ON SALE NOW

The Fish, a luxury hotel in the Cotswolds overlooking the Severn River valley

In summer Europe is at its best, and it’s time to visit destinations made justifiably famous over the centuries. Here, we visit a wonderful and authentic luxury hotel in the Cotswolds, The Fish, and a traditional luxury hotel in Vienna, The Harmonie

The Fish, Cotswolds review

There are many hotels which oversell themselves. You’ve been to them: wide angle images of rooms disappointingly small, images of grand façades that conveniently ignore the hideous 1990s office block jarring into the view in real life; country hotels that look grand but are poky with views of nothing much.

The Hideaway, one of many unique rooms at The Fish

The Fish is a very rare example of the opposite: a hotel even more interesting than it what it seems to be on its website.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

There’s nothing wrong with the website, mind. It’s just that the very concept and execution are discreet. It is built into the woodland Western escarpment of the Cotswolds, the celebrated uplands halfway between London and Wales where plutocrats and aristocrats rub shoulders. Here, in one of the most distant and remote corners is an area of many thousand-year-old forests and ecosystems, tumbling down a steep slope that marks the end of the Cotswold uplands and drops into the deep Severn River valley. The mountains of Wales loom in the distance.

A suite at The Fish, within the Farncombe Estate

You approach The Fish from a country lane at the top of the Cotswolds, first entering the grounds of the Farncombe Estate that encompasses it. The driveway winds through woods, past a couple of buildings, and down the sloped escarpment, views all around. You park at a low-rise wooden building, almost lost in the forest; this is where the reception area, bar and restaurant are located. They are stunning inside, modern without being jarring, with a Scandinavian-forest-feel and extensive outdoor terraces that blend woodland with views.

Our room was in another building, a short walk through the woods (you can also drive and park outside) and it had uninterrupted views across the fields of the Severn Valley. In the evenings, we walked to the bar and restaurant (where breakfast was also served) and enjoyed some quite magnificent country food – excellent fish and local herbs and vegetables. Very pure flavours and highest quality ingredients. We also appreciated the efforts to employ local staff: it gives The Fish a feeling of authenticity.

The Treehouse: The Fish is a collection of quirky hotel rooms, treehouses and huts, all nestled in the 500-acre hillside

If you feel like escaping from The Fish, you have an array of Cotswolds walks all around, and these are among the best country walks in the world: along hillsides, through glades and woods, meadows and hilltops. There are also the historical villages to visit: you can walk to the crazily pretty Broadway in 20 minutes, and others like Chipping Camden and The Slaughters are a short drive (or long hike).

The Fish itself also offers an array of activities and recreations, from clay shooting to axe throwing and falconry. But our favourite was chilling at sunset – which it faces – with a Picante on the bar terrace.

thefishhotel.co.uk

The Hotel Harmonie in Vienna: ‘a centre of wealth, craft, science, culture, literature and commerce’

The Harmonie, Vienna review

Vienna is a city of stories. Every square, every street, every building speaks to you of the artistic, cultural and imperial history of this capital without an empire. It was only just over 100 years ago after all that this city ruled Europe’s greatest empire, the Austro-Hungarian domaine that stretched from Germany to Italy and the Balkans.

Read more: Il Salviatino, Savoy Florence and Portrait Florence review

Not the biggest in size, but a centre of wealth, craft, science, culture, literature and commerce that dominated what was one of the most powerful continents in the world for centuries.

‘The Hotel Harmonie has a recognisable central European vibe as soon as you stroll in’

Vienna was virtually untouched by bombing in the Second World War and so is preserved perfect and unscathed, its stories seeping from its walls and the palaces almost alive.

In a city like this, we don’t always want to stay in a grand palace of a hotel, removed from the action. We want to feel part of the fabric of the story, joined with the history, living perhaps like the powerful Hapsburgs just over a century ago.

And it’s for this reason that we chose the Hotel Harmonie. It sits on a quiet street on the edge of Vienna’s historic central First District. You can walk to the great museums, the cathedral and squares through within minutes.

The Hotel Harmonie bistro: ‘everything beautifully laid out, homely, correct, with a sense of place’

A series of townhouses, or at least feeling like one, the Hotel Harmonie has a recognisable central European vibe as soon as you stroll in. It is immaculate, there is marble, and everything works beautifully but you also expect to see poets and spies in the corners of the bijou lobby area.

Read more: Binith Shah is creating the ultimate duvet with UMŌ Paris

Our room meanwhile was exactly what you might expect if you were staying with your distant cousin, the dowager princess of Hohenzollern zu Wolkenstein: everything beautifully laid out, homely, correct, with a sense of place.

Breakfast at the Hotel Harmonie bistrot

The staff were polite, considered, and slightly reserved, just as you would expect and want the Viennese to be. A fulsome welcome is fine in Minneapolis: this is Mitteleuropa.

Meanwhile, our favourite part was the little bar just off the lobby, where newspapers – yes, real newspapers – on sticks were provided alongside coffee table books and a cultured atmosphere.

A place to come back to, for hundreds of years.

LUX travelled to and from Vienna by the most environmentally-friendly means possible, train. Our journey the length of Austria took us past the Wienerwald forest with its castles, along the deep Danube valley, the orchards near Linz, and the rising Alps as we approached the Tyrol, where the tracks were surrounded by dramatic snowy peaks, rising up to more than 1200m altitude, before dropping into the forests near Bregenz. All courtesy of the Austrian tourism board on Austria.info

harmonie-vienna.at

The grand exterior of Il Salviatino, Firenze

Florence has never been more compelling for its mix of old and new art – and old and new people – with a buzzing youth scene complementing the wonders of the Uffizi and its churches and squares. And there has never been a better selection of places to stay, as we discover at Il Salviatino, on a hill outside the city, and the Savoy and Portrait, in the city’s heart

Il Salviatino, Florence review

Il Salviatino is special. Now, you could say that about a lot of luxury hotels in Tuscany, and you would be right.

But in the case of Il Salviatino, it’s special in a way nowhere else is.

The Italian gardens of Il Salviatino, which look out onto the Duomo, seen in the distance

To get there from the city centre of Florence, we drove past the Duomo and famous palaces, out for five minutes through a suburb, onto a winding hillside road lined by cypresses and suddenly – only fifteen minutes after leaving the hectic centre of Florence – a botanical-historical paradise emerged.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

Like everywhere special in Tuscany, Il Salviatino is a visual feast – but that’s not the first thing you notice. Instead, it was the smell of jasmine, mint, rosemary: a thousand herbs and flowers wafting through the air as if they had been beautifully packaged and released – except they hadn’t, we were outdoors and this is how the gardens, planted by owner Alessandro Rovati, smell.

The entrance hallway to Il Salviatino: 17th-century Italian architecture refreshed thoughtfully by books, furnishings, and art added through time

These aren’t the formal and slightly forbidding gardens, inspired by the originals at Tivoli, that you often find in an Italian hotel. The foliage is as wild and beautiful as its scent.

Wander around the front of the palazzo and an Italian garden drops away into a quite astonishing view of Florence set out before you. The Duomo looks near enough to touch – and in fact it is only a couple of miles away in a straight line. On the hillside it feels like you’re lined up with the top of its roof.

Beyond rise the forest and vineyarded hills of Chianti, undulating into an eternal distance.

The bathroom of the Duomo View suite in Il Salviatino

The house itself – it seems wrong to call it a hotel – is a 17th century masterpiece, a work of art so gently and thoughtfully refreshed with books, furnishings and art by the owner, but always retaining the feel of being in a private home or club.

Our suite was down below the Italian garden, comprising of a bedroom and bathroom that led into a conservatory which in turn led to a terrace.

A few minutes crunching down the gravel through the gardens (lizards by day, fireflies by night) led to the swimming pool area. One side is on a shelf offering a view of nothing but trees and gardens, despite the fact that driven in Italian style you could get to the Ponte Vecchio in around six minutes on a traffic free early morning.

Giacomo al Salviatino, bringing one of Milan’s most famous restaurants to the Florentine hotel

On the terrace by the main building, the view of Florence and Tuscany changes colour and character hour by hour. This is where you have dinner, created by one of Milan’s most famous restaurants, Giacomo, while gazing at this view and choosing from a fascinatingly curated list of mainly Italian wines.

Read more: Binith Shah is creating the ultimate duvet with UMŌ Paris

If it gets chilly, or too hot, you can repair to the bar and enjoy the room inside, feeling even more that you are part of a house party.

The beautifully curated bathroom of the Greenhouse suite at Il Salviatino

Curation is everywhere – the small but elegant spa offers treatments with Augustinus Bader and local Santa Maria Novella products.

It’s a place where your pulse rate decreases the moment you walk out and into the scented air and continues at that level throughout. Both Tuscan country and Florentine, it is special like nowhere else.

salviatino.com

The Hotel Savoy, located in the very heart of Florence

The Savoy, Florence review

If location is everything, then staying at the Savoy in Florence gives you everything you may ever need. On the Piazza della Repubblica in the heart of the city, our room at the back of the hotel had a little balcony looking out directly to the cathedral and its famous square.

If you are at the front of the hotel, you are facing the famous pedestrianised Piazza della Repubblica and are directly across from the city’s celebrated Palazzo Strozzi museum. A good cricketer could throw a ball and hit Michelangelo’s David a block away. (Actually, the David in front of the Uffizi is a replica, but let’s not spoil the dream here).

The Presidential Suite at Hotel Savoy, looking directly onto the Duomo

Our favourite part of the Savoy was breakfast. You are taken outside to a little terrace cleverly carved out of the square, where proper old-fashioned friendly Italian-British service (it’s part of the Rocco Forte hotel group) melds with hearty and deliciously cooked dishes.

Read more: The morning after the night before at St Moritz’s Dracula Club with Heinz E. Hunkeler

You feel you could sit and sip coffee for the rest of the day, watching Florence and its tourists go by. Wander in and pick a few more berries or slices of salmon or roast turkey from the buffet, pour yourself another glass of prosecco, and repeat.

Bar Artemisia at Hotel Savoy, inspired by the great Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi

The decor and design of the public areas and the rooms is as lavish and LUX as you would expect a hotel – belonging to Rocco Forte and lovingly put together by his sister Olga Polizzi – to be. Bathrooms are marble, beds are generous and high-quality, service is impeccable. And as for the location: it’s a sanctuary in the heart of the historical maze of the city centre.

This is Florence at its best, created by someone whose dream was always to make the best hotels in his family’s original homeland, their adopted homeland of Britain, and beyond.

hotelsavoyfirenze.com

An evening view of the Portrait Hotel, Florence, along the Arno riverbank and just next to the Ponte Vecchio

Portrait Hotel, Florence review

Is there a better city view to wake up to than drawing the curtains of your big picture window, and seeing the Ponte Vecchio and Arno riverbank in front of you? We don’t think so, and that’s how we were greeted every day doing our stay at the Portrait, the super-chic luxury hotel from the Ferragamo family.

The view of the Ponte Vecchio from Caffe dell’Oro, the hotel’s riverside restaurant

Arriving gives a good taster of the experience to come. Your taxi ambles along the Lungarno, the embankment of Florence’s river, coming to a halt just metres away from the famous bridge. We celebrated our arrival with lunch and a glass or two of delicious Franciacorta at the Caffe dell’Oro, the hotel’s restaurant whose tables line the river back.

Read more: Six of the best hotels in Scotland reviewed

Service was contemporary Italian – fashionable and delightful. We particularly enjoyed the Bao al Vapore, steamed bao buns with chilli pork, which somehow went very nicely with the Franciacorta.

The slick and comfortable lobby of Portrait Firenze

The lobby area is like a curiosity cabinet of contemporary design; a place you could feel you could sleep in quite happily if the rooms weren’t so nice. Rooms in the heart of Florence are never huge, but our suite had two separate rooms, each with the same view of the river and the city across from it. Walls were light cream, furniture 20^th-century-modern style also finished off in crema (as a Ferrari owner would say). Everything was just so, showcasing contemporary Florence inside and Asian Florence through the window. There was also a compellingly readable selection of excellent coffee table books in the room.

A suite at Portrait Firenze, each with a view of the river and city

There was one challenge: the dilemma of whether to have breakfast in your room, with its silent view of the bridge and the city, or outside on the terrace, which offered the view in the sunshine and buzz. Either way, you really can’t go wrong, and you are left with a feeling that you have enjoyed the lavish hospitality of Florence’s most celebrated fashionable family whilst staying in its coolest spot.

portraitfirenze.com

Bas van Kranen, Executive Chef of Restaurant Flore at Hotel De L’Europe in Amsterdam

Dutch chef Bas van Kranen has redefined fine dining throughout his career at restaurants Bord’Eau and Flore, introducing plant-forward menus with a focus on sustainability – and earning two Michelin stars along the way. In a conversation with LUX, he tells us about his beginnings as a chef, his inspirations in Dutch agriculture, and the future of micro-seasonality in fine dining

LUX: You started your career quite young at 14, after a dinner at a Two-Michelin-Star restaurant. What was the name of the restaurant and the food that night, and how did it spark your passion?

Bas van Kranen: I actually didn’t eat there. I started working behind the dishwasher. The restaurant was Da Vinci in Maasbracht, just two streets away from where I grew up. At 14, I knocked on the door and asked Margot Reuten if I could get a job in the dish pit, because I wanted to become a chef.

The outside of Restaurant Flore, where sustainability meets fine dining in a serene, Michelin-starred setting.

From that moment, I was completely absorbed by the rhythm, the ambition, the quality of the food, and the service. It was like entering a different world. I had been fascinated by food since I was six. There are so many photos of me smiling with something edible in my hands. Working at Da Vinci set the tone for everything that came after. It showed me what was possible when passion meets discipline, and it gave my ambition a clear shape: this is what I wanted to do with my life.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

LUX: And now you’re known as one of the youngest chefs in the Netherlands. What would 14-year-old-you say if he saw where you are now?

BVK: He would probably be amazed. But I think he’d also recognise the drive. I consider myself lucky to have a mindset that doesn’t settle. The moment a goal is reached, I’m already looking forward to the next. What matters to me today is the idea that anything you choose to do, you should do it as well as you possibly can. Whether it’s a simple salad, a sandwich, or a bunch of flowers on a table. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

The beautifully curated interior of Flore

LUX: Flore is reopening and many are excited – but what inspired the name? Can you define the meaning behind ‘Flore’?

BVK: The name ‘Flore’, derived from flora, meaning ‘blossoming’, encapsulates the essence of our culinary philosophy. It represents the plant kingdom and the unfolding of flavours in each dish. The name speaks directly to our vegetable-forward approach and our connection to the natural rhythms of Dutch agriculture. Just like plants flourish under the right conditions, we believe flavours should be allowed to express themselves at their natural peak.

Read more: Mont Cervin Palace and Beausite, Zermatt review

LUX: With the reopening, the interior and design have also been renovated. What elements and inspirations shaped the new space?

‘It’s all about harmony between the food, the space, and the story we’re telling’ – Bas van Kranen

BVK: We wanted the design to reflect the same values as our food: rooted, natural, and intentional. Together with Reiters-Wings Studio, we used carbon-negative materials inspired by traditional building methods, for example, lime and hemp plastered walls. The ceiling undulates like the Amstel River, bringing a sense of movement and locality. The furniture is reclaimed wood, and we designed the ‘Flore Chair’ in collaboration with Tim Reiters to complement our vision. It’s all about harmony between the food, the space, and the story we’re telling.

LUX: The phrase ‘conscious fine dining’ – how would you define that, and how does it live at Flore?

BVK: Conscious fine dining means making the best possible decisions at every step, not just in cooking, but in sourcing, design, and service. At Flore, we work with hyperlocal ingredients, maintain a deep fermentation program to minimise waste, and collaborate closely with biodynamic growers across the Netherlands. We aim to prove that true luxury isn’t about imported rarity but about care, quality and proximity. Conscious fine dining shifts the focus from status to substance, from exclusivity to integrity.

Culinary innovation is at the heart of Flore, seen in this transformed risotto dish

LUX: Your travels have influenced your cuisine – how do you translate those inspirations into your dishes?

BVK: Travel for me is about learning techniques and principles, not copying flavours. Spending time with different cultures around the globe has taught me a huge amount about balance, fermentation, restraint and seasonality. Japanese cooking in particular has influenced how we draw out deep flavour with minimal intervention. We don’t recreate dishes from other cultures. Instead, we use those techniques to express Dutch ingredients in a new and more meaningful way.

Read more: The morning after the night before at St Moritz’s Dracula Club with Heinz E. Hunkeler

LUX: What country has been your favourite to visit, and what dish did it inspire?

BVK: Japan has made the deepest impression. The culture is rooted in respect, technique, and nature. It’s incredibly refined. Right now I’m studying how to age and refine seaweeds, the way Japanese chefs have been working with kombu for hundreds of years. It’s like a new language of flavour. That’s the beauty of it. It never ends.

No dish is repeated at Flore; each dish is made using local and seasonal produce

LUX: Flore was named ‘Vegetable Restaurant of the Year’ in 2024 and holds two Michelin stars and a Green Star. What did those awards mean to you, and are there any other recognitions you aspire to?

BVK: Receiving two Michelin stars and a Green Star within eight months of reopening was incredibly affirming. The ‘Vegetable Restaurant of the Year’ recognition meant a lot, not just for us, but for the shift it represents. It shows that a plant-led menu can lead the conversation in fine dining. We’re not chasing more titles. What we want is to help redefine what excellence means in our field, to set a new standard that includes responsibility alongside creativity.

LUX: Why did you decide that no dish would be repeated, and that the menu would evolve constantly throughout the season?

‘The space, the interaction, the materials, the sound – everything is designed to support what’s happening on the plate’ – Bas van Kranen

BVK: It’s a direct response to our commitment to Dutch micro-seasonality. We work closely with nature and producers, adjusting our menu every week based on shifts in weather, soil and harvest. This keeps us creatively alive and allows us to present each ingredient at its absolute peak. It also invites guests into a specific moment, one that can’t be repeated. That kind of authenticity is powerful.

LUX: What changes do you see in the dining habits of your guests?

Read more: Six of the best hotels in Scotland reviewed

BVK: There’s a noticeable shift towards conscious dining. Guests are more curious, more engaged. They want to know where things come from, how they’re made, and what they represent. There’s also more openness toward plant-based options and non-alcoholic pairings. We’re seeing a move away from the old markers of luxury, toward something more thoughtful and personal. That’s very encouraging.

LUX: Is there a generational difference in what people like to eat?

Some seasonal produce used to create the ever-changing menu at Flore

BVK: Younger guests are often more fluent in sustainability. They’re excited by fermentation, by unusual vegetables, by zero-waste thinking. But across generations, we see a growing interest in real food stories and a willingness to step away from what’s expected. Older guests sometimes have deeper emotional connections to traditional ingredients, which leads to interesting conversations. What unites everyone is a deeper awareness of the impact of food.

Read more: Inside Aston Martin’s Valhalla and Vantage

LUX: How important is the overall experience beyond what’s on the plate?

BVK: They’re inseparable. The space, the interaction, the materials, the sound – everything is designed to support what’s happening on the plate. We want guests to feel a shift when they walk through the door, a kind of transition into a more grounded, present moment. Conscious fine dining is about mindfulness as much as taste. When all elements are in alignment, the experience becomes something you carry with you.

The entrance to Flore: ‘We want guests to feel a shift when they walk through the door, a kind of transition into a more grounded, present moment’ – Bas van Kranen

LUX: Who are your culinary heroes?

BVK: Dan Barber, for his work on agriculture and flavour. René Redzepi, for changing the way we think about fine dining. Yoshihiro Narisawa, for translating nature so elegantly onto the plate. And Jonnie Boer, who has been putting Dutch ingredients like magnolia, wild duck, crayfish and pikeperch on the map for over 25 years. I have great respect for that.

LUX: If you could be transported anywhere in the world to eat and drink anything, what would it be, and with whom?

BVK: I’d go to one of the remote Japanese islands with my partner Roos and our close friends. Somewhere in the forest, overlooking the sea. We’d grill freshly caught fish, open a pot of aged miso, and make a salad from Japanese seasonal greens. And we’d drink a bottle of Nichi Nichi sake – one of the best I’ve ever tasted. That’s the dream. Good food, natural surroundings, and people you love around you.

restaurantflore.com

The Mont Cervin Palace coated in a layer of snow

The high resort of Zermatt, ringed by 4000m peaks covered with eternal snow, is home to one of the original luxury hotels in the Alps, the Mont-Cervin Palace. It also houses a hotel with one of the best views in the world: the Beausite

Mont Cervin Palace, Zermatt review

The Mont Cervin Palace is the grande dame of hotels in what is arguably the most elegant mountain-resort in the Alps. You are picked up from the station in a horse-drawn carriage and the world looks at you and smiles as you clap your way up the short distance along the High Street, past Zermatt’s unique mix of stores selling serious hiking equipment – this is still a centre of operations for hard-core climbers – and luxury watches.

The Matterhorn as seen from the Mont Cervin Palace in the heart of Zermatt

The Acacia, on walking in, has that inevitable standard of luxury only possible in Swiss hotels – that’s why they have all the hotel schools here. You don’t walk to your room; you are flowed there in a process of effortless and knowledgeable meet and greets.

Our room itself was a magnificent little suite, directly facing the Matterhorn with a south facing terrace. Look to your right and you can see the passeggiata along the traffic-free main street (Zermatt has never allowed cars), which morphs from a procession of serious climbers before dawn, to families in the early morning, the young and chic in the late morning, and absolutely everyone in the evenings when it gets quite lively down the road.

A comfortable suite in the Mont Cervin, many of which offer magnificent views of the surrounding Alps

Cuisine is a central part of the hotel’s offering and the place to dine is the Grill Le Cervin, a traditional, glam-cosy vibed restaurant in the heart of the hotel. Local lamb rack with peas, green asparagus, pommes fondant and mint; Swiss Grand Cru beef fillet; all tasted vibrant, fresh, real.

‘Cuisine is a central part of the hotel’s offering and the place to dine is the Grill Le Cervin’

This is a hotel of many parts. A short walk down a corridor leads to a major surprise, a full-size indoor swimming pool with a secret garden in which you can sunbathe in summer and tramp through the snow before jumping into the outdoor jacuzzi in winter. There is a spa and plenty of places to lie down and relax after a hard day’s hiking or watch shopping; plus amply spaced table tennis and pool tables.

The spa of Mont Cervin Palace is just one of its many luxurious offerings

As the original luxury hotel in the original summer and winter resort in the Alps, recently taken over by the brilliant Michel Reybier and brought back up to its original elegance in class, there is nothing else quite like it. Oh, and we forgot to mention the cigar lounge, one of Europe’s finest… Enjoy your Montecristo there or sneak one onto your balcony – as we did – and look at the nighttime view of the shimmering Matterhorn.

montcervinpalace.com

Beausite, Zermatt Review

The resort of Zermatt, in Switzerland, has many attractions in summer and winter; frequent visitors to this chi-chi little town will agree that the most prominent of these is the Matterhorn, the celebrity mountain that towers over the valley.

The facade of the luxury hotel Beausite, Zermatt

It logically follows that a room with a view of the Matterhorn is going to be high on the list of priorities when visiting, and we can’t think of any room with a better view than the top floor corner suite in the Beausite.

Its position above the eastern shores of the Zermatt river offer the Beausite unique views

A little history: as the town developed from a farming hamlet to the global star it is today, hotels started springing up along the main street leading from the station to the church, on the right bank of the river, near the medieval huts at the village’s heart – this has been an active community for more than 1000 years.

But then just over 100 years ago someone had the idea to build a luxury hotel on a grassy knoll on the other side of the river, when there was very little there, simply because it’s elevated position would give it spectacular views of the mountain.

The outdoor pool and jacuzzi at Beausite are surrounded by breathtaking views of the Alps

Fast forward to now, and you can lie in the outdoor pool/jacuzzi at the Beausite and have uninterrupted views of the iconic rocky edifice, while still being only a couple of minutes’ walk from the resort centre.

The view from the suite was even better, so breathtaking that you would be forgiven for spending a whole day just gazing at the mountain as it changes colour, its rocks and snows reflecting the passage of cloud and times of day.

Beausite, idyllic in the snow

The suite itself is smart contemporary chic, glacier blues and 20^th century modern chairs, with plenty of light and light wood.

The hotel, previously a little old-fashioned, has had a thorough and sympathetic recent refurbishment and redesign, and we loved the bar and snooker room on the ground floor, and the vibe on the terrace – also with the same view – which is thoroughly modern luxury.

It lives up to its name, and more.

beausitezermatt.com

UMŌ’s purveyor and partner Eider duck sanctuary is located in Iceland’s Fljótin, Skagafjörður, under the dedicated stewardship of one family over three generations, spanning over 80 years

Entrepreneur Binith Shah is on a mission to create the ultimate sleep experience. How? By using the rarest Eider duck feathers, gathered painstakingly and sustainably in a sanctuary in Iceland, and then having craftspeople integrate them into the best duvets in the world in Chablis, central France. Shah talks LUX through what inspires him, and takes us on a photographic voyage through the process of his craft

“One unforgettable night, I experienced the most restorative sleep imaginable, enveloped in a duvet that seemed to float above me. It was airy, plush, and perfectly temperate, as though I were cocooned in tranquility. From that moment, I was driven to share such an experience with the world.

The search led me to a rare and precious natural resource, one deeply tied to sustainability, conservation, and respect for the artisan’s hand. I partnered with a third-generation, ethical Eider duck sanctuary owner in Iceland and a B-Corp certified atelier in France that share our reverence for precision and detail. When I learned that the Japanese word for down is umō, I felt an immediate kinship with their design philosophy—pure, elevated, and intentional. From this harmony, UMŌ Paris was born.

Each duvet is a quiet masterpiece, marked only by a tonal feather embroidery – an unspoken tribute to the craftsmanship within. My hope is simple: that your sleep is transformed, as mine has been, by the unparalleled beauty of UMŌ.”

The undulating wetlands within the sanctuary provide ducks and their nests’ shelter from the frigid winds off the sea– as well as protect them against predators. The sanctuary caretakers create flagged gridlines and yellow mesh balls as visual cues to easily navigate the nests.

A stunning close-up of the Eider duck’s precious sea mist-hued eggs cradled by the supple down that naturally molts from her breast. The incubation period takes less than one month.

Tiny, vulnerable ducklings leave the nest soon after they hatch. They are typically led to the water by their mother, often with other females joining to form a “crèche” to protect them.

UMŌ’s third-generation caretaker and partner begins to sort through the valuable raw Eiderdown gathered from the nests and sanctuary grounds.

A close-up of the airy, hypoallergenic, and hypothermic Eiderdown being cleaned by hand to remove twigs, feathers, and other debris. It takes 65 hours to hand clean every 2.2 kilos of Eider down, and nearly 9,000 hours from nest to final duvet. This skilled, heritage craft, coupled with Eiderdown’s scarcity as dictated by nature, creates the ultimate in natural rarity value.

A tranquil view of the Armançon River from the La Compagnie Dumas offices, flowing alongside the historic Tonnerre-based, B-Corp Certified atelier, where tradition and craftsmanship intersect in the heart of Burgundy.

Rare Eiderdown is carefully stored in a secure, climate-controlled safe to preserve its exceptional qualities and provenance.

Covers are expertly sewn by hand using a cotton sateen, created exclusively for use with Pure Arctic Eiderdown, ensuring complete traceability.

Each duvet is measured by hand.

All duvet covers are hand-cut in the workshops.

Spools of thread await the bourdon stitch — a decorative, dense seam that has become a distinctive signature of the atelier’s craftsmanship.

A seamstress assembles each duvet cover.

Following the quilting, each duvet undergoes a final quality control process.

The atelier uses time-honoured wicker tools to distribute filling evenly — a slow, manual technique that preserves the loft and comfort of the duvet.

As another nod to the art of the detail, fine embroidery bearing the UMŌ Paris wing logo is applied, symbolising the alliance between heritage craftsmanship and contemporary design.

Each piece is finalised with the UMŌ Paris label — the bespoke touch of La Compagnie Dumas artisans.

As this woman deep in REM sleep will attest when she awakes, there is nothing like the sleep you get when enveloped in UMŌ, the best duvet in the world.

umo-paris.com

Heinz E. Hunkeler, the manager of Kulm Hotel, photographed by Konstantin Arnold

German writer Konstantin Arnold offers a glimpse behind the scenes at the iconic Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz. Through his (groggy) encounter with longtime Kulm Hotel manager Heinz E. Hunkeler, Arnold reflects on the delicate balance of tradition, change, and the quiet rituals that keep great hotels – and their guests – running smoothly

The morning after a long night, I met Kulm Hotel manager Heinz E. Hunkeler. Naturally, I was late – it wasn’t exactly the next morning, but rather three hours later. He didn’t take offence at this, behaving with the diplomacy and courtesy of a hotel manager who’s now part of my story. ‘No problem,’ he said, ‘I had some things to attend to anyway.’ He asked how my evening had been, and I told him it had been fantastic. He remarked that it couldn’t have been too crazy a night. He had all the numbers in his head, after all. The big spenders hadn’t been there – how could they have? I joked that I’d drunk like one but hadn’t paid anything. I laughed, and then he laughed, too.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

The first thing Heinz does in the morning is look at the figures – how many bottles of Dom Pérignon went to which room and at what time. You might have to apologise to your room neighbours. Heinz knows the truth before he even wants to. I mean, the guy had already been out swimming at six o’clock today. He wore a wonderful blue pinstriped suit in the morning light and sat with the same grand posture as he did in the armchair in his lobby. At one point, we had to move because the sun was shining too much in Heinz’s face. He was a good storyteller and spoke in simple and beautiful phrases with a charming Swiss accent. This was lucky since I wasn’t quite up to talking yet, and it was a pleasure to see how naturally he moved around the room.

Heinz E. Hunkeler photographed in his Kulm Hotel by Konstantin Arnold

Heinz E. Hunkeler – a hotelier shaping the future with tradition

Heinz grew up in Kulm. As a child, he played football in the indoor pool between seasons. Today, he and his wife are a true hotelier couple, who still live here. It’s a rarity these days. We talked a bit about the power of routines and the fact that there is a lot of work behind all the apparent ease. If you ask yourself in the morning what you’ll eat, wear, and do, you’ve already wasted precious time thinking. The most important skill of a hotel manager, however, is to make you the most important person in the world for the moment you spend with them. As soon as they walk out the door, you might be forgotten, but that doesn’t matter. Heinz’s job is to lead this hotel into the next century, so that the world of yesterday will still exist tomorrow, and his guests won’t stray. He even tolerates pizza boxes in the corridors. He has hired staff to cater for the trends of our time.

Read more: Six of the best hotels in Scotland reviewed

 Tradition, change, and the value of good staff

Some people say he’s conservative; after all, Heinz likes to go hunting, so he doesn’t forget how to do his own shopping. Why do people always say that as if it were a bad thing? Time passes in cycles because people tolerate its passing better that way. The cultural manifestation of these cycles is called fashion, and its melancholy revival is called nostalgia. The point is to illuminate things and distill their constant repetition down to an essence that becomes eternal for a moment. Nothing lasts forever. Not even Angelo and Fabio. The turnover can be hard to bear. Many guests come not least because of the staff. Good employees are hard to find and hold onto. That’s why they have just renovated the staff accommodation for 25 million. In the past, Heinz says, there were shared rooms; today, there’s a gym, down duvets, compensation days, and chia seeds.

The lobby lounge at Kulm Hotel, photographed by Konstantin Arnold

Reflections in the Kulm lobby

After the meeting with Heinz, I walked around the hotel for a while, still exhausted. You always think, ‘it’s over now,’ but it wasn’t. I settled into the lobby, its comfort almost unbearable without sleep. I nodded off, with the wall behind me and the world in view. Once again, I was struck by the beauty of these chairs. You notice them the first time, but you don’t realise how much they struck you. They’re colourful and have women’s faces in gold at the end of the armrests, which you can stroke as you sit down. Some of the women who came by looked remarkably similar. If you spend half the day there and you don’t have any inhibitions, you’ll meet all sorts of fascinating characters throughout the day: opera singers undergoing proton cancer treatment, people who sell bread and jewels in the same store, and friendly Slovenian waiters. It is the true living room of St. Moritz. The lobby at Badrutt’s is too hectic, too many people who are obliged to be there – the usual few days a year: say hi, play the game, leave. The one at Suvretta is too big to be truly cozy, though at least you can smoke at the bar.

Read more: Inside Aston Martin’s Valhalla and Vantage

So, what does the Kulm mean to me now? Tweeds and the lobby. Cornelius, the concierge. Angelo, the sommelier at the Dracula and breakfast room. A Portuguese woman walking down the lobby in a white ski dress, her brown hair tied up, gold earrings glinting. And what else? Andrea at the country club and the Slovenian waiter who always liked to talk to me when I was sitting here, the Russian aristocrat who skated every day and sipped tea in the lobby. But definitely Heinz E. Hunkeler, who likes to go hunting and whom I saw many times that day, talking and sitting with various guests until dusk fell. I have no idea how he manages it all.

Konstantin Arnold

kulm.com

The W Deck, where you can enjoy 360 degree views of the city

We review the W Edinburgh, the Balmoral Edinburgh, Rusacks St Andrews, the Fairmont St Andrews, the Caledonian Edinburgh, and Crossbasket Castle, near Glasgow. They are all highlights of any itinerary in Scotland

W Edinburgh Review

Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, is a historic city. Traditionally, when you wanted to stay in style, you stayed in a historic hotel.

So how refreshing it was to check in into the W Edinburgh, the first W hotel in Scotland. Located in New Town, the historic heart of the city, the new build looks like a spaceship has landed – or at least it has been transplanted from a futuristic city like Astana or Shenzhen.

This is no bad thing as the architecture is stunning, sympathetic, and well thought through. The hotel connects internally with the city’s best luxury shopping mall, and externally it is a few steps away from Princes Street, and a few minutes walk from the Royal Mile, the castle and other sites.

‘The new build looks like a spaceship has landed – or at least it has been transplanted from a futuristic city like Astana or Shenzhen’

Whizz up to the rooftop and you can wander around in a full circle, having a never-seen-before view in 360 degrees around the city. To one side, Arthur’s Seat, the rugged mountainside that impinges into the city itself; to the other the castle on its hill. The rest of the city spreads out to the west with the highlands in the far distance and the Firth of Forth (the sea) shortly before. The restaurant and bar on this floor – the W Lounge – is unmatched for beauty and the modern Scottish cuisine is vibrant, searingly focused, confident, and unfussy.

Read more: Maryam Eisler interviews ‘Not For Them’ artist Marcarson

LUX had one of the suites in the hotel which feature a huge living area and an even bigger terrace balcony on which you could hold a party for 80 people – not that we did, but on those long summer evenings it would be quite a location.

A luxury studio suite at the W Edinburgh

Inside we loved the dramatic views from the living area, separated by a partition wall from the sleeping area, separated by another partition wall from the huge wet room bathroom, with the same glass wall to the exterior wrapped around all of them. This is a completely new take on Edinburgh.

Being a W, service is slick, international, and efficient. Room service whizzed up and down with a beaming smile and none of the gritted teeth reluctance you occasionally still get in this former Empire city. From the outside, the W is an architectural beacon, albeit a controversial one, given the contrast with its surroundings – although we love the architecture ourselves.

But from the inside, its use of glass and its curves integrates into the city beautifully. Just make sure you have a couple of cocktails in the rooftop speakeasy, hidden away, before heading for dinner. 

wedinburgh.com

The view of Balmoral hotel from nearby in Princes St Gardens

The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh Review

There is no hotel in Britain quite like the Balmoral. On the one hand, its convenience to Edinburgh’s main train station – it is essentially part of the British Empire building complex – makes it feel almost too easy to get to. But this is a grand hotel that has held its glories for more than 100 years, currently under the custodianship of Sir Rocco Forte and his eponymous hotel group, which creates some of the most thoughtfully luxurious hotels in Europe.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

Everything inside is tastefully modernised, without being in-your-face contemporary. We were greeted warmly and formally in the high-ceilinged lobby area and taken up to our suite, which was on the corner with perhaps the most dramatic historic view in Scotland, facing the castle on its hill, lit up almost eerily at night.

The J.K. Rowling Suite at Balmoral

You could just sit at the dining table in the corner sipping tea or single malt and not need any other tour of Edinburgh. The bedroom, meanwhile, was cosy and quiet – many city centre hotels are not – and the bathroom, laced with marble, set up for an evening’s indulgence after a hard day pounding the pavements and looking at the Scotland’s capital.

You stay at the Balmoral because of the name and the history, but it also delivers. It might be unusual to write about breakfast before reviewing a dinner, but the breakfast at the Balmoral does not just pay lip service to the traditional Scottish breakfast (generally considered to be the peak of what may be known internationally as a full English), it takes it to a different level.

Dining at the Balmoral Number One

Our particular favourite was different varieties of salmon, hot smoked, gravadlax, traditional smoked, freshly carved from their respective sides, with a variety of breads, including the obligatory soda bread, sitting hopefully beside them.

Read more: Ferrari Purosangue, BMW X M and Aston Martin DB12 review

You could choose from many other dishes as well, including another Scottish and British Empire staple, kedgeree, and kippers. People write about the bounties of breakfast in luxury hotels in Asia, but this is a cuisine just as distinctive (for breakfast anyway) and just as bountiful. If we were passing through Edinburgh, we would stop over for breakfast.

The bar at Balmoral features an extensive scotch and whiskey selection

This should not take away from our experience the previous evening, where we had Negronis in the very slick and contemporary bar followed by a dinner at Brasserie Prince – highlights included wild garlic saucisson with celeriac remoulade, Scottish oysters with Champagne gel and crabe aux agrumes.

Rocco Forte built this new hotel group  after the much bigger group set up by his father was wrested from his control in the 1990s. Rocco once told LUX he intended to create a distinctive luxurious, and individualistic collection of hotels, each with the character of the place they were situated in. Charles Forte, Rocco’s father, came to Britain from Southern Italy and he set up his first businesses in Scotland: from the pride and sense of place, it feels that the Balmoral is more than simply hotel, it is a proud trophy and sort of homecoming. We raise a glass to that.

thebalmoralhotel.com

Rusacks hotel in St Andrews, known as the home of golf

Rusacks, St Andrews Review

For anyone interested in golf, we are told the most iconic view in the world is that of the Swilcan bridge between the first and 18th fairways at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland, known as the home of golf.  

And there is just one hotel from which you can see this clearly and crisply from your room, and we were sitting in it, gazing out over the course, the clubhouse, and the sea beyond. 

The Rusacks St Andrews hotel has a unique and utterly desirable location. Overlooking the legendary part (the world’s most celebrated golf course) it is also perfectly positioned for a little stroll into the town – St Andrews is technically a city but you would be forgiven for thinking it was a village, so boutique and ancient it is – and so suits golfers and non-golfers alike. 

You enter the Rusacks from the land side, so to speak, greeted by a classical contemporary high ceilinged reception and lobby area.

A king bedroom in Rusack’s classic yet tasteful style

We were then taken up to our room in a new wing of the hotel, seamlessly joined to the old wing. From there the big windows afford views over the golf course, yes, but also over to the beaches of West Sands, made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire, the sea and beyond to the Scottish Highlands. It’s a pretty spectacular place. 

The rooms have been perfectly judged with hints of Scottish tradition combined with real contemporary style, so you don’t feel hidebound. 

Read more: Why the Mercedes G Class is an icon

St Andrews is a place of paradox really: on the one hand, it is a tiny place at the end of the road on the East Coast of Scotland. On the other hand, it is an international centre of culture and learning, attracting top level students from around the world. It was also where Britain’s Prince William met his bride to be Kate Middleton, and its golf courses attract the creme de la creme of those passionate about the sport from around the world. So there are a few very attractive bars and restaurants to frequent, all with real character.  

The dining room at Rusacks hotel in St Andrews

But, you would be forgiven for instead repairing every evening upstairs at the hotel rooftop restaurant and bar. In the summer months you can set or stand on a terrace open to the views and the sea. But even in the dark months of winter, this glass enclosed space feels airy and attractive, where you can have top level cocktails in the bar before sliding along to the contemporary Scottish steak and fish restaurant, 18, where we had an utterly superb and very local feeling meal. The standout feature was a locally-sourced Angus sirloin, cooked to perfection at high temperatures and rare inside. 

What we also enjoyed about the Rusacks is it relative intimacy. It’s not a massive hotel, but big enough to have its different zones, the rooftop, and extensive downstairs lobby area, and the new wing where our room was located.  

It feels personal without feeling too boutique, and the combination of rooms, dining, bar, service, view and location are really quite unmatched. The LUX party staying at the hotel are not golfers and yet we enjoyed it immensely – if you do play, or are simply interested in watching players from your ringside view, there can be no better place. 

rusacksstandrews.com

The sprawling lawns of Fairmont Hotel, St Andrews

Fairmont St Andrews Review

Scotland is one of the world’s top destinations for discerning visitors with good reason: it has spectacular scenery, clean air, huge history and culture, and a wealth of ingredients for great cuisine – as well as whisky and golf.

What is perhaps less known is that it also has an international standard resort hotel of the type you would find in Asia or the Caribbean, in which you can combine all of these elements into a single experience.

The Fairmont St Andrews is not quite in the town of St Andrews, on Scotland’s East Coast, and is all the better for it. It sits on a cliff top around a five minutes drive out of town, just above the East Coast Fife Coastal Path which for good reason attracts people from around the world for its combination of savage beauty and wild flowers and plants.

You access the Fairmont along a driveway through extensive lawns, the other side of which sits its own, internationally celebrated golf course, part of the circuit that devoted golfers around the world come here to visit. The resort itself has the spectacular grandeur you would expect from a North American hotel group: a multifloor lobby atrium around which are arranged shops, restaurants and bars.

A deluxe suite at the Fairmont Hotel in St Andrews

Our suite was accessed at the end of a corridor leading off from this atrium, and looked out over lush lawns, copses of woodland, and the edge of the golf course. Before dinner, we wandered out and quickly found ourselves on a lushly vegetated hillside edge leading down to the coastal path, overlooking the stony beaches and the sea. It is a spectacular, end of the world type of feeling.

Double back inside, though, and you are in the midst of a cocoon of luxury. Our dinner at the lively restaurant, The Squire, in the heart of the atrium, was vibrant and busy. We were surrounded by golf parties delighted to have finished their day and local family groups.

Read more: A conversation with artist Enoc Perez

The next morning, two of our party were given a golf lesson on the edge of the celebrated course by an extremely patient pro who happily tolerated various swings and roundabouts until a few drives were sweetly hit.

To be given a golf lesson at the home of golf is like learning tennis at Wimbledon, and the views and the sea matched the quality of the tuition. The Fairmont is above the sea, so a bracing walk at lunchtime involves touring the grounds with views cropping up in every direction, both inland towards the Scottish Highlands and out down the coastal path and the sea.

The fireside lobby at the Fairmont gives a warm welcome to guests

After lunch we took a walk down the path itself. Keen walkers can continue all the way to the artistic cluster of villages around Crail, home to painters for many decades, and the hotel will organise a car to pick you up and take you back. The luxury is to be able to walk along the coastal path for as long or little as you wish, although it should be noted that this is a proper wild walk and you will need real equipment.

And once you have done all that, it is just a five minute drive in the hotel car to St Andrews where you can visit the castle, the ruins of the historic abbey, the cute streets teeming with international students, an excellent bookshop, superb wine shops and whisky emporia. If you walk back, beware: on the winding coastal path, what was a five minute drive takes more than an hour with plenty of ups and downs and scrambling.

Fairmont is as much of a resort destination as anything we can think of. And a reminder that St Andrews is on the drier East Coast of Scotland rather than the even wilder and wetter West Coast, so you may well be in luck with the weather. And even if not, there is the extensive indoor pool and spa area to check out. Good health. 

fairmontstandrews.com

A street view of Edinburgh’s luxury hotel The Caledonian

The Caledonian, Edinburgh Review

Princes Street is the celebrated and unique road at the heart of Edinburgh, unlike any other street in the world. To one side are the formidable Empire Era buildings at the edge of New Town, the city’s wealthiest historic district. On the other side, the land falls into a long set of gardens lining the street, and then rises up dramatically, in a rocky bluff topped by Edinburgh’s famous castle. Walk the length of Princes Street from east to west, and one building marks the end of the gardens, on a corner overlooking both castle and greenery.

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

This is the Caledonian hotel, affectionately known by locals as the Caley, a landmark that has stood since the times when the Scots helped the English build the Empire on which the sun never set. 

The lobby of The Caledonian, where ‘its grandeur and scale have been skilfully reset for the modern era’

The Caley has no imperial ambitions now, but its grandeur and scale have been skilfully reset for the modern era: a bubbly and efficient receptionist and concierge got us to our room overlooking the castle, almost face-to-face with it, so we could peer inside and wonder if there were any stray princesses locked up for turning down the advances of a visiting royal from France or Aragon. (We couldn’t see any).

But the real attraction of the Caledonian, apart from its peerless location, is the restaurant bar experience, in a huge conservatory built between the two wings of the hotel, where some excellent early evening Negronis merged into a pre-dinner glass of champagne, and then a dinner of baked crapadaune beetroot followed by roast cod loin with pancetta, white bean, lime and Jerusalem artichoke. 

It was enchanting watching daytime turn to evening and evening to night as this place, so evidently the social heart of the area, hosted more locals than tourists – always a positive sign that a hotel is alive and real, rather than just catering for visitors. 

The Sir Walter Scott Room at The Caledonian

And a special mention to the concierge who were knowledgeable not just about the tourist attractions of the city, as one would expect them to be, but also how different parts of Edinburgh have emerged from relative poverty to become edgy and artistic zones, guiding us to creative spots in each.  

Read more: Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann on the watch industry

Real local knowledge, as suits an institution in the heart of the city. The Caledonian feels like a place you could treat as a home in Edinburgh, as much as just visit as a tourist. To achieve that kind of comfort within the context of a five-star hotel with international standards is quite something, and we applaud it.   

thecaledonianhotel.com 

The bar at Trocadero’s, Crossbasket’s cabaret restaurant and bar

Crossbasket Castle, Glasgow Review

Standing in the lush grounds of Crossbasket Castle, overlooking monkey puzzle trees, cherry trees, Scots pines and a variety of other plantations, you are transported straight back to baronial times. While you feel you are really in the middle of the wilderness, you have to tap yourself on the shoulder to remember that this place is not quite what it seems: it is rather more than that.

For one, it is just outside the edge of Glasgow city limits, 20 minutes from both the airport and the main train station, despite its pastoral setting and the drama of the river gorge that runs directly through the middle of the property. You may walk along the gorge and sniff the wild chives and marvel at the moss and general wilderness, but you haven’t had to endure a massive journey to get here. 

And the grand old castle house is just part of the offering; look across the ground and you will see a tasteful and contemporary low rise set of buildings housing the new rooms, restaurants, and a spa opening later this year.

A deluxe double suite at Crossbasket Castle

The surprises don’t finish there. You are greeted by service of the highest international standard – by which we mean not the slightly grumpy demeanour you get in some Scottish baronial hotels, but the service offered by Inverlochy Castle Management International, which owns the celebrated Highland hotel of the same name and manages this property.  

They are used to Asian and American billionaires, and your service here is a match for anything you might find in Switzerland or the South of France. 

All well and good, but the real surprise happens behind reception, where the hotel’s main restaurant, Trocadero’s, turns out to be not just another nice newly built contemporary restaurant but a proper cabaret restaurant and bar. By proper, we mean you walk in and are wowed by the contemporary take on 20th century Modern and Art Deco design, with perfect lighting and a buzzing bar. You are then wafted down a small set of steps to the main floor where jazz and soul bands perform every day, and dancers who look like they have just been transplanted from the Lido in Paris perform around the tables.  

It’s quite something, given the baronial quietude of the grounds you might have been walking around earlier.  

A cabaret performer at Trocadero’s

But don’t think that the cabaret vibe provides an excuse for low standards of cuisine: the oysters, fresh in from near Oban three times a week, are both superbly sourced and dressed, and our ribeye steak with local greens was beautiful.   

This group is used to operating Michelin starred restaurants in its other locations, and the physically huge menus, an Art Deco style, offer an array of dishes and, more importantly, ingredients to delight you. The desert trolley was a welcome hawk back to jazzier times. 

Meanwhile, you can enjoy the theatre of cocktails at the bar, facing the stage, or order from an original and thoughtful wine list, again matching the gastronomic standards for which this group is known. We enjoyed a balanced California Chardonnay, excellent Serbian Merlot and a focused red Burgundy by the glass. 

Our suite, meanwhile, in the new part of the hotel, was beautifully finished with the highest quality wood and brass; it had a big terrace with a view out over the woods, and plenty of thoughtful details. When the spa opens later this year this may well be the hottest hotel in Scotland.  

You heard it here first.

crossbasketcastle.com

LUX’s personalised Aston Martin Valhalla, created in their factory and projected along the coastline (image generated by computer)

LUX travels to the Aston Martin factory to personalise our new Valhalla, the company’s million-dollar hypercar, with its Q bespoking operation; and then we review the Aston Martin Vantage Volante

What’s in a name? Well, quite a lot actually, if you’re spending a million pounds/dollars/euros on a car. Would you rather have a car named after a piece of software, or one named after a majestic hall for Viking gods presided over by Odin himself? Well, quite.

We won’t dwell here on the million dollar car that sounds like software, although we can confirm we have driven it and it is an extremely fast, brilliantly engineered machine. But as for the Aston Martin Valhalla, this is the sister car to the equally dramatically-named Valkyrie, and if it’s anything like as monumental as its name, the Valhalla promises to be quite a machine.

‘If it’s anything like as monumental as its name, the Valhalla promises to be quite a machine’ (image generated by computer)

(A note: LUX has also been in the Valkyrie, which is even more expensive than the Valhalla and comes with its own set of internal comms headphones as its V12 engine is so loud that the driver and passenger can’t hear each other otherwise. The best way of getting in is by suspending a children’s slide over its open cockpit, and we haven’t quite worked out the best way of getting out, but being inside it is a lot of fun).

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

As we made our way to Aston Martin’s factory in Gaydon, England, we pondered that the Valhalla had a lot to live up to. What if the car didn’t cash the cheques written by the name?

We needn’t have worried. Seeing a pre-production Valhalla in the metal and being shown around it by Ondrej Jirec, Exterior Design Manager of the project, was quite breathtaking. The Valhalla is not quite as spaceship crazy as the Valkyrie – a good thing, probably – but it’s still one of the most striking cars on the road.

Hosted by Ondrej Jirec, LUX previewed the Valhalla’s pre-production, personalising the company car (image generated by computer)

Jirec emphasised the organic shape of the Valhalla, how engineering, technology and aesthetic fuse, and how it is a car not just to look at, but to be driven. The petrol engine (there are also three electric motors) is behind the cockpit and even the exhaust pod looks like sculpture.

We also loved the interior – more practical than the Valkyrie but still feeling very hypercar special. It’s clear Aston Martin intends the 999 Valhallas it is planning to build to be driven properly.

On we went from the pre-production car itself, to the Q studio with a screen the size of a large wall, where we were to configure the LUX Valhalla. For the purposes of drama, we went with the colour scheme shown here, a burnt metallic orange with swathes of electric suede inside. With Q, you can bespoke to your heart’s content, although we were told we couldn’t turn the exhaust sculpture into a machine gun turret. Personalisation has its limits.

‘This kind of car – with an actual engine, and real drama – won’t be around for that much longer’ (image generated by computer)

Had it been our private car, we would have gone for an old-Aston colour, a solid blue-green, with an interior somewhere between cream and pumice. It wouldn’t have looked so good in the pictures, but in real life it would have been the ancestor of every classy DB5 Volante we’ve ever seen.

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

And what’s it like to drive? Our car is still being assembled, as Valhallas haven’t been delivered to customers yet. But we did spend a few days in Aston Martin’s “entry level” offering – a relative term, like an entry level Michelangelo – the Vantage Volante, and our impressions are below. The Valhalla, meanwhile, has more than 1000 horsepower and will get from zero to 100 mph faster than a Norse god escaping a furious goddess who has just found out he has been playing around with a Valkyrie. Whether yours is in outlandish bespoke orange, or a solid green blue, enjoy. This kind of car – with an actual engine, and real drama – won’t be around for that much longer.

The beautifully ‘old-fashioned’ Aston Martin Vantage (image generated by computer)

Aston Martin Vantage review

When something is described as old-fashioned, what does it mean to you? Until recently, it was a pejorative term meaning out of date, unsophisticated, or behind the curve.

Now, however, old-fashioned has undergone its own revival. Vinyl records? Not only old-fashioned, but purveying far better sound quality than a song on Spotify. Vintage clothes? Music from the 80s and 90s? Life without social media? Old-fashioned, yes, but in some cases more desirable than what we have now.

This applies to cars. You won’t see too many enthusiasts at an electric car meeting, even if electric cars are swifter and more advanced than previous models. And old-fashioned is the first phrase we would like to apply to the new Aston Martin Vantage – as a compliment.

‘This is a car made not just for beauty or speed, but for fun’ (image generated by computer)

But, we emphasise, this is not just because it is not an electric car. Super sports cars and supercars, made for enjoyment and show rather than practicality, have undergone their own evolution quite irrespective of the electric car revolution.

Until the end of the 1990s, every supercar was, to a greater or lesser extent, fun to drive, even if many of them were so severely flawed that if you were to attempt to undertake a proper journey in them you might be left yearning to swap into a standard family saloon.

Read more: Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann on the watch industry

They were loud, uncomfortable and most had more power, particularly when it was wet, than their structures could cope with. Great when you’re trying to have a bit of (old-fashioned) fun, but pretty undesirable not to mention dangerous otherwise.

The inside displays Aston Martin’s characteristic attention to detail in design (image generated by computer)

Then, computer technology and electronic advances meant that in this century, supercars not only got much faster thanks to ever more powerful petrol engines, but they also became a lot safer. Put an idiot in a 1990s supercar and soon the idiot would either no longer exist or need to undergo some significant hospital treatment. By 2010, the same idiot could drive a much faster car and keep everything together.

But this came at the expense of that old-fashioned value: fun. For a time, some of the world’s fastest and most exciting to look at cars were also rather dull and clinical to drive, particularly at practical speeds on the road.

And this brings us to the new Aston Martin Vantage. It certainly looks the business: beautiful, imposing, not too huge, dramatic while remaining stylish rather than show-off.

‘The whole car has been engineered for feel rather than just speed’ (image generated by computer)

And from the first corner you navigate, you realise this is a car made not just for beauty or speed, but for fun.

On winding country roads, the thing is both brilliant and exciting. You feel the weight transfer from the front to the middle to the back of the car as you power through corners, encouraging you to do the same again and again.

Read more: Simon de Pury interviews Olafur Eliasson

If you get extremely enthusiastic, you can feel the back of the car wanting to kick itself outwards which in a genuinely old-fashioned car could be lethal, as if you are not an expert driver you would perform a 360° spin. In this car though, the electronic helpers are still there – it’s just that they allow you to have fun, and the whole car has been engineered for feel rather than just speed.

‘The new supercar that is old-fashioned in only one way, the best possible: it just wants to have fun’ (image generated by computer)

The engine is a beauty, also. It’s old-fashioned in one sense, having no hybrid electric motor to help it along. Aston Martin engineers have given the engine (development of one found in Mercedes AMG supercars) real oral character and a hard-edged feeling suitable to a junior supercar like this. It’s a fabulous sound, and it’s always there.

The Aston Martin rides firmly. Don’t buy this car if you’re expecting a limousine, and don’t buy it if all you want to do is make gentle runs to your country home. There are cars that do both of those better. Instead, it is a brilliantly balanced, highly capable, highly exciting and very stylish – inside and out – new supercar that is old-fashioned in only one way, the best possible: it just wants to have fun. And isn’t that what a supercar is for?

astonmartin.com

‘Not For Them’ founder Marcarson photographed in his studio by Charles Roussel

Founding ‘Not For Them’ in 2016, New York City artist Marcarson has created a space which eludes distinctions between art, fashion, and design. LUX Contributing Editor Maryam Eisler speaks to Marcarson about his beginnings in LA, art responsibility, and voyeurism

Maryam Eisler: Who is Marcarson?

Mark Carson: Marcarson is an entity occupying a body.

ME: What was the environment like when you were growing up? How did it influence the way you see the world today?

MC: Very religious and a little dangerous during those times in Southeast Los Angeles.

‘Alive With Pleasure’, oil on canvas, 2019

ME: Can you remember the first moment or experience when you realised you wanted to become an artist? Was there a specific event or person who sparked that desire?

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

MC: It was 2016. I would watch my son during the day. During a routine monthly visit from the exterminator he saw that I had made 3 pieces, he enjoyed them and asked to take a photo to show his wife. I see him again the next month and his wife wants to speak with me. She tells me she works for Banksy’s pest control and the artwork I’m making is exciting and I should continue with it. She also tells me to get classes to learn to paint but I didn’t go that far.

ME: If your art could speak, what would it say about you?

MC: Buckle up with this one.

Marcarson’s fashion design under the studio ‘Not For Them’, photographed by Maryam Eisler in Soho New York City

ME: What’s the most unusual or unexpected experience you’ve had while creating art?

MC: I don’t think I’ve had any… yet.

ME: You also write – does your writing inform your art and vice versa?

MC: The truth is I don’t write. I enjoy photojournalism, voyeurism…

ME: Tell me about life and work in Brooklyn.

MC: I hardly leave my place.

Marcarson’s Brooklyn studio view with ‘Brunch Series’ (2025) photographed by Charles Roussel

ME: How has fatherhood informed your art?

MC: Laeth is my go-to for when I need someone to tell me if my work is shit or not. Children can be soul crushing with opinions.

Read more: A conversation with artist Enoc Perez

ME: If you had to create a piece of art based on a memory, what memory would you choose, and how would you represent it visually?

MC: There’s a memory of my mother’s memory, in which I’m biting the hand of a preacher trying to pray for me when I was a toddler. I would make it into a stained-glass window for churches.

Marcarson’s ‘Fabric Wash’ (2024) in collaboration with Catherine Walsh, photographed by Maryam Eisler in Soho New York City

ME: Is there a piece of your own work that you’ve struggled with the most, and why? Do you still think about it?

MC: There is one piece I wish I never let go. I’m still figuring out how to get it back.

Read more: Hotel reviews: Whatley Manor, Ca’ di Dio, and Westin Valencia

ME: Your art can be tough to experience at times. Entangled, bordering hostile. Explain that to me.

MC: This is a good one. I’ve started to notice that there are two styles of my art: one is cheeky, dark humour, poking fun at society, and the other is a result from love interests that didn’t work out and my way of expressing the heartache, love and disappointment.

‘Creating these furniture pieces that are actually art and not a design passing off as art gets me excited’ – Marcarson

ME: You have also dabbled in design, chairs and furniture. Tell me more.

MC: I have an undying thirst for design and interior design. So creating these furniture pieces that are actually art and not a design passing off as art gets me excited! Eventually I would love to do a whole line of furniture pieces.

Read more: Why the Mercedes G Class is an icon

ME: ‘Not For Them’ – how did it start and what does it mean?

MC: Good’ol ‘Not For Them’ or ‘NFT’ as I was calling it before the bullshit took over. It started in 2016 when I was given a gallery space in Long Island City near Moma PS1. A space for me to do my thing. As for meaning – if you have to ask it’s not for you.

‘As for meaning – if you have to ask it’s not for you’ – Marcarson. Photographed by Maryam Eisler in Soho New York City

ME: What’s something you’ve learned from creating art that has affected how you live your everyday life?

MC: Creating art has helped me get over not showing vulnerability. It’s also the perfect tool to express opinions without getting into too much trouble.

ME: Do you think art has a responsibility?

MC: Art responsibility? If it’s not evoking some kind of emotion you are failing.

ME: What does the future hold for Marcarson?

MC: There are some plans in the works for sure. I don’t know what they are per se (finally can use that in a sentence) but I know there’s a future.

notforthemnyc.com