Anna Wallace-Thompson speaks to curator and artist Maryam Eisler about the characters in her latest book, Voices: East London, which celebrates the unique hub of creativity and individuality

Maryam on designer Meihui Liu (top image with Alice Pins modelling one of her creations on Princelet Street, and below Alice Pins in another creation by the designer with shoes by Natacha Marro):

“I’ve never met anyone with so much positive energy, possibility and potential for doing. Meihui is, first and foremost, a designer, and her art comes in the form of beautiful, timeless gowns made out of found and patchwork vintage fabrics. She’s also the greatest connector I have ever known. I think you can see the influence of the East End on Meihui’s way of thinking, and in the way in which she uses fabrics. We photographed her on Princelet Street, behind Brick Lane. Here, the buildings appeal with their romantic, weathered textures of bygone times: peeling walls in shades of rosewood and teal, houses dating back to the Huguenots and the Irish silk weavers of the early 18th century. The area has such a deep connection to fabric and textiles, just like Meihui’s own personal creations.”

In Paris there is Montmartre, in New York, SoHo – and in London, there is the East End. One of the last bastions of individuality and creativity in an ever-sanitised cityscape, London’s East End remains a bolthole for artists, fashion designers, musicians and creatives. Its scrappy nature, says editor and photographer Maryam Eisler, is, “one of the key factors to enabling creativity, precisely through this tension between glitz and ‘gritz’. It’s that crack that has given birth to different kinds of thinking.” She adds, “There is a sub culture in the East End that’s been lost elsewhere – and the minute you sanitise society you lose its verve and flavour, as is the case in London’s West End.”

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Eisler has lovingly captured the spirit of the East End’s creative residents in her book, Voices: East London. “The whole point of doing this book was to try and find out what it was about the East End that differentiated it from the rest of London – in fact, I very nearly called it A Tale of Two Cities,” explains Eisler. “Historically-speaking, the East End has induced and empowered creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. It has fostered imagination, innovation and a more colourful way of thinking on so many levels, all a result, in my opinion, of its rich multicultural layering.”

It was towards the end of the two years of interviews she conducted for the book that Eisler met one of the most interesting people of all – 77-year-old New York native and cookbook writer turned outsider artist, Sue Kreitzman. Her apartment is a riotous explosion of colour, the most primal and genuine reflection of her inner self and something of an East End legend, as is her own personal dressing style. Through Kreitzman, Eisler then met young artists Anne Sophie Cochevelou and Florent Bidois, both of whom create wearable art from found objects mostly sourced in thrift stores and markets. Eisler also met “creative genius, chief connector, delicious ‘lace’ dumpling maker and pop-up queen” Meihui Liu.

Read more: Exclusive behind-the-scenes images from “Voices: East London” by Maryam Eisler

“These people live, breathe, eat and dream their art,” says Eisler. “When we talk about wearable art, they are their own best mouth pieces. All four of them have the ability to make something out of nothing.” It is this, Eisler believes, that exemplifies the East End spirit. “It’s such a pioneering spirit, and very much an industrious spirit, to have this hands-on approach to life, leaving your own mark on the things you make, as well as on society as a whole – adding colour to the life of the community you live in, making it a better place to be. It’s all about making something special out of very little.”

Maryam on designer Anne Sophie Cochevelou (above at Columbia Road flower market): 

“Anne Sophie is all about opulence, layering and being off the wall. She’s a complete hoarder, of beads and pompoms and sequins and remnants of fabrics and plumes and boas. It’s incredible how many different looks she keeps coming up with; it’s better than any fairy tale. She talks about [the flower market’s] ‘texture’, and how it inspires her. When dressed and out in public, people are intrigued, wanting to take pictures of her, often asking to touch her clothes. She turns into some kind of idol.”

Maryam on designer Florent Bidois (above): 

“Both Anne Sophie and Florent are incredibly energetic souls. Florent takes trash bags and makes couture dresses from them, which he calls ‘trash couture’. They are beautifully stitched by hand and turned into delicate creations using flowers, buttons and sequins. They look a million dollars.”

“I shot Florent on Broadway Market, which he loves for its dynamism and friendliness. He loves the water as he’s from Brittany, so he likes taking strolls by the canal. He had his first fashion show in 2006 but it was after he met Sue Kreitzman in 2015 that he says, ‘something clicked in my head’. He has praised her for allowing him to be ‘bold and beautiful. I see myself as a blank canvas. I create my own vision of beauty, a duty I take seriously as an artist.'”

Maryam on Sue Kreitzman (pictured above in her East London home):

“Sue is actually American by origin, but is now an adopted East Ender, having been here for more than 20 years. She’s a true designer: her whole theory on life is ‘don’t wear beige, it will kill you.’ Her home is a fairy tale hodgepodge, a world of infinite possibilities – there’s not one square inch of space that isn’t painted or covered in art and objects. She lives in a world of beauty, imagination, colour and energy, a sanctuary where she finds solace and soulfulness. She is the epitome of a real ‘maker’ – she creates kimonos, jewellery, art, all from found or used objects, sought out in flea markets all over the East End. She is also a feminist, with strong opinions and a can-do attitude.”

Maryam on Sue’s relationship with Florent and Anne Sophie:

“[Sue] has inspired many young people and taken them under her wing to show them a path of possibility. When we talk about wearable art, all three – Sue, Florent and Anne Sophie – represent the epitome of their own art and thinking. They live by their own individual books and Sue has taken both Anne Sophie and Florent under her wing and, in effect, encouraged them to channel their creativity, possibly even showed them how it can be turned into a viable existence. She has proved to them that it can go beyond just wearing art themselves, and speaking about it and believing it: you can make a living out of it.”

This piece was originally published in The Beauty Issue. Discover Maryam Eisler’s portfolio of work: maryameisler.com

Richard Mille chooses sports personalities as brand ambassadors, including Ukrainian high jumper Yuliya Levchenko

Richard Mille is the name adorning some of the world’s most expensive – and outrageous – timepieces. But the eponymous founder is a thoughtful, passionate creative who dreamed of creating a racing car company as much as a watch brand. Darius Sanai meets him

Richard Mille watching Formula One

Richard Mille has grown his eponymous brand from start-up to occupying a dominant space at the top end of the luxury watch echelon, in less than 20 years. He has done so, not by imitating others, but by creating a completely new script for high-end watches: dramatically beautiful shapes, mind-bending mechanicals and super-high tech, tough materials, meaning his striking timepieces are significant in size but lightweight to wear. Mille could be seen as inventing a new market for the young-at-heart collector who wants to break from tradition. They are sculptures as much as they are timepieces.

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But he is also a marketing genius, sponsoring (and sticking with) stars such as Rafael Nadal, who repaid Mille’s unswerving faith in him by winning the French Open for the 11th time this year, and attaching his name to the sexiest sports, and the sexiest spots, in the world. Whether you’re attending Formula One in Singapore, Formula E in Hong Kong, the Concours d’Elegance in Chantilly, or just hopping by helicopter from Monaco to the private jet terminal at Nice Côte d’Azur airport, you will see the brand (and its customers).

Polo champion and Richard Mille brand ambassador Pablo MacDonough

Richard Mille’s most notable recent partnership is with hyper-car makers McLaren, and like the rest of the brand, the motoring DNA wasn’t dreamed up by a marketing agency. Mille is a car fanatic and collector of some of the most exquisite historic classic cars, and it was this subject – the symmetry between watch and car design and ethos – that kicked off our conversation, because there is a symmetry between classic cars and hypermodern watches, as he reveals…

LUX: Many collectors will say that today’s cars are not as beautiful as the cars of the 1950s and 1960s. What is your view on that?
Richard Mille: The car designs of today are certainly driven by efficiency; everyone wants to optimise the aerodynamics, engine power, downforce, etc. In the 1960s the objectives were different, and there was a lot of the designer’s personality involved in the cars. The variety of designs was very interesting, even in terms of the design drawings – back then even racing cars were very different to each other. Nowadays it is very difficult to see the difference between different car brands because they have to be designed with performance efficiency in mind. Even if you are a connoisseur of Formula One, if you take away the different colours, it would be very different to see the difference between a Ferrari and a Mercedes, because everything is driven by computers and aerodynamics.

The McLaren collaboration watch, RM 50-03

Brand ambassador and
Olympic high jumper
Mutaz Essa Barshim

LUX: Does that apply also to engines? Engines used to be mechanical things of beauty, and that applied to the sounds they made, also. Nowadays, I’m not sure many people could tell the difference between the V8 twin turbo engines in an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, a Mercedes-AMG or a BMW M5.
Richard Mille: Most probably, because now you have to be careful about noise, emissions and other aspects. And when you open the bonnet you don’t see the revelation of the engine. With an Aston Martin or a Lamborghini Huracán you have a magnificent car, but you open the bonnet and you just see a lot of plastic. You then go to a classic car concours and see all those cars; the people are totally crazy because each one is more beautiful than the other – so many different shapes, colours, engines, noises. It is fantastic to see 500 cars in one place that are so different from each other.

Read more: Art auctioneer Simon de Pury on modern philanthropy

LUX: Do you think the younger generation now think of cars just as transportation – that they’d be as happy to use a shared car club or an autonomous car?
Richard Mille: I think in the genes there is still an appeal for cars. If you speak about younger children, today they are in different virtual universes, but still the appeal of a nice car is there. You see them looking around racing cars and dreaming. So I think it still brings excitement.

Above: scenes from the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille event 2017

The RM 70-01 watch

LUX: Does the same question apply with mechanical watches? People don’t need the watches you make, but they want them because they are desirable objects?
Richard Mille: Yes, you can really say that there is a parallel there because so many people are still buying watches in different colours that they don’t really use. It’s the same when you buy a sports car that can go at 300km/h; that is not any use because of speed limits, unless you go on a track. But the beautiful object is still a source of desire, which is nice because I can see myself that we cannot cope with the demand, the demand is getting totally crazy. We increase the production every year. Last year we did 4,000 pieces, this year we will do 4,600 pieces, so it is a constant growth. But I cannot cope with the demand at all, the demand is exploding. I have seen the same with my friends. The McLaren Senna costs £750,000 and they were all sold without anyone even seeing a picture of one. My friends, they want it but they can’t get it. It’s the same story with the McLaren P1: 500 units all sold before even before production started. Studies are showing that young people aged 18-30 still dream about luxury watches, which is funny because I expected the opposite.

Read more: The Secret Diary of an Oxford Undergraduate

LUX: When you are creating the watches, how much does the design inform the mechanicals and how does that conversation happen? Because the distinctiveness of your watches is in the design but they are also very mechanically advanced.
Richard Mille: It was one of my concerns when I started,to give as much importance to the design as to the mechanical aspect.

Heptathlete and brand ambassador Nafissatou Thiam

LUX: It is a crowded market, and you have created a brand that has gone from zero to hero in 20 years. How did you do that and why did you succeed when so many others had tried but failed, or remained much smaller?
Richard Mille: The first reason was a kind of rupture with a world of watches. People in this world of high-end watches were just duplicating the same watches that were in existence at the beginning of the 20th century. So I said, we have to do a contemporary watch, a watch that is very different from what is out there, and to create it at any cost, without any compromise. So today it is a paradox where we have a young brand that has got a lot of respect from the market, from the competition and also from the public. We have a lot of respect because we do not copy anybody and we are not afraid to take risks. Many other brands are inspired by the high-end watch business, but sometimes the problem with the watch business is that it is boring – the message is always the same. Our message is that we respect tradition, but we are modern, we are a contemporary watch, we are extremely technical but we do watches to live with, to wear daily.

Singer Pharrell Williams and sprinter Yohan Blake wearing Richard Mille watches at the Little Big Mans race

Mille-sponsored Alexander
Zverev wins the 2018
Madrid Open

LUX: Have you ever been tempted to start or revive a luxury car brand?
Richard Mille: That has been my dream for many years, yes. I would have loved that. It is such a different universe. At the same time, we only have 24 hours in a day; I think it would take two lives to do a car company as well. So I will stick to the watches and collect cars.

LUX: Do you think it’s a shame that France no longer has a supercar brand, like it did many years ago?
Richard Mille: It is, because we have a very interesting past as you see with car collectors. But after the Second World War, the French government just decided to do popular cars.

LUX: LUX speaks to the high end of the luxury market. Is luxury stratifying?
Richard Mille:  Yes, I can see that everyday. There are many luxury brands that are turning into volume brands, and sometimes it is very high volume. Also people are more educated and sophisticated and know the numbers; they know that many brands are volume makers and they are looking for more exclusive things, things that will make them different. Twenty years ago people did not know the difference between Hermès and Louis Vuitton. Today they know the difference between those brands; they know who is doing what. The world of luxury, which was quite over generous, has today totally exploded between all the different segments.

Discover Richard Mille’s collections: richardmille.com

Oxford University is the world’s best, according to august publications like The Times. Oligarchs, CEOs, kings and presidents clamour alongside ordinary people to get their daughters and sons in; and for generation after generation of ambitious, intellectual kids, Oxford is among a handful of names that represent the ultimate in academic aspiration. But what’s it like to actually be there? Our anonymous diarist reveals all

November 2nd, 2018

Day 38 at Oxford. It’s 8am. Sunlight is pouring through my flimsy, green curtains, which may as well not be there at all for the light-blocking they achieve. In ten minutes my scout* will burst into my room, stomp across the carpet and empty my bins with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros, taking special care to slam my door on her way out. As I rub my eyes I think about what the day ahead has in store for me. Lecture at 9am, class at 2pm, tutorial at 4pm. And every hour in between? The library. With a yawn I roll out of bed and open the curtains. I can see the college library from here, and it can most certainly see me. I feel judged. (Note to self: go to library first thing tomorrow.)

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I begin to get dressed, now unbothered by the fact that everyone outside can see me in all my glory, my window conveniently overlooking the college chapel and quad; the Chaplain certainly gets an eyeful most mornings. I put the kettle on and prepare my ‘just add hot water’ porridge pot. Thirty-eight days, thirty-eight porridge pots. It is even more depressing than it sounds. In this moment I realise I no longer feel like a fresher at all. In fact it feels as though I’ve been here a lifetime. Yes, I feel like a proper Oxford student now. And this is in no small part due to my buying that bike I was talking about. It was the perfect solution to my near-existential crisis. Of course, I still feel just as out of my depth here as I did on my very first day, but I now pedal around the city, other students whizzing about me, aggressively ringing my little bell at all those spatially unaware pedestrians in the road – and I feel like I belong.

To be a true Oxford student, I have decided, one must have a bike. Perhaps more importantly, however, we have now been matriculated. That is, the freshers have been officially enrolled to the university and experienced the madness that is Matriculation Day, going through the rituals of signing the college register, attending the ceremony and partaking in the famous ‘matriculash’ celebrations thereafter. I think back fondly to Matriculation Day as I eat my porridge, which has now set like cement in the bowl. I have to admit I enjoyed the pomposity of it all, not least because we got to wear sub fusc** for the very first time. I spent a shamefully long time inspecting my new look in the mirror before we went to the ceremony: the academic gown, complete with elaborate shoulder streamers, looked like something from Harry Potter. The academic cap was another novelty, although these were made redundant from their head-covering capacities due to an old Oxfordian legend which dictates that it is bad luck to wear your cap before graduation (needless to say we found an astonishing number of alternative uses for it: drinks coaster, drinks container, frisbee, you name it). It was in this attractive academic get-up that we trotted down to the Sheldonian Theatre for the ceremony, tourists snapping photos and shoulder streamers flailing in the wind as we went. While some of us felt empowered by the costume, others felt like little more than misplaced penguins. And for A, that indefatigable workaholic I mentioned in my last entry, the sub fusc proved too much altogether: she tore her skirt while jumping for a group photograph and was sent running to the nearest H&M for a replacement with ten minutes to go. What a day that was.

My reverie is interrupted as someone opens my door and strolls languidly in. It’s not my scout, but a friend from the floor above. We’ll call her M. I met her at the offer holders’ Open Day in April and we hit it off immediately. Effortlessly edgy, make-up free and unnervingly intelligent, she is far too cool to be friends with me and I absolutely know it. I clung onto her like a limpet on our first day and we have been inseparable ever since. From essay crises to boy crises, all-nighters at the library to all-nighters at the club, we have packed years’ worth of friendship into no time at all. She doesn’t even knock on my door before she comes in anymore. (Note to self: lock door while changing.) It’s astounding how quickly relationships have developed since we’ve been here. I spend all hours of the day with people that I didn’t even know a month ago, and yet I now can’t fathom a life without them. What’s interesting is that I haven’t had to unmake a single friend that I made in Freshers’ Week: the people I spent those precious first days with are the same people that I spend all my time with now. Although, that isn’t to say I’ve got it completely right. I was that person who, attempting to establish themselves as the ‘fun’ and ‘outgoing’ one in the first week, invited everyone to their room each night for pre-drinks, my door left permanently unlocked so friends could come and go as they pleased. Big mistake. People now knock at all hours – yesterday I was dragged out of bed by a drunken rugby boy who felt compelled to have a deep and meaningful conversation at 3am – and it is exhausting. Oh, the price one pays for friendship.

Read more: Our Cool Hunter picks what’s hot this season

Standing in front of me now, M looks tired. With her laid-back nature comes a dangerous lack of academic productivity, that is, right up until the minute before the essay deadline. For someone who is notoriously uptight when it comes to work – I’m not proud to admit that my friends back home call me a ‘know it all’ – this is particularly stressful for me to see. Indeed M and I are total opposites. She works relatively little and achieves the highest results; I work all hours of the day and receive far less satisfying feedback. She invariably wears tracksuits and no makeup; I won’t leave my bedroom without making sure I am presentable for fear of running into someone on my way to the toilet. And at this very moment, as I fuss about tidying my bedroom, she’s lying on my rug lackadaisically, humming songs and watching videos on her phone without a care in the world.

The hot topic on everyone’s minds at the moment is houses. Students at my college live out during second year, and we’ve been told to start hunting for accommodation as soon as possible. We’re only in our fifth week of university, and yet we already need to decide who we’d like to live with. You can only imagine the politics. It feels like a huge leap of faith to be predicting who we’ll still be friends with in a years’ time – without really knowing whether we’ll all be friends next term. And there is, of course, the additional concern of trying to work out who you might have future romantic relations with: the second years have warned us against living with potential love interests because, after all, by this time next year they might be exes. In college, then, there is an atmosphere of trepidation. (Am I in the group? What if they don’t want to live with me? What if I don’t want to live with her?) Fortunately for me, there seems to be a group of us forming, slowly but steadily, and the house-hunting can get underway. But that’s not to say that we haven’t had to have a few awkward conversations. One boy, a PPE undergraduate, has proved frustratingly persistent in trying to wheedle himself into the group. We have nonetheless unanimously agreed that he cannot live with us on account of his questionable behaviour on nights out (he lacks an awareness of personal boundaries and the knowledge of how not to inadvertently harass girls).

Read more: Behind-the-scenes of Maryam Eisler’s latest book “Voices East London”

On the other end of the scale we have BFG, who I mentioned last time; he is in such high demand that hasn’t had to think twice about houses. Indeed, he has become something of a big name at Oxford. First division rugby player, writer and director of the college play, enthusiastic yoga-goer and probably the best-loved person in the entire university, BFG has friends everywhere – and he is completely oblivious to his fame. Since we study the same subject, he is a regular and welcome fixture in my life, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve got my eye on him as my potential college husband. (Note to self: propose to BFG.) I wonder if I can persuade him to live with us?

M has just arisen from her horizontal state on my rug and is now dragging me by the arm out of my room. It looks like the time for daydreaming is over, not least because our lecture starts in ten minutes and we’re going to be late. I really must stop worrying about the politics houses and start worrying about that unwritten essay that’s due at 5pm tonight. Wish me luck.

Lenny Kravitz performs at the 2017 Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala, with DiCaprio (centre) and Madonna (right)

Whether painting, music or immersive experiences, artists – and the art they produce – play a huge role in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for some of the world’s most deserving charities, says art auctioneer and LUX contributing editor Simon de Pury

Simon de Pury

I’ve done the auction for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala for the past four years in St. Tropez. It has raised in excess of $100million for environmental issues. You know, we can try to save everything else, but if we don’t have a planet, there’s not much to save, so I find it very surprising that what should be probably our primary, main concern is just so low down the pecking order of people’s preoccupations. But Leo DiCaprio is probably the most important fundraiser for environmental issues in the world. It’s the longest auction of any auction that I do – people arrive at nine o’clock and it goes on till past 2am. So it’s a real marathon, because not only are there top artworks (he’s a very active collector, so all the artists donate their best works), but also experiences. There are once-in-a-lifetime experiences like going to the gym with Madonna or playing tennis with Federer.

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And the evening is interrupted by little musical intermezzos. So, last year Madonna gave a fantastic concert halfway through, and then the whole thing ended at 2.30am with an incredible concert by Lenny Kravitz. Once that was finished, the after-party kicked in with DJ Cassidy and there was the after-after-party at the home of Dmitry Rybolovlev. We were the first to leave at 7am. But the party was in full swing!

There’s more money in that tent than at any evening in New York. The combination between high-net-worth individuals – Russian oligarchs, people from the Middle East, former Soviet states, Latin America, America, Europe – mixed with top actors and top models, creates an electric, exciting atmosphere.

The other one that is very exciting is the amfAR Gala in Cannes, which always takes place at what I view as possibly the most beautiful hotel in the world: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. The artworks are displayed in an incredible way. Coming out of the hotel, you see an alley leading down to the sea, and at the bottom of the alley is the star work of the auction. One year they had a Damien Hirst, the famous mammoth; another year, a huge sculpture by Jeff Koons. So, you can really show the works in a spectacular way, and once the guests come they all mingle on that beautiful alley.

The artist Joe Bradley – there is a long waiting list for his work, and he had a big show at Gagosian in Geneva – donated a really fantastic work for the auction. And it made €750,000, which is basically the price you have to pay if you’re lucky enough to be given the chance to buy one.

The other highlight of amfAR every year is when Carine Roitfeld curates a fashion show. And this year it was with 31 different designers, and she picks the theme, and she picks the dresses. One year it was all in gold; one year it was multicoloured; one year it was red. And then all these top models come down the stairs and walk up and down the catwalk and the stage with the most unbelievable music, and so it creates a fantastic atmosphere. And then, once all of the models are on stage, I come up and stand in front of them and start the auction. That’s by far my favourite moment as an auctioneer in any auction.

Supermodel Winnie Harlow at amfAR in Cannes this year

This year was the 25th anniversary of amfAR to raise money for Aids. Another Aids-related charity I’ve done auctions for is the Elton John Foundation. He invites 70 or so people to dinner in his home, outside London. It’s very intimate. He usually pairs up with another musician – John Mayer, Annie Lennox, Andrea Bocelli – and then he comes and plays himself. It’s really nice if you’re invited to a private dinner, so people pay a lot of money for their seat there – much more than they would for a larger gathering. During those evenings, we just sell three or possibly four items. So the main way of raising funds is people getting there.

The Elton John Foundation is one of the most effective foundations on the calendar in terms of research for Aids. He has been relentless for years and years with his Foundation, raising funds. It is remarkable just to see what he has done and how much he gives of his own persona, how much he gives of his own funds.

Read more: Behind-the-scenes of Maryam Eisler’s latest book “Voices East London”

For Aids there’s also the MTV RE:DEFINE annual charity auction. I do it every year in Dallas, in cooperation with the Goss-Michael Foundation, founded by George Michael and Kenny Goss. That is also a fun event because you always have each year an artist that is being honoured. This year it was Tracey Emin.

And the Robin Hood Foundation Benefit in New York raises the biggest amounts; you just have all these hedge-funders in the room and they say, ‘Now we’re going to put the numbers there… please put your pledges,’ and then bleep. ‘You’ve just raised $72million dollars, thank you so much.’

In terms of the cancer charities, there is Denise Rich, who founded Gabrielle’s Angels in New York. I do the Angel Ball auction every year. She takes the Cipriani Downtown, 650 people for a seated dinner. She had the whole Kardashian family coming last time – the whole family except Kim – and they are very close to her, which is very rare. One year she had Pharrell Williams performing and suddenly he said to me, “Simon, come on stage. I want to sell a dinner with me!” And all the women became crazy, screaming. Then Usher said, “I’ll join the dinner as well!” And that second impromptu auction raised more than the regular auction.

The Beyeler Foundation Summer Nights Gala in Basel, Switzerland, is the most original of any fundraiser, because director Sam Keller asks one artist to take over the whole museum and transform it for one night, which means that only as a guest do you get to see what the artist has done.

One year it was Olafur Eliasson and you arrived and everything was black and white, as if we were in a black and white movie. We sat down and started eating the food – black and white. It tastes bizarre when you don’t see the colours. Eliasson said, “Now you know what the world looks like without colour.” And then there was a total blackout and he said, “Look under your chair.” And everybody had this little lamp, and he switched a button and suddenly all the colour came back. The food started tasting very, very good the minute you saw the colour. It’s the most bizarre experience ever. He also did artworks just for that night, paintings all in different colours. All this was created just for the night.

I also love doing the New Museum Spring Gala in New York, because of the artists who attend. Very often you sell great art at these events, but you have no artists in the room – maybe one or two. But the New Museum event is carried by the artists. This year were three of my favourites – all women. Julie Mehretu, Cecily Brown and Elizabeth Peyton, who is my favourite portrait artist today. If you had to choose who would be your dream person to do your portrait, she would be top of my list, and the New Museum had shown a mid-career introspective of her. Besides that there was new work from Jeff Koons, from George Condo… there were something like 55 artists in the room.

In terms of the contemporary art world, the New Museum Spring Gala is possibly the most exciting one, because personally I always find that the most rewarding thing in terms of what we do is the contact with the artists themselves. Nothing is more stimulating. They have such a fresh way of looking at everything. And that’s what I love, because, after all, without the artists all the rest is meaningless.

Simon de Pury is an art auctioneer and collector and the founder of de Pury de Pury. Find out more: depurydepury.com

Bethany Williams is one of the emerging designers stocked at concept store, 50m in Belgravia

With a gimlet eye for the latest and newest, LUX’s Cool Hunter and Digital Editor Millie Walton reveals what is grabbing her attention this season

50m

Experimental isn’t a term one associates with London’s upmarket Belgravia, but that’s where you’ll find the new concept store 50m (so-called after the 50 metres of clothes rail that runs along the inside walls). Created by artist collective Something & Son to support new design talent and tackle high shop rents, the store functions as a space for emerging designers to showcase and sell their work at a more affordable cost. The designers also receive mentorship from leading figures in the industry. Paul Smyth, co-founder of Something & Son, says its aim is to “create a store where people don’t simply consume stuff, but can meet designers, hang out with friends, cooperate and collaborate”. Find the likes of menswear designer Bethany Williams and jewellery studio RÄTHEL & WOLF.

50-m.com

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Comic-strip meets pop-art graffiti by Lithuanian artist and illustrator Egle Zvirblyte

Egle Zvirblyte

Lithuanian artist and illustrator Egle Zvirblyte describes her work as a “bright, juicy, punch-yourface explosion with existential undertones”. The aesthetic is comic-strip meets pop-art graffiti, bursting with colour, humour and movement. Look through the artist’s portfolio and you’ll see the same characters often reoccur as if it’s all one big story with the next chapter spontaneously popping up in unusual places. Earlier this year, Egle created six huge installation works for Inis Oírr (a small island off Ireland’s west coast) as part of the Drop Everything annual contemporary cultural biennale, and she’s currently planning “a collaborative wall in London” with typographer Oli Frape. Keep your eyes peeled for larger-than-life, eccentric-looking characters dressed in 1980s fashion, cigarette-smoking tigers and bananas in shades and high heels. It will be hard to miss.

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Petra Lilja Design Studio specialises in concept design

Petra Lilja Design Studio

The Swedish studio led by designer Petra Lilja specialises in concept design, curatorial work and exhibition design, with a strong focus on sustainability. For a recent project around the themes of ‘utopia’ and ‘dystopia’, Petra sourced material while ‘plogging’ (walking or jogging and picking up plastic rubbish). “It’s amazing how little we value a material that takes thousands of years to disintegrate,” commented the designer. The studio often collaborates with other designers to create intriguing objects such as the Rephrasals project with Aalto+Aalto, which explored the possibilities and expressions found through a method of associations and chance.

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Alternative fashion photographs from “Posturing”

Read more: Art auctioneer Simon de Pury on modern philanthropy

Posturing

Posturing is a fashion photography book with a twist – or several. Dreamt up by fashion curator Shonagh Marshall and Wallpaper* photo editor Holly Hay, it celebrates the body as a sculpture in contemporary fashion photography. The images are aesthetically intriguing, with a focus on the shapes created by limbs rather than the garments the models wear, and are accompanied by a series of interviews discussing the current state of the fashion industry. “I noticed a shift in the way contemporary fashion photographers were positioning the body,” says Shonagh. “There was a move away from the glamourised, sexualised body of the celebrity-driven 2000s.” Welcome a new age of perception.

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Annie Hockeysmith is sometimes described as ‘Kylie Minogue on acid’

Hockeysmith

Hockeysmith’s music is the very definition of heady: a blend of woozy electronic beats, unorthodox rhythms and smudgy vocals. Based in Cornwall, Hockeysmith (AKA Annie Hockeysmith) takes inspiration from the arcane landscapes, occult folklore and local rave scene to create a breed of darkly textured electronic pop that’s impossible not to dance to. You feel like you’re throwing yourself across a strobing dance floor even if you’re lying on your bed at home. Sound frightening? It is a little, but it’s also a lot of fun – and has been described as ‘Kylie Minogue on acid’. I’m currently obsessed with the track Go Baack.

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This article originally appeared in The Beauty Issue, to see more content click here.

Installation view of 21st Century Women curated by Fru Tholstrup and Jane Neal at Unit London, Mayfair

Marking the centenary since some women won the right to vote in Britain, London’s newest Mayfair gallery Unit celebrates the work of female artists with a major group exhibition

21st Century Women at Unit’s new space on Hanover Square opened in the wake of new research from the Freelands Foundation which showed that although 66% of postgraduate arts students in 2017 were female, just under a third of artists represented by London’s major galleries were women.

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“Though significantly more women than men enter art school in Britain, only a fraction of these women continue to actively practice as artists beyond the age of 30,” commented the exhibition’s co-curator Jane Neal. “Nonetheless, a growing number of this minority of female artists are responsible for breaking new ground and contributing to the pioneering movements of today. It is high time that women artists attained greater visibility in the art world – and there is no excuse for discrepancy in price points between men and women in the primary or in the secondary markets.”

Maggi Hambling, Edge I, oil on canvas, 2014

We speak to two of the artists taking part in the exhibition; painter Anna Freeman Bentley, and sculptor and painter Maggi Hambling whose work was recently selected by Tracey Emin to feature in a exhibition by female artists from Deutsche Bank’s collection at Frieze London and Frieze Masters

Read more: 5 exhibitions to see in London this month + 1 to miss

Maggi Hambling, Trump, oil on canvas, 2018

Maggi Hambling

1. Do you feel that your work is interpreted in a particular way because you’re a female artist?
Certainly not!

2. Tell us about how the Trump oil on canvas piece came about?
I scraped all the oil paint off my palate, onto the canvas… this revolting coalescence embodies everything I feel about Trump.

Anna Freeman Bentley, Gathering II, oil on canvas, 2018

Anna Freeman Bentley

1. You’re a relatively recent masters graduate of art school, why do you think so many women train but less than a third of artists represented by major galleries in London are female?

I could answer this question with examples from my experience and my own reflections, but they can’t necessarily be applied more generally. In some ways I don’t know. I wish that the galleries just represented the best art that is being made today, and if that were the case then the gender split would be about 50/50. But in all honesty, I think we all know that the structure, like most other things, is built in favour of men.  There’s no one person or one thing responsible for it, it’s just the way it has been for centuries. But I do think that change is happening, it just takes a long time.

Read more: Whitechapel Gallery’s Iwona Blazwick on the power of education

2. Do you feel obliged to create art that promotes female empowerment?

No. I don’t think men feel obliged to promote a male agenda much when making their work. For me, to feel empowered as a women artist is not to push a female agenda but to just make my work with confidence and ambition.

Anna Freeman Bentley, Foyer, oil on panel, 2017

3. Your work explores the design, function and use of architecture and how this changes through time and the resulting state of mind that places engender. In light of the gender imbalance in architecture and construction, does your work explore inequality?

The primary interest of my practice is exploring psychologies of space and a sense of emotive potential evoked by certain interior settings. Therefore, for me, my work isn’t about gender and inequality. Having said that, I recognise that some of my subject matter touches on gender issues. But I don’t see my work as being politicised in that way. Ideas of tension can be read into the work but these are not limited only to inequality about gender, there is tension in economic inequality, historical and current use, as well as other dichotomies relating to the objects that fill the space.

’21st Century Women’ curated by Fru Tholstrup and Jane Neal runs until 31st October 2018 at Unit London, Hanover Square, London. For more information visit: theunitldn.com

Tuscan winery owner Giovanni Dolfi, who acted as a mentor to 2016 Gaggenau Sommelier Award winner Marc Almert

The art of the Master Sommelier is steeped in tradition, but with the rise of ever-more sophisticated technology, Rebecca Gibb reports on the evolution of the role for the modern age

Hong Kong-based
sommelier Yvonne
Cheung

It was 7.30pm and the sun had descended into the western horizon, leaving another sultry evening in Hong Kong. The cacophony of car horns resounding from the tomato-coloured taxis inching their way along Queensway became a murmur, as diners ascended the 49 floors to the calm of luxury hotel The Upper House. In its restaurant, sommelier Yvonne Cheung was guiding a bottle of 1989 Cheval Blanc from its rack, as if it were a newborn. Sealed almost three decades ago when Hong Kong was still a British colony, its russet liquid was about to be released from its glass cocoon. But with no candle to hand, she gave the traditional process of decanting a modern twist, pulling out her iPhone, scrolling up and clicking the flashlight button, transferring the bottle’s precious contents with the assistance of Apple. Some 8,000 miles away, Patrick Cappiello’s lavishly tattooed arms were on full display as he sabred another bottle of prestige Champagne in a New York wine bar. Once a suit-and-tie-wearing sommelier, Cappiello encapsulates everything that has changed in the world of wine service, ditching the formal business attire, and adding a sense of fun.

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Cheung and Cappiello are key members of the sommelier revolution. The meeting of tradition and modernity in wine service has tracked fine-dining trends: in recent years hushed dining rooms, starched tablecloths and haughty waiters have been ditched in favour of less formality. This casualisation of dining has occurred at the highest level, which has also altered the appearance of sommeliers: the man or woman dishing out wine advice is just as likely to be wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of their favourite death-metal band as a shirt and tie. Texas-based Master Sommelier James Tidwell recalls: “Everybody used to be in suits. When I started the Court of Master Sommeliers courses, I saw people turning up in tuxedos because that was the standard of the time! Now you see sommeliers serving in jeans and T-shirts. Casualisation of dining has casualised sommeliers, but their role is still: how do you get the wine to the guest in the best possible condition? That might be baskets and candles, but it might be decanting it with your iPhone flashlight.”

The world of the modern sommelier flowed into suburban living rooms in 2012 with the release of Somm, a documentary following a group of sommeliers in pursuit of the prestigious – and often elusive – Master Sommelier (MS) qualification. Variously described as ‘rock stars of the industry’ and ‘sickly gifted’ the film raised the profiles not only of those ‘egomaniacs’ attempting to pass one of the most difficult exams in the world, but of the entire profession. Almost overnight, it became cool to be a sommelier and audiences realised it was worth listening to the guy offering wine advice (it usually is a guy – of the 249 Master Sommeliers in the world, only 25 are women).

The 21st-century sommelier

While technology has helped candle-less sommeliers decant mature bottles, it has also empowered diners. The rise of wine apps means people can now compare the average retail price of the bottle with the list price through Wine-Searcher, they can view drinker ratings on Vivino and, in 2016, a free app named Corkscrew, a ‘sommelier in your pocket’ teamed up with London restaurants, providing food and wine pairing suggestions based on the venue’s menu and wine list. Marc Almert, sommelier at five-star Zürich hotel Baur au Lac doesn’t think apps will replace sommeliers, but they may change their role. These apps, “Help the guest to be more self-assured when ordering wine,” he says. “Thus we become less of a wine consultant and more of a conversation partner. It allows us to exchange with the guests more openly.” Almert’s view of this evolution is echoed by sommeliers on both sides of the Atlantic and the Far East, but with the development of other technologies that replace the need for humans, including driverless cars, the sommelier-less wine list seems to be the logical conclusion.

Read more: Exploring the rugged beauty of Tajikistan along the Pamir Highway 

That said, a survey of 250 sommeliers across the US in 2000 found that when there was a sommelier in the dining room, more than a third of diners asked for wine recommendations, more parties ordered wine and the average bill was higher. It is apparent that some diners avoid buying wine because of the perceived risk – what if they buy something they don’t like or that won’t please their fellow diners? A sommelier can help to alleviate that fear, leading to increased sales. A more recent study of 50 restaurants in the Spanish city of Valencia also found that a knowledgeable sommelier with a well-curated wine list enhanced the customer’s satisfaction, raised the venue’s prestige and increased profitability.

Gaggenau’s head of global brand, Sven Schnee

And there is an increasing number of knowledgeable sommeliers. Since 2012 – the year Somm was released – more than 50 people have passed the MS exam, swelling its ranks by almost a third. What’s more, hundreds participate in fiercely fought sommelier competitions each year in the hope of being crowned the best sommelier in the country – and the world. These competitions aim to test the knowledge and ability of sommeliers, take them out of their comfort zone, and make them better hosts whether they win or lose. Before lunch service begins, you’re likely to find the most competitive sommeliers poring over wine maps, studying obscure appellations or trying to identify the origin and variety of wines from taste alone. The final of the biennial Gaggenau Sommelier Awards 2018 takes place in Beijing in October, bringing regional winners from North and South America, Europe and Asia. Sven Schnee, Gaggenau’s head of global brand, is also a judge. “Sommeliers are part of the culinary culture and, unlike chefs, they are heavily under-appreciated,” he says. “The sommelier has the most interaction with the customers. He must understand the components of the food, the wine and the interaction between them, but most of all, must be the perfect host.”

The UK leg of the competition was fiercely fought and judges Richard Billett, head of Maison Marques et Domaines, the UK arm of Champagne Louis Roederer, Craig Bancroft of boutique hotel and Michelin star restaurant Northcote and LUX Editor-In-Chief Darius Sanai were looking for personability as well as wine ability. “It goes without saying that a good sommelier needs to be highly knowledgeable, but knowledge is a precious quality that needs to be handled in a very careful and respectful way,” says Bancroft. “Many customers do not fully understand the role of a sommelier and sommeliers must understand that their role is to provide the customer with the best possible wine experience that suits the occasion and the price range in which the customer is comfortable.” Billett also emphasises the importance of people skills: “A good sommelier who recognises the importance of his role in the customer experience will prove to be a commercial and reputational asset for the restaurant. An arrogant and unhelpful one, a liability.”

Zareh Mesrobyan, winner of the first Gaggenau UK Sommelier Awards (centre) with fellow finalists Tamas Czinki (left) and Luca Luciani (right)

Clearly, Almert offered the full package in 2016, becoming the global winner of the Awards. Still in his twenties, he is full of energy for his profession but long – and unsociable – hours, the increasing pressures of the job, and a desire to see what else they can do beyond the dining room means that you’ll find many experienced sommeliers now working outside the restaurant business in distribution, retail and education. For example, Tidwell spent two decades on the floor but now runs an annual conference for US sommeliers, Texsom. “As you get older, being on the floor of a restaurant early in the morning and hours that are not conducive to having families or friends outside of the business is less appealing,” he says. “Plus, the wear and tear on the body will eventually add up.”

Read more: Test driving the Maserati GranTurismo MC 

However, once a sommelier, always a sommelier. Fellow MS Gearoid Devaney is the director of London-based Burgundy wine importer, Flint Wines, and runs City wine bar and restaurant Cabotte. He believes that even if you are no longer on the floor, you are a sommelier for life. “I work as a wine merchant with a sommelier outlook in terms of the service I provide and delivering wine to people. I will always work with a sommelier’s brain. It’s about being the link between the producer and the end consumer and doing that with integrity.”

Whether they are on the floor for a year, a decade or a lifetime, sommeliers are dedicated to being personable and ever more professional in the face of technological advances. Wine is the reason for a sommelier’s existence but distilled to its essence, it is about caring for people. And Bancroft predicts a bright future. “There will always be a place for a sommelier,” he says. “The human touch, the real understanding of what someone is looking for, and for a sommelier to be able to deliver that to a client, truly enhances the dining experience.”

The first Gaggenau UK Sommelier Awards

Zareh Mesrobyan, from two-Michelin-star restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Gleneagles, Scotland, has been crowned the winner of the first-ever Gaggenau UK Sommelier Awards. He will represent the UK in the global competition in Beijing in October. Mesrobyan competed against Luca Luciani from Locanda Locatelli and Tamas Czinki from Northcote in five rounds including blind tasting, food and wine pairing and service role plays. Judge Craig Bancroft said Mesrobyan has a “superb chance of success on the worldwide stage”.

For updates on the Gaggenau Sommelier Award 2018 visit: gaggenau.com

The Fann Mountains in western Tajikistan

From jagged-peak mountain ranges to glacial lakes and towering valleys, LUX Editor-at-Large Gauhar Kapparova explores Tajikistan’s incredible landscapes – perfect for thrill-seeking adventurers

Think of the world’s most iconic highways and what springs to mind? The Great Ocean Road in Australia perhaps, or Route 66 from Illinois to California in the US. What probably won’t feature on the list is the little-visited but spectacular Pamir Highway – the unofficial name for the Soviet-constructed M41 – in Tajikistan. It’s a wild, remote stretch that was once part of the ancient Silk Road and connects the country’s capital Dushanbe to Khorog, the largest town in the Pamir Mountains, and beyond that, with the Kyrgyzstan city of Osh.

Sometimes referred to as The Roof of the World because of its high altitude (up to 4,655metres at the Ak-Baital Pass, which makes it the second-highest road anywhere), the Pamir Highway weaves through the autonomous eastern region Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, and a landscape that veers from lush river valleys and pristine lakes one minute to snow-capped mountain peaks the next. In other words, this is the stuff of hardy adventurers’ dreams.

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“Tajikistan is probably the least known of all the central Asian ‘stan’ countries – and that’s saying something,” says Marc Leaderman, product and operations director at Wild Frontiers, an expert tour operator that offers tailor-made trips here. “If you look through history and the area that it occupies it has always played a frontier role. It was the southernmost extremity in Tsarist Russia during the Soviet Union; then when the Soviet Union collapsed, many of the central Asian states fell into a bad way. Tajikistan has come a long way since then, but I think that’s one of the reasons it’s not so well known – which is an exciting thing in this day and age.”

Yashikul Lake

The country’s main draw is the Pamir Highway, and for good reason. “The Pamirs are one of the least-known mountain ranges in the world; the high plateaus are extraordinary,” continues Leaderman, who has visited the country a handful of times in the past nine years. “The highway is dirt track and washed away in places, so it’s a real adventure travelling through the region. People come for the mountain scenery, to go trekking and to meet the Tajik people who draw their heritage from Persia and speak a language that closely resembles Farsi.”

From the stark Bartang Valley where friendly villagers are known for their hospitality, to Karakul, set on the eastern side of vast Karakul Lake, where life carries on as it has for centuries (women collect water from the well, men work in the fields and tend livestock), this is a raw, otherworldly route with epic surroundings that often feels like it has been preserved from the past. In Murghab, the region’s largest town and trade centre, there’s a small mosque and a makeshift bazaar operating out of old metal shipping containers where you can buy everything from fresh vegetables to mobile phones. In Rangkul, there is a salt lake and giant sand dunes that you can explore on camels. And in Bulunkul, a settlement known for being one of the coldest places in Central Asia, you can hike up a hill to glimpse the shimmering blue waters of Yashilkul Lake.

Dushanbe’s fountains and independence monument

The starting point for most travellers visiting this landlocked country – it is surrounded by Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – is the delightful city of Dushanbe (meaning ‘Monday’ after the weekly market that was once held here), which has the grand tree-lined Rudaki Avenue and the River Varzob cutting through its centre. It is a city in flux, with new skyscrapers and malls under construction to replace the Soviet-era buildings as part of a new-look urban development plan. This is one of the best places for shopping: try the Noor Art Gallery at the Hyatt Regency hotel for locally made textiles, funky jewellery and beautiful carpets.

Must-visit sites include leafy Rudaki Park, with its statue of revered Persian poet Rudaki in the rose garden; the gold-decorated monument of Ismoil Somoni, built to commemorate the founder of the Samanid dynasty (the Tajik national currency, the somoni is named after him); and hilltop Victory Park with panoramic views of the city below. There is also a trio of museums: the National Museum, the National Museum of Antiquities (don’t miss the 13-metre sleeping Buddha) and the Ethnography Museum, featuring a collection of traditional Tajikistan clothing. All three offer fascinating insights into the country’s cultural heritage.

Wildflowers in the Pamir Botanical Gardens

There is another museum to be found in Khorog – the second, smaller town at the other end of the Tajikistan section of the Pamir Highway. The Museum of Khorog, which houses the first piano in the Pamirs (the story goes that 10 Russian soldiers spent two months carrying it over the mountains from Osh in the early 20th century). The town’s other highlights include the Pamir Botanical Garden; the City Park, which features a pond and tea house; and the Khorog bazaar, a morning market in a central building that spills out into small kiosks by the river, where you can buy souvenirs such as traditional woollen socks and velvet Pamir hats.

Read more: We test drive the Maserati GranTurismo MC on a road-trip through France

From there, many visitors take a detour to the Wakhan Valley Corridor, a land of pretty villages, hot springs and impressive fortresses (the Bibi Fatima spring, just above the Yamchun Fortress is perhaps the most famous) and with views of the Hindu Kush, the mountains that mark the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

A golden monument to Ismoil Somoni in Dushanbe

Cities aside, the other place worth visiting is the Fann Mountains, where the peaks soar to more than 5,000 metres. Not far from Dushanbe and more accessible than the Pamir Highway, the Fann Mountains are known for their series of seven lakes. The jewel in the crown is glacial Iskanderkul Lake (60 percent of the water resources in Central Asia originate from glaciers in Tajikistan) named after Alexander the Great during his campaign to defeat the Persian Empire in 334 BC. Several folklore legends are connected to the lake: the first is that during the campaign against the regions of Sogdiana and Bactria the late conqueror faced resistance in the mountain villages so ordered to change the flow of the river to drown the disobedient – and this is how the lake was formed. Another goes that this is where his horse Bucephalus drowned during battle so, at midnight under a full moon, locals can hear the horse neigh.

Read more: 5 exhibitions to see in London this month + 1 to miss

There are many treks across the mountains, all of different lengths and aimed at different capabilities. On a rare piece of flat ground is the city of Penjikent, often labelled the ‘Pompeii of Central Asia’ for its archaeological significance – it contains the ruins of an ancient town that was once a city on the Silk Road. From here, it’s a hop over the newly opened border to Uzbekistan.

Yamchun Fortress was once an important point on the ancient Silk Road

“What’s really exciting is that this year, the border has opened for the first time in about five years,” says Leaderman. “It means that there is now the chance to combine visiting these two great countries easily. The Uzbek city of Samarkand is only an hour’s drive from Tajikistan and a real highlight. It’s great for culture but quite flat and scenically not so exciting, but together with the amazing mountain ranges in Tajikistan, it makes for a wonderful trip.”

Where to stay: Hyatt Regency Dushanbe

Base yourself at the Hyatt Regency Dushanbe

Within the grounds of City Park and adjacent to Lake Komsomolsee, the Hyatt Regency Dushanbe is the smartest hotel in the capital. Contemporary rooms come with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake, mountains or presidential palace, and grey marble bathrooms with heated floors. There is a lobby bar and lounge with an outside terrace, a pastry shop for sweet treats and the Focaccia Grill, which features a mix of international and Mediterranean dishes on the menu (watch as chefs at various stations prepare the daily specials). The 24-hour concierge is on hand to help plan what to see and do in the city and beyond; then when you return, the indoor heated swimming pool, sauna and spa is the perfect place to relax. Other services and amenities on offer include a gym and a fully-staffed business centre.

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Somon Air is Tajikistan’s national carrier

How to get there: Somon Air

The national airline operates regular flights to and from Germany, Turkey, China and Russia.

somonair.com

This article was originally published in the Autumn 2018 issue. View more content from The Beauty Issue

The Maserati MY18 GranTurismo MC is a candidate for the most beautiful car on the road

We take the Maserati MY18 GranTurismo MC on a road-trip through France to test for comfort, power and satisfaction

Focus groups, aerodynamics, safety laws – there are a lot of elements to blame for the standardisation of today’s car designs. A room full of cars from the 1960s is a panoply of distinctive, flamboyant creations. As we approach 2020, a common critique is that often you can’t tell one car brand from another.

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Which gave us particular joy as we bowled through the French countryside in the Maserati MY18 GranTurismo MC. The car’s sweeping curves look stunning – it is a candidate for the most beautiful car on the road – and its engine, derived from Ferrari’s V8 engine which powered the 430 and 458 supercars, sounds wonderful – in fact, Maserati have coaxed an even better sound out of its version than Ferrari did from theirs. There’s a long, hollow bellow every time you even think about accelerating.

The GranTurismo wants to be everything: it sounds like a Ferrari, but the suggestion that it’s a ‘Grand Touring’ car means it also wishes to be a laid-back cruiser across continents, and that’s exactly what we used it for.

The ambience inside the car is exactly right

It’s certainly never dull. Whether flying out of a toll booth or opening up after leaving the confines of a village, it emits a rising series of gurgles and roars that signal its enthusiasm for gaining speed. ‘MC Stradale’ signifies Maserati’s most sporting setup, and, with the suspension in its firmest mode, it corners flat and fast, although drivers of Ferraris would wish for more feedback from the steering and the chassis. It’s rapid and secure, but perhaps less of a sports car than you might expect, the long nose and overall weight making you remember you are in what is quite a large car, despite its sporting ambitions.

Set the suspension to its softer setting and the ride is comfortable to match the Grand Touring ambitions, but this also results in quite a lot of body roll if you try and corner fast.

Read more: Instagram influencer Tamara Koen’s guide to Milan

The interior feels delicious. In German cars, leather often looks and feels like plastic; in British cars, it smells like an old Chesterfield; somehow the Italians got the texture and ambience inside the GranTurismo exactly right. Many cars of this category offer only an excuse for back seats – if you try and get anyone with legs in the back of a Ferrari California, you’ll rapidly hear protests – but the Maserati is moderately comfortable in the back, even over a long journey, although headroom is limited and basketball players, for example, would emerge with cricked necks. The front is comfortable, but we had a couple of niggles: we never quite fell in love with the driving position; the seats seemed to slightly lack shape and support; the engine does feel loud on a long drive; and the sat-nav system isn’t as advanced as on some cars.

If there’s one word that summarises the GranTurismo, it’s ‘character’. Many cars, even high-performance ones, look, sound and drive in an anodyne way. The Maserati looks and sounds brilliant; if it only drives well, and not brilliantly, that likely won’t bother most prospective buyers.

LUX Rating: 18/20
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