The Peninsula - Summer 2017 by The Antithesis

FROM THE CEO

he Peninsula Hotels and art have for long been inextricably linked. From the collections housed within our properties to art-related programmes offered through The Peninsula Academy, to the annual ‘Love Art at The Peninsula’ initiative which has showcased a series of thought-provoking works since its establishment in 2014, art is clearly everywhere for our guests to admire and enjoy. It is with this in mind that I am delighted to welcome you to the summer edition of The Peninsula magazine, which is themed The World of Art and Design. First we take you to Beverly Hills to meet one of the world’s most legendary and enduring photographers, Douglas Kirkland, whose six-decade career has taken him on a fascinating journey, from his beginnings as acting as assistant to one of the 20th century’s greatest creator of images, Irving Penn, to his first assignments for Life magazine to where he is today - the man behind the stills of well over 100 high profile motion pictures and much more. Also in the United States, photographer Vincent Fournier explores the was The Mars Society’s Desert Research Station in the Red Desert of Utah as part of his Space Project, an expansive series of images which reflect his fascination for the space age through an exploration of some of the most significant space research complexes in the world. Travelling onwards to the ‘City of Light’, the home of our first European hotel, French photographer Michel Setboun takes readers on a stroll around the streets of Paris through a series of iconic black and white photographs of the city in his recently published book Paris Lumière Noire. Eight photographs from the series, which abstractly reveal a shopping experience at Charles de Gaulle airport, are showcased in this issue of the magazine. Iconic Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has captivated audiences with her art for more than 60 years, and was included in TIME magazine’s 2016 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Over the next two years, her Infinity Mirrors exhibition, to be shown at five locations in North America, promises to be one of one of this decade’s essential art experiences. Visitors will have the opportunity to discover six of Kusama’s captivating ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ alongside a selection of her other key works, including a number of paintings from her most recent series that have never before been shown in the United States. On a final and more subdued note, we at The Peninsula Hotels would like to express our sorrow regarding the passing away of legendary Spanish sculptor Xavier Corberó at the age of 81 in April of this year. Possibly the most influential Catalonian artist since Gaudí, we pay tribute to the man whose masterpiece ‘Moon River’ sits proudly in a prominent location at The Peninsula Paris. In his words, “There is no art without artists and there are no artists without life.”

Clement K M Kwok Chief Executive Officer

CONTENTS SUMMER 2017

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FROM THE CEO A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT Over the last six decades, Douglas Kirkland has worked on the sets of more than 100 major motion pictures, making him one of the most enduring and prolific photographers of our time. The recently released Freeze Frame: Second Cut is the highly anticipated, expanded edition of Kirkland’s best-selling collection (first published in 2006), which features additional photographs and new accompanying text, and is sure to astound celebrity and photography aficionados alike.

34 |

LOST IN SPACE The Space Project by Vincent Fournier explores Earthbound landscapes which, in their strangeness, remind us of our lifelong yearning for the great beyond. The series evokes the blurring of science fiction, imagination, reality and dreams.

44 | 34

THE ART OF DARKNESS In his recently published book Paris Lumière Noire, French photographer Michel Setboun takes readers on a stroll around the streets of Paris through a series of iconic black and white photographs of the city. One series of images featured in Paris Lumière Noire is entitled Paris Aeroport a group of eight photographs which abstractly reveal a shopping experience at Charles de Gaulle airport, and which are showcased on pages 44-55. These photographs were presented to the public in Hong Kong as part of the Le French May programme and are also on display in Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle.

CONTENTS 2 SUMMER 2017

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A SHARK REALITY On Sharks and Humanity is a powerful exhibition and the first of its kind, which demonstrates the relationship between art and society, and emphasises the social responsibility of museums and artists.

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Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors is a celebration of the legendary Japanese artist’s 65-year career and promises to be one of 2017’s essential art experiences. Visitors will have the unprecedented opportunity to discover six of Kusama’s captivating Infinity Mirror Rooms alongside a selection of her other key works, including a number of paintings from her most recent series, My Eternal Soul, that have never before been shown in the US. 66 |

CONNECTING THE DOTS

A STERN ATTITUDE Street artist Stern Rockwell has gone from humble beginnings spray painting subway trains in New York as a youth, to working with luxury brands Cartier, Hermès, Dior and Tiffany in his late teens and early 20s. He has developed a unique style which synthesises his love of graffiti art, his preoccupation with 50s animation iconography, and his fascination with people and their social behaviour. Now settled in Hong Kong, he is enjoying the process of adapting his style to architectural spaces in a range of public areas, shops and other more commercial contexts. He is one of a rare group of artists who have developed their ever evolving street art to a point where it is in huge demand in more formal and acceptable contexts.

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CONTENTS 3 SUMMER 2017

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REMEMBERING CORBERÓ Legendary Spanish sculptor Xavier Corberó passed away at the age of 81 on April 24th, 2017. Possibly the most influential Catalonian artist since Gaudí, The Peninsula pays tribute to the man whose masterpiece ‘Moon River’ sits proudly in a prominent location at The Peninsula Paris.

74 78 |

LET THERE BE LIGHT In just over a decade, the Founder of Lasvit, Leon Jakimič, has led his company to become a veritable world leader in its sector - the design and manufacture of custom contemporary light fittings, feature architectural glass installations and lighting collections.

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À LA MODI Lauded for offering the finest quality diamonds and exceptional, innovative jewels and having garnered great success in the Hong Kong market, NIRAV MODI recently unveiled its first boutique in China at The Peninsula Beijing.

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STEELING THE SCENE The Sanlorenzo Superyacht division recently celebrated the launch of the first model of its new 52Steel line, the largest yacht ever manufactured in the company’s history.

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THE PENULTIMATE

The Peninsula Hong Kong Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 2920 2888 Facsimile: (852) 2722 4170 E-mail: phk@peninsula.com The Peninsula Shanghai No 32 The Bund, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road Shanghai 200002, The People’s Republic of China Telephone: (86-21) 2327 2888 Facsimile: (86-21) 2327 2000 E-mail: psh@peninsula.com The Peninsula Beijing 8 Goldfish Lane, Wangfujing, Beijing 100006, The People’s Republic of China Telephone: (86-10) 8516 2888 Facsimile: (86-10) 6510 6311 E-mail: pbj@peninsula.com The Peninsula Tokyo 1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo , 100-0006, Japan Telephone: (81-3) 6270 2888 Facsimile: (81-3) 6270 2000 E-mail: ptk@peninsula.com The Peninsula New York 700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-212) 956 2888 Facsimile: (1-212) 903 3949 E-mail: pny@peninsula.com The Peninsula Chicago 108 East Superior Street (at North Michigan Avenue), Chicago, IL 60611, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-312) 337 2888 Facsimile: (1-312) 751 2888 E-mail: pch@peninsula.com

CONTRIBUTORS WILLIAM FURNISS

ANTONIO SABA

William Furniss was born in London in 1970. Initially taken with the idea of working as a portrait and fashion photographer, Furniss assisted luminaries of the London scene such Patrick Litchfield and Terry O’Neill. His work soulfully elevates the science of classic photography to an art - in particular through a hyper-repetitive approach to his subjects that makes being in the right place at the right time inevitable, given his extremes of patience. After the initial visualisation, some of his images take decades to achieve before the elements fall into place. Nature still plays an enormous role in shaping his work extremes of sun, wind, tides, rain - not to mention the vagaries of human behaviour.

Antonio Saba had already earned a reputation as a leading talent in the advertising sector by the age of 21. Trained as an observant exponent of still life, today Saba is a very interesting figure in world photography, with a particular focus on the pictorial element of the shot and its iconic composition. This marked compositional approach, his signature means of expression, has enabled Saba to gain exposure on an international level. A permanent exhibition by Saba on the subject of his birthplace, Sardinia, can be found in the head offices of the Bank of Cagliari.

CHRISTINE LAM Christine graduated from the Hong Kong Design Institute with a degree in animation but soon realised that her passion lies in graphic design. A creative of many talents - she bakes, hand makes clothes and accessories, and speaks fluent Japanese. Christine draws inspiration from music as well as movies and she is the Chief Designer for The Peninsula magazine.

GARETH STEVENS Gareth graduated with a degree in Fine Art. He went on to work in the field of education, relocating from the UK to Hong Kong in 2006, going on to become Vice Principal of a globally renowned international school for 10 years. He has always had a deep interest in the arts and music and is now embarking on a new career as a writer and educational consultant based in Europe.

ANN TSANG Ann Tsang is the Editor-In-Chief and Creative Director for The Peninsula Magazine, as well as several luxury custom publications in Asia and the United States. She began her career in television, working for many of the world’s biggest broadcasters, and also ran her own marketing consultancy before founding The Antithesis, a bespoke, luxury publishing venture in Hong Kong.

The Peninsula Beverly Hills 9882 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, U.S.A. Telephone: (1-310) 551 2888 Facsimile: (1-310) 788 2319 E-mail: pbh@peninsula.com The Peninsula Paris 19 Avenue Kléber, Paris 75116, France Telephone: (33-1) 5812 2888 Facsimile: (33-1) 5812 2999 E-mail: ppr@peninsula.com The Peninsula Bangkok 333 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok 10600, Thailand Telephone: (66-2) 861 2888 Facsimile: (66-2) 861 1112 E-mail: pbk@peninsula.com The Peninsula Manila Corner of Ayala & Makati Avenues, 1226 Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Telephone: (63-2) 887 2888 Facsimile: (63-2) 815 4825 E-mail: pmn@peninsula.com Reservations can also be made through: The Peninsula Global Customer Service Centre 5/F, The Peninsula Office Tower, 18 Middle Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 2926 2888 Facsimile: (852) 2732 2933 E-mail: reservationgcsc@peninsula.com Toll Free from: Australasia • Australia: 1 800 116 888 • China: 4001 200 618 • Hong Kong: 2926 2888 • India: 000 800 852 1388 • Japan: 0120 348 288 • Korea: 00798 8521 6388 • Singapore: 001 800 2828 3888 • Taiwan: 00 800 2828 3888 • Thailand: 001 800 2828 3888 Europe • France: 0800 915 980 • Germany: 0800 181 8418 • Italy: 800 789 365 • Russia: 810 800 2536 1012 • Spain: 900 937 652 • Switzerland: 0800 562923 • UK: 00 800 2828 3888 Americas • Argentina: 0800 888 7227 • Brazil: 0800 891 9601 • Canada: 011 800 2828 3888 • Mexico: 01 800 123 4646 USA: 1 866 382 8388 Middle East • Bahrain: 8000 0889 • Qatar: 00 800 100 388 • Saudi Arabia*: 800 8 852 288 • UAE: 800 0852 07088 * Toll-free access number is only available through Saudi Telecom Company (STC). www.peninsula.com E-mail: info@peninsula.com

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THE PENINSULA is published by The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited. Incorporated in 1866 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (00045), HSH is a holding company whose subsidiaries and its jointly controlled entity are engaged in the ownership and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key destinations in Asia and the USA. The hotel portfolio of the Group comprises The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Peninsula Shanghai, The Peninsula Beijing, The Peninsula New York, The Peninsula Chicago, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Tokyo, The Peninsula Bangkok, The Peninsula Manila and The Peninsula Paris. The property portfolio of the Group includes The Repulse Bay Complex, The Peak Tower and The Peak Tramways, St. John’s Building, The Landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the Thai Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand.

ORDERING FROM ADVERTISERS: Advertisers warrant and represent that the descriptions of the products or services advertised are true in all respects. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED assumes no responsibility for claims made by advertisers. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED, its officers, directors, employees or agents make no recommendations as to the purchase or sale of any product, service or item. All views expressed in all articles are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED. All content contained within this magazine is the sole property of THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED and may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without authorisation. (c)Copyright 2017 by THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI HOTELS, LIMITED. All rights reserved. The Peninsula is a trademark of The Peninsula Intellectual Property Limited.

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A LIFETIME of ACHIEVEMENT TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: DOUGLAS KIRKLAND

Over the last six decades, Douglas Kirkland has worked on the sets of more than 100 major motion pictures, making him one of the most enduring and prolific photographers of our time. The recently released ‘Freeze Frame: Second Cut’ is the highly anticipated, expanded edition of Kirkland’s best-selling collection (first published in 2006), which features additional photographs and new accompanying text, and is sure to astound celebrity and photography aficionados alike.

t’s a balmy spring evening in Beverly Hills as the Mouche Gallery opens its doors to the glitterati and long-time Douglas Kirkland admirers. In one corner, Paris Hilton is quietly perusing the famed photographer’s latest book, in another, impresario and element designer William Thoren is live streaming the proceedings on Facebook, and in a small recessed area at the back of the gallery, Sharon Stone is dancing atop a coffee table. To some, it might appear that this may be the setting for another Hollywood movie, but for Douglas Kirkland, it is perhaps just slightly more than an ordinary day. The scene is not in fact from a movie, but there are 190 new photographs and exclusive tales of behind-the-scenes action on the sets of the biggest Hollywood films in the last 50 years documented in the book that Paris Hilton is gleefully leafing through. To cut a long story short, throughout his six-decade career, Kirkland has photographed more major stars than any of us can probably name. The book in question is Kirkland’s ‘Freeze Frame: Second Cut’, published by Glitterati, the expanded edition of the highly-acclaimed photographer’s best-selling ‘Freeze Frame’ (first published in 2006), which is making its debut at the Mouche Gallery to coincide with the exhibition, ‘Douglas Kirkland: Beyond The Lens’ and his latest project, ‘Alphabet’, an epic visual journey from A to Z (more on the latter later).

‘Beyond The Lens’ features a compilation of the most prominent images captured throughout Kirkland’s 55-year career as one of the most sought-after photographers in the world. These include shots from his collection of books including, ‘Light Years’, ‘Icons’, ‘Legends’, ‘Body Stories’, ‘An Evening with Marilyn’, the best-selling ‘James Cameron’s Titanic’, ‘Freeze Frame’, ‘Coco Chanel, Three Weeks’ and Kirkland’s 2013 monograph, ‘A Life in Pictures’. Also represented are images shot on the most famous television and movie sets of our time, including ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘The Judy Garland Show’, and ‘Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’, to name but a few. Kirkland has worked with nearly every iconic star one can imagine from John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Dean Martin and Audrey Hepburn to Jack Nicholson, Nicole Kidman, Coco Chanel, Michael Caine, Elizabeth Taylor, Twiggy, and Cher, among many more. The list goes on… Born in Toronto, Kirkland moved with his parents at the age of three to Fort Erie, a town of just 7,000 people where he led what he describes as a “Tom Sawyer type of existence.” Photography was always a fantasy for the young boy, and his biggest dream was to work for LIFE magazine. “I would dream about photography and it would manifest,” he says. He took his first picture at the age of 10 - a snapshot of his family on Christmas morning with a Brownie Box camera. “At 14, I started doing weddings, sports events and passport photographs...anything.” Kirkland joined Look magazine at the age of 25, having spent a brief period as assistant to the legendary Irving Penn, whom he took photographs of on his last day of work. “I then got a call from Look out of the blue, and they hadn’t hired in 15 years!” he recalls. “They were looking for new, young blood and I was energetic. I couldn’t believe it!” Kirkland was the second youngest photographer that Look had ever hired, with Stanley Kubrick being the youngest at 16. Elizabeth Taylor was the first celebrity that Kirkland photographed. Taylor had only agreed to do an interview with the magazine, but with no pictures as she had been very sick and had not been photographed for years. Kirkland accompanied the journalist to the interview, and at the end, “I went to shake her hand and say goodbye,” he says. “I held her hand for a long time and looked deep into her eyes. I said, ‘goodbye, it was very nice meeting you’, and then, ‘can you imagine what an opportunity it would be for me, being the new kid on the block, if you gave me a chance to photograph you.’” Taylor responded by telling Kirkland to meet her the following evening at 8:30pm. That photo session was just the beginning. After taking pictures of Taylor, Kirkland got a call to come to Hollywood to photograph Marilyn Monroe, one of the many seminal moments of his career. “She was a kaleidoscope of personalities and you never knew which one you would meet. I believe that she got more pleasure from shooting stills than making movies – it gave her the freedom to create her own character right on the spot.”

Sophia Loren and Charlie Chaplin in ‘A Countess From Hong Kong’ (1966) “The film was A Countess from Hong Kong and it was to be Charlie Chaplin’s last film. Chaplin ruled the set; the ‘Little Tramp’ could be the ‘Great Dictator’ and never ceased to entertain his actors. I caught him and Sophia in a reflective mood in between takes while the two extras waited and waited for their moment in front of the camera.”

Jack Nicholson 23door. As we started our session, Jack gleefully picked up his Oscar for ‘One “When I went to shoot Jack Nicholson, a sleepy Angelica Houston answered the Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ and said, “This is my first!” A couple of days later, he was off to London to start filming ‘The Shining’.”

Elizabeth Taylor “My first encounter with a movie star was with Elizabeth Taylor in Las Vegas. After sitting silently through the journalist’s endless interview, I looked directly into her violet eyes and said, “I’m new with this magazine. Can you imagine what it would mean to me if you gave me an opportunity to photograph you?” A moment of silence passed and then she said, “Come tomorrow night at 8:30.” The photo session ended up being a great success and was published worldwide. Thus, my career working in the movie industry was launched.”

Meryl Streep “I have worked with Meryl Streep on many different projects and I have constantly been amazed by her ability to become her character, whether it was Karen Blixen in ‘Out of Africa’ or Sophie in ‘Sophie’s Choice’. Seeing her in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ reminded me that she remains one of the most brilliant actors of her generation.”

Audrey Hepburn

Judy Garland “I spent a month with Judy Garland. We went from Toronto to Washington DC on tour with her show, then to Los Angeles for the taping of her television special ‘The Judy Garland Show’ with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, back to New York, and then to Berlin for the world premiere of ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’. Judy was nervous about her comeback, and worked extremely hard performing while showing great affection for the people around her.”

Brigitte Bardot “United Artists sent me to Mexico with Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau for ‘Viva Maria!’ There had been so many photographers there that the filming was not getting done so they closed the set and I was the only one who was allowed to shoot.”

Judy Garland with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (1961) â&#x20AC;&#x153;A young Norman Jewison was filming a special called Judy, and I spent days around the set filming the making of the show. This was a typical day on set and little did I know at the time that this image would become such a testament to 30 a long gone era.â&#x20AC;?

When Look magazine ceased publishing in 1971, Kirkland was devastated, but his career was far from over as he fulfilled his childhood dream by joining LIFE magazine during the golden age of 1970s photojournalism. However, as the decade progressed, he says, “Photojournalism as I had known it seemed to be vanishing.” The photographer’s career then took a change of direction. “I loved my work so much that I found a way to adapt to the new realities. In 1974, my wife Françoise and I moved to Los Angeles and I found myself working comfortably for a number of film companies,” he recalls. “I still had editorial assignments from a new wave of publications with clients who wanted a less ‘in-depth look; photo sessions that lasted only hours, rather than days or weeks. My recourse was to photograph what I was asked for, then whenever possible, to stay longer and do what I felt was more meaningful. I also created my own assignments, which I still do to this day. By the end of the decade I was very busy, having successfully reinvented myself and adapted to the demands of the times.” Kirkland went on to shoot the stills for more than 100 motion pictures, enough to create a small encyclopedia, and in his case, a collection of memorable books of his lifetime’s work. The soft-spoken and humble Kirkland takes immense pleasure in going through his voluminous archives with his wife, business partner and muse, Françoise, to whom he has been married for more than 50 years. “With our archives and everything else, there’s always a project to be working on,” says the gentle giant of photography. “I’m doing what I always wanted to do; the avenues it opens up are incredible and we always find ways of making things happen.” And make things happen they do, which leads us onto the subject of the ‘Alphabet’ project, which made its debut at the Mouche Gallery alongside ‘Beyond The Lens’. Originally conceived by Françoise, the project is a visually arresting portrayal of each of the letters of the alphabet, combining the physical prowess of Cirque du Soleil performer Erika Lemay, the talents of Element Designer William Thoren and Fashion Director Simone Guidarelli, and of course, the exquisite and bold vision of the husband and wife team. “For the longest time I had the idea of creating a human alphabet inspired by the wonderful illustrator Erte,” shares Françoise. “I knew we had the perfect subject in circus performer and physical poet, Erika Lemay, whom Douglas had photographed a number of times for various publications and projects. The stars aligned to get our dream crew together during the summer of 2015 and the production of this project was my 81st birthday present to Douglas. What better gift than working and taking photographs. That’s what he loves best.”

“The alphabet was a collaboration; a major group effort. It started with an idea and became a wonderful monster of an adventure. I wondered if we would ever see the end of it! and I have to credit Françoise for moving it to final completion! It is fun and whimsical and I have never done anything remotely like it before.”

LOST In SPACE

TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: VINCENT FOURNIER COURTESY OF LA GALERIE PARIS 1839, HONG KONG

The Space Project byÂ Vincent Fournier explores Earth-bound landscapes which, in their strangeness, remind us of our lifelong yearning for the great beyond. The series evokes the blurring of science fiction, imagination, reality and dreams.

hotographer Vincent Fournier’s ‘Space Project’ images, documented in a book by the same name, ref lect his fascination for the space age through an archive of the most significant space research complexes in the world. Fournier’s works emphasise his passion for science, technology and their associated mysteries, whilst simultaneously revealing utopian worlds as imagined by humankind. The photographer’s fascination with science manifested early in his childhood, when he often visited the Science Museum in Paris with his parents, and became captivated by the universe of machinery and the magic behind it. Fournier was born in Ougadougou in Burkina Faso in 1970 and is now based in Paris. He began his career as a commercial photographer doing advertising photography for “banks and insurance companies and that kind of thing”, until he decided to concentrate on his fine art and documentary-style photography in 2011. Fournier’s interest focuses on the mystery of scientific and technological research, his universe being inspired by the likes of Jules Verne, Jacques Tati, Charles Darwin and David Cronenberg. “I have always been intrigued by the elements of dream and mystery in scientific and technological research: observing the stars, travelling in space, re-programming living beings, reading thoughts and seeing the invisible,” he says. “My photographs question the world which surrounds us by creating shady, improbable, and sometimes inconsistent situations whilst blurring the lines between serious reality and childhood dreams.” ‘The Space Project’ is a subjective inventory of the most representative places, objects or situations related to space exploration. Fournier has travelled extensively to remote and often off-limits locations to capture the images for this monumental

project, including the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia; the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan; the Space Centers of the NASA in Cape Canaveral in the United States; Ariane Espace in Guiana; the observatories in the Atacama Desert in Chile, New Mexico and Nevada; and the Mars Desert Research Station in the Red Desert of Utah. “As always, it is the dream aspect which interests me. My images make our childhood visions of the future come back to life. I like when the border between reality and fiction remains vague. To travel in space or to explore other planets is as much a collective dream as a desire of a child,” Fournier muses. “I try to make bubbles of memories reappear, which at the same time recall my own experiences and universal memories. In 1969 when we were able to see for the first time photographs of the Earth from the Moon, it was a definitive moment that forever modified our consciousness of ourselves and our planet.” One of Fournier’s chosen locations for the Space Project was The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Red Desert of Utah – a truly surreal natural environment that could quite easily be viewed by some as another planet. Every year, the MDRS hosts researchers, scientists, and engineers to work on researching hypotheses, conduct simulated field work, and gain experience living and working in the physical and social confines of a martian analog environment. It is in fact a laboratory for learning how to live and work on another planet. It is also a prototype of a habitat that will land humans on Mars and serve as their main base for months of exploration in the harsh extra-terrestrial environment. The very nature of the terrain creates an out-of-thisworld backdrop for Fournier’s images.

Fournier first came across the MDRS whilst researching and location scouting on the Internet, and “realised the potential of an aesthetic documentary of this Martian landscape with human figures wearing space suits. I knew it was something I wanted to photograph.” He subsequently became a member of the French organisation Planète Mars and eventually after a year, obtained the necessary authorisation to photograph. “The MDRS is supported by the NASA and the goal is to simulate life on Mars in order to improve our knowledge for future trips to the planet,” he notes. Whether he uses research made to reinvent humankind or studies made to project potential futures, Fournier always leaves much to the imagination. His images combine poetry and a touch of irony by mixing dichotomies, serious and ludicrous, disorganised and organised to create somewhat ambiguous compositions. Summing up ‘The Space Project’, Fournier is poetic. “My images are composed and I voluntarily mixed a historic and documentary vision of the spatial adventure with staged situations fed by the cinema and my childhood memories. Thus, these mythical places of the space exploration become film sets where Jacques Tati might meet with Jules Verne or Stanley Kubrick.” Vincent Fournier’s works are regularly exhibited in international galleries, museums and festivals, such as les Rencontres d’Arles, la Fondation EDF, le Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Moscow Science Museum, and others. His work can be found in several permanent collections including the LVMH Contemporary Art Collection, the MAST Foundation in Bologna, and the SchlumbergerPrimat Collection.

The ART of DARKNESS 44 ‘My Two Loves: The Airport and Paris’ A woman’s shadow at sunrise when the sun makes its striking entrance at the end of the pier in Terminal 2E.

TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: MICHEL SETBOUN

In his recently published book Paris LumiĂ¨re Noire, French photographer Michel Setboun takes readers on a stroll around the streets of Paris through a series of iconic black and white photographs of the city. 45

n the vein of his predecessors, Brassaï and Robert Doisneau, Michel Setboun invites the public on an intimate trip to the city of Paris glamourised through the contrasts of dark and light in his book Paris Lumière Noire. In a veritable declaration of love for the City of Light, each photograph is a poem in itself. The photographer thrusts his audience into a mysterious atmosphere, giving rise to a feeling of rediscovering the city in a completely unexpected way. “When Paris is almost totally deserted, I can’t help but photograph, because for me, photographing is as essential as breathing. It is a chronic and incurable disease, a therapy, a way of clinging to life,” says Setboun. “I had this project in mind for a long time and during my increasingly longer walks through the city, my ideas took shape. But it is difficult to make a book about Paris without constantly thinking of the tutelary shadows of Brassaï, Ronis, Doisneau, and so many others.” In the course of his many Parisian walks, Setboun revisited the city, almost defying the shadows and light, and through his lens, Paris became a place of “black light”, a perfect contradictory way to tell his story. “I had in mind a photographic polar, a black series, as black as my ideas...I walked a little in the fog, frame by frame. But at night, I had Paris to myself; the deserted city belonged to me…I was hovering in a strange atmosphere.” One series of images featured in Paris Lumière Noire is entitled Paris Aeroport, a group of eight photographs which abstractly reveal a shopping experience at Charles de Gaulle airport, and which are showcased in the following pages. These photographs were presented to the public in Hong Kong as part of the Le French May programme and are also on display in Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle.

47 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Paris Sets Up Shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; A set of lights shining on the most beautiful square in the airport in Hall K, Terminal 2E.

48 ‘Luxury and Desire’ Rare bottles of champagne and cognac are displayed like fine jewellery in boxes in the Les Caves Particulières boutique located in Hall K, Terminal 2E.

49 ‘Full Circle’ The world of art and the most luxurious French fashion brands combine in Nathalie Decoster’s sculptures in Hall K, Terminal 2E.

50 ‘In The Looking Glass’ Reflections dancing around the Buy Paris duty free store in Hall K, Terminal 2E – a haven for perfume lovers.

52 ‘The Waltz With A Thousand Beats’ Getting ready to board in Hall K, Terminal 2E after an enjoyable shopping spree.

54 ‘Padam Padam’ The morning rush in Hall M, Terminal 2E as seen through Taro Suzuki’s magical walls of water.

55 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Leavingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Taking a well-desrved break at the I Love Paris restaurant after shopping and admiring the planes from Hall L, Terminal 2E.

A SHARK Reality TEXT: ANN TSANG

‘On Sharks and Humanity’ is a powerful exhibition and the first of its kind, which demonstrates the relationship between art and society, and emphasises the social responsibility of museums and artists.

‘Confessional’ - Sculpture + performance + photograph, Ho Siu Kee

s of January 2012, The Peninsula Hotels announced a group-wide ban on the consumption of shark’s fin across all of its operations, becoming the first hotel group in the world to do so. Since then, many others have followed suit, and organisations worldwide are continuing on their quests to draw attention to the issue of the plight of sharks. This summer sees the staging of an exhibition presented by Hong Kong Maritime Museum and Parkview Arts Action on this very subject, which organisers hope will bring yet more visibility to the problem, especially in Hong Kong. The ‘On Sharks and Humanity’ exhibition is comprised of work from 34 internationally recognised artists, as well as emerging artists, marrying the worlds of visual art and humanitarian action. The show at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum is the fifth edition of a multidisciplinary exhibition curated by internationally lauded curator Huang Du, which has already been shown in Monaco, Moscow, Beijing and Singapore to critical acclaim. The exhibition aims to raise public awareness of shark conservation in Hong Kong and the Greater Pearl River Delta region. Bringing together renowned artists from China, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the show reflects the fundamental threat that the world’s oceans face due to the declining number of sharks. The collection showcases contemporary sculpture, painting, film, photography and poetr y in an ex hibition that has a unique and interactive dia log ue a longside the museum’s permanent maritime collection. A suite of education and engagement programmes supporting the exhibition provides diverse platforms for the public to discover, learn and enjoy the experience through tours, family programmes and workshops led by artist Peggy Chan and WildAid ambassador Alex Hofford. For the Hong Kong edition of the exhibition two acclaimed local talents are showcased for the first time: Peggy Chan and Professor Ho Siu-Kee. Chan’s work traditionally explores the relationship between the individual, the city and nature. Her installation and paintings titled ‘The Shore Beyond’ presenting a unique perspective on the relationship between humankind and the oceans. A celebrated figure of both the international and local art scene for over three decades, Professor Ho’s piece ‘Confessional’ combines sculpture, performance and photography. Highlights from the international stage include Chinese artist Zheng Lu’s ‘Tomb of Honour’. The stainless-steel sculpture of a gargantuan human heart is comprised of more than 10,000 fishing hooks, presents an alarming metaphor about the cruelty that humankind inflicts on sharks.

The theme of human greed in relation to the oceans and sharks is continued by Wang Luyan’s mixed media installation, ‘Downward Force on Upward Moving Objects’. The visually confronting piece presents a mass of stainless steel buoys at different levels, each one pierced by iron rods. The piece illustrates human greed and the desire to be in control. Also not to be missed are Zheng Lu’s ‘Butterfly In Love With The Flower’ and Li Jiwei’s ‘Forgotten Landscape’. The two sculptures are visually very different; the former is a stainless-steel structure of a shark’s fin and the latter a mixed media installation of a shark’s outline. Equally powerful, they both illustrate the fragility of the species. Along with the much-anticipated sculptures, there are a number of paintings which illustrate the threat that humans pose to sharks in a unique and impactful way. Artist Liu Zining’s oil painting, ‘Blue’, presents a hyper-realistic image of a shark’s eye. Over one metre in diameter, every fleck and shadow can be seen in remarkable detail. The sorrowful look presented in the shark’s gaze encourages viewers to view the creatures as equals. An equally powerful message is presented in an oil painting by Parkview Group Chairman George Wong’s young grandson Marcus Wong. The painting, entitled ‘Don’t Kill Me’, allows its audience to engage with the subject matter through the eyes of a child, bringing a refreshing perspective to the exhibition. Co-organiser of the exhibition Parkview Arts Action is founded on the belief that art can play a significant role in initiating societal change. This is a new organisation that aims to harness the transformative power of art in order to raise awareness of critical environmental issues and inspire change among global communities. “This is a serious environmental issue that affects us all. Shark preservation is undoubtedly critical. Declining shark numbers pose a fundamental threat to the health of the world’s oceans,” notes Parkview Arts Action Founder and Hong Kong Parkview Group Executive Chairman George Wong. “Through the artists’ diverse interpretations, the exhibition informs and confronts audiences in ways that strike more directly into the human psyche than the abstract language of scientific debate.” “We hope that this dramatic exhibition emphasises the beauty of sharks and educates visitors about the state of the global shark populations,” adds Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid. “Overfishing and the cruel and unsustainable shark fin trade that claims up to 73 million sharks annually are driven by consumption right here in Hong Kong. We hope that more restaurants will stop serving shark fin soup and that more people will stop ordering it.” Exhibition period: From 28 June 2017 Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Central Pier No. 8, Hong Kong Public enquiries: (852) 3713 2500 www.hkmaritimemuseum.org

‘Enlightenment’ - Stainless Steel, Yu Yang

‘Net’ - Stainless Steel, Wang Luyan

CONNECTING The DOTS TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON

‘Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors’ is a celebration of the legendary Japanese artist’s 65-year career and promises to be one of 2017’s essential art experiences. Visitors will have the unprecedented opportunity to discover six of Kusama’s captivating ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ alongside a selection of her other key works, including a number of paintings from her most recent series ‘My Eternal Soul’ that have never before been shown in the US.

rom her radical performances in the 1960s, when she staged underground polka dot ‘Happenings’ on the streets of New York, to her latest ‘Infinity Mirror Room, All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins’ (2016), The Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn is presenting the artist’s ‘Infinity Mirrors’ through the most significant North American tour of her work in nearly two decades. Following its Washington DC debut, the show will travel to five major museums in the United States and Canada, concluding in February 2019. This unforgettable sensory journey takes visitors through the mind and legacy of one of the world’s most popular artists. Kusama was included in TIME magazine’s 2016 list of the 100 Most Inf luential People in the World and has captivated audiences with her art for more than six decades. Interested in painting since childhood, Yayoi Kusama began to study nihonga (Japanese-style paintings) at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. She became disenchanted with the course, and instead went on to create independently at her home in Matsumoto. In the 1950s, Kusama depicted abstract as well as natural forms, and developed a variety of motifs based on plant and animal forms, the planets and universe, and urban landscapes. Art critic Shūzō Takiguchi recognised her abilities and subsequently organised several solo exhibitions for her in Tokyo. Kusama felt limited in Japan, so in the autumn of 1957 she moved to the United States and settled down the following year in New York. Her ‘Infinity Nets’ paintings, vast fields of canvas filled with monochrome strokes with no centre and no structure, quickly gained attention. Following that, her work revealed obsessions with sex and food. She produced furniture with appended soft sculpture phallic forms, accumulations and installations, as well as ‘Happenings’, an experimentation in early performance art. In 1973, Kusama returned to Tokyo due to ill health. She continued creating while staying in the hospital. Motifs of her work include polka dots, nets, and phallic imagery in paintings, sculptures, and installations. Vivid colours and figurative motifs emerged as new elements during this period. She also began work in media such as collage, engraving, and in the writing of fiction and poetry. Her straightforward expression related to the subjects of death, sex, and the infinite universe attracted new audiences. Her artistic horizons also broadened through a number of collaborations.

Pumpkin Bronze 30x30 cm (Edition of 100)

Louis Vuitton - Yayoi Kusama Pop Up Store (2012)

Fumio Nanjo, Director of the Mori Museum in Tokyo, and former Curator of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, discusses his own relationship with the artist, having initially become aware of her work in the 1980s. “In the 90s I commissioned an oversized yellow pumpkin for Benesse House in Naoshima Island in Japan, and since then I have worked closely with her.” Nanjo’s in-depth knowledge and gentle mannerisms actually make him the perfect advocate to explain the fine art of dots to the world, and in short, his knowledge of Kusama’s work and workings is unrivalled. Nanjo was invited to host a talk at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong regarding partnerships between artists and luxury products, where he spoke about the Kusama/Louis Vuitton collaboration, and a history of the artist’s work. “Her system is flexible and applicable to any space, and this is one of the reasons why her art is so strong,” stated Nanjo eloquently. “Some artists cannot work with Louis Vuitton because their designs do not co-operate with the medium. Marc Jacobs gave his ideas for the product shape and design and Kusama was able to apply her system and patterns to any area.” After revelling in her heightened celebrity during the Pop Art movement, when Kusama returned to Japan in the 1970s, she voluntarily took up residence in a psychiatric institution in Tokyo. That said, the 88 year-old still travels to her studio every day and continues to work with perilous abandonment. Despite her illness, she is extremely business savvy, intelligent and aware of the outside world. The infallible self-belief in her art that consumed her at the beginning of her career is still evident to this day. Named the World’s Most Popular Artist by Art Newspaper in 2014, Kusama’s success, longevity and continued popularity give hope to young artists in both Japan and elsewhere, and her art continues to push boundaries across the world.

Kusama is probably best known for her representations of pumpkins, and her monumental sculpture, simply known as ‘Pumpkin’ will be on view throughout the course of the exhibition. For Kusama, pumpkins represent a source of radiant energy. They are one of the artist’s most beloved motifs. Both endearing and grotesque, the giant gourds have been a source of inspiration for the artist since her childhood, when she was surrounded by her family’s seed nursery in pre-war Japan. She has written: “Pumpkins bring about poetic peace in my mind. Pumpkins talk to me.” Viewing the pumpkin as both humble and amusing, this whimsical vegetable has come to represent an alternative self-portrait of the artist. Kusama also has an inextricable relationship with dots, which are almost always also represented on her pumpkins. Her affiliation for dots has existed since she was a young child in World War II Japan, when she dreamed of a forlorn vision of her mother completely covered in them, and later went on to paint them on nude people during anti-war demonstrations in New York and onto a live horse at Woodstock in the 1960s. She later emblazoned her trademark spots onto sculptures, silkscreens and interactive installations. She has placed them on tentacles, flowers, mirrors, and her giant yellow pumpkins and through a collaboration with luxury giant Louis Vuitton in recent years, literally saturated a selection of the brand’s products in dots. Marc Jacobs, the former Creative Director at Louis Vuitton saw the collaboration as an opportunity for the brand’s customers to appreciate Kusama’s art, and Louis Vuitton’s products, in a different light. “Her energy is endless,” said Jacobs appreciatively. “Through the painstaking obsession in each of her canvases and installations, you see this world that never ends. That’s what I admire and respond to in terms of feeling and [Kusama] and her work.” The two formidable creative forces first met in Tokyo in 2006 while Jacobs was filming Loïc Prigent’s documentary entitled ‘Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton’. Following their encounter, Kusama invited him into her studio, where a discussion about art and their passion for creating ensued. Towards the end of the meeting, Kusama revealed a Louis Vuitton handbag that was hand-painted with her signature dots. Her art on the bag implanted an idea into Jacobs’ head and six years later the seed bore fruit in the form of the Louis Vuitton-Yayoi Kusama Collection.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors Seattle Art Museum June 30 – Sept 10, 2017 The Broad, Los Angeles Oct 21, 2017 – Jan 1, 2018 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto March 3 – May 27, 2018 Cleveland Museum of Art July 9 – Sept 30, 2018 High Museum of Art, Atlanta Nov 18, 2018 – Feb 17, 2019

Flames (1990) acrylic on canvas 53 x 45.5 cm

A STERN Attitude TEXT: GARETH STEVENS IMAGES: COURTESY OF STERN ROCKWELL

Street artist Stern Rockwell has gone from humble beginnings spray painting subway trains in New York as a youth, to working with luxury brands Cartier, HermĂ¨s, Dior and Tiffany in his late teens and early 20s. He has developed a unique style which synthesises his love of graffiti art, his preoccupation with 50s animation iconography and his fascination with people and their social behaviour. Now settled in Hong Kong, he is enjoying the process of adapting his style to architectural spaces in a range of public areas, shops and other more commercial contexts. He is one of a rare group of artists who have developed their everevolving street art to a point where it is in huge demand in more formal and acceptable contexts.

hen I first meet Stern Rockwell, I am struck by his huge artisan hands and his combined air of confidence and humility. True he has swag, but it is devoid of any brashness or arrogance. A hugely likeable man, it is difficult not to be immediately won over by his charm and authenticity. He dons Hip Hop bling and is wearing a Brooklyn (his place of birth) cap with its peak to the back, a matching towel around his neck to manage the unavoidable sweat of Hong Kong’s subtropical climate, and a knuckle full of rings that made our initial handshake a visceral cocktail of skin and gold. We talk in a small backstreet bar in SoHo, Hong Kong. As we sit, Rockwell immediately begins to soak up the visual feast of the assembled crowd. Drawn to the humanity around him, the interview quickly becomes a sideline as his eyes scan the rhythms of lines in and around the gaggle of barflys. It was only later that I realised he was in his artistic element in that environment. “At the age of five I knew what I was going to do,” he declares. “I didn’t chose to do art, art chose to do me!” At one point as his artistic career unfolded, Rockwell gave away all of the materials of his trade. “I suddenly decided I wanted to be like everyone else!” he exclaims. “I just wanted to go home, put in a DVD and be normal; but art wouldn’t leave me alone!” Brought up in a Puerto Rican neighbourhood in Brooklyn, Rockwell found little solace in formal education, save for the input from a few inspirational teachers who cut through the institutional folly. He found a significant other in the form of a relative. One

day when he was about nine years-old in the late 70s, his uncle, a keen artist himself, brought home a picture that he had salvaged during his day job as a janitor in the projects. Whilst the picture itself was of little interest, when Rockwell took the frame apart, he discovered an original drawing by Al Hirschfeld of Duke Ellington playing the piano. The prized drawing is still in his possession and it was this cathartic moment when he accidentally acquired the work of the leading caricaturist of the rich and famous, that truly set his artistic journey in motion. Rockwell describes why the drawing had such an effect on him. He recalls how the brevity of Hirschfeld’s line and the way it implied form and detail without recourse to over laboured shading and fussiness had a profound effect on him. “He used simple lines to imply mouths and features and he had a beautiful way of doing it.” Later in his teens, Rockwell moved on from illegal graffiti projects to become an assistant to a creative director, and was subsequently inducted into the world of screen printing and textile design, working on home furnishings for Cartier and Dior. His passion for street art was put on hold as his formal career took flight. Rockwell tells me that at the inception of the subway art scene in Philadelphia and New York, no-one dreamt that the medium would go global and inspire youth throughout the world to buy aerosols to express themselves. Neither did anyone foresee how powerful such street imagery would become in the world of high fashion.

During the 80s, street art style evolved its own distinct visual language and culture. The popularity of the medium owed its success to the early innovators in the late 60s and early 70s and the fact that it later became so inextricably tied up with Hip Hop music. It was this solid connection that cemented its exponential worldwide popularity with youth across the world in the last two decades of the 20th Century. Whilst globally recognised, in Rockwell’s mind, graffiti, like jazz, “is as American as apple pie.” In 1995, Rockwell started to visit the textile factories in China that were producing the end results of his designs to quality assure the manufacturing process. It was these visits that first built the conviction that led him to move to Hong Kong. Besides he began to lament the gentrification of his old New York City neighbourhoods, considering the process to be indicative of waning authenticity, and so he decided to take the chance to relocate to South East Asia. Once in Hong Kong, he began to grow weary of the endless trips to the mainland and came to the realisation that he wanted to work more exclusively on his own personal projects, having become somewhat bored with the what he calls the “cookie cutting” aspect of the textile design process. Despite his success, he felt constrained and unhappy, and the final straw came when the company he was working for decided they would relocate from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Rockwell had grown to love the “mountains, water and the people” of Hong Kong and this disruption marked the pivotal point for him to break loose and set his own agenda. So leaving the security of working for the likes of Mark Ecko and Jay Z, as well as his endeavours in the textile design world, he returned to his roots and began enlivening public spaces in Hong Kong with his signature style. Rockwell is circumspect about the work of such artists as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and A. R. Penck, who so freely appropriated the visual language of dissident subway artists. Clearly he respects their work, but claims that it was not rooted in the communities just a stone’s throw from the élite Manhattan galleries where it was being exhibited. Ironically the non-regulated decoration of walls is a much older human pursuit than painting on canvas for a gallery setting. It dates back to pre-history, and Rockwell finds it humorous that fly-by-night street artists who operate in a world far removed from the rarefied dollar-grabbing art world, don’t receive the same attention as high art stars.

Once he started non-commissioned works in public spaces Rockwell became a name. In one instance he was reprimanded for his uninvited work in a gallery that was between shows. Fortunately the gallery didn’t follow through, dropped charges, and unexpectedly commissioned him to complete the piece. When I ask Rockwell what the core purpose of his work is, he simply replies that he wants to create a “good vibe, a good feeling.” He goes on to say that when he was a kid in school the corridors and other public spaces were cold, impersonal and brutal. “There were these ugly swinging doors, so I started drawing Pacman characters with felt pens on them; everyone said it made the place look cool.” He goes on to say that when the caretakers painted over his graffiti, he liked the results. “The buffing (the process of covering up unwanted graffiti) actually looked great,” and he admits that he absorbed this and developed it into his more mature style. “When people look at my art I want them to recognise themselves, friends, strangers, and objects that they see in everyday life, and allow them a chance to have an old and new experience.” Rockwell’s mature work has a certain completeness to it. You get the feeling that he doesn’t accommodate accidents gladly. The marks he makes are made once and once only. There is a sense that the web of cartoon-inspired figures interlaced with almost

calligraphic lines could not have been composed or configured in any other way. Recalling the later work of Fernand Léger the French Cubist, each piece is a conflation of Rockwell’s distinct influences. No other work of its kind better melds the optimism of US post-war popular culture with the well known visual language of street graffiti together with implicit references to high art. The work mixes the contemporary with an ever-present feeling of nostalgia, and then ties all this together with the penchant for surface design that Rockwell has carried over from his commercial design work. The result is a sublime harmony. Even though these influences are quite visible to a trained eye, Rockwell insists that he never re-uses ideas from other artists intentionally. He is wary of being too influenced and doesn’t want to plagiarise others or a particular style. “I carry the energy of people I used to know and times gone by and I try to bring that into the new millennium in my own personal way”. Rockwell is currently looking forward to a longer stay in New York this summer where he will embark on a series of large projects. This man knows himself, he knows what he is doing, and lucky for us, art runs deep in his soul. You only have to speak with him for an hour to see that.

‘Moon River’ at The Peninsula Paris. Image by Antonio Saba

Remembering CORBERÓ TEXT: ANN TSANG

Legendary Spanish sculptor Xavier Corberó passed away at the age of 81 on April 24th, 2017. Possibly the most influential Catalonian artist since Gaudí, The Peninsula pays tribute to the man whose masterpiece ‘Moon River’ sits proudly on display at The Peninsula Paris.

reativity and a passion for the arts were always deeply embedded in Xavier Corberó’s DNA; his grandfather was a musician and an artist who worked with Gaudí for his wrought iron designs; his father was Spain’s leading liturgical artisan and one of the founders of Barcelona’s most prominent Art School, Escuela Massana. Born in Barcelona in 1935 just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Xavier Corberó’s career spanned over 50 years, during which time his work has been exhibited across the world, with significant pieces that remain in the permanent collections of museums including MoMA New York, the Stedelijk d’Amsterdam and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Influenced by the likes of Pablo Gargallo and Henry Moore, Corberó participated in the Hispano-American Bienniale of 1955 and the Salons of May of Barcelona, w here he received a number of prestigious awards. In 1963, he staged his first solo exhibition in Munich, and was subsequently awarded a gold medal of the Bavarian Constitution. “My first client was [Salvador] Dalí; he bought everything I had at the Hispano-American Biennale exhibition,” said Corberó in an interview. “We later became friends in New York; and we had dinner very often, as a rule, at least once a week; often at ‘La Grenouille’, because of the flowers.” Also in Corberó’s company were the likes of Spanish painter Manuel Viola and Russell Page, the great British landscape architect .

“They helped me a lot; they were great masters,” Corberó once said fondly of his friends, also remembering French-American painter, sculptor and writer Marcel Duchamp, with whom he spent a significant amount of time with in New York and Cadaqués. Prior to the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, Corberó played a prominent role as advisor to the City Council in terms of the selection of works by prestigious artists to place on the streets and squares of the city. He was also responsible for designing the Olympic medals. That same year, the artist was honoured with the Creu de Sant Jordi, one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia. The Peninsula Paris is proud to have Corbero’s ‘Moon River’ specifically commissioned for the hotel, which was unveiled at its opening in 2015. Believing that sculpture is “proof that nature is bigger than humanity”, he designed this masterpiece to be a threemetre pillar of calm and Zen; sculpting a perfect circle of a sheet of marble into a towering pile of large river pebbles. ‘Moon River’ is classic Corberó, created in a style that is both totemic and which uses a highly polished form of marble in a way that challenges the viewer’s perception of the material. “We are nature; nature opens the doors of imagination and imagination opens the doors of reality,” Corberó said of the piece. “The sculpture was conceived bearing very much in mind where it was going to live. Scale and intention were most important,” he added. “I wanted it to be refreshing, bringing the breeze from the river – as there is no Paris without the river – and the mystery of the full moon.”

Images: Natalie Kadoorie

Corberó’s imaginative and expansive style is most evident in the project of a lifetime - his dreamscape home; a surreal sprawling labyrinth of buildings that blend 17th and 21st century elements in Barcelona’s Esplugues de Llobregat municipality. Unquestionably the largest scale project of his life’s work, he transformed an imposing set of structures into a maze of almost 4,500 square metres, distributed across nine buildings, interconnected by a dozen patios and more than 300 arches. This monumental artistic endeavour took 50 years of redesigning, building and fine-tuning to complete. “The space is big, but it is only big mentally, because it isn’t more than any lobby in Chicago,” Corberó told American journalist Viki Psihoyos. “What is good is the scale; if you get the scale right, space stops being space to become mind. And this happens in a sculpture and in architecture.” What started off as a personal project developed into plans for a compound that includes galleries, a retreat for artists, studio spaces, workshops, a foundry, with plenty of enchanting nooks and of course, a vast and fascinating collection of works collected by Corberó. Aside from being a place that he was proud to call home, dozens of chambers for residents and guests became temporary or permanent homes to young artists at little to no cost. Corberó provided a room and studio for painters and sculptors, to make use of the surreal environment’s seemingly endless possibilities and to explore their own creativity. This was perhaps a nod to the tremendous support that Corberó received as a young man from the iconic artists that would go on to become his friends and mentors. “There is no art without artists and there are no artists without life. I am not at all pessimistic; I am a well informed optimist,” said Corberó of the next generation of Spanish artists. “Today, there are students but no apprentices, professors but not masters; lots of people thinking about thinking, but nobody looking. If one does not learn how to look, nobody can see, and after all, art is awareness. For the future there is always some light ahead; and there is lots of it.”

Let THERE Be LIGHT TEXT: ANN TSANG IMAGES: COURTESY OF LASVIT

In just over a decade, the Founder of Lasvit, Leon Jakimic, has led his company to become a veritable world leader in its sector - the design and manufacture of custom contemporary light fittings, feature architectural glass installations and lighting collections.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dancing Leavesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at The Peninsula Paris. Image by Antonio Saba

‘Crystal Rock’ by Arik Levy

orn in the Czech Republic, Leon Jakimič founded Lasvit, derived from the Czech words ‘Laska’ meaning ‘love’, and ‘Svit’ meaning ‘light’, with a single vision – to create the perfect experience through the qualities of light, glass and design. The list of Lasvit-created art pieces includes hand-blown objects in private residences, public spaces and luxurious hotels, as well as in high-end boutiques and extraordinary interiors. The company’s commitment to creativity and innovation has resulted in creative collaborations with some of the world’s most celebrated designers including Ross Lovegrove, Philippe Starck, Nendo Studio, Arik Levy, Fabio Novembre and the Campana Brothers, to name but a handful. Jakimič focuses on three key adjectives when speaking of his beloved company: “unconventional, experimental, and free spirited”. Although, by its very nature, glass has certain limitations, Jakimič is wide open to listening to designers’ most extreme ideas and as far as he is concerned, Lasvit is capable of executing the most creative and technically ambitious designs in the finest possible quality.” Lasvit’s first commissions for The Peninsula Hotels came in 2011 when the company created the ‘Whirlpool’ installation for the entrance to The Verandah restaurant at The Peninsula Hong Kong, and ‘Bird Flocks’, a 10-metre long, hand-blown cascade of multi-hued spiral elements which hangs over the main living area of The Peninsula Suite. For The Peninsula Paris in 2011, Lasvit was commissioned to create two feature pieces, including ‘Dancing Leaves’, a striking and complex installation in The Lobby. The design of ‘Dancing Leaves’ was developed together with the hotel’s interior designers, Chhada Siembieda Leung & Associates Ltd, and was inspired by plane trees, a typical feature of Parisian streets. The concept is based on a breeze gently moving the leaves, playing with them so they appear to dance in the air before eventually falling into the “pond”, a monumental Bhutanese rock sculpture situated below the glass installation. The work is comprised of 800 hand-blown abstract leaves, some clear, others with silver leaf inside the glass. A young and upcoming Lasvit in-house designer Luděk Hroch created the first sketch of the piece in 2011, and the design was further developed through five revisions to manifest in the final installation. The company then went through a sampling process, following which the final leaves to be used were chosen. In 2013, technical drawings

were completed and the piece was pre-installed at Lasvit’s factory in the Czech Republic. When any installation is completed in the factory, all the pieces are carefully tested, assembled, dismantled and painstakingly packaged one by one for travel, always accompanied like true works of art. For The Rotunda area, Lasvit designer Jitka Skuhravá created the ‘Pearl Necklace’, a lighting glass sculpture in the shape of a crystal neck adornment. The sculpture comprises three oval rings of various widths and lengths. Each ring is a hollow tube with its surface designed to resemble a string of pearls. The overall design is inspired by traditional Czech jewellery from the 19th Century. The classic Baroque architecture of The Rotunda with its rounded lines and decorative stucco and cornices is further enhanced by the jewel-like sculpture hanging beneath the cupola in the centre of the space. The sculpture is externally illuminated and is made from stainless steel, Perspex and polished crystal, weighing 300 kilogrammes and forming a total of 90,000 pearls. Installations such as the aforementioned obviously sit within grand establishments, however Lasvit has also successfully conquered the lighting retail market, catering to discerning customers and their residences, or to interior designers working on lesser scale projects. With a combination of master craftspeople and some of today’s most visionary and contemporary designers, it seems that Lasvit’s mission to transform glass into breathtaking light and design experiences is undoubtedly one that will take it far into the future of the luxury design world. Working in collaboration with a diverse and wide range of high profile designers, the company takes creativity beyond conventional boundaries to produce an array of innovative lighting fixtures. One such example is ‘Crystal Rock’, designed by artist, technician, photographer, designer and filmmaker Arik Levy. Described as “an ambassador of the fusion between nature and man, light and ref lection, transparency and mass”, all these characteristics are gathered within a perfectly cut, yet roughly sculpted contemporary silex that interacts between light and darkness, suspended in the air almost like a frozen shooting star. Its multiple reflections and deflections are fascinating during the day and even more dynamic at night, when ‘Crystal Rock‘s’ LED source highlights the artistic glassmaking process and advanced gluing techniques, gleaming on its inner curved surfaces and defining form on cut facets.

‘Ice’ by Daniel Libeskind

‘Frozen’ by Maxim Velcovský

‘Moulds’ by Plechác and Wielgus

‘Das Pop’ by Maarten Baas

With the ‘Das Pop’ chandelier, furniture designer Maarten Baas looked toward classic, recognisable shapes, yet with a modern and almost comic twist. Technically ‘Das Pop’ represents a marriage between two crafts – the classic handblown glass by Lasvit and the clay-covered ‘arms’ by Baas and his production team from Den Herder Production House. In 2006, Baas launched his Clay Furniture collection, furniture covered by hand in industrial clay, the fingerprints still visible, making every object a unique signature piece. A few years later, he further developed the technique with a series, ‘Plain Clay’, in which the basic clay was coloured with pigment. The chandelier developed by Lasvit was based on this series. Both companies brought their own unique form of craftsmanship to bear in a highly contemporary way, and the modular components of the chandelier allow for the creation of variations within the fixed structure. Another outstanding collection is ‘Moulds’ designed by Jan Plecháč & Henry Wielgus. A collection of suspended lights, showcasing Czech crystal in its most resilient and lively form, the series captures a specific moment when molten glass resists its expected shape and freely escapes from the mould as a random, amorphous bubble. The beauty and energy of this series arises from the contrast of materials, using the traditional craft techniques of blowing crystal glass into a beech form. “The idea came when we came across a warehouse filled with old wooden moulds that Lasvit had in its archive. We were absolutely fascinated by the thought that something as delicate and pure in terms of form could be born

out of something as raw and elementally primitive as charred glassmakers’ forms,” explains Plecháč. “We successfully attempted to create a light that blends the elegance of crystal with the rustic beauty of wooden forms, bound together with iron clamps. Our design takes its strength from the rougher side of the traditional glass craft that stands behind its production,” adds Wielgus. The ‘Frozen’ collection by Czech designer Maxim Velčovský was inspired by the transformation of water into ice. Velčovský allows the glass to spill over a metal form showcasing its natural properties, and as this process cannot be exactly replicated in its creation, each piece is an original. Working with the master craftsmen at the Lasvit factory, German architect and designer Daniel Libeskind created a bold, geometric chandelier that achieves a ‘one-of-a-kind’ luminosity through the delicate and f luid quality of hand-blown glass. Libeskind’s ‘Ice’ chandelier is made up of clear glass ‘cells’ blown into angular molds and then clustered together in a series of puzzlelike, triangular patterns. These modular patterns can be twisted and turned into any number of horizontal compositions to suit a wide variety of spaces. Like stalactites or icicles, the glass forms capture light, refracting it into prisms, so that each column glows in unpredictable ways. These are just some of the designers who choose Lasvit in order to manifest their unconventional artistic vision, endow it with the precision and mastery of glassmakers, with the ultimate mission to transform glass into breathtaking light and design experiences.

Ã&#x20AC; La MODI TEXT: ANNABELLE HOUSTON IMAGES: COURTESY OF NIRAV MODI

Lauded for offering the finest quality diamonds and exceptional, innovative jewels and having garnered great success in the Hong Kong market, NIRAV MODI recently unveiled its first boutique in China at The Peninsula Beijing.

n less than a decade, Nirav Modi has deftly taken his eponymous high jewellery brand to a position of unprecedented international recognition. Now a red carpet favourite of A-list celebrities who have eschewed the more well known ‘status’ brands in favour of Modi’s exotic treasures, the 45 year-old Indian jeweller recently opened his ninth store in the world at The Peninsula Beijing. Modi grew up in Antwerp, the world’s diamond capital, as the son and grandson of experienced diamantaires. Dinner table conversation often circulated around the 4c’s – cut, colour, clarity and carat – and the youngster’s interest piqued at an early age, as he also drew inspiration from his mother, a talented interior designer. It wasn’t always apparent how Modi would build on his family’s legacy of diamond knowledge, until one day a chance encounter with jewellery design confirmed his destiny. As he travelled the world sourcing the very best diamonds, an idea was born – a marriage of rarity with perfection. He would create exclusive diamond jewellery from the finest gems, using innovative processes and finishing them with the utmost precision. Modi’s designs transcend borders and are inspired by his travels, nature, and his passion for art. Every collection has a story to tell, whether it be an expression of Monet’s delicate flowers or the Art Deco movement. Each design is handcrafted, making every piece a labour of love for its creator and a treasure to wear for its owner.

Modi’s commitment to quality, originality, style and innovation is driven by his relentless desire to push the boundaries of excellence. This has resulted in unique setting techniques and globally patented diamond cuts, each of which is unique in terms of both concept and effect: the Jasmine cutTM , a half briolette, resembles the soft, fluted, jasmine blossom; the Endless cut®, which combines the eternal circle with the enduring radiance of diamonds; the Ainra® cut, which uses minimalist settings and interwoven diamonds to create incomparable lightness; and the Mughal® cut, which involves precision techniques to create diamond flower petals inspired by the Mughal miniature paintings of the 16th to 19th centuries. The newest NIRAV MODI boutique at The Peninsula Beijing, like the pieces it houses, is exquisitely designed. Outstanding features include visually striking panels that are inspired by the jeweller’s exclusive Mughal® cut jewels, paying homage to the brand’s heritage. The use of custom made carpets, luminous golden glass, Mother of Pearl, and brushed silver and rose gold tones in the decor give the boutique a feminine and luxurious feel. NIRAV MODI takes its customers through a progressive journey, beginning with a bright and dazzling ambience at the entrance, to a more sublime atmosphere in the VIP rooms, creating an immersive experience. The boutique also exhibits handmade paintings, gold leaf décor and elaborate details, highlighting the jeweller’s appreciation of exquisite craftsmanship.

The fine jewellery collections displayed at the NIRAV MODI Beijing boutique include the brand’s iconic ‘Embrace Collection’, which features unique stretchable diamond bangles and rings; the ‘Jasmine Collection’, which showcases jewels with a proprietary diamond cut exclusive to the brand; and the ‘Celestial Collection’, featuring jewels with solitaire diamonds uniquely set in a diamond halo. Special jewels on show at the boutique include the ‘Spring Delight’ necklace and earrings worn by Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi at NIRAV MODI’s most recent Hong Kong grand opening event. This milestone opening at The Peninsula Beijing showcases the significance of the China market for the renowned jeweller. “It is a well-known fact that the Chinese consumer is changing the face of the luxury retail industry all over the world. They are sophisticated luxury buyers, with an eye for detail and craftsmanship,” notes Modi. “We have many Chinese customers visiting our boutiques in New York, London, Hong Kong and Macau. The boutique at The Peninsula Beijing is our first in China and we have more launches planned over the next few years.” Boutique openings aside, NIRAV MODI was the choice of many Hollywood A-listers on the red carpet at the 89th Academy Awards, held earlier this year. Celebrities including Taraji P. Henson, Karlie Kloss, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Kate Upton, Stella Maxwell and Olivia Munn chose to wear the jeweller’s dazzlers to

complement their gowns, a true testament to the ongoing success and visibility of the brand. Each NIRAV MODI piece represents a unique expression of Indian heritage combined with a global outlook. Modi’s inspired and individual take on classic concepts have also led to international acclaim off the red carpet, the highlight of which was in November 2010, when he became the first Indian jeweller to be featured on the cover of a Christie’s Hong Kong auction catalogue with his exquisite ‘Golconda’ necklace, and since then, his pieces have had a recurring presence at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses. Having achieved this level of success in less than a decade of designing, it seems that for Nirav Modi, the world is already his oyster. NIR AV MODI The Peninsula Beijing Shop G8, Ground Level 8 Goldfish Lane Dongcheng District 10006 Beijing PRC T: +86 10 6525 8199 www.niravmodi.com

STEELING The SCENE

TEXT: GIOVANNI VERONI IMAGES: COURTESY OF SIMPSON MARINE/ SANLORENZO

The Sanlorenzo Superyacht division recently celebrated the launch of the first model of its new 52Steel line, the largest yacht ever manufactured in the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history.

Outdoor swimming pool with transparent floor

ince its founding in 1958 by Giovanni Jannetti, the Italian yacht manufacturing company Sanlorenzo has built and launched over 750 motorboats, considered by enthusiasts as among the most outstanding, specifically in terms of attention to detail, interior comfort, navigability, and a level of reliability that is hard to rival. Since being acquired by managerial expert and yacht aficionado Massimo Perotti in 2005, the Sanlorenzo brand has rapidly gone from strength to strength, further evidenced by the recent unveiling of its largest superyacht to date, the 52Steel, bearing the name ‘Seven Sins’. Launched at Sanlorenzo’s recently acquired imposing production site in La Spezia in Liguria, a facility exclusively dedicated to the design and construction of superyachts in metal from 40 up to 80 metres in length, the 52Steel, as its name suggests, features a steel hull with a light alloy superstructure, and weighs just under 500 gross tons. She is powered by Caterpillar 3512C main engines, and at an economical speed of 11 knots, she has a range of 4,400 nautical miles. The Sanlorenzo marque has always been characterised by the elegance and sophistication of the craft that it designs and manufactures. The racy dark lines of the windows that highlight the hull makes the brand instantly recognisable, and one that is synonymous with superlative quality, and the first 52Steel is no exception. Taking just over two years to build, the 52Steel is a five-deck superyacht with endless customisation possibilities. The external lines, drawn in collaboration with Officina Italiana Design, are a natural evolution of the Sanlorenzo superyacht range and the vessel bears the signature refined features, elegance and technical innovation that the brand has become so well-known for.

Some of the groundbreaking elements on the aft section include a large swimming pool on the main deck. The transparent floor of the pool allows natural light to filter through onto the ‘beach club’ below, an expansive space which features two folding terraces, one on each side of the yacht, serving as platforms for direct access to the sea. The same area can be easily transformed into a garage with a controlled f looding system for the storage of a tender up to eight metres in length. This part of the boat also houses a fully equipped gym.. The internal layout hosts a large owner apartment in the bow on the main deck, and two VIP and three guest cabins on the lower deck. The luxury craft also has two spacious salons, one on the main deck and one on the upper deck, as well as external living areas on the main, upper and sun decks. The upper deck salon houses a large seating/lounge area, in addition to formal dining areas both outside and inside, with a pantry conveniently located in the lobby area. Glass panels surrounding a rectangular swimming pool create a serene focal point on the aft deck, whilst the sky lounge level boasts a full walk-around deck, further enhancing the overall feel of spaciousness. As with all Sanlorenzo yachts, the 52Steel is custom-made, bespoke and unique, reflecting the personality of each owner. In the case of this brand new model, there are options for the inclusion of elevators and a helipad. Testament to the release of this outstanding superyacht is the fact that the second and third units of the 52Steel have already been purchased and are currently under construction in La Spezia. The official world premiere of the craft will take place at the Monaco Yacht Show from September 27th – 30th, 2017, marking yet another grand entrance…

THE Penultimate

The Inaugural Rally Nippon Classic-car enthusiasts from around the world will converge on Japan in October 2017 for a thrilling drive through spectacular scenery. The Peninsula Tokyo is celebrating its 10th anniversary by sponsoring Rally Nippon 2017, a four-night journey that meanders across the highways and hillside passes of Honshu Island from Kyoto to Tokyo. A Peninsula Signature Event, the rally will commence in the picturesque imperial city of Kyoto on 21 October 2017, and will cover 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), through the scenic heartlands of Honshu Island before reaching the chequered flag in Tokyo on 24 October. The Peninsula Tokyo Rally Nippon 2017 is the first event of its kind to be sponsored by a luxury hotel company in Japan, and underscores The Peninsula Hotels’ long association with classic cars. 96