Rolex Celebrates 20 Years of Its Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative

What do French architect Anne Lacaton, English film and theater director Phyllida Lloyd and the late German author Hans Magnus Enzensberger have in common with electronica composer Brian Eno and Hollywood bighitters Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese?

All are established luminaries who have taken part in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative: the philanthropic arm of Rolex’s long-standing adherence to its founder

Hans Wilsdorf’s mission to foster excellence in all cultural disciplines.

This is a big year for the Mentors and Protégés Programme—its 20th anniversary—and between May 26 and 28, Rolex will celebrate this milestone in Athens with a series of performances, exhibitions and talks with new and old mentors and protégés from the program. Since its launch, the scheme has paired 58 of the world’s most important figures from the arts with their younger counterparts,

in Athens

to nurture their talents. The word “sustainability,” its underlying philosophy insists, should refer to culture as well as climate.

The program’s 2023–2024 cycle is currently seeing Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui team up with young South African visual artist Bronwyn Katz; British author Bernardine Evaristo (above left) with Ghanaian writer Ayesha Harruna Attah (above right); and Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke with Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel (to name just three pairings).

All mentors and protégés will spend a minimum of six weeks together over the course of the two-year program.

Whoever is selected next can be confident of the program bolstering their future prospects: Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s 2010–2011 protégée, Tracy K. Smith, served as poet laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, while Whitney White— Phyllida Lloyd’s protégée—is a Brooklyn-based Obie Award– and Lilly Award–winning stage director.

MID-2024

Porto Habacoa, in the Bahamas, Becomes One of the World’s Most Environmentally Sustainable Megayacht Marinas

A new superyacht marina in the Caribbean, set to be the first of its kind in the region, is on track to be a crucial stopping point for vessels traveling from the US—as well as an ultra-luxe, secluded and beautiful destination in its own right.

Set on the southern tip of the Great Abaco island in the Bahamas, 160 nautical miles east of

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Porto Habacoa will have a channel entry depth of 26 feet and a basin of 18 feet, allowing it to accommodate superyachts that often struggle to moor in the shallow waters of the Bahamas. Thanks to these unique benefits, the marina will draw the international crowd to berth here when it opens, with the capacity to host 136 superyachts ranging from 150 to 698 feet in its basin.

Far more than a place to break a journey, Porto Habacoa will be a destination in itself: a resort community featuring a yacht club, designer shopping, luxury spa, 18-hole golf course, 50-room hotel and prime real estate as well as extensive free facilities for visiting yacht crews. The development is also notable for its environmental credentials. Situated adjacent to Abaco National Park, which boasts more than 20,000 acres of untouched forest, the marina has been expertly designed to minimize the impact on the serenity and biodiversity of the surrounding ecosystem. (It has been created by land excavation rather than ocean dredging.)

Solar energy will take advantage of the Bahamas’s 340 days of sunshine per year to supply up to 30 percent of the marina’s energy needs. And it will be the first development in the Bahamas to use rainwater recycling as the sole source of potable water for residents and guests.

In addition, the marina will fund an extensive coral rescue facility in partnership with the Perry Institute for Marine Science—encouraging positive growth and sustainable development both above and below the water. Another draw? Plans are underway to build an airport dedicated to private air traffic, which will nestle a 20-minute ride through untouched forest away from your hotel suite, home or superyacht.

SUMMER 2023

Ariodante Travel Launches a New Program of Gastronomic Experiences

“Truly exceptional travel is about magic, intrigue and creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Ricardo Araújo, Ariodante’s CEO, tells Private World.

Self-styled “travel alchemists,” Ariodante is on a mission to make the impossible possible. “Each excursion the company dreams up is a unique creation, crafted around travelers’ interests, passions, lifestyle—and dreams,” says Araújo. “When we start a new project, it takes months to come up with the right storyline and components. Then it’s several months again to find the right providers, negotiate everything and create every detail— because what we offer is precisely what’s not on offer. Think haute couture over made-to-measure.”

A prime example is the company’s Leonardo da Vinci itinerary, which took seven months to formulate and included visits to typically off-limits areas of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Louvre and direct access to rarely seen works in Milan and Paris, including da Vinci’s original codices.

Now, Ariodante is creating a season of one-off gastronomic trips—life-changing experiences—for VistaJet’s members. In keeping with Ariodante’s broader philosophy, usually unobtainable experiences with the world’s best chefs and illustrious guests will play a major role in these themed threeday adventures that will culminate with a black-tie dinner.

“For the past few years, Ariodante has crafted countless unimaginable gastronomic experiences as part of our immersive travel creations, and today we’re putting gastronomy at the center of a new travel concept, created to be the quintessential expression of fine dining,” says Araújo. “It’ll be a way to discover the world through the art of some of the greatest chefs on the planet: an all-access pass to the world’s most extraordinary gastronomic dreams.”

Ariodante is also working on itineraries centered around science and conservation. Given that this is a company already involved in a science-andconservationfocused voyage of discovery in the Arctic, designed in collaboration with the client, on the islands north of Greenland— requiring satellites, a team of 120 people and at least one year of preparation— expectations are, naturally, very high.

Construction of Oceanix Busan—a Floating Metropolis off the Coast of South Korea—Completes

Speaking at a UN Security Council debate, “Sealevel Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security,” in New York earlier this year, UN secretary-general António Guterres described rising tides caused by climate change as “a torrent of trouble,” adding that “saltwater intrusion can decimate jobs and entire economies in key industries like agriculture, fisheries and tourism.”

Some predict that even hitting the target set out by the Paris Agreement— to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—would only cut, rather than eliminate, sea-level rise. Hence the appetite for schemes such as this, a collaboration between the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Korean port city of Busan and Oceanix, a company that builds floating cities for sustainable human habitation on the ocean.

Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, Oceanix Busan will be able to withstand natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and tsunamis. It is to be constructed from locally sourced replenishable materials such as wood and fast-growing bamboo, as well as biorock, a kind of limestone that forms in seawater from dissolved minerals when a small electric current is run through metal. According to Oceanix, biorock is “the only marine construction material that grows, heals itself and becomes stronger with age.”

Bjarke Ingels, founder and partner of Bjarke Ingels Group, talking to Private World about this “humanmade ecosystem,” says: “Oceanix City is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, channeling flows of energy, water, food and waste to create a blueprint for a modular maritime metropolis. It’s designed to grow, transform and adapt organically over time, evolving from neighborhoods to cities with the possibility of scaling indefinitely.

“Floating cities can be prefabricated onshore and towed to their final site, reducing construction costs. This, paired with the low cost of leasing space at sea, creates an affordable model of living. These factors mean that affordable housing can be rapidly deployed to the most vulnerable coastal locations on the frontlines of climate change and serve as the foundations for future resilient communities.”

Fans of Ingels’s work should look out, too, for a new terminal being built at Zurich Airport. Expected to open in 2032, the building will be constructed largely from locally sourced timber.

NOVEMBER 2023

Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Winners Announced

The watch industry, like many others, is awash with awards parties. And if “best watch of the year” seems even more arbitrary than “best film” or “best car,” that’s because the creative variety in contemporary watchmaking makes such black-and-white assertions all but impossible. How does one compare, say, Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, a steely icon half a century in the making, to MB&F’s brilliant but barely comprehensible Legacy Machine Sequential Evo?

Of those awards bodies that make such tricky distillations, one is considered nonpareil: the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). Hosted in Geneva every fall since 2001, and overseen by the Canton of Geneva, the GPHG has evolved over those two decades.

These days, a diverse body of around 650 volunteer pundits make up the GPHG Academy. This body of experts creates a short list of 90 watches in 15 categories, including chronographs, clocks and chronometric accuracy. Those are then passed to a jury of 30 to vote for the winners. Voting is a robust process. Jurors cast their votes secretly, under the watchful eye of a local notary. And yet, the event is not without controversy: Luminaries such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega and Vacheron Constantin have gone awardless in recent years.

None of this has undermined the status of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève as the Oscars of watchmaking, though. MB&F’s founder, Maximilian Büsser, teared up on stage last year when receiving the top gong, the Aiguille d’Or, for his chronograph.

Bulgari chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin’s acceptance speech, following the Octo Finissimo Ultra 10th Anniversary’s Audacity Prize win, lasted almost 10 minutes.

Our predictions for 2023? It’s hard not to see industry darling Rexhep Rexhepi (pictured), winner of last year’s Men’s Watch Prize, stealing center stage with his Akrivia watches. Audemars Piguet may yet return to the podium having reinvented the ultra-complication with its Code 11.59 Universelle, and you’d not get long odds on IWC stirring this year’s jury with a new Ingenieur based on the original by watchmaking’s most celebrated designer, Gérald Genta.

APRIL 2023

Salone del Mobile in Milan Comes Back to Life

After a Covid-enforced three-year absence, Salone del Mobile returns to its traditional spring schedule this year, taking place in Milan from April 18 to 23.

It brings with it new ideas formed during Supersalone, the special “bridging” event trialed in September 2021 to fill the gap before the main fair could run again. This year, for example, there will be a more fluid, dynamic exhibition setup and a greater focus on circularity and sustainability.

The 2023 program promises several changes, with new brands welcomed to the famous furniture fair, an improved layout to facilitate easier journeys between the pavilions and a radical overhaul of its biennial light event, Euroluce. “We’ve been learning from the past few years: from the pandemic, from the experience of Supersalone, from our exhibitors and our visitors,” says Salone’s president, Maria Porro.

Of course, much of the Salone experience lies in exploring beyond the pavilions, discovering design highlights and hubs throughout the city. Always top of the list are the presentations from Dimorestudio.

Founded in Milan in 2003 by Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci, the architectural and design studio always produces stunning, immersive installations across two venues—including its rotating collection of contemporary designers and modern masters at its 19th-century gallery in the Brera district.

Also worth a visit are Rossana Orlandi’s perfectly curated gallery shows. The legendary patron of Milanese design’s two-story space on Via Matteo Bandello, set within a beautiful secluded courtyard, is a must-see.

The magic of Salone lies in chancing upon the unexpected—be it a new brand, an old favorite or an inspired collaboration—within the official Salone exhibition space or hidden among Milan’s streets and alleyways. But wherever you go, always ensure you end up at Bar Basso, the place to see and be seen after hours, as the great and the good of the design world descend on this Milanese institution for an Aperol spritz, spilling onto the road outside—a Salone experience that has been denied for too long during lockdown.