FALL 2015
E D I T I ON
FIRST EDITION
------------------OAKRIDGE TURNS THE PAGE ON A WHOLE NEW VISION FOR
luxury lifestyle in Vancouver STYLE — CULTURE — TRAVEL — DESIGN
WELCOME O N LY O A K R I D G E We’ve been up to something very special this year. Indeed, in 2015, Oakridge set out to completely reimagine how you see fashion retail. Our mission? Defining style through art, fashion and design. And we can hardly wait to show you what that looks like. We believe style should inspire the imagination—that our retail centre should be a place for culture, community and discovery. So from here on, we are committed to finding new and exclusive ways to add depth, substance and excitement to the time you spend shopping at Oakridge. Unexpected partnerships, stunning artworks, exclusive luxury events, culture, high-end cars —the list goes on and on. Which leads to our new promise—a thought that will define the Oakridge experience: Only Oakridge. Only Oakridge is reimagining luxury lifestyle retail in this way. And we want the whole city to know about it. The first fulfillment of this promise? Our stunning new creative campaign, featuring breathtaking masterworks from the National Gallery of Canada. Oakridge is immensely proud to present these paintings in a whole new way—and to invite you, through these great works, to re-examine your everyday retail experience. This is only the beginning. We’re exploring a myriad of ways to make shopping at Oakridge more fulfilling for you—from stylish events to surprising new experiences. And this, our first installment of the Oakridge Edition, explores a few of the partners, brands and stories that will reinforce that promise in the months to come. It’s the first chapter in what we’re sure will be a new definition of style on Vancouver’s west side—and, we believe, a reinvention of luxury fashion and design in our city. Welcome to the Edition. We’re glad you made it.
Susan Nicol general manager, oakridge centre
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CONTENTS
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FEATURE: High Art. High Style. Oakridge & The National Gallery of Canada Collaboration
FEATURE: Behind the Scenes: Oakridge & The National Gallery of Canada Collaboration
CULTURE: The Twenty-First Century National Gallery of Canada
10 TRAVEL: Loch Lomond, Scotland
14 DESIGN: Western Living Design Week
17 LUXE LIFE: Steinway & Sons
11 STYLE: Oak + Fort
15 DESIGN: Monogram Dinner by Design
12 STYLE: Tiffany & Co.
16 LUXE LIFE : Piper-Heidsieck
18 LUXE LIFE: Mission Hill Family Estate
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FEATURE — Oakridge & The National Gallery of Canada Collaboration
HIGH ART. HIGH STYLE. H O W O A K R I D G E A N D T H E N AT I O N A L G A L L E R Y O F C A N A DA C A M E T O G E T H E R
Art and fashion form a natural complement—synergies between the two abound, and you can see it all over the fashion media. This is especially true with luxury brands, whose photo concepts drawn directly from great art fill the pages of high-end glossies every year.
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FEATURE
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You don’t often see major national galleries featured in commercial fashion campaigns. Then again, there’s nothing usual about Oakridge’s new program with the National Gallery of Canada. “We liked the innovative approach in which Oakridge proposed to present some of the masterpieces from our European art collection,” says Michelle Robitaille, Chief of Partnerships and Community Engagement at the National Gallery. “It presented a new opportunity to reach out to Canadians on the West Coast.” The paintings and artworks in the National Gallery belong to all Canadians. That gave the team at Oakridge—and creative agency Toolbox Design—a very compelling idea to bring more depth and substance to Oakridge’s fashion campaigns. The selection of paintings was crucial to the themes Oakridge wanted to communicate. It’s all about looking closer: each painting exhibits some element of representative painting or realism (landscape, still life or garden paintings, specifically). But they all contain layered meanings and dense emotions—many with a magical, otherworldly character. This invites the viewer to look at the paintings—and their experience of viewing—much more deeply. For example, Gustave Doré’s work, Souvenir of Loch Lomond, featured this fall, is in some respects a straightforward landscape painting—and yet it has been observed that the painting exhibits a strong mythic quality,
with a powerful sense of vast open space and the immensity of nature. The paintings thus call on the viewer to look at everyday life through new eyes. Similarly, Oakridge is asking shoppers to rethink what fashion and retail can be. Oakridge intends to bring more layers to the retail experience, and make the shopping centre a place to experience culture and community more deeply.
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The Doré work is the first in a series of six masterworks from the National Gallery’s European art collection, each of which will provide a distinctive backdrop for upcoming Oakridge fashion campaigns. Oakridge General Manager Susan Nicol is thrilled about the possibilities this campaign opens up: “Having worked extensively in high-end retail in Europe, I’ve seen these kinds of initiatives unfold with great success. We’re very excited to bring art and luxury together in the Vancouver marketplace.” “In the speedy digital age, there is not much time for the quiet, thoughtful and sensitive appreciation of art and beauty,” says Robitaille. It’s good to know that an institution like the National Gallery is there to offer a more immersive experience of art and culture. And for Oakridge, it’s a true honour to help this treasured national institution to deliver these great paintings, through very new eyes, to Canadians in B.C.
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1 OAKRIDGE FALL 2015 CAMPAIGN CREATIVE 2 G USTAVE DORÉ: MASTER OF IMAGINATION GALLERY TALK WITH PAUL LANG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND CHIEF CURATOR 3 INSTALLATION TECHNICIANS IN THE EUROPEAN ART GALLERIES 4 H IGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIOS NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, OTTAWA. PHOTOS © NGC
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FEATURE — Oakridge & The National Gallery of Canada Collaboration
BEHIND the SCENES COMPOSING A WHOLE NEW UNION OF ART AND FASHION
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FEATURE
Inspired by the paintings in the National Gallery of Canada’s European art collection, the Oakridge team set out to explore a new interchange between art and style. Collaborating with star Canadian photographer Max Abadian and stylist Juliana Schiavinatto in Montreal, the team worked to capture images that did justice to these incredible paintings.
MAX ABADIAN’S PHOTO RÉSUMÉ SPANS A DIZZYING LIST OF CELEBRITIES, FROM ALICIA KEYS TO LADY GAGA TO HELENA CHRISTENSEN, AND HE’S WORKED WITH THE FINEST FASHION PUBLICATIONS IN THE WORLD, FROM ELLE TO GLAMOUR TO L’OFFICIEL. What still thrills you about the art of photography? Capturing a fleeting moment—it is, after all, freezing time. How did these paintings influence the way you approached this shoot? It was a collaborative effort with Juliana and the team. For us, having a nice aesthetic flow was the most important. The images had to be visually stunning in and of themselves as well as in relation to the artworks. Do you see this pairing of fashion and art as a natural step? Absolutely. I think fashion and art have always had a dialogue throughout history. What I love about the Oakridge project is bringing these two worlds together in a way that is accessible to a greater public.
JULIANA SCHIAVINATTO HAS STYLED FOR AN A-LIST R O ST E R O F C E L E B R I T I E S , FROM CHLOË GRACE MORETZ TO COCO ROCHA, AND FOR MAJOR FASHION PUBLICATIONS LIKE ELLE CANADA, FLARE, AND GLOBE AND MAIL STYLE ADVISOR. How did you use the paintings—in terms of colour, mood and history—to shape your styling choices for this project? I used the mood of the paintings, as well as the colours. If it felt a bit darker, I balanced that out through the styling; if it was more romantic and soft, I kept that in mind in the choices of fabrics, colours, etc. Did the paintings from the National Gallery influence your choices for hair and makeup? Yes, we wanted the girls to look classic and chic, but effortless, and have a forever quality to them. Do you think there’s a future in a sort of ‘formal’ union of fashion and art in this way? I think it’s all around us already. Designers are always inspired by art, and it seems to only get stronger. Art forms are blending and working together to create a more powerful message—fashion and art are a natural union.
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CULTURE — The National Gallery of Canada
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA: Reaching Out Across the World
1 ARISTIDE MAILLOL, STANDING NUDE, C. 1919-1921 2 RIDEAU STREET CONVENT CHAPEL (DETAIL), 1887–1888 3 VIEW IN THE CANADIAN ART GALLERIES 4 VIEW IN THE MICHAEL & SONJA KOERNER FAMILY ATRIUM NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, OTTAWA. PHOTOS © NGC
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CULTURE
Like so many groundbreaking initiatives, the story of the National Gallery of Canada began with a simple dream: to have a national gallery that Canadians could call their own.
Launched in 1880 with 15 donated paintings and some early purchases, the Gallery today is home to over 64,000 objects. “Art provides a unique and essential perspective to understanding our country, the world and ourselves,” says Yves St-Onge, the Gallery’s Chief of Strategic Communications. “Collecting, researching and presenting Canadian visual arts played an essential part in the building of this nation and the formation of our collective identity.” From the outset, the strength of the National Gallery has stemmed from its collection of art, which includes the world’s most comprehensive holdings of Canadian and Indigenous art. Works by some of our country’s most celebrated artists, including Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and Norval Morrisseau, among others, are all part of Canada’s national collection. So is the art being produced today by some of Canada’s most exciting next-generation artists—trailblazers like Shary Boyle and Brian Jungen. But the Gallery also collects an impressive range of non-Canadian art: it owns Canada’s best collection of Old Masters, an outstanding selection of prints and drawings and world-class photographs. “This fosters a greater understanding for the richness of Canadian historical and contemporary art,” notes St-Onge. “Our international collections enhance this appreciation and provide context.” And the Gallery has long been committed to making Canada’s collection accessible to people across the country and around the globe. In the first half of the 20th century, for example, it organized exhibitions of work by Tom Thomson and other Canadian artists in Europe and America. Today, the Gallery works in a number of interesting and innovative ways to bring Canada’s collection to diverse audiences—in-person and online.
“We fulfill our national mandate through a variety of media and programs, including an award-winning online magazine, distance learning initiatives, a very active loans program and a network of strong connections with other galleries and educational institutions nationwide and internationally,” says Michelle Robitaille, the Gallery’s Chief of Partnerships and Community Engagement. “We share research, present travelling exhibitions and collaborate on new exhibitions. The National Gallery also manages the Canada pavilion at the Venice Biennale, which provides a showcase for leading contemporary Canadian artists on the world stage.” Audiences closer to home may have seen works from the national collection on view in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s recent exhibitions on Jock Macdonald and Geoffrey Farmer—two celebrated Vancouver artists. As well, notable travelling photography exhibitions from the National Gallery of Canada, Clash: Conflict and Its Consequences, and Flora and Fauna: 400 Years of Artists Inspired by Nature, were respectively presented at The Reach in Abbotsford and at the Surrey Art Gallery in 2014. And the National Gallery was also a major lender to the unprecedented Emily Carr retrospective that premiered at the prestigious Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, England.
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As befits a 21st-century art institution, the Gallery is also active in digital spaces, becoming the first art gallery in Canada to have a mobile app on Apple iOS™ and Android™. It also regularly chats and engages with art lovers online via its active social media channels. “Our vast collection allows us to tell a complex, rich story of the arts across time,” says St-Onge. “And we are constantly looking for new ways to engage our audiences.”
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TRAVEL
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TRAVEL — Loch Lomond, Scotland
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP Scotland’s Loch Lomond region holds as much mystery today as it did for Gustave Doré in 1873
“People are wrong to say that I am visiting Scotland at an unfavourable time of year,” wrote Frenchman Gustave Doré, who painted the National Gallery of Canada’s Souvenir of Loch Lomond, to his mother in the early 1870s.
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“True, it is cold; but one discovers so many landscape effects in this season amongst these grand transparent forests variegated with a somber green, certainly as fine as any pines in summer time.” About 20 minutes north of Glasgow and 50 minutes from Edinburgh, Loch Lomond’s raw beauty still transfixes some 750,000 visitors per year, most of whom go there between Easter and mid-October.
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Doré first went to Scotland on a salmon fishing trip with friends in 1873. He was enchanted by the area’s vast, untamed expanses. According to Karen Donnelly, manager of the tourist organization, Love Loch Lomond, the landscape so impressed him because it’s where the Lowlands of Scotland meet the Highlands. The Highland Boundary Fault, which separates the two geographical terrains, crosses the loch (lake). As a result, local views feature hills and mountains as well as low-lying, gently rolling slopes.
Loch Lomond sits within The Trossachs National Park, 1,865 km2 of Munros (mountains above 914 m.), Corbetts (760-914 m.), Grahams (610-760 m.), glens, rivers and lochs. The most ambitious and physically fit may climb 974 m. Ben Lomond, the area’s highest Munro, but there are plenty of gentle trails for more laidback travellers. Tourists also appreciate the region’s shopping, three whisky distilleries— Auchentoshan, Glengoyne and Deanston —and traditional foodstuffs like salmon, venison, lamb and beef. “You can take a trip in a seaplane, which is based at Cameron House Hotel, and you can have that aerial view of the destination,” says Donnelly. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for those who may be a bit more affluent.” Donnelly and a colleague inspected Souvenir of Loch Lomond and concluded that it looks north from an area called Gartocharn, at the southeastern end of the lake. “The hill/mountain on the right going into the clouds would be Ben Lomond and, on the west of the loch, would be the village of Luss, now a Conservation Village of World Heritage status.”
2. PHOTO CREDIT: KAY ROXBY / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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STYLE
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STYLE — Oak + Fort
A CLEAR & SIMPLE TRUTH Oak + Fort brings a quiet luxury to minimalist fashion
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Minimalist design, when it’s done well, exudes peace of mind. Whether it’s in art, architecture or fashion, a clear and simple expression, in a cool palette, can bring something like relief. And it definitely acts as a powerful antidote to our lightning pace of life these days. Which may explain the current minimalist moment in fashion. A quick scan of leadingedge street-style blogs and magazines yields a strong showing from every sector of minimalist fashion—from 90s-era sportswear to normcore-inspired extreme simplicity. Oak + Fort, one of the newer stars in the Oakridge firmament, knows the value of minimalism intimately. Indeed, the Gastown-bred fashion brand has banked its entire aesthetic strategy against it, striving always to deliver uncomplicated garments that play with proportion while still exhibiting a high-end fit.
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1 THE HIGHL ANDS OF LOCH LOMOND, SCOTL AND 2 MARKET STALL AT FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL 3 HISTORIC ROSS PRIORY ( 1693) ON THE SHORES OF LOCH LOMOND 4 WHISK Y BARRELS FROM LOCAL DISTILLERY 5 OAK + FORT STOREFRONT WINDOW 6 OAK + FORT 2015 FALL LINE
“We want our simple, thoughtful designs to propel people’s confidence,” says Oak + Fort (the design team prefers to speak with one single voice). “When you are comfortable in your attire, it radiates confidence. We want our garments to be a way of expressing one’s unique style.” The notion of unique personal expression through strict minimalism may seem a contradiction, but it seems to work in practice. Oak + Fort’s fall collection reveals a
distinctive personality: striking silhouettes that suggest elegant stately body language and, above all, a sense of comfort and ease. While the brand is certainly part of the current minimalist movement, Oak + Fort strives to transcend trends. Through its own line and sister brand NOUL, Oak +Fort crafts pieces of “timeless and classic simplicity that live outside of the cyclical patterns of fashion—clothes designed to remain as pieces that live in your collection.” Good taste, in other words, is its own kind of luxury. Founded in Vancouver, Oak + For t draws from our city’s diverse global influences. And their story has since moved far beyond municipal boundaries: Oak + Fort now has a total of 10 locations, in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and, most recently, New York City—which has responded very warmly indeed to the Oak + Fort aesthetic. “We feel like we’re at home there.” So what’s the future of fashion according to Oak + Fort? “We see an ongoing minimalist colour palette, mixed with smooth textures. We are also loving pleated geometric silhouettes, oversized knits, and belted woven dresses and outerwear.” The Oak + Fort 2015 fall line shows plenty of these elements, and more. Take a closer look, if you have an extra minute. You might even find a moment of peace.
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STYLE — Tiffany & Co.
TIFFANY & CO. IS NEW YORK CITY TO A “T”
FL AGSHIP STORE , NYC
The Tiffany & Co. brand dates back 178 years, to Charles Lewis Tiffany, the Connecticut-born son of a prosperous textile manufacturer. At 25, he and his then-partner, John B. Young, used money borrowed from Tiffany’s father to start a stationery and fancy goods store in New York.
1 TIFFANY T SMILE PENDANTS 2 TIFFANY T BRACELETS 3 TIFFANY T SQUARE RINGS 4 TIFFANY T SQUARE BRACELETS 5 TIFFANY T BAND RINGS AND TIFFANY T WIRE RING 6 TIFFANY T WIRE HOOP EARRINGS 7 TIFFANY T SQUARE BRACELET, CUT-OUT CUFF AND LARGE CHAIN BRACELET ALL PHOTOS: CREDIT © TIFFANY & CO.
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FRANCESCA AMFITHEATROF
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The store imported porcelains and curiosities, as well as French accessories. Eventually, the fall of Louis Philippe’s regime in France meant a windfall of diamonds as aristocrats exchanged them for cash. Tiffany seized the opportunity to bring major gems to the United States and caused a sensation. His ability to understand the public taste was key to his success. In 1858, when the historic Atlantic telegraph cable was being laid, Tiffany had the foresight to purchase 20 miles of extra cable and marry four-inch lengths of it with brass that was incorporated into souvenir paperweights, canes, umbrella handles and watch charms.
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“Tiffany has always been a company of great innovators, great dreamers who are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with design,” says Francesca Amfitheatrof, Design Director of Tiffany & Co. “This frame of mind links directly back to the company’s founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany, who was an entrepreneur long before anyone even knew what that term meant. He was a firebrand, a risk-taker, someone who constantly did things no one else had the courage to try. At Tiffany, we carry forward that spirit of risk and vision. We’re unfettered by historical styles or schools of design, rather we create with a freedom to make—and break—our own rules.” In the 1850s, Tiffany & Co. bought the silversmith operations of New York’s John C. Moore and was thereby well-positioned to cater to Victorian society’s fresh appetite for silver goods. The ability to both meet and set trends has been a hallmark of the Tiffany company. The use of coloured gemstones in fine jewelry, for example, was first popularized by Tiffany, and after a gemologist called George Frederick Kunz sold the company a remarkable tourmaline, Charles Tiffany hired him to search the world for its finest gems.
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When Tiffany bought one of the largest diamonds ever found— a 287.42 carat stone—he had it cut into a cushion-shaped brilliant with 82 facets and a distinctive sparkle. Tiffany & Co. soon became known as a jeweler where diamonds are cut for brilliance, rather than size. They remain an important element in Tiffany’s collections. Gold, silver and other precious gems also play a part in Amfitheatrof’s designs. The Tiffany “T” collection was her debut collection for Tiffany & Co.
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“You have very delicate pieces that work well when they’re mixed together with big, sculptural cuffs and softer chains. The collection is offered in 18 karat gold—rose, yellow and white— and cool sterling silver, which has such a great, crisp feeling to it. For people who want to wear precious stones in a really modern way, there are a number of diamond pieces that are inspired by sketches from the 1920s that I found in the Tiffany archives.” Earlier this year, she introduced some popular new pieces. “‘T’ pays homage to the Tiffany name, but it also has a verticality and angularity that I associate with the energy and intensity of New York. Tiffany T is sculptural and bold and very closely linked to the architecture of this city,” she says. “There is a lot of New York in Tiffany T, and by that I mean the relentless movement, optimism and creativity you find on these streets. This is a place of courage and reinvention that constantly sparks creativity. Honestly, I can’t think of a more exciting place I could possibly be.”
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DESIGN — Western Living Design Week
OAKRIDGE CENTRE SETS THE STAGE FOR WESTERN LIVING DESIGN WEEK P14
Taking design to the people is the raison d’être of Western Living magazine. So its partnership with Oakridge Centre for Western Living Design Week makes perfect sense to the magazine’s editor, Anicka Quin. “The idea that you can reach lots of people to talk about design, to get excited about design, to have that as part of their world is really exciting for us at Western Living,” says Quin. Many—though not all—of the week’s events will take place from September 17 to 30 at Oakridge Centre, in the former Zellers space, and in its atrium-like West Galleria. Western Living Design Week emerged from the Western Living Designers of the Year Awards, an event that honours the best new designs in the categories of Architecture, Interiors, Furniture, Fashion, Industrial and Eco. The awards gala is closed to the public, but Quin and her colleagues at Western Living decided that holding design-focused public
events inside the mall itself would offer easy access to information and inspiration. The Centre’s West Galleria will house striking design displays. What should we expect to sample at this design showcase? “For the last couple of years, we’ve seen warmer metals coming in, getting away from chrome and steel and into brass and copper,” says Quin. “Our October issue features new furniture trends, and there we’re seeing things like velvet and jewel tones—the warm, strong blues and colours like that.” Quin is one of the hosts of the Western Living Design Week Conversation Series, featuring designers from Vancouver and Calgary, taking place several times a day at Oakridge from September 23 to 30.
For Design Week details, visit W E ST E R N L I V I N G M AG A Z I N E .CO M
DESIGN
MONOGRAM DINNER BY DESIGN PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS ON TABLETOPS Making a party into a design extravaganza is Tyson Villeneuve’s dream job. The organizer of Monogram Dinner by Design (MDBD), several events being held in conjunction with Western Living Design Week, Villeneuve relishes the prospect of more than 1,000 people once again being exposed to his “unique and experiential celebration of art and design.” The fun begins with MDBD’s Cocktail Art on September 20, when 800 people will congregate at CBC Vancouver to inspect 15 tablescapes, each in a 12 x 12 x 12-foot space with walls and stunning lighting, created over months by Vancouver designers. “Designers—professional, top-quality, in-demand, high-end designers—rarely get to showcase pure creativity,” says Villeneuve, a partner in the boutique branding and marketing agency Social Concierge. “Usually, you’ll hire an interior designer, they’ll bring a certain skill-set, and it’ll be a collaborative end result of what the client wants and what the designer can deliver. With Monogram Dinner by Design, it’s complete creative freedom.” Villeneuve has enlisted some of the city’s finest mixologists to create unique aperitifs for Cocktail Art. Deejays will keep the mood festive. (GE’s Monogram, its brand of luxury appliances, is a partner in the project.) The second night of the two events—the Monogram Dinner by Design Gala Dinner—is, in part, a charity fundraiser. Beneficiaries of the September 21 gala will be the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) and Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD). Catered by Savoury Chef Foods, the dinner’s most unusual element is that guests actually dine at one of the lavish tablescapes with eight other people and its designer. Before the gala begins, there’s a public viewing of the tablescapes at the CBC’s downtown studios. Four of the tablescapes will be displayed in Oakridge’s West Galleria, beginning on September 23. Kari Henshaw, design lead for Oakridge’s tablescape, is embracing the opportunity to take part. The principal at Insight Design took her cues from the National Gallery of Canada’s Gustave Doré painting, Souvenir of Loch Lomond, featured in Oakridge Centre’s fall campaign. Henshaw is working with Crate & Barrel and using this autumn’s fashion palette of deep, rich colours. She’s aiming for “natural woods meets city chic.” For details and tickets to Monogram Dinner by Design events, including the public viewing, visit D I N N E R X D E S I G N .CO M
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Oakridge is proud
LUXE LIFE — Elegant & Elevated
to partner with Piper-Heidsieck champagne for our Inner Circle events.
LIVING LIFE GRANDLY As glamorous brands go, you can’t beat Piper-Heidsieck. “We have an amazing champagne,” says Louis-Jérôme Doise, Montreal-based National Brand Manager for Maison Piper-Heidsieck, one of the 10 oldest French champagne houses and the third largest in the world. RÉGIS CAMUS, CELLAR MASTER AT MAISON PIPER-HEIDSIECK, WITH A PORTRAIT OF FOUNDER FLORENS-LOUIS HEIDSIECK (1749-1828)
Piper-Heidsieck’s 20-year association with the Cannes Film Festival and current role as exclusive supplier of champagne to the Oscars are one thing, but its 230-year history is something else again. Doise dips into it a little. It seems that Reims-based founder Florens-Louis Heidsieck, a cloth merchant from Westphalia, Germany, fell in love with a woman from the Champagne region of France and decided his destiny was to create “a cuvée worthy of a queen.” He started the Cloth & Wine Trading Company Heidsieck & Co. in 1785. Soon afterward, he presented his cuvée to the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, and won over the court of Louis XVI. When Heidsieck died in 1828, his nephew, Christian Heidsieck, took over and found a partner in Henri-Guillaume Piper. Their champagne supplied 14 royal and imperial courts. When Heidsieck died, his wife married Piper and they merged their names on the company’s bottles. The stories go on, and include the celebration of Piper-Heidsieck’s 100th anniversary in 1885 with the commission of a diamond, gold and lapis-lazuli egg from Pierre-Karl Fabergé, jeweller to Russian Czar Alexander III, and a 1999 partnership with French bad-boy designer Jean-Pierre Gaultier, who clothed a bottle in a red-vinyl corset.
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But Doise’s favourite anecdote concerns actress Marilyn Monroe, whose famous remark that she wore nothing to bed but a few drops of Chanel No. 5 supposedly finished with the phrase “and I wake up to a glass of Piper-Heidsieck.” With associations like these, it’s no wonder that the company’s motto is “let life be grand.” Those new to champagne should try PiperHeidsieck Cuvée Brut first, says Doise, who describes it as “fresh and citrusy.” “It’s the star of our portfolio, very wellbalanced, well-completed, a great, wellrounded champagne that allows people a good bubble.” The brand’s crème de la crème, PiperHeidsieck Rare, Cuvée Prestige, arrives in a “wonderful black bottle with gold trellis,” says Doise. It’s for aficionados. Conditions have to be extraordinary for PiperHeidsieck to make this blend, he explains. “We’ve only made eight since 1976.”
LUXE LIFE
A GRAND TALE FROM A STEINWAY ARTIST It’s hard to argue that Burnaby-based concert pianist Ian Parker, a Steinway Artist, doesn’t know pianos—he grew up in a house with 22
S T E I N WAY ’ S P L AY E R P I A N O TA K E S C O N C E P T F R O M H O N KY TO N K TO H I G H B R OW
of them. Both his parents— Edward and Eileen Parker—were piano teachers. Eileen had fled communist China for Hong Kong, then
Established in 1864, Steinway still handbuilds fewer than 3,000 pianos every year. “They’re made to the absolute highest standards,” says Graham Blank, Vice President and Director of Tom Lee Music, which exclusively represents Steinway in British Columbia. The pianos have what amounts to their own high-stakes fan club. A distinguished group called Steinway Artists includes Lang Lang, Yuja Wang and Diana Krall. Steinway Artists must personally own a Steinway and only play Steinway pianos in performance. What about those who adore live piano music and would love to play it, but are all thumbs? Steinway’s solution is a new product called a Spirio, available in three sizes of grand piano. “Spirio pianos are the exact same pianos that anyone could purchase regularly, but they have a built-in player piano system,” says Blank. Using technology developed by Wayne Stahnke, the Spirio records the music of
Steinway artists using a series of solenoid— coils of wire that are electromagnetic when electric current passes through them— which are underneath its keys and capture the performance in high resolution. It can then play it back on command. The piano comes with an iPad loaded with an app that contains the current Spirio catalogue of Steinway Artists’ music, and communicates with the instrument by way of Bluetooth or wireless Internet. There are no clues—wires, buttons or lights—to suggest that this is not a regular Steinway piano. It can also be played just like a regular model. Steinway has identified the potential buyer of the Spirio as “the Great Listener.” “It doesn’t sound like a recording. It sounds like the artist is sitting there playing in your living room. It’s quite remarkable,” says Blank. “Conceivably, you could have a concert at Carnegie Hall with Lang Lang performing on a Steinway piano there, and that signal is broadcast, through the Internet, to Spirio pianos all over the world.”
Canada. The couple lived in a duplex, one half of it used by other teachers, with the Parkers running two full-blown studios in their residence. Parker, a Juilliard graduate who now plays all over the world, remembers his father had a Steinway concert grand, but he was forbidden to play it because he “hadn’t earned the right.” Finally, he got the go-ahead. “I’d never experienced such a thrilling rumble as from the bass on that piano, and I’d never heard a tone sustained for so long. That’s one great thing about the Steinway. Those pianos really speak to the
Listen for notes played on Steinway pianos at Inner Circle concerts and performances in and around Oakridge Centre.
back of the hall.”
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LUXE LIFE — Mission Hill Family Estate
COLLECTION: AT MISSION HILL FAMILY ESTATE, WINE AND ART ARE NATURAL BEDFELLOWS
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LUXE LIFE
If you were to sum up the theme of the art collection of Mission Hill Family Estate, the phrase “strength, ingenuity and deep European roots” might do the trick. It also happens to describe winery proprietor Anthony von Mandl, whose backbone and resourcefulness are the stuff of B.C. legend. Von Mandl is a self-made man who parlayed a job as a wine merchant into realizing an ambitious life-long dream to place the Okanagan Valley on the world wine map. He’s also a “great patron of the arts,” according to Ingo Grady, Mission Hill’s Director of Wine Education and self-described “key curator.” Mission Hill’s founder has collected art for years, Grady explained. The B.C.-born, Europe-educated entrepreneur, whose family came from Austria and the Czech Republic, holds the civilized view that wine, food and art are best appreciated in juxtaposition with one another, and a little music doesn’t hurt. Over the years, von Mandl has collected flasks dating back to Roman times, ancient pottery vessels from as long ago as the Bronze Age—one piece among them 5,000 years old—and works by painters Fernand Léger and Paul Klee. Several years ago, says Grady, von Mandl was taken with sculptures by French artist Nathalie Decoster, which he first saw at Alain Ducasse’s restaurant, La Bastide de Moustiers, in Provence, and at Château Smith Haut-Lafitte, in Bordeaux. He had 50 works by Decoster shipped to B.C. for the winery’s first art exhibition in 2011, and purchased six which are on permanent display.
“Her main theme is these curved hoops that sometimes cradle human forms,” says Grady. “They’re like the metal hoops that hold barrels together, but more importantly, the circle of these hoops represents the tightrope of time.” In Reykjavik, Iceland, von Mandl and his wife spotted the work of Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Last year, Mission Hill’s Encounters with Iceland show featured Thorarinsdottir’s androgynous cast iron and aluminum figures draped over the lawns and buildings of the winery, including its 17th century Renaissance fountain. Five of them still grace the winery site.
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The artists’ works fit in well with Mission Hill’s architecture, designed by Seattle’s Tom Kundig, and landscape, designed by Ron Lovinger. Modern in tone, they contain an element of surprise. So does the building, which is unusually European-looking for a Western Canadian structure, and the manicured, formal site, which opens onto a spectacular view of B.C.’s natural beauty. “(Kundig) once referred to the winery architecture as ‘second-look’ architecture – not a Hollywood flick, but more of, maybe, a Bergman movie. ‘Second-look architecture’ includes the unexpected. You turn a corner, and there’s a sculpture. You turn a corner, and the trees have grown,” says Grady. A mix of old and new is an essential component of Mission Hill’s collection, which includes bronze bells in the bell tower that were handcrafted in Annecy, France by a 200-year-old foundry. Taking pride of place in the winery’s reception hall is a unique tapestry commissioned by Russian-born painter Marc Chagall, called Animal Tales, based on his 1969 painting of the same name. One of just 29 Chagall tapestries ever made, its vibrant, surrealistic scene depicts a fiddler, a flying woman and animals behaving like people. It was created by Yvette Cauquil-Prince, who also made Pablo Picasso’s tapestries. Grady naturally believes that Mission Hill is worth a journey for its wines alone. He points out, however, that not everybody drinks. “Art can make a visit to a winery so much more enticing. Visiting Mission Hill is an amazing day spent even if you’re a teetotaler, between the art, the culinary side and the sheer beauty of the Okanagan.”
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1 THE VAULT IN THE UNDERGROUND BARREL CELLARS 2 THE CHAGALL ROOM AT MISSION HILL FAMILY ESTATE 3 J OURNEY BY ICELANDIC ARTIST STEINUNN THÓRARINSDÓTTIR —A LIFE-SIZE ALUMINUM SCULPTURE THAT SITS IN THE WINERY’S 17TH CENTURY RENAISSANCE FOUNTAIN 4 THE WINERY ENTRANCE AND KEYSTONE
Oakridge is pleased to serve Mission Hill wines—a true pioneer of B.C. winemaking—at many of our events and parties.
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O A K R I D G E C E N T R E .C O M
650 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Telephone 1.604.261.2511