Wendy Yu flies between London and Hong Kong for her businesses on a regular basis

Wendy Yu is an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and the founder and CEO of Yu Capital. With investments in China and Europe in fields as diverse as transportation and sustainable fashion, Yu is a visionary – with a penchant for dresses. As the youngest member of the British Fashion Council board of trustees, founding member of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s ‘Young Patrons Circle’ and heir to her family’s business Mengtian Group (China’s leading wooden door manufacturer), she is a Renaissance woman par excellence. Kitty Harris chatted to Yu over an English breakfast in London about her new group, Yu Holdings, sustainable impact investment, and her healthy obsession with ball gowns.

Wendy Yu

LUX: Your father runs the Mengtian Group and your mother is a successful private investor. What are the most important lessons you learnt from them?
Wendy Yu: Resilience and being determined. I think my dad is a dreamer, but he is genuinely determined and I really like that. He built his business from scratch and I think he has encountered a lot of hardships during his lifetime, but he never quit. He is always so passionate, determined and relentless about what he is going to achieve.

Since I was young, I have had the mindset that if I want to achieve something, I will find any possible way to achieve it. My dad has taught me about the ‘win-win’ mindset, that in everything you do, if you want to keep it sustainable, you have to not just do it for yourself, but also for others. Before I came to study in England, when I was fifteen, he had this really long talk with me. He said “there are three qualities that I want you to have in your life. First of all, to be a loving person. Secondly, always to fight for the better version of yourself and always think about how to improve yourself. Thirdly, never be afraid of hardships and be relentless about what you want to get.”

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LUX: As vice chairman of the family company is there ever any tension when working with family members?
Wendy Yu: Yes, absolutely. I am a very logical person, but sometimes with family business it can get too emotional when you have different ideas to each other. My dad is a very solid entrepreneur, but he is very Chinese. When he comes to England, he doesn’t eat British food and will only eat Chinese food. He loves spicy, authentic hotpot only at home. I think there is definitely tension, because there are so many big personalities and strong characters. But, at the same time we have bonded with each other and we just want the best for the company and the best for each other.

My dad is very happy with the company being one of the biggest manufacturers in Asia and China and he is happy with the brand. He is happy to make the most out of the Chinese market, because it is so big. My vision is really to expand my family business and legacy globally and to create a solid and well-established international company and brand. My education and experience in England, since my teenage years, has given me opportunities to grow up with both eastern and western mentalities and perspectives; that is where the conflict lies sometimes. Very recently I have restructured my company, Yu Capital, and the main entity will be based in Hong Kong. Under Yu Holding, there will be Yu Capital, Yu Culture and Yu Fashion, because I’ve realised so much of what I do is not just the investment. There is philanthropy, cultural exchange and fashion collaborations.

Wendy Yu at The Fashion Awards 2016.

My vision is to connect investments with the innovation and creativity between the East and the West and I feel that Yu Holding will be a better entity than Yu Capital to be strategic about engagement with these sectors. I usually divide my investments into financial investments and strategic investments. Yu Capital would be more focused on financial investments, that is on the technology side like Didi, the Chinese taxi app, and Tujia, China’s home-rental website and hedge funds.

The strategic investments would be in fashion, cultural exchange to support the museums and the art world, to connect art between the East and the West. Those are two of my big passions and I feel I can say that ninety percent of the time, I spend time on my own business: Yu Holding and Yu Capital. I feel the pressure that no matter what I do and how well I do within my family business, my dad will always be the person saying yes and no. I am like my dad, as I like having the say of what direction to go in. I think he will be proud to see what Yu holding is going to achieve in the next three years and I can prove that my vision isn’t bad or limited , because I want to do things globally, not just in China. I like being independent and I think it would be a waste of my experience and education here if I don’t connect the world with China.

Read next: Salvatore Ferragamo on family prestige and Tuscan indulgence

LUX: It sounds like your business is global, so it isn’t aimed at any one territory. Is that right?
Wendy Yu: Yes, that is absolutely right. I have two partners who stay in Shanghai and they come from very solid financial investment backgrounds, one of whom is my cousin. There is still a bit of family force there but that is to make sure that I don’t do anything crazy. Yu Holdings is really my vision and my two partners are amazing. They love that I am creative and pull off different business deals. They love the idea that I’m a great matchmaker. I am good at spotting and sensing which two companies or parties will potentially have great synergy and to be the bridge that joins them.

LUX: Is part of the plan to set up a luxury group?
Wendy Yu: Absolutely, but it would be in ten years, because I think I am at the beginning stage of my career. I think I leave my mark on everything I do, and it is important that the projects are commercially successful as well. With my strategic investments, I put less money in, but I have the presence and we help each other. I have a team doing the portfolio management for me, but at the end of the day, I am the one that is making the decisions. I think after you’ve done all the due diligence and risk assessments you have to go with your heart.

LUX: Why was it important for you to be involved in the Young Patrons Circle at the V&A?
Wendy Yu: I was invited to be the founding member of the Young Patrons Circle; they know I support a lot of different museums and art galleries, so it seemed natural that they asked me.

Sian Westerman, Caroline Rush (Chief Executive of the BFC) and Wendy Yu

LUX: You’re the youngest patron of the British Fashion Council (BFC) Trust – what does your role involve?
Wendy Yu: I joined a while ago and through the BFC platform I get to meet a lot of designers and learn the challenges they have encountered. I have become friends with a few of them and we have bonded. I support them by introducing them to all of my friends. I love to support women and the people I like, with no other intentions. When I think a girlfriend will like their work, I just introduce them to each other. It is a win-win situation for both of them and I take no commission! My family really believes in karma and I think that in the long-run, if you support people they will support you back. I usually get along with two types of people. One type is very creative (designers and artists) and the other type is those in the finance world. I think there are two parts of me, one is very geeky and numerical, and I love to be creative and to think outside of the box.

LUX: How much input do you have in your different investments?
Wendy Yu: I am tremendously involved in them. I am very hands-on and I chat to people for specialised advice. Usually, we have around one hundred deals to look at over a year. Normally, I have a sense of whether a deal will work or not. We do a very careful analysis for around thirty of them. Then, I look at the report and certain things I will naturally feel are great. For example, for Didi and Tujia I knew instantly that it would work, but I still asked them to do the analysis. Decisions have become relatively quick and we made both deals over a period of two months and they are big investments. But, with fashion investments, I have to get to know the designer on a more personal level. It is generally a smaller investment and I know it is not purely financial. My financial adviser will write the report listing the pros and cons, since it is a strategic, impact investment. When I invest in something, before I make my final decision, I think, ‘what is the worst thing that could happen?’ Of course, you should also consider what is the best thing that could happen, but if I can take the worst thing that could happen, then I am happy to do it. Bottletop was one of my first investments and I am very happy with it, even though I didn’t get any return from it. I love the idea and I think the two founders, Cameron Saul and Oliver Wayman, are amazing entrepreneurs. What they are trying to do (recycling bottletops to make accessories) is great and they are supporting women in Africa and Brazil. They are growing quite fast and at a steady pace.

LUX: What is the typical timeframe to hold and sell an investment?
Wendy Yu: When I first started, I invested at a very early stage. Later I realised that’s not my favourite type of investment, because you hold it for so long. What I really like are pre IPO investments. I really like opportunities like Didi and Tujia – large companies, because I believe those companies are really shaping our world, or shaping China at least. I love being part of the change in many ways and in terms of the financial return, for example the Didi deal, I got a 47% return over a 14-month period of time, which is great. You don’t really get that from the fashion brand. I invest through a fund and we sold part of our shares already. With hedge funds, it is very calculated. You would only put a few million in and the return could be over 100% each year, but it varies because it fluctuates over time. You could make a loss of 20%, or you could win 100%. That’s why you need to invest in different hedge funds. I am very involved and I am very passionate about it, because naturally I love numbers and I am very excited by them and I love creativity.

Dinner in Hong Kong, working breakfast in London

LUX: How do you think the investment market is going to change in the next ten years?
Wendy Yu: I think China and Asia, the emerging market, is extremely exciting. But, having said that, I think that you have to really value your opportunities carefully. I have noticed that a lot of investments that are making great returns are in China. It isn’t really happening in London. I think European or American investments, are very strategically relevant with what I want to do and achieve. It is a great value investment over the long-term. In the Chinese market, it is a great financial investment over a certain period of time. I am now also starting up a joint venture with my French partner Kacy Grine, who is an incredible capable and intelligent French banker, he was serving as an adviser of the former French President and has been a long time personal advisor Prince Al-Waleed, who is the biggest investor of Saudi Arabia. We are setting up a joint venture. We feel it is the time to connect the foreign giant technology companies or foreign brands in China and to do the matchmaking with you in the West. The Chinese companies want to go global and the global companies are interested in the Chinese market, but they really want to find the right partner and we are of value in this matchmaking process.

LUX: When you do the matchmaking, you obviously add value to your partners, but how do you benefit from it?
Wendy Yu: It varies from case to case according to the level of our involvement and the deal structure, but we generally act as their advisors and matchmakers.

Read next: Priya Paul of The Park Hotels on balancing innovation and heritage 

LUX: In terms of sustainable investment, are you looking to be more sustainable in your investments?
Wendy Yu: Absolutely. I think my philanthropy investment and impact investment is very sustainable. I am trying to balance it out. A while ago, I studied at Oxford Saïd Business School while they were doing an impact investment programme, I was very inspired. I realised that when you pass away, you don’t leave anything. You only leave the good things you have done. I think until I reach a certain level in my career, I want to pledge the majority of my wealth to the company. I don’t want to keep it all, honestly. What Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done is wise. I don’t want to hold on to so much. I want to enjoy life for sure, but one of my missions is to do things worthwhile that I’m proud of. I want my family to be proud that I am leaving something meaningful and sustainable, that will stay there for a long time.

Ethan K x Wendy Yu handbag collection at Harrods

LUX: Tell us about the inspiration behind the Ethan K x Wendy Yu handbag collection at Harrods last year…
Wendy Yu: We have been friends for a while and I’ve bought from him. He probably likes my energy and I like his energy. Just like with Mary [Katrantzou] and my other designer friends, we like each other’s energy. They inspire me and I inspire them. I always give them crazy ideas that they love. He said, ‘let’s do a Wendy Yu bag.’ I go to a lot of events, but during the daytime I’m working. I was thinking about a bag that I can use for nighttime and daytime and that is why he designed a bag for me that is very versatile. His clients are Hermès owners, or people who have bought a lot of different bags and they are kind of bored and now they want something bespoke. Ethan’s family had tannery at the back of their home, so he has the experience of doing a bag in crocodile skin that is boutique too.

The Wendy Yu butterfly piece by Anna Hu

LUX: How did your love of fashion begin? You have an impressive evening gown collection – do you have a favourite dress?
Wendy Yu: My love for fashion began at very young age, when I was little I enjoyed playing with and collecting Barbie dolls, then I started to collect fashion magazines when I grew up. I love to be constantly surrounded by inspirations and creativity of all kinds. In terms of my favorite dresses; I have two. Mary Katrantzou recently did a bespoke gown for me to open the exhibition ‘Creatures and Creation’ at the Waddesdon Manor. Anna Hu also did a bespoke ring for me and named it a Wendy Yu butterfly piece. Mary did the dress in ten days – can you imagine? We did the last-minute stitching on site. The other one is Giambattista Valli – he did two bespoke gowns for me when I did an international debutante ball in New York. He did it in about three weeks. I am really into dreamy, crazy gowns!

yu-capital.com

Priya Paul, one of India’s most prominent entrepreneurs, is chairperson of the design conscious, luxury five-star boutique hotel group ‘The Park Hotels’. She is heir to the Apeejay Surrendra Group, owners of Typhoo Tea, and her determination, spirit for hospitality and flair for design awarded her India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri in 2012 (for her services to Trade & Industry by the President of India). The President of the French Republic granted her Insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) an Order of State.  Kitty Harris talks to Priya about the Indian luxury market, leadership and innovating whilst staying true to heritage.

Priya Paul

LUX: Apeejay Surrendra Group has been running for over 100 years. How has the business evolved since it began?
Priya Paul: The family business started over one hundred years ago with my grandfather and my father’s brothers and the business was originally in steel – in steel trading, small manufacturing and then into steel production. It then moved into shipping. We do dry bulk cargo ships and shipping, and we still have that business.

Later we added businesses such as hospitality, tea, real estate, finance, logistics and a whole lot of other businesses. Right now, it is my brother, my sister and myself who run the business and the main sort of businesses are shipping tea. We are the largest producers of tea in the country and we own Typhoo UK. We also have a hospitality business, real estate, logistics and other financial investments.

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LUX: What is the greatest challenge facing a group with so many different branches of investment?
Priya Paul: Indian businesses have been more diversified and have responded to many of the needs that the country has had in terms of investing. Traditionally, a lot of Indian business houses have largely been diversified. Firstly, to respond to the different needs and industries that arose when India was in its early decades of birth. I think having a diversified list of assets has been quite good for us over the long term; sometimes one thing is a drag and in other times, another one is. Particularly in a large family it has been quite good, because everyone has their own space.

LUX: It’s a family run business, is this ever difficult?
Priya Paul: Our family business was much larger, until we split up in 1989. Since then it has been my brother, my sister and myself. My mother and one of my uncles were also involved the nineties, so at one point there were five of us in the business. As I said, the business is large enough for everyone to have their own space. Yet, we make a lot of decisions together, certainly in the larger investments or re-investing. Decisions are made by us siblings now, together, and I think as we’ve grown up pretty much in the same age we see a lot of the same things and our world view is very similar. It has been quite rewarding for us.

LUX: You began your career under your father, the late Surrendra Paul, what was the greatest lesson you learnt from him?
Priya Paul: I worked with my dad for about a year and a half before he died. I think my father was very disciplined and I could see that in his work and in what he did. I can’t say I’m as disciplined, but it is something I try to emulate. He was especially disciplined and so I learnt from that. He would say, “work hard and play hard, and enjoy life too”. So that is how I live my life.

LUX: You’re the Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels – what is the key to its success?
Priya Paul: We are celebrating fifty years this year. It has always been a very young and vibrant company that reflected a contemporary aesthetic, even when it first opened in 1967. I would say my role has been to actually reposition and build it for a new generation of travelers and customers – both Indian and international. The success has really been to reinvigorate the brand, provide it with meaning and to position it as something that is far from ordinary. That’s my tagline: ‘anything but ordinary’.

LUX: The Park Hotels have new properties under construction, Chettinad (old palace conversion), Mumbai and Jim Corbett National Park – how do you decide on location and maintain the five-star level across so many properties?
Priya Paul: We have two brands now. We have one called The Park, which is a fifty-year-old, luxury, five-star brand with full service that’s routed in the design. When I go to look at a property, I want something from the interiors that I can create a unique identity with. Personally, it is very important for the space to be creative, interesting and not like any normal hotel you might see. The site and location are dependent on the type of city, as the city must be able to take that kind of hotel. We have now also launched a brand called Zone by the Park, which I call a design and price conscious hotel. Similar in essence to that of The Park, as they are still fun, lively and vibrant and remain a reflection of the local space. However, they are in smaller spaces in smaller cities and the hotel size typically ranges from 65 rooms to 300 rooms at most. The idea here is to create a vibrant, big-city atmosphere within a small city. Since that is what the smaller, growing, cities in India want and need. There is a whole aspirational class of customers that want a nice bar and restaurant with international food, as well as the local specialties. They want spaces where they can entertain and have their weddings.

LUX: How do the contemporary luxury boutique hotels (The Park Group Hotels) set themselves apart from the rest?
Priya Paul: I think it’s a combination of many things. We orchestrate the whole design and aesthetic of how the hotel looks; however, it is also how the hotel behaves. This is in terms of how the spaces interact and how the customer feels when they relax and are at ease in a place. There is still outstanding service, but our staff have been trained to deal with customers on a more equal basis and to be more relaxed and casual with them. It seems very simple now, but when we discussed it twenty years ago there was big kind of difference between how staff in a hotel would be treated by customers. There was a class difference and I think that has changed because hotels now attract younger service staff. I feel we have taken care to hire creative people with individuality, who are able to deliver that service in a different way. When we started talking about that around twenty years ago, that was quite a unique approach and that is the feel when you go into The Park. It is relaxed and casual and people are friendly. You have everything you might need and want, in an environment that is fun, creative and interesting.

Read next: The bohemian allure of Chiang Mai  

LUX: Is it important to hold on to heritage and tradition or to keep current?
Priya Paul: I think it’s a combination of two things. I am a firm believer that you need to know your culture and heritage and to preserve part of it, whilst allowing yourself to move forward. So, it’s a tricky balance. That being said, one of the hotels that we are currently restoring is in a palace. I firmly believe in heritage conservation and I believe this also applies to food. Twenty-five years ago we were not even exploring what our Indian food heritage was. But within twenty years, people have caught up and realised we are losing our grains, our vegetables, our techniques and our recipes. It is very important that we preserve those, but also that we move forward with them. Our food does not have to look the same for five hundred centuries. It has to evolve. For example, we host The Parks New Festival, which is a performing arts festival that now runs in six cities for a month – we started off in just one city! We do this because it’s actually for new performances not the old stuff, we want creatives to push and move forward. So how do you push comedy or music or dance? There’s that and I also think maybe it’s from my personal interest; you have to know your tradition, but we must still know how to move forward, explore and experiment.

LUX: How has the hospitably climate changed in India and how did you respond to these changes?
Priya Paul: We’ve always had a few very good luxury hotels because a lot of the palaces were converted. What’s happened in the last twenty five years, is many of the Indian brands invested in some great
properties and developed new circuits and new properties in lots of locations. A lot of the international brands have come in with their high-end brands, whether it’s Grand Hyatt and The Four Seasons. I think it has changed a lot. We have about eight million international tourists traveling into India but we have over 400 million Indian travelers traveling. So, the strength of the Indian market has never been better. At all levels of the 400 million people you need hotels and accommodation. And as people earn more money they want to move on to the next best thing. So, there is a lot of demand for luxury products within India, whether it is cars,hotel rooms, luxury dining or experiences. That has fueled a demand to supply and create those products. At all segments of the market I’ve seen growth; we are growing at seven something percent.

The Park Calangute Goa

LUX: What’s the ultimate luxury in hospitality?
Priya Paul: You know I think I’m more of an explorer, I like exploring new places and cities or neighborhoods. For me, the luxury is in the exploration, in getting to know the area. I used to plan everything a lot more and now I just go to a place and I just discover. I think that’s also quite exciting, to just explore and you never know what you are going to find. Also, I always look for a hotel that is interesting, design wise. I typically don’t choose a chain hotel to stay in, unless there are brands doing new things. I don’t mind doing things once or twice, just to see what’s on. I look for a clean aesthetic, contemporary rooms; similar to what I do now with hotels. On the other hand, I also sometimes like grand, luxurious hotels and those old-fashioned hotels can sometimes be quite charming and interesting too. It depends on the destination.

LUX: You are a trustee of Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) and board member of the National Council of Science Museums. You’re passionate about art and design, an art collector too – where did your love of the arts begin and how do you incorporate it into what you do?
Priya Paul: I think my love of the arts started off because I lived in Calcutta with my parents. Calcutta at that stage, and even now, is considered a very artistic city. The people are artistic and into the arts whether its music, dance, theatre or fine art. At a young age I did oil painting and my parents would take us to all the exhibitions in town. And at that time, in the seventies, there weren’t many art exhibitions in India but there were some in Calcutta. We would go to exhibitions, to see art and new artists. At that time, my parents collected art for the hotels, as well as personally, and so we were exposed to it at a young age and it just stayed with me.

Read next: The hottest new hotel opening on the Vietnamese coastline 

LUX: You’ve received numerous accolades and acknowledgements that include the FHRAI (Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India) who inducted you into their hall of fame in 2010. You were awarded “Excellence in Design Innovation 2011” by Condé Nast Traveller India. Which one was the most special to you?
Priya Paul: Numerous and I think a lot of them are from the industry. In the early years, it was very important to get those recognitions from the industry because I was not from the industry. I was doing something quite disruptive, I was making people look at hotels in a different way. It was great to be recognised then as doing something different and being successful but I think the most proud moment was the one I got from the government of India in 2012. The Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, which was completely unexpected. I am probably one of the youngest people to get it in the industry and that was a very lovely recognition.

LUX: What does it take to be a good leader?
Priya Paul: Leadership requires different things at different times. I think I have a good “people instinct” and I enjoy working with people. But I’m also not afraid to make decisions and I think you have to be courageous as a leader, to make decisions whether they are bad or good. And you have to perform and stick by your decisions.

The Park Hyderabad

LUX: You’re a powerful female figure, with Forbes recognising you as top 100 most powerful business women in India – have you ever faced challenges in business from your gender?
Priya Paul: I’m lucky, in that I work in my own family business. When you work in your own family business you get the benefit of people accepting you because you are in that ownership and leadership role. Having said that, I started working at a very young age and I was also working at a time when there were very few young people working in business at a leadership level. Very often I felt people looked at me and thought you’re too young to be making that decision or to be in a decision-making role. I got more of a youth bias than a discrimination bias. But I was the owner and when in that position, you obviously have to handle yourself correctly whether you’re young or a woman. To me it doesn’t make a difference whether you’re a man or a woman, as long as they perform. But there are many people who have issues with it. I didn’t directly face that gender bias because of the industry I’m in. Even when I joined as a marketing manager, and General Manger of one hotel, when my father was around there were quite a few women in leadership roles in hospitality, because hospitality was much more equal. Women would always be heads of Sales and Marketing or Housekeeping, with a few General Managers and a few chefs. So there were even people twenty-five years ago in those leadership roles. There were some powerful women, even in hospitality.

LUX: Why was it important for you to be a Chairperson for the South Asia Women’s Fund?
Priya Paul: I was invited by Ford Foundation to be one of the founding directors of the South-East Asia Women’s Fund and I have always been a proponent of women’s empowerment and women’s leadership. Partly having had leadership roles in my School and College and having gone to a very pure feminist college in the US. It’s always been a part of my consciousness and so it’s my way of giving back and providing that leadership to the organisation. I was a director for many years, and I was elected to be chair a few years ago. It’s very interesting as I’m not from the field of women’s rights or activism but I think the organisation needed me to give it more direction, which I think has been quite successful. The organisation is doing good work.

LUX: If you hadn’t of gone into the family business, what would you have done?
Priya Paul: Well I’m asked that question a lot, and I have a standard answer for that. For many years I’ve said I would have been a chef. Cooking and food; it’s also a passion of mine. And luckily, I have wonderful chefs and I get to live vicariously through them. But that’s what I would’ve done, I would have run my own restaurant.

Beach front villa with private pool

Why should I go now?

Monsoon season is one of the most beautiful times to go to Vietnam. The landscape is lush and green, and whilst the showers are fierce, it makes the periods of blue skies and blazing sunshine even sweeter. Nestled within a forest of palm trees on a peninsula of white sand, The Anam is a vibrant, tropical paradise.

What’s the lowdown?

Image by James Houston

The Anam opened in April this year as the first and only World Luxury property in Vietnam, and whilst it should still be in the teething stages, there’s very little to suggest this is a new face in the luxury world, apart from a few bare walls where local artworks are due to be hung. The design is colonial with traditional Vietnamese detailing, handmade lanterns and ornate, tiled floors with columns allowing the cool sea breeze to flow through the spaces.

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The food, in all three of the restaurants, is superb, but really exceptional at the recently opened Indochine Grill. It’s European fine dining, intimate and elegant with a live pianist creating an almost Parisian mood. We tried the taster menu and each course was as delicious as the next. During the daytime, there’s a complimentary activity schedule of yoga, kayaking, fishing, volleyball and mini tennis tournaments or you can just lounge on the beach or by one of the three swimming pools, which are open all hours, so that at night you can float on your back whilst listening to live music in the Saigon Bar.

The Indochine European fine dining restaurant.

Getting horizontal

Our villa opened out onto a manicured lawn leading straight down to the sea; lying in bed we could hear the calm, continuous rolling of the waves and glimpse a sparkling line of blue when propped up on pillows with the curtains open in the mornings. Interiors were bright, homely and simple with dark wood furniture contrasted against white walls and linens. The bathroom, at the back of the villa, featured a light well with tropical plants growing up alongside the bathtub. It was quietly luxurious, but in no way overdone, allowing the view to take centre stage.

The Anam. Image by James Houston

Nitpicking

The Anam is everything you could possibly want from a beach resort. Where so many resorts fail, it manages to blend the highest-level of sophistication with a laid-back island kind of attitude. The villas are hard to compete with so the the hotel building at the back of the resort inevitably falls short in comparison. Whilst the rooms here mainly have sea views, the multilayered building feels dark and imposing where the rest of the resort is bright and elegant.

Rates: From USD $215 (approx.€200/£150)

Millie Walton

The ancient chedi at Wat Chedi Luang temple, Chiang Mai. Image by James Houston

Chiang Mai is fast becoming Asia’s most appealing tourist destination with its verdant scenery, glorious temples, thriving arts scene and seductively bohemian mood. Digital Editor Millie Walton ventures to Northern Thailand to discover the secrets behind the city’s allure.

Thailand’s never really appealed to me. I shunned the backpacking, full moon party scene for trekking in the Himalayas, safaris in Zimbabwe and little known rural villages where I could still feel traces of culture that elsewhere have been mowed over by skyscrapers and shopping malls. Yet, on a recent trip I found myself making a detour to meet a friend who’s recently moved to Bangkok, a city which she cheerfully describes as “the ugliest place in the world,” but for a day or two it’s fascinating to be wide-eyed in an Asian supercity.

By contrast, Chiang Mai is the kind of place you could stay for weeks, months or like many artists from around the world, years. We arrive on Sunday morning in early June, when monsoon season is at its teething stage. The showers are short, but extremely powerful and in response, the surrounding landscape shines vibrantly green. The city, for many, is Thailand’s adventure capital; within a few kilometres radius, there’s trekking, zip lining, white water rafting and multi-layered waterfalls cascading through the jungle, but it’s also slowly establishing itself as an artistic hub with live music venues, art galleries, yoga, studios artisan coffee shops and a collection of swanky boutique hotels.

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A suite at 137 Pillars

We check in to 137 Pillars, one of the most architecturally interesting five-star establishments in town, built around a grand restored Lana style Thai house. It’s a small hotel, just a few metres back from the Mae Ping River and a short walk from the city’s walled old town, but the spacious layout of suites in a collection of traditional style houses, clustered around the main wooden house and gardens, makes it seem almost like a mini village. As the first downpour of the day hits, we sit on our terrace watching the huge raindrops run down the palm leaves and soak into the earth. It’s over in less than ten minutes and we make our escape to the old town.

137 Pillars, Chiang Mai’s most stylish boutique hotel

Technically, the old town is the tourist hub of the city, but its also where most of the art galleries reside and the most beautiful temples. Compact in size with picturesque hidden alleyways, it’s perfect for exploring on foot. We begin at the Chiang Mai House of Photography, a sky blue wooden building hidden alongside the more dominating presence of the Lanna Folklife Museum. Downstairs is the room for lounging on sofas and armchairs with a photography book selected from one of the glass cabinets, whilst upstairs is the gallery space. As elsewhere in Thailand, the imagery here is currently dedicated to the recently deceased King. It’s an interesting and intimate exhibition examining a nation’s collective mourning, featuring four walls dedicated to the work of young photographers.

Read next: Guy Bourdin’s seductive world at Maison Chloé

Artist, Chumpol Taksapornchai

Whilst Chiang Mai isn’t home to any big-name galleries, as you dip in and out of the artist studios and cosy, colourful art spaces that line the streets, there’s an exciting sense of discovery and experimentation. Last year, the Chiang Mai Art Conversation (CAC), a four-year-old collective that aims to consolidate information about the city’s art spaces into a central database, issued its first Chiang Mai Art Map paving a route for visitors to explore the best of the local arts scene. One of the favourites is Matoom, run by artist Chumpol Taksapornchai. Filled with his large scale, dreamy water colours of imaginary landscapes and his mother’s colourful mobiles, it’s like wandering into a creative cave. “A lot of artists live here because we’re surrounded by nature and old culture. It’s an inspiring place to be!” Chumpol says of the city, “You have the smell of the countryside whilst being in a modern city at the same time.”

Wat Chedi Luang temple. Image by James Houston

At 6pm we make our way to Wat Chedi Luang temple, in time to watch the monks gathering inside for evening meditation. We sit for a while at the back listening to the chanting before circling the courtyard to admire the towering Lanna-style chedi built in 1441. When we leave, we find the streets lined with stalls for the Sunday night walking market. Here you can find local crafts, cheap souvenirs and sample the street food and whilst it can get crowded, it still manages to feel relaxed and soft. The people are gentle and smiling, eager for you to see their products, but never aggressive or pushy.

The market sprawls in a kind of maze and we’re lost for a while before we find our way back to the hotel for a late, but very welcome treatment at the spa. I opt for the 90 minute signature, combining Swedish massage techniques, with hot herbal compresses and Thai stretching. It’s a deeply relaxing and indulgent experience that seems fitting with Chiang Mai’s sensual aura, followed by an even later dinner and cocktails in the sultry, open air Dining Room restaurant that, on a balmy evening, feels almost Mediterranean.

Chiang Mai is one of the few destinations in Thailand, which manages to cater to the modern lifestyle without compromising ancient culture and traditions. Sadly, it probably won’t be long until that changes, but for now the city remains one of Asia’s most intriguing.

Guy Bourdin, Paris Vogue 1975, Chloé autumn-winter 1975 collection ©The Guy Bourdin Estate, 2017 / Courtesy A + C

Most people aren’t aware of Guy Bourdin’s close relationship with the fashion house Chloé, but between the late 50s and late 80s, the brand was interpreted through the lens of the French artist and photographer more than anyone else. The inaugural exhibition at the newly opened gallery space, Maison Chloé in Paris celebrates Bourdin’s wild and seductive world through a collection of emotionally charged images that challenge both stereotypes of femininity and fashion photography.

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Guy Bourdin, Paris Vogue 1970, Chloé spring-summer 1970 collection ©The Guy Bourdin Estate, 2017 / Courtesy A + C

In one image women lie draped languorously across a bed playing cards, whilst another depicts a hotel room cocktail party with a man in his underwear being chased out by a policeman in a background. Rather than pouting, staring with glassy indifference into the camera, the models are dramatically engaged in the scene creating an atmosphere that’s cinematic and completely captivating. Alongside the prints are the clothes and accessories Bourdin photographed as well as copies of the magazines the images originally appeared in, most often Vogue Paris, and a curation of Bourdin’s photographs for other fashion campaigns, including for French shoemaker Charles Jourdan. It’s an interesting insight into the development of Chloé’s dreamy, bohemian aesthetic, Bourdin’s creative vision and perspectives of mid-century women.

Millie Walton

“Femininities—Guy Bourdin” runs until 6th September 2017 at Maison Chloé, hotel particulier on 28 Rue de la Baume, Paris and re-opens during FIAC and Paris Photo from 18th October until 18th November 2017.

British poet and co-founder of Brainchild festival, Bridget Minamore. Image by Suki Dhanda

LUX’s Contributing Poet Rhiannon Williams puts the spotlight on British poet Bridget Minamore this month, exploring her unique portrayal of love and her vision for Brainchild festival.

Bridget Minamore′s poetry is red hot. Addressing race, feminism and popular culture in verse that scalds, this epic young British poet appears to be everywhere at once these days – the poetic version of a catchy new tune. However, her star has truly been accelerating in its ascent since the publication of her pamphlet ‘Titanic‘ (Out-Spoken Press), a collection of poems which hilariously and hauntingly dissect what it means to love another. In ‘Titanic’ she uses the most famous disaster story in history as an analogy for a rocky relationship, writing with a spotless humour and style that tangos with your emotions. The excerpt below shows how Bridget portrays the way the violence of doomed love can be transfigured into dark humour, which nevertheless calls out to our deepest fears of being bereft – or shipwrecked – in love, desperate for the beloved to stay:

I want to cut your legs off

not so you can’t walk away,
more in the hope you’ll stay
exactly where I want to put you.

Her talent for a sentence that can leave you floating on pure emotion has done exactly the opposite of the doomed ship, buoying her up and into a stratosphere of significance, and marking her out as a striking new voice of a generation. When I asked what drew her to using this imagery of the ship, Bridget shared her thoughts: “I always felt so embarrassed writing or reading poems about love or heartbreak, and the imagery gave me two things: a crutch to hide behind, but also a level of humour that made everything easier. I’ve always loved being near water, whether its canals or the sea, and back in Ghana my Dad’s whole family live right next to the largest man-made lake in Africa. But I have this real fear of it as well – I can swim, but I get nervous when I’m actually in open water. So subliminally there must be a part of me that compares the open water of the ocean to love: home and comfort, sure, but also terror. The Titanic sums all of that up for me.”

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Although the symbolism of the distressed ship is one that has been used by poets throughout history – Horace’s ‘The Ship of State in Troubled Waters’, Rimbaud’s ‘Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Ship)’, Bridget guides this metaphor firmly into modernity by using popular song lyrics in her transitions between poems, and colloquial language. The overall effect is ground-breaking…or should we say ice-breaking?

Brainchild festival. Image by Hollie Fernando

Not just a poet however, Bridget has her fingers in all of the creative pies; she has worked with the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House, represented the UK at the International Biennale in Rome and has even masterminded an incredible music and arts festival, Brainchild. And through her journalism she tackles burning issues that many are afraid to speak out about – for example the concept in fashion of the colour ‘nude’ and the unrecognised problem that it causes for women of colour who just want to find a pair of skin-coloured tights – something which should be guaranteed for all women.

Furthermore, her writing invariably leans towards promoting those who are in need of a spotlight, for example she champions the (long overdue) rise of black female DJs, such as Jordanne of GCDJ (Girls Can’t DJ). This is also where her Brainchild Festival comes in. Because instead of just talking about change, Bridget does. “The answer lies in visibility,” she wrote in a piece for ‘The Debrief‘, and at Brainchild each July, Bridget provides the vital visibility that up-and-coming music, poetry and dance stars need.

Bridget was one of the founders of Brainchild, a quirky festival in the United Kingdom – it is very literally her brainchild. Nestled among the grounds of the Bentley Motor Museum in rural East Sussex, the chilled out setting comes with a surreal wildfowl park and miniature railway in tow. In addition to running it, Bridget took to the Brainchild stage this year to perform her poetry, as well as run a discussion about the housing crisis in Britain – and this combination of acts acutely captures the feel of the entire festival; subtle, cerebral and important, the achievement is a melange of conference and intellectual discussion in addition to the vibrant festivities.

Read next: Sydney Lima’s model of the month, Darwin Gray

Brainchild is volunteer-run, and yet endlessly inventive, even more so than the giants of festival Britain like Glastonbury and Reading which are simply too crowded to be truly intimate or different. In contrast, there seems to be no end to what Brainchild puts on, from silent discos made hot by the cutting edge GCDJ group, to the on-site art installations which also created a centre of gravity this year, such as the out-of-this-world geometric playgrounds of Kristi Minchin. There was even an act called 5 encounters on a site called Craigslist featured on the line-up this year. When asked about her vision for Brainchild, Bridget discussed how it evolves with each run: “Each year it’s got easier to know what our vision is—these days, I’m pretty sure we all want to create an inclusive space for as many people as possible, a place that’s fun but also engaging enough to make you think. But also fun. Retaining the intimacy is probably the next most important thing, as it’s something we’re really conscious of the larger we get.”

A yoga class at Brainchild. Image by Jerome Toole

Bridget Minamore’s work with Brainchild is a testament to her talents. Playing on the word ‘brain’, the festival describes itself as ‘a meeting of minds’, a network and safe haven for people in the arts to push their talents to the forefront of the stage – and it is because of Bridget that this creative network has become so strong. It can sometimes seem that the options available for young people to forge a career from artistic abilities are diminishing every day in Britain, due to lack of funding and the troubling expectation that they will work for free. However, Bridget’s work demonstrates how this is not necessarily true. I will be looking out for more of her presence in the future, as I am sure that the name Bridget Minamore will continue to be trailblazing, taste-making and trendsetting in the poetry world; she shows us how it can be done.

bridgetminamore.com

Model and photographer, Darwin Gray. Image by Robert Binda

Sydney Lima

LUX contributing editor and Storm model, Sydney Lima continues her online exclusive series, interviewing her peers about modelling life and business.

THIS MONTH: Soon after 20-year-old Darwin Gray signed to London’s Storm Models he was spotlighted as the one to watch in the fashion world, walking catwalks for the likes of  Burberry, Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood, shooting campaigns for Jack Wills and editorials for Harpers Bazaar and eventually singing to agencies globally from Tokyo to New York. Now Darwin is developing his skills as a photographer, working on a portrait series whilst he is based in Korea.

Sydney Lima: How did you first get into modelling?
Darwin Gray: I was scouted at my cousins wedding by his best man, it was all a weird situation, he came up to me and said I should think about modelling, I just thought he’d been at the bar a bit too long! Then I met Storm a few weeks later and the rest is history.

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SL: What has been your favourite team to work with to date?
DG:My favourite team to date would probably be the Jack Wills team. I was part of two of their campaign shoots, both of which were just as fun as the other. Not at one point did it feel like work, the team were all really nice and good fun- I also met my girlfriend while shooting it so that’s a plus!

Image by Robert Binda

SL: What inspired you to first start taking photos?
DG: I had been modelling a few years before it became something I concentrated on. I was always taking lots of photos and I’ve loved looking back at them because each photo has a little memory it takes you back to.

SL: What’s your favourite subject to take photos off?
DG: My favourite subject would be my girlfriend Lottie, every day I’ll take photos of her either on my phone or camera. I probably have over 10,000 photos of her…

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”25″ gal_title=”Darwin Gray”]

Above: A selection of Darwin’s photographs. Courtesy of Darwin Gray

SL: When did you get your first camera?
DG: I got my first camera about 3 years ago. I bought it in Tokyo as the prices were better. It was a Canon EOS Kiss X7.

Read next: Mayfair’s legendary member’s club, Annabel’s reopening

Sydney Lima: Do you find you learn a lot through working with other photographers?
Darwin Gray: I’m always watching what other photographers do, I find it interesting how people all work so differently. I’m always asking questions. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to learn from within the industry.

SL: Who’s your favourite photographer?
DG: Tom Mitchell is one of my favourite photographers because his work is so clean and he portrays natural beauty in a subtle way.

SL: Do you have any projects planned for the year?
DG: I’m working on a few things, but right now I’m concentrating on a documentary photo series whilst I’m in Korea.

instagram.com/darwingray

Peterson Kamwathi, Medical Establishment-from the Sitting Allowance series, 2009, Courtesy of The Heong Gallery

Robert Devereux, former partner of the Virgin empire, served as chairman of the board of Frieze, the Tate Africa Acquisitions Committee and as an advisor to 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair. Kitty Harris caught up with the African contemporary art collector at The Heong Gallery at Downing College Cambridge for the exhibition of his Sina Jina collection: ‘Where the Heavens Meet the Earth’ to discuss the evolution of the art world, the importance of museums and his long African walk.

Kitty Harris: After completing your degree in History at Cambridge University you went into to publishing and then to work for your then to be future brother in law, Richard Branson. How did this journey lead you to the arts?
Robert Devereux: I got into the arts primarily because of my family. My mother, who particularly loved literature and my dad who had a great love of the visual arts and artefacts. We spent a lot of our summer holidays in Italy which involved going to museums and art galleries. Every year for my mother’s birthday and Christmas present, from the age at which I had pocket money, I brought a reproduction of a Tallantyre piece from Morpeth where we lived. She loved Bruegel’s work so our house was full of them; sadly, none of them were originals.

KH: And why did you start buying art?
RD: It’s so long ago now, I’m not sure if I can remember the answer. I started buying in the late 70s and early 80s when my wife had an art gallery. I don’t suppose I would have become a collector if I hadn’t started in order to support the gallery, maybe not. I started because Vanessa [Branson] had a gallery in Notting Hill. Interestingly, she had three or four African artists in her stable which was highly unusual and completely coincidental, because that was before my engagement in Africa.

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KH: What draws you to the art you do buy?
RD: Like all creative endeavours, an emotional response. Be it excitement, intrigue, interest. I wouldn’t buy a piece if it didn’t move the hairs on the back of my neck – not an intellectual approach I know, but then I begin to try to understand the works. I am fascinated by the thought process – why? Does it mean anything? And if so, is it purely pictorial, sculptural or is there some other significance?

KH: You’ve expressed an aversion to being called a “collector”, preferring the term buyer…
RD: A supporter. Often people say a Patron, I suppose there is nothing wrong with being a Patron but it does also have the connotation of patronage. I would like to think that both my collecting and my creation of the The African Arts Trust are for the support of the artists.

KH: How do you think the purchasing of art has changed since you began in the 70s and 80s?
RD: It’s changed out of all recognition. I was collecting mainly British art then and buying from London galleries, mainly Vanessa’s. The number of collectors, certainly of contemporary art, you could count on the fingers of one had. There were practically none of us. And now, it’s a huge industry and there are hundreds of collectors. There’s been an extraordinary snow balling effect. The creation of the Tate Modern, which has nothing to do with collectors, but it’s interesting that contemporary art has become a huge contemporary cultural phenomenon. The Tate Modern is one of the most visited institutions in the world and that’s amazing given what its content is.

Aida Muluneh, No. 7 from the 99 series, 2013. Courtesy of The Heong Gallery

KH: Museums seem to have become the attraction of cities…
RD: Yes. Take the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Now everybody knows that if you want to create social and economic regeneration you do it with an arts project, which is great. I had an interesting conversation with some older artists the other day who said, “When we left art school the thought of being a full time practising artist and earning our living from it never occurred to us. We went to teach or went to work in a museum.” And whilst they would have said it is definitely better now, there is something missing from that period when artists never had to think about selling work, or creating art for gallery deadlines or commercialising. Which is not to say that I think all artists do commercialise because I think most don’t. I think the commercial marketplace does have an effect on the art produced.

Lynette Yiadom Boakye, High Power, 2008, Courtesy of The Heong Gallery

KH: Do you think that the role of ultra-high net worth’s in purchasing art has changed the art world? Do you think there is a disconnect between creators and consumers? Or that perhaps artists create for consumers?
RD: I think we live in a very mixed ecology. I think all of the above. It happens in places where there is no real art market where an artist finds that they do something and the local tourists buy it and so they continue to do that because they know it will sell. And then there are artists who completely ignore that phenomena. One thing I find unattractive is art as a fashion and there is a strong element of that in the art market. Of art having become just a display of wealth, a sign of good taste (whatever that means) and a status symbol. I’m not going to name names but suddenly artists take off and it’s very clever artist manipulation by galleries and a few collectors.

KH: You served as Chairman of the board of Frieze, what do you think of the term ‘Fair Fatigue’ and what future do you see for art fairs?
RD: I think they will remain undoubtedly. I don’t say this to support Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp [the founders of Frieze]. There are as many art fairs as there are because they serve a valuable purpose. Are there too many of them? Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t. I think there will be ups and downs and peaks and troughs. I don’t have any doubt that art fairs will be a critical part of the future of the art world. They are wonderful and dreadful at the same time.

Nandipha Mntambo, Enchantment, 2012, Courtesy of The Heong Gallery

KH: You sold your 416 works of post-war British art in 2010 with Sotheby’s to start The African Art Trust. Was it hard to part with those works?
RD: I should probably say it was. Not at the time, it actually wasn’t. Partly because I got to the point where I needed to do something and inevitably as any collector does, you end up with work in storage which I think is most unfortunate. I had come up with the notion of The African Art Trust and the only way I could afford to fund it was to sell the works. I think that made it relatively simply because I think I felt I was doing it with clear and worthwhile purpose. Now, six years later, there are probably parts of that collection that I miss more now than I did then. I don’t really miss them. I miss them in the sense that I still think about them and they are in my imagination. That’s great because in a way I haven’t lost them.

Read next: The rebirth of Annabel’s, London’s most glamorous club

KH: The funds went to establish The African Arts Trust, a body that continues to fund grass roots organisations in expanding opportunities for artist. Why Africa? And what was your priority with this organisation?
RD: Africa because I had spent a lot of time there and I had been collecting African art for seven or eight years. I suppose I felt with a relatively modest sum of money, it was possible to make, hopefully, an impact there. Whereas if I’d have spent that amount of money in the UK it would have been a drop in the ocean. Also, I think the need there is much greater, which is not to pretend it’s not tough being an artist wherever you are; even in an extremely bright developed economy like ours. I do support The Showroom here, but in a much more modest way. I recognised there were lots of wonderful artists there who could do with a leg up, or some help or some support or some recognition.

Zanele Muholi, Miss D’vine II, 2007, Courtesy of The Heong Gallery

Kitty Harris: Tell us more about your Sina Jina Collection?
Robert Devereux: I’ve got a house in Lamu, an amazing Muslim community on the North coast of Kenya. And the house which I brought years and years ago, unusually had no name because it’s very old house and all of the houses in Lamu have a name bestowed upon by the families that own them. So I called the house ‘Sina Jina’ which means the house with no name. The collection never had a name until quite recently and for reasons that I can’t really remember I thought it better have a name. I prefer not to use my name if I possibly can. I called it ‘Sina Jina’ and there are probably 400 works; I’m not sure how many there are.

‘Where the Heavens Meet the Earth’ was a lovely title for the recent exhibition at The Heong Gallery, Downing College Cambridge and there is a certain spirituality of wonderful art – the earthly nature of the pieces connects them. The use of recycled materials: paper and wood. They are dis-proportionally from Eastern and Southern Africa because that’s where I spend most of my time, but there is lots of Western African art in there too; it’s all sub-Saharan. It doesn’t lose significance coming to London, it may change the context or meaning or just have a different significance. It’s medium agnostic. Photography is something I didn’t really collect when I was collecting British art, which is partly because I don’t think I’ve got a very good eye for photography. But there is quite a lot of photography in the collection, which I think partly reflects that there is a very strong practice of it in those countries.

KH: You’re not a gallery, how do you coordinate an international art collection?
RD: I don’t really! There’s not a plan. I do it myself. My girlfriend happens to be my art assistant as well. She does the archiving and tracks things as they move around the country. I haven’t got a curator and I think to me that would be a slightly weird thing to do, For me, the main enjoyment and what I get most out of it personally is exploring the artist’s world, meeting with them and engaging with them. I understand if you have big ambitions as a collector why you would have to do that. I would rather it subject to a random degree of subjectivity and was kept very personally.

Rotimi Fani Kayode, Grapes, 1989, Courtesy of ABP and The Heong Gallery

KH: What’s next for you?
RD: I went for a long African walk at the end of 2015/16. I walked the length of the African Rift Valley. I spent six and half months walking and the reason I mention it is that one of the reasons I did it was to clear my decks. So that I could come back and think about the last twenty years of my life (which are probably the last twenty active years of my life) and decide what I wanted to do. Before I went away I stopped collecting about six months before I left and haven’t really started again. I’ve bought one or two things. One of the things the walk made me think about, which I think about continuously anyway, is what am I doing as a collector? I’ve got a relatively small resource and how is it best used and applied? Is the best way of spending what I have got to collect? Or should I use that money in different ways? Anything I buy now goes straight into storage, which is ridiculous. I’ve got to the point in my life, I’m an old man, where I ‘m beginning to think where is it going to go eventually? In an ideal world, I would love to gift it to an institution, ideally to an African one. It would be wonderful if it could go back to Africa, but there’s nowhere obvious that I know of where it could go to. Then of course my children, in many way it’s as much theirs as it is mine. Quite what they would wish to do with I’m not sure. I’m trying not to start buying again until I’ve solved some of those issues.

KH: Which piece of art would you save in a fire?
RD: There’s always two ways of asking that question which is either: which is your favourite piece? Of which I don’t have one. Or to do what you did, which my cunning son asked. My answer: the one nearest to me. I really don’t have a favourite. I’m now trying to imagine myself in the fire and running out and it would be whatever I could realistically get out.

Image by Chris Tubbs

Elizabeth Taylor, Annabel’s 1985

To those of a certain net worth and vintage, the name Annabel’s has for decades been synonymous with the finest type of decadence. The nightclub in the heart of Mayfair was host to generations of bright young things, lascivious old things, the super-rich, Hollywood and music celebrities. Whether you were stopping off in London between homes in the Hamptons and St Tropez, or you were a Chelsea debutante interested in meeting the private jet-set, the canopy on Berkeley Square was where your dreams began.

In recent times, though, Annabel’s was overtaken by hipper venues of the new London crowd: the Arts Club for dining and schmoozing, 5 Hertford Street for drinking and clubbing at LouLou’s. A standalone nightclub seemed a bit 1983.

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Now, under the aegis of new owner Richard Caring (owner of The Ivy Collection of restaurants, as well as Scott’s on Mount Street and other private clubs including Harry’s Bar and George), the nightclub is being reborn, a few metres along from its original location, but accompanied by an extensive private member’s club space that will look after its well-to-do guests from early-breakfast to late-clubbing time.

Image by Chris Tubbs

Dubbed an “all day and all night experience”, the new Annabel’s will feature restaurants, including a year-round terrace, a spa, members’ lounges, a cigar fumoir, a bar in which to warm up your date, and a new, bigger, better nightclub in which to seal the deal – financial, romantic, or both.

The various areas are being designed and curated by a who’s who of uber-celebs in their fields including Mario Testino, Charlotte Tilbury and Martin Brudnizki. Former members will be invited to rejoin, but there will also be an influx of the young, beautiful crowd; all in a location that beats any other Mayfair members club into a corner.

Read next: LUX’s medical expert says eat salt, avoid sugar

Location and the place itself, are, of course, only part of the equation that makes up the world’s best members’ clubs: the members themselves are the most important draw, as Nick Jones has demonstrated with his global Soho House group (in which Caring is a shareholder) which caters to a totally different crowd.

Cigar Terrace. Image by Chris Stubbs

But, a few months before its grand reopening, Annabel’s has everything going for it, including a matchless brand, ready to be passed between generations. Watch this space, and, if you want to get onto the new membership, start sweeping through your contacts list and make some pleading calls with your best-connected friends. Or you could try them direct, at [email protected] – but be prepared for disappointment unless you have some well-connected backers.

annabels.co.uk

Darius Sanai

Launching our new online series, LUX medical columnist Dr Leyla Sanai discusses two medical books revealing why patients should be aware of the risks and benefits of treatments, and why sugar is our real enemy

Most people believe that there is little uncertainty in medicine. Evidence-based trials show doctors what works, and from there it’s a simple matter of either recommending X or not – where X could be a screening test on a healthy patient, a test on an ill patient, or a treatment. But it isn’t as simple as that, as Steven Hatch’s new book Snowstorm in a Blizzard (Atlantic Books, £14.99) shows.

In this lucidly written account, Dr Hatch, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, reveals to the reader how to liaise with your doctors to ascertain if the benefit of the proposed procedure or treatment is worth the risk. Of course, the benefits and risks vary from individual to individual based on a whole host of factors such as age, gender, smoking history, family history, and many other variables.

One of the elegant examples Hatch talks us through is the value of routine screening for prostatic specific antigen (PSA), a blood test carried out to detect the presence of prostate cancer. In the years following the popularisation of this test in the early 1990s, the number of cases of men diagnosed with prostate cancer doubled compared with the incidence 15 years earlier. Yet the death rates remained almost the same.

This is because many men have prostate cancer that is never diagnosed and never causes them any harm. In one study, 40% of men who died had evidence of prostate cancer that had not been diagnosed and that had not contributed to their death. In the oldest age group, the incident was around 80%.

In fact, out of every 1000 men over fifty years old screened for PSA, only one life will be saved because of the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer as compared to 1000 men over 50 who are not screened. And yet, of 1000 men screened, more than 200 will be found to have an increased level of PSA. These men will all be referred for biopsy. Of the men biopsied, 90 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. In comparison, in an unscreened group of 1000 men over fifty years old, 70 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, either because they present with symptoms or because of a chance finding of a hard prostate on rectal examination for some other reason.

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All of those diagnosed will be given the option of treatment for prostate cancer, which comprises one or more from the list of surgery, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy. But note that 20 more men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer in the PSA screened group then in the unscreened group. Which means that 20 more men in the screened group than the unscreened group will receive treatment for prostate cancer – a cancer that might never have come to light if they had not been screened, and might never have caused them any harm. So twenty men out of the 1000 screened will be put through all the risks of treatment of prostate cancer – a treatment that carries risks such as surgical blood loss, or the small risk of incontinence or impotence – and yet only one of them will have their life saved as a result of the screening picking up a cancer.

And yet – although the doctor in me recognises the distress, effort, side effects, and expense that 1000 patients have to be put through in order to save one extra life from prostatic cancer, the patient, or patient’s relative, in me, screams ‘go for it!’ to my husband and my brother. Because the truth is that although the abstract concept of 1000 patients having to be screened in order to save one extra life might seem excessive to the doctor, to that one patient, that screening test has been – well, life-saving. And this is why the vast majority of patients will choose screening for themselves and their loved ones even if the chance of personal gain is very small. Because what’s a bit of discomfort or even a serious side effect like anaemia or infection compared to the difference between life and death for yourself or someone you love? Only when the risks of screening become so serious as to potentially cause life threatening disease themselves do most patients baulk.

The answer to uncertainty in medicine is education, education, education. If the patient reads up about the risks and benefits of procedures, they can have discussions with their specialists. And of course, much depends on individual preference. One individual may be adamant that they want their PSA checked, even though screening only saves one life in a thousand compared to a nonscreened group. Another may prefer not to undergo the psychological distress of a test and discomfort/risks of a biopsy that, even if positive, may simply be diagnosing a cancer that would never have caused their death anyway. This excellent book does not try to dictate answers – it merely seeks to raise awareness that even with all the technological and pharmacological advances in medicine, the correct answer is not always black or white, but various shades of grey.

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The general public has long been chastised to lower their salt (sodium chloride) intake. Some of us forgo a sprinkle of it on food, and, as a result, eat bland and unseasoned meals. In The Salt Fix (Piaktus, £13.99), Dr James DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular research scientist and doctor of pharmacy in Kansas City, Missouri, tells us that we have been demonising the wrong white crystal. Sugar is far worse for our health than salt. In fact, he explains to us that low salt diets actually cause all sorts of harmful physiological effects. They increase the heart rate, which puts more strain on the heart. They increase triglycerides, and increase insulin secretion, since insulin helps the kidneys to retain sodium. Insulin stimulates the laying down of fat, and it lowers blood sugar, leading to sugar cravings. In addition, when the body over-secretes insulin, cells can develop resistance to the effects of the hormone, paving the way for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, with its attendant risks of heart attack, stroke, and poor leg circulation, and problems in kidneys, eyes and nerves.

We are constantly told that salt raises blood pressure, but approximately 80% of people with a normal blood pressure are not sensitive to the blood pressure-raising effects of salt at all. Of those with borderline raised blood pressure, still 75% will not increase their blood pressure if they ingest salt. And even of those with full hypertension, 55% of them are totally immune to salt’s effect on the blood pressure. The author’s message is that in most people, eating normal levels of sodium is not harmful. In fact, studies suggest that eating between 3 and 4 g of sodium a day does not cause a problem in individuals whose kidneys are working properly, since any excess is excreted, and the high levels protect against the aforementioned risks of low salt diets.

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But national guidelines are slow to follow research. In fact, nutritional guidelines have consistently lagged so far behind research over the past few decades that sugar has had a free pass, despite the many trials showing its deleterious health effects. Risibly, as recent as 2000, US guidelines assured the public that sugar did not predispose to type 2 diabetes. And in the UK, it wasn’t until July 2015 until the government reduced the maximum percentage of daily calories that it recommended could be taken in by free sugars from 10% of total calories to 5%, following consultation with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. In fact, the best percentage of free sugars to ingest if you have a sedentary lifestyle is 0%.

Why has it taken so long for public guidelines to match what research has shown for decades? Perhaps it’s because the sugar industry sponsors a lot of research. In 2013, a systematic review of studies published in PLOS Medicine showed that in those studies which were partially or wholly funded by the food industry, or had other similar conflicts of interest with it, 83.3% found no link between sugary drinks and obesity. By contrast, in those studies which have no conflict of interest with the food industry, 83.3% of them showed a definite connection between sugary drinks and obesity. It seems remarkable that even in the 21st-century, research can become befuddled by the influence of industry and politics.

While I would be more circumspect about recommending a dietary intake of salt as high as that which the author recommends, it certainly seems as if very low salt diets do more harm than good. And it is clear to see that it was sugar, not salt, that was the bogeyman at the banquet all along.

Dr Leyla Sanai MBChB MRCP(UK) FRCA(Lond)
Retired consultant anaesthetist