EDEN BEING | ISSUE 05 by Uncommonly

Â£7.00

Deluxe collection Deluxe collection Caviar Grey Caviar 18” Grey Trolley 18”Case, Trolley 26” Case, Trolley 26”Case, Trolley 30” Case, Extra 30” deep Extra Suitcase, deep Suitcase, 33” Extra 33” deep Extra Suitcase deep Suitcase

ORCHARD the perfect pa iring

C E L E B R AT I N G CO N SC I O US LUX U RY AT E L I E RS WA ROVS K I . CO M

Singita Lebombo & Sweni Lodges, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Experience natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest story.

w w w. s i n g i t a . c o m

“Welcome to the latest edition of Eden Being, Oetker Collection’s lifestyle magazine”

A great hotel is an interesting mix of the local and the global. The local, in that hotels are all about location – whether it’s being in the heart of a city, like The Lanesborough in London, or nestled in a spectacular landscape, such as the palm-fringed beaches of Jumby Bay. All of our hotels exert a powerful sense of location – and in the case of the legendary Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, have often played a starring role in their locale’s story. And yet, all of the above gives these hotels an allure that is truly global – and which attracts a constantly changing cast of guests from all around the world. Perhaps you are staying with us to enjoy exquisite food, as created by Eric Frechon, celebrating 20 years at Le Bristol Paris. Perhaps for rest, relaxation and some compelling local art at Château Saint-Martin & Spa. Perhaps to live the country house life in the grandest style at Masterpiece Estates’ new gem, Farleigh Wallop, in the Hampshire countryside. Or perhaps simply to enjoy the finest hospitality that our people can provide. Whatever you are looking for, we hope you find it, and plenty more, in your stay with us.

FR ANK M ARRENBACH

CEO, Oetker Collection

CONTENTS

TOP OF THE FOR M

An exclusive interview with sculptor Tony Cragg

TH IS IS TH E LIFE

Discover the historic Hampshire estate of Farleigh Wallop

A TA S T E O F C O U N T RY L I V I N G

Welcome to Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates

F I L M S TA R S

Why top photographers are going back to the darkroom

P R O V E N Ç A L L O V E S T O RY

A romantic break at Château Saint-Martin & Spa

PICT U R E PER FECT

The iconic art of Provence and the Côte d’Azur

T H E L I N E O F BE AU T Y

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc teams up with Riva

G E M S O F N AT U R E

The essence of our hotels in flowers and jewellery

NOR M A N C ONQU EST

Celebrating Eric Frechon’s 20 years at Le Bristol Paris

T H E A R T O F T R AV E L

The evocative style of vintage luggage labels

SOM E LI K E I T HO T

Our ancient love affair with taking the waters

ISLE OF DR EA MS

A dip into the tropical paradise of Jumby Bay Island

T R AV E L J O U R N A L

Perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi’s travel inspiration

HOM E FROM HOM E

NFL icon Fran Tarkenton on his love of St Barths

104

PE OPLE , PL ACES , N EWS

Upcoming highlights from Oetker Collection

106

C A L E N DA R

From festivals to horse-racing, welcome to our world

109

T H E MOM EN T

Brazilian icon Francisco “Baby” Pignatari

112

CONTRIBUTORS

SARAH CROMPTON

G R É G O I R E K A LT

Writer & Broadcaster

Photographer

For many years the arts editor of British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Sarah Crompton writes extensively about theatre, art and culture. In this issue, she speaks to Sir Tony Cragg CBE, the Liverpool-born sculptor who has lived and worked in Germany since the 1970s, and whose work will be exhibited at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc this summer.

Grégoire Kalt is a Paris-based photographer who specialises in travel and style, photographing anything from Brazilian beach culture to the horsemen of Mongolia and the Scottish Highlands. In this issue he turns his lens on the green hills and cypress trees that make up the idyllic Provençal setting of Oetker Collection’s Château Saint-Martin & Spa.

G U Y WA L T E R S

FIONA JOSEPH

Historian & Journalist

Journalist

In this issue, historian and journalist Guy Walters visits Farleigh Wallop in Hampshire to tell the story of the Wallop family’s centuries-old connection with this English region, and of their stunning country house, now one of Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates. Walters is a lecturer in British history at London’s New College of the Humanities.

Freelance journalist Fiona Joseph has written extensively about luxury – from watches and jewellery to travel and style. Formerly fashion editor at Tatler and fashion and beauty director at Condé Nast Traveller (UK), in this issue she describes the singular appeal of Jumby Bay, the private island off Antigua in the Caribbean.

BASTIEN BROUSSE

Florist Bastien Brousse studied at Fleuristes de Paris before launching his own studio, L’Art Poétique, in the 16th arrondissement and taking charge of the floral arrangements at Le Bristol Paris. In this issue, Brousse chose flowers that are emblematic of Oetker Collection’s nine iconic hotels for our shoot combining flowers with jewellery.

O E T K E R

C O L L E C T I O N

M A G A Z I N E

Creative Director, Eden Being Martin Tonks Head of Global Communications, Oetker Collection Anne Benichou Marketing Manager, Oetker Collection Laëtitia Guy-Debout

Editor James Collard Art Director Frankie Shaw Picture Editor Emma Hammar

Commercial Director Chris Wilson, Luxx Media, chris@luxx-media.com

Special thanks to: All of our colleagues at Oetker Collection

ON THE COV ER The cover photograph was taken on Jumby Bay, the private island just off Antigua in the Caribbean, which is home to Oetker Collection’s resort of that name – and which, as the image suggests, is famous for its fine, palm-fringed beaches.

© Copyright 2019 Eden Being. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission from the publishers. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors it may contain.

Â© Didier Gou rdon

CALIBER RM 07-01

www.richardmille.com

TONY CRAGG

T OP OF TH E FOR M For Sir Tony Cragg CBE, the purpose of sculpture is to enrich our lives and ask questions about how we interact with nature and with our planet. Sarah Crompton meets the Liverpool-born artist whose vibrant, thought-provoking work is currently on show at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc

“It’s what I dream about when I go to bed and it’s what I want to do when I wake up,” says Sir Tony Cragg CBE, his voice full of laughter. “It’s not always fun, because it can be terribly frustrating, but it’s always exciting.” One of Britain’s best and most consistent sculptors is talking about the way his work constantly fills him with emotion. “I’m not doing anybody any favours. I’m not stopping,” adds the 70-year-old, with a hearty guffaw. For more than 40 years, Cragg has been creating work that explores the essence of things: the way material and material forms affect our ideas and emotions. For most of that time he’s been based in Germany, with a large studio in Wuppertal, a post-industrial city south of the Ruhr, where nowadays Cragg’s own sculpture park and the work of the late choreographer Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal are the main cultural attractions. But his work is known, and shown, around the world. He has had significant exhibitions at Tate Liverpool – the city where he was born – at the Louvre, at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, in Madison Square Park in New York, in Tokyo and Milan, Chile and Cuba. The way he talks about sculpture, his voice laced with feeling, reflects the urgency and love with which he views his art-form. Yet he only discovered his vocation when he was on his foundation course at the Gloucestershire College of Art in Cheltenham, England. “We were just told, half-way through the course, that we were going to be working with a sculptor the following week,” he recalls. “I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic. But within a few hours I was completely absorbed. I realised that just as when you look at somebody and you read their face – you’re looking at their facial expression, if they’re smiling, how they’re reacting to your words – it’s the same when you’re making a sculpture, with all the information you glean as you’re looking at material. Every change of form brings with it a new feeling, a new emotional aspect, or a new idea. “That happens in a very fast sequence. It’s faster than a movie in a way; you’re actually dealing with the material 16

TONY CRAGG

Previous pages: sculptor Tony Cragg at work in his studio in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2016

OPENING PAGES: GETTY IMAGES. LEFT: AKAMY

These pages, clockwise from left: Cragg’s 1996 bronze sculpture “Wirbelsäule”; “Arising” (2016) made from painted aluminium; the artist’s 1981 work, “Britain Seen From the North”, was created using plastic, wood, rubber and other materials

changing and then with your own assessment of the form of the material in front of you. It’s incredibly exciting.” That excitement has sustained him through his entire career. In his early days, he worked with ready-made objects, bringing them together in assemblages and reliefs, carefully arranging fragments of different materials to create new images. His inclusion in an exhibition to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee in 1977, when he was still a student at the Royal College of Art (having previously studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art on leaving Cheltenham) set him on his way. The Tate bought one of his most significant early pieces, Britain Seen from the North, made in 1981, which depicts the artist as an outsider, looking at the turmoil of his own country, made of scavenged plastic pieces, some broken and some intact. By the late 1980s, he had established himself as one of Britain’s leading sculptors, winning the Turner Prize in 1988 and representing Britain at the Venice Biennale of that year with pieces made of plaster that The New York Times described as “quick, witty objects”, likely to “leave the biggest mark on the Biennale”, even though Jasper Johns and Jorge Oteiza were exhibiting at the same time. But Cragg’s interests were shifting. It was around this point that he began to explore the potential of more permanent and expensive materials in the form of wood, stone, fibreglass, stainless steel and – above all – bronze, using them to probe and examine structures. “I’m not an artist who just throws things at the wall and thinks, ‘Oh, that looks good,’” he says. “I’m always looking for a structure underneath that which I see; not just the appearance of 18

“What I’ve realised is that there’s not much difference if something is made in wood or if it’s made in bronze. That’s much less important than deciding what the form is” things but asking the question, ‘Why do things look the way they do?’ Rather than just saying, ‘This is how they look.’” This is the interest that drives him on each morning. His sculptures very often begin with drawings. “Most of it is drawn,” he says. “One just needs to sit down and draw. And I do that, every day. It’s my practice. But when people ask where it comes from, I think the obvious thing is that in having just finished one work, you become aware of all the other things you could have done. It’s a case of the path one takes. You become aware of all the options you haven’t taken and so, at the end of making a work, there’s often a tendency to think, ‘What would have happened if I’d done it a different way?’” This sense of confronting an endless series of questions is reflected by the working methods Cragg has devised for himself over the years. He likes to classify and group his sculptures into families and then think about the relationships between them. After the drawings, he makes wooden models out of cut-out pieces of plywood, stacked to create the form. “Sculpture is either additive or subtractive,” he explains. “Working the way I do, I can keep building it up and taking it apart and building it up again to actually arrive at the form I want.” The material is less important than the form. “There are works one makes where one really wants to reflect about a certain material, whether it’s chocolate or DNA. But with the works I’ve been making over the last few years, what I’ve realised is that there’s not much difference if something is made in wood or if it’s made in bronze. That’s much less important than deciding what the form is.” 19

OVER: SLIM AARONS/GETTY IMAGES. THESE PAGES, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: WINFIELD PARKS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE; EMORY KRISTOF/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE; LORD SNOWDON

TONY CRAGG

“Sculpture gives us new experiences, new emotions, new ideas, new language, new freedoms”

Far left: much of Cragg’s early work involved the use of found objects arranged by colour, like this 1979 piece, “Spectrum” Left: “Outspan” (2007). Made from brightly painted bronze, this twisting, fluid, organic sculpture reflects the sculptor’s fascination with material and form

He adds: “Bronze is remarkably good for making polymorphic forms because when it’s liquid you can make very complicated forms, which you can actually work with after they come out of casting. Stainless steel gives work the ultimate physical strength. Elliptical Column, for example, couldn’t have been made using any other material than steel because there’s so much weight involved.” The Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc show consists of pieces from Cragg’s Rational Beings series. “All the work has this very clear dichotomy of being very structured on one level and on the other hand being very free,” he says. “This is part and parcel of what I’ve been interested in for a long time. Even if you take the human figure, we do, by definition, look very organic. But without the geometries that govern us – starting from our molecules and cells, moving through the skeleton and organs – none of it would be ordered. There are underlying structures to everything, even if we call it organic and chaotic. As humans, we’re a mixture of rational and emotional forms and that’s really what the work is.” Each of the works in the exhibition has its own impetus. Caught Dreaming is quite soft, a flow of ideas or thoughts into each other created by cutting out silhouettes in wood then filling the spaces between them; Tommy seeks to catch the personality of Cragg’s son of the same name, charming and energetic; the title of Contradiction, originally made in marble for the Duomo in Milan, sprang from discussions he was having with Catholic theologians at the time. Everything is united, however, by Cragg’s sense that sculpture has a vital contribution to our understanding of the world. “From the moment Marcel Duchamp exhibited the first ready-made [everyday ‘found’ objects but shown as art], you understand that all materials and objects in the world are the subjects of sculpture. People are always

asking what the political aspect of sculpture is, but to me sculpture is a fundamental activity, a political activity. All our language, every term, every number, everything we have in our head, has been born out of our experiences with material. So it’s fundamental. Sculpture gives us new experiences, emotions, ideas, language – new freedoms.” Most human interventions in nature, he adds, are reductive. We cut down a forest to make a field, turn the field into a car park. Because humans pride themselves on being rational, they create buildings with flat surfaces, geometric angles. Sculpture is the opposite. Rather than utilitarian, it’s enriching and challenging, making you see things in different ways. “We impoverish the form of the planet, that’s clear,” he explains. “Sculpture is one of the things that gives us new forms and also provides some of the main questions of our existence: what is our relationship to nature? What are we to do in a world where primary experiences are becoming fewer and we’re dealing solely with information about things? The world is disappearing in front of us. By contrast, sculpture is enriching.” Cragg, who is represented by Blain|Southern gallery, moved to Germany many years ago with his first wife. He has stayed there with his second, and his four children from both marriages. “The Germans have been very generous to me. I’ve been able to teach here, exhibit here and I’ve been looked after in an extraordinary manner,” he says. “And I think I’ve treasured, as well, the seriousness of their lives. They take culture very seriously and I think in some ways I’ve learnt from that aspect of their culture.” With that, he’s off back to work, with his smile and infinite curiosity, to create another form that will enrich the world. Tony Cragg’s work will be on show at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc from 19 April. For information, visit hotel-du-cap-eden-roc.com 21

FARLEIGH WALLOP

T H IS IS T H E LI FE Farleigh Wallop, the ancestral seat of the Earl of Portsmouth, is a stunning 3,000-acre property in the heart of leafy Hampshire. And now, as one of Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates, Farleigh House is available to hire for up to 20 guests. Guy Walters drops in for a tour of this exquisite country house

It used to be pretty hard to live like a lord. For a start, you needed a title, and you only got one of those if you were willing to lend the king a few of your soldiers to help him out of a tight spot, or in later times, donate hundreds of thousands of pounds to a needy prime minister. As well as a title, you also required a country estate with a few thousand acres, complete with a mansion, a village or two, ample room for hunting, shooting and fishing, and scores of flunkeys. Today, though, there are very few lords who still live like this. For the rest of us, it’s possible to bypass the centuries of family history and live the life of a landed aristocrat by hiring a private estate, courtesy of Oetker Collection’s new portfolio of superb British and Irish (and later this year, French) country homes, Masterpiece Estates. It’s hard to think of a better place to sample country estate life than Farleigh House in Hampshire. Although the house is a mere three centuries old, the estate has been in the hands of the same family for over half a millennium. The splendidly named Wallop family has not one title, but three: Earl of Portsmouth, Viscount Lymington and Baron Wallop – one for each generation. Naturally, these come with armorial bearings, which are present all over the estate, in the form of a white shield with a black wavy diagonal line (what heraldry buffs term “a bend wavy sable”) and the family motto, “En suivant la vérité” – “in following the truth”. The present earl, 64-year-old Quentin Wallop, is the 23

OPENING PAGE: MARIANNE MAJERUS GARDEN IMAGES. OPPOSITE: ELIZABETH WICKERS

FARLEIGH WALLOP

Entry via a long tree-lined gravel drive? Of course, sir. Imposing mansion topped with the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coat of arms and a flagpole? Naturally

Previous pages (left): the boating lake at Farleigh Wallop, and (right) the facade of Farleigh House topped by the family’s armorial bearings Opposite (top): the house is ringed by beautiful gardens; (below) the library Below: Newton Wallop, the 6th Earl of Portsmouth. Right: The 14th-century seal of Thomas Wallop, found in 2006 near the Hampshire village of Nether Wallop

tenth holder of the earldom, although running the house is more the remit of his 37-year-old son, Oliver, known as Viscount Lymington, who is understandably evangelical about his family home. “Farleigh is a truly special place,” he says. “The estate itself has never been bought or sold in recorded history, passing only on death or marriage. I have lived here all my life and feel privileged to be able to call it home. While I may be slightly biased, the house performs the tricky balancing act of remaining welcoming while having a fantastic sense of occasion.” Despite his bias, Viscount Lymington is correct – Farleigh is a special place. Everything is just as it should be. Entry via a long tree-lined gravel drive? Of course, sir. Imposing mansion dating from the 18th century topped with the family’s coat of arms and a flagpole? Naturally. Entrance hall and grand staircase complete with vast oil paintings of ancestors? We have just the thing. Beautiful octagonal ballroom looking onto an immaculate lawn and rolling acres of Hampshire countryside? You’ve come to the right place. In fact, everything about Farleigh House is immaculate, not least because Viscount Lymington and his wife – who do not live in the house itself – have invested heavily in making every room absolutely flawless. And Lady Lymington is an interior designer who in the past worked for fashionable hotelier Kit Kemp, so she has a professional eye for elegance and an instinct for comfort. But this is not to say that Farleigh feels in any way characterless or over-designed, because there’s enough in the house to still make it feel like a family home. There’s a visitors’ book – complete with the names of royalty and that of a very famous (and posh) pop star, and in the downstairs lavatory, there are some of Viscount Lymington’s old Eton school photographs. If you peer closely enough at the picture of the Junior Colts C football team from the mid-1990s, you’ll see standing next to a teenaged Viscount Lymington none other than HRH Prince William of Wales. That picture alone is surely enough to convince any guest that they’re staying in the right place. There are plenty of other noteworthy details. In a corridor upstairs is a pair of chairs from the Queen’s coronation in 1953, which are covered in blue velvet and feature the monogram “ERII” beneath a crown. These chairs would have been sat on by the 9th Earl and his wife when they attended the coronation, and many such chairs were kept as mementoes by peers of the realm and other guests. Then there are some rather intriguing objects housed in a display case just before one enters the kitchen. These 25

FARLEIGH WALLOP

are from the family’s collection of “Shackletonia” – items connected with the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. Among them is the Chilean Order of Merit presented to Shackleton in 1916, as well as three firearms, all used by the explorer on three expeditions. For those who know about such things, these are a sidelever sidelock ejector gun, a Winchester .44 carbine, and a Belgian 8mm revolver. Whatever they all are, they certainly look capable of stopping even the most vicious of Antarctica’s penguins. But there’s so much more to staying at Farleigh than the house itself. The British aristocracy is, in many ways, defined by the land it has held and worked for centuries. No matter the weather, it would be an utter shame not to get out of the house and explore not only the 25-acre garden, but also the surrounding thousands of acres. If you really want to get an appreciation of the connection that families like the Wallops have with their estates, then take the opportunity to walk around, and see how the land is farmed and planted. Think of the satisfaction you may have enjoyed when planting a single tree – and now multiply that by the knowledge that you and your family for the past five centuries have been responsible for the planting of every tree as far as the eye can see. To understand that is to really feel like a lord, and in doing so, to help get the most out of your stay. The garden is exquisite. A walk down an avenue of trees takes you to some wrought-iron park gates, beyond which you’ll find a boating lake, complete with a jetty and a rowing boat – which would be an ideal way to work up an appetite for a sundowner. Better still, take along a bottle of champagne and a special companion, and just drift on the lake until you need another bottle. And yes, there is a pool. And a place to land your helicopter. For those more horticulturally minded, an orangery and a kitchen garden will prove to be treats in themselves, and it goes without saying that much of what is grown in them ends up on the plates of guests. It is perhaps at dinner in the evening when the full “lording it up” experience can reach its apogee. While some guests like to keep things informal, it seems a shame to slouch around the sumptuous dining room in jeans while gobbling a few forkfuls of pasta. No, this a room for a proper dinner for all 20 of you, complete with black tie, full silver, candlelight, waiters and footmen – a room in which to be served a delicious, multi-course meal. Indeed, if he’s around, Viscount Lymington might well pop in for a pre-dinner cocktail, but as a working man who once listed his job in Burke’s Peerage as “shelf-stacker with Sainsbury’s”, he’s no performing waxwork. That’s the thing about lords these days. They have to work hard. And as for the rest of us, well, we can enjoy the fruits of their labours. To book your stay at the Farleigh Wallop estate, please visit masterpiece-estates.com, call +44 (0) 207 079 1621, or email info@masterpiece-estates.com

Opposite, from top: map of Farleigh Wallop; a carved stone fountain in the estate’s stunning gardens Right: the house’s flawless decor was curated by Lady Lymington, an interior designer by profession

A walk down the avenue brings you to wrought-iron gates, beyond which there’s a lake, complete with jetty and rowing boat – the ideal way to work up an appetite for a sundowner

MASTERPIECE ESTATES

A TA S T E O F C O U N T RY L I V I N G To visit one of Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates is to experience the rarefied lifestyle of Britain’s aristocracy first hand. James Collard explains how these remarkable properties have played such an important role in British history – and why they’re now the perfect place for a celebration

For centuries, country houses have exerted a powerful presence across the British Isles and Europe, visible symbols of aristocratic life – the seat of great families, and the spectacular setting for some very grand house parties. They vary enormously, from Elizabethan manors with formal gardens and leaded windows to classical mansions set in parkland, or ancient châteaux transformed into comfortable – if vast and dramatic – family homes. During the 20th century, many of such houses were the victims of sweeping social change, demolished or turned into museums. But a number have survived, and now – under the auspices of Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates – some of the finest examples are opening their doors so that guests may experience country house life with a party of friends and family. The appeal of a weekend or a week in the country is timeless – although we all get something slightly different out of it. Some of us head to the country for rural pursuits like shooting and fishing, others for long walks in the great outdoors. And once indoors, there are splendid surroundings to be luxuriated in, and a house steeped in history. For all of the above – and the perfect setting for a convivial break – Masterpiece Estates’ growing portfolio offers an extraordinary diversity of superb country houses. There’s the Irish castle that was once the home of a Broadway star married to an English aristocrat; a 17th-century Scottish mansion; an imposing Provençal château; a lodge on a famous estate in England’s scenic South Downs; and more… Each of these has a singular appeal. What all Masterpiece Estates possess, however, is the highest level of service and hospitality, with a host on hand should you need anything – from a day’s shooting to a cultural tour, or the most exquisite of gatherings, celebrated in style. 28

Above: the Garden Room at Kinross House in Scotland Opposite, top: Kinross House was built in the late 17th century by the architect Sir William Bruce Right: Cowdray Park in West Sussex, ancestral seat of Viscount Cowdray

KINROSS HOUSE Described by Daniel Defoe as “the most beautiful and regular piece of architecture in Scotland”, Kinross House is a late-17thcentury mansion overlooking Loch Leven, and home to an important art collection. Steeped in history, the lovingly restored home has 14 bedrooms, while the adjacent Coach House has a further 10. The vast grounds include formal gardens, woodland and, on a nearby island, the ruined Loch Leven Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was once imprisoned – which can be visited by boat.

C O W D R AY PA R K The ancestral home of Lord Cowdray is a country house set in extensive grounds in the gently rolling hills of West Sussex. With 22 en-suite bedrooms, the interiors of the house are sumptuous, and the facilities exceptional – from indoor and outdoor pools to a billiards room, tennis court, a polo field that is renowned the world over, and even a bowling alley. The grounds, meanwhile, include the romantic ruins of Cowdray House, a Tudor mansion where Elizabeth I was once a guest.

Some of us head to the country for rural pursuits like shooting and fishing, others for long walks in the great outdoors 29

MASTERPIECE ESTATES

Below, from top: Lismore Castle in County Waterford, Ireland; Cornwall’s Boconnoc estate, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book

LISMORE CASTLE Lismore Castle in Ireland’s County Waterford has had some celebrated owners, from poet and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh to chemist Robert Boyle, a British Prime Minister, and the Broadway star Adele Astaire – sister of Fred – who married into the Cavendish family, the English aristocratic clan that has owned Lismore since the 1750s. Sleeping up to 27 guests in great style, the castle has an important collection of Old Masters, while the superb gardens contain contemporary sculptures, but it retains the intimate feel of a family home – albeit a very grand one.

BOCONNOC HOUSE There has been a Boconnoc House in this beautiful spot in Cornwall in England’s scenic West Country for so long, it even appears in the 11th century Domesday Book. But the current house – which guests arrive at via a two-mile-long (3.2km) private drive – is an elegant 18thcentury mansion containing superb reception rooms and bedrooms sleeping 18 (with accommodation for a further 22 in cottages nearby). This is a spectacular country house in the English tradition – and it has been refurbished lovingly by the Fortescue family, who have lived here for generations.

GORDON CASTLE Gordon Castle is the centuriesold home of the Gordon Lennox family, for countless generations seat of the Dukes of Gordon and, since the mid-20th century, lovingly restored by a cadet branch of this aristocratic clan. One of Scotland’s great sporting estates, there is superb fly fishing, supported by expert “gillies”, beautiful grounds, including a walled garden, and the castle itself, which combines elegant Georgian interiors with a dramatic ancient tower steeped in Scottish history. Fully staffed, with a host on hand to anticipate your every whim, Gordon Castle sleeps 18 guests.

STOCKTON HOUSE Stockton House was built in 1600, on the cusp of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, but has recently been stunningly restored to make it a classic English country house with the occasional contemporary twist – such as the dining area with a vast window overlooking an elegant outdoor swimming pool. The exterior features handsome gables, decorated with flint, while indoors there are fine entertaining spaces, such as the famous Great Chamber. And the location is Wiltshire’s Wylye Valley – and some of England’s finest countryside – the perfect setting for this characterful private residence.

Top: Gordon Castle in Morayshire is considered one of Scotland’s finest sporting estates Below: Stockton House, a 17th-century country house located in Wiltshire’s picturesque Wylye Valley

MASTERPIECE ESTATES

GLEN AFFRIC This celebrated sporting estate is located in a glen, or valley, often described as the most beautiful in the Scottish Highlands, a region famed for its natural splendour. There’s ample shooting, deer stalking and fishing to be enjoyed here – and glorious accommodation for up to 20 guests overlooking Loch Affric in the stunning Victorian Lodge and Stable Cottage, which once belonged to famous 19th-century sportsman, Lord Tweedmouth. And what a landscape it commands: 10,000 acres of wilderness that fully deserves its National Nature Reserve appellation.

HOUND LODGE In the chalky downlands of West Sussex lies the Goodwood Estate, home of the world-famous Goodwood Racecourse – and Hound Lodge, which was once home to 100 hunting hounds and is today an elegant yet cosy bolthole. Restored by leading architect Ptolemy Dean, the beautiful interiors house a collection of hunting prints – including works by the two key hunting artists of the 20th century, FA Stewart and Lionel Edwards. Twenty guests can be accommodated in 10 rooms, named after the canine stars of the historic Goodwood Hunt.

To book your stay at one of Oetker Collection’s Masterpiece Estates, please visit masterpiece-estates.com, call +44 (0) 207 079 1621, or email info@masterpiece-estates.com 32

Top: Glen Affric offers a range of sporting activities overseen by some of the world’s best gamekeepers Below: Hound Lodge’s rooms are named after the Glorious Twenty-Three – stars of the historic Goodwood Hunt

Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Orlinski Red Ceramic. Unique red ceramic case and bezel inspired by the sculptor Richard Orlinski. Skeleton chronograph movement. Red rubber strap. Limited edition of 200 pieces.

BOUTIQUES GENÈVE • PARIS • LONDON • BERLIN • NEW YORK MIAMI • BEVERLY HILLS • LAS VEGAS MOSCOW • DUBAI • TOKYO • HONG KONG SINGAPORE • SAINT-TROPEZ • CANNES COURCHEVEL • ZERMATT • ZÜRICH

Butterflies, 2013. Aluminium. 560 x 1600 x 420 cm

1 avenue Henri Dunant, Palais de la Scala, 98000 Monaco | + 377 9797 5424 | monaco@operagallery.com | operagallery.com N e w Yo r k M i a m i A s p e n L o n d o n P a r i s M o n a c o G e n e v a Z u r i c h D u b a i B e i r u t H o n g K o n g S i n g a p o r e S e o u l

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

FI LM S TA R S Now that we can all take high-quality snaps on our smartphones, the days of film photography are surely numbered. Or are they? Oliver Bennett discovers why some high-profile digital refuseniks are sticking with film, insisting it provides a superior experience for photographer and viewer alike

Above: having first made his name as a war photographer, Don McCullin has continued to work throughout the world. His epic photograph of the ruins of Palmyra in Syria demonstrates the unrivalled graphic quality and texture of film images

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Monochrome and with a brooding moral magnificence, the 250 silver gelatin photographs on display at Don McCullin’s recent Tate Britain exhibition were each hand-printed in his home darkroom, from an archive of 60,000 negatives, mostly taken on a battered Nikon F. Proper photography, then: the polar opposite of a selfie. But why, when your smartphone can take a photograph, would you bother? Because, said McCullin, the globally renowned reportage photographer who made his name with compelling images of the Vietnam War, photography has been “hijacked” by the digital camera with its ephemeral feed of instantly forgettable pictures – and film still rules. For most of us, it’s hard to beat the portable immediacy of digital photography. But film is coming back – and not just for the McCullins of this world. Resisting the march of the disposable digital age (where most of us don’t look twice at our digital snaps), new darkrooms are popping up across the globe. Colleges are teaching film photography as a fundamental skill. A younger generation has taken to film, both as part of a rediscovery of analogue tech and a reaction to the dizzy acceleration of digital. These new aficionados talk of the “grain” and of the “living image”, while decrying

A younger generation has taken to film... these new aficionados talk of the “grain” and of the “living image”, while decrying the digital desert

Left: Dafydd Jones’ shots of revellers in 1980s Oxford led to his working for Tatler and Vanity Fair. He has recently returned to shooting with film and making his own prints of his most famous photos, like this one from 1984, “Burning boat, Oriel”

Below: New York-based Emily Soto’s striking portrait and fashion photography is in high demand. Frequently using Polaroid, her work has an arresting, lyrical quality

the digital desert. There is even experimentation with old techniques such as using a camera obscura, wet-plate processes and sun-burning photographic papers. As Sarah Krueger, Head of Department, Photographs, at Phillips New York, attests, “The medium seems to be boundless and full of creativity. It’s a dynamic time for photography.” It’s partly an argument about quality. “Film is thought filtered through chemistry and physics,” says gallery owner Michael Hoppen. “I liken it to drawing from life. A film photograph is an object: like a sculpture or a painting.” And it’s also about the process of taking a film photograph, which involves properly looking at your subject: thinking and composing. “Photography with film has a different rigour: the framing, the lighting, the exposure and the emotion,” says Monaco-based photo-journalist Nick Danziger, whose work is in London’s National Portrait Gallery. “It involves concentration. It gets you in the zone.” And you don’t want to waste expensive film, which enforces an inherent discipline. Moreover, as Michael Collins, who specialises in largeformat images of landscapes and industrial spaces, puts it, “Film is simply more mysterious. And it really has the edge when it comes to reproducing certain things, like sky.” Hoppen’s take on the film v digital debate is considerably less equivocal: “Digital photography can be like bad Chinese food,” he declares. “You still feel hungry after looking at it.” Sometimes, digital’s sheeny pixel mosaic just can’t compete with the nourishing imagery of film. At a recent symposium on “Slow Looking” (a take on the “slow food” movement), Daniel Blochwitz, curator of Photo Basel 2019, discussed film’s comeback. “It’s curious that ‘digital natives’ [those who have grown up with digital] are in love with film, but it’s attracting many converts,” says Blochwitz, musing that some have a retro-nostalgic motive. “But it can’t be denied that using film is a more considered art.” It rewards the photographer and the viewer alike. Some photographers are reviving the whole darkroom process, including Dafydd Jones, who famously chronicled the London and New York social scenes for Tina Brown’s Tatler and Vanity Fair in the 1980s and ’90s. He has now returned to developing his own prints. “I was an early adopter of digital and loved it being so easy to shoot and catalogue,” he says. “But now I’m printing photographs that I’ve overlooked and it’s fantastic and satisfying.” As well as these returnees, there’s a growing cohort of younger photographers choosing to work in film, from globally sought-after fashion photographers such as Philip Sinden, Emily Soto and Charlotte Wales to documentary art photographers like Cian Oba-Smith, who says that shooting on film keeps his work more “honest”. Camera companies are responding to the trend. The Leica M-A has a cult following for its muscular engineering. In 2017 Kodak Alaris, the revived Eastman Kodak company, reintroduced Ektachrome colour slide film, dropped five years before. And there’s a knock-on effect on digital photography too. Fujifilm is making JPEGs that look like old film images; VSCO has created softer colours for its digital

Right: Yoshihiko Ueda’s “Quinault No.18” – shot in ancient woodlands in America’s Washington state – communicates a seductive otherworldliness

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

prints – it has long been a complaint from film aficionados that digital colour is flat and atonal; and wider culture is interested: consider surprise cinema hit Finding Vivian Maier, about the lost American street photographer. Her beautiful and mysterious images taken in the 1950s and ’60s have found a passionate new audience and revived the notion of photographer as inquisitive flâneur: an idea at odds with the depthless imagery of Instagram. Of course digital is easier, says Dafydd Jones, who is enjoying delving into his archive to produce a series of “Exhibition in a Box” sets of his various series. “But darkroom prints are more archival. They are highly rewarding. I even love the smell.” There’s only a minor hitch, he says: you need space for a darkroom. That doesn’t deter real photographers. Sian Davey, who became one having previously been a psychotherapist, uses a 10x8 large-format camera for her direct images of family members and teenagers. “I knew intuitively I’d get better results with film,” says Davey. “I’m a portrait photographer and it offers the chance to get a greater colour range in skin. Digital is cold.” It’s also more physical: you have to think about the composition and potentially lug heavy equipment around. Some, like Dutch photographer Witho Worms, take the slow snap to its limit: his series Slag Heaps used carbon printing including soot from each mine, shot on a 12x20 camera. “You can actually see the image on top of the paper,” he says. “A digital image sits on the paper while a print from film has thickness that you can feel with a finger.” The return to film is part of a wider movement. With the digital optimism of the Noughties in tatters, books like David Sax’s The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter have charted old technology’s new esteem. Film has found a new connoisseurship from those alert to tone, texture and the “stochastic” or happy accident. Yes, there’s a “fetishisation” of film, says Blochwitz, but it has come as a response to the “onslaught of digital images”. And in the era of “fake news”, film is more credible. As McCullin has said, “Digital photography can be a totally lying kind of experience… the whole thing can’t be trusted really.” In the last two decades photography has come to the fore in contemporary art, a move that Blochwitz says was actually led by digital photography: “The Dusseldorf photographers worked digitally and were able to print huge images that could compete with artworks.” They revived interest in the photographic canon and now the editions market in fine printed photography is booming, with the great French photographers, from Brassaï and Eugène Atget to Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the ultimate collector’s trophies. Some buyers are even “scornful of digital”, she adds. What’s more, few can guess how long digital photographs will actually survive. “A platinum print will probably last 1,000 years,” says Blochwitz. Film still has that archival, documentary heft – and it could be good for you, too. “As well as everything else,” says Jones, “film has helped me slow down in life. Which is great.”

In the era of “fake news”, film is more credible. As Don McCullin has said, “Digital photography can be a totally lying kind of experience… the whole thing can’t be trusted”

Right: Sian Davey’s large-format images often feature family members and teenagers. Shooting with film, she believes, gives her photographs (like this one, “Wilderness”) greater warmth and allows a range and subtlety of skin tone Left: whether shooting fashion photography (as in this striking image for Harper’s Bazaar), portraits or still-life, for Philip Sinden there is “always a role for film” Below: Nick Danziger says that working with film “involves concentration, it gets you in the zone”. This photograph, “Water Hydrant, Parkhead, Glasgow, 1995” is from his “Britain” series, which was turned into a book

CHÂTEAU SAINT-M ARTIN & SPA

P R O V E N Ç A L L O V E S T O RY Perched high in the hills above the French Riviera, the ancient Château Saint-Martin provides a luxurious haven for lovers of beauty, art, gastronomy and natural splendour

PHOTOGRAPHER Grégoire Kalt

From the deep, cool comfort of the ChĂ˘teauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elegant rooms, you can soak up the breathtaking vistas of lush glades, rugged hillsides and sun-baked terraces

The perfect recipe for lunch? Good company, dappled sunshine, a crisp glass of rosé – and the chef ’s daily pick of ingredients from the Château’s garden that morning

Historic charm and wild beauty make this corner of Provence a dream to explore â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is romance and discovery around every corner

ART IN PROVENCE

PI C T U R E PE R F E C T

GETTY IMAGES; BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

With its spectacular light and famously easygoing lifestyle, Provence has long been a magnet for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most celebrated painters and sculptors, and this legacy remains in the wealth of exceptional art to be found within striking distance of ChĂ˘teau Saint-Martin & Spa and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Claire Wrathall embarks on a whistle-stop cultural tour of this fascinating region

These pages, clockwise from far left: Picasso at Villa La Californie in Cannes, 1955. The artist and his family previously lived at Villa la Galloise in Vallauris, adjacent to Antibes, from 19481955; Claudia Comte’s “128 squares and their demonstration” (2015), on show at Domaine du Muy; a poster for Alexander’s 1969 exhibition at the Fondation Maeght in Vence

One only has to leaf through the first of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc’s Golden Books, signed and embellished with drawings by both Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall, to gauge the eternal appeal to artists of Cap d’Antibes. Drawn by the glittering light, Chagall used to paint in one of the hotel’s waterfront cabanes. And while there’s no actual record of Claude Monet staying at the hotel, one can’t help feeling he must have painted here too: the scene he depicts in his 1888 painting Antibes (now in the Courtauld Institute collection) – looking across the Baie de Cannes to the Îles de Lérins, an angled Aleppo pine in the foreground – is precisely the view from the raised terrace to the left of the swimming pool as one looks out to sea. Picasso, meanwhile, has a whole museum in his honour, the Musée Picasso in Antibes’ 14th-century Château Grimaldi, where in 1946 he stayed for six months in a dank room on the second floor, leaving behind 23 paintings and 44 drawings – the foundation of its collection (which now runs to almost 250 works) – in lieu of rent.

But there’s an even greater concentration of art to be found near the Château Saint-Martin & Spa in Vence, which is a five-minute drive from the Chapelle du Rosaire, the little chapel for which Matisse oversaw everything from the stained glass to the priests’ vestments. It’s an austere but affecting place, in stark contrast to another artist-decorated chapel in the vicinity: the Chapelle Saint-Pierre in Villefranche-surMer, with its frescoes by Jean Cocteau depicting the life of St Peter, the patron saint of fishermen. The Château is also just 15 minutes by car (about 8km) from the Fondation Marguérite and Aimé Maeght. Aimé Maeght (pronounced Mahg) was a young lithographer with a shop in Cannes when, one day in 1930, Pierre Bonnard came in to order the programmes for a Maurice Chevalier concert, for which he had designed the cover. Sensing an opportunity, Maeght asked the artist if he could sell the original engraving. He put it in the window; it sold immediately. A friendship was born, and Maeght’s destiny as a dealer and collector ordained. 51

The sculpture trail at Château La Coste has works by the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Andy Goldsworthy, Alexander Calder, Ai Weiwei and Richard Serra

His next significant break came in 1942 when, fleeing the Gestapo, he moved to Vence, where Matisse was living, and managed to procure a cow, the milk from which he would use to barter with the artist for paintings, resulting in 21 portraits, in all, of Maeght’s wife, Marguérite. As soon as the war was over he moved to Paris, and by December 1945 he had opened a gallery on rue de Téhéran (now Galerie Lelong & Co) with an exhibition of Matisse drawings. Business was brisk. Soon he was showing Bonnard, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Eduardo Chillida, André Derain, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Georges Rouault, Saul Steinberg... And as the gallery grew, so did Maeght’s superlative collection. The creation of the Fondation Marguérite and Aimé Maeght, however, was prompted by the death of one of Maeght’s children. Braque suggested they might want to leave “something that would live after them” in commemoration, “somewhere that painters could show their works in optimum conditions”. A site was found near Vence, high up in the pine woods, within

sight of the Mediterranean, with a dilapidated chapel dedicated, appropriately, to their son’s namesake, St Bernard, for which Braque and Raoul Ubac designed stained-glass windows. Miró was supportive of the project too, coopting the Catalan architect Lluís Sert to create a sequence of architecturally distinctive whitestucco and yellow-stone buildings topped with inverted arches – the better to reflect the Provençal light. And the Giacometti brothers, Alberto and Diego, conceived a courtyard. Elsewhere there’s a fish pond lined in a Braque mosaic, murals by Chagall, a fountain by Pol Bury, a sculpture-filled labyrinth by Miró, which, incidentally, inspired Duke Ellington’s classic jazz album Blues for Joan Miró in 1966. Four years in the making, the foundation, the first privately funded arts centre of its kind in France, was opened in 1964 by André Malraux, the novelist-turned-Minister of Culture: “Here you have tried something that has never been attempted before, to create a universe in which modern art can find its own place,” he said. “The result belongs to posterity.”

ART IN PROVENCE

Opposite: “L’araignée 6695” (2003) by Louise Bourgeois, in its home at Château La Coste.

GETTY IMAGES

Above: Jean Cocteau’s Chapelle Saint-Pierre de Villefranche-sur-Mer, which he began decorating in 1956. Right: Matisse in his Chapelle du Rosaire

The ensuing half-century has seen a number of other such foundations established, most recently the Fondation Carmignac, which opened last summer on the island of Porquerolles, off Hyères, a 15-hectare sculpture park and a gallery showing 78 pieces from the 300-strong collection of works by names like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alighiero Boetti, Yves Klein, Willem de Kooning, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol, amassed by Edouard Carmignac, founder of one of Europe’s largest asset management companies. Altogether easier to reach, and no less stellar in terms of its holdings, is the artist Bernar Venet’s foundation on a four-hectare site he bought in 1989 near the village of Le Muy, 65km west of Antibes, 75km from Vence. Here he shows not just his own sculptures, but pieces from his collection – works by friends such as Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, as well as the likes of Carl Andre, Daniel Buren, Dan Flavin, and Frank Stella, who designed a chapel for the estate in collaboration with the architect and yacht designer IPI, in which hang six of his paintings.

Less than a kilometre away, you’ll also come to Domaine du Muy and its “parc de sculptures contemporaines” – largely site-specific works intended to interact with the landscape by the likes of Claudia Comte, Subodh Gupta, Carsten Höller, Tomás Saraceno, Conrad Shawcross and Liam Gillick, more of whose work you’ll encounter if you press on to Château La Coste. Here the construction magnate Patrick McKillen’s sculpture park is worth the detour, not least for its architecture: Jean Nouvel built the gleaming chai (wine storeroom), Tadao Ando the main gate and art centre, Frank Gehry the music pavilion, and Renzo Piano the gallery, while Jean-Michel Othoniel transformed the original chapel; and there’s a prefab by Jean Prouvé adapted by Richard Rogers. But it’s the sculpture trail that’s the big draw: more than 20 works by Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Tracey Emin, Andy Goldsworthy, Lee Ufan, Sean Scully, Richard Serra and Hiroshi Sugimoto. It is a place of rare enchantment, and further evidence of Provence’s unique status as a wellspring of artistic inspiration.

RIVA

T H E L I N E O F B E AU T Y The long relationship between Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and Riva is celebrated in the lead-up to the hotel’s 150th anniversary with an Aquariva Super bearing the name “Eden-Roc” and a special white, navy and turquoise livery. Claire Wrathall toasts a match made in Riviera heaven

RIVA

It may be less than 15km along the coast road from the Palais des Festivals in Cannes to the Hotel du Cap-EdenRoc, but so clogged are the roads during the annual Cannes Film Festival that the only truly stylish way to commute from the hotel – and why wouldn’t you be staying there? – to the red carpet is by Riva. “It is such a symbol of glamour,” as Lia Riva, greatgreat-granddaughter of the company’s founder, likes to say, recalling the golden-era icons of the Fifties and Sixties who owned Rivas rather than merely chartering them. Brigitte Bardot had a Super Florida; Anita Ekberg a twin-engined Tritone; Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor used a Junior as the tender for their superyacht, Kalizma; Sean Connery had a Rudy; and Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman... The list goes on. They were popular with royalty, too: the Shah of Iran had a Riva 2000, King Hussein of Jordan an Aquarama Super. Indeed, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco were serial owners. Given a Tritone by an Italian relative, they were so delighted with it that they invited Carlo Riva, Lia’s father and the then head of the company, to the Grimaldi Palace. They became friends, and the prince – who later replaced his Tritone with a smaller Riva Junior, behind which Princess Grace and their children could water-ski – allowed Riva to use the tunnel that he had recently had bored through the rock beneath the palace, emerging into Port Hercule. Berths for boats have always been at a premium on Monaco’s compact coast, but this enabled Carlo Riva to establish the Monaco Boat Service (of which Lia Riva is the current president). Not only is it the sole importer of Riva boats into the principality and France, MBS also maintains and charters the boats, still built in Riva’s original boatyard at Sarnico on Italy’s Lake Iseo, and at other yards in La Spezia and Ancona. More recently, Riva runabouts, as they are known, have acquired cachet as actual works of art. In 2010 a subtle reimagining of the Aquariva, designed by the leading designer Marc Newson, was built in an edition of just 22 – and sold exclusively through Larry Gagosian’s global network of art galleries. And the following year the London and New York-based Lisson Gallery had an Aquariva Cento speedboat named “Christian” on sale on its stand at that year’s edition of London’s Frieze Art Fair. The buyer also received a certificate from the German multimedia artist Christian Jankowski authenticating it as a bona fide “work of art”. He named it The Finest Art on Water. And so these boats remain. Hence the Hotel du CapEden-Roc’s decision to partner with the Monaco Boat Service, Riva’s exclusive dealer, to produce an Eden-Rocbranded 10.07m Aquariva Super. “For many years, the hotel has made a Riva available to its guests for charters,” explains Philippe Perd, the hotel’s general manager and 56

OPENING PAGES: SLIM AARONS/ STRINGER

Opening pages: Slim Aarons’ iconic 1969 photograph of waterskiing at the Hotel du Cap-EdenRoc, showing a row of Riva runabouts in the foreground

“It is such a symbol of glamour,” says Lia Riva, recalling the golden-era icons of the Fifties and Sixties who owned Rivas

chief project development officer of Oetker Collection. “Think of all those Slim Aarons photographs,” he adds, alluding in particular to the iconic 1969 shot of four Rivas berthed alongside one another at the steps that descend from Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc to the water. But it did not have a Riva of its own. Rather, for the past 35 years, it has worked with the local Riva owner, Serge Lesage, whose extensive fleet runs to a 1981 Riva Bravo 38 and 6.5-metre 1971 Riva Olympic. This June, however, it will take delivery of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc-branded new Aquariva Super. “We thought it was time we had one of our own,” says Perd. The boat – launched in the run-up to the hotel’s 150th anniversary in 2020 – will have the name Eden-Roc picked out in chromed brass capitals on the mahogany just above the swimming platform, painted discreetly on its sides, and legible on the badge in the shape of the hotel’s lifebuoy logo on the steering wheel and fender covers, as well as boasting a distinctive white, navy and turquoise lacquered livery. Its bespoke upholstery also reflects the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc brand by incorporating its famous buoy motif on a grey-on-white print. In other respects, however, it will be a classic Aquariva Super. “They are very protective,” says Perd of Riva. “You cannot interfere!” Not with the sleek lines of the boat itself nor with its engineering – not that anyone would wish to, of course, for its romantically retro appearance is supported by resolutely 21st-century technology: a state-of-the-art Kevlar composite hull and powerful twin 370HP Yanmar engines – hence the top speed of 41.5 knots, equivalent to about 77kph. Its 2.8m beam means it’s wide enough to sit six comfortably on the banquette that curves around its mahogany table, just behind the “helm station” or driver’s

Above, left: Brigitte Bardot aboard a Riva Aquarama in St Tropez, 1968. Bardot was a familiar figure in her spectacular 1959 Riva Super Florida Right: Swedish-born actress Anita Ekberg, star of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, owned a Riva Tritone, the forerunner of the Riva Aquarama 57

RIVA

Left: Lia Riva with her father Carlo, creator of some of the world’s most desirable boats Opposite, from top: a fleet of Rivas; the custommade Eden-Roc-branded Aquariva Super has a distinctive white, navy and turquoise livery

seat, dashboard and steering wheel. Enter the cabin and you’ll discover a surprisingly spacious nook with a double bed and a “head”, as boat folk call bathrooms. Launched in 2001, the Aquariva’s DNA is rooted in the Aquarama, the iconic and revered motorboat designed by Carlo Riva in 1962, of which only 784 were built during its 34 years in production. “My father always said his boats were ‘designed with love’,” Mrs Riva is fond of saying. “He was the pioneer who established Riva’s reputation for design and innovation.” It’s worth noting that Carlo Riva’s forebears – the company dates back to 1842, when it was founded by Pietro Riva, a young shipwright from Laglio who arrived in Sarnico soon after a terrible storm and effected miraculous repairs on Lake Iseo’s severely damaged fishing fleet – prioritised speed and performance over pleasure. Indeed, in 1934 a 1500cc Riva set a world waterspeed record. Carlo, however, saw style as the brand’s defining quality. “Strong and pure, like a thoroughbred horse,” he called his designs. “And with the Aquarama especially,” his daughter has said, “he set the benchmark for all the other boats that came after.” Certainly the Aquariva retains the styling and lines of a classic Aquarama – the mirror-finish varnished mahogany with maple inlay “rigatoni” foredeck as well as an upholstered and slightly sloping “sunpad” on which to stretch out at its stern. There’s still the signature wraparound windscreen. And its woodwork still gleams thanks to the glassy sheen of the 20 coats of varnish with which it is finished, the first 10 applied by hand, and the remaining layers applied by soft sponge brush in a temperature-controlled dust-free workshop. As Carlo Riva used to say: “You are paying for quality, not luxury.” hotel-du-cap-eden-roc.com 58

The Aquariva’s romantically retro appearance is supported by resolutely 21st-century technology: a state-of-the -art Kevlar composite hull and powerful twin 370HP Yanmar engines

CABOREPUDANIS DOLENIS UT IPSA M DOLES VEL

FL OR A L T R I BU T ES

GEMS OF N AT U R E Oetker Collection hotels each possess a distinctive quality, captured on these pages in the form of a signature flower and exquisite jewellery expressing the essence of these special places

PHOTOGRAPHER Jean-Jacques Pallot ART DIRECTOR Lola Barthélémy FLORIST Bastien Brousse

J UM BY BAY ISLA N D & EDEN RO CK â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ST BA RT HS Signature flowers: jatropha & oncidium. Jewellery by Boucheron

PA L Á C I O TA N G A R Á Signature flower: phalaenopsis orchid. Jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels

FLORAL TRIBUTES

C H Ã&#x201A;T E AU S A I N T-M A R T I N & S PA Signature flower: tango rose. Jewellery by David Morris

FLORAL TRIBUTES

B R E N N E R S PA R K- H O T E L & S PA Signature flower: hyacinth. Jewellery by De Grisogono, Tasaki

L ’A P O G É E C O U R C H E V E L Signature flower: amaryllis. Jewellery by Tasaki

L E B R I S T O L PA R I S Signature flower: ranunculus. Jewellery by Graff

FLORAL TRIBUTES

THE LANESBOROUGH Signature flower: David Austin Rose. Jewellery by Chaumet, De Grisogono, Piaget

Far-off peaks, etched woodlands and infinite shades of misty blue and green reflect in the loch â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a highland playground in waiting HO T EL DU CA P-EDEN-RO C Signature flower: Sweet Pea. Jewellery by Boucheron, Chaumet, De Grisogono

FLORAL TRIBUTES

“Flowers have a fleeting beauty and lend their colours and perfumes to each season” – Bastien Brousse

For the Lanesborough in London, the most English of roses – what you might almost call a “vintage rose”, cultivated by the late, great English “rosarian”, David Austin. For Palácio Tangará, surrounded by lush gardens in neartropical São Paulo, an orchid – what else? For L’Apogée Courchevel in the rocky Alps, Amaryllis, and for the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, sweet pea – that most Mediterranean of blooms. These were the choices made by Parisian florist Bastien Brousse when he set himself the task of curating flowers that would be emblematic of these masterpiece hotels – natural beauties that could be teamed with the most exquisite pieces by master jewellers. “Flowers have a fleeting beauty and lend their colours and perfumes to each season,” Brousse declares, when asked what made him dream of working with blooms growing up in the

Auvergne, among the wild gentian and poet’s daffodils native to the Massif Central. As the shoot shows, these days Brousse gets to work with far more exotic flowers, both at his studio in the 16th arrondissement and at Le Bristol Paris, where, for the past year, he has curated the flowers that grace Epicure, 114 Faubourg and Café Antonia. That said, he feels the best bouquets consist of “no more than three varieties of seasonal flowers, set off with foliage”. “Tuesdays and Fridays are ‘Flower Days’ at Le Bristol,” he explains, which in his case means getting up at 4am to choose them at Paris’s famous Rungis flower market. A floral style tip? At Le Bristol, the classical Medici vases have given way to something more modern in midnight blue. And a motto? A line from the surrealist poet, Paul Eluard: “Happiness is a single bouquet: unruly, light, tender, sweet.” 69

FLORAL TRIBUTES

EDEN ROCK – ST BARTHS & JUMBY BAY ISLAND

PA L ÁC IO TA NGA R Á

Masy Le Caméléon ring and Serpent Bohème necklace by Boucheron (boucheron.com)

Martin-Pêcheurs clips by Van Cleef & Arpels (vancleefarpels.com)

C H Â T E A U S A I N T- M A R T I N & S PA

B R E N N E R S PA R K-H O T E L & S PA

Hedgehog earrings, Hedgehog ring and Cherry Blossom ring by David Morris (davidmorris.com)

Lepido ring by Tasaki (tasaki-global.com); Ventaglio earrings by De Grisogono (degrisogono.com)

L’A P O G É E C O U R C H E V E L

L E BR I STOL PA R I S

Curiosity Coral necklace, Turban Shell ring and Turban Shell pendant by Tasaki (tasaki-global.com)

Triple Pavé Butterfly necklace and Triple Pavé Butterfly earrings by Graff (graff.com)

THE LANESBOROUGH

HOTEL DU CAP-EDEN-ROC

Allegra earrings by De Grisogono (degrisogono.com); Aube Rosée ring by Chaumet (chaumet.com); Rose ring by Piaget (piaget.com)

Marqueterie bracelet by Boucheron (boucheron.com); Doppia earrings by De Grisogono (degrisogono.com); Soir de Fête ring by Chaumet (chaumet.com)

ORLEBARBROWN.COM

N O R M A N C O N QU E S T Described as “chef royalty”, Le Bristol Paris’s very own culinary legend Eric Frechon is celebrating 20 years at the hotel and 10 years as the holder of three Michelin stars. Marie-Catherine de La Roche spoke to him about his culinary philosophy, the future of French cuisine and why he loves baking bread

ERIC FRECHON

The story of Eric Frechon’s 20-year reign at the top of Paris’s fine-dining scene begins not in the French capital but in Normandy. The son of market gardeners, when Frechon was 13 he wanted to earn money to buy a bicycle – so he got a job as a kitchen assistant in a local restaurant. And it was here, watching the chefs at work, that he discovered his passion for food. Next came catering college, after which he moved to Paris, starting at La Grande Cascade restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne, before moving to Le Bristol Paris as a commis chef. He then reached for the stars at Taillevent, followed by La Tour d’Argent, before moving to Byblos Andaluz in Spain. And that was where Frechon – a true native of Normandy, raised on heaps of butter – discovered olive oil. Back in Paris, he joined Christian Constant, chef at the Hôtel de Crillon, marking the start of seven happy years and a personal journey that led to his being awarded the title of “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” – France’s finest artisan. But he still wanted a restaurant to call his own. So in 1995 he opened La Verrière, where he created a “bistronomic” experience that had Parisians queuing around the block. But the “all-inclusive menu” left him craving something more creative. And that’s when Le Bristol knocked on his door. For Frechon, it was like returning to his first love. He left La Verrière, and this former apprentice, now an accomplished virtuoso, channelled his energy into the palace hotel’s haute cuisine. The following year, in 2001, Epicure, his restaurant at Le Bristol, was awarded two Michelin stars. A third star followed in 2009, while in 2013, the hotel’s brasserie, 114 Faubourg, was awarded its first star. Later that year, Frechon opened Lazare, his buzzing brasserie inside the Gare SaintLazare, bringing pizzazz to the railway station where he had first arrived in Paris from his native Normandy all those years before, serving iconic dishes such as macaroni stuffed with black truffle, artichoke and foie gras, and Bresse chicken en vessie, carved at the table. Frechon also designed the menus for Le Mini Palais on Avenue Winston Churchill and Le Drugstore on the ChampsElysées, as well as overseeing the kitchen at Céleste, the Michelin-starred restaurant at The Lanesborough in London. But Le Bristol remains his touchstone and the epicentre of his haute couture cuisine. And it was here that we caught up with Frechon to celebrate his 20th anniversary at the hotel… 73

ERIC FRECHON

How do you think the Parisian gastronomic scene has changed over the last 20 years? It’s constantly on the boil, to use a culinary phrase. Visually, it’s more modern now. Some national cuisines have emerged – Spanish, Nordic and so on. And it’s become more globalised. Maybe a little too much, perhaps to the detriment of local and regional produce – to our “terroir”. But I think it’s going back to its roots now. And in the end, it’s still the DNA of what our cuisine is really about. What do you say to the prophets of doom who frequently predict the demise of French cuisine? French cuisine is never “fashionable”, but it never goes out of style either. It’s evolving, of course. We don’t eat like we did 30 years ago. French cuisine moves with the times, but in a serene way. It’s never loud, trendy or faddish – but it’s always there! How has your own cuisine changed over the years? I took the classic route, working for famous

chefs. But thanks to Christian Constant – who was the first chef to put the spotlight on “cuisine du terroir” in a palace hotel – I had my own signature style when I left Le Crillon. When I opened La Verrière, my bistro in the 19th arrondissement, I wanted to bring out the best in simple produce like herring, whiting and beef cheek. Then Le Bristol Paris opened its doors to me. Of course, the cuisine needed to be much more refined and elegant. But I decided to stick to the same philosophy: there’s no such thing as mundane produce – the truth is in the terroir. When we were awarded two stars just 18 months later, it was a real surprise. It felt like a liberation. My cooking has become more and more creative over the years. And it was a huge honour to be awarded a third star in 2009. I still try to challenge myself constantly. But I never change a dish just for the sake of it. It needs to get better and better. I also try to get the most out of vegetables – they are the stars of quite a lot of my dishes.

Opening pages: Eric Frechon at Le Bristol’s Epicure restaurant. Opposite: the chef at work on an artichoke starter. Right, and below: Epicure’s “living bread”, is created using ancient wheat flour

“We set up a grinding wheel so we could mill flour in our kitchens… and the result is extraordinary”

When you opened Lazare six years ago, you were one step ahead of the big brasserie comeback. The “bistronomy” movement reinvented bistros and we needed to do the same thing with brasseries. These wonderful Parisian institutions were in a bad state. Their iconic dishes, such as devilled eggs, leeks vinaigrette, blanquette of veal and crème caramel, are very reassuring and are very much part of French culinary heritage, but they were just waiting to be rejuvenated. Even though they’ve been tweaked for modern tastes, and made lighter, they haven’t lost their soul – they’re dishes to share. Brasseries are part and parcel of Parisian life! Even more so at Gare Saint-Lazare. The first coffee with a croissant in the morning, the butter and ham sandwich, the croquemonsieur at the counter, the great classics served at any time of day, the roast chicken on Sundays with your family... a brasserie is the place where Parisians meet and mingle. Making bread is your new culinary focus. Why is it so important to you? For me, bread is the symbol of a French way of life. It’s an essential food and it’s all about

sharing. We’ve always made our own bread at Le Bristol. But one day I met Roland Feuillas, a baker-farmer in Cucugnan [near Perpignan], and it changed so many things for me. That was where we got the idea for making real loaves from ancient wheat flour, grown in a way that’s kind to the soil and freshly ground to conserve its qualities. We set up a grinding wheel so we could mill flour in our kitchens, and the result is extraordinary. I don’t just mean the taste – you can eat this bread even if you’re gluten intolerant because it’s made in a healthy and natural way. And it matches Le Bristol’s values of providing the very best with simplicity. Meilleur Ouvrier de France, three Michelin stars for the last decade – what more could you ask for? I’d like these stars to be awarded to Le Bristol every year, for as long as possible; and for our unique French expertise to shine ever more brightly. The rest is about creativity: inventing again and again to make sharing even more pleasurable. And if I had one wish, as a chef and the grandson of a farmer, it would be to have a vegetable garden of my own. lebristolparis.com

VINTAGE LUGGAGE LABELS

TH E A RT OF T R AV E L Beautifully designed luggage labels evoke a romantic age of ocean liners and luxury Pullmans, and for Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of Louis Vuitton, these graphic gems became objects of desire in their own right. James Collard reports on his extraordinary collection

Their designs and colours are bold and eyecatching – as they were intended to be. And they are innately nostalgic, conjuring up a golden age of travel. Or rather, golden ages – as luggage labels, thought to have originated in the second half of the 19th century, arguably enjoyed their heyday between the wars, when all the world’s hotels commissioned their own. They are nostalgic not simply because of the way they look, but also because in some cases the destination that they depict has since been renamed – as in the Grand Hotel de Pekin or Maiden’s Hotel, Bombay. This kind of label is thought to have originated in the ocean-liner trade – as a handy way of denoting which ship a trunk should be delivered to. Then hotels began producing labels, sometimes sending them to future guests in advance to label their luggage, but also, in effect, as powerful advertisements for the hotels. And then, just as travellers enjoy the cachet of a passport filled with entry and exit stamps from exotic destinations, so a trunk or suitcase covered in labels suggested its owner was well-travelled, cosmopolitan and an habitué of luxury hotels the world over. Few would have been as well-travelled as Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of Louis Vuitton, founder of the French luxury maison, which of course started out in the 1850s as a

manufacturer of trunks – trunks which, as they possessed flat rather than rounded tops, were easily stackable in the new era of train and ocean-liner travel. Gaston-Louis (who took over the company during the 1930s) was passionate about travel. He was interested in paper, and a member of a society called Le Vieux Papier, created for other like-minded individuals. He was also an avid, near-obsessive collector of hotel luggage labels – amassing them in much the same way that other men collected stamps, carefully peeling them off his luggage, asking hotels to post them to him, and swapping them with other collectors. Some of the thousands of labels Vuitton acquired over the years are featured in Francisca Mattéoli’s World Tour: Vintage Hotel Labels from the Collection of Gaston-Louis Vuitton. They come in different shapes, sizes and styles – from art nouveau to art deco and on to midcentury modern – but all are evocative of the luxury of another age. As Mattéoli puts it, “I realised that a small piece of paper like a simple label can tell a million stories. Stories of women and men, of travellers, adventurers, gangsters… and also of history, art, countries – all different, fascinating and stimulating.” World Tour: Vintage Hotel Labels from the Collection of Gaston-Louis Vuitton, by Francisca Mattéoli, is published by Abrams

VINTAGE LUGGAGE LABELS

These labels suggested that the owner of a trunk was well-travelled and cosmopolitan 78

VINTAGE LUGGAGE LABELS

They come in different shapes, sizes and styles, but all are evocative of the luxury of another age

R EIN V ENTING THE LU G G A G E L A B E L Eden Being has commissioned the Paris-based illustrator Léa Morichon to create its own collection of luggage labels (which are bound into these pages) for Oetker Collection’s masterpiece properties. Here she reveals her own travel inspirations Léa Morichon, the French artist who has created new vintageinspired luggage labels for Oetker Collection, is clear about the appeal of illustration over photography in travel: “It’s more emotional, more suggestive,” she says, speaking from her Montmartre studio. “You can communicate intensely the colour of the sun, the feel of the wind, the style of people, the taste of food.” And Oetker Collection’s masterpiece properties, she adds, are “the quintessence of sophistication and well-being, so I want my illustrations to reflect that”. Originally from Limoges in France, Morichon has drawn and painted from when she was tiny, even joining a children’s oil-painting class. She went on to study fine arts in Lorient in Brittany and typography in Amiens. But illustration remains her first love: “I knew I wanted to draw more, because it’s a wonderful way to tell stories,” she says. Her style is colourful and sensuous, with just a touch of oldworld charm. She believes we are living in a new golden age of illustration, something she puts down to a desire for emotional connection in our digital age: “People need to feel connected with their humanity, and illustration expresses that very well, not least because it’s hand-made.” For this project, Morichon enjoyed researching the styles of old luggage labels – their fonts, palettes, compositions – and was inspired by her own love of travel: “It’s a key source of knowledge and inspiration, whether it’s visiting temples and looking at beautiful artworks, or just by making you leave your comfort zone and question your judgment.” So where does she hope to visit next? “I’m planning a trip to the Sri Lankan jungle with friends this summer and after that I really want to go to Africa. But my preferred way to journey is to sail. It’s one of our last spaces of freedom.” A true devotee, then, of the romance of travel. 81

BATHING

S OM E L I K E IT HO T

The therapeutic importance of bathing is a hot topic right now. The Great Spas of Europe – a collection of 11 spa towns – are making a joint bid to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in recognition of their heritage and the benefits of their waters (to find out more about the bid, see p107). Yet bathing has been hot stuff since ancient Roman times, when the rulers of the day headed to mineral-rich natural springs for health and relaxation. Indeed, some say the word spa derives from the acronym for Sanus Per Aquam, meaning “health through water”. What these 11 spas have in common is that they have all, for centuries, been at the forefront of wellness and health. They include the Belgian town called Spa; England’s Bath; Germany’s Baden-Baden (which translates as “bathing-bathing”) and various other “bads” or baths, from Bad Kissingen, also in Germany, to the former Carlsbad, now in the Czech Republic and called Karlovy Vary, France’s Vichy, and Montecatini Terme in Italy. Although Bath’s heyday came a little earlier, most of these spas reached the peak of popularity and fashion in the 19th century – and their splendid architectural legacy is at the heart of their claim to outstanding cultural importance. But the bid isn’t just about the buildings, as Frank Marrenbach, CEO of Oetker Collection, explains. “This is about social history,” 82

argues Marrenbach, who is based in BadenBaden, where the UNESCO bid originated – from a much more local initiative aimed at preserving the beautiful parkland overlooked by Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, the Oetker Collection property of which Marrenbach is also General Manager. “Ten years ago at Brenners we organised a group of locals to protect the Lichtentaler Allee – the beautiful green lung at the heart of the city. One expert who came to talk to us felt that Baden-Baden was worthy of some sort of heritage status – as it was such an ‘ensemble’ of fine buildings. And that’s what these spa towns all share: elegant urban architecture, often in beautiful natural settings, from the fine villas built by wealthy industrialists to the pump-rooms, hotels and casinos.” For as Marrenbach points out, “Spas weren’t just about health – health was an alibi. They were also places where people could spend time together.” Marrenbach loves Baden-Baden. “It’s where I live,” he says. “There aren’t many places where you can listen to the Berlin Philharmonic and just five minutes away you’re in the countryside.” Asked to name another spa from the 11 that he especially likes, he plumps for Bath. “There’s such a unity to it,” he explains. Bath is also one of my favourites, and not just because it’s close to home for me, but because

ANTHONY BROWN

With medical science increasingly confirming the therapeutic benefits of bathing, Europe’s greatest historic spa towns are joining Baden-Baden in a bid for UNESCO World Heritage status. Spa aficionada Suzanne Duckett considers our centuries-old love affair with taking the waters

BATHING

Historically, many cultures – the Ancient Egyptians, for example, and the Turkish with their hammams and Russians with their banyas – have created their own bathing rituals for spiritual, religious, therapeutic or social reasons. As well as offering a place for relaxation and socialising, natural healing thermal waters offer myriad health and wellbeing benefits. The compositions vary, but thermal waters tend to be rich in mineral salts, including magnesium (which raises serotonin levels to ease stress, mitigate inflammation and muscle soreness and keep blood pressure in check); potassium (which energises and balances skin moisture), sodium (which helps balance lymphatic fluid and the immune system); and calcium (which boosts circulation, strengthens bones and nails and helps prevent osteoporosis). And thermal waters are a potent way to calm the nervous system and boost our bodies from the inside out: the warm water opens pores, allowing these nutrients to be absorbed and drawing out pollution, impurities, toxins and dirt. Around the world, many natural springs also have muds and clays that are perfect for exfoliation and detoxification. Like salts, mud from hot springs, volcanoes and marine sediments contains the highest amount of minerals such as magnesium, phosphates, bromides and other minerals.

Previous page: the Romanbuilt Great Bath at Bath. Right: the art nouveau ceiling at Montecatini spa in Italy. Below: Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) in 1935

GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY

of its natural beauty and thermal treasures. The hot springs of Bath offer mineral-rich waters for bathing – and Britain’s only original and natural thermal spa has been enjoyed by everyone from the Celts and Romans right through to the Georgians and Victorians. Visitors today enjoy architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw’s brilliant merging of the old Georgian buildings with superb contemporary design. Offering delightfully warm waters containing 42 different minerals, visitors can enjoy a series of different pools, including the open-air rooftop pool. And with its Romanstyle pillars, Thermae Bath Spa offers a contemporary take on an age-old tradition: four natural thermal pools of varying temperatures, saunas, steam room, thermal water fountain and ice alcove. It’s fabulous. As a child, I loved bath-time. I didn’t need to be dragged into the bathtub. There was no need for me to be bribed by bubbles or distracted by dozens of rubber ducks. Perhaps this is why my work has involved a lot of wallowing in water all around the world: I’ve braved the Baltic after an extended sauna session near Copenhagen; I’ve been whipped with birch branches in Russia and lolled until I was prune-like in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland; and I’ve wild-swum wherever I could. This love of water in all its forms is also why I chose to write my book, Bathe.

There are other health benefits to bathing, too. A recent study at the University of Freiburg in Germany tested 45 people with moderate to severe depression and found that a hot 40°C (104°F) bath, twice a week for 30 minutes, followed by wrapping in blankets with hot water bottles for a further 20 minutes, reduced their symptoms of depression more than two bouts of moderate exercise. Another study at Loughborough University looked at the effects of taking hot baths versus exercise, calories burnt during one hour of cycling compared to an hour-long bath at 40°C. Cycling burned more calories than bathing but the bathers burnt around 140 calories, the same as a half-hour walk. Researchers also showed that the anti-inflammatory response after having a bath is similar to after exercise. This helps us fight off infection and disease and can reduce chronic inflammation associated with illnesses such as type 2 diabetes. But baths offer far more than simply physical benefits. In the tech-greedy 21st century, giving ourselves a digital detox – putting the phone

down and sinking into a bath – has never been more crucial. Bathing, in the bathtub at home or the thermal waters of a spa, provides the perfect reboot, giving the brain time and space to wander freely, think deeply, reflect and refocus. It’s no surprise that German composer Ludwig van Beethoven is said to have found musical creativity and inspiration through bathing, while crime writer Agatha Christie liked to dream up ideas in her large Victorian bath while eating apples and drinking tea. And we know that the Russian writers Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky often went to BadenBaden to take the waters. Life in the modern world is the opposite of what our bodies naturally crave: an existence where our minds can rest and wander freely. Being around water allows our brains and senses to rest from overstimulation; it’s a holiday for our brains, releasing the hormone dopamine, which facilitates clarity and creativity. Bathe: The Art of Finding Rest, Relaxation and Rejuvenation in a Busy World by Suzanne Duckett is published by Lagom Press 85

JUMBY BAY ISLAND

ISLE OF DR EA MS Imagine a palm-fringed Caribbean island retreat that feels more like a discreet and exclusive club than a luxury resort. Fiona Joseph experiences the good life in the tropical paradise of Jumby Bay â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and we present some of the magical properties to choose from for your perfect stay on the ultimate private island destination

JUMBY BAY PRIVATE RE SIDENCE S

Previous pages: swaying palms at sunset on Jumby Bay Resort’s idyllic beach Gardens and poolside areas on Jumby Bay are designed to make the most of the island’s natural beauty and offer vistas of ocean and sky

Life is slow on Jumby Bay, the air pillowy with heat, and as we approach its 300 tropical acres – reachable only by boat, and two miles off Antigua – the first thing to come into focus is a lone hammock. That’s surely fitting for this, the perfect private island destination – a place where you know you’re not alone, yet you never feel crowded – and where days slip by, flooded with sunshine. Everybody seems to know one another on the island, at least a little, and strangers are absorbed effortlessly. Stepping onto the sun-bleached dock, one feels a sense of instant calm. There are no ceremonial rituals on arrival, no room keys, cars or even the rattle of a bicycle chain (since the arrival of near-silent belt-driven models). It has no deep dock for a mega-yacht or private runway to land a plane. Light switches are just that, switches, not iPadoperated algorithms. Of course the appearance of simplicity requires considerable effort – a fact that can be attributed to the generations of residents for whom Jumby Bay is home and who have gone to exceptional lengths to preserve its authenticity and charm. Alongside the many private residences, there is a single hotel, which has just undergone a subtle and stylish makeover achieved by a roster of tastemakers, including 88

Whether you seek a villa for a family getaway or a larger residence for a big house party, the island will have the perfect property for you

JUMBY BAY ESTATE HOMES

The palm-fringed beaches of this private island provide ideal spots for picnics, barbecues and sundowners

Beautiful landscaping makes the most of the verdant foliage and stunning flora that flourishes on this tropical island

Brazilian interior designer Patricia Anastassiadis. The changes are subtle: think rattan rather than wicker and nautical curiosities mixed up with driftwood decor. Meanwhile Vermont-based skincare star Tata Harper has taken over the fresh, five-suite Spa. Needless to say the line-up, while low key, is completely on point. No less important to the life of the island is Jerry Williams â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a Davis Cup veteran who has been coaching tennis here for many years, and who personifies the kind of long-standing, much-loved team of staff who quietly run this private island like clockwork. The 40 hotel rooms and 56 private residences and villas maintain a discreet distance from each other. An assortment of skittle-coloured Mini Mokes and golf carts transport residents along leafy driveways to villas called Mariposa or Pure Turquoise. But Jumby Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s low-key ambience veils an underlying grandeur. Styles range wildly from the minimalist, 18,000 sq ft Asian-style architecture at Lazy Lizard, with its eight pavilions pivoting around a vast swimming pool, to the ocean-front, tumbling pink bougainvillea and floor-to-ceiling artwork at Turtle Crossing. Each comes with a full team of staff, private chefs if required, and all the island experiences you could dream 90

JUMBY BAY ESTATE HOMES

Some properties have guest cottages, allowing for house parties which combine convivial socialising with moments of quiet and privacy

On Thursdays, after the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sailing regatta, residents host a farm-to-table dinner on long communal tables

Architectural styles on the island encompass everything from contemporary chic to classic Caribbean

up: croquet lawns, private beaches, floating dining pavilions and rooftop lookouts. The hotel is no less impressive and special. Somehow a flock of black-headed sheep, which were brought to Jumby during the 1700s, are never far from view. There are three swimming pools offering a choice of different settings, all the hotel suites have sea-views, most have their own private pools and all have outdoor showers and bathtubs. Natural rhythms of the day prompt regular gatherings. Sunrise sees both residents and guests (should they so wish) setting off to collect eggs at the island’s farm. Then there’s lunch at the Beach Shack barbecue for fish tacos and nutmeg spiced rums. On Fridays, after the island’s own sailing regatta, residents host a farm-to-plate dinner on long communal tables with a backdrop of the organic kitchen garden. As the days draw to a close, there’s tea in the courtyard at the Estate House before the island moves into a more social gear for the evening. The original 1830s plantation house has been redesigned by Dennis Irvine to include a spectacularly chic enclave of smart private dining rooms, secret alcoves and a wine room – along with a Gatsby-style bar – while the main restaurant fringes the perimeter. The 93

JUMBY BAY ESTATE HOMES

Swimming pools on Jumby Bay come in all shapes and sizes – but always provide the perfect spot for relaxation

menu draws from the organic kitchen gardens; think baby beets and goat’s cheese with wasabi dressing followed by chicken cooked in Wadadli beer and blackstrap molasses with Jumby garden kale. The hotel’s two other restaurants – the Veranda and the Pool Grille – offer a rotation of typical Caribbean evenings with steel drums and dancing. Life on the water is instinctive at Jumby Bay. The watersports club “22 Knots” has its own sailing academy, while boats leave daily for snorkelling trips to nearby islands. Guests can take advantage of paddle-boarding, kayaking, water-skiing and tubing – or something more sedate such as “Castaway”, which the Spa offers as an indulgent boat charter to your own secluded cove where a cabana and spa therapist await your arrival. Children’s activities, meanwhile, include raft-building, film-making and involvement in the turtle conservation programme. Island destinations each have their own allure – whether it’s buzzing nightlife or the whiff of a high-octane scandal or two. But at Jumby it’s a much more understated affair. And as “Private” and “Island” become two of the most precious words in any currency today, nothing more accurately sums up the singular appeal of Jumby Bay. jumbybayresort.com 94

Life on the water is instinctiveâ&#x20AC;Ś boats leave daily for snorkelling trips to nearby islands and guests enjoy water-skiing, kayaking and tubing

For all its sophistication, key to the appeal of Jumby Bay is the opportunity for a quiet moment, spent dozing in a hammock or floating in a pool

JUMBY BAY ISLAND

To make a reservation please email jumbybay@ oetkercollection.com or call +1 268 462 6000 or US toll free + 1 800 749 1802 Or, if you are interested in learning more about home ownership on Jumby Bay, email Andrew Robson at andrew@jumbybayisland. com or phone him on +1 268 764 5808

D I R E C T O RY E S TAT E H O M E S

P R I VAT E R E S I D E N C E S

EVANGELINE (1,142m2/12,300 sq ft; sleeps 12)

SANDPIPER (901m2/9,700 sq ft; sleeps 10)

ALLAIRE (360m2/3,875 sq ft; sleeps 6)

BANYAN VILLA (316m2/3,400 sq ft; sleeps 6)

TURTLE REEF (883m2/9,500 sq ft; sleeps 8)

TIR NA NOG (1,115m2/12,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

ALLAMANDA (557m2/6,000 sq ft; sleeps 8)

WHISPERING PALMS (355m2/3,600 sq ft; sleeps 8)

LA CASA (929m2/10,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

TURTLE CROSSING (650m2/7,000 sq ft; sleeps 14)

SEA HARE (380m2/4,100 sq ft; sleeps 6)

BOUGAINVILLA (279m2/3,000 sq ft; sleeps 6)

EAST WIND (1,115m2/12,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

CALABASH (557m2/6,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

JABBERWOCKY (332m2/3,470 sq ft; sleeps 6)

SEA BREEZE (435m2/4,681 sq ft; sleeps 8)

FRANGIPANI POINT (557m2/6,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

KAIROS (808m2/8,700 sq ft; sleeps 14)

SEAHORSE (372m2/4,000 sq ft; sleeps 6)

POINCIANA (279m2/3,000 sq ft; sleeps 4)

BANANAQUIT (1,022m2/11,000 sq ft; sleeps 15)

LAZY LIZARD (1,672m2/18,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

HUMMINGBIRD (418m2/4,500 sq ft; sleeps 6)

OLEANDER (836m2/9,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

DRAGONFLY (929m2/10,000 sq ft; sleeps 10)

SANDY COVE (386m2/4,150 sq ft; sleeps 8)

MARIPOSA (1,394m2/15,000 sq ft; sleeps 18)

BLUE PELICAN (836m2/9,000 sq ft; sleeps 12)

TORTUGA (530m2/5,900 sq ft; sleeps 8)

MORNING GLORY (1,394m2/15,000 sq ft; sleeps 16)

PURE TURQUOISE (1,672m2/18,000 sq ft; sleeps 14)

SUNFLOWER (214m2/2,300 sq ft; sleeps 6)

LES PALMIERS (622m2/6,700 sq ft; sleeps 10)

BLUE BELLE (386m2/4,150 sq ft; sleeps 6)

Courchevel • Baden-Baden • Paris • Vence - Côte d’Azur • St Barths • Cap d’Antibes • Antigua - West Indies • London • São Paulo

Eric - Life Saver

T R AV E L J O U R N A L LORENZO VILLORESI

MATTEO BROGI

The award-winning perfumer tells Hannah Betts about his love of travel and the global inspirations that find expression in his exquisite fragrances

Florentine perfumer and Renaissance man Lorenzo Villoresi came to his art via studies in psychology and ancient philosophy. In 1981, he travelled to the Middle East and North Africa, sparking a fascination with their spices, after which he began creating fragrances for friends, including the Fendi sisters. His obsession became a passion, then a profession. He launched his eponymous business in 1990 with scented candles, potpourris and room aromatisers. Two years later came his celebrated perfumes Uomo and Donna. He continues to create custom scents, in addition to classics such as Patchouli and Wild Lavender, alongside concoctions inspired by an array of cultures, such as Dilmun, Alamut, Iperborea, Aura Maris and Teint de Neige. Villoresi finds himself drawn to woody notes – not least sandalwood, patchouli, cedarwood and vetiver – as well as citrus and spicy aromas. In 2006, he won France’s coveted Prix François Coty. He is also the author of several books on scent. Villoresi, who has been collaborating with Oetker Collection on a range of bespoke perfumes for some of its hotels, describes his fragrance style as “international and multicultural”, as with his latest release, Altman Xaman, inspired by the lands of Central Asia. “My approach is the freedom of an artist who does not particularly care about trends, who works trying to develop ‘smelling visions’ out of his desires, no matter what they are, theoretically in every possible way and with no regard to their cost.” Princes, pop stars and politicians flock to buy his wares. He has lived in locations in Europe, America, North Africa and the Middle East. Now back in his Florentine home, with an atelier in the historic Via de’ Bardi, this inveterate traveller continues to find his inspiration in journeys, both real and imagined.

HOME SWEET HOME

The scents of my childhood are of the garden at my family house close to Colonnata, near Monte Morello, in the hills just outside Florence. I remember the smell of cut grass on the lawn there. One of the most memorable scents for me is that of tomato leaves, intensely green and fresh. My father used a lavender cologne or a classic eau de cologne. He also used a soap that simply smelled ofâ&#x20AC;Ś soap, and he would put lavender sachets in his drawers. My mother used floral fragrances where the dominant note was always jasmine.

GETTY IMAGES

MEMORABLE MEALS

I had some wonderful Chinese and Thai meals in Hong Kong and Shanghai, especially dim sum. Another unforgettable dinner was in a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles called Mori Sushi. Excellent quality, but totally unknown with lots of dishes I had never tried before. All of us, parents and three children, were crazy about it. I also remember the amazing roast fish in Essaouira in Morocco, the sahlab (a warm, milky drink) in Cairo, huge steaks in Tampa, Florida, grilled wahoo in the Caribbean, beef tartare with cold beer in Pragueâ&#x20AC;Ś I could continue forever. 99

TRAVEL JOURNAL

M Y C H I L D H O O D H O L I D AY S

We always went to the Versilia in Tuscany. When I think of it, I remember that blend of sea, hot sand, watermelon and my grandma’s sweet, warm and floral fragrance.

THE BOOKS OF MY LIFE

I have taken inspiration from so many writers: the French sailor Bernard Moitessier; Marco Polo; the trapper Kid Carson and his trips across a wild America; Lewis Carroll with Alice’s dream-like trip to Wonderland; and my uncle Carlo de Loche’s travel diaries from the turn of the last century. Of the ancients I would mention Seneca, Suetonius’s biography of Julius Caesar, Homer, the Gilgamesh saga, along with Shakespeare. And among my absolute favourites are the Arabic poets Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Sa’di, and Attar.

INSPIRING PLACES

Locations – real and imaginary – are a constant inspiration to me and feed into all my perfumes. For example, Teint de Neige is inspired by Belle Époque Paris, where elegant ladies would wear iris- and rose-scented face powders. Spezie, in contrast, is inspired by the Tuscan countryside, with its cypress trees and scented herbs. Aura Maris is the scent of summer on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Iperborea has a Nordic inspiration – the scent of mythic islands, land of the youthful and peaceful Hyperboreans. Dilmun is a magnificent paradise described in the Gilgamesh saga.

THE MAGIC OF FLORENCE

Florence smells of orris and osmanthus in spring, of hot stones and ice cream in the summer, of olive oil and of bread in autumn, and sometimes, in winter, it smells of snow as the north wind brings the scent of snow from the surrounding hills.

I always take a “magic” stone with me on my travels, as well as notebooks and a few pens. Paper and pens are a bit of an obsession for me. I love using simple BIC Easy Grip pens even when I write my formulas – I always carry a number of them with me. But I also enjoy Visconti pens (the Florence-based company that makes beautiful writing instruments) on special occasions. And I always write on lined paper, whether it’s in a notepad or loose sheets. 100

4 CORNERS; GETTY IMAGES

M Y T R AV E L L I N G C O N S TA N T S

M/ Y HERE COMES THE SUN AVA I L A B L E F O R C H A R T E R

T RUST US… …TO ST EER YO U AWAY FRO M E V ERY RO U TIN E YO U A R E USED TO… A N D TOWA R DS CR E ATIN G SP ECIA L FA MILY M O M EN TS.

THE TRUSTED NAME IN YACHTING YACHTCHARTER@FR A SERYACHTS.COM FR A SERYACHTS.COM

TRAVEL JOURNAL

T H E J O U R N E Y N O T Y E T TA K E N I’d love to visit the Sea of Cortez (which separates the Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico), on the island shores made of crushed shells, where tiny silvery fish dance and jump around you, playing with your feet.

M Y I M A G I N A RY T R AV E L S

I have travelled in my imagination to the medieval Alamut Castle (in present-day Iran). I arrived at its gates on a fresh, moonlit night and all the scents I smelled as I entered the fortress are the scents that emanate from my Alamut fragrance: the flowers of an enchanted garden, the wood of a mysterious trunk and the ambergris and musk that are hidden in the trunk.

L I F E ’S S M A L L LU X U R I E S

I love Edward Green’s shoes, certain custom-made ties that I had re-made based on old ties from my father’s wardrobe, and silk handkerchiefs. For the grooming essentials, I have the privilege to be able to custommake for myself products such as concentrated perfume, aftershave lotion, moisturising beard balm, shampoo and hair conditioner.

My first trip to the Middle East was in 1981 when I travelled to Jerusalem, Cairo and Sinai. Later I went to Morocco. The scents were so intense and different from what I was used to. There were all the ingredients of curry: coriander, cumin, turmeric, saffron, which was sold in the markets as a whole flower. There was mint, cardamom, coffee, rose water and orange blossom, and sumac (a special lemon-scented spice used to season salads), and habek, the healing herb that grows in the desert. Plus of course all the essential oils in every marketplace.

102

ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES

SCENTS OF THE EAST

www.tasaki.co.uk

OETKER COLLECTION GUEST

H OM E F R OM H OM E F R A N TA R K E N T O N O N E D E N R O C K – S T B A R T H S

Fran Tarkenton spent more than a decade playing quarterback in America’s National Football League, breaking several records that held for many years after he left the game in 1978 – quickly becoming a popular TV commentator and host. By 1986, when Tarkenton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he had already emerged as an early and successful software entrepreneur, and he continues to run a stable of successful businesses. A fan of Eden Rock, he has been returning to St Barths every year for more than 30 years

How did you discover St Barths? I first visited St Barths 31 years ago. I was dating Linda, the woman who is now my wife. And I’d been to lots of places in the Caribbean and I hadn’t really liked them. So I asked this guy who I’d just done a big deal with. I said, “I’ve got this girlfriend who I’m going to marry, so where should we go?” And he said, “I know the perfect place for you: St Barths.” I’d never heard of it, but I made a reservation, and we went there for a few days – and I’d never seen anything as beautiful as that island. The beaches were incredible, the weather was amazing – and that’s the way it’s been for 30 years now.

What do you remember about that first visit? We’d pack everything into our days there. We’d get up in the morning and go for a run – and the runs were hilly and challenging, which we enjoyed. And then we’d go back and put some food together to take to the beach, and buy a couple of bottles of wine. And we’d just stay on the beach all day long. Then we’d head back and watch the sunset down in the little village, and then go back and clean up and then go out and have a great dinner. For us, it was the perfect day.

How often do you go there now?

Clockwise from above: Fran Tarkenton and his wife Linda on vacation on St Barths; a convivial lunch with friends on the island; the harbour at St Barths; Tarkenton arriving for another visit

104

We used to go for four or five days, and that first year we went around three times, and then we decided we needed two weeks. We always go in February, and the extraordinary thing is that we’ve been going for 30 years, and I really don’t recall losing a day to rain in all that time. Maybe a drizzle here and a drizzle there, but there’s sunshine every day – and it isn’t humid, ever.

And when did you discover Eden Rock – St Barths? When I first started going there, Eden Rock had the best location and the best beach, but it hadn’t been developed. Then David Matthews came along and made it into the single best resort I’ve ever been to in my life. Only it’s not really a resort – it’s more like a home away from home. He’s a genius at making everything perfect. It’s extraordinary.

What’s so special about it? Well the service is impeccable. And the rooms are built out of the rock – they’re all different and when you walk into them you think, wow! And whenever I’ve brought new people with me they always have the same reaction, because you’re sitting on top of the beach; I can walk ten steps from my room and I’m stepping on sand. And the sand on the beaches on St Barths is hard-packed sand, which I like, because I love to take a long walk along the beach – to get a bit of a work-out while taking in the blue sky and blue-green waves.

“It’s the prettiest island in the world. That’s why this is a must-do trip, every year.”

What do you like to do on the island? The food is incredible. The lobsters are the best in the world, and I like a red snapper – and they’ve probably caught them at 6am that morning, so they’re really fresh. The extraordinary thing is, we eat these big lunches that last from noon to 3pm because they’re social, and later we go out for cocktails, then dinner, and we eat French fries, because this is a French island, and we eat desserts. But this last trip I lost five pounds. You can do that because you’re eating lots of fresh seafood and you walk the hills and the beaches every day.

Who do you spend time with when you’re on the island? It’s the prettiest island in the world. That’s why the best travellers in America I know see this as a must-do trip; they all make time for St Barths every year. These days Linda and I know 20 couples from all around the world who we’ve met there on different occasions, but often come around the same time of year. So it’s become that type of trip. And the nice thing about is, none of us wears a jacket or sport coat, and certainly not a tie. We spend the day in bathing suits; at lunch we wear shorts; and at dinner we put on a linen shirt and jeans. It’s totally relaxed – we’re all in a completely different state of mind. We travel a lot – to London, the Amalfi coast, California’s Wine Country, or Pebble Beach for the golf. And there’s nowhere that gives us the feeling that St Barths does. It leaves us feeling invigorated and relaxed.

105

OETKER COLLECTION NEWS

PE O PL E , PL A C E S , N E WS The new faces, openings, and announcements from Oetker Collection’s hotels around the globe. Catch up on all the latest, from art shows to pop-ups and the new Eden Being blog

SHOW A ND TELL

A R T AT O E T K E R C O L L E C T I O N The programme of art by leading artists at Oetker Collection’s hotels continues apace this spring – and sculpture in the open air plays a major role. As well as Tony Cragg’s sculpture display (featured on p16), works by the Spanish-born artist Manolo Valdés will be installed in the grounds of Château Saint-Martin & Spa (from 19 April), where Erik Iffergan’s work will once again grace the colonnade. The work of leading Parisian artist Bertrand Lavier will be on display in the garden of Le Bristol Paris (from 19 April), with another collaboration to follow in the form of a Bernard Lavier suite at the hotel. And later in the spring there’s also a show from Britain’s Mat Collishaw at The Lanesborough. For more information go to oetkercollection.com/news/art-at-oetker-collection/

SM A RT TH I N KI NG

T H E A P P F O R A R T-L O V E R S Dubbed “Shazam for the art-world”, Smartify allows users of the app to identify artworks by scanning them with their smartphone. Since its launch in 2017, many of the world’s leading cultural institutions have signed up – and now, thanks to Smartify’s collaboration with Eden Being, Oetker Collection guests can instantly learn about the exhibitions at the hotels. The aim, as Smartify co-founder Anna Lowe explains, is “to empower guests to discover the stories behind the carefully curated exhibitions of contemporary art displayed in the various properties. The free mobile app can then be used by travellers in museums and galleries across the world to learn more about art and create their personal collection of favourites.” 106

GOOD TIMES

W E L C OM E T O M I N D F U L S H O P P I N G This spring sees the launch of gOOOders, a lifestyle brand and concept store that describes itself as “eco-friendly, human-friendly and, of course, Instagram-grid friendly”. Co-founders Caterina Occhio and Eva Geraldine Fontanelli promise “hotel shopping for the mindful traveller”. So expect hand-crafted clothes, ethically sourced jewellery and chic, upcycled souvenirs when you encounter their pop-up at Le Bristol Paris this spring. gOOOders launches its e-commerce arm later in the year.

BAT H I NG BE AU T I E S

L E A D I N G S PA S L AU N C H U N E S C O B I D “This is about social history,” explains Frank Marrenbach, CEO of Oetker Collection, discussing the Great Spas of Europe’s joint bid for UNESCO World Heritage status. “As well as taking the waters, spas were also places where people could mix and spend time together. You see that history in the architecture of all of these towns, from the splendid villas the industrialists built to the elegant casinos,” where the strict rules separating Europe’s social castes began to dissolve a little. For as Marrenbach argues, these resorts were the first places where Europe’s moneyed classes would mingle, and where tycoons rubbed shoulders with aristocrats and royals. As well as Baden-Baden, which is home to Oetker Collection’s iconic Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa – the others towns in the bid are Belgium’s Spa, England’s Bath, France’s Vichy, Italy’s Montecatini Terme, along with various other “badens” or “bads”. Those include Germany’s Bad Kissingen and Bad Ems, Austria’s Baden bei Wien, and the towns that 19th-century spa-goers would have known as Carlsbad, Franzensbad and Marienbad – now in the Czech Republic and called Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně. Asked to name a favourite spa town other than his home town of Baden-Baden, Marrenbach says: “These are all extraordinary towns, but I’d have to say Bath. It’s just so complete.”

MOR E FROM EDEN BEI NG

O U R N E W D I G I TA L P L AT F O R M If you’d like to hear more about what’s coming up at Oetker Collection’s nine masterpiece hotels or with Eden Being, the collection’s lifestyle arm, look no further than edenbeing.com – our new digital platform. Perhaps you’d like to plan your stay with us – to coincide with the turtle eggs hatching in Jumby Bay or the film festival in São Paulo. Perhaps you’re already staying with us, and want to find the perfect patisserie in walking distance of Le Bristol Paris or a great boutique a stone’s throw from The Lanesborough. Or perhaps you’re tempted by one of Eden Being’s cool collaborations – or you’re keen to hear about the next art installation at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Either way, you know where to look.

107

OETKER COLLECTION CALENDAR

CA L E N DA R Upcoming events taking place near Oetker Collection’s hotels around the globe, from a classic car meeting in Baden-Baden to jazz in Provence

BA D E N - BA D E N

43rd International Oldtimer Meeting Baden-Baden 12–14 July 2019 A unique opportunity to admire 350 remarkable classic cars in BadenBaden’s famous Kurpark. For many aficionados, this is Germany’s best classic car event – a fascinating display of automotive history in a superb pastoral setting. S Ã O PA U L O

PA R I S

The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism Fondation Louis Vuitton until 17 June This exhibition showcases the remarkable collection of British entrepreneur and art patron Samuel Courtauld, one of the most important – and influential – collectors of the 20th century.

SP-Arte/Foto/2019 Shopping JK Iguatemi, 3rd floor, Avenida Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek, 2041, São Paulo, Brazil until August 2019 The São Paulo Photo Fair has become one of the most important moments in the cultural year in Brazil. Now in its 12th year, over the course of five days at its central location in Shopping JK Iguatemi, modern and contemporary photography will be the primary topic of discussion, with book releases and exhibitions taking place around São Paulo.

Above: Paul Cezanne’s “Étude d’après le modèle Scipion” (1866-1868) is part of the Musée d’Orsay’s exhibition, “Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse”

108

The European Night of Museums 18 May One night a year, museums across France and much of Europe stay open from nightfall to midnight, offering a variety of workshops, projections, tastings and live shows.

Jazz à Juan 12–21 July 2019 The 59th edition of the international jazz festival includes performances by Jamiroquai, Diana Krall and Thomas Dutronc, the master of jazz manouche (the French jazz guitar sound pioneered by Django Reinhardt). Antibes Art Fair 20 April–2 May 2019 A showcase of art and antiques along the town’s fine esplanade. Classical and Jazz 20–31 July 2019 The annual music festival returns to its glorious setting in the hilltop village of Saint-Paul de Vence.

ANTIBES AND THE RIVIERA

Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse Musée d’Orsay, until 21 July Taking a multi-disciplinary approach that combines the history of art and the history of ideas, this exhibition explores aesthetic, political, social and racial issues in the representation of black figures in visual arts, from the abolition of slavery in France in 1794 to the modern day.

LONDON

Chelsea Flower Show 21–25 May 2019 The Lanesborough London is offering guests the opportunity to enjoy the Royal Horticultural Society’s world-famous show with access to acclaimed chef Raymond Blanc’s 2019 Jardin Blanc. This special experience offers guests the chance to be among the first to see the show when it opens at 8am on 21 May, with access to the exclusive members-only days. ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 30 May–14 July The world’s cricketing nations gather for the 12th edition of this tournament, with a series of matches taking place around England and Wales, including several at London’s two iconic grounds, the Oval and Lord’s.

Left: Jazz à Juan returns to its spectacular seafront location with performances from music stars such as Thomas Dutronc (above)

109

ALAMY

OETKER COLLECTION REPORT

MOV I NG T O WA R D S A GR EEN ER WO R L D With tackling climate change a pressing concern for us all, Oetker Collection has launched a range of initiatives to support local communities and help safeguard the planet. Colette Forder reveals some of the ways they are making a difference 110

Planet Earth is in trouble, and it needs our help. Now that 97 per cent of climate experts are in agreement that global warming is a reality, and that humans are responsible for it, urgent action is required to minimise and mitigate the harm. Never before has corporate social responsibility (CSR) been so important, creating the opportunity for big business to make a real difference. No gesture is too small: sustainability is a global problem, but it can also be tackled at local, national, and regional levels. The properties that make up Oetker Collection have all been addressing their responsibilities to the planet in different ways, whether by helping with local community projects, getting involved with ecology protection, or ditching single-use plastics. As Xenia zu Hohenlohe, the Managing Partner at Considerate Hoteliers, who is advising Oetker Collection on CSR, explains: “The trend for companies to embrace CSR and environmental actions is no longer a ’nice to have’ but a ‘must do’.” L’Apogée Courchevel, for example, is making an important contribution to protecting biodiversity in its region of the French Alps. The ski retreat has renewed its ongoing partnership with the Vanoise National Park, which was established in 1963 to protect the Alpine ibex. To promote awareness of this vulnerable species, L’Apogée Courchevel sells plush toy goats to its guests, with all proceeds going to the cause. This collaboration has been so successful that the next ibex to be fitted with a GPS collar as part of the monitoring programme will be named after the resort. Similar projects have been adopted by Château Saint-Martin & Spa in Vence, and Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes. The former is selling plush toy owls in support of the French Bird Protection League’s fight against biodiversity loss in ProvenceAlpes-Côte d’Azur, and the latter’s turtle toys highlight its association with a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Antibes Juanles-Pins, which rescues and re-releases injured sea turtles. It’s not just endangered species that are benefitting from Oetker Collection’s commitment to CSR. In São Paulo, Palácio Tangará is involved in a range of initiatives in the neighbouring Paraisópolis favela. It offers apprenticeships to favela youth, and use of the hotel’s sumptuous ballroom has also been given gratis to the Paraisópolis community orchestra and ballet. At Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, meanwhile, the Alfred Brenner Foundation supports young talent entering the luxury hotel industry, and the annual artist-in-residence benefits from the estate’s own art gallery. The private park also features an orchard meadow, with local varieties of apple, and five colonies of bees, which both support biodiversity and provide locally produced honey for the restaurant. Local habitats are equally prized at Eden Rock – St Barths and at Jumby Bay Island, off Antigua. The former is working to restore the aquatic habitats in its wilderness ponds, where countless species of bird and fish reside, and also grows much of its own produce. Jumby Bay’s kitchen garden is ever-expanding as it heads towards a fully sustainable table, and it has even started to supply its own desalinated, filtered water. All of these steps towards sustainability, or protecting biodiversity, or helping communities, emphasise the symbiotic relationship between Oetker Collection hotels and their locations. These projects show that high-end hospitality is not at odds with these ideas, but is helping to drive them. As zu Hohenlohe says: “Sustainability, which to me is just good ‘housekeeping’, is the real contemporary luxury.”

HOTEL DIRECTORY

5 rue Emile Allais Jardin Alpin (Courchevel 1850) 73120 Courchevel, France T: +33 (0)4 79 04 01 04 F: +33 (0)4 79 04 01 14 reservations.apg@oetkercollection.com

Schillerstraße 4/6 76530 Baden–Baden Germany T: +49 (0)7 221 900 0 F: +49 (0)7 221 387 72 reservations.brenners@oetkercollection.com

112 rue du Faubourg Saint–Honoré, 75008 Paris France T: +33 (0)1 53 43 43 25 F: +33 (0)1 53 43 43 26 reservations.lebristolparis@oetkercollection.com

Avenue des Templiers BP 102 06142 Vence France T: +33 (0)4 93 58 02 02 F: +33 (0)4 93 24 08 91 reservations.csm@oetkercollection.com

St Jean Bay St Barthélemy F97133 French West Indies T: + (0) 590 590 29 79 99 F: + (0) 590 590 27 88 37 reservations.edenrock@oetkercollection.com

Boulevard JF Kennedy 06601 Antibes France T: +33 (0)4 93 61 39 01 F: +33 (0)4 93 67 76 04 reservations.hdcer@oetkercollection.com

PO Box 243, Antigua and Barbuda West Indies T: + (0) 1 268 462 6000 F: + (0) 1 268 462 6020 reservations.jbi@oetkercollection.com

Hyde Park Corner London SW1X 7TA United Kingdom T: +44 (0) 20 7259 5599 F: +44 (0) 20 7259 5606 reservations.lanesborough@oetkercollection.com

Rua Dep. Laércio Corte 1501 Panamby 05706 290, São Paulo Brazil P +55 11 4904 4040 F +55 11 4904 4002 reservations.tangara@oetkercollection.com

T: +44 (0) 207 079 1621 masterpiece-estates.com info@masterpiece-estates.com

T: +44 (0)207 079 1635 edenbeing.com concierge@edenbeing.com

111

THE MOMENT

B R A Z I L I A N I C O N “ BA BY ” P I G N ATA R I P U T S H I S FEET U P

It would be fair to say of Francisco “Baby” Pignatari that he worked hard and he played hard. The grandson of Count Francesco Matarazzo – an Italian migrant who became a leading Brazilian industrialist – Pignatari had taken a relatively small inheritance and run with it, rapidly making a fortune of his own and becoming one of Brazil’s most powerful businessmen in the 1950s. Baby made a lot of money, and he spent a lot of money – on everything from a plane-load of flowers to woo the actress Dolores del Rio to fast cars, boats, and planes (which he piloted himself ). He dated several famous beauties, including the Balmain model Barbara Cailleux (pictured, 112

above, from a Life magazine profile of Pignatari in 1958); Soraya, former wife of the Shah of Iran; and the Agnelli heiress, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg. And in a leafy spot in São Paulo he set out to create the ultimate love-nest, persuading the celebrated landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx to work on its spectacular gardens. But the relationship in question foundered, Baby’s “Rancho Tangará” was never finished and was, after Baby’s death, abandoned. But ultimately this would become the site of the Palácio Tangará – an iconic luxury hotel of which Pignatari would doubtless have approved – in the gardens of what is now the Burle Marx Park. So a happy ending – of sorts.

THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Legendary entrepreneur and bon viveur Francisco Pignatari’s legacy includes the superb setting of São Paulo’s Palácio Tangará

Some see more. 720S Spider Super Series

cars.mclaren.com

Official fuel consumption figures in UK L/100km (CO2 grams per km) for the McLaren Super Series 4.0L (3,994cc) petrol, 7-speed Seamless Shift Dual Clutch Gearbox (SSG): Low 23.3 (528), Medium: 12.9 (293), High, 9.2 (209), Extra-High, 10.2 (230), Combined 12.2 (276). The efficiency figures quoted are derived from official WLTP test results, are provided for comparability purposes only, and might not reflect actual driving experience.