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Kempinski Palace Engelberg Review

The winter mountain haven of Kempinsky Engelberg, in one of the snowiest parts of Switzerland

Perched beneath the panoramic Titlis peak, Kempinski Palace Engelberg blends Alpine charm with refined luxury. Equal parts indulgence and spectacle, it’s a winter escape for those who like their wilderness with room service

For a country that has many famous winter sports resorts, such as St Moritz, Zermatt, Verbier and Gstaad, Switzerland also has a large number of winter sports resorts that you may never have heard of. Including some rather old and established ones.

Engelberg has been a summer and winter mountain haven for more than 100 years, and travelling there you wonder why it is not more internationally known right now. Access is among the easiest of any ski resorts, a quick train ride up from the town of Lucerne, itself less than an hour from Zürich and it’s international connections.

An evening scene in the Kempinski Engelberg restaurant Cattani, where hearty but refreshing Italian cuisine is a feature

There was a car at the station waiting to take us to the luxury Kempinsky resort, but this was not exactly necessary as the grand hotel itself was clearly visible just a few metres away; instead the luggage went by car. The “sports” in “winter sports” surely starts with the walk from the station…

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The building itself, is one of those Art Nouveau palaces dotted throughout central and southern Europe, from a time when the most luxurious thing the super wealthy could do was travel to a grand hotel in a neighbouring country.

Sympathetically refurbished, the contemporary-feeling reception area is home to some beautiful local collaborations throughout the year: real rabbits at easter, a beautiful nativity at Christmas.

A luxury bedroom stay at the Kempinski Engelberg

Often in these legacy hotels, bedrooms are small and compromised, but not here, as the hotel, originally built in 1889, closed for four years for a massive refurbishment which seamlessly incorporated a new wing, reopening in 2021. The new wing is so well designed that you really have to pay attention to be aware of the join between the buildings along the broad corridors as you walk through. Our room was big, airy, modern, with a huge balcony covered to the elements to facilitate sitting outside at all times of year. It looked out over a winter garden, home to a skating rink in winter; the view continued up the valley to a dramatic snow covered rock face.

Read next: Mandarin Oriental Lucerne Review

At just over 1000m, Engelberg is not high by Alpine standards, but facts can sometimes be deceiving. Its position on the northern flank of the Alps means that it receives the best of all the northernly snow in the Alps – the coldest and best powder – and generally has a snow record to match resorts of far higher altitude.

Festive comfort and cheer at the Kempinski Engelberg

A shuttle bus takes you to a gondola which zooms up through a forest plateau into a big snow bowl high above the tree line, with a variety of runs, mainly suited to intermediates. In summer, it’s a walking paradise as all the mountain areas curve around the valley in a C-shape, giving a variety of options for both hiking and snow sports. It’s not as extensive as the biggest ski areas in the Alps, but there’s plenty to explore over a few days and dramatic views down to the Swiss plateau and lakes from the top.

Head back to the hotel, and the place you have to head to whether you have been skiing, hiking, or simply strolling around the pretty village centre, is the rooftop pool and spa, which is enclosed in glass, with dramatic views in every direction. It’s a big, long and generous pool with hydrotherapy jets at its sides, meaning you can enjoy it to lounge or to do some proper laps; or lie on a lounger with a view of the Alps, basking in sunshine while protected from the wind.

Balcony terraces on the new wing are huge and feature uninterrupted views of the northern peaks of the Alps

The hotel’s main restaurant, Cattani, is a carefully and sympathetically reimagined rework of the traditional grand hotel restaurant, with immensely high ceilings, windows and grandeur, offset by a casual chic: blonde woods, orange banquettes, no tablecloths, and light Swiss-Med cuisine. Altogether a brilliant reimagining of a mountain resort hotel.

kempinskiengelberg.com

Reading time: 3 min

Features

Simon de Pury interviews Olafur Eliasson

Olaffur Eliasson photographed for LUX in his Berlin studio by Simon de Pury

Olafur Eliasson is an artist of global renown, a former breakdancing champion, an academic and a passionate champion of the planet. Simon de Pury, auctioneer extraordinaire and long-time LUX collaborator, creates art collections for the world’s super-wealthy and runs celebrity charity auctions with a biting silver tongue. De Pury travelled to Eliasson’s Berlin studio and home, where the two discussed light, communication, birthdays, art and the human rights of the planet’s plants and creatures

Simon de Pury: First, a question I often asked when I was interviewing someone for a job: if you could be an animal, what would you be?

Olafur Eliasson: I would be a jellyfish, I think. They move so graciously and they’re very slow. I like that a lot.

The Serpentine Pavilion lamps, 2007, by Olafur Eliasson. Photograph by Simon de Pury

SDP: I heard that you have a winter birthday.

OE: Yes, the 15 February.

SDP: So that makes you Aquarius. Do you follow astrology?

OE: No, I don’t. It’s remarkable that everything always fits. It’s a little bit like fortune cookies. It’s always nice… it’s like: you’re going to meet a friend next week. That cannot be wrong. But I think the question is whether we have room in our life for matters that don’t really fit into Western science.

I think Western science falls short of providing a safe future. You could refer to indigenous knowledge, for example, or knowledge about trees, the forest, the cyclical nature of weather and seasons, and how to treat nature and so on. It is remarkable to observe that these knowledges are considered absolutely non- functional or non-important by the rationalised or pragmatised minds of Western society.

And it turns out that there is a lot of insight into happiness, success and health that indigenous knowledge addresses. The trees are not as simple as we humans thought they were. And this gives us a great opportunity. When we see a tree, instead of saying, “Oh, there is a tree, what can I use that for? Can I make money with it?”, we can become crucially aware that if we indeed keep exploiting or extracting nature, we are going to ruin our own livelihood, the wellbeing of the planet.

The first set of designs for the LUX logo by Olafur Eliasson

SDP: I recently saw a Belgian businessman who is based in Brazil. He was discussing a project with an Amazonian gentleman who told him: listen, I first need to consult the trees. Once the trees gave a positive feedback, they were able to kick off their project.

One of the most fascinating experiences I’ve ever had is when I attended the annual Summer Nights gala you curated for the Fondation Beyeler. You staged an incredible environment just for that one night and your sister provided amazing food.

When we entered the room where the dinner was to take place, everything was in black and white. We suddenly experienced the world as if we were colourblind. The weirdest thing was eating food when it’s only black and white. You got up and started to give a speech, you pressed a trigger and colour reappeared as by a miracle! I have no clue how you pulled that off.

The playful evolution of Olafur Eliasson’s LUX logo designs

OE: Yes. White light, like sunlight, is the spectrum of all the colours of the rainbow. If the white light missed a colour in it, then it would miss in the rainbow. We know Newton’s lens with the prism [where white light enters the prism and emerges on another side separated into the colours of the rainbow].

White light is the visible area of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each colour has a special wavelength, measured in, I think you call it a nanometre. This is how light works, right? There is a yellow light in the yellow spectrum that is 100 per cent monochromatic. In our eyes, we have what are called receptors for light: we have blue, red and green. We actually don’t have yellow because the mix of red and green produces yellow.

Read more: 180 years of history with Penfolds

If you have this monochromatic yellow light and there’s no other white light, you are, in fact, only seeing a black and white image. Humans are capable of seeing more grey tones than colour tones. That’s why a black-and-white photo by Ansel Adams can sometimes look more real than the same photo in colour.

So you realise that our eyes really influence our brain to interpret visual information – say the food on your plate. The vegetable, you thought, is green because it appears to be in the shape of an asparagus. But actually it could be an orange carrot. This means that I already have a predetermined opinion about what I’m looking at and that influences what I’m looking at. Perhaps this is why we have a hard time changing our mind. It is what the brain tells us we are seeing. That’s interesting, because it suddenly throws up that reality is relative. For me, it shows how you are the author of your own responsibility with regards to what and how and why you see. You can choose to change your view.

The final Olafur Eliasson design for the LUX logo, as seen on the cover of our Winter 2025 issue

SDP: At the Summer Nights gala, we all had under our seat a Little Sun. Can tell us about it?

OE: Occasionally, I have organised events using a little handheld solar lantern called Little Sun. It’s a handheld little power station, which has a solar panel, strong and qualitative. The Little Sun project was to advocate and build awareness around sustainable energy. So it also has that little educational offering to have confidence in solar panels. Because 15 years ago, when we were testing the very first slides, some people would say, well, I don’t believe in solar panels. Now everyone knows what a solar panel is. We have delivered one million off-grid lanterns in sub-Saharan Africa. A large amount of our lamps – I believe one-third – are distributed at no cost in places where there is no economical infrastructure, such as refugee camps. My co-founder of Little Sun, Frederik Ottesen, has now for many years lived in Zambia to build this.

SDP: When Sam Keller, Director of Fondation Beyeler, introduced you that night, he said, “Olafur Eliasson is a 21st-century Leonardo da Vinci.” In your practice as an artist, an activist, an environmentalist – in your multiple activities, who do you measure yourself with?

The complete sphere lamp, 2015, by Olafur Eliasson. An open woven basket afixed to a circular mirror that creates a ‘complete sphere’

OE: I am really grateful for what I have been doing. My studio in Berlin has a 30-year anniversary this year and I’ve been very focused on how to give back to younger artists, their conditions and teaching at art school. I have my amazing studio team; I have the same two gallerists that I started with: Tim Neuger & Burkhard Riemschneider here in Berlin, and Tanya Bonakdar in New York. I admire people like I admire the jellyfish for its easygoing way of swimming. I never was very focused on competition or the idea of the heroic act.

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I am momentarily very inspired by the structural language specialist, the late Marshall Rosenberg. I’ve thrown myself into quite an intense study of this founder of nonviolent communication. It is about speaking and acting without inflicting judgment or threatening people you have disagreements with. I think art can address, not just the feelings that people bring to the room, but also their needs. There is much less likely to be a conflict or a polarisation, if we can state our needs fundamentally.

Needs can be very personal: we want to have a life, we want to be acknowledged, we want to be healthy, we want an education, and so on. I have a need for silence, because I get anxious if I don’t have silence.

A portrait of Olafur Eliasson by Jonathan Newhouse, for LUX magazine

SDP: One of the reasons I’ve always loved art is that art is one thing that can bring us closer together. To hear you speak now about nonviolent communication is riveting. I didn’t realise that this was also part of your focus.

OE: It’s a recent development. I keep finding out that the world is quite amazing. I remain humble and grateful for the many opportunities and in particular for the incredible career I’ve had. And there are many, many collectors and artists and friends and gallerists and museums who have believed in me.

SDP: It’s extraordinary to realise that your career already spans 30 years. Your list of achievements is phenomenal. What are your dreams going forward?

OE: Klee did this Angelus Novus, of the angel that faces the past and the wisdom of the past, but, in fact, flies backwards into the future. That was the kind of conservative idea of what is a good life. You learn from the successes of the past. The late philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour said that, considering the fact that modernity created the climate crisis, we actually can maybe conclude the past wasn’t quite as successful as we thought. The ground is trembling, it is collapsing right underneath our feet. I hope to have the courage to keep reinventing myself. And my biggest wish is that people still want to, and consider that relevant.

‘Shadows travelling on the sea of the day’, 2022, by Olafur Eliasson, installation view, Northern Heritage sites, Doha, from a group exhibition for Qatar Museums’ Qatar Creates, 2022

I just looked at a cartoon where a small dragon sits on the back of the panda, and the dragon asks the panda: what do you like the most, the path, the journey, or the destination? The process or the goal? My generation grew up with these questions. We said it was about the process and not the destination. The panda says, it’s the company. It illustrates the fact that we are, more often than we think, stuck in our own paradigm, and that prevents us from seeing things anew. That’s why I also named my recent show in Tokyo “Sometimes the river is the bridge”.

Hope alone is not going to change much. I believe you need to take action yourself, to get out and do it; to not only look at the horizon, but down and around, and learn from those you disagree with, find mutual company and make a movement. Then you can create change.

SDP: I always look at artists as mediums, as I feel that artists see things we don’t see yet. Artists, on the whole, are directed to the future. I feel all your activities are directed towards the future. It’s so interesting with what you said about hope. One always says hope is what dies last.

Eliasson with his 2007 ‘The Serpentine Pavilion lamps’, 2024. Photograph by Simon de Pury

OE: I think that in many ways it is also about love, to admit we all have a need for love. Maybe we need a care economy that would cater for caring for future life on this planet. There are some companies that aspire to make nature the chair of the board. There is a lot of legislative work being done by grassroots organisations, such as the charity ClientEarth, founded by James Thornton. It represented the air of London by suing the UK government for having too many pollutants. It’s a famous case. There are many countries where rights of personhood are becoming part of the legislation. Non-humans, such as mountains or rivers, have rights of personhood to protect against human intervention. I like this idea that we humans are not so exceptional any more. For one project called “Future Assembly”, I worked with others to propose that the Human Rights Charter is rewritten so that every part of the world should have a seat at the table: animals, the sky, the ocean – they should speak up for their rights.

Breathing earth sphere by Olafur Eliasson is a permanent public artwork on Docho island, South Korea, created specifically for the island’s volcanic topography, from 13 Nov 2024; “Olafur Eliasson: your curious journey” is at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 7 Dec 2024- 24 Mar 2025; aucklandartgallery.com

Olafur Eliasson Studio

Reading time: 10 min

Features

How collecting unites lovers of wine, art, watches and cars, with Penfolds

A collectable Penfolds St Henri bottle

It’s a given: when you gain enough wealth, you start to collect what interests you. But what really drives the collector of wine, art, watches or cars? Immediately below, LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai, himself a collector, gives his views; and then we speak to some prominent figures in each of those worlds, including the chief winemaker of luxury wine house Penfolds, who is also a collector, for their own, unique, analysis

Is collecting – wine, art, watches, cars, anything – about passion, investment, obsession, love, show? It can be about any or all of these, sometimes with a serious splash of philanthropy thrown in (and more than occasionally, a dash of kleptomania).

One definition of collecting might be having more of any single category of object than you can ever make use of. No serious wine collector, however bibulous or generous, will ever be able to consume their entire collection. A car collector will have desirable and much loved cars that they don’t drive for months, sometimes years, due to lack of time. Art collectors, who have the luxury of being able to display all their works simultaneously, frequently don’t have the space to do so.

A rare, manual transmission 2004 Ferrari 575M with Fiorano race handling package, from the collection of Darius Sanai. Photographed at Cliveden House, one of England’s most sophisticated luxury hotels

What I love about collecting – and I indulge to different scales in all the categories above – is that it is essentially human, in that it is quite irrational. Why have more of something than you will ever make use of, and still spend your time and energy acquiring even more of it?

It’s usually not about investment. Sure, most smart collectors have a hope that there will be a financial upside to their acquisitions. And it can be very lucrative: fine-wine prices have increased by between 300 and 400 per cent since 2000, more for some special wines. The great classic cars have rocketed in value. And everyone knows how superstars emerge onto the art market. But very few collectors of anything have investment as their primary motivation.

What you need more than anything else to start a collection is passion. And perhaps a hint of obsession. I bought my first bottle of wine as a student, driving a little French sports car through Burgundy. It’s still there, as a kind of founding stone, which is pointless, really. My first significant artwork was acquired from a group show I attended in Italy in the late 1990s; the then barely known artist has since become very famous, but I bought it because I liked the artist.

A vineyard at Wrattonbury, Australia, whose Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are used in Penfolds’ now-legendary Bin 707

Passion leads to exploration, education and expertise. The greatest collectors make the market. But, ultimately, collecting is about enjoyment: the art on the wall of the private museum, a different watch on your wrist every day, a great wine shared with friends.

In this, wine is in a category of its own, because when you enjoy it you consume and destroy it. My Penfolds collection (I bought my first Penfolds Bin 707, a case of the 1992 vintage, in the late 1990s) is depleted because it is so delicious. It makes opening a bottle more special than gazing at an artwork or climbing into your favourite classic Ferrari, as it’s all about taking a moment in time to enjoy a bottle made at a moment in time and that will never exist again. Good health.

Darius Sanai

Peter Gago, Chief Winemaker of Penfolds, is also an art collector

THE WINE CREATOR: Peter Gago

Chief Winemaker at Penfolds, Peter Gago is the maker of hyper-collectable wines such as Grange. He is also a passionate observer of the wine market

LUX: What would you say makes a wine collectable, rather than just good?

Peter Gago: Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, wine quality and appeal is palpably subjective. However, global third-party endorsement – scores from highly regarded critics – do anchor a wine collectability index. Coupled with a great story, track record, rarity, historical secondary- market appreciation, the collectables follow. This humble collector also collects many elusive “good” wines that still improve in the cellar and reliably deliver alluring secondary and tertiary maturation characters over time.

A Penfolds Grange 1953 at the brand’s Recorking Clinic: in its early days, it was known as Grange Hermitage. This bottle is almost priceless

LUX: A number of Penfolds wines have become collectable over the past years. Did you expect this to happen when you made them?

PG: At Penfolds we aspire to craft wines with a propensity to cellar, that mature gracefully over time. We also retain a culture of releasing Special Bins that by their very nature are rare, smaller-volume, high-quality intermittent releases, which can only be created in stellar vintages, allowing our other wines not to be short-changed or compromised. Our flagship wines – Grange, Bin 707, Yattarna – are rewardingly and intrinsically collectable. “Baby Grange”, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, remains an affordable collectable – regularly and officially listed by media as the most cellared red wine in Australia.

Read more: Prince de Galles, Paris Review

LUX: Can a buzz about a wine among collectors happen unexpectedly, for example, after a particular auction sale or article, or a celebrity collecting it?

PG: Most definitely. The catalysts of the next big thing and early entry are what speculators across all collectables (and the stock market) try to ID and second-guess. Consolingly, the classics still deliver, but you pay for what you get. Courage, gut feel and risk-taking should be part of the collector’s cerebral toolkit. Celebrity equals awareness, not necessarily reward.

Highly collectable Penfolds Grange in the cellars at Magill Estate

LUX: Can a wine become too collectable, meaning it is only traded and stored, never consumed?

PG: I don’t think so. Ultimately, almost all wines are poured, albeit some unfortunately after their use-by. The more expensive, oftentimes the greater the deliberation. Having said that, many great wines are cellared for decades awaiting an optimal moment in time within the expected drinking window. And, only very occasionally, some wines from lesser vintages are retained for pure collection purposes only – to chronologically complete collection sets.

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At Penfolds Recorking Clinics, which we have hosted globally now for over 33 years, we witness first-hand the good, the bad and the ugly of collectability pursuits. Collectability and cellarability go hand in hand. So many collectors collect but don’t protect their investment by cellaring properly. And, not to forget, older, more fragile vintages don’t appreciate travel or movement, whether traded or not.

LUX: Which four Penfolds wines would you call out especially as collectors’ items and why?

PG: First, what is the current and available must-buy, smart-money, insider-buy Penfolds collectable – and a cult wine in the making? Without hesitation, the 2018 Penfolds Superblend 802-B Cabernet Shiraz. Why? All the “Y”s align.

Penfolds St Henri barrel hall, Magill Estate

Quality: very high. As an indicator, all its global scores are in the high 90s. A1-grade fruit, stylistically different to that of Grange or Bin 707, yet at a similar quality level. Rarity: of a significantly lower volume than our flagship, Grange. Not released every year, so no 2019, 2020 or 2021. French oak maturation only. Synergy: blending Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz is a time-proven magical Australian wine blend, one with a proven track record of high quality and cellarability. Symbolically: this 2018 vintage is the first release (always over-delivered). There will probably be only two to three releases per decade, if the weather gods oblige. Affordability: it’s not cheap, yet not too “silly” a price, AUD$900 (£461) per bottle.

Significant appreciation to be expected once collectors find out. Supply and demand will then drive secondary-market pricing. Don’t tell too many friends. The other three I would choose? Easy, deliberately across style and pricing: Grange, usually the older the vintage the better; St Henri, pick the right vintage; Bin 389, in most vintages buy cases, not bottles, and your children and friends will thank you.

A Penfolds vineyard. Almost uniquely among the world’s greats, Penfolds top wines are made from a blend of different terroirs, which can vary year on year; some are even made from a combination of vineyards on different continents

THE WINE COLLECTOR: Adam Smith

Based in Western Australia, Adam Smith has been collecting Penfolds wines for more than ten years

LUX: Did I hear right that you had your first wine aged 13 because, being Italian, your nonno and nonna would give you small glasses of red?

Adam Smith: Exactly, from the age of 13. From that age, every time we would go to see them I remember having a little red wine, and if we went for dinner somewhere or at a restaurant, they would pour me a half glass of red.

LUX: Always with food, right?

AS: That’s exactly right.

LUX: Let’s fast forward, how did you embark on your Penfolds collecting journey?

AS: I went down to the local bottle shop, grabbed a bottle of Penfolds, tried it and absolutely loved it. I think my wife and I were playing a game of chess that night. I ended up buying more. As the wine had just been released, the girl behind the counter said, “Look, we need to keep some back for the tasting night!”

Rare and desirable bottles at the Penfolds recorking clinic

LUX: Do you have in mind what the occasion would be for drinking a wine when you buy it for your collection?

AS: It’s not really about special occasions for me. Right now, whatever I am buying, I just try to drink one now and keep some to see how it evolves over time.

LUX: What do you enjoy about collecting wine?

AS: What I like about wine is that you can drink something that was made at a certain memorable point in the past. In 1998, for example, I was in my first year of high school and I am now drinking wine from that era. It’s the closest thing to time travel. I like to associate wine that I collect now with certain dates in my life. So 2011 was a pretty bad year for wine, but my wife and I got married that year, so I have a lot of wine from 2011.

LUX: I hear you have bought an enomatic, the wine dispenser that enables you to have just a glass, or even less, of a bottle, without it spoiling the bottle. It’s a fantastic idea.

A Penfolds vineyard in Adelaide Hills in Autumn

AS: Yes, I have eight spaces in mine. So I’ve had a Cabernet from the Napa Valley, and then another Cabernet from Western Australia, the Margaret River region – and from all over Australia. It’s fantastic, I must say. It’s the best thing I have ever bought.

LUX: Do you collect to drink or to sell?

AS: I am not necessarily trying to sell any. I am trying to build a cellar, and I do want to drink them. What I have been buying over the past few years – and I have stepped it up since I started building a cellar – I am planning on drinking those over the next five years plus. I like doing comparisons of vintages. I also want to do more tastings of the same wine in different vintages – vertical tastings.

LUX: What are the Penfolds bottles you are most looking forward to drinking?

AS: I have a special one coming up and that is the Grange ’85 in January, for my 40th. My wife’s is a couple of years later so that will be an ’88. Right now, I haven’t really drunk anything super precious. The ’98 is in there at the moment and the 2021, but nothing that I have collected for long enough that I’ve wanted to open yet.

‘You can tell it’s Penfolds’ – Adam Smith

LUX: Who do you share your wine with – does your wife have a glass?

AS: Yes, she does. She made the comment, “You can tell it’s Penfolds.” Regardless of what you are drinking, it has that thing about it [the “red stamp”, as it is called by the Penfolds winemakers].

LUX: What are the most precious bottles of Penfolds in your cellar? The Granges ’85 and ’88?

AS: Yes, that’s right. I also have a couple of very old bottles. I have a couple of ’69s, ’70s and ’71s in there, which look like they’ve probably passed, and I’m not sure whether I should be drinking them or not.

LUX: You might need to check in Andrew Caillard’s book ‘Penfolds: The Rewards of Patience‘ for guidance on that.

AS: I certainly will!

The Rolex Day Date Eisenkiesel

THE WATCH COLLECTOR: Josh Srolovitz

Director of Trading for 1916 Company in Hong Kong, Josh Srolovitz started collecting watches in 2011

I see watches as a reflection of my personality, and in some cases they serve as reminders of significant milestones. One piece is my Rolex Day Date Ruby Dial, which I acquired to commemorate the birth of my daughter in the month of July, which is associated with a ruby birthstone.

I view my collection strictly as a passion project, not as an investment. Many of the watches I own may not go up in value, but if I truly love the watch itself this does not bother me. I base most of my purchases around aesthetics. However, there are some vintage and discontinued pieces whose rarity I find very attractive. Brand heritage is also an important factor to me.

De Bethune DB25 Starry Sky 1 watch, from the collection of Josh Srolovitz

I love the “hunt” for a watch. Finding a piece that I’ve been waiting a long time for is very rewarding. It helps me to appreciate the watch even more.

For collectors in general, the motivation to collect can come from a variety of factors. For example, it could be a watch they saw earlier in their lives that perhaps they were unable to acquire at that time, or chasing a long-time holy grail that they have dreamt of, or even a piece they saw in another collection that stuck with them. There are also collectors who are driven by hype, and what seems to be fashionable in the moment. However, in my experience with the most significant collectors, rarity, exclusivity and condition are the three motivating factors behind most of their collections.

Watch-collector social events are very important to me for building a sense of community and for meeting like- minded individuals. In fact, I have met some of my closest friends through my passion for watches.

Art collector Alia Al-Senussi

THE ART COLLECTOR: Alia Al-Senussi

Alia Al-Senussi is a leading global art collector and patron, and senior adviser to Art Basel and the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

There are so many reasons why people collect. The most famous and fun stories revolve around those who have an insatiable desire to bring something home to their universe.

There are legendary collectors who come from families involved in the arts; others are exposed to the art world as they grow older. For people like me, collecting means you are supporting artists and the ecosystem of a cultural community.

At the beginning of my collecting life, I would often get asked what kind of collector I was. I would say, “Oh, I’m not really an art collector.” My best friend Abdullah Al-Turki, who is one of the best art collectors of our generation, corrected me and said, “That’s not true, you are a collector of art experiences.”

‘Kama Mama, Kama Binti (Like Mother Like Daughter)’, 1971-2008, by Hank Willis Thomas, from the collection of Alia Al-Senussi

My motivation is having pieces around me that remind me of people I’ve had wonderful interactions with. Those pieces could be objects, prints, editions or paintings; things that are meaningful to me. I am also interested in art as a catalyst for social change, and pieces that bring the world closer together.

Increasingly, I see collectors revolving their collections around a theme: for example, collections based on women, a geographical location, politics etc. This idea of collections that are centred in a moment is something you see more and more. You also have these legendary collectors who collect everything from old masters to contemporary and everything in between.

‘Suspended Together – Standing Doves’, 2012, by Manal Al Dowayan, from the collection of Alia Al-Senussi

The discovery of artists is definitely a factor for me. It’s about my enthusiasm for that person or institution. Nour Jaouda is a talented young artist from Libya who was featured in the Venice Biennale as the youngest artist there. Then she had a solo booth presentation at Art Basel just two months later and now has a foothold in the international art world. I had the honour of hosting a dinner and talk with her, bringing her together with the Tate curator and a room of major museum directors, curators and collectors. Now they have started collecting her. I was just part of a larger story, but of course all those things fit together in a really wonderful puzzle.

If someone was starting a collection, I would advise them to read, attend, meet. Read as much as you can in the art media and in LUX! Attend shows, openings and art fairs to see what you fancy. Meet people, because you will find someone who will be your art-world buddy, an artist who really speaks to you, or a gallery that understands you.

penfolds.com

Reading time: 15 min

Latest Stories

Prince de Galles, Paris Review

The entrance to Prince de Galles sits just steps away from the Champs-Élysées

Looking for chic, swankiness and glamour in the ultimate Parisian location? Check out the Prince de Galles, where even the breakfast makes you feel you are in a Brigitte Bardot movie

Despite, perhaps because of, the plethora of boutique hotels that have opened in the city over the years, glamour is still an essential element for us any stay in Paris.

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And for glamour, you really have to be in one address, the Avenue George V, surrounded by luxury brands and feeling that you are a resident in the most exclusive area of Paris, the cross-cross of luxury boulevards in the 8^th Arrondisement, in between the Champs-Elysees and the river.

The reception to the luxury boutique hotel is an art deco design of white and black marble

And so it felt very appropriate checking in to the Prince des Galles, in the heart of the area, with lobby of art deco black and white marble, offset by taupe carpets, and sweeping staircase. Our room was that very rare thing, and utterly silent haven in the heart of Paris, looking out over the rooftops, with no traffic noise, yet somehow in the middle of all the action. It had everything you would expect: lavish sheets, bathroom swathed in marble, and something you didn’t, in its sense of peace and tranquility.

‘Glamour is still an essential element for us any stay in Paris’

One of the most delightful parts of our stay was our breakfast. This is Paris, after all, so to be ushered into the grand dining room and offered an à la carte breakfast was special enough: but to be surrounded by the decor of the 19.20 dining room was even more so. Deep leather chairs, dramatic and vivid artworks, and a superb Eggs Benedict set one up for the day in a slow food way.

All of this with the assured service of a top hotel from the Luxury Collection, at a price point reasonable for its level of luxury. Love it.

Prince de Galles Hotel

A luxury bedroom at Prince de Galles

Reading time: 2 min

Features

Hugo Boss CEO, Daniel Grieder, redefining the brand for a new generation

Daniel Grieder, CEO of Hugo Boss

Since 2021, Swiss entrepreneur Daniel Grieder has been applying his versatile talents to the helm of German fashion giant Hugo Boss, where he has doubled revenue. He talks to LUX about redefining the brand for a new generation.

“Hugo Boss is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Our goal is to put the company in a good position for the next 100 years.” No small words from Daniel Grieder. But then why would they be, coming from the man who, before joining Hugo Boss three years ago, increased net sales as CEO of Tommy Hilfiger from $3.3 billion to $4.2 billion over three years to 2018?

So far, Grieder is keeping his word with Hugo Boss, too. Even though, as he says in the brand’s latest performance report, we are acting in a world of “global macro uncertainty”, which dampened Hugo Boss’s sales in the second quarter of 2024, the company continues to gain market share.

Enter a few of the many statistics up Grieder’s designer sleeve: more Hugo Boss stores are open than ever before (1,418); revenue rose from €1.95 billion in 2020 to €4.2 billion in 2023. And potentially crediting the increase to lockdown is nullified by the figure being €1.32 billion above 2019, then the highest Hugo Boss revenue of the millennium.

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Let’s flick back a second to the German atelier that Boss started in a century ago. Hugo Ferdinand Boss drops out of school, does military service and works in a weaving mill. In 1908, he takes over the family trousseau shop. He creates his own company in 1924, making general clothing and later military uniforms. After the Second World War, the company is handed on to his son-in-law, Eugen Holy, and in 1969 to his sons Jochen and Uwe Holy, who will facilitate the route to the Hugo Boss we know today.By the 1950s, the company began to produce work clothing and had already added men’s suits to its programme.

In the 1970s the operation’s range adopted a new focus: high-end men’s suits made of high- quality material, anchored in the suave understatement that would bring decades of success and remains an imprint of the company. Now, Hugo Boss was a leading global brand. The following decades saw it attract a breadth of demographics with product that ranged from men’s, women’s and children’s wear to eyewear, watches and perfume.

Supermodel and Boss brand ambassador Gisele Bündchen in the Boss A/W24 campaign

In 2022 under Grieder, the company refocused to appeal to a younger, more global audience by leading on a two-brand strategy of Hugo and Boss, both with a 24/7 approach and offering businesswear as well as leisurewear, but addressing different target groups. Grieder has amplified the dual-branded identity through “emotional storytelling and comprehensive brand experiences”. He has gathered celebrity brand ambassadors, including Italian tennis player Matteo Berrettini, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen and Senegalese-born TikTok star Khaby Lame.

And his vast omnichannel campaign hinges on two simple hashtags: #BeYourOwnBoss addresses Millennials with the latest pieces that sit comfortably on the historical cornerstones of the brand, from the biker jacket and a contemporary take on the double-breasted jacket to the neutral shades of straight trousers and polo tops (with a zing of edge from transparent, collared jerseys).

#HugoYourWay speaks to Gen Z with flashes of bolder colours and edgier styles in lines that focus on leisurewear and clothes for all occasions. Think the recent Hugo genderless collaboration with Istanbul streetwear label Les Benjamins: straight, boxy cuts in leisurewear that leans towards the street, but with signature poise.

Boss brand ambassador and tennis player Matteo Berrettini at the Boss Open 2024, in pieces from the Boss x Matteo Berrettini collection

This, says Grieder, is what matters to the modern customer: “to be addressed by one brand in different areas of life”. Indeed, areas of his own life seem to perfectly straddle the company’s brand Boss. “I am more of a classic type,” he divulges of his own tastes. On the weekend that means jeans, a polo shirt, blue sweater and sneakers. At work it’s a jacket or suit. “Our new performance suit, of course,” he says, with a loyal nod to the new Boss stretch-fabric suits in light green, grey, khaki and blue.

As an active man, seen often on the Austrian slopes, the brand’s concurrent focus on sport and leisurewear seems suited to him as much as to the majority market. It is reflected in the various collaborations with sporting events, epitomising pared-back chic and quiet confidence – for instance with Formula 1, the Hahnenkamm ski races and the branded ATP tennis tournament, Boss Open.

A look from the Boss “Out of Office” S/S25 runway show in Milan

A look from the Boss “Out of Office” S/S25 runway show in Milan

“We must revolutionise the fashion industry to minimise its negative impact on the environment. No planet, no fashion”

Grieder is the type to do this. To take two major fashion brands, belt them up and shoot them back into the spotlight, both within a decade – and still be up before anyone else in the morning for a game of tennis or a shift down the slopes.

“I discovered my desire for entrepreneurship at an early age,” he says, unsurprisingly, judging from his steely confidence and steady eye. “While still at school I had an ice-cream stand, sold stones from the mountains to tourists, was a soap importer and even sold cars for some time.”

Read next: Stephan Winkelmann on Lamborghini

How did his determined gaze turn to fashion? “Growing up, people asked if I was one of the Grieders from Bongénie Grieder department stores in Switzerland. No, I am not. But I started thinking that fashion was something I could do,” he says. He got a holiday job at a fashion shop, started a commercial apprenticeship at the Globus department store in Zurich, studied economics and his decision was made. The first company he founded specialised in buying and selling leather jackets from Turkey.

Later, he says, “I represented brands such as Pepe Jeans, Stone Island, CP Company, Belstaff and finally established Tommy Hilfiger in the European market before I joined this company.” That is the DNA of a CEO: blasé but hardworking. “I love challenges,” he says, with the glint of a professional sportsperson. “Athletes in particular have this special mindset I admire.” Grieder’s star-studded catwalk through the fashion business comes not from a competitive drive, he claims, but from the philosophy that “what is good enough today might not be good enough tomorrow: that is what drives and motivates me”.

Racing driver and Boss brand ambassador Fernando Alonso in the A/W24 Boss x Aston Martin capsule collection campaign

Setting his mind to Hugo Boss in 2021, he created the “Claim 5” strategy, a comprehensive five-pillar plan of brand identity, product, digitalisation, omnichannel presence and growth. “Our brands had lost relevance over the years,” he says. So he set himself the task to make Hugo Boss one of the top 100 global brands. And attracting those “new, younger consumers” from Millennials to Gen Z is at the crux of it.

Hugo x Imaginary Ones, a collaboration with Web 3.0 for mental- health awareness

“You always have to keep your finger on the pulse,” he says of his fashion inspirations. And “always”, for Grieder, means not just at work but at home, over casual conversations with his two sons or in front of the TV. It was by stumbling across a Netflix documentary about a particular dark-trousered, dapper ex-England footballer with a Boss-like muted colour palette, seen often in a biker jacket, rugged boots and a masculine edge, that he found a match. “Beckham is a true Boss,” says Grieder. “He is much more than a former soccer player.

He is an icon in the world of sport and also fashion. He is a successful entrepreneur as well as a dedicated family man.” Grieder has made Beckham his latest brand partner for Boss. Their global, multi- year design collaboration begins in spring/ summer 2025.

“What is good enough today, might not be good enough tomorrow: That is what drives and motivates me”

Football icon and Boss brand partner David Beckham, in the Boss A/W24 collection campaign

But with a presence in 130 countries, each with regions of varying taste, how does one keep communication sufficient, eyes peeled, finger on so many pulses? “We want to exploit growth opportunities in local markets by targeting regional needs,” says Grieder. Colour-coded lines, demarcating different styles, provide tracking opportunities for various strands of Hugo Boss.

See Boss Black (iconic tailoring), Boss Orange (casual), Boss Green (athleisure) and now Boss Camel (tailored luxury, including made to measure), as well as Hugo Red (contemporary tailoring and casualwear) and Hugo Blue (denim-based). These weave together different aspects of the brand’s global story, and harness the fact that brand recognition reportedly improves by up to 80 per cent with colour-related schemes. China, for instance, is particularly keen on Boss Camel.

If, in Grieder’s words, “the most exciting time in fashion is right now”, what can we look out for in Hugo Boss’s future? Unsurprisingly, Hugo Boss, as with all other major brands, “must revolutionise the fashion industry to minimise its negative impact on the environment.

No planet, no fashion.” The brand looks to respect the environment and “as a premium supplier, sustainability is a matter of course”. How to do this? Grieder notes the Digital Campus created by Hugo Boss to utilise data analytics and more.

A look from the Boss “Out of Office” S/S25 catwalk show.

A look from the Boss “Out of Office” S/S25 catwalk show

In fact, sustainability is not only a necessity but a style point. “Innovation is a key driver of sustainability, which is why innovation and sustainability go hand in hand for us,” he says. “We love fashion. We change fashion.” According to Grieder, Hugo Boss will soar both in terms of sustainability and style to become “the leading premium tech-driven fashion platform worldwide”.

“Innovation is a key driver of sustainability, which is why innovation and sustainability go hand in hand for us”

It remains to be seen whether Hugo Boss will fulfil its goal of reducing CO2 emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2030 compared to 2019, and achieving net zero by 2050. But for now, there’s no wavering to a character, force or closing comment such as Grieder’s: ‘I am absolutely convinced,” he concludes, “that this will perfectly set us up for the future.”

hugoboss.com

Reading time: 9 min

Features, Uncategorized

Behind the Scenes at the Cristal Champagne Vineyards with Louis Roederer

A soirée to celebrate Cristal and art in London. Left to right: Lorna Mourad, Jennifer Chamandi Boghossian, Rob Boghossian, Ege Gürmeriçliler, Darius Sanai, Laurent Ganem, Maria Sukkar, Frédéric Rouzaud, Anne-Pierre d’Albis-Ganem, Nadim Mourad, Richard Billett, Samantha Welsh and Malek Sukkar, with an Anish Kapoor artwork on the wall

Louis Roederer, maker of Cristal and other celebrated champagnes, has long led the way in environmentally conscious winemaking, using biodynamic and organic techniques. CEO Frédéric Rouzaud has also brought his passion for art photography to the fore with a series of initiatives supporting photographers around related themes. Now the champagne house champions massal selection, an expensive way of allowing natural selection to create diversity in the vineyard and complexity of taste. LUX visits the vineyards in France and speaks with Chief Winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon about how working with nature is the hardest – and most rewarding – labour of all.

Frédéric Rouzaud, CEO of Cristal maker Louis Roederer, commissioned artistic photographer Jean-Charles Gutner to create a series of images based on the leaves produced by grapevines of different varieties grown using massal selection

A Conversation with Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon of Louis Roederer about how working with nature stimulates biodiversity, conserves the soil – and makes the greatest wines

LUX: How long does it take someone to gain the necessary expertise to identify the best vines in a vineyard and to curate a massal selection?

Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon: It’s not one person only. Louis Roederer’s In Vinifera Aeternitas project was launched in 2002 and includes a group of experts: Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquot from Montpellier, probably the most talented ampelograph [one who identifies and classifies grapevines] in the world; Lilian Bérillon – a nursery owner specialising in massal selection of the best domaines all over the world – and his team; and our own vineyard team.

Jean-Charles Gutner, creator of Solar Panel, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon and Frédéric Rouzaud

LUX: I read that for massal selection at Louis Roederer, you say the best bunches are small or medium in size, weighing 100g to 110g and of perfect quality. What makes a perfect grape?

JBL: ’Perfect quality’ does need explanation. In our quest, it means a combination of clean fruit – disease-free through thicker skins and good aeration – and homogeneous phenolic ripeness in berries of the same cluster, avoiding green or overripe berries that could create vegetal or cooked-fruit notes.

LUX: Louis Roederer is also opening up new possibilities by growing young vines without American rootstocks, that is, pre-phylloxera style [phylloxera destroyed many European vineyards from the 19th century onwards, a crisis combatted by grafting European vines onto phylloxera-tolerant American vine rootstock]. How is it working?

JBL: So far we must admit we have had little success in this experiment. Most of the vines have now been infected by phylloxera. Only very few are still alive. We follow them to see if they are resilient or not. We are also working on different clones of rootstocks.

A leaf from a Chardonnay vine from Avize, a village in the Cotes des Blancs, the hillsides renowned for producing the greatest Chardonnay wine in the region

LUX: What do you find most exciting about massal selection?

JBL: The most exciting thing is to witness the huge biodiversity within Pinot Noir. There can be up to 10-15 days difference in the ripening process, which is amazing.

LUX: You have said of massal selection that you had to regenerate the plant material and recover some of the singularity of the Louis Roederer style through massal selection. Does this affect the taste?

JBL: The first goal is to regenerate virus-free vines for a strong ecosystem, through the diversity of individual vines replanted with pools of a minimum of 30 individuals. The second goal is to protect our unique legacy: we have chosen our oldest plots of vines, pre-1960, to select our massal vines. Those vines now make Cristal rosé, but before 1974 they were the heart of our Cristal domaine from its inception in 1876. Therefore, we believe that by regenerating this material, we are also on a crusade in the name of taste.

Louis Roederer uses sustainable practices, including massal selection, to work with nature and achieve the most accurate expression of its unique terroirs

LUX: In massal selection, the talk is of going back in time, to recultivating the uniqueness that wine used to have. But has wine always tasted the same, or did it taste different, say, in the pre-phylloxera era, and if so, how?

JBL: The idea is not to go back in time. Our In Vinifera Aeternitas project aims to restore the diversity of vines, which will reinforce the natural resilience of our production and ecosystem.

LUX: How does Louis Roederer’s process of massal selection differ to competitors?

JBL: It is our own unique legacy, therefore it cannot be compared to anyone else’s. We have also elevated the idea in an artistic dimension, such as when the photographer Jean-Charles Gutner teamed up with the In Vinifera Aeternitas project to craft unique pictures of the biodiversity of our ecosystem in his Solar Panel series.

The making of leaf images, from the Solar Panel series, by Jean-Charles Gutner

LUX: How has massal selection changed Louis Roederer’s character as a company?

JBL: It has not changed our character, which has always been to secure our family-owned business for the next generations. In Vinifera Aeternitas is one part – the biodiversity and taste part – of a higher ambition, which includes many other aspects of permaculture, like reducing our footprint through responsible soil, water and energy use. Hence our family motto: “hand in hand with nature”.

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LUX: What led the Rouzaud family and yourself towards a climate-conscious future?

JBL: The key was probably our meeting with Bill Mollisson, the father of permaculture, in Tasmania in early 1990s. It became obvious to all of us that we had to secure the future by introducing the philosophy of permaculture – working organically with nature not against it, considering craftsmanship and social aspect, biodiversity, low energy use, rotation, the balance of tradition and innovation.

“Perfect quality” black grapes from the vineyards are used for propagation in Louis Roederer’s massal selection

LUX: What is the future of massal selection? Will it ever take over from clonal selection, which ensures uniformity and consistent quality?

JBL: Unlike clonal selection, our massal selection is a permanent quest. Every year we must reselect new individual plants and add some individuals of different origins for propagation. It must be a permanent process if you want to restore biodiversity, as vines adapt and mutate under abiotic factors, such as water and soil.

LUX: What is the future of massal selection? Will it ever take over from clonal selection, which ensures uniformity and consistent quality?

Gutner’s leaf images champion the biodiversity of the Louis Roederer vines

LUX: How many people are involved with massal selection at Louis Roederer?

JBL: All our vineyard team is involved: 50 to 60 people!

LUX: Does massal selection make economic, as well as environmental sense?

JBL: Not in the short term, but we are family owned and take all our decisions for the long term.

louis-roederer.com

Interview by Isabella Fergusson

Reading time: 6 min

Latest Stories, Uncategorized

Ultima Collection Crans-Montana Review

The spa of the Ultima Crans-Montana covers 1,000m² of the property, and has an on-site lake surrounded by alpine woods

This private luxury chalet, previously owned by Bernard Arnault, from the Ultima Collection is located in Crans-Montana, a sunny gem on a high shelf in the Valais Alps of Switerzland. The 16-bedroom chalet offers guests the opportunity to take advantage of winter sports and other activities in this beautifully located village, as Fabienne Amez-Droz discovers

In the heart of the Valais Alps, Crans-Montana offers a slightly more understated charm compared to other Swiss ski resorts like Gstaad or St. Moritz, which are internationally more well-known. But it definitely has the same glitz – plus epic and scenic skiing.

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This sunny village, made up of the towns of Crans and Montana, attracts many golfers in the summer, with the Omega European Masters and welcomes ski enthusiasts and families in the winter, who come to explore the mountains air and enjoy ski touring.

The spa area features sauna, hammam, fitness gym, and heated outdoor pool

Just 2 hours and 20 minutes from Geneva Airport lies the former ski retreat of Roger Moore. Bridging the gap between the luxury hotel and luxury home genres, the Ultima Collection with its properties in places like Gstaad, Courchevel, Megève and many more, targets elite travellers with an eye for luxurious details and services.

Read more: Grace Hotel St. Moritz review

In 2018, the Ultima Collection acquired two luxury chalets in Crans-Montana, which were originally built by Bernard Arnault in the 1990s. The properties were renovated and the interiors completely redesigned – although there is a new owner since this year who wants to redecorate all the Ultima properties again with for example more classical art on the walls.

The two chalets offer 16-bedrooms in total and are connected underground

Today, affluent ski enthusiasts can rent the two private chalets, connected by an underground passage, featuring a total of 16 bedrooms, on a weekly price basis. The Ultima in Crans-Montana is particularly popular among Russian and Middle Eastern guests, in winter as well as in summer where people enjoy the fresh air and some hiking.

Football legend Lionel Messi and other celebs have visited the residence in recent years. Sven Flory, Chief Commercial Officer of the Ultima Collection, mentioned that these kind of guests really enjoy the privacy of the chalets and that there are no other guests around.

Situated in the heart of the Crans-Montana region, the two chalets are set in between natural lakes and woods

The chalet’s architecture combines traditional Swiss with contemporary elements, featuring natural materials like wood and stone paired with sleek modern furnishings.

The chalet’s wellness facilities offer non-skiers a good alternative programme. Guests can indulge in the spa that includes an outdoor pool, hammam, snow shower and treatment rooms, where you can book an appointment – from massages to facials, tailored to individual preferences.

The spa team can personalise detox and immune-boosting treatments to a persons exact needs

The wellness area also features a gym equipped with all necessary equipment. Yoga-lovers can book a private teaching session with their in-house yoga instructor. Especially after having done the first ski day of the season, muscles might be sore and a good stretch might help to prepare you for the rest of the week.

For the real skiers, the Ultima Crans-Montana provides experienced ski guides to assist guests in exploring the area’s slopes and off-piste trails. The chalet of course does have a ski room, equipped with heated lockers and all the necessary facilities to keep your Fusalp or Moncler ski gear safe and warm. I enjoyed rocketing down from the high lift station at Les Violettes, from where you can see a spectacular view of all the Valais Alps including the Matterhorn. The skiing is a mix of high mountain and forest trails, and suitable for all grades.

The two chalets can accommodate up to 38 guests. Both of the buildings have access to the retreat’s spa and outdoor pool area

From a cozy cheese fondue, beef wellington to a barbeque outside – a private chef will be available at all times to create menus tailored to guests’ tastes, using locally sourced ingredients. Pair the dishes with the local wines from the Valais, grown in the vineyards below the resort, like a floral Petite Arvine (white) or spicy Cornalin (red) – which seem to be quite unknown in the world of wines, as we Swiss like to keep the good things to ourselves.

The two chalets feature a cinema room, cigar lounge, an office space and a Billiard room

The Ultima Crans-Montana is more than just a place to stay; it is a destination in itself. For those seeking the ultimate alpine luxury, plus seclusion and being away from the crowds of people you know in Courchevel or St Moritz, the Ultima Crans-Montana is a compelling choice.

Find out more: www.ultimacollection.com

Reading time: 4 min

Latest Stories

Locke am Platz hotel, Zurich review

Locke am Platz combines Riviera style with modernism

LUX visits a surprising and refreshing new addition to the Zurich hotel and dining scene

We have always found Zürich one of the more positively surprising cities in Europe to visit. It has a reputation as a serious, bank-ish type of place, but it is also an ancient middle European city with a quite gorgeous old town, situated on a huge lake surrounded by forests and mountains.

The hotel is minutes from the city centre, with the boutiques of the Bahnhofstrasse and the lake in easy reach

Attractive enough, but even more interesting is, if not quite a subculture, then a contemporary art and design culture that counteracts the old-fashioned chic image that the city has.

And so it was very refreshing to check into the Locke, which is situated on a pretty square just outside the town centre, a 10 minute walk to the banks and shops of the Bahnhofstrasse. No formal suited doorman glaring it to you as you come in here in your jeans and T-shirt (if that is how you choose to dress). Instead, a jeans and T-shirt wearing receptionist with a friendly smile against a soundtrack of (when I arrived) The Clash. Refreshing.

The restaurant Choupette, downstairs in the hotel, is shaped and inspired by traditional brasserie cuisine, head chef Jaco Redelinghuys creates modern dishes with a twist. to a cool soundtrack

The check process was both efficiently Swiss and jolly in a contemporary way and soon we were in our top floor suite, all 20th century modern in design with a little kitchenette and a balcony terrace with tables and chairs looking out over the rest of this residential area – perfect for making you feel like a local, rather than someone on a business trip.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

The Locke has made waves with its restaurant/bar Choupette on the ground floor, so we soon descended and were whisked to a into a vibey space which was pleasingly contemporary in its simplicity.

Just as impressive as the well sourced and well executed food was the wine list, which has been imaginatively and intelligently curated away from the good but repetitive classics you can expect in a solid European four star hotel, and over instead to something little more fun.

Time travellers from the 1970s and 80s would feel right at home with the decor

We particularly enjoyed a refreshing and bright alternative to rosé champagne from the deep Rhine Valley in eastern Switzerland which produces some excellent hard to get wines.

Read more: Hotel review Grace Hotel St. Moritz

Bravo for this curation, and also the curation of music, as the positive creativity found at Reception continued in the restaurant with tunes from the likes of Joy Division, Aztec Camera and others keeping us company during dinner.

Our room was quiet and went well insulated from light, and altogether it’s a place we would return to business trip – and, if we came on a Friday night, for an impromptu party at Choupette.

Find out more: www.lockeliving.com

Reading time: 2 min

Fashion & Jewellery, Latest Stories

Interview with Claire Ferrini of Astrea London

Astrea London’s founders Claire Ferrini and Nathalie Morrison

Astrea London, founded by Claire Ferrini and Nathalie Morrison, aims to epitomise feminine elegance through visually stunning and unique pieces of jewellery, without harming our planet. Opting for lab-grown diamonds rather than mined gems, Astrea aims to “reshape the landscape of high-end luxury jewellery” with its blend of glamorous design and ethical business practice. Talking to LUX, Ferrini discusses the influence and heritage of grandmother Margaret Coglin, “the Grace Kelly of Kenya”, the importance of sustainability in jewellery and the delicate designs that Astrea London creates.

LUX: What inspired you to create the brand?

Claire Ferrini: The inspiration to start Astrea came from my grandmother, who gifted me a beautiful Trilogy diamond necklace 30 years ago. The diamonds were in fact lab grown diamonds and it was my grandmother’s belief that we should not be mining diamonds but protecting our planet and embracing lab grown diamonds instead. She believed it would be the future of the diamond industry. 30 years on, I decided to look into that concept and together with my business partner Nathalie, we started Astrea.

LUX: Have your personal backgrounds influenced its conception?

CF: We both come from financial backgrounds so the jewellery industry was new to us. But setting up businesses is Nathalie’s forte and with my engineering background and interest in lab grown diamonds, the business came together easily. As well as this, we each have four children who are all very much aware of how we should be protecting our planet and adopting sustainable practices in our every day lives. Being able to start a business that’s very existence will eliminate practices that desecrate our planet is hugely exciting and has inspired our children to look at ways in which we can further help protect our planet. As well as that, our motto is to “always give back” and it is our aim to always give back to those less fortunate than ourselves and to support charities close to our hearts. We both have ties to Africa and the charities we support look to educate and empower children in Africa.

Follow LUX on Instagram: @luxthemagazine

LUX: Did you experience any challenges in creating a brand around lab grown diamonds?

CF: Lab diamond sales in the US are 75% of all diamond sales today. However, the UK is way behind that and our first challenge, going into the lab grown diamond industry, was to raise awareness and educate the customer about lab diamonds and the fact that they are REAL diamonds. The lab diamond industry has definitely created issues for the mined diamond industry, but it will take time for customers and businesses to accept and embrace the idea.

LUX: What has been the response to your use of lab grown diamonds?

CF: We have been overwhelmed with the positivity and the take up of lab diamond jewellery since we started the business. When clients have that ‘lightbulb moment’ and realise that not only are lab diamonds 100% identical to their mined counterparts, so a gemologist with decades of experience cannot tell the difference, but also that they are in fact better in quality and sparkle as well as ethically produced – that is a win for us. We believe that the customer has a right to understand what they are buying and does not need to be paying inflated prices (up to 80% more) for mined diamonds that are in fact worse quality. We have also noticed a positive trend with influencers and celebrities keen to wear our stones as they are more sustainable and ethically produced and we were thrilled to appear a few times on the Cannes film festival red carpet this year, with the likes of supermodel Coco Rocha wearing our pieces.

Supermodel Coco Rocha wearing Astrea London pieces on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival

LUX: What characterises the jewellery design of Astrea?

CF: We began our journey into lab diamond jewellery with the aim to come up with classic, every day, simple jewellery that was a staple in one’s jewellery box. That included eternity rings, studs, simple pendants and tennis bracelets. Our aim was to produce the best quality diamond jewellery that was both classic and timeless – we only use certified top quality diamonds with D/E/F colours and VS1+ clarity, which sits in the top 1% of quality diamonds worldwide. Once we had achieved best quality, we moved onto designing bespoke pieces that showcased versatility and manufacturing complexity that would not be possible in mined diamonds – for example our “Eternal Eight necklace” that can be worn in eight different ways, from choker necklace to earrings, lariat necklace and more. With over 105 colourless diamonds (graded D/E/F and comparable to only the top 1% of quality diamonds globally), it was a showstopper of beautiful diamonds combined with state of the art innovation.

LUX: Have your sustainability principles shaped the brand’s aesthetic?

CF: To date, we have focused on creating pieces that are timeless rather than trendy so that it remains relevant and will always be a part of one’s staple jewellery collection. We now also create beautiful pieces with lab grown coloured diamonds always ensuring best quality stones and jewellery manufacture, using only sustainable lab diamond stones.

Astrea London’s Baguette Bracelet

LUX: Why is an ‘ethical future’ so important to Astrea?

CF: An ethical future is crucial to Astrea and the lab diamond industry for several reasons. Today’s consumers are increasingly aware of the ethical implications of their purchases and therefore a commitment by suppliers to have ethical practices, helps meet this demand and attracts customers who truly prioritise sustainability and social responsibility. As well as this, lab diamonds have a significantly lower environmental footprint compared to mined diamonds and this is the backbone of our business. It is Astrea’s aim to promote lab diamonds, commit to strict ethical standards and promote environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

Read next: 180 years of history with Penfolds

LUX: While lab-grown diamonds are far more ethical and environmentally-friendly than diamond mining, there is still a positive carbon footprint from the heat and pressure required to grown them. Does Astrea have any plans for achieving carbon neutrality?

CF: Yes absolutely. Whilst lab grown diamonds are proven to be significantly more sustainable with fully recycled water usage and only 17kw per rough carat produced versus 106-150kw for well-known mined companies, we are actively pursuing strategies to achieve carbon neutrality and reduce our overall environmental impact. With a combination of solar power, recycled water, research and development of new technologies that require less energy, and signed codes of conduct to ensure continued work towards a zero-carbon footprint, it is our aim to ultimately achieve net-zero diamonds. We are constantly and actively looking into offsetting our carbon footprint and are members of Responsible jewellery councils in order to keep abreast of the industry standards.

This image and next: Astrea London uses only lab-grown diamonds, presenting no ethical issues about mining or treatment of workers

LUX: What do you think is the future of lab-grown diamonds?

CF: At Astrea, we believe that within the next 5-10 years, there will no longer be the need for mined diamond jewellery and lab diamond jewellery will fully take over the diamond industry. The next generation has little to no interest in carving up the Earth to mine diamonds and for that reason, we believe lab diamonds will ultimately be the only diamonds on the market. Currently lab diamonds make up 50% of the engagement ring industry in the US – whilst the UK is behind on numbers, that trend is certainly picking up here too. According to the Economist, “75% of diamonds globally will be lab grown by 2050”. We anticipate that this will materialise by 2035.

LUX: Do you think that lab-gown diamonds will one day replace diamond mining completely?

CF: Absolutely – lab grown diamonds are the future of the diamond industry. The diamond industry is undergoing significant changes spurred by increasing awareness and evolving consumer preferences. Laboratory grown diamonds are gaining a lot of traction, providing customers with the same stunning beauty and elegance of natural diamonds but with transparency, sustainability and ethical practices that align with their values.

LUX: We’d love to know more about your design process – your collections have different inspirations but for example, please tell us more about the inception of the Grace Eternal collection?

CF: The Grace Eternal collection was inspired by my grandmother, Margaret Coglin, who was always known as the “Grace Kelly of Kenya” where she lived. The eternal collection consists of classic staple pieces, including tennis bracelets, pendants and eternity rings, that will never go out of fashion and are easy to wear, timelessly beautiful and are simple staple classics. Bought as a collection, these have been incredibly popular. We have since evolved into our L’amour collection which is a stunning collection of heart shaped jewellery including our hearts entwined ring which has been hugely popular, our heart trilogy necklaces, drop earrings and heart pendants – perfect for Valentines and that special occasion. Our bespoke part of the business has been hugely successful whereby we design and create bespoke pieces for our clients. We have 3 designers who come with a wealth of experience from the top jewellery brand houses and who are instrumental in ensuring all our designs are unique – we look forward to introducing these designs and creations imminently with different shape diamonds, set into intricate pieces.

LUX: Do you have plans for a London boutique?

CF: We have just opened our first UK store at the Fairmont Windsor Park, having opened at the Villa la Coste in France, this Summer. It has been a huge success for Astrea and gives customers the opportunity to see our pieces in person and to judge for themselves the quality of our jewellery. We do have plans for a London boutique as well as other cities in Europe.

Pieces from Astrea London’s L’Amour Collection

LUX: Do you have a favourite piece and why?

CF: I personally love our tennis bracelets – because they can be worn day and night, from weddings to evenings out. They are classic yet timeless and elegant and when made with different shaped stones, for example our oval tennis bracelet, they are strikingly beautiful. No matter how big or small you go, they carry such a huge impact.

astrealondon.com

Reading time: 8 min

Latest Stories, Luxury Travel Issue, Uncategorized

Mandarin Oriental Lucerne Review

In the heart of the heartbreakingly pretty town of Lucerne, by the lake of the same name, sits Mandarin Oriental Lucerne, Switzerland. Does it live up to its promise? LUX takes a plane, a train and a stroll along the lakefront to visit the palace hotel and find out

Is Lucerne one of the most underrated towns in Europe? A gem of an ancient town, small enough to feel like a big village and with barely any evidence of industry, spread along the edge of a lake with a massive view of the central Swiss Alps and a bridge in the centre of town straight out of a Brothers Grimm fairytale.

Its only sin is to be in the middle of a country with so many views that visitors perhaps feel spoiled for choice. Until now, there has not quite been a world-class place to stay in the town, to match its world-class location, views and tourist sites. That all changed when the Mandarin Oriental opened, after a five year refurbishment of what used to be The Palace.

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Mandarin, a Hong Kong based luxury hospitality group, does not do anything except excellent hotels, and does them with a panache that belies the terms “contemporary“ or “traditional“ – somehow its hotels are superior to both, whilst also encapsulating them.

How would this play in this grand old building in a traditional city?

The pedestrianised pathway just outside the hotel allows for a safe and easy stroll after your meal

The first, decidedly positive, impression on walking from the station (you really must walk around towns in Switzerland if you can, the views are all around and the air is fresh), is joy that the lakeside road along the front of the hotel, lined with trees, has been entirely given over to pedestrians and bicycles. This means the only traffic in front of the hotel’s grand facade is a morning and evening passegiata on holidays and weekends, and the swish of cyclists going to work on weekdays.

Due to the way the hotel has been remodelled, the entrance is at one end of a long building, you walk into a corridor and turn right into a palatial but contemporary reception area from from which you are whisked up, in LUX’s case, to a big suite with a small balcony (these were built in the era before global warming, when balconies in central Europe were for occasional use only) and just gorgeous decor.

Chilling on the first evening involved looking over the tops of the trees and across the lake, to a line of wavy white Alps as they turned rose and then slate coloured in the sunset. A couple of glasses of champagne later, LUX could have stayed on the balcony all night, but a chilly breeze was descending from the glaciers and we also had a dinner awaiting us, a few floors directly below, on the buzzing front terrace adjoining the lakeside promenade.

This has been elegantly done, with just a low set of metal railings separating it from the promenade so you do not feel like you are caged in. It is a mystery to us why Italian Alpine lakes are so celebrated while those in Switzerland, which are geographically identical, are less so. This was possibly due to the cooler climate on the northern side of the Alps in Switzerland in years past, but these days, Switzerland has long months of sunshine from spring until autumn, with mirror image views compared to those of the Italian lakes, and, in this particular case, a refinement and lack of overcrowding that is hard to find sometimes in Italy.

LUX’s preferred breakfast location was the little balcony in our room, no reflection or the beautiful breakfast room downstairs space but simply an indication of how good the view was from the balcony – also showing that you don’t need a giant terrace to enjoy outdoor living.

Mandarin Oriental had a big challenge with this property, due to its size, scale, history and also its layout. We have never seen them fail yet, and we are delighted to see that the result is not just good, but world leading. It’s a destination hotel, in a destination town, with an exhilaration of view that is unmatched. Just make sure you get a room with a balcony.

https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/luzern/palace

Reading time: 3 min

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Mandarin Oriental Lucerne Review

In the heart of the heartbreakingly pretty town of Lucerne, by the lake of the same name, sits Mandarin Oriental Lucerne, Switzerland. Does it live up to its promise? LUX takes a plane, a train and a stroll along the lakefront to visit the palace hotel and find out

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