Entrepeneur, art patron and collector Alan Lo

Hong Kong-based collector, restaurateur, serial board member, philanthropist and social dynamo Alan Lo speaks about the art scene in Asia, his inspirations, and who’s stirring him right now

LUX: Are private foundations such as the Yenn and Alan Lo Foundation (YAL), which you initiated with your wife Yenn Wong, becoming more important to fill the gap in public funding of the arts?

Alan Lo: The Singapore art landscape is rather top heavy, dominated by National Gallery Singapore (NGS) and Singapore Art Museum (SAM). For the art ecosystem to thrive, we want to see activation across the whole spectrum, and we feel collector- or private patron-driven initiatives, such as YAL Foundation and our new transnational art-project space, Kim Association, exist to help fill a certain void.

Family Tango, 2024, by Skyler Chen, at the Yenn and Alan Lo Foundation

LUX: When it comes to collecting and philanthropy, who do you admire most and why?

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AL: There are so many great collectors and art patrons who have done amazing things, but I have to say my father Victor is of great influence to me. Not only did he build what has become one of the most important 20th-century Chinese-ink collections, he also dedicated more than 15 years to public service, creating M+ in Hong Kong from what was a concept on a government report to what is today – one of the most important museums of contemporary culture in Asia.

Expect Us, 2021, by Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) at the YAL

LUX: Which two artists excite you most at the moment and why?

AL: Naotaka Hiro is a Japanese-born painter based in the LA. I love the poetry of his work, and he has been getting quite a bit of attention among collectors and institutions. I am also excited about New York-based conceptual artist Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo). She was included in the main exhibition of Venice Biennale 2024, and we inaugurate Kim Association with a presentation of her work, as well as a new performance, in fall 2025.

LUX: Is Singapore becoming the new Hong Kong?

Noise Blanket No 20, 2024, by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, at the YAL

AL: Haha, is that a trick question? I think the two cities have very different personalities. Singapore is the hot Switzerland, where you want to open your family office and private bank account and hang out with like-minded high-net-worth Southeast Asians. Hong Kong is where you will take your company public, keep your super yacht (with its beautiful waters and islands), build an art collection, drink DRC (being the only jurisdiction with freeport status) and expand your mainland business network.

Read more: An interview with Anna Nash of Explora Journeys

LUX: What would you like YAL Foundation to have achieved in five years time?

AL: It’s hard to say, but we hope our humble effort will help give things a kick-start and inspire other patrons to bring further activation to make a more vibrant scene, not just in Singapore but in all Southeast Asia.

@yalfoundation

The facade of Grand Hotel Kronenhof, the jewel in the crown of the little village of Pontresina

On a shelf at the confluence of the Engadine, Bernina and Roseg valleys, the Grand Hotel Kronenhof, in the village of Pontresina, combines old-world grandeur, contemporary elegance, astonishing views and some knockout cocktails

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As anyone who reads this publication will know, St Moritz and its surrounding Alpine valleys are getting more desirable by the year. But that doesn’t mean that there are not discoveries within them, and the Kronenhof is most certainly one of them.

The alpine view from Hotel Kronenhof’s lobby lounge

Sitting on a plateau above a deep, forested river gorge, the Kronenhof is the jewel in the crown of the little village of Pontresina –  located at an even more spectacular point than St Moritz itself, a six kilometre, 10-minute drive away.

Read more: Tom Rowntree on modern luxury hospitality

Pontresina sits at the mouth of the Roseg valley, which rises up to reveal dramatic glaciated and snowy peaks year round. From the swimming pool at the Kronenhof through its huge plate-glass windows, you have a fishbowl view of the whole Engadine Valley and the forested mountains lining it.

‘Pontresina sits at the mouth of the Roseg valley, which rises up to reveal dramatic glaciated and snowy peaks year round’

The rooms in public areas can only be described as high mountain high chic. There is a view everywhere you go – and it all feels very integral to nature, not urbanised at all. You can head up the mountain alongside the hotel with a guide to discover ibex hiding in the forest; or take a horse and carriage ride up the valley opposite, towards the glaciers; or hike, mountain bike, trail run, swim in lakes… and slide back into the modern grandeur of the Kronenhof.

Read more: A week of art in Jaipur

Whether you are from Bangkok or Baku, the Belle Époque Grand Restaurant dining room, with its own minstrels’ gallery (unlike anything in, say, Courchevel), will take your breath away. You feel you are in the ballroom of a 19th-century Archduke, except at 1,800 meter altitude. Service is exquisite in the way only heritage Alpine hotels can achieve. We particularly liked the after-dinner cocktails in the sophisticated bar area, and going on to the cigar lounge and pool table.

The Belle Époque Grand Restaurant dining room of Hotel Kronenhof, offering guests a meal in classic yet modern luxury

With staff who seem to know you even if you have never been before (and remember you if you have, however long ago) and an underlying civility, gentility and professionalism that speaks not just to the staff but to the sophistication of the management, for summer, winter, or in between, we can’t recommend it enough.

kronenhof.com

Just steps from the Champs-Élysées, Hôtel Balzac brings together a historic building and state-of-the-art design after a complete renovation by Festen Architecture

The Hotel Balzac in Paris combines boutique chic with the feeling of being in a (very sophisticated) friend’s home, as LUX discovers 

Where to stay in Paris this spring? The great hotels of Paris share many qualities: style, grandeur, history, and often a powerful sense of superiority that they really are at the centre of a city unmatched by any other for sophistication.

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What they don’t tend to have, however, is tranquility and this is exactly what you find when you walk in to the Balzac. A quality even more surprising given the hotel’s location just metres off the Champs-Élysées and within throwing distance of a handbag from both the Louis Vuitton flagship and the shops of the 8th.

The lobby at Hôtel Balzac, where you can sip a cocktail or 1930s vintage

The Balzac, on a stylish side street of the same name, welcomes you in with a white tea perfume, a perfectly coiffed doorman swinging the door open for you, and a sense of 1930s-meets-contemporary style that could only emanate from the coolest collection of hotels in Paris.

You sit on white sofas and cut crystal decanters while sipping your welcome cocktail, lime hued, out of a martini glass of similar 1930s vintage (non-alcoholic, but there is an alcoholic version available in the utterly chic bar a few steps away), before being taken up to your room.

Inside Spa Ikoi, a Japanese wellness space brought to the centre of Paris by Hôtel Balzac

Ours was as tranquil as the lobby, every detail so perfectly put together that it could only be in Paris, every detail aimed towards peace and the feeling of a private home. Everything from the late art deco glassware and decanters through to the kettle, hairdryer, light switches… It feels as if you are at the home of a very stylish interior design designer friend whose parents are in fashion and art.

Read more: Tom Rowntree on modern luxury hospitality

It’s well executed too, not just surface detail: the bed is properly comfortable, the stunning bath is not just a page out of Architectural Digest magazine but supremely delicious to be in, the mini bar snacks and drinks comprise only the most artisanal brands which are also delightful to consume.

The rooms are as tranquil as the lobby, with the feeling of a private home

So is this the perfect Paris hotel? That depends a little bit on you and your requirements: if you want to take a group of friends to a flashy restaurant or bar, this is not the place, and nor is it where you take a bunch of investors looking for the flashiest parts of Paris for a business meeting.

But if you’ve been there, done everything flashy, and just want to sink into the spa/design/architectural home of some friends in the heart of the eighth – or feel like you are – there really is no better place.

hotelbalzac.paris

Dave Chen, CEO and Chair of Equilibrium Capital

Dave Chen founded Equilibrium Capital in 2008 after seeing growing interest in how sustainability can help shape the basic economic sectors of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, which include food, water, resources, employment and security. He recognised that climate change was shifting perceptions of asset risk and value. Equilibrium continues to invest in environmentally beneficial companies. LUX speaks to Chen about the challenges of a future blue economy

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Equilibrium Capital has been involved in environmentally responsible investing for nearly two decades, including backing carbon transition infrastructure projects and the development of controlled environment food production such as indoor and greenhouse farming. But the firm isn’t involved in the blue economy as yet. “We are not participants within the ocean economy,” says Chen. The reason is structural rather than ideological.

Ochre starfish among the coral, God’s Pocket, British Columbia, Canada, 2016

“These markets are not ready, and people have to be comfortable with that phrase: it’s not ready,” he says. It’s a bold statement, but one backed up by years of experience: Chen joined McKinsey in 1984, spent nine years at OVP General Partners and is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. His starting point is to separate who deploys capital and why.

Read more: How Louis Roederer champagne leads in biodiversity

Government and philanthropic capital can be rewarded through social and ecological outcomes. But investor money needs monetary returns. And too often, he argues, “people just mash this all together.” That distinction becomes decisive at sea – what Chen calls the classic “commons”. And the blue economy struggles to prove its return on investment because it can’t decide on its unit of measure. Even the most mature environmental market, carbon, largely functions as fragmented regional compliance systems, not a single global market, he says.

‘Catalysing blue investment, in Chen’s telling, means basics first’

Chen believes that carbon also holds a lesson for oceans: that voluntary schemes underperform, so rules matter. “Successful examples of carbon markets tend to be highly specific, highly regional and regulated, using the law to create a market that thrives,” he says. He points out that there are some examples of that already in the blue economy, including in US watersheds such as the Mississippi River, where there are emerging traded market mechanisms.

For the rest of us, the future is dependent on investment – and investors need to see clarity on what’s being bought and sold. Catalysing blue investment, in Chen’s telling, means basics first. Governments need to set compliance-grade frameworks and standardise units. Banks can then underwrite and scale regulated pilots where rules, measurement and enforcement exist. Businesses can operate inside those regimes and prove their durability, project by project. It sounds simple, but it’s something that market participants in the blue economy have tried to duck to date, according to Chen. “Human beings don’t like being told that they have to do the basics,” he explains. “There’s no quick, easy answer.”

Photography for the UBS x LUX Blue Economy series by Cristina Mittermeier

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