The Mayfair Magazine July 2012 by Runwild Media Group

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08.03.12 08:34

from the

E DITOR Kate Harrison

ell it’s here: the month and year that you, me, Boris, TFL, the Mount Street Deli, and everyone else in town has been waiting for. Assuming you haven’t rented your house out to a Nigerian pole vaulter and disappeared to less manic climes, you are in for a summer that promises to be anything but dull. To celebrate Britain’s second rise to the world stage in as many months, we have collated the top ways to spend the opening ceremony and the weeks following (p.36) while Neil Ridley takes a look back to some of the vintage sports that have no longer made the cut (p.90).

Outside of the arena, The Games have gone on to inspire a wealth of creative industry, from art to fashion. Carol Cordrey explores the meanings behind the 12 Olympic posters (p.40), while Stephen Doig looks at the British Fashion Council’s celebration of home-grown talent in Britain Creates (p.14). However, if all this talk of Olympics is making you stressed, turn to page 124, as the queen of scented candles, Jo Malone, is back with an exciting new venture after five years out of the industry – just in time it would seem. And if you still want to get away from it all, Elle Blakeman has journeyed to one of the most secluded places in the world in search of true escape – see page 115 for inspiration.

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P L E A S E E N J OY O U R C H A M PA G N E R E S P O N S I B LY DRINKAWARE .CO.UK

C ONTENTS

14 Let’s get physical

The art of fine dining

As Olympic-fever sweeps London, Stephen Doig reports on Britain Creates - fashion’s answer to the 2012 stage

Do art and dining make good bedfellows? Tamsin Pickeral visits four Michelin-starred restaurants to find out

Better together

What Karl did next

Two luxury brands = one incredible product. We look at the latest collaborations that are taking over our wish list

Karl Largerfeld has temporarily abandoned his fashion flock to focus on interior design

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Ahead of the game

To boldly go

With more teenagers going to the US for University than ever before, we meet the experts to get their view

Josh Sims looks at Britain’s investment in space tourism to see when we can expect to book a really long-haul holiday

REGULARS 8

Editor’s letter

My Mayfair

Exhibition focus

Collection

Fashion

Interiors

Motoring

113

Travel

123

Health & Beauty

133

Food & Drink

142

Concierge

147

Property

C ONTRIBUToRS Carol Cordrey Carol is an art critic and editor with popular columns in many magazines. Each year she organises the international London Ice Sculpting Festival as well as sponsored art competitions

JULY 2012 s issue 010

which are judged by distinguished artists.

Stephen Doig Stephen studied at Central St Martins before winning the Vogue Talent Contest. He went on to work at Harper’s Bazaar and Mr Porter, and has written for Vogue, GQ, The Telegraph, How To Spend It and Shortlist. He has a weakness for Lanvin, Burberry’s ikat prints and the cocktail menu at Hawksmoor.

Tamsin Pickeral Tamsin is a much published author, art historian and critic. Her books include The Dog: 5,000 Years of the Dog in Art, voted within the top 50 Art Books of the Year by the Financial Times. Her most recent book is The Majesty of the Horse, 2011. She has a penchant for the unusual and a weakness for chocolate.

Neil Ridley As well as being deputy editor for Men’s lifestyle magazine The Chap, Neil is also a regular contributor to Whisky Magazine and Imbibe, and has featured in The Evening Standard and Sunseeker. His irreverent whisky blog caskstrength.net was recently nominated for several online awards.

Editor Kate Harrison

Editor-in-Chief Lesley Ellwood

Deputy Editor Elle Blakeman

Collection Editor Annabel Harrison

Head of Design Hiren Chandarana

Production Hugo Wheatley

Designer Sophie Blain

Production Manager Fiona Fenwick

Editorial Contributor Alice Tozer

Client Relationship Director Kate Oxbrow

Editorial Assistants Natalie Cox; Nick Birss

Head of Finance Elton Hopkins

Art Editor Carol Cordrey

Associate Publisher Sophie Roberts

Food & Drink Editor Neil Ridley

Managing Director Eren Ellwood

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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. takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved. DISTRIBUTION: The Mayfair Magazine is distributed in Mayfair, St James’s and Belgravia as well as selected parts of Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Marylebone.

the city magazine J U N E 2012

business • fashion • health & fitness • finance • food & drink • travel • motoring • uk & international property

Cover:‘London 2012’, by Ben Dearnley, which can be seen at Belgravia Gallery, Mayfair, until 12 August (www.bendearnley.com) See page 39

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the city

08.03.12 08:10

TakE a yEar To discovEr ThE world; TwElvE coUNTriEs iN as maNy moNThs

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FEATURE

LETS GET

physical London fashion gets set for gold as it embraces the 2012 Olympics, writes Stephen Doig From fashion designers to artists, creatives across London are limbering for a summer like never before. As Olympic fever floods the city and the biggest sporting event in the world gets set to dominate the country this July, the city’s talents have been quick to embrace all things physical. This summer sees the debut of the Olympic-themed initiative Britain Creates, where the worlds of fashion, culture and sport will come together in a series of galas and showcases to celebrate London as the home of the 2012 Olympics. ‘In 2012 the eyes of the world will be upon us’, said British Fashion Council Chairman Harold Tillman on the launch, with the organisation set to cast it’s net wide to snare the most innovative and exciting London catwalk names to take part. ‘We want to show the world that Britain is the leading force in the global creative sphere’. The Council are resolved to make the very most of the country’s moment in the international spotlight. Fashion and sport might initially seem uneasy bedfellows, but it’s a collaboration that Britain seems to particularly excel at. Since the early days of sportswear – started in America by the 1950s designer Clare McCardell, who set out to make pieces that the new dynamic woman could move with ease in – London’s crop of designers have embraced the notion of high fashion infusing athletic equipment. The late Alexander McQueen was forwardthinking in his collaboration with Adidas, for which he created a capsule range of trainers covered in skeletal ribbing and sinister cobwebs. Hussein Chalayan soon

followed with a collection for Puma. Perhaps the most successful sporting/fashion synergy of recent years has been Stella McCartney’s collections for Adidas, a hallmark of how sleek, contemporary and thoroughly stylish gym clothes can be. Never has one woman made the downward facing dog position more appealing. McCartney, who as part of her range with Adidas has created Team Great Britain’s outfits for the games, began the collaboration in 2004 out of a growing sense of frustration at the lack of appealing workout wear. For the Olympics, she also launches ‘Adidas My2012’, a one-off range incorporating the 2012 logo in various ways. The Olympics site itself will also have luxury fashion on its doorstep, with the opening of Westfield Stratford City. The monolithic shopping centre (the largest in Europe) is a stone’s throw from the stadium, and will offer international shopping from Prada, Cos, Liberty and Mulberry. This new initiative will continue to push these boundaries by enrolling fashion titans in the form of Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton, Vivienne Westwood, Matthew Williamson, Paul Smith, Giles Deacon and Stephen Jones and teaming them with artists such as Marc Quinn, Gavin Turk, Mat Collishaw, Jess Flood-Paddock and Charming Baker. Each collaboration will see a range of

‘In 2012 the eyes of the world will be upon us’, says British Fashion Council Chairman Harold Tillman

This page / Tank top, £32, Adidas Villagewear designed by Stella McCartney Opposite / Giles Deacon and Jeremy Deller, shot by Gautier Deblonde. All main images courtesy of BFC/Bazaar Fashion Arts Foundation

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FEATURE

pieces made, from clothing to canvases, the spoils of which will tour the UK and take over the windows of Selfridges and go on display at the V&A. The kaleidoscopic prints of Matthew Williamson will be melded with the fantastical aesthetic of Mat Collishaw, the wit of Stephen Jones combined with the colour and vivacity of Cerith Wyn Evans. The works will take inspiration from the Olympics and the Paralympics, and the values of each. The two spheres – sports and London fashion – have one thing in common and that’s the ability to push boundaries and challenge, one physically, the other in terms of daring design. It’s particularly harmonious that the Olympics is set to take place in, and regenerate, East London; the area has acted as a hub for emerging fashion talent for years, thanks to the large studio spaces and cheap rents, with Christopher Kane, Giles, Erdem, Richard Nichol and Gareth Pugh starting their businesses there. ‘I wanted to work alongside Sir Paul Smith, of whom I am a great admirer. With fashion he takes things beyond the ordinary, I love that he is both passionate and unpretentious about the world he helps to shape.’ says artist Charming Baker, known for his quirky prints and abstract paintings of urban life. ‘I draw inspiration from anything that is remarkable and odd. I am as such a fan the ordinary as I am of the super achievers’, he says, acknowledging that the achievements of so many athletes can’t help but stir the emotions. ‘Fashion and art both make life a lot more interesting, without them this would be a less exciting planet to inhabit,’ says Baker. Smith himself was a no brainer for the project, supportive as he is of the arts. An avid collector, he occasionally also opens up his Mayfair store to act as a gallery space for artists he admires. Tillman agrees; ‘the Olympics is about extraordinary effort, skill and achievement and I am delighted that the fashion industry will be laying its part.’ At the end of the initiative, each work of art will be auctioned to raise money for an art bursary that will look after British design. With the entire world watching, it’s the chance of London’s most exciting creatives to debut what they’re capable of and fly the flag for a fashion industry that, until recently, was an after thought on the international fashion scene. The inclusiveness of the initiative – exposing art and fashion to a new audience – is a feather in the (Stephen Jones) cap of the BFC and the designers involved. They should get set to take a (very chic, impeccably turned-out) bow.

This page from top / Hooded top, £64, Adidas Gold by Stella McCartney. Nicholas Kirkwood and Simon Periton; Stephen Jones; Mary Katrantzou and Mark Titchner, all shot by Gautier Deblonde. Opposite from top / Collaborative images from Stephen Jones and Cerith Wyn Evans. Giles Deacon + Jeremy Deller, ‘Untitled’ 2012

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FEATURE

ICONS

Game OF THE

Two golfers, three runners, a jockey, a boxer and a tennis legend – each of them the ‘greatest sportsperson who ever lived’, according to our panel of well-known, influential or just plain sports-mad locals…

Illustrations: Mai Osawa

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Richard Corrigan Michelin-starred Irish chef who can be seen behind the stoves at Corrigan’s Mayfair and Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill in Piccadilly

Greatest sportsman: Eamonn Coghlan ‘He was the first really world-class runner in Ireland since Ronnie Delaney in the fifties,’ says Corrigan. ‘Coghlan was a guy from Dublin who was worshipped in the US, and he was nicknamed “Chairman of The Boards” because of his total domination of indoor mile races.’ Corrigan’s greatest memory of his sporting idol was seeing the runner on TV at the 1983 Helsinki World Championships, where Coghlan won gold in the 5,000m. ‘I remember it as a sweltering summer day,’ he says, ‘and U2 played a huge concert in Phoenix Park. The city was absolutely buzzing.’ Richard’s tip for Irish glory at this year’s Olympics, meanwhile, is boxer Katie Taylor – who also doubles up as a first-rate footballer. ‘She’s the raging hot favourite,’ he smiles, ‘although we Irish usually prefer the underdog.’

Sarah Stirk Sky Sports golf presenter

Greatest sportsman: Tiger Woods ‘Tiger has dominated the world of golf, and shows both physical and mental brilliance,’ says Stirk, a lifelong golf lover, who plays off a handicap of seven. ‘He’s capable of producing shots that just no one else can.’ Sarah says she thinks the American is still on track to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of eighteen majors – though personal issues have knocked him a little off-course – and that for proof of his mettle we need look no further than the 2008 US Open when Woods won with a broken leg. ‘He’s not the easiest interviewee,’ says Stirk, who has grilled the living legend several times, ‘and he divides public opinion, but his greatness can never be questioned.’ Sarah, whose favourite Mayfair spots include the Mayfair Bar at the Mayfair Hotel and the Tamarind Restaurant, says that if there’s a man to topple the Tiger, it could well be fast-rising young Irishman Rory McIlroy, ‘who has the potential to be as good, if not better.’

FEATURE

Lady Helen Taylor Katie Small Her Majesty The Queen’s cousin once removed and head of the Masterpiece Art Fair Committee (www.masterpiecefair.com), which is holding a charity ball in July

Greatest sportsman: John McEnroe ‘I loved his personality, and he was just such a beautiful player to watch,’ says Lady Taylor of the endearingly truculent American tennis ace. ‘My favourite memory of him was watching his Wimbledon finals against Bjorn Borg.’ There were two – one in 1980, and one in 1981 – and they won one each. ‘Some of the older generation found his behaviour somewhat testing’ adds Lady Taylor, ‘but I adored it because it appealed to my inner rebel.’ Lady Taylor, whose husband Timothy Taylor’s art gallery is in Carlos Place, just off Grosvenor Square, says she is looking forward to seeing ‘all our promising young Olympic hopefuls this summer,’ though she won’t reveal if she’ll be quietly hoping to see a heated row with an official to spice things up.

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Head of Private Wealth at RK Harrison, the high net worth insurance broker

Greatest sportsman: Linford Christie ‘I think Linford is a true sports legend,’ says Small. ‘He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions: the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games.’ His achievements don’t end there, says Small, who points out that the sprinter was the first European to break the ten-second barrier in the 100m and still holds the British record. ‘His journey wasn’t an easy ride, either,’ she says. ‘For years he struggled to reach the top, and I remember that when he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 1993 it really inspired me in my own work, and proved to me that if you fight hard enough you can achieve your goals.’

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Jamie Wood

Steve Martin

Son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and coowner of well-known Mayfair gallery Scream, which is moving on to pastures new in Eastcastle Street this month

CEO of M&C Saatchi Sports and Entertainment in Golden Square, and a man who – by his own admission – spends all day talking about sport

Greatest sportsman: Muhammad Ali

Greatest sportsman: Seve Ballesteros

‘I watched Ali fight Ken Norton with my Dad when I was four years old,’ says Wood, with a nostalgic glint in his eye. ‘It was the first boxing match I’d seen and I was amazed by Ali – he was captivating. He seemed bigger than big that day, and he still does.’ Wood says that a large part of the three-times world heavyweight champion’s appeal was his personality, and ‘especially the way that he got into his opponent’s head before a fight.’ Adds Jamie: ‘Using mind-games and fast-talking he would wind people up to get them to fight angrily. He would win the fight before he even went into the ring.’

‘Seve was really coming into his own when I was growing up, and as I’d started playing golf when I was ten, he became my sporting idol,’ says Martin. ‘He joined the European tour in 1974 and over twenty years he won fifty titles in the tour, a record which hasn’t been beaten to this day.’ Martin, who says he is most likely to stroll into Mayfair in pursuit of one of Savile Row’s long-established tailors or for lunch at Cecconi’s, achieved every schoolboy dream in the early 1980s when he met his hero after a tournament. Better than that, the golfer handed him his ball as he walked from the 18th hole. ‘Seve was both flamboyant and seriously successful,’ says Martin, with a smile. ‘No one had seen anything like him.’

FEATURE

Graham Budd

Vanessa Vallely

Head of sporting memorabilia specialists Graham Budd Auctions, whose lots go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New Bond Street

Founder of networking organisation wearethecity.com and named as one of the top one hundred most influential women in Finance in 2011

Greatest sportsman: Fred Archer

Greatest sportsman: Paula Radcliffe

‘Fred was a Victorian jockey,’ explains Budd, ‘and he was one of the world’s first ever sporting superstars.’ His record, Budd says, was incredible: ‘He took his own life when he was just 29, but by then he’d chalked up some career records which weren’t broken until well into the 20th century. If he’d been riding into his fifties, I don’t think his records would ever have been beaten.’ A far cry from a natural jockey at a lofty 5ft 10 inches, Archer, says Graham, existed on a ‘starvation diet that was pretty much a cup of tea, a sardine, and that’s it.’ He won 21 Classic races, including The Derby five times, and had the distinction of being the first ever sportsman to be captured in wax at Madame Tussaud’s.

‘She’s a real role model in terms of encouraging women into sport and to those with asthma who think they can’t pursue sports careers,’ says Vallely, who used to work in Mayfair and still can’t resist popping back for lunch at Nobu. She points out that Radcliffe is the current world record holder for the women’s marathon (with a time of 2h15m:25s), she has won the London, New York and Chicago marathons and has also represented Great Britain at the Olympics four times. ‘As well as a stellar career, she’s also managed to raise a family and devote a good deal of her time to various charities,’ Vallely says. Pushed for a younger, up-and-coming athlete who gives Radcliffe a run for her money, Vanessa name-checks swimmer Rebecca Adlington. ‘She’s faced her fair share of challenges and is still bringing home the accolades for Britain,’ she says.

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Better

together When two luxury brands join forces, the results can be electrifying. From to Bentley to Breitling, Pinel & Pinel to Piaget, Richard Brown finds out if two minds really are better than one Among the intricate timepieces shown at last year’s SalonQP (the horological equivalent of an international motor show), a bulky Harley Davidson sat incongruously by the exhibition’s entrance. The iconic motorbike seemed somewhat out of place, and it would have been, had it not been for the oversized Bell & Ross compass-watch mounted on the motorbike’s fuel tank. Following Breitling’s indisputably successful partnership with Bentley, and Parmigiani Fleurier’s not-so-victorious venture with Bugatti, this was the latest example of a watch manufacturer collaborating with a brand outside of its area of expertise. Within months of being unveiled, the bike’s bold deign and aggressive good looks had won it several awards, proving to be as popular with watch enthusiasts as with motoring aficionados. It was, in short, an example of what can happen when two brands come together and get it right. Indeed, faced with uncertain economic conditions, it isn’t just Harley Davidson and Bell & Ross that are keen to take advantage of cost-effective co-branding exercises. Whether it is to utilise external expertise to develop an innovative product, to garner credibility in a new market, or simply born from a desire to create something beautiful, an increasing number of luxury brands are choosing to leave the safety of their own pond and dip a tentative toe in waters unknown. Two months after the curtain closed on SalonQP 2011, Hublot, a watch brand already wise to the benefits of aligning their name with someone else’s – they’ve negotiated contracts with a list of personalities

that stretches from Sir Alex Ferguson and Usain Bolt to Dwyane Wade and Jet Li – announced that it had become the official timekeeper and watchmaker of Ferrari. The brand of the Prancing Stallion was teaming up with the brand that had brought us the Big Bang in a joint venture that both parties promised would live up to much more than a simple sponsorship agreement. And so it did. In March of this year, under the strapline the ‘Art of fusion’, Hublot unveiled the Big Bang Ferrari, a variant of an existing watch rather than a completely new creation, but one that successfully managed to marry the philosophies of both brands. Ferrari, a supercar giant known for pushing the boundaries of automotive performance, and Hublot, a watch manufacturer famed for pioneering design and new materials, had made a product that contained the DNA of each. Even the section of the watch press that consider Hublot’s approach to watch-making somewhat overly bold were forced to marvel at the exhaustive research and development that had gone into producing the pioneering ‘magic gold’ edition of the timepiece. Another super-car brand getting in on the act is Aston Martin, who have just launched a collaboration with one of London’s finest silversmiths, Grant Macdonald. ‘Silver by Aston Martin’, is a luxury silver and giftware collection combining the car company’s undeniably elegant style with Grant Macdonald’s traditional heritage the result is sleek, sophisticated and very covetable. And it’s probably the only time you can get away with writing ‘Aston Martin’ on a wedding list.

It’s probably the only time you can get away with writing ‘Aston Martin’ on a wedding list

FEATURE

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One company that seems to sit at the top of many would-be collaborators’ wish lists is France’s luxury trunkmaker Pinel & Pinel. Having collaborated with the likes of Vacheron Constantin, Jaquet Droz, Paco Rabanne, Lacroix, Krug and Byblos, amongst others, the company has become the go-to for any luxury brand looking for something stylish in which to house their creations. When one of the world’s most prestigious watch and jewellery brands teamed up with the design house in 2007, the result didn’t disappoint. Two of the most lavish watch trunks you’re ever likely to see, both the resultant Black Tie trunk and the VIP trunk took three months to manufacture, featured cowhide with palladium-electroplated polished-brass and boasted a central integrated movement that will wind your watches for you automatically. More than somewhere to simply store your accessories, Piaget and Pinel & Pinel had created a contemporary temple to the religion of time. With a price point in the tens of thousands, it was a product that mirrored the market position of both brands. Not so successful was the trunk-makers collaboration with TAG Heuer. Part of the watch company’s attempt at entering the high-end phone market, TAG chose to co-brand with Pinel & Pinel to produce a box that would showcase their Carrera Chronograph and Meridiist mobile phone. While the box retained all of the quality and aesthetics that the French brand is known for, the phone inside illustrated what can go wrong when a brand creates a product by selling their image rather than by investing in research and design. Over-weight and underspec, the Meridiist represented none of the precision and high-engineering typified by their iconic watches. That said, there are other examples of where brands have teamed up with makers of mobile phones and created products that have been successful – if you’re the sort of person that considers a phone that plays ringtones composed by Dario Marianelli and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra a success that is (and sales figures suggest there are enough of you out there). Where Vertu first trod, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Armani were all quick to follow. As were Porsche Design, who, with Blackberry, created the P’9981 smartphone. While aesthetically, the phone divided opinion when it was launched at the start of this year, there was little denying it as an example of two companies singing from the same hymn sheet. ‘This collaboration stems from a shared belief that form equals function,’ says Todd Wood, SVP for Industrial Design at Research In Motion (the developers of BlackBerry). ‘The Porsche Design P’9981 is a truly modern luxury smartphone, where the timeless style of Porsche Design meets the unmatched mobile experience provided by BlackBerry.’ With sharp, unyielding looks and a handset comprising

FEATURE

This page / Pinel & Pinel chair trunk boudoir Previous / Clockwise from top left: Vertu Constellation Quest Ferrari smartphone; Silver by Aston Martin decanter; Breitling for Bentley watch; Bell & Ross Harley Davidson Nascafe racer; Byblos by Pinel & Pinel Gentleman Luggage; The Porsche Design P’9981 BlackBerry smartphone; Hublot’s Big Bang Ferrari watch; Jimmy Choo Hunter wellington boots

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a forged stainless steel frame and hand-wrapped leather back, the P’9981 is a phone for those who care equally about form and function, and it successfully incorporates into one product the shared ethos of two brands. Above all, it is perhaps collaborations within the fashion industry that prove to be the most lucrative, and in particular, those between high street chains and high-fashion designers. For luxury clothing companies, such collaborations present an opportunity to raise brand awareness among younger generations, reach new markets and experiment with new, and sometimes, risqué collections. For high street retailers, the partnerships can dramatically increase foot fall, boost sales and generate huge amounts of media attention – a fact highlighted by the monumental success of H&M’s first designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004. So much of a bargain was the reported $1 million the Swedish retailer had paid the German designer for the collection that H&M wasted no time in negotiating ensuing collaborations with names that included Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Matthew Williamson, Marni, Versace and Lanvin, to name but a few. Keen to grab a slice of the collaboration pie, Topshop and Macy’s followed suit, between them launching collections with Christopher Kane, Jason Wu, Mary Katrantzou, David Koma, Alexander McQueen and Missoni. While, for the luxury designer involved, fashion collaborations run the risk of alienating their principal consumer base (a loyal customer may feel that the brand has been cheapened), it’s hard to find an example of a co-branding exercise that hasn’t been a categorical success. People have queued through the night to get their hands on clothes by designers they normally could never afford, almost all collections have sold out, spurred follow up editions and injected huge sums of cash into the high street retailer taking part. That said, it’s interesting to note that if we were to collate the fashion brands present in the collective portfolios of LVMH, PPR and Richemont, only two (Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen) out of 22, have partaken in such collaborations. To the marketing teams at a vast number of other design houses, it seems, exclusivity and heritage remain more important than generating a quick buck from a fresh market. ‘In the long history of humankind, and animal kind, too,’ says Charles Darwin, ‘those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.’ Whether they’re familiar with the naturalist’s teachings or not, more and more brands are choosing to utilise the expertise and market position of others, partnering to create products they hope will captivate niche customers and new markets. And in the eye of many a consumer, two brands do indeed appear to be better than one.

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Ahead

of the Game

Forget fine wine, supercars, jewellery and art; if you have children, the best thing to invest in is their education. Annabel Harrison explores the growing trend for tutoring, finds out how technology is changing our children’s educational needs and investigates why some of our brightest teens are opting for transatlantic tuition Picture the scene. You have just sat down to relax and read the paper after a long day. In rushes your beloved son, aged 15, with Macbook in hand and a pained expression on his face. He utters the dreaded sentence ‘I need help with my Physics coursework...’ and you must react, swiftly. Unless you’re a closet scientist and thrilled he’s asked for your input, it’s very likely you’d turn to Google, desperate for your son not only to complete his work but to excel in it. Coursework seems to be one of the main catalysts for this kind of search; ‘Tutoring

London’ returns an astounding 6,220,000 results. This is rather overwhelming if you’re a parent with a child who needs extra help but have absolutely no idea how to approach the process. There’s no shortage of this type of help on offer, though; tutoring is a trend that’s here to stay. Speaking to a handful of parents, I discover that word-of-mouth and proof-is-in-the-pudding recommendations in the tutoring world can cause shockwaves of interest. In the way that parents used to boast about Freddie’s hat-trick in hockey or Gabrielle’s top ballet exam score, now the

FEATURE

competitive element revolves around your children’s education; if you’re paying a small fortune for anything, you expect to get results. The new investment solution is education; not only are you giving your children something that cannot be taken away from them, you are also safe-guarding your own legacy by ensuring your children are capable of managing their own wealth and, indeed, their own lives. With the aim of finding out why the tutoring trend has woven its way into the educational system of the Mayfair’s teens and tweens, I sought out Howard Walmsley, a highly recommended educational entrepreneur with more than 18 years teaching and tutoring experience. One of the most interesting, and concerning, facts I learn from Walmsley is that unlike Pilates, for example, therapy or any other practice which involves physical or mental manipulation, there is no governing body regulating the training of people attempting to untangle the information and emotions in your children’s heads. So what is the difference between tutoring and teaching, and must there be one? The word tutor comes from the Latin for watcher and Walmsley emphasises that ‘tutors can, and should, assist with emotional, cognitive and academic development, as well as identity building’ so it is imperative that you do enough research to find someone well-suited to your child and his or her development; it is not a one-size-fits-all industry. If you feel tempted to cut out the leg-work and settle for your child’s best friend’s tutor, even though they have different temperaments and learning capabilities, this can result in detrimental tutoring, or over-tutoring. This creates problems rather than fixes them, resulting in what Walmsley terms ‘learned helplessness’: children need to be able to solve problems themselves and feel empowered, not dependent. Additionally, Walmsley explains, ‘tutoring has to be different from teaching, because this is increasingly focussing on exam-led education.’ Gone are the days when exams came round once a year, and even then, not every year; now children are launched into a neverending cycle of revision, exams and results at an early age. Common Entrance exams finished in May, we’re now in the throes of GSCE, A-Level and IB, and next are entrance exams, mocks, retakes and the SAT for the kids going to America (more on that shortly). There is little time to explore, for example, off-curriculum topics. Walmsley points out that social media is now a central part of our lives, and especially those of our children; they have Google to ask almost

any question they can think of and there is no need, necessarily, to be able to recall at will the distance of the Earth from the Sun. They need to be able to ask the right questions rather than be drilled with reams of information. Plato, indeed, believed we should not ‘train children to learn by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.’ A study of 500 teachers, conducted by school trips provider JCA, which motivates personal and social development outside the classroom, found that children who spend much of their time online find it harder to concentrate in class, are permanently distracted and have shorter attention spans. A spokeswoman for JCA said: ‘This research clearly demonstrates that students up and down the country are spending more and more time using social media... As the teachers spell out, it is this obsession which has a direct impact on the future of our children; affecting their grades because they fail to complete their homework on time or to the standard required, and being unable to concentrate in class.’ However, social media is most certainly here to stay, so surely we need to work with it, not against it? This study also reinforces the fact that the one-size-fits-all model doesn’t work, whether we’re talking about schools, tutors or even exams: these recognise a particular kind of intelligence and are, Walmsley believes, ‘preparing children for a world that doesn’t exist’. Opinions vary over which jobs are most in demand in today’s market but one thing is certain; the career landscape has changed irreversibly. Just a decade ago, a teenager would have been approaching university in a world where Facebook, YouTube and Twitter didn’t exist and Google was in its infancy. Facebook now has over 3,500 employees and Google more than 30,000. It is possible that students entering university today could be studying for three or four years for jobs that may not even exist in a decade. At least, British students could be. For US students, it’s a different matter; they can study a range of subjects as

Tutors can, and should, assist with emotional, cognitive and academic development

Illustration: Mai Osawa

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they don’t have to choose one in which to ‘major’. Chris Ajemian, founder of CATES, a private tutoring, test prep, and applications and admissions support company, believes that our students are flocking to US colleges for this liberal arts education. ‘They are not ready to declare a major. As humans, by our very nature, we tend to change our minds. The idea of being able to choose and change academic course really appeals to today’s British students.’ This is confirmed by Scarlett Lesley, currently taking her AS-levels at the Harrodian School in Barnes. She has just returned from looking at universities in Boston and is drawn to these because ‘I’m not 100 per cent certain of what my future holds; who is at 17?’ She does have a passion for media and in terms of courses, equipment, expertise and environment, the US colleges come up trumps, especially Emmerson College, Boston: ‘It offers internships across the world and this is completely inspirational. I know it will be a big change from London but I think that it will give me the experience and confidence I need to make the transition into adulthood successfully.’ Beatrice Petit Bon is now studying at Brown, having transferred from UCL, because she ‘wanted to explore different disciplines of thought.’ Serena Guen, educated in Chelsea and studying at NYU, was attracted not only by the courses on offer but also by the support system: ‘I have small classes and amazing pastoral care that encourages me to develop my interests and choose my majors [French & Liberal Studies]’. Walmsley confirms that because US colleges are financially independent, they provide better service: ‘They are hellishly expensive but your child will be connected worldwide and will receive a higher level of pastoral care’. The gap between our fees and fees in the US is also narrowing. However, the big stumbling block for UK students

comes in the form of three little letters: SAT. Essentially, this is the primary college entrance exam offered by the US College Board. More than two million students take it each year and it gives colleges a way to rank applicants quickly, making it an important part of the admissions process, second only to a student’s academic record. Ari Butler, head tutor at CATES, confirmed the growth of international interest in taking the SAT: ‘We opened the London office in response to a huge need.’ Butler advises that preparation is essential as UK students are up against US students who have been prepared throughout their education for ‘a test of how you think rather than what you know’. It is a specialised, intense process, as Scarlett confirms: ‘On top of my A-levels, I need to sit the SAT. You have to learn a huge amount of technical theory, the exam is multiple choice but you get penalised for wrong answers and the way you fill in the application is totally different.’ The test includes mathematics, in addition to critical reading and writing: Chris stresses that ‘the SAT is based on the US system and this is particularly clear in the math section – the US kids learn concepts the UK kids don’t because the maths curriculum is a three to four year program, not ending at GSCE’. In case you’re in any doubt as to how much tuition can help your child, whether for British exams or applying to a US college, listen to Scarlett: ‘It’s a specialist process and it helps a lot to have someone who knows the system you are aiming for, to guide your revision and approach... I know most of the concepts but the way they test them [in the US] is really different. The interviews and essays, as well as the amount of information you need to absorb, means that you do most of the work on your own – a tutor can only take you so far. The rest is up to you.’

Preparation is essential; UK students are up against US students who have been prepared for the SAT throughout their education

FEATURE

Chris Ajemian, CEO and Founder of CATES, has the following five tips for parents and students approaching the US Admissions Process

Know

the

Nature

of the

Process

The US admissions offices look at the ‘big picture’ of each application profile and the criteria (in rough order of importance) are as follows: school grades, SAT/ACT test scores, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations, application essays and the interview. UK students are often discouraged from pursuing extra-curricular activities in order to focus on getting top grades but if you’re going to pursue the US education system seriously, you need to find ways of pursuing your passions both in and out of school in a way that demonstrates you’re serious about them.

Know

the

Competition

You are evaluated in relation to your peers. At many universities, the admissions office expects international students to make up about 10 per cent of its incoming freshmen class. At Princeton, international students made up 10.3 per cent of the 2,282 students admitted to the Class of 2015, which equates to just 235 students from 66 different countries. So the chances of students from the same country and same school getting into the same college is very slim.

Know How

the

Tests Work

Your SAT score is not dependent on how well you do in relation to the actual questions, but rather how well you do in relation to other students on the same test; because the tests are curved, the exams reward those who are the most prepared. If you prepare the right way for the exam, your chances of scoring higher than your friend who decides to just ‘roll out of bed and take the test’ are astronomically higher.

Know When

Start

Start looking into the US process at the end of your GCSE year. When will you visit US universities? What schools do you want to see? What are their SAT score ranges? Start preparing for the SAT (or ACT) no later than the following autumn. Most US students – particularly ones applying to the top schools – begin their test prep around this time and understand that they will take the SAT at least twice, if not three times, over the course of the next year. Coming from the UK system, you also want to make sure you allow yourself enough time to transition to the American multiple choice method of testing successfully.

Know

the

Schools

Finding the right school for you is like dating – it’s all about getting the right match. Each American school has its own unique personality and you need to do your research to identify their specific characteristics. Two of the most popular schools among international students are Brown and Georgetown, both excellent but completely different. Visit www.catestutoring.com for more detailed information

Illustration: Mai Osawa

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Cover story One of the first things houseguests will see, coffee table books offer a window into your personality. So go ahead, judge a book by its cover...

FASHION DIOR The house of Dior is the pinnacle of French haute couture and one of the world’s most celebrated luxury brands. The three retrospective volumes that make up this collection capture the most iconic and enduring images from each decade of the brand’s rich history. Christian Dior’s vision of a world of sophistication and elegance, a complete expression of French high culture, was something that could only have been achieved through his own endeavours, and ultimately was. As a young man Dior hoped to be an architect, whilst

his mother urged him to become a diplomat, two elements he introduced to the world of high fashion. ‘I think of my work as ephemeral architecture, dedicated to the beauty of the female body.’ The collection is divided into Dior Fashion by Caroline Bongrand, former editor in chief of L’Officiel de la Mode, and novelist as well as Dior Fine Jewellery and Dior Perfume by Jérôme Hanover, former editor in chief of Double. Around £48 Assouline (www.assouline.com)

DESIGN LIVING IN STYLE LONDON Widely regarded as the world’s most cosmopolitan and culturally vibrant city, London continues to be a magnet for creative individuals. This mix of culture and creativity along with the city’s long history as a world financial and industrial power is typified by the capital’s many incredible living spaces. Living in Style London examines some of the capitals most noteworthy residences from

English eccentricity to contemporary minimalist interiors. The works of interior designers including Tara Bernerd, David Carter and Monika Apponyi are explored in the 237 illustrations. The title also includes a forward from Princess Michael of Kent and illustrates the juxtaposition of comfort and glamour amongst London’s interiors, unparalleled anywhere else in the world. £45, Teneues (www.teneues.com)

FEATURE

SPOR T POLO A sport with its roots ranging from Persia and Tibet to the foothills of Mongolia, polo has been passed down from generation to generation, spreading over every continent. Roaming French photographer Aline Coquelle has documented the timeless and elegant sport, travelling across the world over five years. Polo: The Nomadic Tribe features text by the sport’s most elite players and traditionally developed untouched images. Coquelle displays the intrinsic gene present in all players from those pitting against each other in the Argentinian pampas to stylish players gracing the Palm

Springs and Cartier Polo games. The images portray the sense of adrenaline and competitive fury involved in even the most royally reserved Polo encounters. With photography appearing amongst the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair and AD, Coquelle is perfectly placed to not only express the sport’s Westernised sheen but also its most traditional roots. £75, Assouline (www.assouline.com)

AR T CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE This impressive volume not only gives an overview of the life and work of artists Christo & Jeanne-Claude but was also designed by Christo himself. Part biography and part back catalogue, this book includes previously unpublished photographs, drawings and plans for realised works alongside in-depth interviews to give an unparalleled insight into the world of this pair of world renowned artists. From their earlier works in 1958 to the most recent

urban and rural works including The Gates in Central Park and Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, this book pays fitting homage to the work of the late Jeanne-Claude. It also contains the transcript of a conversation between the artists and Paul Goldberger, the last conversation about her work that Jeanne-Claude had before her death in 2009. Limited to one thousand copies and written by Paul Goldberger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of The New Yorker, the book also features images by Wolfgang Volz, the exclusive photographer of their works since 1971. £600, Taschen (www.taschen.com)

TRAVEL GAIA Gaia is far from an ordinary travel book. The title is the first ever book of photography published by a private space explorer; Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil. The book documents Laliberté’s fascination with the Earth’s surface and the imagery shows the diverse nature of colour and texture across forty countries seen from 220 miles away. The 300-page tome shows landscapes as rugged, yet infinitely fragile with cities rising up like mini mountain ranges and the ever-present contrast between the manmade and the naturally formed. Housed inside the International Space Station and orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, he was able to make sixteen tours of the earth each day.

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Laliberté dedicated his spaceflight to raising awareness about water shortages faced by humankind. Proceeds from the book go to One Drop, a not-for-profit organisation founded by Laliberté to ensure that every person across the planet has access to clean water. Gaia is available in three editions, a limitedavailability, luxury, hand-bound edition in oversized format, a further limited-release Ultimate Collection and a trade edition in hardcover. Artists Limited Edition, around £4,465; Ultimate Collection, around £560; Trade Edition, around £40, Assouline (www.assouline.com)

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N E W S TO R E

SLOANE ST Sw1 C O N T E m p O R a Ry CaShmERE SiNCE 1936

Available from Burlington Arcade, Mayfair Tel: 020 7499 6485 and 149 Sloane Street Sw1 Tel: 020 7730 6891

www.npeal.com

INTERVIEW

Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO, Aston Martin

M a y f a ir

Dr Ulrich Bez, the amiable top man at Aston Martin, has something he wants to get off his chest. Yes, he is more than happy to talk about Mayfair, where he has lived for the past twelve months, and by all means he will regale us with advice on where we can locally pick up some genuine Bavarian weisswurst – but not yet. First, there is business to attend to. And that business, should this issue find its way onto the desk of the top man at Westminster council, is bins. ‘I love Mayfair, I really do,’ says Dr Bez, ‘but where I live in Woods Mews, the garbage on the roads is unbelievable.’ The problem, he says, is bin bags left out which are at the mercy of urban foxes as night falls. The next morning’s ‘dodging around food, tins and plastics’ hardly befits the successful Mayfair gentleman. ‘That’s what I don’t like,’ Dr Bez says, his frustration easing a little. ‘What do I like? Well, my wife and I and our youngest daughter are right in the middle of London life. There’s Soho to the East, Kensington to the West and Marylebone to the North. We have everything we need.’ This year is a big one for Dr Bez and Aston Martin (though next year, the company’s 100th anniversary, could be even bigger). For a start, there is the new Aston Martin One-77 supercar, the result of what happens when a CEO tells his engineers to design a vehicle for which money is no object. Of course it is beautiful, fast and refined, but beyond that, it is extraordinarily rare. Only seventy-seven of these £1.2m beasts will ever be made, and if you recently spotted one in the window of the new Aston Martin ‘brand centre’ in Park Lane (think boutique shop meets genteel spot for exclusive, intimate soirees), think yourself lucky. It may well be the only time you ever see one.

‘The brand centre is called W-One,’ explains Dr Bez, ‘and we want people to come in and enjoy all the things that are part of the Aston Martin lifestyle.’ That lifestyle includes everything from collaborations with the jeweller John Calleija and luxury Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre to an assortment of limited-edition Aston Martin-approved products. A mere 100 metres from Dr Bez’s home, W-One has become a regular haunt for him. Other places you may spot the good doctor include his office in Berkeley Square – where he is to be found when not at Aston Martin’s HQ in Gaydon, Warwickshire – as well as a whole host of restaurants and bars that illustrate just how vigorously his family has embraced Mayfair life. ‘We go to a lovely little place called Allans in Duke Street for breakfast, for a beer in the evening I go to the Audley pub in South Audley Street, and then if we want to go to a club we go to the George in Mount Street,’ he says. ‘If we have friends around and want a nice, informal atmosphere we have tapas at El Pirata and for fine dining we like La Petite Maison in Brook’s Mews. We are enjoying Mayfair and all of its different characteristics.’ For a little slice of Germany, Dr Bez says a stroll across Oxford Street to Selfridges food hall does the trick every time. That’s Sunday morning sorted then, and for the perfect Sunday afternoon it’s a drive up to Hampstead Heath. Which means, of course, that Dr Bez does drive in London. Sensibly, his choice of wheels is the Cygnet: Aston Martin’s dinky city car. ‘I can do a complete u-turn in my street,’ he says, ‘and parking is never a problem.’ Plus, he says, with a contented smile, its eco-credentials ensure that there’s never a shortage of passers-by ready to give him an appreciative thumbs-up.

(www.astonmartin.com)

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Mayfair & St James’s

News

From the Opening Ceremony to the final whistle, celebrate the Olympics in style

Party in the park Hyde Park will be playing host to the BT London Live Opening Celebration Concert, which sees some of the biggest stars in music represent all four corners of the United Kingdom. The concert will be headlined by multi-million album-selling Northern Irish rockers Snow Patrol, 80s pop legends Duran Duran, Welsh Brit Award winners Stereophonics and platinum-selling Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini. The proceedings will be timed to ensure that the Opening Ceremoney of The London 2012 Olympic Games, happening that same evening at the Olympic Park in Stratford, can be shown live on the arena’s giant screens. Tickets are £66 and can be purchased from Ticket Master (www.ticketmaster.co.uk)

Champagne at Quaglino’s

Tea-ing off

Escape the crowd and catch the opening ceremony at Quaglino’s. As the spectacular display unfolds on screen, sample the classic bistro-style food and superb cocktails, which have been a hit with the St James’s crowd since the restaurant’s opening in 1929. If you return during the Olympics, the restaurant will be screening selected events to ensure you don’t miss a moment’s excitement. Should England win any gold medals whilst you dine, a complimentary glass of perfectly chilled champagne awaits you to celebrate the occasion.

Take in the opening ceremony in the elegant comfort of Fortnum and Mason’s new Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon with a High Tea of gold medal quality. Dainty finger sandwiches, sumptuous canapés and delectable cakes provide the ideal solution to any sympathy hunger pangs you might suffer in solidarity with the ceremony’s performers. Why not swap tea for a glass of something fizzy when the excitement gets too great, and relish the fact that you won’t need to journey back from the East once the ceremony ends.

Quaglino’s, 16 Bury Street, SW1Y 6AJ. Call 020 7930 6767 to make a reservation (www.quaglinos-restaurant.co.uk)

Opening Ceremony High Tea at Fortnum & Mason, £75, call 0845 602 5694 to make a reservation (www.fortnumandmason.com)

Aesthetic athletics Graham Dean has always focussed his work on the body, previously producing paintings on themes ranging from fashion models to gamblers in Las Vegas and identical twins. In Fitter Quicker Longer, he focuses on athletes just prior to or after a sporting event. In the course of his observations, Dean found himself backstage at weightlifting events in South London, in the midst of media scrums at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, and in awe of the Paralympic squad. The resulting large-scale watercolours on handmade paper form an illuminating and humanising portrait of athletes in their element. ‘Fitter Quicker Longer’ runs from 18 July to 12 August at The Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery, 26 Cork Street, W1S 3ND. Free entry Monday-Friday 9.30am-6pm (www.waterhousedodd.com)

Images courtesy of The Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery

Enter the Brown’s hotel relaxathon The Spa at Brown’s Hotel has introduced a series of luxurious ‘summer sporting spa treatments’ to ease your aches and pains, whether you’re recovering from an arduous run or a marathon shop. Revitalise with a relaxing ‘Backstroke,’ which features a back cleanse, a citrus vitamin C-infused back scrub and a rejuvenating essential oil massage. Alternatively, indulge in a ‘Relaxathon,’ which begins with an assessment from a personal trainer followed by a twenty minute tailor-made work-out, all topped off with a well-deserved Brown’s fusion massage. Brown’s Hotel, Albemarle Street, Brown’s Relaxathon, £190 and Backstroke, £70, can be booked for 27 July – 12 August by contacting reservations on 0800 988 404 (www.brownshotel.com)

Classical fare The Courtyard at 51 Buckingham Gate will entertain guests this summer with delectable dining and world-class opera. Located just minutes from Buckingham Palace, it is famous for its idyllic courtyard, where a delightful fountain lends the air of a stately home to this hidden gem. The Opera comes courtesy of Viva Live Music, a company whose previous experience includes private events for Royalty, broadcasts on BBC1 and Radio 3 and performances at The Royal Albert Hall and The Royal Opera House. Operatic arias are accompanied by a piano and string trio, all coordinated by acclaimed Musical Director Helen Ireland. The musical display will be accompanied by three courses of gastronomic titillation from Executive Chef Vikas Milhoutra: the perfect accompaniment. Tickets are available for 14 July, 20 July, 18 August, 24 August and cost £99.50 per person; to book call 020 7963 8373 (www.51-buckinghamgate.com)

Race against time Watchmaker Omega will be opening an exclusive private residence in a Grade 1 listed Georgian townhouse for the duration of the Olympics. Omega House will provide a refuge for Omega’s guests during the Games and expects to host both Londoners and international visitors, from members of the British Olympic team to Omega ambassador Nicole Kidman and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Members can use the house to conduct meetings, socialise, and watch the Olympics on a screen in the ‘secret garden,’ which is lit with candle lanterns. There will also be a bevy of special events and themed evenings to ensure members can make the most of the Olympic excitement from the luxury of an exclusive retreat. Omega House, The House of St Barnabas, W1D 4NQ (www.omegawatches.com)

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578 KINGS ROAD LONDON SW6 2DY WWW.GUINEVERE.CO.UK

+44 (0)20 7736 2917

The latest discoveries, exhibits and must-sees in the art world this month

Orbit the Olympic Park Turner Prize-winning artist, Anish Kapoor RA, is famed for his monumental, enigmatic sculptures, not least of all Marsyas, which confounded and astounded to the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in 2002. For London 2012, he has created what is probably the most dominant structure in the Olympic Park, ArcelorMittal Orbit. A vertical, steel tower painted mostly in what has been nicknamed ‘Kapoor red’, it is clear to see because of the structure’s distinctive looped, spiral form. The sculpture stands 114.5 metres tall and its uppermost loop stretches way up into the sky, making it significantly higher than the adjacent sixty metre Olympic Stadium. Described by Mayor Boris Johnson as ‘a symbol of prosperity and growth’, but derided by some as an outrageously expensive helter-skelter, coming in at a staggering £22.7 million (although ArcelorMittal is funding around £19 million of it), it will, nonetheless, be one of those rare sculptures that is not just tactile but practical. Up to 5,000 visitors a day can mount the steps en route to the sculpture’s two viewing platforms and then be rewarded with a remarkable panorama spanning twenty miles across and beyond the Olympic Park.

ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor RA

(www.arcelormittalorbit.com)

An extra treat for visitors to the equestrian venue Will we ever forget last year’s traffic-stopping, heart-pounding sight at Marble Arch when the monumental, equine sculpture Horse at Water took up residence? Since then, the artist who created it, Nic Fiddian-Green, has had international locations clamouring for his work but, fortunately for us, one of his pieces has been reserved for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic equestrian venue, Greenwich Park. This slightly smaller, 10ft version of the noble Horse at Water will fit perfectly within its new surroundings, combining elegant architecture with the park’s verdant acres. The gentle character of the sculpture will be appreciated, also, for injecting an aura of calm into what is destined to become an intensely competitive atmosphere as the sporting events unfold. Fiddian-Green’s lifelong passion and respect for horses radiates from his sensitive, life-like modeling of this horse’s head. We predict that it will not only attract admiring looks but adoring touches from the public who will yearn to keep it in Greenwich as a meaningful, thoroughly British legacy of London 2012. 16 July – 12 August Pavilion, Equestrian Arena, Greenwich Park (www.london2012.com)

Nic Fiddian-Green, Horse at Water, Lead, 16ft

Q&A with cover artist Ben Dearnley on his latest work Q: In choosing the torso as your focal point, what were you hoping to explore? A: My Olympian work focuses on the core strength of each athlete, unifying the Olympians and Paralympians in celebration of their spirit of excellence. I draw the viewer into a personal dialogue with the sculpture by presenting them with a seductive surface of the fragmented figure.

Q: How do you wish people to react to your work? A: My desire is to produce work that, once seen, stays with the viewer in their mind’s eye, making a connection on a deeper level. The work I produce aims to reflect the nature of complex multi-layered individuals that make

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the world go round, thus it is never a single layer that sits on the surface.

Q: Why is sculpture your medium of choice? A: My work aims to transfer the energy of the material, whether stone, glass, or bronze, into form. Following in Rodin’s footsteps, I present the viewer with fragments that tantalise and intrigue, yet contain an inner truth, which I am developing within the hidden spaces of the form.

Q: Which other artists inspire you? A: I have a deep love for the masters of the past: Rodin, Michelangelo and Canova. Each of these sculptors have one thing in common – they’re all

involved with the figure and its expressive nature, truth and beauty. ‘London 2012’ by Ben Dearnley, is on at Belgravia Gallery, Mayfair, until 12 August. Dearnley’s ‘Avenue of Champions’, his series of sculptures based on current Olympic and Paralympic athletes, will be on show at Salisbury Cathedral until 16 September

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EXHIBITION FOCUs

London 2012 Olympic Posters Olympic commissions can bring artists of all types world-wide fame, typified by the acclaim showered on Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei for Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium. Carol Cordrey considers whether similar success will emerge from London 2012’s poster commissions

The selection of artists began with a list of over 100 names submitted by Tate and 19 UK regional galleries. Guided by the need to achieve ‘artistic excellence’ the selection panel reduced that to a final list of 12 artists. Each was given the brief to create one image which either, ‘celebrated the Games coming to London’ or ‘embodied the values of either the Olympic or Paralympic Games’. The resulting designs are highly innovative but will they bring success for their creators? The prime role of a poster is to instantly attract attention for the event it is promoting and posters from past Olympic events – summer and winter – have become hugely valuable and collectable. However, this is a large series of posters which gives the public choice as to which All images © London 2012

ones they most want to buy. In truth, the fame of the artists who created these designs will probably result in them becoming hugely valuable anyway but my choice of which one deserves a gold medal is Michael Craig-Martin’s GO; I would award silver to Anthea Hamilton’s Divers and bronze to Chris Ofili’s For The Unknown Runner. London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Posters 21 June – 23 September, Tate Britain (www.tate.org.uk) Each unframed posters can be purchased for £7 Limited edition prints of the posters also available www.london2012.com/festival

ART

Michael Craig-Martin – GO An influential tutor to the YBAs at Goldsmith College, Craig-Martin has an international reputation for a minimalist approach to painting. Colourful, clearly defined, everyday, readymade objects characterise his work, and sometimes his pieces incorporate simple text where he succinctly reminds us that just one thing – time – is pivotal to achieving most Olympic medals.

Bridget Riley – Rose Rose

Howard Hodgkin – Swimming

Gary Hume – Capital

In the 1960s, Riley was the leading British exponent of Op Art in which subtle variations in size, placement or shape of repeated patterns plays tricks with our eyes and creates the illusion of dazzling or slight movement. Those effects are developed in this poster through the relationship between the strongly and subtly coloured horizontal bands which are inspired by racing lanes for athletes or swimmers.

An outstanding colourist who won the Turner Prize in 1985, Hodgkin’s images usually represent ‘a moment of time involving particular people in relation to each other’. Using his trademark broad brushstrokes and fluid painting style, he has included a dark section in the poster’s lower section to suggest a swimmer pushing against the tumbling, blue water.

A prominent YBA of the 1990s, Hume’s work uses bold, flat colours to depict the salient points of his subjects. His portraits are reminiscent of Warhol’s, appearing like strange photographic negatives with keynote features such as eyes, mouth and hair powerfully defined. Hume’s poster celebrates tennis played by a wheelchair-bound Paralympic competitor, hence the circular shapes symbolizing a racquet head, tennis ball and wheelchair surrounded by bright, summery foliage.

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Anthea Hamilton - Divers Her design represents diving which we identify most readily with male competitors yet these elegant legs and feet look feminine. The diving events require great co-ordination, precision and gymnastic skills but so do the synchronised swimming competitions which involve women exclusively. All those disparate references are wrapped up in this arresting design in which the inverted figure’s tilted toes appear to be rolling the Olympic rings in perfect harmony above a rippling swimming pool.

Sarah Morris – Big Ben 2012

Rachel Whiteread – LOndOn 2012

Tracey Emin – Birds 2012

Morris is renowned for her interest in cityscapes and architecture converted into vibrant, geometric paintings. Sometimes iconic landmarks are pared down to such a degree that they become abstracts, such as this version of Big Ben. The potent patterning of her design evokes London as a multi-cultural, energetic city, as well as the specifically Neo-Gothic clock tower with its vertical and chequerboard architectural features and pointed arches, plus the distinctly round clock face. The poster’s linear and arrow shapes also remind viewers of tracks marked out for athletes and swimmers.

Whiteread is a sculptor who won the 1993 Turner Prize. In this two-dimensional work she obviously references the five Olympic rings, however the design also mirrors the artist’s interest in the Olympics as a premier social event in which participants and spectators celebrate in the traditional way through drinking. The memory of such celebrations remains as complete and incomplete circles that represent stains left by bottles or glasses.

A troubled childhood where love was limited has produced a character that is strong one minute and vulnerable the next, and Emin employs ink, paint and collage to make her private feelings and thoughts public. Here, she uses text and one of her spidery drawings of birds (symbol of the soul in ancient times) to create a love letter to Paralympic athletes, making reference to inspiration and determination which are essential for sporting success. The crescent shapes are taken from the International Paralympic Committee logo (usually red, blue and green), symbols of the Latin ‘agito’ meaning ‘I move’.

ART

Chris Ofili – For The Unknown Runner This 1998 Turner-Prize winner employs race, folklore, personal experience and his current home in Trinidad to underpin his paintings. This one incorporates a classical Greek vase and a figure that is both athletic and mythical running in front of a crowd, all references to Olympic events past and present.

Fiona Banner – Superhuman Nude

Martin Creed - Work No. 1273

Bob and Roberta Smith – LOVE in 2012

Banner transforms her initial nude studies into ‘wordscapes’ in which written descriptions of the same human figure are applied to the image to give the viewer a thorough understanding of the subject. Her poster has emerged from a nude study of a Paralympic cyclist with a prosthetic leg, overlayed with text about his strength, emotions and physicality such as, ‘ONE CALF BULGING… THE OTHER A SCI-FI BONE…ABSURDLY MUSCLY…STEEL BUTTOCKS…ARMS TANNED’.

Simplicity is the hallmark of this Turner-Prize winner’s work so a sparse design was to be expected. The five Olympic rings inspired Creed’s single brush marks applied in horizontal gradations. Initially, this suggests a podium, but it becomes confusing because of its five sections instead of the usual three for gold, silver and bronze winners. The official ring logo includes red not pink which compounds the confusion.

Twin names but one artist who is officially Patrick Brill but he chose this strange pseudonym after it helped him achieve recognition for his work. Currently, he has an international following for his sign paintings which use lettering created in an obviously hand-made, spontaneous style to declare his views on political, social and cultural matters. This painting is clear, snappy, emotive words in eye-catching colours that are redolent of a banner, church poster or newspaper A-board announcing the importance of COURAGE, INSPIRATION, SWEAT, LOVE for Paralympic achievement.

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ART

Prize Lot: BONHAMs

1948 London torch As London welcomes the Olympics this summer, it is only fitting that a piece of history from the 1948 London Olympics be auctioned

PARTICULARS: Expected value (item): £2,000 - £3,000 Expected value (auction): £250,000 Estimated range: £200-30,000 No. of lots: Over 200 Place: Bonhams 101 New Bond Street London, W1S 1SR Date: 25 July 2012

1948 London torch Image courtesy of Bonhams

The first Olympics for twelve years due to the Second World War necessitating a hiatus, the 1948 London Olympics were nicknamed ‘the austerity Olympics’ on account of the post war-economic climate. A world away from the extensive planning London 2012 has involved, athletes were housed in pre-existing accommodation and no new venues were built. One item that wasn’t allowed to slip by the wayside was the Olympic torch. Designed by architect Ralph Lavers, the torch has a cast alloy crown pierced with the Olympic rings and includes the pierced steel firebox and retaining pin. There were 1,720 torches made in total and each runner in the relay was permitted to retain their torch as a keepsake. As a testament to its enduring appeal, the style was used again for the 1956 Winter Olympiad at Cortina and the Melbourne Games of the same year. A true piece of Olympic history, it will make a fitting addition to any budding Olympiad’s collection. (www.bonhams.com)

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ART

Prize Lot: CHRISTIE’S

1908 Olympic gold medal In celebration of this summer’s Olympics, Christie’s will be offering the opportunity to purchase a gold medal from the 1908 games

PARTICULARS: Expected value (item): £5,000 - £7,000 Expected value (auction): TBC Estimated range: £500 - £150,000 No. of lots: 150+ Place: Christie’s, Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LD Date: Exhibition: 27 July - 2 September 2012 Auction: 3 September, 1pm

Gold medal 1908 © Christie’s Images Limited 2011

The lot, sports premier accolade, makes up part of the ‘My London’ exhibition and auction taking place from 27 July – 3 September. The medal, which was awarded to Raymond Etherington-Smith as part of the first London games, is a significant piece of London’s Olympic heritage. Raymond Etherington-Smith, nicknamed ‘Ethel’, represented Great Britain in the 1908 Olympics as captain of the Leander eight rowing team. Prior to his captaincy at the Games he also led the team on three other occasions in 1903, 1905 and 1906. Aside from spending his spare time as an Olympic-class sportsman he was a respected medical professional and held the position of Demonstrator of Anatomy at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. After his early death at the age of thirty-six his only gold medal remains his most significant legacy to the sport of rowing. (www.christies.com)

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                                    .         

Kal Gajoum

PERSONAL ATTENDANCE

MONTCALM HOTEL, LONDON

JULY 21ST, 2PM TILL 4PM

THE OLYMPIC COLLECTION OFFICIAL ARTIST OF THE WINTER OLYMPICS 2010

Further to their sell-out exhibition in 2010, Gallery Rouge are proud to announce the highly anticipated return of Canadian based art sensation Kal Gajoum to the UK. Using superb palette knife techniques to craft exceptional impressionist paintings, Gajoum has built an enviable international reputation, which ensures his work is in great demand. Gallery Rouge are delighted to be working with the 5* luxury boutique hotel The Montcalm in holding this exclusive exhibition in the heart of London. Located at the top of Park Lane near Marble Arch, Montcalm provides the perfect venue for this intimate collection. Please note there are limited spaces, so a request for an invitation is essential.

To receive your invitation for this highly anticipated exhibition, please contact the gallery at info@galleryrouge.co.uk

For more information about Gallery Rouge, 27 Chequer Street, St Albans AL1 3YJ call 01727 860401 or email info@galleryrouge.co.uk.

www.galleryrouge.co.uk

ART

Prize Lot: sotheby’s

The Shah of Persia’s Elephant Clock A George III paste-set ormolu musical automaton clock, signed by Peter Torckler

Particulars: Expected Value (item): £1m - £2m Expected Value (auction): £12m+ Estimated Range: £20,000 - £2m No. of Lots: 42 Place: Sotheby’s, London Date: 4 July 2012

Elephant Clock © Sotheby’s

As part of the highly anticipated ‘Treasures: Princely Taste’ sale, taking place at Sotheby’s on 4 July, the rare and extravagant Elephant Automaton Clock from the Shah of Persia’s collection is being offered for sale. Made in the late 1800’s, the clock stands over one metre tall which may have added to the mesmerizing effect it had over Naser al-Din Shah of Persia when he acquired the piece after seeing similar pieces while visiting Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild at Waddeson Manor in 1889. Made in London by skilled craftsmen and signed by Peter Torckler, the intricately bejewelled clock and movement personify the inventive attitude towards objects produced in London in the latter half of the 18th century. Pieces such as this historically played a role of lessening the trade deficit between Britain and China where gifts flowed through the official hierarchy, passing through the system to superiors and eventually to the Emperor. (www.sothebys.com)

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The

art of fine dining Art and dining - a good relationship? Tamsin Pickeral finds out at four of Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Michelin-starred restaurants

ART

In 1958, the American Abstract Expressionist painter, Mark Rothko, was commissioned to paint four large works to decorate the interior of New York’s finest new restaurant, the Four Seasons. Designed by architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, the Four Seasons was destined to become a hub for New York’s elite diners and has continued as such since its opening in 1959. It is famous for the art works on its walls, and equally renowned for those that never arrived. After two years of tireless work on the commission during which time he produced several large series of paintings, Rothko commented to a journalist that he hoped to ‘ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room’. Shortly after, the artist withdrew from the commission returning his payment, and the paintings already undertaken in the series were dispersed. Nine of the majestic and sombre pieces now hang in Tate Modern, being amongst the most important works by an Abstract Expressionist painter in this country. The details surrounding the Four Seasons fiasco are unclear. Some suggest Rothko set out to be deliberately subversive in his approach, others just that he was so inspired by Italian works and interiors. Whatever the case, his paintings evolved into pieces simply unsuitable for the frivolity of a restaurant interior. In itself, this raises the question of art and identity, being one that is of particular interest in relation to today’s fine-dining establishments. Art and food, it would seem, are becoming increasingly collaborative on both fronts: some of London’s top restaurants are From top / Pied à Terre Le Gavroche

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also home to fine and eclectic art collections, whilst some such as Sketch in Mayfair have become virtual artworks themselves. The restaurant marked its tenth anniversary by commissioning artist Martin Creed, winner of the Turner Prize in 2001, to completely redesign the interior and create a vibrant environment, part restaurant, part artwork. The design extended across every aspect including the menus, crockery, furniture, flooring and walls with each and every item having an individual design – even the food is partially influenced by Creed’s inspired space. The result is a chaos of colour and sensory delight; fun, exuberant and endlessly entertaining, it is art as experience. Very different in atmosphere is the elegant, traditional interior of the acclaimed Le Gavroche on Upper Brook Street, where an impressive art collection,

Rothko commented that he hoped to ‘ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room’ reflective of Albert and Michel Roux Senior and Junior’s tastes, lines the walls. Michel Roux Junior, who has been chef patron since 1991, is a keen art collector and the works on the walls of the restaurant are a reflection of his own personal predilections. The most recently purchased (and also his current favourite) works at Le Gavroche are a series of paintings by William Balthazar Rose, the Chef Collection, which combine ironic humour with an arresting naïve-type style. Though these have a tangible ‘restaurant association’, the majority of the artworks here do not, and include stunning prints and drawings by Picasso, Miro and Dalí and a number of fabulous pieces by contemporary Irish artist Pauline Bewick; Bewick also designed all the plates used in the restaurant. French sculptor Gérard Bouvier works closely with the restaurant and exhibits one-off animal sculptures on each dining table that add to the lively table dressing. Each is crafted from cutlery and available to purchase. Michel admits to buying pieces and then having to find the wall space to accommodate them. This sense of spontaneity lends Le Gavroche an incredibly comfortable atmosphere; there is no element of contrived interior scheme or pretention, which is wholly appealing. He believes that art should make you think and ask questions of your inner thoughts: provoking a reaction is what art is all about. ‘However,’ he says, ‘some art is just too confrontational to be appropriate to the dining room’.

From top / The Ivy A table in the top room at Sketch Opposite /Vegetables à la grecque at Le Gavroche

ART

At Pied à Terre in Charlotte Street, an exciting and original art project is heading into its second year. This is the ‘artist in restaurant’ idea, the brainchild of owner and art collector David Moore. The programme offers one artist (chosen by a panel of artistic luminaries) the chance to spend eight months at the restaurant creating works that are then exhibited in a solo show in the restaurant in October. The artist is given free rein to create whatever works they please, inspired by the restaurant, food and atmosphere, a freedom that is potentially somewhat nerve-wracking for Moore. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, last year’s artist, produced a series of abstract sculptural and installation works largely crafted from materials found in the restaurant, extending to fish skins and quail carcasses – there was initial concern over the smell! The pieces are stunning, certainly not to all diners tastes, but without question a talking point. Several of Elpida’s pieces have remained within the restaurant’s permanent collection alongside works by Richard Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin and Peter Blake. Current artist in residence, Anna Freeman, is exploring the dynamics of space within the restaurant and the relationship of these spaces to the staff and diners, largely through paintings that incorporate rich, sumptuous colour with striking abstracted and geometric form. The concept of the residency brings together art and food in a unique and inspirational manner. Moore

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is as passionate about his art as he is his food. This is a restaurant frequented by artists and wholly unafraid of pushing boundaries. The late and great Richard Hamilton who died last year and was the grandfather of British Pop Art was a close friend of Moore’s. His works hang on the walls – some of them donated – and he was many years ago an initial investor in the business; art, it seems, runs close to the heart of this sophisticated restaurant. Art is also integral to the atmosphere at The Ivy, in the heart of Covent Garden’s theatre land. Indeed, many of the works such as Tom Phillips’ glass partition and Patrick Caulfield’s stained glass window, Paper Moon, on the front street façade and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s brass strap installation were specially commissioned. The Ivy has long been frequented by artists and actors; it still is, and many of its regular dinner guests have their artworks on the walls including Bridget Riley, Maggi Hambling, Sir Peter Blake and the late and superbly eccentric Sebastian Horsley. The Ivy Club opened in 2008 and two doors down from the restaurant it holds an impressive contemporary art collection. The attitude throughout is bold – it would be difficult to miss or ignore works in The Ivy, works that are part and parcel of the entire restaurant’s character which is semi effortless glamour and semi bohemian heaven. In each of these restaurants, the artworks form an essential part of the entire dining experience that extends from the entrances to the cloakrooms and all in between. These are places where enthusiasm and support for the arts is evident and there is passion at work that parallels that for the food and lends them their unique and wonderful characters. It is of course an added bonus that one can enjoy these art works while indulging in some of London’s finest cuisine.

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COLLECTION

Watch

New s Classic timepieces to covet now and enjoy for a lifetime

By Royal Approval

Turning Back Time

Since 1929, Jaeger-LeCoultre has held the world record for producing the smallest mechanical watch movement. The Calibre 101 consists of 98 tiny parts that together weigh barely a gram; it also boasts the accolade of being the movement inside the timepiece Her Majesty The Queen wore to her coronation. 60 years on, the brand is celebrating the Diamond Jubilee by creating a special engraved limited edition of its iconic Reverso watch. Personalised with the logo of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant and a commemorative message, the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin will be limited to six pieces in a men’s version and six in a ladies’ version. The 12 pieces follow the 101 jewellery timepiece Jaeger-LeCoultre CEO Jérôme Lambert presented to Her Majesty last month.

The Royal Arcade’s Watch Club has dealt in vintage watches since 1981. Senior partner Danny Pizzigoni tells us which timepieces to look out for What’s the appeal of vintage watches? During WWI, soldiers crudely adapted their cumbersome pocket watches for the wrist. In my opinion, the greatest wristwatches ever created were made between 1940 and 1975. It was a ground-breaking time in wristwatch history; everything was innovative and there was no precedent. Modern watches today are simply variations, sometimes exact copies, of these vintage originals.

(www.jaeger-lecoultre.com)

One to watch Each month we select our timepiece of the moment from the watch world’s latest releases

One of the most complex pilot’s watches ever built, IWC’s 5029 boasts a perpetual calendar with four-digit year display together with date, day, month and moon phase display

5029 Big Pilot, £29,500, IWC Harrods, Selfridges and Watches of Switzerland

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Which brands hold their value best? Rolex and Patek Philippe are the obvious contenders. $1 million for a perpetual calendar PP won’t even make the Evening Standard. Rare vintage sport Rolex, especially the likes of Comex, Military Subs, Paul Newman Daytonas and technical watches like a moon phase or triple calendar, are all sound investments. Early Italian divers’ Panerais are also worth a mention extremely rare and incredibly valuable. What’s important in a vintage watch? Condition and provenance. Any aesthetic parts that have been changed and any documentation lost affects the price and rarity. I had the chance to buy a perfect 1958 ‘lightning hand’ Milgauss 13 years ago, failed, and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Which brands do you find to be the most popular? Rolex, Patek Philippe, Panerai, IWC, Audemars Piguet, JLC and we seem to do very well with Breguet. Lange & Söhne is strong, so too is Cartier. (www.watchclub.com)

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All images courtesy of Omega

Perfect

timing

In the weeks before London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, Richard Brown meets Omega President Stephen Urquhart to discuss the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eight-decade Olympic past, Apollo moon landings and the challenges of timing the fastest men and women on earth

COLLECTION

Things didn’t quite go to plan for Omega when it launched the Olympic Countdown timer 18 months ago. A day after the 6.5 metre high clock was unveiled, amid a fanfare of sparklers, fireworks and flashlight photography, it broke: cue stifled media amusement and anxious looks of embarrassment between LOCOG, Lord Coe and the Official Timekeeper of the Games. Fortunately for Omega, its track record at the world’s greatest sporting event isn’t littered with similar moments of awkwardness. In fact, since it became the first company to be entrusted with keeping the time within all disciplines at the Los Angeles Games in 1932, Omega has been instrumental in defining, and then redefining, the way sport has been timed, recorded and verified. In the 80 years, and 24 Games, since it supplied Los Angeles with 30 high precision chronographs to record its races, Omega has bequeathed the world its first independent, portable and water-resistant, photoelectric cell (1945), the first photofinish camera (1949), the first electronic group timing devices (1952) and swimming’s first touch-sensitive contact pads (1967) – instruments that have proved vital in separating the winners from the losers as the skill margins between competitors has continually narrowed, something evidenced in the pool four years ago.

As Beijing’s 100-metre Butterfly Final reached its dramatic conclusion, to the eyes of the stadium, and to those of millions more glued to television screens across the world, the race looked to have been tied. It was left to Omega’s high-speed video cameras to verify the results. They confirmed that Michael Phelps had beaten Milorad Cavic into silver place… by a single 100th of a second. When the 2012 Olympics roll into town at the end of this month, they will hold a special significance for the Swiss watch brand. It was in 1948 that London last hosted the Games and it was in that year that Omega’s newly-introduced photoelectric cells and race finish photofinish camera changed the way athletes were timed. The sense of history linking the city to the watch brand is something Omega President Stephen Urquhart admits the company is happy to draw upon. ‘When the Games were last contested here, Omega was again Official Timekeeper and we’ve been contrasting these two Olympic Games in some of our marketing materials. We’ve actually been focusing more on our connection to the London 1948 than on the 80th anniversary of the Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games. It’s been enjoyable to look back at 1948 and what we have described as “the birth of modern timekeeping”,’ he says. The birth of Omega’s pioneering equipment happened to coincide with the birth of a watch that would cement the watchmaker’s reputation as one of the industry’s heavyweights. Dating back to 1932 – when Omega had patented an innovative design for a unique diving watch – it had taken the Seamaster more than a decade to jump from the drawing board to the production line. Part of Omega’s attempt to beat Rolex to the shops with the first water resistant wristwatch – which it did by six years – the Seamaster was not only technically groundbreaking, it was also sleek, slender and goodlooking enough to appeal to a market who had no intention of taking it anywhere near water. To commemorate the anniversary of a watch that remains one of the company’s best sellers, Omega has unveiled the Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial ‘London 2012’. ‘We’ve created a watch that has been inspired by its [the original Seamaster’s] design but which is

Omega has unveiled the Seamaster 1948 Co-Axial ‘London 2012’ watch

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powered by our exclusive Co-Axial technology,’ explains Urquhart. ‘We also have posters that recall the 1948 100-metre sprint and the photoelectric cells and photofinish images that were introduced in that year.’ Using Omega’s Caliber 2202 movement, the Seamaster ‘London 2012’ features an 18-karat gold medallion mounted on its back and, for obvious reasons, is limited to 1,948 pieces. As keen as Omega is to highlight its association with the Olympic Games – as well as with the worlds of golf, sailing, swimming and athletics, all of which Mr Urquhart describes as a ‘natural fit’ for the brand – there’s one footnote in the company’s history that makes it the envy of every other watch manufacturer: Omega’s Speedmaster was the first timepiece to make it to the moon. ‘It is an incredibly important story for us,’ he says. ‘Particularly because, when the Speedmaster was chosen for the nowfamous tests, we knew nothing about it. The Speedmasters that became the only chronographs to meet the challenge were exactly the same as those available at retailers.’ What’s more, the Speedmaster was the only piece of equipment used for every Apollo mission that required absolutely no modification during the testing process. ‘While we’re obviously proud of the six lunar landings, the story that really mattered was the fact that in 1964 and 1965 the Speedmaster survived the most rigorous testing ever devised for watches.’ It was

COLLECTION

publically, and officially, an endorsement that no amount of money could have bought. ‘It’s worth noting that half a century after a Speedmaster was first worn in space, they are essentially unchanged today.’ Omega’s achievement of sending the first timepiece to the moon wouldn’t be the only occasion the company turned the watch world green. Exactly 30 years later, Omega designed an escapement that had, until then, eluded all other manufacturers. ‘In 1894, the company had created a mechanical watch calibre that revolutionised the way the Swiss watch industry made watches [the Omega],’ explains Urquhart. ‘Then, in 1999, we launched the first series-produced watch to be equipped with a

48 years after a Speedmaster was first worn in space, they are essentially unchanged today Co-Axial escapement. Like the Omega movement more than a century earlier, Co-Axial technology signalled a revolution in mechanical watch making.’ Urquhart isn’t being hyperbolic; the Co-Axial is the first practical new watch escapement to be invented in some 250 years. Differing from the traditional Swiss lever escapement by way of a balance roller carrying a pallet and an impulse pin, an anchor with three pallets, and a threelevel co-axial escapement wheel, Omega’s movement really did change the way people thought about making watches. For Urquhart, reducing the amount of friction within a wristwatch and, in doing so, improving the precision of that watch, has been something of a career highlight. ‘It has been a privilege to be here as our Co-Axial story has unfolded. It has played an essential role in restoring Omega to its position as one of the world’s leading watchmakers.’ The close of Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony will mark the beginning of Omega’s 25th Olympic Games. Over a six-week period the company’s timekeepers will be entrusted with the task of recording, displaying and distributing the results of 37 simultaneous world championships. While Urquhart admits that every Games bring its own logistic and technical challenges, in London’s case, because of a rich mix of new and historic venues, Omega’s President shows no signs of being daunted by the task ahead. ‘At the end of the day, our challenge remains what it has always been: to deliver the best possible timekeeping service to the IOC, the federations and the athletes.’ Let the Games begin. (www.omegawatches.com)

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We prefer not to be measured by dimensions. Unless it’s a new dimension of accuracy.

No fewer than four exceptional mechanisms enhance the precision of the RICHARD LANGE TOURBILLON “Pour le Mérite”: the tiny fusée-and-chain transmission, the delicate tourbillon, the ultra-thin Lange balance spring, and – not least – the patented stop-seconds device for the tourbillon which makes it possible to

set the watch with one-second accuracy in the first place. Never before has an A. Lange & Söhne watch been endowed with so many complications that simultaneously enhance its rate accuracy, settability, and readability. And so, this remarkable timepiece truly deserves the honorary attribute “Pour le Mérite”.

Arije 165, Sloane Street London • George Pragnell 5 and 6, Wood Street, Stratford-upon-Avon Hamilton & Inches 87, George Street, Edinburgh • Harrods 87–135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London Watches of Switzerland 16, New Bond Street, London • Wempe 43-44, New Bond Street, London Lange Uhren GmbH • Tel. +34 91 454 89 82 • www.lange-soehne.com

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08.02.2012 15:52:48 Uhr

Jewellery

News Jewels, gems, pearls and diamonds; the essential components of any lady’s jewellery collection

Theo Fennell arrives at the Burlington Arcade This July sees the launch of British jewellery designer Theo Fennell’s stand-alone shop at 51 Burlington Arcade. With his flagship store already firmly established on Chelsea’s Fulham Road, Fennell’s store, as the latest addition to Mayfair’s historic Burlington Arcade, is perfectly situated to show off the designer’s unique blend of modern design with classical tradition through his jewellery and silverware collections. ‘I am thrilled to be going into the Burlington Arcade. It has always been one of my favourite places in London and it perfectly suits our meld of quirky, original design and great British craftsmanship. To show off work like ours is what the Arcade was originally built for,’ says Fennell. Theo Fennell 51 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QJ (www.theofennell.com)

Eternal love

Limited Edition Enchanted Pool Cross Pendant £10,950

The exciting launch of Molly B Couture jewellery took place this June as part of London Jewellery Week 2012. The feminine collections are made up of three core themes: Innes, Signature Bow and Love Knot. We love the simple beauty, delicacy and timelessness of the Love Knot collection, available in either nine-karat gold or sterling silver. Other collections within the Molly B couture portfolio include Ribbon, Paradise and Strand. (www.mollybrownlondon.com)

Cutting Edge Caroline Scheufele, Co-President and Artistic Director of Chopard, discusses how the people she has met at Cannes Fim Festival over the past 15 years were the inspiration behind the Red Carpet Collection 2012

‘It is these privileged relations with outstanding personalities that have made me wish to create original and unique models that are very different from each other, in order to ensure that each and every woman will find the adornment that will suit her to perfection’ Left / 18-carat white and rose gold necklace set with a pear-shaped green tourmaline suspended from diamond-frosted flowers with rose gold detail and matching earrings Above / Apple ring in 18-carat white gold set with tzavorites and brown diamonds All from a selection, www.chopard.com

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Reach for the stars Montblanc has revealed an extension to its jewel-encrusted 4810 Collection of ladies’ fine jewellery, inspired by its celebrated, and iconic, star. The Montblanc 4810 Star Pavé Collection features six new pieces which reflect the desire of the modern woman for striking designs that are simultaneously easy to wear. These include dainty ear studs in diamond-pavé white or pink gold, a diamond-filled star on a chain necklace, and an amulet bracelet decorated with a tiny diamond-pavé star. Prices range from £1,000 to £3,000. 13A Old Bond Street (www.montblanc.co.uk)

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COLLECTION

Equation of time: World Timer Skeleton A friend of Abraham-Louis Breguet and favoured by Napoleon Bonaparte, John Arnold changed seafaring forever with his creations. 250 years later, Arnold & Son pays homage to the legendary watchmaker with just 50 limited-edition pieces As its name suggests, Arnold & Son’s Hornet World Timer Skeleton, housed in a stainless steel case measuring 47 millimetres, is both a skeleton watch and world timer. As such, it profits from rolling into one, two watches whose popularity has exploded in recent times. More than that, though, what sets this watch apart is its unique combination of three rather unusual functions: the equation of time, a multiple time-zone display and a double-disc, big date display. Arnold, an 18th century watchmaker, dedicated his life to measuring longitude, thus giving the world its first chronometer. Today, each watch boasts its own unique in-house movement, complete with some of the industry’s most sophisticated complications. The complexity of this timepiece is provided by six central hands and an advanced mechanism that allows it to display the mean solar time of any location according to its longitude. £16,800, Arnold & Son (www.arnoldandson.com)

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HIRSH L O N D O N

FANTAIL PIECE UNIQUE 1.10CT NATURAL FANCY INTENSE YELLOW & 1.15CT D VVS1 KITE SHAPE DIAMONDS HANDMADE IN PLATINUM & 18CT GOLD

Where Every Piece Is A Work Of Art

www.hirshlondon.com

WEST END 56-57 BURLINGTON ARCADE W1J 0QN - T +44 (0)20 7499 6814 - CITY 9 HATTON GARDEN EC1N 8AH - T +44 (0)20 7831 3333

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THE SIENNA COLLECTION Inspired by the Renaissance Masters, The Sienna Collection reincarnates the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love of colour and creativity. The Sienna Cuff and The Sienna Chandelier drop earrings both feature a superb array of mandarin garnets, pink spinels and diamonds set in yellow gold. The Sienna Collection is truly inspired by a timeless period in European history which celebrated beauty through the adornment of majestic gems.

UNITED KINGDOM

AUSTRALIA

The Royal Arcade, Old Bond St, Mayfair London W1S 4SW

Sydney Gold Coast

calleija.com

COLLECTION

Club

Tropicana 10

Give in to an explosion of citrus colours this summer and complement your beachwear with statement accessories in burnt orange, neon yellow and lime green

5 9

7 8

1 18-karat gold-plated resin necklace, £130, J Crew (www.net-a-porter.com) 2 Set of two brass and resin bangles, £310, Marni (www.marni.com) 3 Gold-plated Swarovski crystal necklace, £1,250, Roberto Cavalli (www.robertocavalli.com) 4 Apricot horizontal striped bangle, £250, Marni, as before 5 Metal drop earrings, £160, Oscar de La Renta (www.oscardelarenta.com) 6 Silver-plated turquoise cone bracelet, £640, Eddie Borgo (www.eddieborgo.com) 7 Fauvé hand-painted Swarovski crystal necklace, £805, Tom Binns (www.tombinnsdesign.com) 8 22-karat gold-plated resin and crystal ring, £120, Kenneth Jay Lane (www.net-a-porter.com) 9 Apricot resin earrings, £308, Marni, as before 10 Mother-of-pearl ‘Peace’ charm bracelet, £95, Aurélie Bidermann (www.aureliebidermann.com)

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COLLECTION

Patriotic

Panache

From the Diamond Jubilee to Gold at the Games, let the red, white and blue celebrations continue

7 1 Natural Wheat Boater Hat, £85, Stetson, available at the Hat Gallery (www.hat-gallery.co.uk) 2 Image courtesy of Hackett 3 Byrnes Slim Striped Silk Tie, £50, J. Crew (www.mrporter.com) 4 Skull and Stripe Socks, £18, Corgi (www.corgihosiery.co.uk) 5 Parsons 1053 Red Havana Sunglasses, £216, Oliver Peoples, available David Clulow (www.davidclulow.com) 6 Yacht Master II, £29,100, Rolex, available at Watches of Switzerland (16 New Bond Street) 7 Navy Canvas Fly Fisher Messenger Bag, £139, Chapman Bags (www.my-wardrobe.com) 8 Humphrey Bogart Rollerball and Fountain Pen, £1,640, S.T. Dupont (available at Harrods) 9 Jubilee Work Round Cufflinks, £55, Hackett (www.hackett.com) 10 Toasts and Tributes Hardcover Book, £35, Brooks Brothers (www.mrporter.com) 066

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Swiss movement, English heart

C60 TRIDENT-PRO AUTOMATIC

Swiss made / 26 jewel automatic movement / 38 hour power reserve / Marine grade stainless steel 300m (1000ft) water resistant case / Uni-directional bezel Diameter: 42mm / Calibre: Sellita SW200-1 E XC LU S I V E LY AVA I L A B L E AT

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28/05/2012 15:56

glamour The

of the gameS

Knowledge, training and serious stamina are always needed to succeed in fashion. As London steps up to the world stage this month, we bring you the top designers from across the globe - prepare for olympic levels of style Fashion:

Elaine Deed Photography:

Darren Paul

This page: silk chiffon dress, £1,500, Atis Artemjevs. Silver cuffs, £815 and £480, Aida Bergsen at CoutureLab. Silver and lapis earrings, £80, Amrapali Opposite: dress, £1,850, Hervé Léger. Freshwater pearl earrings, £177; freshwater pearl cuff, £1,007; freshwater pearl cross-over body, £2,387, all Coleman Douglas Previous: couture lace dress, from a selection, Catherine Walker. Freshwater pearl lasso (worn as bracelet), £773, Coleman Douglas. Gold-plate, crystal and bead earrings, £260, Erickson Beamon

Chiffon dress, from a selection, Aigner. Freshwater pearl lasso, ÂŁ773, Coleman Douglas

This page: left: silk chiffon shirt, £435; palazzo pants, £645, Issey Miyake. Gold cuff, from a selection, Aigner Right: silk chiffon shirt, £435; harem pants, £465, Issey Miyake. Silver and chalcedony earrings, £70; gold-plated cuff, £320, both Amrapali Opposite: silk chiffon dress, £1,283, Catherine Deane at Harvey Nichols. Gold-plate and crystal harness, £2,635; gold-plate, crystal and bead cuff, £543, both Erickson Beamon. Pearl ring, £740, Sazingg at CoutureLab Hair and make-up: Gill East Models: Lauren Innes and Hannah H at Leni’s Model Management Shot on location at Harrow School, using their heritage site and contemporary sports equipment, arranged through Harrow School Enterprises (020 8426 4638; enterprises@harrowschool.org.uk)

Now bringing

sleep to London

HĂ&#x201E;STENS FITZROVIA 66-68 Margaret Street (at the corner with Great Titchfield Street) London W1W 8SR +44 20 7436 0646 +44 20 7436 0654 fitzrovia@hastensstores.com

We sleep. Do you? @hastensuk facebook.com/hastensuk

hastens.com

FASHION

Give and take Starting off this month’s green theme is BuyMyWardrobe, who has taken its online offering to the retail world, opening a shop in Portman Square. The go-to for fashion insiders with more clothes than space, the store allows them to sell their barely worn clothing to those looking for a luxury bargain. ‘17 Seymour Place is the perfect space to present our brand to fashion savvy individuals around the clock. The retail space offers an ideal opportunity for our sellers to entrust us with their enviable wardrobes, making them more accessible to the discerning public wanting,’ says Kal Di Paola, Managing Director of BuyMyWardrobe. Selling pre-loved designer fashion and upcycled furniture and accessories, expect to find all your favourite designers at a fraction of the retail price.

By ELLE BlAKEMAN

Her

17 Seymour Place W1H 5BF (www.buymywardrobe.com: 020 7258 7548)

Back to school The satchel trend shows no signs of waning, especially now that Prada have launched this new contemporary version of their ‘hunting bag’. Practical and classic, in rich, elegant colours, this promises to be the must-have of Spring/Summer 2012. £990, only available in Prada stores (www.prada.com)

Flying the flag One of Walpole’s 2012 ‘Brands of Tomorrow’ (an accolade previously held by Charlotte Olympia and Wolf & Badger), luxury accessories brand Lily and Lionel are celebrating all things British this summer with a fabulous range of scarves. We love this Telephone Box one – a resplendent, patriotic dash of colour which looks great when teamed with this season’s neutrals. Telephone Box scarf, £65, Lily and Lionel (www.lilyandlionel.com)

Step into the future Who better to prove that eco can be sexy than Frida Giannini. Continuing Gucci’s mission to create sustainable products, the house has just launched a special edition of eco-friendly shoes for both men and women. The Marola Green pumps are made from biodegradable plastic which has minimal environmental impact, compared to traditional materials, but just as importantly they are super comfortable and very, very chic. Even the Gucci logo has been redesigned on recycled polyester – dedication indeed! The Sustainable Soles will be available at selected Gucci stores worldwide and on gucci.com from the end of June 2012 (www.gucci.com)

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Banking on it Since arriving on Savile Row in 2002, Spencer Hart, founded by master-tailor Nick Hart, has cut a dash as a slick, contemporary alternative suiting option on the street that’s defined by tradition and – dare we say it – a touch of stuffiness (as well as attracting the likes of David Bowie and P Diddy). This month sees his particular knack for savvy innovation continue with the launch of The Vault, a downstairs enclave in the Mayfair store (a former bank) that functions as a playboy’s dream style – achingly cool gadgetry, plush décor and a new range of bespoke suiting. Spencer Hart, 36 Savile Row W1S 3QB (www.spencerhart.com)

By Stephen doig

Him

Style m-otto Tony Giallonardo, who heads up new luxury members-only retailer Otto, doesn’t see himself as much the founder and owner but more the ‘curator’ of an entirely stylish lifestyle. From menswear clothes sourced from the finest Italian brands to personalized style consultations with a host of experts, a steam room and massage area, VIP section and garden terrace on which to sip a glass of something chilled, it’s more of a master class in how to live oh-so-well rather than a shop. (www.ottouomo.com)

Mon ami He may only have (quietly) launched his label last year, but menswear designer Alexandre Mattiussi, the head of Paris brand Ami, is making serious style waves around the world. With a CV that boasts stints at Marc Jacobs, Givenchy and the revered Dior Homme, Mattiussi wanted to create a wardrobe of simple, beautifully executed, ‘real’ clothes that are contemporary and stylish without scaring the style horses. That he did, with a pop-up store launch due at Selfridges later this year. (www.amiparis.fr)

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Get physical The Olympic buzz continues into fragrance this summer, with the launch of two new colognes that are designed with the sporting lifestyle in mind. Add a dash of luxury to the gym bag with Chanel’s newest offering, Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme. Punchy and bold, it’s a strong blend of mint, mandarin bark and Moroccan cypress with overtones of sage, musk, cedar and white sandalwood. Dolce & Gabbana’s new scent, One Sport, is also poolside perfect with hints of sea water blended with cardamom, rosemary and sequoia. Even if the closest you get to synchronised swimming is the pool bar. Chanel Allure Sport Eau Extreme from £55 for 50ml (www.chanel.com) The One Sport, Dolce & Gabbana from £32 for 30ml (www.selfridges.com)

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BROCKET HALL, HERTFORDSHIRE, 14 JULY 2012 10am to 6pm

One day only – the ultimate car enthusiasts event to

see, try and buy the most desirable cars on the road

A must attend event...

Ticket Options

The Supercar Showcase will be the regions most impressive car show for new and premium used cars including luxury cars, classic cars and supercars. In addition, you can pre-book test drives with the participating car companies and get behind the wheel of the cars that you really want to try in the stunning setting of Brocket Hall.

Event entry ticket: £45 Exclusive VIP Experience Ticket – limited to a select group of only 54 guests • VIP parking next to the hall • Champagne and canapes during pre-dinner reception • Fine dining with a three course black tie dinner • Traditional butler service • Overnight stay in one of the halls impressive bedroom suites where Kings, Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers have stayed • Full English Breakfast for two

Single person ticket: £445 Couples price: £745 Cash bar after dinner

Ticket purchase & questions: email your name, contact details, number and type of tickets required to: susanne@exclusivelyevents.co.uk

www.supercar-showcase.co.uk

Exclusively Privilege Card Launch

Exclusively Events Ltd Bursteads Barn, Spellbrook Lane West, Spellbrook, Herts CM21 0NB www.exclusivelyevents.co.uk

The Exclusively Privilege Card

gives you access to an amazing

range of luxury lifestyle companies

each offering special privileges and

discounts to cardholders.

Brocket Hall, Welwyn, Hertfordshire

INTERIORS

What

Karl

did next

Chanel mastermind Karl Lagerfeld is extending his interior-design antennae with a reshuffling of furniture on the Côte d’Azur. Alice Tozer explores

Karl Lagerfeld doesn’t spend long out of the news. In the last month, the German-born creative director of Chanel has been up to almost as many tricks as his famed cat, Chouette. We hear he has a new T-shirt range, has just unbuttoned Chanel’s Little Black Jacket Exhibition, has designed Drew Barrymore’s wedding gown and has declared Kate Middleton’s dress taste ‘perfect’. All this whilst gifting French television viewers with a dynamic commentary of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Where goes Karl, so goes his cat. However, recently the white Siamese feline has been making headlines in her own right, be it concerning her two iPads, her various maids or her Twitter account. Yet, amidst the giddiness of it all, a recent trend seems to be emerging among Lagerfeld’s pursuits: an increasing fascination with interior design. The fashion

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savant’s latest project of the kind is an architectural collaboration with the Hôtel Métropole in Monte Carlo, where he will this summer install fifteen glass-panel frescoes portraying Ulysses’ journey. Lagerfeld will add more than a splash of colour to the hotel, with his influence extending beyond the swimming pool to the terrace, the gardens and inside the two-star Joël Robuchon restaurant. Lagerfeld’s retracing of Ulysses’ ten-year perilous journey home from war signifies yet another welcome reincarnation of the mythical theme in the arts world. Of significance is Turner’s painting Ulysses deriding Polyhemus (1829), Tennyson’s poem Ulysses (1842) and James Joyce’s novel of the same name (1922). Then along came rock band Franz Ferdinand with their 2009 single, Ulysses. Frontman Alex Kapranos

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said that he has been inspired by Ulysses since childhood; ‘a story about a guy being lost and never thinking he was coming home. But instead of getting upset about it, embracing it and saying “Wow, I’m lost, but this is an adventure.”’ The Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo was named Best Hotel in the World in 2010 at the Leading Hotels of the World annual convention, making it an ideal playground for Lagerfeld, a man at the top of his field. Reopened in 2004, it was designed in the Belle Époque style by world-famous interior designer Jacques Garcia who has created a veritable modern-day palace on the exclusive, sunny, southern coast of France. The restaurant, Yoshi, is overseen by JeanClaude Messant and the hotel has become a gastronomic magnet for local and international clientele. Letting standards slip in no sector, the hotel’s Métropole ESPA is, officially, a ‘Leading Spa of the World.’ Karl Lagerfeld’s real coup came in 1983, when he ended his contract with Chloé and became chief designer for Chanel. During the 1980s, more than forty Chanel boutiques popped up worldwide, typically selling perfume, ballerina slippers, handbags and dresses which Lagerfeld had made into shorter cuts than had constituted Chanel’s lines of yore. As Lagerfeld worked his flair, others in the company worked on keeping the classic Chanel look, in order to maintain the legend. Lagerfeld collaborated with high-street chain H&M in 2004 to create his own line which sold out within hours. (He was subsequently reported in Vogue as saying

he would never work with H&M again for producing minimal numbers of his designs and defeating his intention of making clothes available to people who could not afford to shop at Chanel, Lagerfeld Gallery − his own label − or Fendi, where he is creative director.) He has not, however, been jaded by the world of interior design, where he appears increasingly comfortable. Lagerfeld, who is now around 78 years old (his birth year remains a mystery), was guest editor of the French edition of Architectural Digest, a 220-page tome. In his Editor’s letter, he made parallels between the realms of clothing and interiors, writing: ‘We are at the heart of a Russian doll: first the clothes, then the apartments and houses... Even the streets and the cities are part of the evolution of our taste.’ The Métropole aside, Lagerfeld is in the process of developing an exclusive helicopter VIP exterior and interior design, in collaboration with AgustaWestland. Where this man is concerned, the sky really is the limit. To what can we expect the artiste to turn his hand next? A cookbook? No. He already ticked that box in 2005 with The Karl Lagerfeld Diet, because ‘[he] suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane. But these fashions, modeled by very, very slim boys − and not men of my age − required me to lose at least eighty pounds.’ Without a doubt, all eyes will next be on July’s couture show in Paris. The theme is hard to predict with recent prêt-à-porter and haute couture collections including ‘Under the Sea & Florence’,

‘We are at the heart of a Russian doll: first the clothes, then the apartments and houses’ ~ Lagerfeld

INTERIORS

‘An Indian Palace’, ‘An Aeroplane in Flight’ and ‘An Alien World’. From a British reporting point of view, Lagerfeld would be very welcome to return to French television. Observing London’s Jubilee river pageant, Karlisms freefell from his lips on air: ‘It’s surprising, both in the 21st century and in a modern city like London, to find oneself in a Canaletto painting.’ Curious what a little French-minded romance can do for the Great British Weather. (www.metropole.com) Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo 4 Avenue de la Madone 98007 Monte Carlo Monaco Above / Two of the panels on Lagerfeld’s exclusive fresco for the Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo Opposite / The façade of the Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo

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Let there

be light

Natalie Cox meets lighting visionary Eva Menz, whose bespoke chandelier has become One Hyde Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crowning glory

INTERIORS

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Eva Menz has been taking the world of bespoke lighting to new heights since she opened her London studio six years ago. Since then, her sculptural chandeliers have adorned many a stylish ceiling and she has completed more than 50 major projects around the world, leaving a trail of glamour and intrigue from Hyde Park to Hong Kong. Munich-born Menz studied at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design to hone her talent. It was here that she began to experiment with materials and scale, pushing the boundaries of what the word ‘chandelier’ could define. Not content with glass alone, Menz has used crystal, ceramics, metal and wood in her work, along with more unconventional materials such as silver-thread embroidery, rare albino peacock feathers and ice. Menz experiments whilst simultaneously envisaging the space she is creating for, ensuring that her work compliments the environment in which it will hang. She is acclaimed for her visual sensitivity, and by exploring all materials and scales to best suit the context, creating truly remarkable pieces. Her unique creations demand a suitably chic home, where they can be the centrepiece of an innovative and striking design aesthetic. The recently opened One Hyde Park, one of London’s most exclusive residential developments, is a prime example. The inspiration for the delicate yet dramatic Causing a Storm in the lobby came from an autumnal gust of

The inspiration for Causing a Storm came from an autumnal gust of wind through the leaves in Hyde Park wind through the leaves in Hyde Park, which has translated into over 6,500 pieces of hand formed abstract leaf patterns, adorned with 10 karat gold. Also in Menz’s portfolio is Up in the Clouds, a work she installed in the spa of the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. Hundreds of hand-crafted porcelain shells hang floating, complimented by further shells trailing the length of a wall. And then there is the 400 hand-folded origami cranes, each with a metre wingspan, suspended above the pool at the g hotel in Galway, Ireland. Menz also creates works for private homes and is able to build on a smaller scale without losing any of the beauty and decadence her creations conjure. Those interested in working together on a project are invited to Menz’s Holland Park studio for a design consultation. With projects taking between three to 12 months to complete, those wishing to own one of Menz’s bespoke creations must contain their excitement, though they can be safe in the knowledge that she will not disappoint. While continuing to create bespoke chandeliers and interior installations for prestigious residential projects such as One Hyde Park, Menz is expanding to new heights with designing architectural sculptures and public installations. Intuitive artisitic interpretation, dedication to the finest in hand-made qualities and careful consideration to the context of a piece are Menz’s signature hallmarks which distinguish her in a class of her own.

Previous / Causing a Storm Clockwise from top / Spread your Wings; Singing Water; Singing Water (close-up shot)

INTERIORS

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087

Clockwise from top / Morning Dew (close-up shot); Morning Dew; All Shades of Black Opposite / La Belle Ă&#x2030;poque

INTERIORS

Not content with glass, Menz has used materials such as silver-thread embroidery, albino peacock feathers and ice

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089

olde english

sports

With the whole of London going gaga for tickets to watch the world’s best athletes compete in the Olympics later this month, Neil Ridley looks at several of London’s traditional sports that you won’t find in the medals table

FEATURE

As all the world’s eyes are transfixed on the outcome of the men’s 100 metre final and whether Usain Bolt, arguably the greatest living Olympian, will travel even faster into the record books, spare a thought for the athletes involved in a few of the sports no longer practiced in the Olympics. Looking through the history books, several fairly unexpected names crop up, which are of course no longer seen as being legitimate (or in some cases) appropriate sports for nations to pit their wits against each other. Of these, dueling pistol shooting (first categorised as an Olympic event in 1906) required eagle-eyed marksmen to shoot at frock-coated mannequins, with the bull’s eye placed on the dummy’s throat. In 1900, live pigeon shooting took place, where it was estimated that during the competition, around 300 birds were killed, the event unsurprisingly being removed from the sporting calendar after just one Olympics. But alongside these rather extreme and, in the case of the pigeon shooting, slightly messy events, are long forgotten sports, which are being revisited in some of London’s most rustic pubs, village greens and stately homes with their participants developing a growing sense of rediscovering the past. Head up to the wonderfully appointed Hampstead pub the Freemason’s Arms for an evening drink and you may hear strange clattering sounds emanating from the basement, punctuated by the occasional round of applause. They belong to members of the Hampstead Lawn Billiards & Skittles Society who have helped to revive interest in the historical sport of London Nine Pin Skittles and the sounds you’re hearing are the thud of lignum vitae on hornbeam, the traditional woods used in the production of the antique equipment. Lawn Billiards (often known as Pell Mell or Troco) was once enjoyed by King Charles II and is played outside, using hooped poles and wooden balls, the object of the game being similar to the more popular pastime of croquet. London Skittles is played with a different skill set to its more popular cousin involving an extra pin and became popular towards the end of the 19th century, with clubs cropping up across London, especially along the River Thames, where it is thought to have been brought in by seafarers from the Netherlands. Instead of using a ball, the player hurls (with considerable skill) a ‘cheese’ made from the hard tropical wood (lignum vitae) using a back-handed pendulumlike swing, which gives the cheese an additional spin.

The idea is to displace the nine hornbeam pins, lined up in a diamond formation. Get them all down in one and you’ll be hailed as a ‘Floorer’, but for those with less luck, players are allowed up to four throws to clear the ‘broken frame’, often given names such as the Novice, the Waterloo, Tadpole or the Gates of Hell (which is presumably a very troublesome pattern to dispense with). In the past, the club who play regularly at the Freemason’s Arms (and who can count their skittle alley as one of the oldest in London) have hosted celebrities including rock bands, newsreaders and actors, with the current World Championship being won for the past three years by Londoner Steve Hutchinson. If you fancy something a little more cardio-centric, head over to Hampton Court and once again, the unusual combination of thuds and polite applause often greets the casual tourist, there to marvel at the splendor of the beautiful 16th century palace. However what lies within the grounds of this famous London landmark is the oldest surviving Real Tennis court in England. Constructed by Cardinal Wolsey between 1526 and 1528, the Royal Tennis Court looks radically different to the courts associated with the modern-day game and the skills involved require a combination of dexterity and physical prowess. Using a solid ball, made in the traditional way from layers of webbing and a robust wooden racquet of hickory and heavy sheep gut, players of this traditional form of tennis have to utilise the courts surroundings, including the penthouse roof, galleries and grilles on either side of the net where the ball can bounce or roll off. A successful service must avoid the windows around the court and a point or ‘chase’ is won when the ball bounces for a second time without the other player being able to hit it. To the novice, the game bears a slight resemblance to squash, but the skill level to perfectly place certain shots around the surrounding gallery roofs is striking and the Hampton Court club now has over 500 members with a number of professional players, dressing in traditional whites and saluting each other before the game, as dictated by the traditional etiquette. Watching a game of Real Tennis is terrifically tense and the beautifully maintained and unchanged court surroundings gives the players and spectators a truly regal and historical experience - who says the 2012 Olympics is the only place to watch sport this summer?

Pistol shooting required eagle-eyed marksmen to shoot at frock-coated mannequins

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Visit www.londonskittles.co.uk and www.royaltenniscourt.com for more details

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12/06/2012 14:27

FEATURE

Game playing For London 2012, a fine team of GB athletes is shaping up and more than a couple of them have Oxbridge pasts. Alice Tozer explores the link, past and present, between the two iconic universities and running in the Olympic Games Oxford and Cambridge have been sporting rivals for decades. They enjoy a special relationship, a form of entente-cordiale. Epitomised by their Varsity Matches, it’s a blunt determination which can easily be transferred to a national level as this year’s Oxbridge-speckled Olympic Games are testament. Whilst the official GB Olympic team is still something of a jelly in its mould (all will be set on 3 July), if probability becomes fact, one generation of Cambridge University athletes could be reuniting to represent Great Britain; Claire Hallissey (women’s marathon; Robinson College alumnus); Andy Baddeley (men’s 1,500m; former Gonville and Caian); Emma Pooley (women’s time-trial and road cyclist as well as former frequenter of Trinity Hall); and Julia Bleasdale (women’s 5k and 10k and ex Pembroke Collegegoer). Mara Yamouchi, women’s marathon confirmed athlete and graduate of St Anne’s College, Oxford, is the dark blue counterpart to the light blue team... I jest; it’s the Olympics and this time we all sing under one flag. If Pooley and Bleasdale’s probable places are ratified, their re-grouping alongside confirmed entrants Baddeley and Hallisey would be particularly memorable. They all formed part of the same training group, with some overlap, between 2001 and 2005 at Cambridge’s Hare and Hounds university cross-country team. Pooley was also a runner before she made the late transition to cycling, rendering her silver medal in the 2008 Olympics all the more commendable. At the same Games, Baddeley came an excellent ninth in his event, which is dominated by the unbeatables; the Africans. ‘It’s great to be part of – potentially – five athletes going to the Olympics together, with a common past,’ says Bleasdale from her Surrey Hills hideaway where she is preparing for imminent trials that will tell her 5k fate. She’ll have to wait a little longer to see if anyone steals her de facto 10k spot, which would imply beating her personal best between now and 3 July. It’s highly unlikely. ‘The time in Cambridge helped develop me as an athlete,’ she recalls. ‘Everyone of different abilities trained together. We had people like

Andy Baddeley, a GB international, to aspire to. The demands of the engineering tripos meant that I didn’t overtrain too. ‘Looking back to people like Bannister [as in Roger, sub four-minute miler at Oxford in 1954], we all seem to have that same core love of running. Some athletes are obsessive about their track times and get bogged down in it. I prefer to run up the hill from my cottage and back when I need a release.’ It is a characteristic which John Bryant writing in The Quest to Break the Four Minute Mile describes as having existed decades ago: ‘There was nothing of the commercial circus about the Oxford and Cambridge tracks of the twenties and thirties. This was the era of Chariots of Fire... [of] leisured and self-assured student runners... These were the gentlemen amateurs to whom winning came easily or not at all. Many were aristocratic, already at the pinnacle of the English class system. Others aspired to be, and even though they might run or jump their way a little up the social ladder.’ Is it a confidence thing? Tim Johnston, who was eighth in the 1968 Mexico Olympic marathon and studied and ran at Cambridge believes so: ‘Oxbridge people tend to be the driven types, obsessively pursuing excellence.’ In the run up to 1968, his mentality was ‘not just making the team but doing well in the Games. If you can’t think beyond making the team, what chance do you have in the Games? You have to have a certain arrogance!’ Whilst Bleasdale will certainly want to perform competitively at the Games, her attitude is forgiving: ‘At the end of the day the Olympics is entertainment for the masses. You’ve got to have a bit of humour, to be able to stand back and realise that it’s a group of people running as fast as they can round in circles.’ Oxford and Cambridge are by no means alone in their tendency to turn out generational athletic nuggets of gold. Loughborough and St Mary’s College feature highly up there too. But it is true that there are certain wider communities attached to the former pairing, such as Thames Hare and Hounds on Wimbledon Common, the oldest cross-country running club in the world, bizarrely started by rowers in 1866. At clubs like Thames, there is a sense of connection between the Oxbridge generations who tend to head there. Bleasdale developed a good friend in Mara Yamouchi here. ‘You instantly have that common bond [the Oxbridge one] no matter where you’ve come from. It’s a great support network too.’ Bryant, in his book, goes so far as to say that the Oxbridge mentality may have actually influenced the revival of the modern Olympics. Baron de Coubertin, a young French aristocrat who in the 1890s engineered the revival of the modern Olympics ‘was profoundly influenced by the approach to sport in the great English public schools and universities... [and] qualities that had begun to emerge from Oxford and Cambridge. There the students traditionally took a little time off from the studies that would turn them into doctors, businessmen, teachers or empire builders, to play games.’ And so it was that playing games with each other, somehow along the line, produced athletes with the mental will to take on the world, not just the university next door. (With thanks to Steve Mcguigan)

Left / University in Oxford, England, during the 1890s

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It’s only a game:

keep calm AND

read on The athletes will be well versed in their Olympic protocols but, in fact, an Olympic Survival Guide for non-athletes is just as vital. Mayfairians may not be pelting out the 100-metre sprint but if they are oblivious to the details of the seventeen-day epic ride, there could well be blood, sweat and tears. Alice Tozer reports On 27 July and until 12 August, London will metamorphose into an Olympic City, a change which will ignite passions along with utter bedlam. Earlier this year, Mayfair made headlines because a Brick Street home was being rented out during the Olympics for an asking price of £100,000 a week. But the local area will be making proper sporting headlines, too, when Hyde Park plays host to the women’s triathlon on Saturday 4

August and the men’s on Tuesday 7 August. Next up, the 10km swimming marathon will wade into the Serpentine on 9 and 10 August. At both of these particular events, most of Hyde Park will be open for spectators without tickets. Given this, and the situation at large, it’s hard to imagine quite how much of a logistical nightmare awaits, but the quantity of official warnings would suggest not an insignificant one.

FEATURE

Businesses:

buck up your ideas

Wise businesses have already got ‘ahead of The Games’, as the official advice from organisers was termed months ago. They have been advised that employees, customers, deliveries, visitors and suppliers will be affected, owing to the capital’s public transport and road network upheavals, literally. Non-essential business trips are advised against and staff are being encouraged to work from home. It all sounds a bit apocalyptic but if the warnings are a-coming there must be a reason why. Businesses are being encouraged to offer ‘compressed weeks’, that is working the hours of five days compressed into four. No rest for the employed, even during The Games, then. The time is rife for video and web conferencing, even if it is across London and it’s a good occasion for annual leave, too. Businesses are being encouraged to go so far as to consider a complete overhaul of working hours to avoid rush hour. James Knight of Mayfair, by appointment Fishmonger to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Prince of Wales, as well as supplier to the catering industry and retailers at Selfridges, is a local business carrying the flag with such initiatives: its customers will be required to place their orders significantly earlier than usual to ensure an efficient delivery service during this period. Businesses and retailers must have their wits about them because such changes will be implemented early in July, to provide a window of opportunity for adjustment to all concerned. Night-time deliveries have also been tried and tested by companies such as The Dorchester Hotel, Fortnum & Mason and Marks & Spencer which will affect supply chains. So, residents must expect rejigs in any aspect of daily living because businesses have their Olympic thinking caps on. And unsuspecting businesses must devise a plan of action.

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Light

relief in the clouds

It might sound absurd but you can genuinely take to the skies to alleviate yourself from the groundlevel mayhem. Execflyer are are offering private jet and helicopter charter to The Games. If you have a hospitality ticket anyway, why not put the silver lining on the cloud? Perfect for corporate entertaining or as a solution if you are visiting multiple regional venues in a short space of time. Given that Olympic venues are indeed scattered from the South West all the way to Scotland, this could be a viable solution. Execflyer’s helicopter interiors are something rather royal and with commercial airports pushed to their limits, these private jet charter aircraft and air taxis will have the advantage of accessing smaller airfields.

Take

it away

Restaurants will be riddled with tourists during The Games, so if you’re a regular eat-outer, a takeaway routine might be one to swap your restaurant habit with. Fear not, you don’t have to go all greasy, Benares in Berkeley Square is the best bet in the area, offering fine Indian cuisine to Mayfair doors. Or try the takeaway service from the famed Caprice Holdings empire: select from the best dishes from each of the restaurants, be it the Mount Street Deli’s picnic hampers, the Ivy’s signature shepherd’s pie, J. Sheekey’s famous fish pie or a piece of mouthwatering chocolate cake from Annabel’s...

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FEATURE

Don’t

stop that cab

An estimated 40 per cent of cab drivers plan to exit London this summer and go on holiday, thereby shying the traffic-laden Games. So, don’t go thinking that a cab is the answer to the obvious clog-ups expected on the tube. About them: Green Park tube has official ‘will be busier than usual’ status, whilst Bond Street tube has the ‘will be exceptionally busy’ stamp to its name (see TFL website for the rest of the tube map’s status quo). On the busiest Olympic days, the tube will carry 4.5 million passengers; the usual daily average is 3.9 million. And yet the Olympics also brings with it a tube treat: Wi-Fi will be enabled at all central underground stations. Obvious solutions are walking and cycling. New docking stations for Boris bikes have been installed, with 7,000 spaces at the Olympic Park alone, but the likelihood is that wherever you are in inner London there will be a Boris bike to peddle. So if you’re not part of the cult, become so now. Then, there’s always the trusty Thames. Trot on down to Embankment and take the Thames Clipper up or downstream. There is a special 2012 Games river bus service taking passengers from the London Eye and London Bridge to Greenwich Park and North Greenwich Arena in a revved up time of half an hour. Book on Thames Clippers’ website. If you’re a 2012 Games event ticket holder or 2012 Games volunteer, you can buy train tickets designed for travel to your Games venue, offering more flexible ticket terms and conditions. Do book online at www. nationalrailgamestravel.co.uk as tickets are not available to buy at stations. (You need a Games travel card to take the fast Clipper service too.)

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Become

a night owl

So adamant are organisers that peak hours must be avoided by those who aren’t fighting their way to stadiums or velodromes, that a culture of ‘special night offers’ from the hospitality industry has been encouraged. The idea is to keep people out late so they go home post-rush hour. Floral Street’s Sanctuary Spa, for women only, has signed up offering late night sessions and theatres and cinemas are expected to follow suit. Thankfully, the tube and DLR will be running one hour later in the evenings, with the last trains leaving central London at 1.30am. So you really can have the evening out on the town after work; in fact you are obliged (don’t worry, you’ll have planned an 11am start with your cluedup boss beforehand, thus avoiding morning rush hour).

Make

a hasty retreat

If you’ve no interest in The Games whatsoever, this summer is a good time for an extended break abroad. The Mediterranean is your obvious answer for nearby sun but good far-flung destinations, weather-wise, during our summer are: Borneo, Koh Samui, Malaysia, Botswana, Namibia and - if you really need distance - Australia’s Great Barrier reef. Canada and The Galapagos islands would go down equally as well…

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All images courtesy of TAG Heuer

THE WINNING

Formula

Kari Rosenberg gets up close and personal with motoring megastars Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to talk track-records, prized possessions and the buzz of racing on British soil

MOTORING

A tale of two men, and one renowned city; the lives of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton couldn’t be more glamorous. Both are living the dream, sunning it up in Monaco in between racing cars; beautiful girlfriends on their arms, decked out in dapper Hugo Boss suits and top-of-the-range TAG Heuer watches. They’ve won more trophies than they’ve had birthdays, and they’re hardly offensive to look at. What more could a man want? Their careers have taken some twists and turns, but both were driven from an early age after a little encouragement from their fathers. 27 year-old Hamilton, born in Stevenage, received a go-kart from his father at the age of six. And with nerves of steel, at the tender age of ten, he approached McLaren executive chairman Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him: ‘I want to race for you one day... I want to race for McLaren.’ And less than three years later, his dreams came true when McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme. As well as his dad, Hamilton always worshipped Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna: ‘For me, Ayrton Senna was the greatest. He was my hero when I was a kid and I was devastated when he died.’ Further down south in Somerset, Hamilton’s soon-to-be team-mate was also getting an early taste for racing; 32-year-old Button began karting at the age of eight, after his father bought him his first kart. By 1989, aged just nine, he

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came first in the British Super Prix, and took his inspiration from French racing driver Alain Prost, who was ‘incredibly quick, but so smooth with it that you almost couldn’t tell until you looked at the times he was setting. He made it look easy, he made very few mistakes and he was very gentle on the car. In an age when F1 cars weren’t as reliable as they are now, that was an important skill.’ Contemporaries, competitors, colleagues; it wouldn’t be surprising if Button and Hamilton didn’t speak outside the race track, their rivalries getting the better of them. As Ron Dennis famously said, ‘second place simply makes you the first loser’. But both maintain relations are positively amicable: ‘We get on very well. People make a bigger deal out of the fact that we’re both World Champions and we’re both in the same team, but that’s not so important to me,’ says Hamilton. ‘We’re both British and both grew up in the same way – our dads worked hard to help our careers – and we’ve known each other for a long time. And I think we do work very well together, both back at the factory and at the track.’ ‘I watched him come up through the junior single-seater ranks when he was younger’ says Button. ‘My dad also tuned his kart engine – many years ago – so he’s someone who’s always been on my radar. And we actually get on very well.’ In keeping with his clean cut image, Button says the most important thing before a race is... to get an early night. ‘It may sound boring’, he says,

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‘but you really have to be at the top of your game during the race, so proper rest is important before it. You have to tune out any distractions. Things have changed a lot since the early days – they used to say that if you saw Mike Hailwood or James Hunt at the circuit first thing in the morning, you couldn’t be sure if it was an early start or a late finish.’ He even keeps the celebrations tame after a big win: ‘I’d love to say we party all night, but the way Grand Prix schedules are these days, most of the time we have planes to catch so we have to keep the celebrations short.’ Having won three Grand Prix’s last year, Hamilton is keen to prolong his winning streak. ‘I want to win more this year. Winning a race is such a buzz – afterwards, of course, you’re always looking to the next race, but bringing home the trophies for winning driver and constructor is a lasting reminder of that feeling when you won.’ Button adds: ‘We really do arrive at each Grand Prix aiming to win it – not just me but the whole team. They’re a very competitive bunch of people and when you’re in the car, you really feel the momentum. Obviously the ultimate goal is the World Championship, but getting there just by picking up points is less satisfying than getting there by winning races.’ Patriotic men, despite their glamorous Riviera postcodes, there’s nothing for the boys like racing on home soil. ‘As a British driver you grow up racing in the UK, so I know Silverstone really well,’ says Hamilton. ‘I raced here in Formula Renault, I’ve raced here in GP2. I know the circuit, so I think you have a deeper relationship with the tracks in the UK than in other countries. I love Silverstone because racing in front of my home crowd is special. The feeling you get is almost indescribable, knowing they’re all rooting for you.

‘But I look forward to Monaco as well. It’s a unique challenge and a special place to go racing. There’s absolutely no room for error. When you get ‘in the zone’ you can work wonders – look at the in-car footage from Ayrton Senna’s qualifying lap in the 1980s. It’s incredible. I always aim to get into that space. It’s one of the best tracks in the world. Also, corners like Copse and Becketts are some of the most exciting and hardcore in the world. From the cockpit, those places feel absolutely unbelievable, because the car is developing so much downforce that you feel totally nailed to the track. They are so fast. It is crazy.’ ‘Racing on home soil makes me feel particularly proud to be British,’ Button adds. ‘Thousands of loyal fans turn up in every kind of weather to see us race at Silverstone, and they are the best fans in the world. I’ve seen them cheering me on for lap after lap and for year after year – and a win would be a great reward for all of them. For me, coming back to Britain for the grand prix gives you that extra time and ability to relax: you’re on home turf, everything’s familiar to you and you can just get on with the weekend.’ With the 2012 F1 terrain looking highly unpredictable – each of the first five races this season was won by a different driver. Hamilton says: ‘what we’ve seen from some of the early races this year is that the field is quite open right now. Nobody has got a huge technical advantage so that has brought a lot of other drivers into play. If you look at the top 12 qualifiers at any Grand Prix, they’re all people who’ve won races, in GP2, Formula 3 and the DTM if not yet in F1.’ ‘Every time the regulations change, even slightly, it creates opportunities’ says Button. ‘It’s a great leveller. Teams that had successfully pursued a certain

Patriotic men, despite their glamorous Riviera postcodes, there’s nothing for the boys like racing on home soil

MOTORING

technical philosophy suddenly find it doesn’t work so well any more. And the teams that have the quickest development capacity get a head start because they understand the impact of the new rules more quickly. ‘So this year the change in the exhaust regulations has really got the engineers going, because they love to find ways to maximise the advantages we can find within the rules. Pirelli has also brought a new family of tyres, and understanding how they work – how to get the best out of them, how their performance changes during a Grand Prix – is the key to winning.’ Winning the World Championship and all the glory it entailed was by far the highlight of Hamilton’s career, following a minor ‘hump’ a couple of years back. ‘For any driver that is a career high, and the way I won it, with the battle going down to the last lap of the last race, made that final Grand Prix very tense and emotional. To come away with the World Championship after all that was an indescribable feeling.’ For him, overcoming the challenges is just part of the job. ‘I think maybe in 2009, we had a lot of work to do in the early part of the season. I was the World Champion, I was carrying the number one on my car, but we didn’t have the most competitive car on the grid. In those circumstances you have to dig deep and almost give better than your best. Everybody worked so hard to turn it around. This team never just writes off a year and says, “Okay, let’s forget about this season and focus on next year’s car”.’ ‘For any F1 driver, winning the World Championship is the ultimate

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goal and so for me, that is a personal highlight,’ says Button. ‘Maybe the trials you have to go through on the way there make it all the more satisfying in the end. That year [2009] was pretty tough because before the season started I didn’t even know if I was going to be driving or not.’ Despite the fame and fortune – not to mention the women, clothes, and of course the cars, Hamilton remains humble. ‘I’m very privileged to have this job because being a racing driver – it’s one of those jobs that defines who you are. I just love driving racing cars.’ ‘Driving the car always gives me tremendous pleasure and satisfaction,’ says Button. ‘When you nail the perfect lap and you think, ‘If anyone can push harder than that, good luck to them.’ Or if the strategy calls for you to drive to a certain pace for a number of laps and you hit the mark every time. You know it’s going well!’ Since both have been racing since their formative years, it’s easy to forget they’re still so young. What do they plan to do once they hit the finish line for good? ‘I’m too young to think about retiring!’ says baby-faced Hamilton. ‘That said, I’ve found my work with UNICEF really fulfilling. I went to Manila after the Malaysian Grand Prix this year to make a film about the street children and it was a life-changing experience. I’d like to do more to really make a difference.’ Button adds: ‘It’s not something I’m actively planning right now because I’m still young, but I could use my experience to go into driver management – bring another driver into F1 and look after their career. It would have to be something where you push yourself every day. I enjoy doing triathlons so maybe, if things had been different, I might have ended up as an athlete.’ Both ambassadors for top fashion brands, it’s no secret these boys know what they like. Hamilton’s style mantra is very much ‘keep it simple’. ‘Don’t go too crazy with colours. Less is more. The team is partnered with TAG Heuer and Hugo Boss so I’m never short of something good to wear. You have to look your best all the time when you’re in the public eye, because if you’re spotted wearing something dodgy you can guarantee it’ll end up on the web somewhere!’ Button doesn’t have ‘a particular style’ but says he just ‘dresses for the occasion’ happy to wear ‘shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops’ as he is to don ‘a crisp, white, pressed shirt and a decent suit.’ And of course, when it comes to cars they both have their pick of the bunch. ‘I’m driving a McLaren MP4-12C.’ says Hamilton. ‘There’s a waiting list but I made sure I was near the front! It’s a cool car and I had some involvement in its development. In some ways I feel like it was designed for me – they came to me and Button and took casts of our hands when they designed the steering wheel.’ ‘I’ve got a “company” car’ Button jokes. ‘Last year I went out to the Portimao circuit in Portugal to demonstrate the MP4-12C to journalists. It was a pre-production model but I could tell it was special. The new factory opened last November and I made sure I got one of the first 12Cs off the line.’ With so much wealth, it’s easy to lose sight on what value really means. But more than all the top gear, both say their most prized possession is their F1 World Championship trophy. ‘You just look at it and see your name there along with Senna, Prost, Hunt, Clark, Fangio, Ascari… that’s when you grasp how important it is.’ ‘It’s got great personal significance as well as being a fantastic piece of artwork’ says Button. ‘Every time I look at it I remember the day I won it.’ With over 100 trophies between them, it’s easy to forget how young Button and Hamilton really are; their careers still spanning miles in front of them, the journey has only just begun. And they’re more than ready for the ride.

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Fly

by night

24 hour racing involves more endurance and more reward than traditional F1, but it comes at a higher price than merely staying awake. Richard Yarrow reports on two of the most challenging courses any driver can take on

MOTORING

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MOTORING

It might sound like an odd thing to say, but attending a 24-hour motorsport event isn’t really about watching fast cars go round a track. Heading to Le Mans in France or the Nürburgring in Germany for their legendary day/night races is much more to do with sampling the atmosphere – the sights, sound and smells, the glamour, people-watching and having plenty to drink. With up to 170 cars competing in numerous classes and lapping at different speeds, if you can keep up with who the front-runners are, you’re doing better than 99 per cent of spectators. An astonishing 250,000 of them make the annual pilgrimage to Le Mans for the Saturday-into-Sunday event, while about two-thirds of that attend ‘the Ring’. Both are popular with Brits because they’re less than five hours drive from Calais, but Le Mans more so because of Bentley’s history of success there. With 30,000 crossing the Channel, it’s famously one of the UK’s most popular sporting events. It just happens to be in France. Bizarrely, watching British fans driving exotica from the likes of Porsche, Mercedes, Lamborghini and Ferrari through northern France is a spectator sport for locals. It’s also a popular fund-raiser for the local police. Attending isn’t like Formula One, where you might arrive on Friday to watch practice and qualifying. For these events some fans turn up the weekend before. A full seven days before the race starts they’re in place, and people go back year after year to the exact same spot. The reason they can start so early is due to the length of the circuits. The ‘Nordschleife’ or Northern Loop at the Nürburgring is 13 miles long while Le Mans’ Circuit de la Sarthe is eight. Once you’re away from the paddock, pits and grandstands, you’re out in the countryside and the entire route is lined with tents, caravans and motorhomes. With a week before the race starts, fans tend to get creative: beach-style timber shacks, garden sheds, tarpaulins, home-made shower and toilet blocks, benches, sofas, pianos, satellite TV dishes bolted to trees – it’s all there. Some people build scaffolding towers several metres high so they can see over the safety fence. Barbeques are everywhere, and drivers often report they can smell the sizzling sausages as they speed by when the race is on. These fans are away from the big TV screens and tannoys, so rely on race radio coverage to tell them what’s happening. Helpfully there’s a station broadcasting in English, though confusingly it’s called Radio Le Mans for both events. Those who choose to stay nearer to civilisation are rewarded with an experience that’s far more relaxed and less ego-driven than F1. For example,

In brief The Nürburgring is in the stunning forests of the Eifel mountains, 40 miles south of Cologne. Staged in May, next year’s 24H event will be the 41st.

Visit www.24h-rennen.de for details Le Mans is 120 miles south-west of Paris and the 24H race is held every June. Having started in 1923, it’s the world’s oldest endurance motorsport event.

Visit www.lemans.org for more information

at the Nürburgring anyone can walk down the starting grid full of cars, drivers and engineers in the hour before the race. Chat to a competitor, get an autograph or photo – it’s no problem and unique in European motorsport. So what’s the appeal for the manufacturers? Obviously the prestige of winning helps, and for brands such as Audi, Bentley, BMW and Mercedes that’s certainly the case. Some also use it for validation of vehicle development work. Aston Martin was racing a V12 Zagato at this year’s Nürburgring 24H, signing off the final engineering set-up before building 150 road-going versions for customers. Chief engineer Chris Porritt was also one of the drivers. ‘We want to be competitive but here it’s not about the winning,’ he explained. ‘It’s about proving our car is reliable and durable in a very public way.’ Tyre firms have the same strategy. Falken is owned by the same Japanese company as Dunlop and competes in endurance racing to get performance data to design better road car rubber. For the Nürburgring 24H, it had brought 1,000 tyres to cover every eventuality for its two Porsche 911s. Shigetake Ikeki, Falken’s tyre development engineer, said it was about generating experience and knowledge under extreme conditions. ‘It offers the unique chance to demonstrate the maximum of what’s technically possible with our technology.’ For drivers, endurance racing is like nothing else. In F1 they’re lapping for 90 minutes, but here it’s a team of three or four doing that tag-team for 16 times longer. ‘People might think the issue would be staying awake but it’s not,’ says Scottish driver Peter Dumbreck. ‘It’s the peaks and troughs of getting ready to drive, driving, stopping, getting ready to drive again, driving…’. He says track knowledge is key, and despite taking part in his ninth Nürburgring 24H this year, he admits he still doesn’t feel like he knows every one of the circuit’s 80 corners. Another issue is not running into the back of slower cars. With Renault Clio superminis racing alongside the bespoke GTs, the fastest drivers can be overtaking a dozen or more times every lap. In the words of another Brit, Aston Martin driver Darren Turner: ‘You can’t win the race on the first lap but you can lose it.’ Both events are famed for their changeable weather. The sheer size of the tracks means you can have rain at one end and sunshine at another. It can play havoc with tyre/fuel/driver-change pit-stop strategies. But the thrill for motorsport fans is a unique one. At this year’s Nürburgring race, after exactly 18 hours of racing and with six more still to go, the gap between the first two cars was less than a second.

Images courtesy of Aston Martin, Falken and Audi

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the M A Y F A I R magazine

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TRAVEL

Ship-to-shore

No one wants to ruin the luxury experience of a super

yacht by jumping into a lesser vessel for that final trip to the mainland. Bespoke super-yacht tenders are the last word in first-class ship-to-shore travel, and the custom-designed pieces can be made to suit any yacht. However, not just attractive, there is also a growing trend for innovative technology within super-yacht tenders, leading to the widespread use of lithium electric power within them. This new system was introduced to offer silent operation, minimal fuel expense and no pollution along with the obvious desire to look after the fine teak finishing. After being selected as a Walpole â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Brand of Tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; alongside eight other developing British luxury brands, Cumbriabased Patterson Boatworks have firmly established themselves as builders of bespoke super-yacht tenders. Each one is uniquely designed to suit its mother ship with everything from electronics and stowage to upholstery and varnish designed for seamless integration. With this craft on display worldwide and a list of international clients, it is clear to see that this trend in luxury yacht tenders is only continuing to grow. (www.pattersonboatworks.co.uk)

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bol

FEATURE

dlygo

Sci-Fi or big business? Josh Sims explores the world of space tourism

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Once the idea of a Costa del Solar - a holiday destination in space - was strictly the stuff of science fiction, but after decades of scepticism, and governmental involvement in manned spaceflight in decline (at least in the west), not just small steps but giant leaps are being made by private enterprises to make space tourism a reality. Indeed, space remains big business. According to the Institute of Directors, even the tiny British space sector is now worth £8bn per annum and has more than doubled in size over the last decade, despite the UK Space Agency being one of the least state-subsidised parts of the UK economy - investors, in other words, are seeing potential. This might be further reflected in the fact that, Richard Branson’s much publicised Virgin Galactic venture aside, it is the flourishing BRIC states - Russia, India and China, which in June sent its first female astronaut into space - that are fast becoming the most aggressive market leaders. Certainly interest is there: some seven billionaires have now paid to go into space, and with the billionaireclass booming, as well as interest in extreme adventure travel - from trekking the Amazon to climbing Everest - demand might be expected to rise. Game shows in Germany and Russia have offered a trip to space as their big prize. Zero Gravity Corp, a US company running commercial flights mimicking NASA’s Vomit Comet taster of weightlessness, is doing good business. Indeed, a fascination with getting off the planet seems to underpin contemporary culture: when, in 1997, Thomas Cook started jokily taking names for prospective space tours, it had to close the list after 10,000 applicants. ‘I’m tired of people regarding space tourism as unachievable,’ says Peter Diamandis. He’s the man who founded the pioneering X-Prize, an American national contest offering $10m to the first private company to develop a reusable launch vehicle capable of taking passengers into sub-orbital space. ‘People think of it as fanciful - but 100 years ago the idea of hopping on a 747 was unimaginable. Much of the technology [to make it happen] is already here and there’s only one marketplace to get space travel moving: self-loading carbon payloads. People, in other words. Tourism will drive space travel. We just have to build the ships.’ And that is happening, albeit not as quickly as some have predicted it would. Space tourism may not be the primary objective so much as finding more economical ways to launch satellites or (potentially energy crisis-solving) solar technology, or the development of reuseable launch vehicles - or RLVs, as they are called in spacey circles - to cut the journey time from London to New York to just 25 minutes. But short holidays out of this world look set to be a buoyant

longer-term spin-off - according to one study, conducted with NASA by the Space Transportation Association, technology could allow the multi-million dollar price of a sub-orbital trip to drop to $50,000 within a decade of the first flights, and half that a decade on. Many companies - many of them British - have long since made considerable progress to making that happen, slowed only by a lack of funding. XCOR, a US company, has already tested the first privately-built rocket-powered airplane and this year won additional equity funding towards its Lynx Mark 1 spaceplane project. Reaction Engines, a British company, has developed Skylon, a pilotless spaceplane in the proof-ofconcept phase that aims to be delivering (non-human) payloads into space by the end of the decade. It needs £200m to build a test engine, which, the company says, has already been promised by investors, then another £12bn towards a prototype launch in the early 2020s. RotorRocket, part owned by novelist Tom Clancy and British company Bristol Spaceplanes, has designed its four-seater Ascender craft. ‘The first people to go will be younger people who go on adventure holidays or like active sports,’ says David Ashford, founder of Bristol Spaceplanes and author of Spaceflight Revolution. ‘But it’s not just techy or outward bound types that will be interested in space touring. It will soon catch on, to the extent that I think we can quickly

FEATURE

envisage a time when we’ll see a million people a year spending a few days star-gazing from a space hotel.’ That may, in truth, be a longer-term vision, but thinking is now extending beyond not just the development of craft to get civilians into space - a big enough first hurdle - but to where these craft might go once up there: the Space Island Group wants to built a rotating space hotel from 12 spent space shuttle fuel tanks 400 miles above the Earth; Bigelow Aerospace - formed by Robert Bigelow, owner of Budget Suites of America - this year signed a deal with the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology on a new space cruiser R&D programme. Hilton Hotels have looked into space hotels too. The Rochester Institute of Technology in the US even now has a Space Tourism Development course, covering the politics of spaceflight and (not inconsiderable) physical and psychological issues that come with spaceflight. But are such ideas merely pie in the sky? Those within the industry say no, that it will happen. The question of when is down more to investment than imagination. What does seem clear is some form of public-private partnership may in the end prove essential to launch the new industry. ‘Look at the airline industry now: originally it was an expensive government programme that certainly didn’t haul people in the affordable way it does today, and the same change will take place with space travel,’ suggests Eugene Cernan. ‘All we need is encouragement by governments to create financially viable businesses catering to people who have perhaps thousands to spent on getting into space rather than tens of millions. The fact is that it’s an imminent natural evolution for us to realise we can’t ignore space anymore.’ And Cernan might well know - he was, after all, the last man to walk on the moon. Clockwise from top / SKYLON, UK space project, Virgin Spaceport America, SKYLON, UK space project. Previous / Virgin Spaceport America

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Travel

News The places to see this month and the must-have pieces and insider advice to get you there

Short haul VS Long haul

Don’t leave home without… The iPad is perhaps the epitome of mobile computing and with that in mind Bang & Olufsen have created the Beoplay A3 to bring B&O sound quality to any setting. In addition to a dedicated speaker, it acts as a stand, case and charger for the iPad making it your tablet’s perfect travel companion. £449, Bang & Olufsen (www.beoplay.com)

Short haul:

Long haul:

Hell Bay, Bryher Island, The Scillies The tiny island of Bryher has just eighty-five inhabitants, making it the number one destination for those wishing to escape the sporting madness of the mainland this month. Visitors can delight in the quiet beaches and walk the coastal paths in perfect solitude, taking in the beauty of unspoilt nature and letting young explorers roam free. Other potential activities include snorkelling in the crystal clear waters, a game of tennis on the newly built Astroturf court, or a round of golf; all of which can be arranged by the hotel. Truly the last frontier of civilisation, it offers unrivalled privacy, sitting as it does on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The restaurant offers an innovative local menu including seafood caught by Bryher fishermen. You can even collect fresh eggs for breakfast: an ideal way to keep little hands occupied. Prices start from £2,000 for a family of four for four nights, half-board, including return flights from either Penzance (helicopter) or Land’s End, transfers and insurance.

Coral Reef Club, Barbados For those yearning for both space to run around in and the perfect reason not to do so, consider a trip to Coral Reef Club’s spa in Barbados. Hidden away in twelve acres of landscaped gardens on the west coast of the island, Indian elegance meets local charm at this family-run resort, where days of luxurious relaxation greet guests. Your accommodation comes with a private balcony or patio, on which to enjoy a glass from your complimentary bottle of champagne that awaits you in your room. Guests can also venture to the Thermal Spa Garden and get spiritual with an outdoor yoga session. The highlight of the spa experience at Coral Reef Club is the tailor-made treatments, but if you’re feeling too rejuvenated to sit still, an array of sports are available to try: from water-skiing and snorkelling to tennis. And, after all that excitement, dinner at the oceanfront restaurant is a chance to experience local gastronomy at its finest. Who said paradise was out of reach?

(www.hellbay.co.uk)

(www.coralreefbarbados.com)

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App: WEATHERMOB This ingenious app allows you to get real-time weather updates from all over the world. With features including images and a user’s mood in relation to the weather, you can be sure to know exactly what to expect. Free from the iTunes App Store

The best advice we’ve ever heard… ‘Leave early, because then if anything goes wrong you’ve got time to deal with it. I keep saying to the granchildren, “Navy time”, which means leaving ten minutes early.’ - Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

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TRAVEL

LIBERTY

Island Beautiful, romantic and seriously secluded, Elle Blakeman travels to the Maldivian island of Reethi Rah

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ust have your butler call to arrange your ride to the restaurant,’ says my driver. I’ve been here less than ten minutes and the One&Only at Reethi Rah has already thrown down the gauntlet. Here, time is set one hour ahead of the Maldivian capital of Malé, in order to get the most out of the day - a taster of having the power to control time. Since arriving on the island, my jet lag and toxic city stress have been confiscated like someone trying to sneak a bottle of vodka into rehab, and replaced with fragrant hot towels and sweet ice-tea served with blush pink flowers that look like they should be decorating someone’s hair. At Malé, while all the other arrivals were led to boats that look like they have seen better days, we are practically carried to our luxury yacht that will transfer us the final thirty-five kilometres to Reethi Rah, and I found myself feeling bad for anyone not heading for our final destination. Although they are still in the Maldives; I should probably feel worse for people stuck in factories, or Glasgow, first. We drive to my villa on one of the many golf buggies that make up the transport here. We meander through winding paths lined with palm trees and lush green bushes dotted with tropical flowers, directed by quaint little posts stating the villa numbers like a 1950s American suburb. My butler, Ibrahim, turns out to be a very friendly man dressed in light linens who greets me warmly as I step over the large petal-strewn wooden gate to my villa. It’s the entrance to a simple, carefree way of life: there are two modest push bikes, complete with woven baskets, with my villa number on them that I can use while I’m here. I’m told that if I leave them anywhere (I assume this means if I get lost and/or drunk) they will be swept up and replaced outside my villa again by morning. The nearest neighbour is several metres away, and the carefully planted trees and bushes block any sight or sound from either side, allowing for an unparalleled feeling of seclusion. I am led to my private beach. It’s perfect, empty and pristine, and standing alone on it feels so fantastically indulgent I could weep. A large, thickly woven, cream hammock swings delicately between two palm trees (planted to the side so as not to obscure the view) and two sun loungers sit on the white sand about twenty feet away, equidistant between my villa and the warm Indian Ocean (which Ibrahim tells me is great for snorkelling). There is an outside shower set around a collection of smooth stones, and a deep grey stone dish to wash my feet in so as not to cart sand around. Inside, the villa is church-like in scale, made all the more spacious by the open-plan design. The layout is luxurious and romantic; from the floor-to-ceiling French

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windows that reveal your own beach to the huge, Egyptian cotton-covered King-size bed and the impressively deep, two-person bath: a beautiful sandy-coloured stone homage to aquatic ardour. There is an essential oil burner on the side of the bath, gently infusing the air with notes of cinnamon, and a cushioned bench running along the other side. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect honeymoon destination; frankly I’m debating asking Ibrahim to marry me. Dining at the One&Only is equally seductive. Tapasake is a darkly lit Japanese restaurant, serving some of the best sushi I have ever eaten (it comes as no surprise to know that head chef Andrew Bozoki is ex-Nobu). Tables are intimate, and there is even a special, remote picnic-style area, accessible only by a mini bridge, for those who feel they cannot bear to look at anyone other than each other. As a contrast, Fanditha is an outdoor Middle Eastern-meets-Mediterranean restaurant, with tapas and Rioja to start, and shisha on brightly coloured rugs to finish: a fun, Aladdin’s Cave of restaurants. However, the most romantic by far has to be the Chef’s Garden – a lush, outdoor, fairy-lit haven of a restaurant,

‘Apparently we have just missed Rob Lowe and half of Take That (not together)’ dotted with delicate, intimate tables for two, where you can choose your fresh fish and organic veg, and watch it cooked in front of you at the ‘kitchen’ setup in the garden. The level of privacy at the One&Only is completely beyond comparison, explaining why the resort is a favourite with honeymooners and celebrities: apparently De Niro and family are due over the next few weeks, and we have just missed Rob Lowe and half of Take That (not together). There are just one-hundred and thirty villas on the island, which at six kilometres of coastline is the largest in the Maldives. The chances of bumping into anyone at all are minimal at best. The number of villas could easily have been increased, but the loss of room combined with additional guests would take away one of the resort’s key offerings: space – physical liberty which happily extends a mental and emotional freedom unachievable in overcrowded places. Even on the ‘public’ beaches there are never more than a handful of people, all separated by metres of sand and at least three Roman day beds. However, for those who go stir crazy after the initial R&R has lost its appeal, this is one of the few resorts in the Maldives that has plenty to keep you ‘busy’ (by

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Maldivian standards that is, with no one expecting you to answer eighty-five emails an hour while rewriting the company’s five-year plan and skyping with your kids). There are culinary classes, where you can learn key dishes from various places across the globe: the epicurean room (which houses the cooking studio) is akin to an upmarket New York deli; all chocolate browns and steel, with little pre-prepared bowls of chopped ingredients, making the experience fun, rather than the chore it is on home territory. It is easy to imagine newly-weds reinvoking the spirit of their time here via a messy attempt at recreating banana frittatas or lobster curry. Another ‘back to school’ style activity is the art class with artist in residence, Christopher Hogan. Known for his bold compositions – snapshots of marine life – Hogan walks students through his own abstract method of painting. It is strangely soothing and, being something that most people have not done since GCSEs were called O levels, taps into a side of the brain not often employed. The idyllic location, in the gardens set just slightly back from the main beach, are the perfect setting for releasing any latent creative ambition, and I have it on good authority that several of the guests actually book their time at One&Only based on Hogan’s availabilty there. Alternatively, you can be a little more thrill-seeking and head for the ‘recreational beach’ at the top of the island to take full advantage of the sublime Indian Ocean. Here, you can rent a pedalo, go snorkelling or paddle boarding (basically surfing on a wider board with a paddle). Or, you can head a little further out and go deep-sea fishing or try some watersports. I, however, have no issues with resting as an activity, and for this reason I checked myself into the resort’s spa for one of their innovative new ‘Watsu’ treatments (spa director John Lindsay is like the MI5 of the beauty industry, spending months travelling the world for the most cutting-edge of treatments to bring back to the resort).

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Watsu, Lindsay’s lastest find, is a shiatsu massage in the water, and the resort even has a dedicated temperaturecontrolled pool for the treatment, with a view over the coastline so stunning that it makes the eye-closing part of the treatment feel really quite tragic. The rest of the spa is like a small tribal village, with little thatched roofed pavilions dotted around, for treatments ranging from massages to body scrubs, while the ‘city hall’ of the village houses a sauna and steam room, and the renowned Bastien Gonzalez, he of the impeccable pedicure. When my time comes to leave the resort, Ibrahim appears to hand me a photo album as a parting gift and offers to pack my bags and call a buggy for me. I would be seriously tempted to throw my passport in the sea and stay if I wasn’t convinced Ibrahim would swim in and fish it out for me; the downsides of having a butler…

travel details Prices at One&Only Reethi Rah start from approx £557 per villa per night, plus taxes (based on double occupancy in a Beach Villa travelling in June and September 2012). To book please visit www.oneandonlyresorts.com. Etihad Airways flies twice daily from Manchester and three times daily from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi from where there is a direct connection to the Maldives’ capital, Malé. Booked through on one ticket, both outgoing and return flights are overnight allowing travellers from the UK to spend an extra day in the Maldives. Coral Economy flights are available from £582 from London Heathrow and £512 from Manchester whilst Pearl Business Class flights start from £2,036 from London Heathrow and £2,137 from Manchester. To book your flight, or for further information, visit www.etihad.com or call 0845 608 1225

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Kate Harrison enjoys a romantic weekend in Florence at a restored, aesthetic marvel of a hotel where it’s all part of the process to come, see and stay in bed

Lobby, The Chedi

TRAVEL Athens

The vibrant capital of Greece is one of the oldest cities in the world. Steeped in mythology, the warm summer evenings are perfect for relaxed Mediterranean life, with the ancient architecture providing a unique backdrop

Thanks to the 2004 Olympics, Athens’ infrastructure received a complete makeover making travel to and around the city a breeze. From the modern Athens International Airport to the English language road signs, the city is a smooth ride for visitors without losing any of its historical charm. Once the Acropolis and other ancient sites that border the central and eternally bustling Plaka district have been duly visited, Psiri square is where to find the traditional tavernas. Join the locals for live music and dancing before sitting down to Grecian fare in a charmingly rustic restaurant. When the city’s rich history has been soaked up, depart from the tourist trail for the upmarket area of Kolonaki, known for its boutique shops which stock a wealth of Greek fashion and jewellery designers. Begin by wandering down Skoufa street into Kolonaki square, named after an ancient column in its centre. The square is the perfect spot for people-watching whilst you while away the heat of the day outside one of the many charming cafés. Kolonaki is also host to two of the finest private art collections in Greece. The Benaki Museum (www.benaki.gr), in a neo-classical manor house, and Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art (www.cycladic.gr) are both worth visiting, not to mention the host of other smaller galleries and museums close by. With the heady warmth of the sun energising this already frenetic city, there is no better time to visit than July. Whether you want to explore Athens’ history in this Olympic month, or simply embrace its emerging future as a fashion, art and culture destination you will not be disappointed. British Airways flies from London Heathrow to Athens three times daily (0844 493 0787; www.britishairways.com).

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WHERE TO STAY New Hotel (www.newhotel.athenshotels.it) is the work of renowned design visionaries Humberto and Fernando Campana and Greek Cypriot art collector Dakis Joannou. This modernist triptych also called upon local design and architecture students to transform the old Olympic Palace Hotel. Some of the original features and furnishings remain; combined with luxuriant interpretations of traditional Greek culture (the Double Superior Room embraces the ‘evil eye’ superstition with ambient wall lighting, naturally). The top-floor terrace is privy to some of the best views in Athens, and the hotel is right at the city’s heart, being mere steps away from Syntagma Square. EATING & DRINKING Mani Mani (www.manimani.com.gr) combines traditional fare with modern presentation and panache. Located on a side street near the Acropolis, it is a hidden gem worth seeking out - its flavour combinations (cheesecake with tomato chutney, anyone?) theoretically should not work, but prove divine. For something on a grander scale, Dinoysos Zonar’s (www. dionysoszonars.gr) is renowned for its excellent selection of Greek wines and offers stunning views of the Acropolis, which is lit up at night to great dramatic effect. Try the appetisers for a whistle-stop tour of Athenian cuisine. MAYFAIR RECOMMENDS Avoid the daytime throng of sightseers by visiting the city’s famous buildings at night. The ethereal beauty of Athenian architecture can be appreciated via a night tour from Key Tours Ltd (www.keytours.gr) which takes in the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the National Gardens, Parliament, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Catholic Cathedral of St Dionysius, the National Library and Old Parliament Building.

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TRAVEL

Musa Jewel and Crystal Sandal, £285, Harrods (www.harrods.com)

Inez (£285) Cashmere Blend Floral Print Scarf (www.my-wardrobe.com) Printed silk-taffeta and chiffon dress, £4,270, Mary Katrantzou (www.net-a-porter.com)

MICHAEL Michael Kors Jet Set Medium Travel Tote, £220, Harrods (www.harrods.com)

Apivita Wine Elixir Anti-Wrinkle and Restoring Face Oil, around £35 (www.apivita.com)

City Shorts, £109, Harrods (www.harrods.com)

Beaded crepe top, £290, Day Birger Et Mikkelsen (www.net-a-porter.com)

Cherry Oil Lipgloss in Orange, £12, Korres, Bath & Unwind (www.bathandunwind.com)

ALS:

ENTI SE ESS

SUITC

or r fect f e is pe of space t o t s r nty el Ko Micha provides ple ases. h r c roomy r io is u r e p h t T the in impromptu style: s in lu l p e v , he sun n d Tra ay in t Oil. the su luggage an d g in n g r a lo Face dazzlin your hand sh afte Elixir for kin fre ivita’s Wine ther staple. s p e e a aves: K ty brand Ap o a hot we ss must-h u als godde Beauty ek bea Lipgloss is e r G recian sparkle lt G il u ls c O e with err y hann some On s’s Ch alaki c . Add Korre Kokos ersey dress eing walks. ia h p -j e e So your hts ss crep e chic: ng sig round Daytim rato straple r fect for lo r ful scar f a ger Et Bir lou er E - pe with h chic sandal , drape a co ol in a Day rts. o s o c g a h s p h in y e it n w or , ke s cit early m lternatively and Harrod this A chilly y with . p s to er ibranc t Laurent v ic should elsen crepe t o S a ns’ ch et fun Yves Mikk f. y r Athe lti Cuf Mirro the elegant : r u o n’s Mu e m t h la e g it a r w g t Evenin s, pairing it d Van Der S an res print d ibute sandal Tr t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

Cuff, £579, Van Der Straeten (www.harrods.com)

Suede Sandal, £695, Yves St Laurent (www.net-a-porter.com) Strapless crepe-jersey dress, £1,275, Sophia Kokosalaki (www.net-a-porter.com)

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Left Sitting

Courtside?

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

Beauty

News

Going for gold Taking inspiration from our Olympic hopes this month, the metallic looks seen on the Pucci, Armani and Just Cavalli runways this season are ideal for the height of summer. This look demands flawless skin, so try the fabulous new Absolue L’Extrait from Lancôme, which will help skin to improve in both quality and tone, giving your complexion a healthy glow. Then add a flash of gold with the new gelée compact from Estée Lauder; smooth upwards across cheekbones and blend up into the brows for that dramatic, light-reflective finish. For the eyes, use a shimmering gold cream formula, such as this one from Bobbi Brown, and define with a smoky dark eyeliner for an ultra-glamorous edge. Keep lips neutral with just a touch of nude gloss such as this one by Nars - golden girl indeed. Above / Tom Ford S/S12 campaign Left / A look from the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week S/S 12

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1 Larger Than Life Lip in Born This Way, £19, Nars (www.narscosmetics.co.uk) 2 Long-Wear Cream Shadows, £17 each, Bobbi Brown (www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com) 3 Absolue L’Extrait, £250, Lancôme, available at Harrods (www.harrods.com) 4 Gel liner pencil in Jet, £27, Chantecaille, available at Space NK (www.spacenk.com) 5 Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée in Shimmering Sands, £35, Estée Lauder (www.esteelauder.com) t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

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Scents

sensibility

As Jo Malone returns to the beauty industry with her new range Jo Loves, Elle Blakeman meets the woman who made a gift-wrapped candle the height of luxury to discuss fragrance, entrepreneurial skills and being chased down Sloane Street

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Jo Malone must be used to seeing her name everywhere. It decorates glass candles filled with scents like lime, basil and mandarin and white jasmine and mint (the last ones to be lit in any home) and hangs from stiff cream bags tied with elegant black ribbon. It justifies increasing the cost of a candle to proportions that can still make non-believers wince, and recently, it is the name that TV bosses use to plug their shows to increase viewers. So it may surprise you to know that Jo Malone (the person), has been separate from Jo Malone (the brand) for over five years, having left the business in 2006 following a battle with cancer. ‘I got to that point where I was opening a store on Madison Avenue eight months after my treatment and my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I didn’t stop loving the business or what I had created; I just had nothing more that I felt I could give to it’. So she made the decision to sell the result of twenty years of hard work, not to mention her name (that carried the aspirational status of the brand) to Estée Lauder companies. And that, as they say, was that. Or so we – including Malone – thought. ‘I thought I would never go back to fragrance again,’ she says. However, while making High Street Dreams, a BBC1 show where Malone set about helping young entrepreneurs, she felt herself wondering if she could do it all again. ‘I loved doing that whole thing with the entrepreneurial businesses going round the

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market places. I’m an entrepreneur – a British retailer – and I had a very successful business under my belt. While doing the show, I was making chilli sauce at the bottom of Mr Singh’s garden, and I suddenly thought “I want to do this again”. As quickly as it had left me something just said “I want to try again”,’ she says. The first time round, back when Jo Malone was just a person, there were no beauty journalists or fashion magazines keenly following her progress, no luxury department stores desperate to stock the brand before she’d even started. The concept of a £40 candle was still mostly unheard of and home fragrance was judged by a ‘more is more’ approach to notes. Malone, who left school at just thirteen in order to look after her mother who had suffered a stroke, began her career by experimenting with fragrance, creating bath oils and scents at home out of simple ingredients like ginger and nutmeg. ‘I used to take soap to the cheese grater to try to create something smelly I could melt down like a candle,’ she says. ‘The cauliflower cheese the next day always tasted funny.’ With a zealous response to her homemade creations, she and husband Gary – who left his job as a surveyor to help (‘he’s the numbers man’) – decided to set up a shop in Chelsea. The rest is perfumed, ribboned, gift-wrapped history. This time round, Malone went back to her kitchen table with her five-strong team (‘absolutely incredible’) and set about trying to return to an industry where her name is already so iconic. ‘It doesn’t feel anything like it did the first time. The only similarity is I’m creating fragrance’ she says. ‘Everything is round the wrong way; all of the world retailers are saying we want the product but of course you’re playing catch up with everything else.’ To launch her new brand, Jo Loves – a scarlet-packaged range of candles and fragrances – Malone decided to set up a pop-up shop in Mayfair to see how the

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land lay. ‘It was great because we were simply there to see if people could identify with it and still thought that there was an opening in the market for me,’ she says. ‘If people couldn’t see the need for me anymore then there was no point continuing and that was the brutality of it. It was a very tough time because I really put myself out there.’ Clearly the need was there as the response, once again, was impressive. ‘I didn’t expect it, but then I didn’t expect it the first time round either,’ she says. The Jo Loves range comprises clean, bold fragrances that the industry has clearly been waiting for, even if they didn’t know it. Pomelo, a pure, crisp scent, won ‘Best New Independent Fragrance’ at the FIFI International Fragrance Foundation Awards, and a very influential beauty expert declared that she had ‘waited her whole life’ for someone to invent it. ‘I think as you get older you do simplify life and I think that’s very much what I have done with fragrance,’ she says. ‘Pomelo is a very simple note but very complex in its creativity. I really love a very simple classic. I think I’ve kind of done that in my life now - I’ve brought everything back down to what really matters. ‘The other day I was chased down Sloane Street while I was wearing Pomelo,’ she says. I heard this lady say “Excuse me. Excuse me” and I thought I had left something in the bank. She said “I can smell you! That smell is just wafting all the way up Sloane Street, I’ve just got to know what it is.”’

Malone talks of ‘seeing’ fragrance, attributing scents to difference senses and emotions. ‘I don’t smell a flower and say “let’s go and bottle that”. Life just creatively stimulates me. I take an emotion or colour or something that moves me and I translate it back to create something. I’ve always worked like that. I look at the Jubilee pageantry with those boats and I could just smell fragrance,’ she says. ‘Because I’m dyslexic I have a huge mood board of every picture that has influenced a fragrance. I can sit with a mood board of certain pictures or textures and I’ll create a note from that,’ she says. Her website is like a pinterest homage to a lifetime of colours, people, places and moments that have inspired the notes in her range allowing customers to get behind the story of each product. I wondered why Malone, with all of her entrepreneurial skills chose to return to fragrance, a sector where she has already made such an impact. But talking to her, in her stark white boardroom, with Lemongrass, Amber and Tiare candles infusing the room, it’s clear that this is exactly what she should be doing. ‘I’m very selective and it’s the one thing in life that I can do. I can’t play a musical instrument, I’m not a huge sportswoman or anything, but I believe I can create a fragrance like no one else can. I’m happiest when I’m creating something that smells great. So for me it’s honestly where I feel I belong.’

‘I think as you get older you simplify life and that’s what I have done with fragrance’

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(www.joloves.com)

the M A Y F A I R ma g a z ine

Spa Retreat

Home & Away

We experience two stunning hotel spas - one in London for those looking for a way to escape the Olympic crowds for a spell, and another just over the pond for those looking to really distance themselves from it all

The Ritz Salon Elevated above the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly, The Ritz hotel has been a London landmark for over a century, during which time it has welcomed Royalty and a multitude of other discerning guests. Known for its opulent Louis XVI style interiors, it was recently refurbished without losing any of its ornate charm. The spa on the seventh floor of The Ritz is a much needed pocket of serenity. Whether you require a break from the tourist trail, a boost before an important meeting, or simply want to treat yourself, The Ritz Salon offers the perfect opportunity to indulge without having to venture far. In collaboration with luxury salon brand [comfort zone], The Ritz Salon offers an array of spa treatments including facials, massages, body masks and scrubs. The finest ingredients are used to create the customisable skin care products which provide both immediate relaxation and long lasting results. Alongside this, [comfort zone] have also created three Signature Treatments which draw on the beauty benefits of the pearl. We highly recommend the Precious Pearl Face & Body Cocoon, which offers complete relaxation in 90 minutes. Following a consultation to ascertain your needs, the body is exfoliated using a fruit peel scrub before a nutritional mask is applied and you are wrapped to allow the mask to activate. A facial massage then targets hyper-pigmentation, and the body is massaged using Absolute Pearl Concentrate. Carefully selected serums and creams are then applied to the face, resulting in thoroughly nourished, glowing skin. Once the treatment has concluded, tea is sipped whilst the therapist discusses how to retain your newly hydrated and supple skin. However, it may be wise to forget the advice rather quickly in order to necessitate a speedy return. The Ritz Signature Precious Pearl Face & Body Cocoon, ÂŁ140 for 90 minutes The Ritz Salon ((020 7300 2435; www.theritzlondon.com)

HEALTH & BEAUTY

The Four Seasons Dublin Located in the tranquil and elegant area of Ballsbridge, The Four Seasons Dublin stands statuesquely on the outskirts of the culture-rich Irish capital. The hotel’s Georgian-style exterior sits comfortably in the prestigious residential and embassy district, just enough removed from the city centre to provide both an air of tranquillity and striking views of the city-scape. The Four Seasons is the only hotel in Dublin to feature a full-service spa and the secluded spa suites provide a quiet sanctuary with classic architectural detailing, where an atrium pool with views of the sunken garden creates the perfect environment for deep relaxation. In order to wind down and prepare for a summer on the beach, we can’t recommend the Body Beautiful spa package enough. Based around an exclusive Sodashi treatment designed to polish, tone and nourish, it leaves the skin radiant and hydrated: the perfect prelude to going poolside. The treatment begins with the spa’s award winning therapists applying Sodashi’s jojoba body polish to exfoliate and cleanse the whole body. Following this, a nurturing full-body mask is applied and you are cocooned in a comforting body wrap, whilst enjoying a soothing scalp massage to ease away tension. The spa’s Sodashi refining body mask – rich in French pink clay and herb extracts – firms, tones and conditions the skin and is a god-send for before, during and after pregnancy. Lastly, a mini manicure or pedicure ensures that your summer look is complete. After the treatments have ushered you into a state of pure relaxation, enjoy a sumptuous two course lunch of locally sourced ingredients by the pool: the Dinish Island crab is particularly delicious. Following your experience, take advantage of everything else the spa has to offer, from the fully equipped gym and lap pool, to the whirlpool, sauna, steam room, outdoor courtyard and relaxation area. The epitome of escapism. Body Beautiful, Euro 185 for 1 hour 30 minutes The Four Seasons Dublin (+353 1 665 4000; www.fourseasons.com/dublin/spa)

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HEALTH PROMOTION

Striking a balance When the sun shines our bodies can replenish their depleted vitamin D stores, but your skin also needs protection from the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s harmful elements. How do we find a healthy balance?

eing mindful of the risks of skin cancer and the need to option for those who need their stores boosting, especially in the rejuvenate our vitamin D stores is a heath dilemma many of us long winter months. struggle with. But of course, sunlight increases our exposure to ultraviolet light, Vitamin D is vital in helping us maintain a healthy body; it helps our and too much increases the risk of certain skin cancers. Sunscreens bones absorb calcium and benefits our immune system, lessen UVB light penetration, but it is through UVB reducing the risk of infections. Having a deficiency rays that our bodies generate vitamin D. And so in vitamin D means we run the risk of developing the dilemma is this: should we apply sunscreens weakened bones and muscles, and even and protect against skin cancer or should we osteoporosis. As we get older the need for avoid this and replenish our vitamin D stores; or Dr Asjid Qureshi is a consultant calcium increases, and with age the body canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do supplements offer an answer? physician at The Wellington Hospital. convert vitamin D from sunlight as easily. To help us Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr He is a specialist in endocrinology and Although some foods, such as oily fish, Qureshi provides his expert guidance below diabetes; some of the conditions he treats eggs, fortified fat spreads, fortified breakfast on how we can balance skin protection and include hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, cereals and powdered milk are high in vitamin D renewal safely. hyperparathyroidism, polycystic ovary vitamin D, it is not always possible to obtain Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be sufficient levels of vitamin D from food alone. very vague; if you are part of the higher risk syndrome and type 1 and type 2 As natural sunlight promotes adequate groups (e.g. pregnant, over 65, darker skinned diabetes mellitus. vitamin D synthesis in the skin, most people or regularly cover your skin) and feel you may be who are exposed to normal quantities of sunlight vitamin D deficient, please visit your GP who can do not need vitamin D supplements, but they are an assess whether you need a blood test.

Meet

the specialist

Vitamin D, sunscreen and skin cancer Dr Asjid Qureshi discusses how we can attain a balance between skin protection, optimum health and vitamin D revitalisation 90% per cent of our vitamin D is produced in our skin using UVB light. In Caucasian individuals, exposure of the hands and face for 20 minutes, three times a week is sufficient to provide the daily requirement of vitamin D. Vitamin D protects against bone disease, but less appreciated are its protective qualities in disorders such as multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, type 1 diabetes and even heart disease. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency varies in different populations: in British Caucasians it is estimated to affect 50 per cent and in South Asians more than 90 per cent of people. The medical evidence that sunscreens cause vitamin D deficiency is not conclusive. Although the risk of certain skin cancers is reduced by using sunscreens, unfortunately many people do not always follow the manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advice strictly enough to reap the benefits. In one study, only 18 per cent of

people knew the correct amount to apply per application and only 30 per cent knew that sunscreen needs reapplying regularly every two - three hours. It is sensible to ensure that we protect ourselves against the risks of skin cancer by correctly applying sunscreens and limiting mid-day sunlight exposure, and for those individuals with a history of low vitamin D levels to take supplements. Supplements are available in many different forms (tablets, drops, injections, etc). Commercially available preparations usually contain inactive vitamin D that is activated by our bodies according to requirement. Some preparations contain calcium and treatment strategies differ depending on the degree of vitamin D deficiency. For all these reasons, it is best to consult your doctor who will tailor therapy to suit your needs.

For further information and updates, please visit The Wellington Hospital www.thewellingtonhospital.com or contact the Enquiry Helpline on 020 7483 5004

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Mayfair

the heart of

c o c kta i l b a r | lo u n g e | r e s ta u r a n t | c h e f â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s d i n i n g r o o m | a r t g a l l e r y | l a c a v e 1 0 l a n c a s h i r e c o u r t n e w b o n d s t r e e t lo n d o n w 1 s 1 e y + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 5 1 8 9 3 8 8 w w w. m e w s o f m ay fa i r . c o m

Food &Drink

News

New openings, launches and culinary delights for the month ahead

Steak and satire The decadent Marriot Hotel County Hall is celebrating after opening its new restaurant, Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar. Named after famed eighteenth-century caricaturist James Gillray, the restaurant displays his political satire illustrations on oak-panelled walls, whilst bespoke chandeliers hang above a nine-metre long Chesterfield sofa. There is also a chutney counter and a bar with no less than thirty-nine English gins, ensuring an aperitif for every taste. The steak itself is made from thirty-five day, dry aged Yorkshire Hereford cattle from the Duke of Devonshire’s Bolton Abbey estate, which diners can enjoy whilst taking in the views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, all making for a very British dining experience. Gillray’s Steakhouse & Bar, London Marriott Hotel County Hall (www.gillrays.com)

A taste for tea

Here’s to Johnnie

The humble cup of tea gets a haute twist this month at Brown’s Hotel, which is hosting a seasonal tea library. Guests can sample a collection of teas chosen by season, producer, variety and even the day of picking. The only remaining challenge is to find a suitable biscuit…

The 200-year old whisky house, Johnnie Walker, has many reasons to raise a glass this summer. Aptly named Master Blender Jim Beveridge has created two new whiskies: the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve and the Johnnie Walker Platinum Label. The Gold Label Reserve is a Scotch crafted from their most treasured whiskies, whilst the Platinum Label is a smoky blend of malt and grain whiskies matured for a minimum of eighteen years. Meanwhile, the house has also opened the Johnnie Walker Blue Label Club, an online private members’ club with networking events and insider privileges.

For further information contact Brown’s Hotel (020 7493 6020; www.brownshotel.com)

(www.johnniewalker.com)

A real grilling The steak is getting something of a revival this summer: in the heart of Mayfair lays an Art Deco-designed restaurant named 34 and it’s for those who are serious about their steak. The restaurant prides itself on the imported charcoal grill that sits at the heart of its kitchen, on which a plethora of carefully sourced meat and seasonal game are cooked to perfection using natural fuels. Steak is at the forefront of 34’s dining experience, and guests can choose from the traditional Scottish grass-fed fare to Australian Wagyu and from US prime Creekstone Farm meat to the free-range organic stuff from northern Argentina. Photography: Howard Sooley

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34, Grosvenor Square, 020 3350 3434 (www.34-restaurant.co.uk)

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Come rain

shine

From open-air terraces to under-cover hotspots, Cecilia Castle investigates this summer’s top alfresco dining locations As victims of a perennially petulant climate, Londoners are no strangers to unpredictable weather. With snowfalls in April, droughts in winter and tropical heatwaves in October, the British weather is frequently a meteorological rollercoaster which we all enjoy erasing from our memories every year. And yet, if there’s anything to be said for the ill-tempered nature of our skies, it’s that London, and all its dwellers, are ever-ready for any eventuality. This summer will be no different. While it’s a time of year often characterised by humid highs and damp lows, leaving us either desperate for ventilated areas, or running for protective cover against an angry deluge, it’s this season’s long, bright nights and seemingly endless evenings, which make us want to enjoy the city more than ever. For this reason, sales on homes with roof-top verandas have, in recent years, soared in popularity, surpassing even those properties with minute gardens. But, in view of the esteem in which summer terraces are now held, restaurants and bars across the capital have got in on the act, too. High up above the teeming crush that is Regent’s Street, there is one in the form of Aqua Kyoto. This bar and restaurant sits peacefully above the hullabaloo, boasting some splendid views over the tightly-packed web which makes up Oxford Street’s tributaries. From this vantage point, you may be able to

spot the Big Rooftop Tea and Golf Party, located atop Selfridges’ roof this year as an ode to both the 2012 Olympic Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Go to the world-famous department store until September not to shop, but to play: a 2,500 square foot crazygolf course, made up of nine holes designed by food architects Bompas & Parr to resemble a large display of indulgent cakes, has been erected for visitors’ pleasure. High up and away from the daily bustle, this is a haven like no other, not least because beside the golf course, a well-stocked Daylesford Café will be setting up shop. Enjoy the ‘highest afternoon tea’, fit with violet and elderflower jelly, an award-winning cheeseboard and the sharing of artisan sandwich platters to bat away hunger pangs. There’s Chateau Leoube rosé wine from the Daylesford winery estate in Provence, and old-fashioned jugs of Pimm’s to be had from the delectable counter, too. The golf may well be an optional part to this pretty urban retreat, but after the sumptuous food and wine, you may feel like playing a round, or two. The Trafalgar Hotel is another one-stop delight for those keen on looking down from great heights. After all, at its summit another gem awaits Londoners in the form of Vista, where bar stools rim the edge of this small, but perfectly formed balcony, facing out towards Big Ben and the pigeon-infested tourist-loved Square below. There’s an extensive cocktail menu, but the Graze menu, complete with white tiger prawns, yoghurt and mint

Left / The rooftop terrace at Aqua

FOOD & DRINK

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marinated lamb and saffron pork, is all one needs to sate an appetite. A stone’s throw from Mayfair’s boundaries, however, is Tom’s Terrace, the pretty brainchild of renowned Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens. With the Southbank staring back at its visitors and the River Thames swimming idly by just below, this 18th-century terrace may just be one of the most elegant spots to take in London’s eclectic architecture. Open from lunch until the early hours of the morning, there are snacks and drinks galore here: the Basil and Mint Martini is one of the many refreshing cocktails on the summer tipple menu, which lists no less than twenty specially-crafted drinks, while the cinnamon doughnuts and vanilla yoghurt are the naughty indulgences which perfectly accompany it. But with the Thames within touching distance, and the London Eye and Parliament standing majestically up ahead, admittedly, the main draw here is the impressive views. Shoulder to shoulder with the imposing Buckingham Palace, and replete with a pond alive with pretty pelicans and other wildlife, St James’s Park offers a change of scene for those who want to be outdoors. The Royal Park affords all its visitors many charms, but in particular, it has a commonly-neglected gem at its heart in the shape of Inn the Park. If you’ve yet to experience this restaurant’s flavours, expect to be served up innovative twists on some addictive classics – though you wouldn’t expect anything less from owner Oliver Peyton, the man also behind The Orangery, Kew, the National Café and the restaurant within the Royal Academy of From top / The garden at Hush The terrace at Momo

FOOD & DRINK

Arts, too. Take the Green Lentil, Pea and Toasted Cashew Burger, or the Pork Chop atop a slab of sweetcorn cake, for example, both being dishes which play on the expected norm. Best of all, this delightful restaurant is open all year round and all day, too, meaning that a breakfast and lunch under St James’s Park’s beautiful canopies is never out of the question. However, don’t neglect Lancashire Court for a summer’s evening. This gem houses the delectable Rocket, Mews of Mayfair (the restaurant, lounge and cocktail bar home to La Cave; the unique private room which doubles up as a wine boutique and vintage wine retailer) and the brilliant Hush London, too. This multitasking informal bar, brasserie and restaurant brings

It’s this season’s long, bright nights and seemingly endless evenings which make us want to enjoy the city more than ever together a gourmet hybrid mix of British, French and Italian cuisines in palatable fashion. More importantly, however, it’s celebrated for its alfresco dining option, which takes place in the flower-strewn courtyard just outside. Another alfresco beauty hides itself away in the cobbled Heddon Street, where Momo’s North African food, culture and music makes this spot a Mayfair magnet. There’s shisha to smoke, a wondrous array of mezze dishes to eat and many a Moroccan glass lamp to gaze at while sitting on the intricately embroidered sequin cushions and chairs on the outdoor terrace. But, in the likely event that London brews up a chilly and uninviting summer, we have Nobu on Berkeley Street and the Sanderson Hotel to thank for the perfect, sheltered pastime. In the Asian-themed bamboo and waterfall-filled courtyard of the Berners Street-located, five-star hotel, Sanderson Sessions will be hosting a band of unique performances from emerging artists, while guests tuck into the burger or afternoon tea menus which come straight from the adjacent eighty-foot Long Bar. Nobu Unplugged, taking place within the celebrated Japanese restaurant, will be doing much the same, except along with the entertainment from the likes of the very talented Swedishborn Bluey Robinson and teenager Shannon Saunders, a Bento Box, containing salmon sashimi salad with a matsuhisa dressing and rock shrimp tempura with ponzu, will be the culinary toast of the day. From top / Inn the Park Tom’s Terrace at Somerset House The bar at Nobu

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Summertime at CANARY WHARF WINE AND DINE ALFRESCO AND ENJOY A SEASONAL SHOPPING SPREE IN CANARY WHARF this summer

INDULGE ALFRESCO STYLE

Connoisseurs in whiskey, oysters, cigars and Champagne will enjoy kicking back to the sounds of jazz on Boisdale of Canary Wharf ’s spacious terrace; soak up the cool Scottish vibe and take in the views of the London cityscape while you devour a mini roast haggis and Imperial Beluga. For a delicious taste of the Far East, Roka offers mouth-watering sushi and signature dishes from the Robata grill while you enjoy the stunning vistas of Canada Square Park from the terrace. Also situated in The Park Pavilion, The Parlour’s all-day bar and kitchen is open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. Choose from a range of signature classic cocktails and wines from The Parlour’s impressive tipple list while you watch the world go by. Experience the exquisite summer Best of British menu and bustling alfresco area at Plateau Restaurant, Bar & Grill; start with smoked salmon followed by Hereford beef, finished off with some strawberries and cream. Their Best of British festival features Nyetimber English wine tasting and classic cocktail master classes. For a unique dining experience, Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte, newly opened, serves a wonderfully simple fixed price formula of green salad with walnuts, followed by sumptuous steak and frites with a secret recipe sauce. Enjoy the simplicity of Parisian dining in McKenzie Walk with a glass of vino by the water’s edge. If it’s a lively and stylish atmosphere you are after, Rocket Restaurant & Bar boasts a large range of cocktails, wines, beers and Champagnes. Enjoy the buzz of the balcony whilst indulging in Mediterranean fare. Elsewhere, the family-friendly Jamie’s Italian in Churchill Place presents a stunning summer menu; divine dishes include young courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta, fontal and buffalo mozzarella; whole sea bass farmed in the cold waters of Anglesey and British Lamb Spiedini. Whatever your taste, whatever your mood, indulge in Canary Wharf’s alfresco offerings this summer, morning, noon and night.

The Park Pavilion

Boisdale of Canary Wharf, Cabot Place

Roka, The Park Pavilion

The Parlour, The Park Pavilion

SHOPPING

Alfred Dunhill, Cabot Place

Hackett, Cabot Place

Reiss, Jubilee Place

Summertime SHOPPING

Experience a weekend of retail therapy with a summertime shopping spree at one of the many quintessentially British stores in Canary Wharf. Whether it’s a pastel-hued jacket from Jaeger London, the perfect tea-party dress from Reiss, a classic pair of pumps from L.K. Bennett, a flawless lightweight suit from Hugo Boss or the ultimate weekend holdall from the newly opened Alfred Dunhill store, you can find everything you need to create an elegant summer wardrobe in Canary Wharf. Enjoy the finest selection of tradional UK heritage brands; purchase a must-have summer trench coat from Aquascutum, a necessity for braving the British summer, a classic leather briefcase from Aspinal of London or a year-round staple; the crisp white shirt from the super-chic Hackett store. Don’t miss the fantastic range of high-street shops including Massimo Dutti, Topshop, Whistles and Zara for all your outfit-dilemma needs. For the season’s best jewellery, Canary Wharf houses iconic brand Tiffany & Co., as well as established jewellers Charles Fish, Links of London, Carat* and David M Robinson, stockists of fine jewellery and watches. And of course, whilst you revamp your wardrobe, invest in some sensational scents from Jo Malone and Molton Brown, ideal for any garden party gift or sprucing up your living room with a burst of summer freshness. Tiffany & Co., Cabot Place

Jo Malone, Jubilee Place

Aspinal of London, Cabot Place

In addition to over 200 shops, cafes, bars and restaurants at weekends and on Bank Holidays you can enjoy 3 hours’ free parking in any of the public car parks when you spend £10 at any shop, café, bar or restaurant in Canary Wharf. canarywharf.com

@yourcanarywharf

Combining the excellence and experience of The Wellington Hospital, The Platinum Medical Centre provides only the best in private healthcare

Platinum Medical Centre, 15-17 Lodge Road, St Johns Wood, London, NW8 8NX Tel 020 7483 5148 5004 www.theplatinummedicalcentre.com

INTERVIEW

Remembering M a y f a ir the army and navy club London, 1837 – a milestone year for the monarchy (Queen Victoria acceded to the throne on June 20); for transport (Euston Station opened a month later) and then on August 28, for the good people of St James, when a new club open its doors. Called The Army and Navy Club, it was designed as a sort of home-from-home for military officers when in London, and it is still there overlooking St James’s Square today. Despite the club’s rather refined status, most locals know it simply as ‘The Rag’, a nickname adopted more than a century ago following an off-the-cuff remark by one of the club’s less gentlemanly members. Major Skelton-Stroud of the Club’s House Committee picks up the story: ‘He was a rather disreputable character called Billy Duff who had been around the corner from the club at a dive in the back streets known locally as ‘The Rag and Famish’. When Duff ambled into the rather more sumptuous surroundings of the Army & Navy in the early hours of the morning and asked for breakfast, he was somewhat taken aback to be given a cold sausage and a mutton chop. A disgruntled Duff then started ranting about the club being ‘a real rag and famish affair’. The members thought this was rather amusing,’ adds the Major, with a smile, ‘and the nickname “The Rag” took off.’ Today, a button design by Duff depicting a young Artful Dodger type with a rat at his heel, remains in the club archives and has recently inspired a silver statue that was commissioned for the centre of the club table. As The Rag expanded during the 1840s by snapping up neighbouring houses whenever

they went on the market, the need for a purpose-built building became evident, and in 1850, a magnificent new clubhouse, inspired by the Palazzo Corner della Ca’ Grande in Venice, was built on the corner of Pall Mall and St James’s Square. It served the club well for more than one hundred years, and during that time, history records that eleven club members were killed during The Charge of The Light Brigade and the term ‘Entente Cordiale’ was coined within its very walls. When the club was rebuilt in the 1950s, some of the external grandeur was lost in favour of a more utilitarian façade, but the heart of The Rag remained. Inside hang huge portraits of Queen Victoria and The Duke of Wellington and there are vintage busts and military collectables which combine with the newer fixtures and fittings – and seventy-six air-conditioned bedrooms – to give off the air of an historic boutique hotel. Today, the club’s 5,000 members (and non-members, who visit for wedding ceremonies, banqueting functions and so on) come from all kinds of backgrounds, and while officers are still in abundance, so too are their families. They join non-military local residents and businesspeople, who come to read the newspapers, eat in the elegant Coffee Room restaurant, and soak up the club’s pleasingly formal atmosphere. ‘The key is to maintain standards but to show a willingness to be flexible,’ says Major Skelton-Stroud, ‘and I think our newer members appreciate that.’

A disgruntled man ranted about the club being ‘a rag and famish affair’

(www.therag.co.uk)

Images courtesy of The Army and Navy Club

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Where can I... ? Some of the interesting requests made to Mayfairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most experienced concierges

FIX IT QUICK

Dry cleaner / Clothing repair

Watch Club

Mayfair Prestige

Sivellav

4-5 Royal Arcade, W1S 4SD 020 7495 4882

0845 862 2142 info@mayfair-prestige.com

020 7407 2115 support@ems-events.co.uk

LAND, SEA AND AIR

VIP Car Hire

Soho AV

The Circle, Queen Elizabeth Street SE1 2JE 0870 200 4949 contact@vipservices.co.uk www.vipservices.co.uk

020 7494 4449 hire@sohoav.com

Buckingham Dry Cleaners 83 Duke Street, W1K 5PF 020 7499 1253

City Centre 31 Avery Row, W1K 4BD 020 7629 5558 info@citycentredrycleaners.co.uk

Buy a car

Jack Barclay 18 Berkeley Square, W1J 6AE 020 7629 7444

Jeeves of Belgravia

Porsche

54 South Audley Street, W1K 2QQ 020 7491 8885

Berkeley Square, W1K 3NA 020 7514 0900

Washington Dry Cleaners

Rolls Royce

18 Half Moon Street, W1J 7BF 020 7499 3711

15 Berkeley Square, W1J 6EG 020 7491 7941

IT / Tech support

Charter a helicopter

Luxury yacht charter / sale Exclusive Lifestyle 72 Bond Street, W1S 1RR 0845 338 0377 info@exclusivelifestyle.co.uk

Killik & Co 46 Grosvenor Street, W1K 3HN 020 7337 0443

Avolus Ltd 38 Lombard Road, SW11 3RP 020 7978 6506 dsonaldson@avolus.com

36 Davies Street, W1K 4NF 020 7355 0980

Emtjets

Rent a Rolls Royce

Wavex 0845 644 8060 support@wavex.co.uk www.wavex.co.uk

Shoes re-heeled James Taylor and Son 4 Paddington Street, W1U 5QE 020 7935 4149 post@taylormadeshoes.co.uk

Mayfair Cobblers

23 Berkeley Square, W1J 6HE 08453 888 248 chartereurope@emtjets.com

Exclusive Aircraft 3rd Floor 14 Hannover Street W1S 1YH 020 7183 7988 info@exclusiveair.co.uk

First City Air LTD Lister House Chelsea Bridge Rd, SW1W 8RH 020 7259 9313 www.firstcityair.co.uk

4 White Horse Street, W1J 7LG

Sole Man

Sunseeker

Hanwells

Mti Commodities UK Ltd 80 Park Lane, W1K 7TR 020 7529 5330

Novum Securities Ltd 47 Park Lane, W1K 1PR 020 7399 9400

Old Park Lane Capital

86-91 Uxbridge Road W7 3ST 020 7436 2070

49 Berkeley Square, W1J 5AZ 020 7493 8188

Phantom Hire

South China Securities Ltd

0800 542 1337

12 Stanhope Gate, W1K 1AW 020 7491 9225

Thames cruise City Cruses 020 7740 0400

London River Cruises 020 7839 8008

London Battersea Heliport

Cheyne 13 Cleveland Row, SW1A 1DH 020 7968 7450

Princess Yachts

Mike Will Fix It

Pensar

Artemis 57 St James Street, SW1A 1LD 020 7399 6000

64 Grosvenor Street, W1K 3JH 020 7499 5050 london@princess.co.uk

020 7737 2514 / 0776 264 7547 www.mikewillfixit.com

0845 402 6797 www.pensar.co.uk

Buy / Sell shares

TAIB Securities Ltd 11 Carlos Place, W1K 3AX 020 7533 1600 taibsecurities@taib.com

International Courier

Bridges Wharf, Battersea, SW11 3BE 0844 884 8660

River Thames Cruises

DHL

020 7237 3108/9111

0844 248 0844

Electric cars

Spirit of Chartwell

Excel

020 7372 2077

020 7536 7170

54 Stratton Street, W1J 8LP 020 7493 3505

The Electric Car Corporation

Thames Cruises

FedEx

Watch repair

1st Floor, 5 Aldford Street, W1K 2AF 020 7495 5270 sales@eccplc.com

020 7928 9009 info@thamescruises.com

0845 607 0809

1 White Horse Street, W1J 7LB 020 7355 2553

Timpson

Marcus Watches

Thames Dinner Cruises

London Executive International 020 7450 0060 enquiry@londonexec.com

170 Bond Street, W15 4RB 020 7290 6500

Luxury car rental

Royal Arcade Watches 4 Royal Arcade, W1S 4SD 020 7495 4882

48-56 Ebury, Bridge Rd, SW1W 8QF 020 7730 8888 info@belgraviagarage.com

Audio Visual hire

0844 888 4111

Russell Talerman

Mayfair Corporation

AV2hire.comn

Go-Betweens Couriers Ltd

34-36 Maddox Street, W1S 1PD 020 7491 0625

020 8255 0522 chauffeur@mayfaircorp.co.uk

020 3130 0401 info@hire-av.co.uk

020 7278 1000 info@gobetweenscouriers.com

Belgravia Garage

0845 299 4127

LAST MINUTE BUSINESS

Local courier City Sprint

CONCIERGE

Mail Boxes etc 020 7491 0022 info@mbemayfair.co.uk

Prestige Taxi Crown Security Chauffeurs 0845 901 1471 info@crown-chauffeurs.co.uk

Executive Cars UK 0800 048 3359

London Prestige Chauffeur Service

MTS Mayfair Translation

Doctor

14 Soho Street, W1D 3DN 0795 740 5061 info@mayfairtranslation.co.uk

Lees Place Medical Centre

Paul Thomas Flowers

11 Lees Place, W1N 6LN 020 7036 6060

4 Shepherd Street, W1J 7JD 020 7499 6889 shop@paulthomasflowers.co.uk

Russian Business Translator

The London General Practice

0770 411 4323

5 Devonshire Place, W1G 6HL 020 7935 1000

LIFE SAVER Baby sitter

Find a Babysitter.com

The Mayfair Medical Centre 3 - 5 Weighhouse Street, W1K 5LS 020 7493 1647

020 7580 6403

Urgent Care Centre

Rockabye Babysitters

42-52 Nottingham Place, W1U 5NY 020 7908 2144

9 Wimpole St, W1G 9SG 020 7624 0060

Optician

020 7127 4838

Dentist

Arthur Morrice

The Executive Car Service

Aqua Dental Spa

020 7635 2571

25 Manchester Square, W1U 3PY 020 7935 5332

020 7624 2632 www.prestigechauffeurs.org

Signature Cars

TST Car Service 94 Mount Street, W1K 2SZ 020 7409 3033 admin@tstcars.co.uk

UK Chauffeurs Ltd 020 3326 0513 bookings@ukcl.net

Private Dining Room Corrigans

Crescent Dental Clinic 57 Crawford Street, W1H 4JL 020 7723 2255 info@crescentdental.com

Doug Jarvis 38 Poland Street, W1F 7LY 020 7437 6383

Lund Osler Dental Health Care

28 Upper Grosvenor Street W1K 7EH 020 7499 9943

56 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7JN 020 7838 8969

Hibiscus

11 South Molton Street, W1K 5QL 020 7499 1225

29 Maddox Street, W1S 2PA 020 7629 2999

Sartoria 20 Savile Row, W1S 3PR 020 7534 7000

Florist

N Meyer & Associates

Pall Mall Dental 15 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5LU 020 7766 7250 info@pallmalldental.co.uk

Scott’s

Peter Kertesz

20 Mount Street, W1K 2HE 020 7495 7309

29A Brook Street, W1K 4HE 020 7629 3262

Tempo

Swiss Smile

54 Curzon Street, W1J 8PG 020 7629 2742

10 Brook Street, W1S 1BG 020 7290 1180 brookstreet@swiss-smile.com

11 Beauchamp Place, SW3 1NQ 020 7584 4661 sw3@arthur-morrice.com

Dog walkers

Wild Things of Mayfair 47 Davies Street, W1K 4LY 020 7495 3030 info@wildthingsflowers.co.uk

William Clark Flowers 26 Seymour Place, W1H 7NN 020 7402 3444 shop@williamclarkflowers.com

Last minute gifts Halcyon Days 14 Brook Street, W1S 1BD 0844 880 8210 enquiries@halcyondays.co.uk

Harrods 87–135 Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL 020 7730 1234

Central London Dog Walking Service

Jeff de Bruges

18 Warwick Square, SW1V 2AB 0785 604 5975

13 South Molton Street, W1K 5QW 020 7409 0213

Chelsea Dogs

Linley Accessories

7 Chelsea Square, SW3 6LF 0778 632 5053 info@chelseadogs.co.uk

46 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JN 020 7290 1410

Happy Paws

34 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QA 020 7499 6337

41 Cumberland Street, SW1V 4LU 0781 846 3286

K9 to 5 Club

Penfriend London

Personal chef

46 Broadwalk Court, W8 4EF 0771 006 4871 info@k9to5club.co.uk

Galor Personal Chef

Mayfair Mutts

The Personal Chef

Upper Brook Street, W1 020 7409 7739 07957 460 610 mayfairmutts@hotmail.co.uk

020 7871 1080

Pawsh Dogs Dog Walking

020 7371 4076 contact@galor.co.uk

Personal shopper Gabrielle Teare 0798 531 9300 info@gabrielleteare.com

54 Harwood Road, SW6 4PY 0750 344 8489

High Heels

30 Bruton Place, W1J 6NL 020 7409 1728

The Mayfair Dental Practice

Pedigree Pups

Sophie Deedes 0759 504 3802

0780 433 7486 sam@pedigree-pups.com

Mark Lord London

Translator

71 Park Street, W1K 7HN 020 7499 2168

Pets in the City

0786 658 1230 mark@marklordlondon.co.uk

Central Translations

Teeth @ W1

21 Woodstock Street, W1C 2AP 020 7493 5511

7 South Molton Street, W1K 5QG 020 7499 7015

The Guinea Grill

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

75 St Helens Gardens, W10 6LL 020 8962 0700 0795 730 3858 info@petsincity.com

Threads Styling Consultancy 020 7749 0784 info@threadsstyling.co.uk

143

Stationery printer City Images 8 Avery Row, W1K 4AL 020 7495 0421 post@cityimages.co.uk

Mail Boxes etc 8 Shepherd Market, WIJ 7JY 020 7491 0022 info@mbemayfair.co.uk

020 7823 1888 info@mangotree.org.uk

Randall & Aubin 16 Brewer Street, W1F 0SQ 020 7287 4447

Mount Street Printers

The Wolseley 160 Piccadilly, W1J 9EB 020 7499 6996

Casinos

Late night ice-cream Baskin-Robbins

Aspinalls

Edgware Road, W2 2HZ 020 7262 3918

28 Curzon Street, W1J 7TJ 020 7499 4599

Freggo Ice-cream Bar

24 Hertford Street, W1J 7SA 020 7495 5000

27-29 Swallow Street W1B 4QB 020 7287 9506 scoop@freggo.co.uk

Crockfords Club

Gelupo

30 Curzon Street, W1J 7TN 020 7493 7771

7 Archer Street, W1D 7AU 020 7287 5555

Colony Club

The Dorchester Spa Park Lane, W1K 1QA 020 7319 7109 spa@thedorchester.com

RECHARGE AND RECUPERATE

Women’s hair

Noura 16 Curzon Street, W1J 5HP 020 7495 1050 noura@noura.co.uk

4 Mount Street, W1K 3LW 020 7409 0303 info@mountstreetprinters.com

PARTY TIME

Henry Bonas events@henrybonas.com 020 3214 2099

Dog grooming Mayfair Mutts

Upper Brook Street, W1 020 7409 7739 0795 746 0610 mayfairmutts@hotmail.co.uk

Pets in the City 75 St Helens Gardens, W10 6LL 020 8962 0700 / 0795 730 3858 info@petsincity.com

Massages Mayfair Spa - The Mayfair Hotel Stratton Street, W1J 8LT 020 7915 2826 mayfairspa@radisson.com

Michael John Boutique 25 Albemarle Street W1S 4HU 020 7629 6969 online@michaeljohn.co.uk

Janet Ginnings Hair and Beauty Salon 45 Curzon Street, W1J 7UQ 020 7499 1904

Joe’s Hair Salon 73 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QR 020 7629 3456

Michael John Hair and Beauty 25 Albemarle Street, W1S 4HU 020 7629 6969

Nicky Clarke 130 Mount Street, Mayfair, W1K 3NY www.nickyclarke.com

Sassoon Salon 60 South Molton Street, W1K 5SW 020 7491 8848

Top One Hair and Beauty Specialists 53 Berkeley Street, W1J 8EX 020 7629 6465

London Club International

Midnite Cookies

Spa Illuminata

10 Brick Street, W1J 7HQ 020 7518 0000

15 Exeter Street, WC2E 7DT 020 7836 5131

63 South Audley Street, W1K 2QS 020 7499 7777

SAMPLE THE FINEST

Parks Tower Casino

The Icecreamists

The Dorchester Spa

Aspinal of London

101 Knightsbridge SW1X 7RQ 020 7235 6161

Selfridges, W1A 1AB 020 8616 8694 office@theicecreamits.com

Park Lane, W1K 1QA 020 7319 7109 spa@thedorchester.com

0845 053 6900 enquires@aspinaloflondon.com

The Palm Beach Casino

Members clubs

Men’s hair

44 Baker Street, W1U 7RT 020 7388 2404 info@chess.co.uk

30 Berkeley Street, W1J 8EH 020 7493 6585

The Ritz Club 150 Piccadilly, W1J 9BS 020 7499 1818

Fancy dress Pantaloons 020 7630 8330 www.pantaloons.co.uk

So High Soho Ltd 96 Berwick Street, W1F 0QQ 020 7287 1295 online@sohighsoho.co.uk

Late night food Automat 33 Dover Street, W1S 4NF 020 7499 3033 info@automat-london.com

Benares 12A Berkeley Square House, W1J 6BS 020 7629 8886

Hakkasan 17 Bruton Street, W1J 6QB 020 7907 1888 mail@hakkasan.com

Mango Tree 46 Grosvenor Place, SW1X 7EQ

Arts Club

Atherton Cox

40 Dover Street, W1S 4NP 020 7499 8581

18 New Cavendish Street, W1G 8UR 020 7487 4048

AURA

Sassoon Salon for Men

48-49 St James Street SW1A 1JT 020 7499 9999

56 Brook Street, W1K 5NE 020 7399 6935

Maddox Club 3-5 Mill Street, W1S 2AU 020 7629 8877

Mortons Club 28 Berkeley Square, W1J 6EN 020 7499 0363

Savile Club 69 Brook Street, W1K 4ER 020 7629 5462 admin@savileclub.co.uk

The Lansdowne Club 9 Fitzmaurice Place, W1J 5JD 020 7629 7200 secretary@lansdowneclub.com

Party planner Concorde Media

The Barber at Alfred Dunhill 2 Davies Street, W1K 3DJ 0845 458 0779

Spa & beauty Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa 29 Davies Street, W1K 4LW 0870 787 6626

Mayfair Tanning & Waxing LTD, 19 Denman Street, W1D 7HP 020 7494 3344

Michael John Boutique 25 Albemarle Street, W1S 4HU 020 7629 6969 online@michaeljohn.co.uk

Nails Inc

020 7297 3344

41 South Molton Street, W1k 5RP 020 7499 8333

G&D Events

The Athenaeum

020 7682 2682 www.g-and-devents.com

116 Piccadilly, W1J 7BJ 020 7499 3464

Backgammon board

London Chess Shop

William & Son 10 Mount Street, W1K 2TY 020 7493 8385 info@williamandson.com

Caviar Caviar House & Prunier 161 Piccadilly, W1J 9EA 0871 961 9577

Harrods 87-135 Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL 020 7730 1234

Cheese Harrods 87-135 Brompton Road SW1X 7XL 020 7730 1234

La Fromagerie 2-6 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW 020 7935 0341 moxon@lafromagerir.co.uk

Chocolates Charbonnel et Walker The Royal Arcade 28 Old Bond Street, W1S 4BT 020 7491 0939

CONCIERGE

Jeff de Bruges

Nicolas

Burlington Jewellers

Pasha Clinic

13 South Molton Street, W1K 5QW 020 7409 0213

11 Curzon Street, W1J 5H5 020 7629 1564

37 Maddox Street, W1S 2PP 020 7409 7354 info@pashaclinic.co.uk

Rococo Chocolates

Vintage watches

10-11 Burlington Arcade W1J 0PG 020 7493 0777

45 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HG 020 7935 7780

Cigars

David Duggan 63 Burlington Arcade, WIJ 0QS 020 7491 1675

Guy & Max

Perfect Feet Spa

8 Shepherd Street, W1J 7EJ 020 7499 5898 studio@guyandmax.com

7-9 Queensway, W2 4QJ 020 7243 6723 info@perfectfeetspa.com

Sautter of Mount Street

Rolex Boutique

Hancocks & Co,

Selfridges & Co

106 Mount Street, W1K 2TW 020 7499 4866 info@sauttercigars.com

61 Brompton Road, SW3 1DB 020 7581 7073

Burlington Arcade, W1J OHH 020 7493 8904 info@hancocks-london.com

400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB 0800 123 400

Fine wine

24 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0EA 020 7499 2032

Berry Bros & Rudd 3 St. James’s Street, SW1A 1EG 0800 280 2440

Jeroboams 20 Davies Street, W1K 3DT 020 7499 1015

Suze in Mayfair

The Vintage Watch Co.

Watchclub 4-5 The Royal Arcade, W1S 4SD 020 7495 4882 info@watchclub.com

WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL

J.Condrup

Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QX 020 7491 9155

Michael Marks

Rent a double decker bus

58 Davies Street, W1K 5LP 020 7491 0332

Richard Ogden

Bespoke perfumes Clive Christian

Tiffany & Co.

Humidors

Harrods, Knightsbridge 020 7730 1234

25 Old Bond Street, W1S 4QB 020 7409 2790

Linley

Floris

46 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JN 020 7290 1410

Peter Jones, Sloane Square, SW1W 8EL 020 7730 3434

Exotic pyjamas

Sautter of Mount Street

Jo Malone

106 Mount Street, W1K 2TW 020 7499 4866 info@sauttercigars.com

23 Brook Street, W1K 4HA 0870 192 5181

Luxury hamper Fortnum & Mason 181 Piccadilly, W1A 1ER 020 7734 8040 corporate@fortnumandmason.co.uk

Harvey Nichols 109-125 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7RJ 020 7235 5000 contactknightsbridge@harveynichols.com

John Lewis 300 Oxford Street, W1A 1EX 08456 049 049

Luxury liquor

Miller Harris 21 Bruton Street, W1J 6QD 020 7629 7750 info@millerharris.com

Ormonde Jayne 12 The Royal Arcade, W1S 4SL 020 7499 1100 sales@ormondejayne.com

Hackett 137-138 Sloane Street SW1X 9AY 020 7730 3331

Harrods

London Bus Export Company 01291 689741 lonbusco@globalnet.co.uk

London Heritage Travel 01353 863273

This Bus.com 0845 4652 394

Security cameras IP Tec 351 Horn Lane, W3 0BX 020 8993 3377 sales@iptecworld.com

87-135 Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL 020 7730 1234

I-tesco

Louis Vuitton

72 Bond Street, W1S 1RR info@i-tesco.co.uk

190-192 Sloane Street, SW1X 9QX 020 7201 4190

Shotgun repairs

Myla

Anderson Wheeler

Bug detectors

4 Burlington Gardens, W15 3ER 020 7491 8548 info@myla.com

13 Shepherd Market, W1J 7PQ 020 7499 9315

London Detective, W1

Prada

0800 970 7925 enquiry@ksm-investigations.co.uk

16-18 Old Bond Street, W1S 4PS 020 7647 5000

23 Burton Street, W1J 6HH 020 7499 4411 gunroomuk@hollandandholland.com

Ralph Lauren

James Purdey & Sons Ltd

1 New Bond Street, W1A 3RL 020 7535 4600

57-58 South Audley Street W1K 2ED 020 7499 1801 enquiries@purdey.com

Sweepers De-Bugging Service

Gerry’s Wines & Spirits

302-308 Regent Street, W1B 3HH 0870 765 4307

74 Old Compton Street, W1D 4UW 020 7734 2053

Diamonds valued

Harrods

Armour Winston

87-135 Brompton Road SW1X 7XL 020 7730 1234

43 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0QQ 020 7493 8937

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

Ladurée

45-46 New Bond Street, W1S 2SF 020 7477 2455 jc@jcondrup.com

28 Burlington Arcade, W1J 0NX 020 7493 9136

41 North Audley Street, W1K 6ZP 020 7491 3237 info@suzeinmayfair.com

London’s best hot chocolate

Fish pedicure

Holland and Holland

Aqua Sheko

William & Son

14 Holland Street, W8 4LT 020 3489 8336 reservations@aquasheko.co.uk

10 Mount Street, W1K 2TY 020 7493 8385 info@williamandson.com

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PROPERTY

Featured: Estate Agents

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Attracting buyers and tenants

hyde park OFFICE 55 Baker Street W1U 8AN 020 7871 5060 (SALES)

London & Country Estate Agents

Kensington&Chelsea mag Mar12.indd 8

www.harrodsestates.com

A converted barn set over three floors, designed by a local architect and situated in a private mews, featuring a sliding roof and original barn doors. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 receptions, balcony, garage.

SLOANE STREET Office 139 Sloane Street SW1X 9AY 020 7730 0822 (SALES/LETTINGS)

VERNON YARD, W11

EARLS COURT & KENSINGTON Office 239 Earls Court Road SW5 9AH 020 7835 1577

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14/06/2012 12:15

Mayfair Office 61 Park Lane W1K 1QF 020 7409 9001

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Knight from Frank around the world

faronsutaria.co.uk

SALES & LETTINGS

Εμπιστοσύνη

Harrods Estates

KNIGHTSBRIDGE Office 82 Brompton Road SW3 1ER 020 7225 6506

www.chestertonhumberts.com

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www.kayeandcarey.co.uk

KNIGHTSBRIDGE Office 188 Brompton Road SW3 1HQ 020 7581 5234 (SALES)

Mayfair OFFICE 36 North Audley Street W1K 6ZJ Доверие 020 7578 5100 (SALES/LETTINGS)

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MAYFAIR OFFICE 32 Grosvenor Square Duke’s Mews, London W1K 2HJ W1 Tenure: Situated in one of London’s most vibrant areas just to(SALES) the north of Oxford Street this 020 7717 5465 Beauchampmodern Estates Leasehold 998 years town house offers well laid out accommodation with clean lines throughout and 24 Curzon Streethigh quality fixtures and fittings.020 7717 5467 (LETTINGS) John D Wood £3,250,000 W1J 7TF BELGRAVIA Office n 2/3 Bedrooms n 1 En suite shower room n Bathroom n Reception room n Kitchen/ 3 n Guest cloakroom n Utility room n Terrace paddington and bayswater 020 7499 7722dining room n Sitting room/bedroom 48 Elizabeth Street OFFICE SW1W 9PA 4C Praed Street 020 7824 7900 www.beauchamp.co.uk W2 1JX Call or visit: 4 Yeoman’s Row 020 7717 5473 (SALES) www.johndwood.co.uk Brompton Road Biz ra alo 020 7717London 5343 (LETTINGS) SW3 2AH ve m G

London Sotheby’s International Realty

www.johndwood.co.uk

Marylebone OFFICE 120a Mount Street W1K 3NN 020 7483 8349 (SALES)

26A Conduit Street W1S 2XY 020 7495 9580 08/02/2012 13:31

www.sothebysrealty.com

£2,500 per week Unfurnished 020 7243 1352 nhl.lets@faronsutaria.co.uk

DOVE MEWS, SW5

SOUTH KENSINGTON Office 115 Old Brompton Road SW7 3LG 020 7590 0300

Home House Estates

A stylish and contemporary style mews house in South Kensington, arranged over three floors with a private terrace and fully-fitted eat-in granite kitchen. Master bedroom suite, 2 further double bedrooms, bathroom. £1,300 per week Furnished/Unfurnished 020 7590 0333 obr.lets@faronsutaria.co.uk

21 Woodstock Street W1C 2AP 020 7493 1911

Residential Lettings across RBK&C in Chelsea, South Kensington, Earls Court and Notting Hill

OUR SERVICE WILL MOVE YOU

Kensington&Chelsea mag Mar12.indd 19

www.faronsutaria.co.uk 08/02/2012 13:34

www.homehouseestates.co.uk

Fine & Country MAYFAIR OFFICE 119 Park Lane W1K 7AG 020 7079 1523

www.fineandcountry.com

Mayfair OFFICE 120a Mount Street W1K 3NN 020 7499 1012 (SALES/LETTINGS) www.knightfrank.co.uk

Plaza Estates

MARBLE ARCH OFFICE 29-31 Edgware Road Est. 1803 A wonderful 3629 sq ft town house in one of the finest mews in Mayfair W2occupying 2JE a prime position in the heart of Mayfair Village moments& from Berkeley Square, the boutiques of Bond Street and the3100 lovely green spaces of Mount 020 7724 Horne Harvey Street Gardens. 3 Reception rooms, 5 Bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, terace, garden, garage 23A St James’s Street Unfurnished, available immediately for Long let £5,000 per week www.plazaestates.co.uk SW1A 1HA 020 7839 6006

Hay’s Mews, HorneW1 & Harvey

www.proprium-estates.co.uk 020 www.horneandharvey.co.uk 7349 7055 justin@proprium.co.uk

Hamptons International

Proprium

SLOANE STREET OFFICE 149 Sloane Street CHELSeA OFFICE SW1X 9BZ 134 Fulham Road Jackson Stops SW10 9PY Finding you a MAYFAIR home in Office London’s best addresses... 020 7589 6298 020 7717 5433 (LETTINGS) 17C Curzon Street Leading London Estate Agents and Chartered Surveyors 5HU www.proprium.co.uk Telephone +44 (0)20 7493 W1J 1911 www.HomeHouseEstates.co.uk 020 7664 6644 (SALES) Knightsbridge OFFICE 168 Brompton Road www.jackson-stops.co.uk SW3 1HW 020 7717 5463 (LETTINGS)

Strutt & Parker

London Head Office 13 Hill Street W1J 5LQ 020 7629 7282 KNIGHTSBRIDGE Office 66 Sloane Street SW1X 9SH 020 7235 9959 www.struttandparker.com

W.A. Ellis

174 Brompton Road SW3 1HP 020 7306 1600 www.waellis.co.uk

Old fashioned manners meet modern methods.

At W.A.Ellis, traditional values like reliability, honesty and polite For Estate Agent Listings please contact Fiona Fenwick at: f.fenwick@runwildgroup.co.uk professionalism underpin our boutique service. And the same Partner will work with you from start to finish.

146

But old fashioned principles don’t mean we’re not right up there maximising the latest technology. We create bespoke marketing packages, online, offline, national and international, to ensure that we achieve the best possible result for you.

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

W.A.Ellis The best of both worlds

W.A.Ellis LLP Sales, Lettings, Surveyors and Valuers

showcasing the

finest HOMES & PROPERTY from the best estate agents

Exclusive

properties

Home and abroad Image: Eva Menz See page 84

FIT FOR A

Queen Simplistic charm and grandiose style come together flawlessly in a refurbished Regency townhouse in Belgravia

A magnificent, seven-storey townhouse in Belgravia, Chester Square is a statuesque and dramatic building. Inside, the house balances the finest attributes of Grade II-listed Regency architecture with delightful contemporary finishes, and boasts the classic touches of antiqued mirrors, hand-carved limed oak cabinetry, natural sycamore furniture and Dunlop-inspired polished Macassar ebony shelves, while much of the furniture is tailor-made for the space by some of world’s finest craftsmen and artisans. Stone and marble have been used here to good effect too, giving the larger rooms a majestic grandeur and enhancing the feeling of space. The fresh colour palette finds its inspiration in rich bursts of blue, coffee and cream, while English patterns and textures – such as houndstooth, hemp-lined wallpaper – bring a certain gravitas to the furnishing. A Belgravia townhouse wouldn’t be complete without an enviable art collection, and Chester Square’s is exemplary. Harmonising a range of creative periods, including some fine 18th-century paintings which reflect the classical proportions of the principal rooms, it even includes a magnificent portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby, a Degas bronze and modern British works by Barbara Hepworth, William Scott and Victor Pasmore. A nod to modernity can also be found in the form of some spectacular contemporary photographs by Candida Hofer and Robert Polidori. The house has been developed by luxury design and development firm Finchatton, renowned for their exclusive and elite commissions, with a rigorous focus on entirely bespoke projects that redefine living standards at the very top end of the market. (www.finchatton.com)

PROPERTY

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

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PROPERTY

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This property is a triumph of modern detailing within a historical platform: exceptional period architecture in an uninterrupted streetscape with its own private garden square and faultless interiors,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; says Alex Michelin, director, Finchatton

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

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Knight Frank

North Row, Mayfair W1

Beautifully refurbished three bedroom apartment This stylish apartment, located close to Hyde Park, has been luxuriously finished to the highest standard. Master bedroom suite, 2 further bedroom suites, double reception room, kitchen, shower room, home office, cloakroom, air conditioning, mood lighting, 24 hour porterage and passenger lifts. Approximately 233 sq m (2,518 sq ft) Leasehold: 77 years approximately Guide price: ÂŁ6,750,000

(WER110091)

KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair mayfair@knightfrank.com 020 8166 7482

Knight Frank Hay Hill, Mayfair W1

Well located one bedroom flat A good sized one bedroom flat within this highly regarded portered building, situated just off Berkeley Square. Bedroom, bathroom, reception room, kitchen, lift and porter. Approximately 60 sq m (646 sq ft) Leasehold: 153 years approximately

Guide price: ÂŁ1,150,000

KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair mayfair@knightfrank.com 020 8166 7482

(WER120051)

Park Street, Mayfair W1

Bright two bedroom flat This well presented two bedroom apartment is located within a secure portered building close to Oxford Street and Hyde Park. Master bedroom with en suite bathroom, further bedroom, further bathroom, large reception room, kitchen. Approximately 118 sq m (1,270 sq ft) Leasehold: 107 years approximately Guide price: ÂŁ2,995,000

KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair mayfair@knightfrank.com 020 8166 7482

(WER090051)

Knight Frank “ The Knight Frank Belgravia Lettings team are a pleasure to work with. It is refreshing to work with an agent who knows what they are doing. They are knowledgeable about our market, proactive in delivery of our product, efficient and always helpful. Despite being part of a large global organisation with an extensive client list, we feel we are provided with a bespoke service not expected by a company of this size.” SM

LET South Eaton Place, Belgravia SW1 asking rent: £5,950 per week

EXCEPTIONAL RESULTS LET Chesham Place, Belgravia SW1 asking rent: £7,800 per week

Our teams at Knight Frank have let some of the very best prime central property in London. With 245 offices in 43 countries we have unrivalled access to a global network of applicants looking to make London their home. But don’t just take our word for it, our clients have shared their success stories too.

LET Chester Square, Belgravia SW1 asking rent: £13,000 per week

LET

Green Street, Mayfair W1K asking rent: £4,750 per week

Chester Square, Belgravia SW1 asking rent: £8,900 per week

LET

“ Thank you for helping me to find a suitable property and negotiating terms on my behalf. I greatly appreciate your efficiency and courtesy, both of which made a potentially stressful and difficult time quite straightforward and trouble free.” MR

Mount Street, Mayfair W1K asking rent: £3,500 per week

Eaton Square, Belgravia SW1 asking rent: £10,000 per week

We speak your language wherever you are. EngLIsh • RussIan • ChInEsE • FREnCh

LHP_275842_MAYFAIR_JULY12.indd 1

14/06/2012 15:18

15:18

Knight Frank “ Knight Frank has been absolutely brilliant, head and shoulders above any other firm I’ve dealt with, but you in particular are just a total star. It has been such a pleasure working with you. In a million ways, large and small, you go out of your way to help your clients, and I can’t tell you how rare that is.” WD

LET

One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge SW1 Asking rent: £17,500 per week

Park Lane, Mayfair W1K Asking rent: £12,000 per week short let

If you are interested in renting or selling your property please do not hesitate to contact your local office on the details below:

LET Lower Belgrave Street, Belgravia SW1 Asking rent: £8,500 per week

LET Lygon Place, Belgravia SW1 Asking rent: £15,000 per week

020 7881 7730 belgravia@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Belgravia 020 7349 4300 chelsea@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Chelsea 020 7871 5070 hydepark@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/HydePark 020 7937 8203 kensington@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Kensington 020 7591 8601 knightsbridge@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Knightsbridge 020 7871 5070 marylebone@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Marylebone 020 7499 1012 mayfair@knightfrank.com KnightFrank.co.uk/Mayfair

LET The Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge SW7 Asking rent: £4,000 per week

LET Frederick Close, Hyde Park W2 Asking rent: £3,250 per week

“ I have been most remiss and not thanked you personally for the speed and efficiency with which you took on the commission for our flat and found us a tenant. I am most appreciative of the excellent work you and your colleagues have done for us and we look forward to working with you in the future as well.” LM LET Whittaker Street, Belgravia SW1 Asking rent: £4,500 per week

Discover how our global search can show your property to the world in eight languages at KnightFrank.com/GlobalSearch Ger M A n • ItA l I A n • P ort uGue se • sPA nIsH

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Knight Frank

Southwick Place, Hyde Park W2 Immaculate family house

A light and exceptionally spacious family home peacefully located in Connaught Village on the Hyde Park Estate. 5 en suite bedrooms, 2 reception rooms, dining room, kitchen, utility room, cloakroom, roof terrace, air conditioning, integrated multi media system. Approximately 378 sq m (4,075 sq ft) Freehold Guide price: ÂŁ5,999,000 (POD110025)

KnightFrank.co.uk/HydePark hydepark@knightfrank.com 020 7871 5060

Knight Frank

Bryanston Square, Marylebone W1

An elegant two bedroom apartment on garden square This stylish top floor apartment has been recently refurbished to an exceptionally high standard. Offering light, well proportioned rooms with fantastic garden square views. Comprising 2 bedrooms both with en suites and built in storage, spacious reception with open plan kitchen and dining area, guest cloakroom, lift. Approximately 114 sq m (1,227 sq ft) Leasehold 91 years approximately Guide price ÂŁ1,950,000

(MRY100032)

KnightFrank.co.uk/Marylebone marylebone@knightfrank.com 020 7483 8349

Combining the services of a five-star hotel with the discretion, comfort and security of a private Mayfair residence, Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living offer unparalleled luxury and a highly personalised service to make residents feel instantly at home.

Arranged over seven floors and available for long or short let, the apartments range in size from state of the art studios to four breathtaking penthouses over looking Hyde Park. Price on Application

The “Jumeirah Living” logo, trademark and trade name and the Beacon device (“Jumeirah Marks”) are owned by or licensed to Jumeirah International LLC or its affiliates (collectively referred to as “Jumeirah”). The use of the Jumeirah Marks by Grosvenor House Apartments Limited has been authorised by Jumeirah under licence, solely in relation to Jumeirah’s management and operation of the Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living development.

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17/05/2012 18:52

Property

News Key developments, movements and news from the property world this month

Grosvenor House Apartments Grosvenor House is arguably one of London’s most historically prestigious developments and has recently been developed into individual apartments by Jumeirah Living. Formerly the grand home of the Dukes of Westminster, the development consists of one-hundred and thirty-three residences set behind a 1920s Lutyens-designed façade. The building, which overlooks Hyde Park from the corner of Park Lane and Mount Street, was initially purchased by Robert Grosvenor in 1805. The property’s opulence during a time of austerity that followed from the Great War resulted in it being requisitioned by the government. The Grosvenor family then sold the property to William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, the soap entrepreneur and arts benefactor. A transaction carried out then by Knight, Frank and Rutley. Today the residences, including four luxury penthouses, are available for long or short let. Knight Frank Mayfair (020 7499 1012, www.knightfrank.com)

The Tower, One St George Wharf At fifty storeys high reaching 594ft into the sky the shimmering column of One St George Wharf is set to be one of the tallest residential towers in Europe. From level thirty-three upwards the tower will feature over two-hundred high specified riverside homes, providing one, two and three-bedroom luxury apartments. ‘The Tower, One St George Wharf is now over seventy percent sold and demonstrates the increasing demand in purchasing in a high-end residential prime tower that offers a luxurious, hotel-style lifestyle,’ says Mark Griffiths, Managing Director of St George South London. In addition to the 219 luxury apartments, the tower will encompass two exclusive duplex penthouses and one unique triplex penthouse offering some of the best views in London. (www.thetower-onestgeorgewharf.co.uk)

Any Friend of Ours When you consider that over 1.7 million Brits own a second home, the ethos of Any Friend of Ours begins to make perfect sense. Created by second property owners, AFOO is sensitive to the stresses involved in having a stranger to stay. The service provides the ability to rent properties on an ad hoc basis to like-minded individuals who can be trusted to treat your property with respect. That, without having to deal with the added legal or financial stresses alongside earning an additional income stream or covering maintenance costs. The invitation-only service is controlled by its members who can view each other’s houses and apartments online and get first-hand advice on where to go and what to do in the area. (www.anyfriendofours.com)

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

Weymouth Mews, W1 This two-bedroom coach house is owned by worldrenowned interiors specialist Jonathan Reed. It has been completely re-renovated to his internationally acclaimed design standards. Set back within a quiet Mayfair mews between Harley Street and Portland Place, the property combines traditional coach house architecture with an individual mews house interior to create a unique property. The current owner, Jonathan Reed, established Studio Reed in 1996 and has since worked on many international residential design projects. The studio’s portfolio contains, amongst others, David and Iman Bowie, Jonathan and Ronnie Newhouse, Giancarlo Giammetti and Elle Macpherson. Prior to founding his studio, Reed co-founded the interior studio and retail consultancy Reed Boyd working with labels including Aquascutum, Asprey and Valentino. The 2,196 square foot property is being sold on behalf of Reed by Knight Frank with a guide price of £4.75 million. Knight Frank Mayfair (020 7499 1012, www.knightfrank.com)

159

savills.co.uk

1 NEWLY REFURBISHED LATERAL APARTMENT north row, w1 Entrance hall ø double reception room ø open plan kitchen ø study ø 3 bedroom suites ø shower room ø lift ø 24 hour porter ø air cooling ø lutron lighting ø 234 sq m (2,518 sq ft)

Guide £6.75 million Leasehold, approximately 78 years remaining

Savills Mayfair Charles Lloyd clloyd@savills.com

020 7578 5100

Big Ben, After Rain Paul Rafferty

Savills is the leading advisor for homes in the capital. Now that could be great news for your capital. Thanks to our 200 offices and associates worldwide, we can show your London home to people pretty much anywhere. So if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re selling in Chelsea, we can find buyers a mile away in Fulham or miles and miles away in China.

Official partner of Masterpiece 2012 Jonathan Hewlett Head of London Residential 020 7730 0822 jhewlett@savills.com

savills.co.uk ÂŠ Paul Rafferty. Image courtesy of Portland Gallery, London

savills.co.uk

1 SPACIOUS DUPLEX APARTMENT ON QUIET STREET OFF GROSVENOR SQUARE lees place, w1 3 bedrooms (1 with en suite bathroom) ø reception room ø further bathroom ø kitchen ø guest cloakroom ø lift ø 132 sq m (1,421 sq ft)

Savills Mayfair Guy Bradshaw gbradshaw@savills.com

020 7578 5101 £1,950 per week Furnished

savills.co.uk

1 REFURBISHED PENTHOUSE WITH VIEWS OVER HYDE PARK park lane, w1 3 bedrooms (all with en suite bathrooms) ø reception room ø kitchen ø guest cloakroom ø 3 balconies ø lift ø day porter ø 255 sq m (2,745 sq ft)

Savills Mayfair Guy Bradshaw gbradshaw@savills.com

020 7578 5101 £4,250 per week Furnished

Hamptons Mayfair

020 7717 5465 mayfair@hamptons-int.com

Manchester Square , W1 An important Grade II-listed double-fronted Georgian house in the heart of Marylebone. The property extends to circa 8500 sq.ft, has been meticulously refurbished throughout and offers extensive family accommodation, including a magnificent 35 ft reception room facing over the square. Hamptons Mayfair 020 7717 5465 mayfair@hamptons-int.com

In the year of medals, we are already on a winning streak.

Hamptons International Silver for Best for UK Large Estate Agency and Best for Marketing.

ÂŁ16,000,000 Freehold Entrance Hallway 4 Receptions 8 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms Lift to all floors Communal Garden

Hamptons Pimlico & Westminster

020 7717 5477 pimwest@hamptons-int.com

Westminster Gardens, London, SW1P

£1,450,000 Share of Freehold

This is a beautifully presented Penthouse apartment (ninth floor, with lift), of an attractive 1930’s purpose built building with great views. The property has excellent proportions throughout, a superb double reception room and two balconies.

Three bedrooms Two bathrooms 1399 approx Sq ft. Porter/caretaker Private parking

Pimlico & Westminister 020 7717 5477 pimwest@hamptons-int.com

Here. There. Everywhere.

We were the first UK estate agency to launch an app for iPad, and an app for iPhone, and our website has hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. Wether you want to buy, sell, let or rent, it couldn’t be easier.

Hamptons Mayfair Lettings

020 7717 5467 mayfairlettings@hamptons-int.com

D’Arblay Street, W1 This stunning two bedroom maisonette is an ideal let for a corporate couple looking for wonderful entertaining space and a guestroom. The standard of finish is extremely high, and the natural light in both the living room, dining room and master bedroom are exceptional. The property is close to amenities, restaurants, shops and nightlife. Hamptons Mayfair Lettings 020 7717 5467 mayfairlettings@hamptons-int.com

Here. There. Everywhere.

£995 per week Furnished Excellent entertaining space Modern kitchen and bathroom Fantastic Soho location Great natural light Split level Own front door

Hamptons Paddington

020 7723 0592 paddingtonlettings@hamptons-int.com

Queens Gardens, Bayswater, W2 An architecturally designed two bedroom apartment located in this prestigious garden square. Located on the second floor of an attractive period building, the property has antique oak flooring throughout, features a spacious living area with separate kitchen and dining room, ample storage and contemporary design. Available furnished Hamptons Paddington Lettings 020 7723 0592 paddingtonlettings@hamptons-int.com

Best for Property Management 2011

ÂŁ1,275 per week 2 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms Lift in building High ceilings Wood floors Communal garden

Hamptons International has been crowned Gold Winner in Best for Property with The Sunday Times and The Times, recognising Hamptonsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; commitment to exceptional customer service. Call us to find out more about how our Property Management Services can help us meet your property requirements

AYFAI

com mend

Hot property: The Hanover, Hallam Street, W1 Stunning refurbishments have perfected this penthouse home

This Grade II listed property has been beautifully restored and architecturally enhanced to create an exceptional duplex penthouse with two large private terraces. Offering a wonderful lateral living space, the lofty reception room with vaulted ceiling gives a wonderful sense of light and space and is ideal for entertaining. The property offers the latest in modern technology with ‘Crestron’ and ‘Lutron’ wired systems, comfort cooling and BPT video entry panels. All four bedrooms are of excellent proportions with

walk-in closets and bespoke joinery throughout. The building also has beautifully designed common parts with a passenger lift and day porter. Hallam Street is located between Portland Place and Great Portland Street. Regent’s Park is situated to the North and the property is ideally located for both Regent’s Park and Oxford Circus underground stations. The property is also conveniently located for the vibrant Marylebone High Street, as well as the internationally renowned boutiques and restaurants of the West End.

PROPERTY

Hallam Street, W1 ÂŁ7,500,000, share of Freehold

Savills 020 7578 5100 www.savills.co.uk

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RHP

Portman Square, Marylebone W1 A rarely found lateral apartment in this wonderful building overlooking gardens. Entrance hall • Three reception rooms • Five bedrooms • Five bathrooms Bespoke refurbishment and immaculate interior design • Prestigious building Excellent 24 hour porterage and security • Two car parking spaces Dual aspect fifth floor • Approximately 3,936 sq ft / 366 sq m

020 7495 9580

svetlana.shcholokova@sothebysrealty.co.uk

Guide Price: £12,950,000 Leasehold with approximately 92 years remaining

Over 600 Offices in 46 Countries

12:02

RHP_274895_Sothebys_Mayfair Mag_July12.indd 2

sothebysrealty.co.uk

31/05/2012 12:02

Chesterfield Street, Mayfair W1 Historical house in Mayfair. Three bedroom suites each with dressing room & bathroom Two further bedrooms • One further bathroom • Study • Reception room Dining room with conservatory • Patio • Kitchen • Roof terrace Approximately 3,802 sq ft / 353.2 sq m

020 7495 9580

svetlana.shcholokova@sothebysrealty.co.uk

Guide Price: £8,950,000 Freehold

Over 600 Offices in 46 Countries

LHP_276143_Sothebys_Mayfair Mag_July12.indd 1

sothebysrealty.co.uk

19/06/2012 17:42

RHP

King Street, St James’s SW1 Stylish flat in St James’s. Reception room • Dining room • Kitchen • Study • Two bedroom suites both with dressing room and bathroom • One further bedroom with en-suite bathroom • 24 hour concierge / security • Use of St James’s Square Gardens Approximately 3,475 sq ft / 322 sq m

17:42

020 7495 9580

peter.bevan@sothebysrealty.co.uk

020 7758 8440

Guide Price: £7,250,000 Share of Freehold

mayfair@hamptons-int.com

Over 600 Offices in 46 Countries

sothebysrealty.co.uk

RHP_276143_Sothebys_Mayfair Mag_July12.indd 2

19/06/2012 17:43

this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Mayfair Home to buy

r at i n g c e l e b2012

Culross street w1k

ÂŁ5,250,000 freehold

A Georgian townhouse situated within the highly sought-after secure zone of Culross Street, featuring 4 reception rooms, 3 en-suite bedrooms, conservatory & communal patio garden.

Mayfair Sales

020 7629 4513

sales.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

chestertonhumberts.com

upper Brook street w1k

£3,995,000 leasehold

A rarely available south facing family apartment with views over Grosvenor Square. Comprising a double reception/dining room, kitchen, 2 double en-suite bedrooms, utility room & lift.

park street w1k

£3,950,000 leasehold

A substantial lateral apartment boasting a magnificent double reception/ dining room, kitchen, master bedroom suite, 2nd double bedroom, bathroom, lift, porter & long lease.

Mayfair Sales

020 7629 4513

sales.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

CHesterfield Gardens w1j

£3,950,000 share of freehold

A newly refurbished apartment situated within a highly regarded purpose built block. Offering a spacious reception room, fitted kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 en-suites, guest cloakroom, lift & porter.

park street w1k

£3,450,000 leasehold

A well appointed duplex apartment situated close to Hyde Park & offering a double reception/dining room, kitchen, 2 double en-suite bedrooms, cloakroom, utility room & long lease.

Mayfair Sales

020 7629 4513

sales.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

chestertonhumberts.com

this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Mayfair Home to rent

r at i n g c e l e b2012

duke street w1k

ÂŁ1,300 per week

A recently refurbished & spacious apartment with a double reception room, modern eat in kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, a further study/ 3rd bedroom & 2 balconies. Other Features include wood flooring throughout, generous storage space & passenger lift.

Mayfair Lettings

020 7288 8301

lettings.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

chestertonhumberts.com

Mount row w1k

woods Mews w1k

£2,200 per week

An impressively large lateral apartment on the 4th floor of this building located just off Berkeley Square in the heart of Mayfair. Comprising 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom & an impressive reception/dining room, lift access & porter age.

£1,600 per week

A high quality 2 bedroom apartment in a quiet mews situated within close proximity to Hyde Park. The property comprises a spacious reception room, contemporary kitchen, master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, a 2nd double bedroom, a family bathroom, balcony & patio area.

Mayfair Lettings

020 7288 8301 v lettings.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

Berkeley street w1j

£975 per week

CarrinGton street w1j

A spacious apartment of approx. 815 sq ft & well located for Green Park. The property comprises a reception/dining room, 2 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms & a kitchen.

£575 per week

A newly refurbished 1 bedroom apartment superbly located in Shepherd’s Market. The apartment comprises a reception room, double bedroom, contemporary kitchen & bathroom.

Mayfair Lettings

020 7288 8301

lettings.mayfair@chestertonhumberts.com

chestertonhumberts.com

Chelsea Fulham & Parsons Green Kensington & Holland Park Knightsbridge, Belgravia & Mayfair Notting Hill & Bayswater West Chelsea & South Kensington

Sales 020 7225 3866 Sales 020 7731 7100 Sales 020 7938 3666 Sales 020 7235 9959 Sales 020 7221 1111 Sales 020 7373 1010

Lettings 020 7589 9966 Lettings 020 7731 7100 Lettings 020 7938 3866 Lettings 020 7235 9959 Lettings 020 7221 1111 Lettings 020 7373 1010

City Office Professional Valuations UK Commercial & Residential Residential Investment Property Management

020 7600 3456 020 7318 5039 020 7629 7282 020 7318 5196 020 7052 9417

struttandparker.com

The Knightsbridge | Knightsbridge | SW7 1,153 sq ft (107.12 sq m)

Knightsbridge 020 7235 9959

Scan this QR code with your camera phone to read more about this property. Free QR code readers are available to download from our website at struttandparker.com/qrcode

Pont Street Mews | Knightsbridge | SW1 2,408 sq ft (223.7 sq m)

Knightsbridge 020 7235 9959

Scan this QR code with your camera phone to read more about this property. Free QR code readers are available to download from our website at struttandparker.com/qrcode

WHITEHALL COURT A magnificent and spacious fourth floor apartment in this impressive Victorian mansion block. Situated alongside the river Thames this apartment boasts high ceilings, three interconnecting reception rooms and stone balconies the full length of the apartment with stunning panoramic views.

Leasehold

£5.3 million

WHITEHALL COURT An immaculate interior designed two bedroom apartment with high ceilings and balconies overlooking the river Thames, situated on the third floor of this magnificent portered Victorian block.

Leasehold

020 7839 6006

23a St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1HA

£3.5 million

Horne & Harvey Est. 1803

WHITEHALL COURT The Northern Tower of this spectacular Victorian building. Situated between the River and St James’s Park this unique and spacious penthouse apartment boasts an abundance of natural light and panoramic views across the river and over St James’s. Recently refurbished complete with air conditioning, approximately 4000 sq foot comprising of entrance reception room, ensuite master bedroom with walk in wardrobe, two guest bedrooms in adjoining towers, large dining room, gallery reception room (with 360 degree panoramic views), study and large terrace.

£7,500 per week

Furnished

DALMENY COURT

DE VERE GARDENS W8

A lovely open-plan fifth floor apartment located in this sought after Victorian building in the heart of St James’s. Dalmeny Court is located on Duke Street running down from Jermyn Street to St James’s therefore in the heart of St James’s close to Piccadilly and all the amenities of the West End.

A superb two bedroom, three bathroom apartment in this prestigious period block. Fully furnished and unoccupied since it was refurbished to an exceptionally high standard, the flat has air-conditioning, pale oak floors, under floor heating, high ceilings and lots of natural light.

Furnished

£500 per week

£725 per week

www.horneandharvey.co.uk

An outstanding two bedroom loft style apartment (220sq m/2,363sq ft) situated on the first floor of this landmark building designed by Philippe Starck. The unit has been refurbished to a high standard, offering exceptionally designed living space including a spectacular reception room with double height ceilings. Further benefits include two secure allocated parking spaces and 24 hour concierge service.

The H A L L R O A D NW8

Building

ACCOMMODATION AND AMENITIES Principal Bedroom with En-Suite Bathroom & Dressing Room, Bedroom 2 with En-Suite Bathroom, Reception/ Dining Room Semi Open Plan with Fully Fitted Kitchen, Guest Cloakroom, Study, Secure Allocated Parking for 2 Cars, 24 Hour Porterage. ÂŁ3.25M

Leasehold

Sole Agent

Duke’s Mews, London W1 Situated in one of London’s most vibrant areas just to the north of Oxford Street this modern town house offers well laid out accommodation with clean lines throughout and high quality fixtures and fittings.

Tenure: Leasehold 998 years £3,250,000

n 2/3 Bedrooms n 1 En suite shower room n Bathroom n Reception room n Kitchen/ dining room n Sitting room/bedroom 3 n Guest cloakroom n Utility room n Terrace

Call or visit: 4 Yeoman’s Row Brompton Road London SW3 2AH 020 7590 0066 www.kayeandcarey.co.uk Matthew Kaye

275582_K&C_Mayfair_July12.indd 1

Adam Carey

14/06/2012 12:15

Hayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mews, W1 A wonderful 3629 sq ft town house in one of the finest mews in Mayfair occupying a prime position in the heart of Mayfair Village moments from Berkeley Square, the boutiques of Bond Street and the lovely green spaces of Mount Street Gardens. 3 Reception rooms, 5 Bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, terace, garden, garage Unfurnished, available immediately for Long let

www.proprium-estates.co.uk 020 7589 6298 justin@proprium.co.uk

ÂŁ5,000 per week

Lancaster Gate, W2 Extremely spacious four bedroom apartment, furnished to an excellent standard and decorated throughout in neutral shades, on the second floor of this older style purpose built block. the property is centrally located opposite Kensington Gardens and within walking distance of Marble Arch. 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, Cloakroom, Reception Room, Kitchen, Lift.

ÂŁ1350 Per Week Marble Arch: 29-31 Edgware Road London W2 2JE 020 7724 3100

PROPERTY

Increased rental power

despite the tough economy Mayfair rentals are highly in demand as we enter an exciting summer for London

The resilience of Mayfairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residential sales market in the face of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worst post-war economic downturn has been well documented. However, it should be noted that the lettings sector has also been performing admirably: in the first quarter of 2012, average rents in the prime locations covered by Chesterton Humberts (which includes Mayfair) increased by a healthy 9.7% compared to the corresponding period in 2011. Quarterly rental growth was more modest at 1.8%, but this reflects the softening of tenant demand and the fact that many landlords have kept rents down in order to retain good tenants. Increases in rental prices are also being kept in check by the high level of stock currently available on the market, which means that tenants have more choice and are in a better position to negotiate with landlords. Although the Olympics continue to have an effect on the wider London lettings market, with many landlords willing to take a risk in order to secure

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

inflated rents on short-term lets, Mayfair has been relatively unaffected and prices here remain stable. We have however, now entered the busiest time of year for short-term lets in Mayfair as many families from the Middle East turn to London at this time of year to escape the extreme heat in their home countries. Generally staying until Ramadan and enjoying all the shopping and culture that this city has to offer, these temporary residents provide London with a big economic boost and certainly keep our negotiators on their toes! I believe rents will continue to rise in Mayfair and other prime central London locations, although our Research department has recently revised its annual forecast down to between 2%-4%. However, the potential for a higher rate of growth when the economy picks up remains as the mismatch between supply and demand for good quality space is unlikely to be balanced for the foreseeable future. Erik Holmgren, Associate Director Chesterton Humberts Mayfair Lettings 020 7288 8301 (www.chestertonhumberts.com)

189

the smart way to BUY or SELL your property

A service defined by discretion and dedication that will save you time and money. His extensive experience in property consultancy takes the pain and effort out of the buying and selling process, and any problems that you would usually encounter, become his problems and not yours. After all, achieving the best possible outcome in anything is all about finding someone who can do the job better than you.

work smarter, not harder. T: 020 7499 3434 M: 078 3146 5414 simon@simonbarnes.com www.simonbarnes.com

T H E P L AT I N U M C O L L E C T I O N LONDON

E X T R AO R D I NA RY I N E V E RY D E TA I L T H E TO W E R , O N E S T G E O R G E W H A R F I S S E T TO B E T H E U LT I M AT E L O N D O N A D D R E S S . T H E P L AT I N U M C O L L E C T I O N , O N F L O O R S 3 2 – 4 4 W I L L O F F E R C U S TO M E R S T H E O P P O RT U N I T Y TO A C Q U I R E S U I T E S O N S E L E C T E D F L O O R S , O R A N E N T I R E F L O O R P L AT E , A L L O W I N G 3 6 0 D E G R E E U N I N T E R R U P T E D V I E W S O F T H E W O R L D ’ S G R E AT E S T C A P I TA L C I T Y.

www.thetower-onestgeorgewharf.co.uk By appointment only:

Terry Wrightson +44 (0)20 7042 7700 Marketing suite open: Mon to Fri 10am – 8pm | Sat & Sun 10am – 6pm

towersales@stgeorgesl.com Computer generated image of Platinum Suite 1364 on the 33rd Floor of the Tower with view to the east is indicative only.

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15/06/2012 15:56

51°

spa residences Spectacular design, incredible views and a seriously indulgent level of luxury, Swiss Chalets by 51º Spa Residences are not just for winter A luxurious Swiss chalet situated in the heart of the Alps certainly has one thing on offer: escapism. The wholly traditional architecture of each private chalet is directly contrasted by the sleek and elegant interior spaces. Each apartment offers panoramic views from a private thermal spa. The 51º Spa Residences take full advantage of this thermally heated water, which offers therapeutic and restoring qualities while naturally remaining at 51º. The master suites feature an additional fireside bathtub, made from elegant dark wood and floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing you to soak in the awe-inspiring rugged mountainous views while you soak away your troubles. The opulent, sleek interiors carry the spa feel throughout, with large bathrooms boasting deep baths and expansive luxury showers. The extensive use of dark woods and numerous fire places creates the perfect balance between contemporary modern living and traditional Swiss chalet rustic charm. Situated in the idyllic town of Leukerbad, 1,402 metres above sea level, and just over two hours from Geneva, the residences offer a host of alpine pursuits alongside an enticing, laid-back style of living. Hikers and cyclists are catered for with rewarding mountain trails while the skier is of course supplied with numerous world-class ski routes offered by the Alps. Whilst for the more leisurely individual and the keen equestrian there are riding trails that follow to the lower areas of the Gemmi Pass rather than traversing the surrounding mountain ranges. Created by luxury property developers and investors, Swiss Development Group, the 51º Spa Residences are one of their most impressive real estate projects to date. Average apartment sizes are 230m/sq with prices starting from CHF 2’900’000 (£1.95m) and freehold ownership available to purchase by non-Swiss nationals. (www.sdg.ch)

INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY

The opulent yet sleek interiors carry the spa feel throughout with large bathrooms boasting deep baths and expansive luxury showers

t h e M AY FA I R m a g a z i n e

193

INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY

Hikers and cyclists are catered for with rewarding mountain trails whilst the skier is of course supplied with numerous world-class ski routes offered by the Alps

194

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HAPPY DIAMONDS COLLECTION

2012/49 - Spring Magazine / Rudell - 130WR - 225 x 320 mm - UK - 23/01/12