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Momento, 2020, by FAHR 021.3, at Patina Maldives

Eleven global art patrons from two generations, chaired by one of London’s greatest art doyennes, steered by LUX, and anchored in the most groundbreaking luxury resort in the world. The Patina Art Residency brings together regenerative tourism, sustainability and support for contemporary art, like nothing else

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Regenerative tourism is a vision of the future: travelling to the world’s most beautiful places while not just making an impact, but making a positive difference. The Fari Islands in the Maldives, an archipelago of four pristine islands, were developed with sustainability and regeneration front of mind; at Patina Maldives, Fari Islands, there is a coral regeneration project, an education programme with respected Ocean Elder Jean-Michel Cousteau and a pervasive awareness of the need not to do harm.

Coral Alchemy (Acropora Grove), 2023, by Shezad Dawood, at Manar Abu Dhabi

Villas all have solar panels and were made with renewable materials from the area. The island filters its own water, and there are no single-use plastics: even the construction workers were not allowed them during the resort’s construction (it opened in 2021).

Read more: Head to Baku Art Weekend for a unique cultural celebration

As well as world-leading sustainability credentials, Patina Maldives is also a haven of thoughtfully curated art, with works by James Turrell, Jose Dávila, Hiroko Takeda and others in interplay with the sophisticated architecture. Meanwhile, at Patina Osaka, recently opened, there is a reflective collaboration with celebrated Osaka graphic artist Verdy.

Artist Shezad Dawood, winner of the inaugural Patina Art Residency

In sustainability and the regenerative economy, action is predicated on awareness, and Patina, in collaboration with LUX, has just launched its first art residency, rooted firmly in ocean conservation. This is a residency with a difference.

At its core is a jury of art patrons, both established and next generation, personally invited by LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai. At their head is Maria Sukkar, major patron, LUX Senior Contributing Editor and Co-Chair of the TATE Middle East North Africa Acquisitions Committee.

The jury chose from submissions by artists from all over the world, from India to Brazil. The theme? “Fluid Worlds”, with artists asked to demonstrate how their existing body of work shows a relationship with the planet and oceans, which, in a healthy state, are essential for our survival.

Ghost Reef I, 2025, by Shezad Dawood

After a long and fascinating deliberation process, a winner emerged: Shezad Dawood, an artist with a rich history of narrative about and support for the oceans: he appeared on the cover of LUX magazine in 2022 when he created a digital installation for Frieze London on oceans and the future.

Read more: Spirit Now London acquires works for National Portrait Gallery at Frieze

Dawood will travel to Patina Maldives, staying for up to one month as its first resident artist, creating a resonating work that will be showcased in the property. Meanwhile, the art and hospitality world’s most compelling residency will only grow, as will awareness of the need to protect our oceans.

patinahotels.com

Bulgari Hotel Milan, where you can enjoy the Mediterranean sun from the shade of Il Giardino

Bulgari has become one of the most celebrated luxury city hotel brands, and here we visit their flagship offerings in Milan and Rome

Anyone who is anyone knows that Milan is now the buzzing place in Europe. Yes, the city that previously was known only for its fashion shows and design week, whose residents spent each week planning how to escape for the weekend, is now the place for people too move to, eat in, and show off at.

Milan is still a club, though. People know each other, and it’s social death to be seen in the wrong places. That, dear LUX reader, is why we are taking you to the epicentre of the social scene – or one of them anyway. Specifically, to our dinner table at the Bulgari hotel’s Niko Romito restaurant.

The luxury yet comfortable lobby at Bulgari’s Milan flagship

Situated up a few steps from the circular bar and more casual dining area, swathed in dark light (if that makes sense), you sit here like an Emperor in Europe’s new capital of affluence. Across from us, his back to the banquette, was a well-known fashion elder statesman, who sat happily and purposefully through his piccata, pasta and bottle of Barolo, surveying the scene like a king, his eye never turning to his phone.

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We enjoyed an excellent wine also, from the nearby Alpine Dolomites region, along with some tortelli with ricotta cheese and black pepper beef. The food is brilliant, and B hotels somehow seem even more in their element in their ancestral homeland, more comfortable in their skin.

Speaking about comfort and skin, we had arrived in a state of slight discomfort as LUX had left a company laptop on board the British Airways plane we arrived on a couple of days previously – we had spent the intervening time at the country house of a reader, contacting British Airways and the airport to absolutely no avail – each referred us to the other.

The spa offers guests a retreat in the midst the bustling streets of Milan

On arriving, we had been introduced to the Bulgari hotel Butler, available 24/7 on WhatsApp. The WhatsApp Butler is one of the greatest hotel inventions of recent times, genuinely adding convenience as you don’t need to worry about whether they will pick the phone up, whether they will understand you completely, whether they will note down the details of your requirements and hand them on to the next shift.

More in desperation than hope, we mentioned the laptop situation. “We will look into it straight away sir,” came the response and within half an hour we had a message that they had located the laptop, in an office at the back of the airport, and would we like them to send someone to pick it up?

Perhaps you should expect a luxury hotel concierge to be well connected with an airport but nonetheless the concierge service that was delivered is an enormous asset to the Bulgari.

The Bulgari Bar, a meeting place not only for hotel guests but for in-the-know Milanese

Our room itself was welcomingly quiet, looking over the courtyard garden where the hotel is located. This is an extremely quiet part of central Milan, and only a six minute walk from the golden triangle of luxury shops.

Read more: Inside the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort

Our suite was beautifully and intensely appointed in that signature Bulgari style, overlooking the courtyard garden. This is not a hotel that looks like any other and you feel like you are in the cossetting arms of a heritage luxury brand.

Room service breakfast was served with a flourish, with lavish extra bits and table decorations. This is a place that’s hard to leave, because, you know, it’s the place to be in the place to be.

Inspired by the Roman baths, the Bulgari Paris’ 25 metre pool is intricately decorated with mosaic of gold, emerald, jade, and malachite

Bulgari Hotel Paris review

If you thought Paris was all about traditional, grand – slightly chintzy – luxury on the one hand, or self-conscious boutique chic that isn’t quite delivering luxury on the other, walking through the doors of the Bulgari Hotel on Avenue George V will rapidly change your mind.

The doormen swing the doors open for you into a glossy dark wood and light marble temple to lavishness. The reception desk, small and understated, is to the left, and a lobby lounge with dim lighting and sweeping luxury is to your right.

The Bulgari Suite is accompanied with views across Paris

Our seventh-floor suite had a terrace half the length of a city block, with views out over the Paris rooftops: the Invalides, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, in the distance. On the marble coffee table was an artfully positioned box of huge Bulgari cigar matches. You know what you are supposed to be doing here.

Read more: How Louis Roederer champagne leads in biodiversity

The suite itself had deep pile-patterned cream carpet, and every detail touch showed that this is the creation of the masters of luxury themselves, Bulgari as owned by LVMH. The box for the creams, the box for the shoe shine, the box for the products you might have left behind – in all these cases, the containers with things you are very tempted to take home and present on a coffee table of your own. (We didn’t).

The Bulgari Hotel Paris’ Penthouse garden offers a natural retreat in the heart of Paris, where you can enjoy views of its landmarks away from the crowds

Presentation is everything in luxury, and the welcome presentation of champagne, chocolates, flowers, and three citrus fruit on three Bulgari plates was too good to touch or eat.

Room service breakfast was even more so; an exhibition of oatmeal, Goji berries, different nuts, seeds, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries, each one occupying its own dish ranged around the bowl like numbers on a clock face. Tasted good too.

At the Bulgari‘s heart downstairs is Il Ristorante, which looks out a little courtyard garden where you can sit in summer. Our weather was not suitable for terrace dwelling, but we enjoyed a long and indulgent dinner of accompanied by excellent bottle of Barbaresco from Piedmont, the service correctly Italian and perfect.

Il Ristorante, led by three-Michelin-starred Chef Niko Romito

And then there is the location: walk out onto George V and you can walk into the flagship or nearly-flagship boutique of every luxury brand in France and possibly the world. The Champs Elysées is five minutes one way, the Eiffel Tower probably 10 minutes the other (we didn’t go). If you’re there for Art Basel Paris, probably the best art fair in the world,  it’s around an eight minute walk.

Read more: A conversation with Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar

Luxury reinvented in Paris? Close to it, for sure. The only thing we missed was being able to use our terrace, and a little garden. Paris does doesn’t always play ball with the weather, and even the gods of LVMH can’t change that. Yet.

bulgarihotels.com

Every morning I live with you, 2024, by Dennis Miranda Zamorano

Mexico-based artist Dennis Miranda Zamorano blends nature, humanity and dreamscapes in always surprising ways. Ahead of his new exhibition at Château La Coste, Provence, LUX invites Zamorano to be our artist in residence on these pages, and his gallerist Vanessa Guo reflects on what draws her to his works

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“The history of humanity has been marked by countless terrible events, surviving and overcoming them. However, today we seem to be less prepared and more scattered. I believe we need to strengthen our connections, our listening and our patience toward our surroundings. We must be smarter than those who deceive.” – Dennis Miranda Zamorano, artist, Mexico

Read more: Artist in Residence: Rex Southwick

“I’m drawn to how Dennis ‘excavates’ the canvas, scraping and sanding to peel back layers before reapplying paint to reveal hidden narratives. By upending norms, he urges us to challenge surface illusions and seek authenticity. His tactile, process-driven practice envisions renewal and discovery, resonating deeply amid our present collective uncertainty.” – Vanessa Guo, co-founder, Galerie Marguo, Paris

chateau-la-coste.com

Artist Rex Southwick in his London-based studio

British painter Rex Southwick vividly explores the ideas of aspiration and perception. Across canvases saturated with social media-bright colour, he invites us to view the perfect luxury home, but deconstructed with a behind-the-scenes view of the fantasy. LUX invited him to create a work for our pages

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“Through paint, I honour the maintenance of our environments, giving agency to the overlooked and making the passing permanent” – Rex Southwick, artist, London

Painters of Casino de Monte-Carlo, 2025, by Rex Southwick

rexsouthwick.com

A view of the new bar in the First Lounge in Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport. The Lounge is accessed via a dedicated wing of the terminal

You shouldn’t feel nostalgic for the gilded jet set era when air travel was supposedly more romantic, says Darius Sanai. In truth we have never had it better – and if you’re a Gold card holder of British Airways, based in London, you are in one of the most privileged positions of all

Do you feel a pang of nostalgia when you look at ads and videos from the early decades of jet travel? Superbly turned out 1950s and 60s stewardesses (always stewardesses) fussing over relaxed passengers wearing their Sunday best for the flight?

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Don’t get too nostalgic. Jet travel then was loud, less comfortable, less reliable, and less efficient. The lounges were nothing like what we have today, there was no such thing as a flat bed, and in-flight entertainment was a communal movie when it worked.

And the service? Well, that can be pretty impressive today also.

The British Airways Concorde Lounge, part of the First Wing at Heathrow’s T5

Take my recent experience on British Airways, an airline some on travel forums love to hate, from London to India recently. Before I go any further I know some readers are thinking “luxury magazine editor being positive about an airline – must be a free trip and hoping for another”. For the avoidance of doubt, this trip was fully paid for by me. I haven’t had a free trip from British Airways in my life, and I haven’t even asked the airline for an upgrade since 2011 (premium economy to business, to Montreal). My entire BA experience, as a Gold member, the highest regular tier, has been paid for over the years by me, Condé Nast and LUX, the companies I work for as an Editor-in-Chief.

Read more: Dressing in Van Cleef from piste to party with LUX’s Fabienne

Back to the journey. People rightly wax lyrical about the convenience of airports like Zürich, Hong Kong International and Singapore Changi. And they are all excellent. But none of them offers the service of the British Airways First Wing at Heathrow. Jump on the Heathrow Express, 20 minutes later walk into the terminal and through the dedicated First entrance and security and straight into the British Airways First lounge. There could be chaos in the rest of the terminal, and sometimes there is, but you wouldn’t notice. It takes, on average, 50 minutes from my office in Mayfair to my seat in the Lounge, and it’s frictionless. Pretty good.

The British Airways First cabin, an upgrade from luxury air travel of previous eras

So far so normal for any British Airways Gold card holder.

The next part, though, is quite exceptional. As I was passing through the dedicated security, the lady from British Airways (you’ll find out her name later) wished me a happy trip to Mumbai and asked (as airline staff have to) to check my visa.

This was all in order, and I went through the barrier, but then she came back to me and asked if I had a printout because in her personal experience it can sometimes be challenging otherwise at the other end, even though a confirmation email is technically all you need.

I hadn’t thought to print it out, I said. Caroline said she strongly recommended it. Once I got to the Lounge, just a few metres away in the First Wing, and was relaxing with my preflight glass of champagne (a very nice De Castellane rosé) she popped up and guided me on my phone through the rather complicated process on the Indian visa system website, of turning the visa confirmation into a PDF that could then be printed.

The Club World cabin offers essential comfort for business travellers on long haul and overnight flights

She then emailed it to her own office and disappeared behind the scenes at the First lounge, emerging triumphantly with the printout around 10 minutes later. Like a member of a particularly indulgent royal family, I hadn’t moved at all except to visit the food area for some nori seaweed, miso soup, bulghur salad and slaw.

And on that point: British Airways first has evidently been listening to feedback because there is now a superb array of healthy, vegan, lactose free and other options rather than just the previous hot food buffet.

At this stage, after my third glass of champagne, I wasn’t feeling particularly worried about having the printout of the visa but thanked her nonetheless and wandered off to the plane.

‘A Heathrow First experience and Club World overnight leagues ahead of what our forebears would have had’

After a good night’s sleep in the new British Airways Club world configuration, we started our descent towards Mumbai. The new beds are better in every way than the previous configuration which had the irritation of forward and backward facing seats next to each other, so you would spend the first and last 15 minutes of your flight staring slightly uncomfortably into the face of your neighbour before one of you summoned up the nerve to pull the screen shut or press a button to raise it. Although the new configuration is slightly less romantic if you are in a window seat as you don’t quite have the same sense of being cut off from the rest of the plane, with two windows to yourself. Oh well.

Read more: The Badrutts Serlas Suite in St Moritz

Anyway, after landing in Mumbai, mind focused by coffee and the tropical heat outside, I wondered if Caroline‘s efforts would be proven to be an overabundance of caution. The experience of the traveler in front of me proved otherwise. I listened carefully to the interchange with the passport control man. Where are you coming from? London. Do you have a visa? Yes, here’s the email (shows him phone). But did he have a printout? No, it didn’t ask for a printout. Oh. That’s a problem.

The poor traveller was sent back, past the back of the queue, out of sight towards the plane to deal with what sounded like a vague but slumbering Indian bureaucracy – added to which, it was a Sunday morning. I never saw that traveller again; even after a 20 minute wait for baggage. Who knows if he was even allowed in.

‘The new beds are better in every way than the previous configuration’

My own entry was extremely smooth. Passport, visa email, and, in my hand, visa printout. Thank you to Caroline for providing the same level of service as in our nostalgic collective memory from the 1960s – and British Airways for providing a Heathrow First experience and Club World overnight leagues ahead of what our forebears would have had, with their upright seats.

That may sound trivial to some, but for international business travellers it is extremely important; sleeping in an upright chair is not anything any of us would try at home, yet that is what you would have to do in the Golden Age of air travel. I don’t think they had miso soup, wakame seaweed and bulgur salad either – those roast trolleys being trundled down the first class aisles in the old pictures look fun, but think about it, do you really want to be eating roast lamb and roast potatoes on a long haul flight?

My uncle was a senior executive at BOAC, the international precursor to BA (the one with the cool bags) in the jet-set heyday of the 1960s and 70s. I can think of all kinds of ways his quality of life was better than mine in general, starting with not having to check his phone 24/7, and being safe in the knowledge that his fun times on international trips would never be recorded for social media.

When he retired, he was given free First Class travel on the nascent British Airways for life. But, when he flew to Hong Kong or Mumbai, as he frequently did, he spent his overnights in an upright chair (with a bit of recline), in his suit. And when he checked in at Heathrow (Terminal 3 for intercontinental departures back then), he’d stand in line alongside the other check in booths, and go through the main security lines like anyone else, and then work his way, airside, to a much less extensive lounge, with beef and gravy and sausages available.

The bar at the British Airways First Lounge has an excellent rosé champagne available for free pour, made by the owners of Laurent-Perrier. although LUX searched without reward for a fine white Burgundy

I have written before in GQ about the slight contradiction of British Airways economy class, and short haul business class, not delivering what the airline’s brand in the First lounge promises in terms of seats and comfort. And that, conversely, the Gold Card holder’s experience is even better in many ways than flying private. You can read that article here, but only after finishing this one.

The economy class experience is unlikely to change given the competition in those sectors. And it’s a shame that their previously superb wine selection has been cost-cut (with the exception of the champagnes), although BA is not unique in this. At Qatar Airways (cited by many as the world’s best) flagship Al Safwa First lounge in Doha, the wines are a shadow of their former selves just 10 years ago. Airlines know that business class travellers will tolerate pub-level sauvignon blanc, it appears, which is a little cynical: a decent white Burgundy adds a touch of class that no gooseberry-and-kiwi Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc could dream of.

But all in all, as a Gold member living in London, flying long haul, I can certainly testify that, in the words of another famous Brit, “You’ve never had it so good”.

Read more: Inside Diriyah, Saudi Arabia’s new-old cultural city

Meanwhile, a previous iteration of Caroline may well have existed in the 50s and 60s: but thank goodness she does so now.

Darius Sanai has been a Gold card holder of British Airways since 2012,. He accepted no complimentary or discounted flightsor  hospitality from the airline during those years or for this article

LUX’s intrepid Gstaad correspondent Fabienne Amez-Droz

How is the Gstaad private jet set accoutring itself this winter? Fabienne Amez-Droz, LUX contributor and Gstaad resident, picks from the jewellery box of Parisian joaillier Van Cleef & Arpels

1. Libertad earrings

Libertad earrings, transformable with over 12 carats of DVVS1 diamonds, designed by Van Cleef & Arpels

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For when your black night-out look needs that extra sparkle – because at GreenGo at 2am when it gets going, sparkle isn’t optional – it’s my entrance ticket.

The Van Cleef & Arpels Fleures d’Hawaï secret watch in white gold, aquamarine, diamond, and mother-of-pearl

2. Fleurs d’Hawaï secret watch

Read more: A conversation with Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar

Telling the time? Please! We’re on holiday. And in Gstaad at that. But a jewellery watch? Yes. Always.

Van Cleef & Arpels’ Flowerlace collection brings together two sources of inspiration: nature and couture

3. Flowerlace clip pendant

Fresh powder, friends over from Zurich, a casual lunch at Wasserngrat – that’s when I’ll be wearing the Flowerlace.

The En Haute Mer transformable necklace draws inspiration from the sailor’s knots used on full-rigged ships

4. En haute mer transformable necklace

Read more: Binith Shah and Maria Sukkar on UMŌ’s ultimate luxury 

Those who can ski can also sail, hence Gstaad’s yacht club. These sailor’s knots prove nautical elegance belongs just as much in the mountains.

The Splendeur Indienne ring, inspired by Mughal floral motifs and made with emeralds, rubies and sapphires

5. Splendeur Indienne ring

Snow here is just background sparkle – the real shine is going to be on my finger.

The Moussaillon necklace, made to look like a sailor’s neckerchief

6. Moussaillon necklace

In Gstaad, Christmas and New Year aren’t just holidays, they’re a runway. This bow-tied stunner ensures you’ll outshine every invitation-only party.

vancleefarpels.com

The new Serlas Suite at Badrutt’s Palace, connected to the historic building by an underground luxe-zone

If you’re looking for a place to stay this winter, start with a new suite in an old St Moritz Palace, Badrutt’s. LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai reports

You’ve landed at Samedan in the Gulfstream after a flight from St Barts laced with just a little too much Yamazaki. You are now in the back of the Maybach, long elegant blond man/blonde woman (take your pick) by your side, heading for town, with Zina’s party at Dracula tonight and the need to wake up in time to do a couple of runs (Cresta or Corviglia, either is ok) with the long blonde ahead of Clayton’s lunch at Paradiso’s private room, up the mountain.

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Where do you stay? At the new Serlas Suite at Badrutt’s Palace, of course. This has all the advantages of the historic Badrutt’s building across the street (and connected through an underground luxe-zone), and it’s part of a brand new building (known as the Serlas Wing) designed by Antonio Citterio, Italian architect and St Moritz regular. It’s also directly above Hauser & Wirth.

You’ll enjoy the new Badrutt’s. It’s just like the old Badrutt’s, but with even more Loro Piana.

badruttspalace.com

The venerable Suvretta House amidst the forests above St Moritz

Suvretta House, just outside St Moritz, could be the perfect combination: a self-contained resort with celebrated restaurants and its own ski lift, a snowball’s throw from the parties in town, and right next to the even more exclusive parties up the road

One slight contradiction in some glamorous mountain resorts is that sometimes you don’t feel you are truly immersed in the mountains. As dramatic as the views might be, mountain resorts are still urban developments.

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Combine that with crowded lifts – we think it’s amazing that nobody has invented a private lift system in major resorts so the superwealthy don’t need to be in the same car as the merely slightly wealthy – and you have a situation that is less of a mountain retreat than you may have hoped.

The new open-air pool at Suvretta House is in communion with nature

Neither apply to Suvretta House. This grand luxurious palace of a hotel is perched on its own hilltop, surrounded by forests, just a 10-minute walk – or two-minute drive in a Ferrari Purosangue – from the town of St Moritz. But its location is gloriously, famously quiet. Step out of the hotel in summer and you find yourself in the middle of a forest walking trail. In winter, you are crunching through a deep snowfield in the heart of the forest.

Read more: Inside Diriyah, Saudi Arabia’s new-old cultural city

Suvretta House is its own destination. It has its own ski lift rising up from its grounds – the nearest thing you can get to a private ski lift – connecting to the big Corviglia ski area. You can literally ski into the hotel – an amenity not shared by any other palace hotel in the area. You are also – and you can visit many times and not even realise this – in the heart of the most exclusive community of St Moritz: Suvretta, which is a discreet collection of villas (mansions, really) occupied by the European aristocracy and global superwealthy scattered on the hillside immediately above.

Suvretta’s indoor pool with a view that stretches across the Engadine valley, accompanied by an extensive new spa wing

There are no indications to this effect, no glossy shopping malls, no branches of Nobu – it’s just something you know. Many of those who own the villas all around are owners of brands that people wear at dinner.

Read more: A conversation with Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar

Our room at Suvretta House looked out over the back gardens – tennis and other sports in summer, ice rink in winter – stretching out to the forest that undulates down towards one of the great lakes of the Engadine. Beyond that, only mountains and wilderness. Just looking at the view felt like being in a spa.

The Suvretta House Stube is a comfortable place to dine, offering Swiss classics with a lighter touch

Nobody can come to Suvretta without experiencing the Stube, the casually named restaurant that is both cosy, relaxed and extremely gastronomic. We could eat there every day, due to the magnificent quality of its simple dishes. We also love its wine list: even the house wine is a globally renowned Chardonnay from the nearby Graubünden wine region. We just couldn’t get enough.

The huge indoor pool is now accompanied by an extensive spa wing, meaning there is even less reason to leave Suvretta House. There is a wealth of luxury resorts being built across the Alps, but there will never be anything like Suvretta House, which feels like a private club for the discerning and knowledgeable, but open to guests.

suvrettahouse.ch