big part of the collection, signifying the move towards a more relaxed outlook. hardyamies.com
Double Oh Benn To celebrate 50 years of adventures, Turnbull & Asser has collaborated with the creator of Mr Benn, David McKee, to create a limited run of pocket squares. The collection sees the sartorial space-and-time hopper take on the mantle of MI6’s international man of mystery, James Bond. The collection is limited to 100 pieces per design, and is available online and in-store. £75, turnbullandasser.co.uk
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
67
68
1. A spen leather brogue boot, £495, Officine Creative 2. New market Chelsea Boot, £1,090, Edward Green 3. Venezia leather shearling lined boot, £1,800, Berluti 4. Hunter boots with detachable shearling, £525, Grenson 5. Wingtip brogue boot, £900, Thom Browne 6. Toby leather brogue boot, £495, George Cleverley
Words: david taylor
Boot Bonanza
“Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time” – and the boots
| STYLE |
All boots are from the new Urban Explorer capsule collection by Mr Porter, comprising 24 pieces from 15 of the world’s best footwear brands. Find them online at mrporter.com
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
DESIGN YOUR
OWN!
Get Inspired! Create individual furniture designs to fit your space with our 3D Configurator Tool.
www.usm.com
USM U. Schaerer Sons Ltd 49 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 51 Central St London EC1V 8AB 020 7183 3470 info.uk@usm.com
usm_city_magazine_designyourown.indd 1
Home partners: London Aram Store 020 7557 7557 Nottingham Atomic Interiors 0115 965 79 20 Oxford Central Living 01865 311 141 Stockport Innerform 0161 432 4040 Edinburgh Tangram Furnishers 0131 556 6551 Bournemouth So Furniture 01202 757600 Irish Republic OHagan Design +353 1 535 8555
15.08.17 14:15
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Wallet in blingray leather, £210, Richard James, richard-james.com; Link Calibre 5, £2,300, TAG Heuer, tagheuer.com; Elite shaving soap and bowl, £35, Floris, floris.com; Pen, £360, Montblanc, montblanc.com; Shaving set, £38.99, Taylor of Bond Street, tayloroldbondst.co.uk Watch, £4,150, TAG Heuer, as before; Card holder, £145, Richard James, as before Rose gold-plated cufflinks, £195, money clip, £250, Kingsman x Deakin & Francis; Glasses, £325, Kingsman x Cutler and Gross, all mrporter.com
A gentlemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gift guide for the Square Mile squire Photgraphy: Alexander beer Styling: Rebecca cass
Big Bang perpetual calendar watch, £64,500, Hublot, hublot.com
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT AIRCO Mach 2 watch, £2,895, Bremont, bremont.com; Da Vinci perpetual chronograph watch, £26,250, IWC, iwc.com; Grand Complication with self-winding perpetual calendar watch, £72,310, Patek Philippe, patek.com
THIS WATCH Carrera Calibre Heuer 01, £4,150, TAG Heuer, as before RIGHT BE-36AE Solo automatic chronometer watch, £2,895, Bremont, as before
Leather bag with double zip, ÂŁ1,095, Corneliani, corneliani.com; Bruton briefcase, ÂŁ1,490, William & Son, williamandson.com
| xxxx |
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Document case, £980, William & Son, as before; Bleecker backpack, £695, Coach, uk.coach.com; Leather bag, £525, Aspinal of London, aspinaloflondon.com; Rogue brief, £695, Coach, as before
OPPOSITE / CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Aventus for him, £170, Creed, creedfragrances.co.uk; Shirt, £125, tie, £95, Richard James, as before; Glasses, £480, Ralph Lauren, ralphlauren.co.uk; Shirt, £160, tie, £90, Paul Smith, paulsmith.com
THIS PAGE Elite shaving soap and bowl, £35, Floris, as before; Shaving set, £38.99, Taylor of Bond Street, as before
With Christmas fast approaching, the next few weeks become a merry-go-round of merrimaking. Here’s how to pull off a universal yet smart look for the evening, plus how to dress comfortably chic the next day Words: BETHAN REES
The Party A statement red jumpsuit is an easy way to exude elegance, inspired by the ’70s glamour of Farrah Fawcett. Pair this with a mid-heel to avoid any seven-inch heel disasters on the dance floor
1. Ofelia faux fur jacket, £225, Velvet by Graham & Spencer, matchesfashion.com 2. Vic Minaudiere bag, £1,664, Eddie Borgo, eddieborgo.com 3. Satin jumpsuit, £420, Diane Von Furstenberg, net-a-porter.com 4. E mma sandals, £545, Charlotte Olympia, charlotteolympia.com 5. Moonlit Eve earrings, £669, Lapponia, lapponia.com
78
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| STYLE |
The Day After Look like you’re ready to grab the day by the horns, even if you don’t feel like it. The secret is in a comfy but smart pair of trousers, cashmere and dry shampoo
6. Hello cashmere jumper, £295, Chinti & Parker, chintiandparker.com 7. Prêt-à-powder, £23, Bumble and Bumble, bumbleandbumble.co.uk 8. Marl sunglasses, £190, K,ITE, kiteeyewear.com 9. Contrast-striped wide-leg trousers, £420, Serena Bute, matchesfashion.com 10. J ordaan loafer, £450, Gucci, gucci.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
79
| beauty |
Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation
Possibly the most talked about element of Fenty Beauty, the foundation comes in 40 boundarybreaking shades, and there should be a colour-match for all women. The foundation glides onto the skin, diffusing the pores and gives a shine-free finish with a medium to full coverage. Even after a full day’s wear, the oil-free product is still very much visible as it’s humidity-resistant and sweat-proof – perfect for the sticky Tube. However, importantly, it doesn’t feel cake-y, rather light-as-air. If you can’t find your perfect shade, and I’d be surprised, blending two foundations is our top tip. £25, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com /harveynichols.com
Invisimatte Blotting Powder Living and working in the City can lend a certain unwanted shine to our face. Not with Fenty Beauty’s blotting powder, though. It absorbs shine and diffuses the look of pores for an instant filtered look. It’s beautifully light so it doesn’t coat the face, and the translucent powder means it works on any skin tone. £24, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com / harveynichols.com
Killwatt Freestyle Highlighter
The Rih McCoy Rihanna has entered the world of beauty, with an all-encompassing range, Fenty Beauty, for every woman and her skin. Is it worth the hype?
Th e bru sh e s I’d never used a concealer/contour brush before this collection, and now I’d never go back to my old ways. Smoothly tapered, the soft synthetic bristles blend concealer in for the right amount of coverage. The Cheek Hugging Highlight Brush is the perfect companion for the Killawatt highlighters. Portable Contour & Concealer Brush 150, £19, Cheek Hugging Highlight Brush 120, £24, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com / harveynichols.com
For me, this is the hero product of the collection. The highlighter in Trophy Wife gives a warm glow. The metallic gold shade suits every skin tone and its unlike any highlighter I’ve ever used before, it’s the right balance between sparkle and metallic. Brush this across your collar bones for an added shimmer. £26, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com / harveynichols.com
Words: BETHAN REES
80
Ki l l awat t F re e st y l e H i gh l i gh t e r Du o Sweeping on e of th ese hybrid highlight ers across th e top of y our ch eekbon es gives both colour and shimm er, adding anoth er angle and dim ension to th e face. Th e sets com e with tw o cream powders: on e for a subtle day glow, th e oth er for a stat em ent look. You can al so add a glimm er to your eyes. It ’s light yet lasts for th e w hole day – we can t estify. £26, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com / harveynichols.com
Match Stix Shimmer Skinsticks Transform your look from a selection of 10 colourful, playful shades. The Shimmer Skinstick highlights, blushes and enhances the skin, helping the face reflect light and lifting your cheekbones, cupid’s bow and eyebrow bone. The sticks can be blended together to create a custom highlighter too. My favourite, however, is the Unicorn stick – an iridescent purple shimmer that has an otherworldly character. £21, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com / harveynichols.com
Words: bethan rees
best case scenario
Why should accessorising stop at earrings? Express yourself with a statement phone case
| STYLE |
1. B lossom appliquéd iPhone 7 case, £415, Fendi, net-a-porter.com 2. Jungle Bananas iPhone 7/8 case, £45.90, Iphoria, iphoria.com 3. Tian iPhone 6 case, £145, Gucci, gucci.com 4. Pill leather iPhone 7 case, £170, Chaos, chaos.club 5. Cloud iPhone 7 case, £45, Stella McCartney, farfetch.com 6. Embellished appliquéd leather iPhone 7 case, £375, Dolce & Gabbana, net-a-porter.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
81
supercar
Also in this issue
ryan gosling
wars
Hollywood’s lEAdING mAN oN HIs most sIGNIfIcANt rolE yEt
style special
the world’s Best suB-£150K sports cars go head-to-head
INstAGrAm, INfluENcErs, outlEts & Aw17 INspIrAtIoN IN tHE AtlAs mouNtAINs
billionaire
boys’ clubs
is it still possiBle to win the premier league without a super-rich overlord?
made in england
the British watch Brands Beating switzerland at its own game
the last king of africa the tyrannical rule of King mswati iii of swaziland
dubai: the future is now roBocops and supersonic tuBe travel in the araBian desert
THE LATEST ISSUE OF
THE CITY MAGAZINE DELIVERED TO YOUR DESK FOR FREE EMAIL YOUR NAME, ADDRESS & THE COMPANY YOU WORK FOR TO CITYDESK@RWMG.CO.UK
out of office The largest lodge available to rent in Verbier, chalet No.14 comprises 13 en suite bedrooms, a spa, 10m swimming pool, a cinema room and 15 staff. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also this cedar-wood outdoor hot tub. Exclusive rental is available from ÂŁ36,000 for three days. The City Magazine pays a visit on page 110. no14verbier.com
Triumph Street Triple RS (p.84) How does the track-focused roadster fare on regular streets?
Ferrari 488 Spider (p.88)
Behind the wheel of the twin-turbocharged convertible
Jasper Johns (p.92)
a new exhibition details the work of one of the pioneers of Pop Art
The new Street Triple is tasked with maintaining Triumph’s top spot of the super-competitive, mid-capacity roadster segment. Dripping with new technology and showing off a sleek new look, the range-topping RS model is highly trackfocused – so what’s it like on the road? Words: George Chapman
Triple
I
t’s official, riding motorcycles (especially British ones) is cool again – so long as it’s a custom cafe racer, bobber or street tracker, right? Wrong. It’s true that Triumph’s range of updated retro Bonnevilles are flying off the shelves in impressive numbers, but that hasn’t stopped the iconic British brand from injecting new life into its already very lively and very modern Street Triple roadster. Priced similarly to the classic-inspired ‘Bonnie’ range, the lovable Street Triple has been another big success story for Triumph, ever since it arrived in lightweight, 675cc three-cylinder form in 2007. Widely appreciated for its characterful motor, playful road manners, handsome looks and competitive price tag, it’s a recipe that has attracted more than 50,000 buyers worldwide. Ten years later, Triumph’s best selling middleweight has matured into a very complete and modern motorcycle indeed. Featuring revised, more athletic styling and a step up in finish over the outgoing model, the range offers Triumph fans three bikes, each with its own distinct character. Available in standard ‘S’ and slightly-more-performance-focused ‘R’ guises, as per the previous model, the range now also features something a little bit special; the all-new ‘RS’ – billed as ‘the most explosive and adrenaline charged Street Triple ever’. At the heart of the RS is the newly developed 765cc three-cylinder engine found across the range, but here it is tuned to produce a wrist-snapping 121bhp – an impressive 16 per cent increase in power over the outgoing 675 model and only a fraction less than its 1050cc Speed Triple sibling. Peak torque is also
84
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| motoring |
Cooked
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
85
Cementing the engineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s race-bred credentials, it has recently been chosen as the exclusive powerplant for the Moto2 Championship from 2018 onwards, displacing Honda
the vitals
Engine: 765cc three-cylinder weight: 166kg power: 123 PS at 11,700 RPM Tourque: 77 NM at 10,800rpm Price: ÂŁ9,900 OTR 86
| motoring |
up by 13 per cent, delivering 77Nm at 10,800rpm. Admittedly there are more powerful bikes out there, but few in this segment (or sub-£10k price bracket) promise to be as rideable as the track-weaponised RS, which tips the scales at just 166 kg. Cementing the engine’s race-bred credentials, it has recently been chosen as the exclusive powerplant – albeit tuned even higher – for the Moto2 Championship from 2018 onwards, displacing Honda. That’s undoubtedly a very proud achievement for the boys and girls from Hinckley and testament to their engineering brilliance. Keeping that engine’s raucous forward momentum in check are a pair of 41mm Showa Big Piston Forks and enormous Brembo M50 monobloc calipers, which combine to deliver stopping power more akin to that of a slick-shod race bike. At the rear, top-drawer monoshock suspension from Öhlins provides all-day comfort and hugely confidence-inspiring high-speed cornering – this is one seriously capable motorcycle which simply oozes quality wherever you look. The RS’s low weight and all-day-comfy riding position are complemented by a new ride-by-wire throttle which means that even at very low speeds, the RS remains no more challenging to ride than any other Triumph. In fact, this is one of the bike’s most impressive party pieces; apex-hugging race renegade one minute and sophisticated city slicker the next. Even commuting in London’s June heatwave was unable to upset it, or its rider. To experience the RS’s true performance, however, you need to visit a racetrack; where its super-sticky track-focused Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP tyres and built-in lap timer can help you set personal best after personal best. Make no mistake, the RS is stunningly quick and brilliant fun on the road – even if you don’t use its full performance, but so high are its limits,
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
cornering at legal speeds simply doesn’t provide much of a challenge, and that can get frustrating. So instinctive is the RS’s cornering manner, it flatters your riding style and simply fires you up the road without any fuss. Other clues to the RS’s explosive nature include a standard fit quickshifter, which permits clutchless upshifts for lightning changes and a new slip and assist clutch for smooth progress on the way back down the gearbox. If you’ve ever experienced a heartstopping rear wheel lock-up then you’ll know this is a piece of tech well worth having. Thumbing through the customisable options on Triumph’s brilliant digital TFT dashboard is a doddle with the joystick control and it isn’t long before you’ve discovered the RS’s aggressive new ‘Track’ riding mode. Alongside Road, Rain, Sport and Rider Programmable modes, Track tunes the throttle response to the sharpness of a scalpel, setting up the bike’s ABS and traction control for maximum attack. So, unless your surname’s Martin or Fogarty, you’re unlikely to select this most aggressive riding mode anywhere other than on your favourite circuit. Stepping off the RS after a prolonged period of time in the saddle, you generally find yourself feeling completely seduced by its wide spread of talent and utter mastery of grin-inducing riding. The RS is one of those rare bikes that can thrill on track on a Saturday or Sunday but also happily take you to work on Monday. In fact, you could happily tour around Europe on it, visiting and lapping all the best race circuits, it really is that good. There are more charming and singularly focused bikes available and other Triumph riders wearing bubble visors and tan gloves may look at you in your one- or two-piece leathers in disdain. But none of this really matters, because with the RS you’ll be riding one of the very best bikes on sale today. And it’s British!
87
brecon breaker
A gallop through the Welsh countryside gives the Ferrari 488 Spider the chance to really let rip Words: Hugh Francis Anderson
88
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| MOTORING |
n 1947, Italian racing driver, designer and engineer Enzo Ferrari wheeled out the first official Ferrari from his factory in Maranello. Little did he know he was laying the foundations for what would become the pinnacle in supercar performance. Ferrari has captured the imagination of young and old for 70 years, and in the spirit of true Britishness, I was to experience the 21st century Ferrari on a wet spring day, journeying from London to Wales in search of roads suitable enough to unleash the new 488 Spider upon. Out on the open road, the car is all power. Careering along the Black Mountain Pass in the depths of the Brecon Beacons, the unrelenting force of the Ferrari had me on the edge of my seat. Hard on the carbon-ceramic brakes and a quick downshift into second sees me hug the racing line around a slippery hairpin. As the 488 Spider grips, I ease back onto the throttle. The rear tyres let out a squeal as I push the throttle harder. Reaching 3,000 rpm, the valves open further and a raucous growl erupts from the exhausts. I upshift at 5,000 rpm, making my way through the gears as I pummel along a straight on the road. In the distance I can see wild horses roam across the highlands, their attention captured by the prancing horse rushing towards them. Ferrari revealed the 488 Spider last year to universal acclaim. The successor to the 458, the 488 furthers Ferrariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s determination to produce
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
89
outstanding race-tuned machines. With its 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine pumping out an impressive 661bhp, the 488 Spider shows what Ferrari is really capable of. While the unveiling of the new V12 812 Superfast in Geneva earlier this year highlighted the capacity of the naturally aspirated Ferrari engine, the smaller, and altogether beastlier, V8 in the 488 is a lesson in performance engineering. Fitting in a car that takes 90 per cent of its technology directly from Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. The 488 is, in a way, terrifying. You’re at the helm of a highly tuned racing machine, a machine far more capable
90
than the average driver’s ability allows. The car, however, holds itself so well that it never seems in danger of losing control; it toes a fine line, but one that’s never crossed. The rigidity of the model certainly plays a part in this, as the Spider maintains the same structural integrity as the coupé. The sevenspeed gearbox is also designed with the thrill-seeking driver in mind; only the top three gears utilise the full 661bhp potential, which means that if you really want that Ferrari-fuelled adrenaline rush, you have to chase the gears and the power. You’ll also get there incredibly quickly thanks to a throttle response
time of just 0.8 seconds, essentially eliminating turbo lag. Inside, I’m surprised by the 488’s spaciousness. I’m 6ft 6ins and the 488 Spider delivers some of the best legroom I’ve ever had in a ‘supercar’. It’s also extremely comfortable. On the long, tiring drive from London to Wales, and the subsequent six hours spent hurtling around the racetrack-like roads of the Brecon Beacons, I was comfy throughout, lumbar pain, for once, not an issue. The retractable hardtop, which effortlessly hides behind the seats, is a great addition, and certainly worth the £20,000 price increase from the
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| motoring |
The seven-speed gearbox is designed with the thrill-seeking driver in mind; only the top three gears utilise the full 661bhp potential
the vitals
Engine: 3.9-litre, twinturbocharged V8 OUTPUT: 0-62mph: 3.0 seconds top speed: 203mph Price: From £204,400
the legendary 308 GTS. Here, aesthetics merge with engineering; the air-intakes behind the doors, for example, also help to drive air through the rear of the car, pushing the rear tyres hard onto the road for increased traction, offering all the perks of a spoiler without disrupting the aesthetic. The car’s looks change dramatically depending on whether the roof is up or down. In a process that takes only 14 seconds, you gracefully transition between two cars. An impressive feat. Seven decades since Ferrari’s first model, Maranello continues to produce exquisite supercars. There’s something about them that people will always love. The 488 Spider shows how far technology has improved, but what’s more remarkable is how it maintains a 70-year-old charm; there will likely never be a day when the 488 Spider passes you by unnoticed.
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
photography by Patrick Tillard
coupé. There’s something about driving a Ferrari with the roof down that just feels right. Although I imagine cruising through the Tuscan hills as the Italian sun warms my skin, the reality is rainheavy clouds perched low in the sky over the frozen Welsh countryside. It doesn’t matter: regardless of where you are, the convertible makes the entire process more sensory. The smells, the sounds, the speed; it all becomes real. It would be improper to discuss a Ferrari and not linger on design. Of course, it goes without saying that the 488 Spider is a stunning machine, and you can see that inspiration has been taken from
91
A new exhibition explores the work of an oft-neglected pioneer of Pop Art, Jasper Johns Words: Rob Crossan
I
t may sound trite in 2017, but Jasper Johns caused an immense stir in the art scene of the early 1950s when he decided to form a literal answer to what had, at that point, become a highly existential question. Namely, what shall I paint? It was considered a humdinger, an unanswerable, by the Abstract Expressionists who, in the immediate post-war era dominated the metanarrative of western contemporary art. Rothko, de Kooning, Pollock and their peers had abandoned the principle of artist and subject in favour of something infinitely more inchoate. Rotho’s coloured blocks, Pollock’s paint splatters; all were adventures that dispensed with the traditional notion of there being an even remotely distinct relation to a subject or object. Perhaps, the art world thought, there was no turning back to the idea of painting an object ever again. And then came some beer cans and the Stars and Stripes. In his first major retrospective in Britain this century, the Royal Academy has opted for an impressively comprehensive sweep of over 150 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints by the South Carolinian-raised artist who, in his debut solo show back in 1958, brought art fully back into contact with the world and challenged the art industry to question anew what was acceptable to be put in a gallery or on a wall at all.
Johns’ Three Flags (loaned from the Whitney in New York for this show) is a much lauded example which, over half a century on, can’t help but still resonate with its cool emotional detachment. First displayed in that debut New York show at the Leo Castelli gallery, the trio of Star Spangled Banners, each smaller than the other and displayed in layers, is an encaustic painting (it uses heated beeswax) that here creates an uneven, almost rippling texture. What was Johns doing here? Showing us the absurdity of traditional conceptions of what should be
this page, from l-r Summer (1985), by Jasper Johns. Encaustic on canvas, 190.5 x 127cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017. © 2017. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York / Scala, Florence; Between the Clock and the Bed (1981), by Jasper Johns. Oil on canvas. 182.9 x 320.7cm. Collection of the artist © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg © The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, 2017 opposite page Target (1961), by Jasper Johns. Encaustic and collage on canvas. 167.6 x 167.6cm. The Art Institute of Chicago © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London. Photo: © 2017. The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY / Scala, Florence
92
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| art |
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
93
Gone are the doomed, inward-looking
considered art? Or proving to us, through his ability to paint ‘readymade’ objects with traditional methods, that the mundane can also be monumental? Gone are the doomed, inward-looking portents of the Abstract Expressionists. Gone are any explorations of an artist’s psyche. Here, Johns seems to be saying, is something that I had no part in creating. The consumer has arrived. And, in among his flags and his later beer cans, coffee tins and lettering that looks more suited to the boxes of flat pack furniture, Pop Art in its earliest form arrived. It was the kind of solo debut show that every young artist can only dare to dream of. Johns had only been in New York for five years, following a stint as a soldier in the Korean War and a job in the Big Apple as a night clerk in a bookstore. He sold three of his paintings in that 1958 show to Alfred Barr, founding director of the New York Museum of Modern Art. Catapulted into a world where he could count the likes of avant-garde composer John Cage and acclaimed choreographer Merce Cunningham as his friends, Johns was now one of the most exciting young talents in the Manhattan scene – though one who, perhaps inevitably, encountered a good deal of criticism. “Somebody told me that Bill de Kooning [one of the leading Abstract Expressionists] said that you could give that son of a bitch two beer cans and he could sell them,” said Johns, when asked how perhaps his second most famous work after Three Flags came into being. “I thought, what a wonderful idea for a sculpture.” The result, Ale Cans, is exactly that. Two cans of Ballantine beer, beautifully cast in patinated bronze, the labels
94
SEE THE WORKs
Jasper johns: SOmething resembling truth
Until 10 December 2017 Royal Academy Burlington House, W1J, royalacademy.org.uk
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| art |
portents of the Abstract Expressionists
meticulously hand-painted, there is a genuine sculptural quality to these twin cylinders, despite looking so close to their source as to almost preclude the possibility of their being art at all. “Johns’ search word was impersonality,” wrote art critic Harold Rosenberg in 1977. “Johns strove for a condition of meta-physical aloofness akin to a quasi-religious asceticism.” Rosenberg, perhaps America’s most influential art critic at the time and a supporter of the abstract expressionists that Johns’ work was fast rendering old hat, wasn’t stating these remarks in a particularly complimentary context. Yet, Johns was to prove no one-act wonder. Now 87, and based in rural Connecticut, Johns continues to create
and this show spends ample time with his work post-Pop Art explosion. The exhibition explores almost all his oft-radical, changes in style. From appearing to ape the splashy work of his supposed nemesis de Kooning in the late 1950s to his series of morbidly dark paintings in the early 1960s (just as Warhol’s factory, partly inspired by Johns was cranking into gear) to his predominantly abstract flagstone and hatchmark paintings in the 1970s, Johns seems to relish in deliberately changing direction and confounding expectation, just when the art world thinks they have a handle on him. It has been only comparatively recently that the recognisable forms that characterised his Pop Art heyday have returned, in the form of the actual knives and forks attached to the picture frames and three-dimensional casts of body parts in his 1979 Tantric Detail series. The mid-Noughties saw him back to painting pictures of flagstones again. Just when you think you’ve grasped Johns, he wriggles away again. A reluctant interviewee, Johns, in his rare engagements with journalists, tends to be happy to talk about how a work was created but seldom talks about the meaning behind it. His inscrutability, as he approaches his tenth decade, is unlikely to be lifted by the promise of new work to be debuted this autumn at the show. This exhibition may be an overview that gives us the full oeuvre of Johns’ career as seldom seen before in one place. But it doesn’t seem to matter how much time you spend gazing at his creations, the continued sense of never really knowing anything of the man behind the myriad shocks and glories of Pop Art seems destined to remain stubbornly intact.
opposite page, from top Painting with Two Balls (1960), Jasper Johns. Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects (three panels). 165.1 x 137.5 cm. Collection of the artist © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg © The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, 2017; Untitled (1992–4), by Jasper Johns. Encaustic on canvas. 199.4 x 300.7cm. The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017 this page, from top Flag (1958), by Jasper Johns. Encaustic on canvas. 105.1 x 154.9cm. Private collection © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg © The Wildenstein Plattner Institute, 2017; 0 Through 9 (1960) by Jasper Johns. Charcoal on paper. 73 x 58cm. Collection of the artist © Jasper Johns / VAGA, New York / DACS, London 2017. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg / Professional Graphics Inc., Rockford, IL
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
95
TO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT www.luxurylondon.co.uk
@luxurylondonofficial
@luxurylondonofficial
@theofficialll
Horse racing over icy Alpine lakes, mountainconquering in Yukon, and our guide to the world’s best slopes, chalets and après-ski style. Welcome to the high life…
The slope report:
The Alps
The latest from Europe’s most expansive mountain range
Renaissance aman
Aman Le Mélézin is reopening this December with a makeover, unveiling a new 767 sq m spa, inlcuding five treatment rooms and an authentic stone hammam. Also, a new culinary concept is being introduced: Nama, a finely crafted Japanese restaurant. Drawing on the Japanese tradition of washoku – an experience that translates to harmony in food – the menu will comprise of dishes such as wagyu beef and otoro tuna, plus a selection of warming ramen dishes. From £981 per night, aman.com
sEASONAL ARRIVAL
Four Seasons has opened its first mountain destination in Europe. A modern interpretation of the traditional alpine resort, Four Seasons Hotel Megève has direct access to the Mont d’Arbois slopes, and the two Michelin-starred Le 1920 restaurant will help to ease the physical endurance of the snow. From £550, room only, fourseasons.com/megeve
uP, up, AND AWAY
From 27 January – 4 February 2018, head to Château-d’Oex in the Vaudois Alps, Switzerland, to watch nearly 100 hot air balloons from around the world float through the sky, for the 40th Hot Air Balloon Festival. The colourful nine-day event includes a night-time show too, where 20 balloons light up the sky for a special performance, as well as a dedicated kids’ day on 31 January. chateau-doex.ch
98
LOVE IS IN THE AIR
The Couples Package at the Alpina Gstaad is a two-night break that includes a private helicopter flight to a restaurant in Glacier 3000. This comes with an optional added tour around the Matterhorn, plus a 90-minute couples’ hammam treat in the hotel’s Six Senses Spa. The package also includes use of the in-house cinema one evening, popcorn and drinks. From £4,015 for two nights, thealpinagstaad.ch
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
ITALIAN JOB
The luxury arm of the Marriott International portfolio has opened hotel in the Italian Dolomites, called Cristallo Resort & Spa. The hotel originally opened in 1901, and has a storied history that includes hosting the Winter Olympics, film crews such as The Pink Panther, and celebrities such as Frank Sinatra. Who will you spot this year? From £285 per night, cristallo.it
Lucky number severin*s
Severin*s in Lech am Alberg, Austria has nine ‘super suites’ with sweeping terraces and views of the snowy peaks, each with a fireplace, but those looking for something more private should opt for the four-bedroom Private Residence. With a home cinema, grand piano, an office and an al fresco hot tub, you can really make yourself at home. From £615 per night, severins-lech.at
At the CHEDI
The Chedi Andermatt is offering a Warm Up in Style package, as this area is one of the first in Switzerland to open for the winter ski season. The package includes two nights in a deluxe suite, a two-day ski pass for the SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun, plus a special warm-up stretching class to prepare you for the slopes. The last dates available for the package are 1-3 December, so get booking. From £629 per person, thechediandermatt.com
red runner
Glacier 3000, the only skiable glacier in the Bernese Oberland, is home to a brand new red run piste. Construction of this impressive downhill run at the foot of the Oldenhorn, near Gstaad, is 8km in length and at 1,918m above sea level. The new piste will run from the Scex Rouge mountain station at 3,000m to Oldenegg. glacier3000.ch
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
99
The slope report:
Rest of the World News from resorts around the globe, from Scotland to Azerbaijan
Help glencoe
Glencoe Mountain Resort in Scotland has launched a crowdfunding campaign, to enable it to guarantee the best snow conditions throughout the winter. Last year, Glencoe was only open for 32 days’ skiing, the worst season on record so far. The resort is hoping to achieve improved conditions with a TechnoAlpin snow factory. For more information, visit pledgesports.org
Steady as a rock
Rock climbing, ice-climbing and snow-shoeing, lift-assisted back-country skiing in the Canadian Rockies? Teaming up with Yamnuska Mountain Adventures, the hotel Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise has created a package that combines both the luxury comfort of the property and the expert organisation from the adventure team. In these explorations, all technical gear is provided and all skill levels are welcome. The package includes four nights’ accommodation. £1,255 for a single participant, £2,150 for two participants sharing one room, fairmont.com
100
Chilly in chile
Want to ski down a volcano? Pucón is the adventure capital of Chile, where travellers can ski down the active Villarrica Volcano, in one of the world’s most active craters. The natural terrain is popular with both skiers and snowboarders due to its steep pitches and cornice drops. skiarpa.com
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Land of ice
From working sheep farm to ultimate Icelandic retreat, Deplar Farm in the remote Troll Peninsula has been transformed. From March until the end of May, guests can enjoy heli-skiing and take advantage of Iceland’s extended sunlight hours. The farm has 13 king rooms and a bunk room, with a maximum capacity of 28 guests, an extensive wellness area, and two helicopter pads. From £2,162 per person per night (minimum four nights), elevenexperience.com
Crystal Clear
Crystal Ski Holidays has added two Swedish destinations to its 2017-18 programme – Åre and Vemdalen. Swedish mountains may not be as high, but due to their proximity to the Arctic Circle, they get a good amount of snow from December through to May. Sweden is an emerging ski destination, which works in your favour as its pistes and skis aren’t overcrowded… yet. crystalski.co.uk
The Green Leaf
Emerging ski destination
Could Azerbaijan be the next big place for skiing? Shahdag Mountain Resort is the first and largest resort in the country, and it has a beautiful vantage point at almost 2,500m above sea level – the area is known for its untouched flora and fauna. The Park Chalet hotel sits in the shadow of the Caucasus Mountains and is the perfect spot to stay in while exploring the perhaps unknown slope. From £100 per night (for Stay&Ski Package), parkchaletshahdag.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Niseko Village is an allseason ski and mountain destination in Hokkaido, Japan and at the heart of the resort is The Green Leaf hotel. This year it’s offering guests the perfect way to unwind. The hotel’s guests will have exclusive access to a choice of two onsen – or Japanese hot springs, located within the village. However, if you don’t fancy venturing from the hotel, the outdoor thermal pool at The Green Leaf has natural, mineral rich waters, heated to 30°c. From £95, thegreenleafhotel.com
101
Give Yourself a Lift Flights bought, chalet booked, lift pass purchased. Time to turn your attention to the style essentials
102
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
1. Basic 2017/2018 snowboard, £345, Yes Snowboards, ellis-brigham.com 2. Turn-up wool-blend beanie, £95, Y-3, matchesfashion.com 3. Tracker leather boots, £805, Gucci, gucci.com 4. Glacier 1957 sunglasses, £455, Vuarnet, vuarnet.com 5. Pascal jacket, £1,065, Moncler, moncler.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
103
Moving Mountains Championship-winning freeride skier Sam Smoothy, shot by acclaimed action photographer Nic Alegre, skies down what is known as the ‘freight train zone’ in the Neacola Mountains, Alaska. Snow-heavy terrain and life-threatening exposure made this an extremely risky descent for Smoothy. Alegre, you wouldn’t guess, is relatively new to professional photography, though he’s making a mighty impression, working with brands including The North Face and Red Bull. nicalegre.com
104
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
105
106
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Shredding the Rulebook Two snowboarders ascend a hill deep in the Saint Elias Mountains, a remote range at the intersection of Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon. Athletes Sam Anthamatten, Ralph Backtstrom and Hadley Hammer took part in The North Faceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three-part adventure series, which sees them ride the spines of the Tsirku Glacier. The project was partly to test gear from The North Faceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Steep Series, some serious kit enabling big-mountain skiers and snowboarders to push further into backcountry than ever before. thenorthface.com
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
107
Staying Slopeside Europe’s leading super chalets, where your own nightclub and in-house cinema come as standard
Chalet Edelweiss
Covering over 3,000 sq m across seven floors is Chalet Edelweiss. The basement level is home to a spa, with treatment rooms, a swimming pool, a hammam and sauna. Once you’ve finished relaxing, head up one level to the nightclub that can fit 100 people, with a DJ booth, dance floor and bar. oxfordski.com
where Courchevel, france
sleeps 16
cost per week from £70,555 (£4,410 pp)
chalet grace
This chalet boasts uninterrupted views of Zermatt below and the Matterhorn towering above, making the views through the three levels of floor-to-ceiling windows and south-facing terraces simply jaw-dropping. Plus, it has a ski-boot warming room too. inspiringtravelcompany.co.uk
where Zermatt, Switzerland
sleeps 12
cost per week from £40,790 (£3,399 pp)
Chalet Brioche
A wealth of carved wood and a south-facing sun terrace with a hot tub make Chalet Brioche an attractive offering. This is a classic Alpine chocolate box chalet, with a contemporary twist. skisolutions.com
Photography by Frenchie Cristogati
where mÉribel, france
108
sleeps 9
cost per week from £9,405 (£1,045 pp)
chalet KOMANI
Not your typical chalet style, this modern, Scandi-like property is beautifully designed with stripped-back wood, ’70s-style armchairs and candles galore. It feels as if it’s jumped straight off the pages of a design magazine. lecollectionist.com
where Saint-Martin-deBelleville, France
sleeps 10
cost per week from £3,311. (£331 pp)
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Chalet Granit
With an extensive wine cellar, a games room and an outdoor hot tub, this is essentially an adult’s playground. Located within the hamlet of Les Rives d’Argentière, you can hire the entire hamlet for large parties too. lesrivesdargentiere.com
where cHAMONIX, FRANCE
sleeps 10
cost per week FROM £3,000 (£300 pp)
Chalet merlo
The chalet also comes with a dedicated team consisting of a professional chef, host and a chauffeur to ensure a seamless visit. Guests can enjoy afternoon tea and cakes, Champagne and canapés, evening meals with sommelierselected wines, with no stress at all. premiere-neige.com
where Sainte-FoyTarentaise, France
sleeps 12
cost per week from £10,000 (£833 pp)
CHalet n
Chalet N claims to be the largest and most impressive luxury chalet in Austria, perhaps even across the Alps. The chalet is fully catered with private chef and butler, has a spa and wellness area with Finnish sauna and salt cave steam bath, plus a private cinema and a limousine and helicopter airport service. oxfordski.com
where Lech, austria
sleeps cost per week 16 From £264,325 (+ four children) (£16,520 pp)
CHALET 1936
Traditional chalet details of antique wood beams and oak flooring are married with bespoke contemporary features such as a cinema room, a modern fitness suite and a games room at Chalet 1936, which sits on the tip of the famous Verbier plateau. hautemontagne.com
where Verbier, Switzerland
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
sleeps 14
cost per week from £44,229 (£3,160 pp)
109
S
WI
ND
VERBIER
TZERLA
Verbier en Vogue Verbier has always existed as one of the more inconspicuous of Switzerland’s glitzy ski resorts, a magnet for discreet money and serious skiers. Yet a series of VIP openings and a large-scale hotel put that status under threat. So, has the village managed to cling on to its chocolate-box charm? WORDS: Richard Brown
S
hout 'Verbier' in a ski-themed game of word association and it will likely trigger one of several connections. ‘Pricey’ and ‘posh’ the most probable. There’s the infamous The Farm night club. Then the celebrity associations. Pick from Sir Richard Branson, Ian Fleming, James Blunt and former chalet girl Fergie (that’s the ex-Duchess of York, not she of the Black Eyed Peas). Princes Harry and William have been photographed here, as has the Duchess of Cambridge.
110
Of Switzerland’s grand ski resorts – that’s Gstaad, St Moritz, Saas-Fee and Zermatt – none has managed to cultivate such a strong, distinguished, supposed identity. Verbier is Sloanes, VIP chalets and upmarket après-ski. A snowy St Tropez. So when we arrived at Le Farinet Lounge – a bunker nightclub where Pixie Lott and model beau Oliver Cheshire had toasted New Year’s Eve just three weeks earlier – we were somewhat surprised by the motley crew strung out along the bar. Twenty-
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Altitude 1,500m to 3,330m
lifts 93 across the entire four valleys
Pistes 39% blue, 49% red, 25% black
Snowmaking 13%
Six-day lift pass £282
opposite page No.14 Verbier; the view from Mont Fort this page, from top The outdoor terrace, swimming pool and canapés served at No.14 Verbier
somethings still in their salopetes mostly, with a splattering of silver foxes and the odd couple who, like us, were done up in nothing more glamorous than jeans and a fleece. We ordered two pints of lager, at a liveable CHF16 (£12), took a seat, surveyed the scene and got speaking to a Swiss chap employed in crisis management. It was as he regaled us with stories of the Russian Olympic committee and a Saudi prince embroiled in torture accusations that I clocked his watch – a Richard Mille.
Several recent ventures have launched with high-rollers in their crosshairs Now, you don’t see many Richard Mille wristwatches. Prices start around £60K and gallop to more than £1.5 million. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is a client. So too are celebrity venture capitalist Tom Perkins, Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault and Juan Carlos I – the former King of Spain. Who run this world? People who wear Richard Mille wristwatches. Le Farinet, as we found out, served as a microcosm of modern-day Verbier. While the village evidently continues to attract Europe’s rainmakers and money men, it’s a fairly inclusive resort. It’s far younger for one thing. As one of the world’s leading off-piste destinations, Verbier attracts the type of dreadlocked professional skiers and snowboarders
that front campaigns for the likes of Burton and The North Face. Its bars and pubs are kept alive by a growing number of seasonaires serving an increasing number of chalets. Nor is everywhere stratospherically expensive. While several recent ventures have launched with high-rollers in their crosshairs – see Richard Branson’s überchalet The Lodge, minimalistic-chic hotel Nevaï, chichi private members’ nightspot Coco Club, and bolthole for the fashionable W Verbier (which, somehow, was named the World’s Best Ski Hotel at the 2016 World Ski Awards – Nb. it isn’t) – there are still plenty of pubs, bars and restaurants trading at the sensible end of the price spectrum. Le Rouge and Pub Mont Fort are the best for in-your-boots après-ski.
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
111
David Pearson has been running luxury chalets in Verbier for 25 years. While he concedes that the resort has changed, he says that development has not cost Verbier its vibe. “Hundreds of new chalets have been built, but they are beautifully constructed and all are less than three storeys above ground level. The heart of the village hasn’t changed at all, except of course for many refurbishments to shops, restaurants, hotels and chalets. Architecturally, Verbier is still one of the prettiest resorts.” Apart from its village charm, what else made Pearson set up shop in Verbier? “There are many fantastic ski resorts in Europe, yet very few tick all the boxes. Even with what I consider the top ten resorts, there is usually a flaw somewhere. Verbier has it all – extensive skiing, a good snow record, a superb lift system and close proximity to two airports, Geneva and Sion.” Having grown up with catering chalet holidays, Pearson, a trained chef with a business degree, believed he could do the whole concept better, “from product through to service.” Chalet No.14 is the product of that ambition.
The Chalet
That No.14 opened in 2011 with Daniel Cox as its head chef signalled the scale of Pearson’s aspirations. Cox had won the prestigious Roux Scholarship three years previously and had subsequently cut his teeth at three-Michelin-starred restaurants The Fat Duck, El Racó de Can Fabes in Barcelona and New York’s Per Se. Formerly a mid-tier hotel, No.14’s suave refit was thanks to Swiss architect Patrice Coupy and several million quid. Custom-
112
made fittings came courtesy of London furniture-maker Ben Whistler, while Fiona Barratt is responsible for the resplendent interiors. (Both Coupy and Barratt worked on Branson’s nearby The Lodge). Sleeping 26 across three suites and ten en-suite bedrooms, No.14 is
Verbier’s largest chalet available to rent – regularly hired by corporate clients, and occasionally by A-list celebs. A 10-metre indoor swimming pool, bunker cinema, Jacuzzi, steam room, plunge pool and an outdoor cedar-wood hot tub arguably make it Verbier’s most luxurious lodgings, too. Where No.14 really blazes a trail, though, is with its food. Super chalets, like superyachts, now trade off the credentials of their feted head chefs. Replacing Cox is James Duckworth, who, as an alumnus of Fera at Claridges, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and L’Enclume in Cumbria, boasts a résumé equally replete in Michelin stars. Staying at No.14 is like living in a fivestar boutique hotel above a particularly
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
opposite page Looking down at Verbier village ; a hot tub at No.14 this page One of Verbier’s many snow canons
intimate fine-dining restaurant. Food is varied and adaptable to your taste. Steak one night was followed by sushi the next. Given that we were wolfing it down at the top of a mountain in landlocked Switzerland, its freshness was testament to the talent of the kitchen (and surely the chalet’s suppliers, too). Shout out for the caipirinhas, also. It’s not often you can find a decent bottle of cachaça in a ski resort.
The Skiing
Plaudits to the imaginative capitalists who began developing Verbier around 1925 – despite its rustic charm, the resort is purpose-built – they settled on an Alpine sweet spot where sun, snow and
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
across-the-board skiing overlap. South facing, Verbier gets its fair share of sun. Good snow is almost a given thanks to runs that snake from 1,500m to 3,330m, the lower of which are peppered with snow-making machines. The resort is surrounded by three great mountains, Les Attelas, Mont Gelé and the 3,330m Mont Fort, the latter providing one of the most spectacular views in the Alps. Behold the Matterhorn to Mont Blanc. As the gateway to Switzerland’s Four Vallées, Verbier affords access to Europe’s second largest ski area (only France’s Three Vallées is larger). Between them, Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, La Tzoumaz and Thyon total 412km of marked runs served by almost 100 lifts. They open late November and continue until the beginning of May. Verbier is famed for its off-piste skiing. The descent from the Col des Gentianes to Tortin is rumoured to be the longest, most sustained, mogul run in Europe. Tortin itself is a bumpy, shaded descent considered to be most difficult in the whole of the Four Vallées (and “one of the world’s top ten ski runs,”
according to the Daily Telegraph). If you’ve got the knees for it, it’s possible to ski from the top of Mont Fort to the bottom lift at Le Châble – a vertical descent of more than 2,500 metres.
WHERE TO STAY
A seven-night stay at No.14 Verbier costs from £58,000 based on an exclusive basis, sleeping 26 people (£2,230 per person). There is also a three-night stay available from 18-21 February at a discounted price of £27,900 (£1073 per person). One week in January is being sold on a roomby-room basis. Individual rooms are available from 14-18 January 2018 from £2,400 per room for four nights. 01608 674217, no14verbier.com.
GETTING THERE
Powdair, a brand new airline connecting eight European airports with its base in Sion, will begin flying from London City and London Southend from 14 December 2017. Sion is only a 50-minute transfer from Verbier. Prices start at £125 oneway, and include 23kg hold baggage allowance, free ski and snowboard carriage and a complimentary onboard drink and snack. Prices are discounted for children under 16, and flights are free for infants under two. Frequent flyers can benefit from discounted rates. powdair.ski
113
ND
S
WI
. MORIT Z
ST
TZERLA
Thrills and Spills The wealth on display in the glitzy Swiss ski resort of St Moritz isn’t the limit of the extremes available WORDS: Chris Allsop
D
on’t believe what you hear about St Moritz. I understood the Swiss resort to be a cushy playground for jet-set poseurs unwilling to muss their hair by actually skiing, but now I was standing behind a horse about to ‘skijor’ – essentially water-skiing on land with a horse instead of a boat, pulling you forward.
114
“Try to steer to the right of the horse,” says my instructor, “to avoid any collisions.” He makes a face. The horse whinnies, the rope jerks, and we’re away. Midday drinkers encamped at the nearby pop-up bar rouse themselves to enjoy the sport. This horsing around is de rigueur in St Moritz, where the sport of skeleton grew
out of testosterone-charged Brits riding tea trays down the town’s frozen lanes. It’s actually the original Alpine winter resort, a concept seeded in 1864 when hipsterbearded pioneering hotelier Johannes Badrutt made a bet with his aristo English guests departing at the end of the summer season. “Return at Christmas and stay
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Altitude 1,731m to 3,303m
lifts 56
Pistes 20% blue, 70% red, 10% black
Snowmaking 80%
Six-day lift pass £290
opposite page Kulm Country Club at Kulm Hotel, ©Nigel Young this page, from top The entrance at Kulm Hotel; view of grandstand at Kulm Country Club, ©Nigel Young
until Easter,” he reportedly said. “If you don’t find St Moritz as sunny in winter as it is in summer, I’ll pay your travel costs and put you up.” The valley’s abundance of sunny days has, ever since, featured prominently in St Moritz’s brand identity. Indeed, the resort’s logo, hung liberally around its hilly streets, is of a beneficent beaming sun, and wouldn’t look out of place on a Greek islands ferry company letterhead. Add Swiss landscape perfection to the formula, and you see that canny Badrutt knew that the only person making bank all those winters ago would be him. Positioned in the Upper Engadine valley at a breathless altitude of 1,856m, the resort of St Moritz comprises three villages – St Moritz-Dorf, St Moritz-Bad, and Celerina – positioned around Lake St Moritz, one of a series of small bodies of water enchained between the broad peaks. The frozen lake isn’t only a focal point for the panoramic windows of the best hotel rooms; since 1906, it’s been the site for a series of sports events that have cemented St Moritz’s upper class appeal. The most prominent of these is White Turf – an annual horse race, set over three weekends in February, that involves having the animals fitted with specially spiked horseshoes to allow them to charge over the lake ice. The befurred jet set sink oysters and Champagne in the sub-zero conditions, while enjoying a flutter on the various disciplines (this includes skijoring at terrifying speeds behind unsaddled thoroughbreds). While it’s fair to say that plenty of visitors to St Moritz do take to the slopes, the resort’s reputation as a high-altitude people-watching paradise is well deserved. Its appeal to the very wealthy has its roots in the first English toffs lured back by Badrutt’s
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
bet. More of the British upper classes followed, and in their wake came European royalty – Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II– followed by celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot, Gunter Sachs (who founded the infamous St Moritz nightclub, Dracula) and Charlie Chaplin, the latter reportedly the first man to drive a car to St Moritz in the winter. Today it’s particularly popular with George Clooney, John Travolta and Prince Harry. The pistes of St Moritz, best suited to intermediates (and the site of Switzerland’s first ski school in 1929), have twice hosted the Winter Olympics, and the Alpine Ski World Championships no fewer than five times, including this year. If you do ski there this season, be sure to take time to eat the famed – and rather delicious, if odorous – truffle tarte flambée at Europe’s highest
115
SKI SPECIAL
BELOW View from the restaurant at Kulm Country Club
gourmet restaurant La Marmite (it’s the last chance to do so before the restaurant closes its doors next year). But, typically the winter sport that most associate with St Moritz is the skeleton, as the resort is the home of the grand and occasionally lethal Cresta Run – the world’s only natural ice skeleton track on which racers reach speeds of up to 87 mph, their noses only a few inches from the unforgiving course. If you survive, it’s the tradition of the St Moritz Tobogganing Club to enjoy schnapps and cigars at the Sunny Bar afterwards, located in the lower levels of the Kulm Hotel. The five-star hotel, where I’m fortunate enough to be nursing my bumps and bruises during my sojourn in the Alps, was the first hotel to be built in St Moritz and owned, naturally enough, by Badrutt. Now it belongs (like much of the valley), to the Niarchos family, after shipping magnate Stavros swooped in to save the hotel in 1968 after Club Med tried to purchase it. Today, beneath its ornate wooden ceilings, the Kulm balances modern elegance in its updated lakeview rooms with stately traditionalism ( for those who favour more of the latter, check out the Kulm’s sister hotel, the Grand Hotel Kronenhof, in nearby Pontrasina, a resort favoured by Angela Merkel). The Kulm doesn’t rest on its laurels, however – its Kulm Country Club, adjacent to the hotel, reopened this year following a £9.5 million renovation overseen by St Moritz resident, Lord Foster. The stylish fine dining restaurant within is the kind of place you could eat at every night, with a moreish ambience falling somewhere between rustic bistro and moody jazz haunt. The Kulm also seems to be the ideas hotel in the resort, perhaps in deference to its clever founder or as a nod to its legacy as the first place in Switzerland to have an electric lightbulb pop on. The latest good idea they’ve had is to offer husky sled driving at nearby Lake Silvaplana. If you’ve never had a chance to do this, it’s an exhilarating
116
The Siberian huskies drive themselves, pulling you at a brisk pace, while ignoring your commands (and fairly low impact) rush; the team of Siberian huskies drive themselves, pulling you along at a brisk pace while ignoring your various commands as you revel in delusions of primacy and power. But if you’re feeling livelier, it must be the rare thrill of skijoring. I’m surprised at the acceleration offered by what is essentially a large-ish Shetland pony (as it’s my first time, I plumped for what I assumed was the beginner’s horse). Cutting through the snow, I attempt, as advised, to execute small turns to check my speed. When we come to the first 180° turn, it’s more luck than judgement that I manage to stay vertical; apparently water-ski or wake-board experience does come in handy for skijoring. Alas, when it’s time for the crucial 180 in front of the bar, and to a chorus of encouraging shouts from my travel companions, I stack it with a tremendous face plant. The cheering fades. Some of my skijor group are more successful, while others, particularly one participant who ended up on crutches,
are not. Naturally, after the success of the skijoring, the Cresta beckoned, but I met the challenge halfway by going tobogganing instead. Muottas Muragl, sounding more like a doomed pass from The Lord of the Rings than a fun run, offers 20 corners on a winding 4.2 km track that drops 718 metres with panoramic views of the Upper Engadine all the way. As it turned out, the only easy option in St Moritz is the people-watching.
need to know
Kulm Hotel St Moritz, from £523 for two people sharing a double room on a half-board basis, kulm.com. Fly SWISS (swiss.com) with all-inclusive fares starting from £54 one-way. Swiss Transfer Ticket (swisstravelsystem. co.uk) start from £116. For more information visit mySwitzerland.com
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
book tickets today 4 November - 24 February CANADA SQUARE PARK, CANARY WHARF, E14 5AB
TimeOut
Ticketmaster
TripAdvisor
* ff o 30% quote CITY30
icerinkcanarywharf.co.uk ICERINKCANARYWHARF
@ICERINKCW
ICERINKCANARYWHARF
*Offer is valid when you book online until 10/11/17. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
BERG
S T. A N
AM A RL
TON
AUS RIA T
Tip of the Arlberg Fine dining? Check. Perfectly powered slopes? Check. A thriving après-ski scene? Check. St Anton has become the go-to destination in Austria for hedonistically inclined skiers looking for a slice of snow-filled luxury WORDS: Sara Lawrence
I
t is a truth universally acknowledged among slope enthusiasts that those in want of the best snow, schnitzel and schnapps should head immediately to the charming Tyrolean village of St Anton am Arlberg in Austria. An hour’s drive from Innsbruck airport, this Alpine paradise in the Arlberg mountain range is famed for excellent snow conditions, fantastic offpiste trails, wonderful restaurants and one of the best après scenes in the world. Hotel Tannenhof is a charming and uber-luxurious bolthole to more than rest your head at, and it’s the only five-star superior hotel in St Anton – the highest European hotel rating. Located in the quiet hamlet of Nasserein, a few minutes away from the action, private drivers are on hand to take you wherever you want, whenever you want, including to and from the slopes each day. The boutique hotel has only seven suites, each designed as a cocktail of contemporary and traditional style, and they all have a living room. With open fireplaces, ridiculously large beds and a pillow menu where you can choose to sleep on a spelt pillow (ecological with natural fragrances from herbs), a cherry stone pillow (that can be heated to ease aches) and a horsehair pillow ( filled with 700g of pure blonde and bouffant horse tail hair, for a flat-type pillow), and more. The bathrooms appear as though they have jumped off the pages of a modern design magazine, with freestanding pressed-stone baths and oversized rainfall showers The spa in the basement and jetstream swimming pool has floor-toceiling windows with mountain views, steam room, outdoor and indoor saunas
118
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
SKI SPECIAL
Altitude 1,304m to 2,811m
lifts 94
Pistes 43% blue, 40% red, 17% black
Snowmaking 62%
Six-day lift pass £245
opposite page ©Boris-B / Shutterstock.com this page Hotel Tannenhof ©Felix Steck
and treatment rooms. After a day on the slopes, there’s nowhere more serene – I recommend the silberquarzit urstein massage, which uses stones from South Tyrol that claim to have healing powers, rich in minerals that help to deacidify the body, strengthen the immune system and instil a sense of wellbeing. In an area rammed with high-end food spots, the gourmet cuisine here is so screamingly perfect it’s hard to contemplate venturing out. Multi-awardwinning chef James Baron is an alumnus of multiple Michelin-starred institutions such as The Fat Duck, and he runs a creative Alpine-inspired kitchen, led by
culinary traditions of the region as well as more avant-garde techniques, using mostly seasonal local produce. The eightcourse tasting menu is mind-blowing (especially the duck liver paired with quince and Périgord truffle) – this is food you won’t forget in a hurry and anyway, you can ski it all off the next day. Ski guides who know what they’re talking about say the pistes – both on and off – are so varied and challenging, and the area is so huge that if you can ski here you can ski anywhere. The nearby resorts of St Christoph, Stuben, Zürs, Lech, Warth and Zug are all covered by your lift ticket also, so it’s almost impossible to exhaust
This is food you won’t forget in a hurry and anyway, you can ski it all off the next day the possibilities offered by the 87 lifts on these mountains in a week. It has always been possible to ski off-piste from the St Anton side of the Arlberg to the Lech and Zürs side (or take a bus between the two), but the Flexenbahn gondola lift which opened in December 2016 links them. This has freed up 305 contiguous downhill kilometres of lift-linked skiing and means all ski resorts on the Arlberg can now be reached on piste. The offpiste opportunities are limitless but it’s inadvisable to ski these without a professional guide, whatever your level of expertise. Rather than figuring out the best routes for yourself, getting a guide is the finest way to explore these mountains, plus it’s
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
119
SKI SPECIAL
from top The pool; Hotel Tannenhof exterior ©Felix Steck
brilliant to be taken straight to the best lunch and coffee stops. Barnaby Caddick, an Aussie who has lived and worked in St Anton for the last 20 years and is a fully certified Austrian ski guide and instructor, is one of the best I’ve come across. Not only does he know every inch of these mountains intimately, he is also a fabulous foodie with a wicked sense of humour. Book him for ski touring, powder skiing, on- and off-piste tours and heli-skiing, all interspersed with delicious meals. This area is discreet, anonymous and packed full of international royals and A-list celebrities, meaning you never know who you might be sitting next to in a restaurant. An ideal stop-off between St Anton and Lech is the Hospiz Alm in St Christoph. You’ll be hard pressed to find a jazzier wine cellar than this 65,000 strong example, the sun terrace is one of the best in the Alps and waiting staff in lederhosen transport massive plates of ribs, spätzle and schnitzel to noisily
appreciative diners, including Prince Charles, Boris Becker and, er, Vladimir Putin. The Verwallstube at the top of the Galzig gondola serves incredible pastas and next-level bouillabaisse – with a price tag to match. The gondola runs on Thursday evenings to bring lucky diners to the restaurant for candlelit dinners – reservations are essential. Austrian specialities are best at Murmeli Sporthotel in Oberlech, above Lech, and you will
absolutely deserve the carb, cheese and cream-heavy feast waiting for you in traditional wooden surroundings once you’ve skied here from St Anton. Another major bonus is the legendarily lively après scene. There are tonnes of bars but the two most buzzing are opposite each other on either side of Galzig, the blue run down into the village, brilliant stopping-off points at the end of a day of extreme exercise and life-affirming fresh air. The MooserWirt, which sells about 5,000 litres of beer a day, is world-famous for good reason. Fuelled by vast quantities of beer, Jägermeister and other dubious shots in lurid colours, the table-top dancing in ski boots commences around 3pm every day to a soundtrack of the cheesiest records spun by 65-year-old resident DJ Gerhard, who proves time and again that he knows exactly what these hard-core partiers want. The Krazy Kanguruh, known as KK to its many fans, uses DJs that are more modern and is therefore slightly classier but there’s not much in it. These places are rowdy and raucous, full of Aussies, Brits and Swedes and the most fun you’ll ever have in a technical jacket complete with base layer. Both shut up shop at 8pm, when the revellers back down the rest of the fortuitously short slope into town for dinner. For spectacular skiing, the finest food and now the hottest hotel, St Anton is the only place to head this season. Hotel Tannenhof is expensive, sure, but trust me when I tell you this is one place worth saving up for – you won’t regret it. If Arlberg did mountains…
need to know
From £1,922 per night. For more information call +43 5446 30311 or visit hoteltannenhof.net
120
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
WELLNESS
as an Art
Oasis gives you a moment to stop and take a breath. Feel the freedom and relaxation in your body and mind. Let your senses be inspired in a private paradise. It is all waiting for you. The art of wellbeing.
The Oasis by Don Carlos Resort · Boutique Hotel Experience · Marbella T (+34) 933 271 455 · dcreservas@expogrupo.com · www.doncarlosresort.expohotels.com/en/the-oasis · www.expohotels.com
Image courtesy of Taylor Howes Image courtesy of Haberdashery
Image courtesy of Pulse Cinemas
INSPIRING ROOM SETS
EXCITING PRODUCT LAUNCHES
HOME CINEMA & HIGH TECH HOME
THE UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MOST EXCLUSIVE LUXURY HOME SHOW
DISCOVER Product Launches - be the first to see many new products and services Over 100 carefully curated specialists - showcasing fine furniture to kitchens Artisans Quarter - discover superb craftsmanship and heritage skills Designer Room Sets - world class interior designers show how to live now High Tech Home - experience home cinema as never before For further information and tickets
www.exclusivelyliving.com
E_Living_Advert_drf11.indd 1
08/10/2017 19:11
Covering: THE CITY, WAPPING, SHAD THAMES, SHOREDITCH & ISLINGTON
POSITIVE STEPS
AN INCREASED VOLUME OF HOUSING ON OFFER AHEAD
Image courtesy of Countryside. See page 140 for more information
Five minutes with… THIS IMAGE John Payne office in Blackheath BELOW Acorn office in London Bridge OPPOSITE, from top Golf course in Quinta do Lago, Portugal ©AngeloDeVal / Shutterstock; SEVENFRIDAY Automatic Essence Watch; All Saints church in Blackheath ©Gary Perkin / Shutterstock
Rob Sargent CEO of The Acorn Group
What are your day-to-day responsibilities? RS: Most of my time is spent spearheading what The Acorn Group businesses do on a daily basis, working out what the strategies are for the next month, year and couple of years. My job is ultimately to make sure we’re in the right areas, delivering the right kind of service and keeping ahead of the curve, trying to predict what the market is going to do next. How did you get involved in property? RS: I worked in the City for the first four years of my working life, but I’d always had the hankering for small business. I loved the social life of working in the City, but found the day-to-day quite boring, so I went to work at the then one-office firm Acorn in Grove Park as a 20-year-old. After a year, I was in charge of the
office, and that’s how it all started. My revolutionary idea was to go out, meet potential clients, and tell the truth. It wasn’t about trying to persuade people to sell their houses, it was taking a proper look at what they could and couldn’t do, and to see more in depth of what they are planning to do, why do they want to live there, how are we going to get them from A to B? Explain to me how the other businesses work within The Acorn Group portfolio. RS: We bought an existing agency called Langford Russell in 2002, there was an office in Chislehurst at the time. This was a brand that seemed to be familiar to the Bromley market and the public liked seeing that name above the door, so we took the existing Acorn offices in that area and rebranded them as
The Acorn Group, 1 Sherman Road, BR1, acorngroup.co.uk 124
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| property |
Each month, an expert agent gives us the lowdown on the market and a local view of a specific neighbourhood
and work with them across a year or several years. We proudly support The Manna Society (helping homeless people), the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice and a range of projects such as Peckham Festival and Bermondsey Street Festival. What are the benefits of being an independent group? RS: The brands we’ve got are quite relevant to the areas they operate in and although we’re a large company, we very much are privately owned, run by the directors; the main board are very heavily involved with the staff and the public can get through to us very easily. We’re not a big faceless corporate business. We try to maintain as much autonomy for our branch bosses as well. If there’s a branch manager in Blackheath, we don’t need to keep telling them what they can and can’t do. They have access to all the PR and marketing material and if they want to do something a bit differently, they can. There isn’t one rule for all, each branch has different markets. What’s the best aspect of your job? RS: The people. I enjoy the whole process of recruiting and working with people. At senior management level, the average time working at the company is 16-17 years, so our staff feel genuine ownership. We’re very open about information – performance and internal culture is very open, people feel a sense of belonging. What’s the most challenging element? RS: The people. Personnel throw up the most satisfaction and the most disappointment. It’s hard for any business to try and keep on engaging with their staff, training them, keeping up with the pace.
“What we look for are relationships that we can build together and work with them across a year or several years” Langford Russell. The same goes for John Payne. It was very popular in the Greenwich, Blackheath and Lee area when we bought it. There was no point in making changes, but The Acorn Group got behind the brand, streamlined the back office, and polished the front. Behind the scenes, these businesses work very well together; there is free movement of information across all of the offices. Essentially, every single brand is the same, the staff are all linked by telephone and computer systems, and everyone can access and market all our clients’ properties. How do you work with your local community? RS: When we link with the community, we’re not really about trying to do something as a one hit just to get our name out there. What we look for are relationships that we can build together
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
Where’s your favourite place? RS: Definitely Portugal, Quinta do Lago in particular. I built a house 15 years ago, and spend a lot of time there with my family. What are your three luxury items? RS: I have two luxury, one sentimental. I love watches and I love pens. Not necessarily the most expensive watches, I like the most interesting ones, like a SevenFriday watch. I like a nice-looking pen, something a little bit different. I also carry my father’s business card with me at all times. He passed away when I was 11 and I have his original business card from when I was a little boy, and it’s stuck with me over the years. You’re hosting a dinner party, who are your three guests? RS: Chris Evans, I’m a massive fan, and have been for years. He tends to see things from a slightly different angle. He’ll dare to take a chance, I like his thirst for life. Richard Branson, I marvel at his ability to position himself the way he has. He is a brand himself, he’s someone people want to align with. My last guest is David Bowie. When I was growing up, my eldest sister would play his music loudly on her record player in her room, which was next to mine.
125
Cinnabar Wharf, Wapping E1W Two bedroom riverside penthouse apartment A bespoke penthouse apartment set on the banks of the Thames with far reaching views taking in Tower Bridge and the London skyline. The apartment has two roof terraces, one of which has a hot tub. It also benefits from a residents' lift and 24 hour porterage. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 reception rooms, terrace, balcony, parking. EPC: C. Approximately 311 sq m (3,357 sq ft). Leasehold: approximately 981 years remaining
Guide price: £8,800,000
KnightFrank.co.uk/wapping wapping@knightfrank.com 020 8166 5375
@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk
KnightFrank.co.uk/WAP150155
City Magazine Sales August 2015
10/10/2017 16:13:45
Cit
45
Mile End Road, Aldgate E1 A wonderful Queen Anne terraced house with stunning interior design The property is south facing and arranged over four floors with a large converted, usable attic space. The layout of the rooms offers great flexibility, making it perfect for both family life and those who love to entertain. 3 bedrooms, bathroom, 5 reception rooms, WC, kitchen, garden. Grade II listed. Approximately 210.1 sq m (2,261 sq ft). Freehold
Guide price: £2,100,000
KnightFrank.co.uk/aldgate aldgate@knightfrank.com 020 3544 0712
@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk
KnightFrank.co.uk/CNW170165
City Magazine October 2017 1 page (109 Mile End)
11/10/2017 15:36:12
FOUND. Your perfect tenant. Let with Knight Frank
Our local expertise and global network mean that we can find a reliable tenant for your property; and with an average tenancy of nearly two years, Knight Frank not only helps you find them – but keep them as well. If you are considering letting a property this year, please contact us on 020 8166 5366 or visit KnightFrank.co.uk/lettings
Guide price: £650 per week
Telfords Yard, Wapping E1W
-->
An impressive apartment located in this sought after warehouse conversion with 24 hour concierge. 2 double bedrooms, 2 luxury bathrooms, large reception room/kitchen with exposed brickwork. EPC: C. Approximately 132 sq m (1,422 sq ft). Available unfurnished. wappinglettings@knightfrank.com Office: 020 8166 5366
All potential tenants should be advised that, as well as rent, an administration fee of £276 will apply when renting a property. Please ask us for more information about other fees that may apply or visit KnightFrank.co.uk/tenantcharges
@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk
Guide price: £415 per week
Capstan Court, Wapping E1W A recently refurbished and stunning apartment. Bedroom with Juliet balcony, tiled bathroom suite, large open plan kitchen and reception/dining room with wooden flooring. EPC: C. Approximately 67 sq m (719 sq ft). Available furnished. wappinglettings@knightfrank.com Office: 020 8166 5366
City magazine Lettings November 2017
02/10/2017 15:16:54
Cit
54
FOUND YOUR PERFECT TENANT. LET WITH KNIGHT FRANK
To find out how we can help you please contact us KnightFrank.co.uk/aldgate aldgatelettings@knightfrank.com 020 3823 9930
Guide price: £795 per week
Satin House, Aldgate E1
-->
A bright and spacious two bedroom apartment located in Goodman's Field. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, walk in wardrobe, light and airy reception room, high specification kitchen, balcony, 24 hour concierge, leisure facilities, residents' cinema. Available furnished. EPC: B. Approximately 83 sq m (902 sq ft). aldgatelettings@knightfrank.com Office: 020 3823 9930
All potential tenants should be advised that as well as rent, an administration fee of £276 and referencing fees of £48 per person will apply when renting a property. Please ask us for more information about other fees that may apply or visit KnightFrank.co.uk/tenantcharges
@KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk
Guide price: £1,450 per week
Sterling Mansions, Aldgate E1 A stunning three bedroom split level penthouse. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, open plan lounge, fully fitted kitchen, well equipped utility room, 24 hour concierge, leisure facilities, residents' cinema. Available furnished. EPC: B. Approximately 153 sq m (1,650 sq ft). aldgatelettings@knightfrank.com Office: 020 3823 9930
City Magazine November 2017
06/10/2017 16:10:41
| property |
EXPERT VIEWS
The Knight Frank Aldgate office give us the lowdown on the current market and the months ahead
Jennifer King-Neary
Benjamin Ainsworth
Aldgate lettings manager
Aldgate sales manager
I
adore London at this time of year, with the cosy darkened evenings, warm fires and the start of the festive season. People generally tend to fall into two camps on this subject: those for whom Christmas cannot come soon enough, and those who scowl at the sight of a Quality Street before 24 December. I am of the former hot chocolate-sipping, carolsinging, early-shopping variety. For landlords, especially those with already empty properties, November and December can be worrisome. The perception is that rental levels go into dramatic decline as demand slows to a miserable bah humbug pace, but how true is that sorry tale? There is certainly an element of seasonal downturn. Key trend indicators all show an expected dip and there is certainly greater likelihood of experiencing a void period, but in my experience, these months can be as strong as any other outside of the summer rush, particularly if you adopt a pragmatic approach to the challenges ahead. According to Rightmove, there were nearly 3,000 lettings transactions across the City and east London from November to December 2016, and this year landlords are arguably in a stronger position already. Curbs on mortgage tax relief and a three per cent stamp duty surcharge means that less new rental stock has come onto the market. Knight Frank data shows there was a six per cent decline in the number of new rental properties coming onto the market between January and September 2017, compared with the same period in 2016. In a sign the trend is accelerating, the like-for-like drop was 13 per cent between May and September. This comes against the background of the Council of Mortgage Lenders revising its forecast for buy-to-let lending in 2018 by 13 per cent, from £38 billion to £33 billion. While supply has begun to tighten, demand indicators have continued to strengthen, which will support rental values. The number of new prospective tenants registering with Knight Frank has risen by 13 per cent. I firmly believe that the market in such a climate can be largely determined by state of mind, so my team and I will certainly be keeping up the festive cheer in Aldgate.
T
he London economy has performed better than most would have expected in the aftermath of the vote to leave the EU in June 2016. Firms like Apple, Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo and Snapchat have committed to new HQs in London, Amazon and Facebook are recruiting here, and unemployment is at its lowest level for 40 years. Overseas firms have seized on the fall in the value of the pound to invest in London at a discount. In contrast, tax changes and general uncertainty have caused property sales to moderate. HM Land Registry data states that there were a little over 22,000 residential homes traded in London in the first half of 2017, which compares to 30,047 in the same period of 2016 and 37,699 in 2007. Despite this, average sale prices in London appear to be edging upwards according to the various reports surfacing from Halifax, Nationwide, HMLR or Rightmove. The fact is that the ‘property market’ isn’t really a market at all, at least in the classic sense. Economic theory suggests that homeowners would be encouraged to put their homes on the market when prices are rising, and that potential buyers would lose interest until prices start to fall. Instead, property sellers hang on under the belief that prices will continue to rise whilst buyer demand remains as interest on borrowing is still at record low levels, and London continues to be one of the most exciting cities on the planet. Pressure is mounting for interest rates to rise, although we expect this to happen very modestly, it will begin to squeeze discretionary household spending. The full effects of the new income tax rules for landlords are not fully upon us just yet either. That said, all being well with negotiations in Brussels for the UK to maintain financial markets access long-term, then demand for property in London from overseas will continue. The best advice for sellers and homeowners in London is to seek the top counsel available and speak to someone who really understands your local market. I speak with dozens of irritated vendors who have been on the market for months and months with other agents, without advice or feedback or any clue about what to do next.
Knight Frank Aldgate, Unit 6, 1 Canter Way, E1, 020 3582 7595, knightfrank.co.uk 130
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
Visualisation of two bedroom apartment.
J U ST L AU N CH ED
Introducing Luma at Parkside King’s Cross. Situated between Lewis Cubitt Park and Persian inspired Jellicoe Gardens, Luma is a unique collection of contemporary apartments imagined by award-winning architects Squire & Partners, and interior designers, Conran + Partners. Become part of London’s most well-connected cultural hub counting Central Saint Martins, Universal Music, Google and Everyman Cinema as neighbours. Apartments from £1,100,000*
Contact us to register 020 7205 2982
lumakingscross.co.uk *Prices correct at time of going to print.
Marketing suite 14-15 Stable Street London N1C 4AB
0835_Argent_Luma_Advertising_Portrait_CITY_MAG_297x210 ART.indd 1
16/10/2017 10:59
CLEMENT HOUSE, 190 STRAND WC2R ● ● ● ●
Studio 1 Bathroom 3 Juliette balconies On site leisure facilities
● ● ● ●
High specification 0.2 miles from Temple station Approx. 368 sq ft (34.2 sq m) EPC: B
£595.00 per week Furnished For more information, call Neil Short 0207 337 4005 or email Neil.Short@eu.jll.com
Potential tenants are advised that administration fees may be payable when renting a property. Please ask for details of our charges.
16-17 Royal Exchange London EC3V 3LL
jll.co.uk/residential
AVANTGARDE TOWER, SHOREDITCH E1 ● ● ● ●
2 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms Private balcony Wood flooring
● ● ● ●
24 hour concierge 0.1 mile from Shoreditch station Approx. 764 sq ft (71 sq m) EPC: B
£910,000 Leasehold For more information, call Bernard Cully 0207 337 4009 or email Bernard.Cully@eu.jll.com
16-17 Royal Exchange London EC3V 3LL
jll.co.uk/residential
We’ve landed.
To celebrate opening in Islington, we’ll sell your home for FREE. Think of it as a ‘welcome to the neighbourhood’ gift, from us, to you.
T 020 7123 4960 marshandparsons.co.uk/zero-percent *See website for details, terms and conditions.
Mayfair Showroom 66 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3JL 28 offices in Central London and over 60 across London
Thornhill Square, N1 £2,750,000
A three bedroom Georgian terraced home with views across one of the most sought after squares in Islington. The house has period features throughout and has a double reception room, separate kitchen, four bathrooms and a south east facing garden, energy rating d. Dexters Islington 020 7483 6373
Strand, WC2R £2,500,000
Situated in this Grade II Listed building, a second floor duplex apartment which has been finished to a high standard. The property has two double bedrooms with bespoke fitted wardrobes, two bathrooms and private balconies, energy rating c. Dexters Covent Garden 020 7067 2424
dexters.co.uk
Marshall Street, W1F £1,500 per week
This impressive ‘New York loft style’ apartment in West Soho has two double bedrooms, two bathrooms and wood flooring. The gated development benefits from 24 hour concierge, underground parking and features exposed brick walls, energy rating c. Dexters Covent Garden 020 7067 2400
Northchurch Road, N1 £1,450 per week
A stucco fronted semi-detached villa located in De Beauvoir. This property has three reception rooms with an open plan kitchen, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Further benefits include a conservatory and a south facing garden, energy rating e. Dexters Islington 020 7483 6374
dexters.co.uk
Tenants fees apply: £180 per tenancy towards administration, £60 reference fee per tenant and £144 towards the end of tenancy check out report (all inc VAT).
Beckenham 020 8663 4433 Bromley 020 8315 5544
Chislehurst 020 8295 4900 Locksbottom 01689 882 988
Orpington 01689 661 400 West Wickham 020 8432 7373
Bromley BR1 Contemporary five bedroom home situated in the sought after Sundridge Park area.
£1,750,000 F/H Five bedrooms
Six bathrooms
Three receptions
EER B
Contact Bromley 020 8315 5544
CGI
Keston BR2
Sevenoaks TN14
A five bedroom house with planning permission granted to extend and remodel.
Stunning detached six bedroom residence situated in the centre of the sought after village of Shoreham.
£1,395,000 F/H
£1,650,000 F/H
Five bedrooms
Three bathrooms
Six bedrooms
Two bathrooms
One reception
EER TBC
Three receptions
EER E
Contact Locksbottom 01689 882 988
The Acorn Group, incorporating:
Contact Orpington 01689 661 400
langfordrussell.co.uk
BICK L E Y, BR 1
Sat Nav Ref: BR1 2AP
Show home now available to view A stunning collection of four magnificent, detached four and five bedroom executive homes proudly situated on Woodlands Road, Bickley. Boasting an impressive 3,913 sqft of accommodation which has been thoughtfully designed over four floors. Each home benefits from a cinema room, leisure/games room and an integral garage with off-street parking for two cars. Perfectly situated for an array of renowned local schools, the popular Chislehurst Village and both Chislehurst and Bickley train stations.
Prices from ÂŁ1,650,000
Viewing by appointment only: 020 8315 6996, acornnewhomes.co.uk
INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO KINGS PARK, RM3
A
lthough buying a home is an aspiration for 71 per cent of non-homeowners, living alone is not for everyone. Finding a flatmate is not only a great way of paying off a mortgage quicker, it can also have lots of social benefits. The Elizabeth Gate Apartments at Countryside’s popular Kings Park development in Harold Wood offers outstanding two- and threebedroom penthouses, perfect for buyers looking for a spacious home to share with a friend. Elizabeth Gate comprises a range of luxurious one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses, available with London Help to Buy. Situated a stone’s throw from Harold Wood station, which offers fast and direct services into central London,
and surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens and parkland, the homes provide a well-connected retreat for busy professionals working in the City. The station will also soon be on the Elizabeth Line, due to open in 2019, which will see journey times to key London locations slashed by up to 19 minutes. The penthouses occupy the fourth floor of Elizabeth Gate, a striking building that showcases rich copper-effect architectural detailing and an abundance of glazing. The impressive homes boast large open-plan kitchen/dining living areas, which provide the ideal communal space for relaxing after work or entertaining guests at the weekend. Full-height glass doors lead from the living area to a large outdoor terrace, bathing the rooms with natural light.
PRICE: FROM £355,000 for a one-bedroom IN the Elizabeth Gate penthouses / London Help to Buy available 01708 348 578 kings-park.co.uk
140
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
| property |
luxurylondon.co.uk | THE CITY Magazine
141
| property |
HOT PROPERTY
A spotlight on one of the finest homes on the market
ST LAWRENCE BAY, SOUTHMINSTER, CM0 Grand living by the water’s edge
C
ruising down the shingle driveway of The Old Rectory in St Lawrence Bay, there is an open lawn with mature trees, and a restored orchard of plum, apple, almond and cherry trees with a bounty of blossom – imagine being able to make a crumble on a drizzly day from your own garden produce. Is there anything more British? An exciting opportunity has arisen with an outstanding example of Georgian architecture coming to market. The recently renovated seven-bedroom property is located in the beautiful village of St Lawrence Bay in southeast Essex, and it’s the perfect place to escape from the hustle of London life with sandy beaches, a sailing club, a watersports club and two pubs within walking distance. Although, it’s not too far removed – it’s less than 10 minutes to a mainline station with a direct train to London Liverpool Street in just over an hour. The locale is the owner’s favourite aspect of the property, saying: “The unique location is one of the things we will miss most about this house. Living in style with such beautiful views of the estuary and the surrounding countryside
has been absolutely lovely.” The house offers panoramic vistas across to the twinkling Blackwater Estuary, where you can watch the Thames barges sail by, from almost every room in the house. The Old Rectory is the ideal purchase for an established or growing family, with well-proportioned reception rooms and a self-contained annexe, with its own kitchen, sitting room, bathroom and two bedrooms. Ideal for teenagers, an au pair or the overflow of family members at Christmas, it also has its own courtyard and parking space. The property as a whole comes in at 4,842 sq ft, so it’s large enough for every family member to have
their own space and privacy. The family room is a place to relax on the weekend after a long bracing walk along the Estuary, with a wood-burning stove and soft grey and purple hues. There’s a more formal sitting room also, with high ceilings, a central fireplace and large sash windows that flood the room with light. The sumptuous interiors continue throughout the house, with the master suite decorated in duck egg blue – a particularly calming shade for a bedroom. It also has an en suite with his and hers sinks and a large walk-in shower and tub. As cosy as the house is for the colder climes, it also serves well for the brief British summer, with south-facing terraces, and an ornamental lake with a jetty and lake house within its 2.8 acres. With no chain, this is a rare opportunity to own a slice of tranquillity, just an hour outside of London.
PRICE: £1.3m
01621 779 809 theoldrectorystlawrence@gmail.com
142
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
2 year 5% net yield guarantee FiftySevenEast is a unique collection of contemporary one, two and three bedroom apartments. The development has been meticulously crafted with every feature carefully considered, resulting in a fusion of luxury, innovation and originality. Purchase a 3 bedroom apartment at FiftySevenEast and received: • Furniture pack – Hatch Interiors • Contract, administration and check in charges paid • Letting and management fees paid • Adjacent to Dalston Kingsland Station • Residents’ lobby and concierge
Show apartment open now Call now to make your appointment! Website: FiftySevenEast.com Call: 020 3818 8819
Three bedroom apartments from £825,000* Selling Agents
CGI and Photography are indicative only. *Plot specific. Price is correct at time of going to print.
city_magazine_1.1.indd 1
Terms of offer: Taylor Wimpey Central London will cover your stamp duty costs, this does not include additional 3% required for BTL/second home properties or company structures. Stamp duty costs will only go up to the company structures.
18/10/2017 12:33
| property |
INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO – a rarity for a house in the capital. Positioned in this idyllic corner of south east London, you’ll benefit from fantastic transport links into central London, whilst remaining within the leafy neighbourhood of Sydenham Hill. Trains into London Victoria take just 15 minutes from nearby Sydenham Hill station, which is a seven-minute walk from Wells Park Place. Alternatively, Sydenham station is served by the London Overground line, with trains to Canada Water in just 15 minutes, making areas such as Canary Wharf easily accessible. If you’re looking for close proximity to excellent schooling, this area is in a prime location for some of the country’s best educational facilities. Nearby Dulwich is home to leading private schools; Dulwich College, James Allen’s Girls’ School and Alleyn’s School, and Forest Hill offers four comprehensive schools, all of which have
WELLS PARK PLACE, se26
P
resenting a unique opportunity to own a home with incredible views across London, Crest Nicholson’s Wells Park Place is an exclusive collection of two- and three-bedroom apartments and four- bedroom townhouses in Sydenham Hill. Here you’ll enjoy the tranquillity of Sydenham Hill, while remaining within easy reach of the hustle and bustle of central London. This luxury development comprises a collection of 46 homes, which all come with beautifully landscaped shared central gardens and parking. The four-bedroom townhouses have been designed in a
sleek, contemporary style, forming the perfect family home. If you’re looking for more room in the capital, these spacious townhouses are perfect. Set over four storeys, each home comes with floor-to-ceiling windows and the master bedroom boasts five-metre floor-to-ceiling heights and breathtaking views over London and Kent. These homes have been finished to the highest specification, with integrated appliances in kitchens including multiple ovens, built-in wine fridges and pull-out hidden sockets, all designed to offer a sleek living environment. Homes also come fitted with plenty of storage throughout to minimise clutter, and two private car parking spaces
been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted. Spend your weekends enjoying the wealth of recreational amenities on offer in the Sydenham Hill area, with Crystal Palace Park and Mayow Park both within walking distance, offering you an abundance of beautiful open space on your doorstep. To the north of the development sits Dulwich, a popular neighbourhood with a wide selection of independent restaurants and wine bars, boutique shops and a weekly local market. If you’re after a spot of culture, the well-renowned Dulwich Picture House and the Horniman Museum and gardens are both within easy reach of the development.
PRICE: from £535,000 for a two-bedroom apartment / £1,450,000 for a four-bedroom townhouse 020 3437 0472 crestnicholson.com/wellsparkplace
144
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
Introducing Wells Park Place, an idyllic collection of just 20 townhouses & 26 apartments at one of London’s highest points, Sydenham Hill Created with unique architectural character, contemporary design & luxurious interiors. Shared central gardens will sit at the heart of the community, all homes will come with private outside space, parking & some boast unrivalled views across London & beyond. Book your appointment to view our brand new Show Home today. Apartments from £535,000 | Townhouses from £1,300,000 Exeter Place, Sydenham, London, SE26 6RP
www.wellsparkplace.com Digital illustration is indicative only. Show Home photography. Pricing correct on 23.10.17.
0203 437 0488
| property |
Insider Knowledge ADAM CHALLIS, HEAD OF RESIDENTIAL RESEARCH AT JLL
JLL discusses what’s in store for the UK housing market in 2018 and beyond
T
he next five years will be the start of a new housing paradigm. House price growth will be more moderate than over the past 20 years, and consumers and industry participants will have to adapt to a different rationale that underpins housing decisions. The principal reason for this new paradigm is a shift in the drivers of higher house prices and greater weight to the drags on prices. In short, many of the housing market boosts we have seen in the recent past, such as an expanding population, low interest rates, dual-income growth and the belief in housing as a lifetime investment, have each now largely played out. At the same time, constraints are also likely to play a bigger role; factors such as house price affordability, tighter mortgage lending rules and less support from the Bank of Mum & Dad (as parents need to use housing wealth for their retirement). The investor landscape is also now less favourable, meaning that owner-occupiers and the affordability issue become more significant. So demand drivers are likely to be weaker over the forecast period – and quite possibly beyond – compared with most of the past 20 years.
SUPPLY SUPPORT
High house price growth over the past 20 years has also been supported by an undersupply of housing relative to the rise in population. While a significant improvement in housing delivery volumes is still needed to redress the balance, we believe the price pressure generated by undersupply will not be as strong in future. The first reason for this is that Brexit is likely to mean a slower rate of population growth, and the second is a permanent step up in the volume of housing that will be delivered. We predict the fillip the housing shortage has provided to house prices will be diminished over the medium-term.
BEYOND BREXIT
One truth we can cling to is the finite period of the Article 50 negotiation period. There is clearly a wide degree of variation on the type of Brexit deal still to be struck, but from March 2019, we will have a better understanding of our future relationship with Europe. So, 2018
146
The rental market will continue to expand, both because of continued unaffordability in the sales market but also supported by the growing trend of renting by choice and 2019 will provide relatively weak consumer and household confidence to support the UK housing market, led by a slower economy courtesy of Brexit. It will also be notable during this period that house price growth will be stronger outside of the less affordable London and south east regions. The much stronger rates of price growth that London and the south east regions have experienced for some time will be reversed in favour of many regions outside of the capital. However, from 2020 the economic and trading landscape will be operating under some form of transition arrangement. This will provide relative clarity on e UK’s trading position and facilitate the backdrop for a stronger economy, accompanied by growing consumer confidence.
As such, JLL believes that house price growth will improve steadily during the 2020-2022 period, with transaction volumes also rising slightly, in line with long-run averages. The rental market will continue to expand, both because of continued unaffordability in the sales market but also supported by the growing trend of renting by choice. Improved consumer confidence and housing market dynamics will encourage housebuilders to raise output levels. They will – modestly – but by this stage the industry revolution towards a wider range of delivery organisations and greater adoption of digital construction techniques will make this easier and quicker to achieve. 020 7337 4004; jll.co.uk
THE CITY Magazine | luxurylondon.co.uk
HELP TO BUY
STAMP DUTY PAID*
AVAILABLE*
1, 2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS Just launched, a superb collection of high specification apartments. Prices from £399,995
3 BEDROOM PENTHOUSES Amazing split level, top floor apartments with River or City views, parking included. Prices from £794,995
3 & 4 BEDROOM HOUSES Designed for modern day family life, impressive specification and parking included. Prices from £799,995
DISCOVER VILLAGE LIFE IN THE CITY Acres of open space
Ofsted outstanding primary school
gmv.london | 020 8305 2712
Village Square
Just one stop from Canary Wharf
Greenwich Millennium Village, The Village Square, West Parkside, Greenwich, London, SE10 0BD
VISIT OUR SHOW HOMES TODAY!
Marketing Suite & Show Homes open daily 10am-5pm
*Available on selected plots only and will be made as an allowance upon legal completion, please speak to a Sales Consultant for more details. Prices and information correct at time of going to print. October 2017.
6902 CPUK GMV ad 297x210.indd 1
17/10/2017 15:09
DURABLE BY DESIGN MADE WITH OUR EXCLUSIVE FXT B A L L I S T I C N Y L O NTM
OUTLINES
LIVE TYPE
© 2017 TUMI, INC.
PERFECTING THE JOURNEY
PERFECTING THE JOURNE 211 REGENT STREET . WESTFIELD SHEPHERDS BUSH . LONDON CITY AIRPORT CASE . HARRODS . SELFRIDGES TUMI.COM
IG__20170805_ADV_141_210X297_SP_R_CANARY_UK.indd 1
21/08/2017 13:35