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OFFICES AROUND THE WORLD: H. W. INTERNATIONAL OFFICES : ATHENS – BERMUDA – COLOGNE – HAMBURG – HONG KONG LONDON – STEVENAGE – MADRID – MELBOURNE – PARIS –TORONTO HUGH WOOD INC. OFFICES : BELLEFONTE – NEW YORK – PHILADELPHIA - SEATTLE
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he much-publicised boom in Asian boating is still just on the horizon, but the major European builders and manufacturers realised some time ago that luxury, social, boating has a different function in this part of the world. In the familiar markets of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, the concept is well understood – owners and friends, or charter guests, take off for a week or more for a spell of sybaritic luxury as far as possible from the madding crowd. In Asia, a boat is most often seen as a business entertainment platform, useful for cocktail receptions, parties, dinners and possibly day-trips, but rarely overnight stays. This implies a substantially differently genre of boat to those seen moored stern-to in the vieux port at Cannes, or anchored in English Harbour, Antigua. Boats designed specifically for Asia require less outdoor deck space, fewer and less expansive cabins, less galley space, more air-conditioned indoor area, and more space for entertaining. The people who have taken these new design parameters to heart most enthusiastically are without a doubt the Ferretti Group. Last year they presented Asia with the Ferretti Altura 840 Tai He Ban Special Edition. This year they have taken the re-working of the interior a stage further.
Step on board the Ferretti Yachts 870 Tai He Ban Special Edition from the stern and enjoy the spacious aft deck. Banquette seating, big table, plenty of room. But it’s sizzling here in the tropics, so let’s go straight into the very welcoming air-conditioned interior. Every boat manufacturer likes to tell you about space and light, but here it is not just brochure talk. The saloon of the 870 is a one-piece affair, from the sliding glass doors aft right through to the bridge. It’s a big space, and brilliantly lit by ceiling-to-sofa windows down the full length. If you are hangin’ out here in a secluded anchorage in Double Haven (Hong Kong) or Phang Nga Bay (Thailand), the view is going to be a big part of the onboard experience. Long sofa seating travels down both sides of the saloon, leading to a proper bar on starboard (applause, please, for a bar in an entertaining area) and straight through into the dining area which is not huge – deliberately – and is separated from the saloon only by a decorative screen feature. And there’s a day head, right there. The pilot house is ever-so-slightly raised, giving the helmsman an excellent level of visibility, but we are heading down below. Here there are two double cabins, one in the bow and the other to port. Both feature walk-around beds and en suite bathrooms, and in terms of actual measured size, they are almost identical. Which
opposite page: The light and spacious main deck; the galley; master suite; cocktails anyone? Above: Entertainment suite
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124 style motor aston martin
With a six-litre V12 engine, the Aston Martin Vanquish has the acceleration of a Grand Prix racing car
The Aston Martin DB5 is super light, and is paired with a state-ofthe-art engine that still impresses five decades later
omega De Ville trĂŠsor in Sedna gold with leather strap
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130 style accessories timepieces
patek philippe Annual Calendar ref. 5396/1 in white gold with bracelet
VaCheRoN CoNStaNtiN Patrimony Pocket watch in pink gold
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FAIR Feast
Hong Kong is really getting serious about art. Jenny Cooper gets drawn into the confluence of art and technology, and ‘feels the vibe’ at both Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central Photos by Jessica Hromas/Art Basel, Guy Nowell, and Tomio Koyama
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othing stands still for long in Asia and art is no exception. With Art Basel Hong Kong moving from May to March in order to ease the global fair schedule, and the new satellite fair Art Central starting up along the waterfront, Hong Kong almost sweltered under an ‘art saturated’ fair feast in March this year. Art Basel Hong Kong was busier and brighter than ever. With new Asian art director Adeline Ooi at the helm, and additional partnerships with local art associations on the ground, Art Basel’s third Hong Kong fair boasted 233 galleries from 37 countries and territories. The Asia Pacific focus remained with over half the exhibitors coming from the region. As always at Art Basel Hong Kong top names featured at the international galleries such as Damien Hirst with 'Black Scalpel CityScapes' from White Cube, London. There was a vibrant mix too of lesser-known artists in Asia like Goshka Macuga, from Galerie Rudiger Schottle in Munich with Backdrop: 'Living Room',' a large hauntingly simple photographic image of an everyday scene delivered as a monochromatic woven tapestry. Among the main attractions at Art Basel Hong Kong are the larger art works under the ‘Encounters’ label, curated this year for the first time by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace in Sydney. One large installation piece by Singapore artist Zai Kuning was an outline framework of a ship, as part of a five-year project by the artist, which includes producing work and research on the first Melayu King, Dapunta Hyang who dates back to pre-Islamic times. Dapunta Hyang (Transmission of Knowledge) is a suspended skeleton of a boat made from rattan
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secured with waxed string and stones. The often-forgotten legend in Malay history recounts that Dapunta Hyang conquered many parts of South East Asia by ship with a large army. This legend inspired Kuning to create a ship that he identifies as a vessel carrying human desires and a house - and which can also be a weapon at the same time. Japanese artist Shintaro Miyake was at Art Basel, up a ladder and busy sketching a new piece of his latest series 'Excursions in Asia'. Presented by Tomio Koyama Gallery from Tokyo, Miyake is known for his detailed black and white illustrations and recurring characters with large heads and oval eyes. Described at times as a performing artist, he is often found dressed in costumes of his characters as he works, as he says it adds to his creative process. He was certainly a crowd-pleaser, with many fair visitors taking videos of the live performance. Within an easy walk of Art Basel Hong Kong and attracting 75 galleries, Art Central lived up to its promise and delivered what the city has been waiting for – a large scale satellite fair of international standard.
Tim Etchells, one of the Co-Founders, is no stranger to Hong Kong, having established ART HK in 2008. Tim and his partners understand Hong Kong, the art market, and what attracts new visitors into town. ‘Housed’ in large tent structures at the Central Harbourfront, the vibe at Art Central was complemented by crowded pop-up restaurants and bars from favourite local outlets. Visionairs Gallery from Paris was among the overseas galleries exhibiting at Art Central. “For a first time fair, it was very well organised,” commented Lydie Geoffrey, Visionairs Paris CEO, after an exceptionally busy week. “We found the service from the organisers reliable, and were very happy with the sales too. We would like to come back next year”. Artist Seung Hoon Park works proved popular for Visionairs Gallery during Art Central. With a critical eye on cities around the world, the Korean photographer creates some most unusual photographic works using either iconic images or historic landmark buildings of a city as part of his ongoing series 'Textus'. Starting with either 8 mm or 16 mm camera filmstrips, he ‘threads’
previous page: Xu Longsem (Hanart TZ Gallery} THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE TOP LEFT: VIP Guest enjoys the Preview night at Art Central; Instilation by Singaporean artist Zai Kuning; Damien Hirst, Black Scalpel CityScapes (White Cube)
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the last word 153
Quality Assurance By guy nowell
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Guy Nowell is a marine journalist and photographer who has a strong dislike of the words ‘passion’, ‘coveted’ and ‘iconic’ when found in press releases. However, he is passionate about good English, and covets a first edition of the iconic text, “Three Men in a Boat”. He is also the Asia Editor of the world’s most widelyread boating news website, Sail-World.com.
e all know what ‘quality’ is. We all recognise it when we see it, and we all appreciate it, and it’s not just the quality of something tangible like a piece of furniture – it involves intangibles, too. So why is it that lack of quality can be passed off on us so easily? Why do we passively condone poor quality by never bothering to question it? Is it because in our scramble for immediacy - our desire for instant gratification - the good stuff that takes a little longer to create and polish is overlooked? When it comes to writing and reporting, the attitude so often appears to be “Just get it out there – never mind the quality. And make sure it flatters the client.” Can’t we do better than that? Once upon a time ‘the client’ was the reader. Reporters reported, and people read what they reported. Newspapers and magazines staked their reputations on the quality of their reporting, which in turn attracted readers. Readership attracted advertisers, which meant money, and now you can pay your reporters. But this virtuous circle has been reversed, in part on account of the Internet, which delivers free media content. If the readers are not paying for the content, then who is? The advertisers, of course. At the same time the reporters have become the employees of the events they are reporting, gradually morphing into press release writers who are never going to say anything remotely critical of the hand that feeds them. Quality has suffered, along with objectivity. This is why every single event from a global ocean race to a local regatta has become the best, the biggest or the fastest. Nobody loses, nobody is ever second best, and everyone has to win. It happens very close to home. Why compete in a sailing regatta where you may have to work hard to win, when you can turn up to one with only three entries in your class and get a prize for coming third – or, last, depending on which way you look at it? Hold up the trophy! Take a snap with a smartphone! Post it on social media and you’re a winner! Quality has been devalued; the quality of the event, and the quality of the achievement. We see something similar when it comes to Awards ceremonies. Prizes are handed out for being Best Magazine, producing the Best Boat, or running the Best Regatta. Look closely, and you’ll find that awards are more often than not given away to reward advertisers.
Everyone claims to know this, but they still like getting up on stage and collecting the accolade. We used to be involved with an Awards organisation that tried to get away from this modus operandi, but stepped down when we realised that most of the fellow ‘judges’ were not sufficiently well informed to make a proper decision. A judge who is not a sailor, and has never been to a regatta, has no business voting for the Regatta of the Year. We’re all PR writers these days: we write our own PR. Just take a look at your favourite social media platform, and the posts are all about your friends having a wonderful time in marvellous places. Someone asked recently, “Why is it that I only ever see posts from friends in First Class Lounges, and not from Economy?” We are so captivated by narcissistic self-promotion that it is easy to overlook the fact that third place in a race of three is not much to write home about, or even post on the Internet, and nor is the muffin that you are about to devour in some impossibly fantastic and stupendous location. Trivialisation kills Quality. When it comes to products, everything is showered in superlatives. We remember attending a boat launch for a motoryacht that was touted as ‘revolutionary’. I pointed out to the salesman that it was pointy at the front, square at the back, had an engine and lots of posh furnishings inside, and floated. What, exactly, was ‘revolutionary’ about it? So much fluff is written about boats that the manufacturers end up actually believing their own advertising, and that way lies madness. When someone comes up with a 120ft powerboat with a zero-drag hull, cruises at 50kts and is entirely powered by renewable energy, it will be revolutionary. Until then, one cruiser can be chiefly distinguished from the next by the colour of the upholstery, its Brand Name, and the amount of ‘passion’ that goes into it construction (especially where Italians are concerned). It is reasonable to expect a boat to float, but when its attributes are couched in terms that are more sparkle than substance, Quality has been compromised – but it will probably win an Award! Of course there is plenty of Real Quality out there – designers, boat builders, regatta organisers and events of unimpeachable Quality. It has been our great pleasure to bring all these people and these things to your notice over the last several years in this magazine. The rest has either been politely ignored or at least the egregious press releases have been substantially filleted. We have asked questions, and we have reported. We have, in our own way, tried to present you with a Quality publication. Long may it continue.