The Gaggenau stand at the EuroCucina 2018 exhibition

Stephen Bayley

Of all rooms in the house, kitchens demand the best design for function as well as looks. Cultural critic Stephen Bayley reveals their modernist origins and meets kitchen appliance-maker Gaggenau’s head of design Sven Baacke to talk about his design thinking, what luxury means and the poetry of fridges

No-one is ever going to want a virtual dinner. The one thing electrons, sensors, code, AI, VR and haptics will never provide is a perfectly executed, steaming hot perdiz estofada Casa Paco, a Madrileño classic with fumes of wine, garlic, onions and bacon, garnished by an improbably big handful of parsley. Not to forget its ideal companion, a perfectly chilled 2016 Finca Allende white from Rioja.

For this reason, the domestic kitchen with its hob, oven and fridge will always remain a part of civilised life. App-driven delivery services may flourish on their wobbly bicycles, but they have more effect on the precarious margins of the traditional restaurant trade than the home cook with his gastronomic library, bleu de travail pinafore and wooden spoon.

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Despite changing behaviour – going out, staying in, hot yoga, crazy exercise regimes, fasting and peculiar diets – the kitchen is a remarkably resilient feature of building design. Although some experts estimate that New Yorkers spend 130 per cent more on eating out than other Americans, the fact remains that every new apartment in Manhattan is still equipped with an impressive new kitchen.

Gaggenau’s head of design Sven Baacke

And that probably means a new German kitchen. Like the German car, the German kitchen has reached a global archetypal status that Carl Gustav Jung would have appreciated and understood. Never mind that the same new German kitchen in that vertiginously tall apartment building on East 57th street is rarely used and never contaminated with actual hot food, it is a powerful and universally understood status symbol. Why? Because the design and manufacture of a kitchen and its equipment combine the disciplines of architecture and industrial design at which, at least in the modern era, Germans have so excelled.

It was in 1926 that Grete Schütte-Lihotzky unveiled her Frankfurt Kitchen, a functionalist masterpiece designed for that city’s ambitious socialist housing programme. Exploiting industrial processes and materials, it was tiny, ergonomic, modular, intelligent. It was everything the Bauhaus claimed but often failed to achieve.

The Vario 400 refrigerator

True, the American dream kitchen, with its pastel-coloured and chrome-plated laboursaving appliances attended by a blonde model in a flared and pleated A-line skirt, presented consumers with an alternative in the 1950s and 1960s, but the Frankfurt Kitchen set the enduring design standard. So much so, that examples are in the permanent collections of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Frankfurt Kitchen from the 1920s

In a nicely paradoxical way, this austere design language has become the ultimate luxury product. This is because luxury today is not about excess or vulgarity, but of having time to spare for, among other things, cooking.

Now, I want you to imagine Sven Baacke riding his adored 1962 Lambretta scooter, a machine he enjoys dismantling and reassembling, around Munich. Baacke is the Gaggenau designer. He was born in 1974 and attended the Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart.

This is an inspirational city for a design education. At the beginning of the last century, the local museologist Gustav Pazaurek organised an influential exhibition called ‘Geschmacksverirrungen im Kunstgewerbe’ (Errors of Taste in Design). Pazaurek hated fuss and admired logic. And in 1927, the great Mies van der Rohe participated in Stuttgart’s magnificent Weissenhofsiedlung, or Weissenhof Estate, a real-life demonstration of architectural possibilities embodied by the International style.

Today, Baacke says his favourite building is Mies’s pavilion built for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona. And, of course, Stuttgart is the city of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, with all the industrial discipline and design prowess that suggests. And if Baacke’s new home is Munich, remember this is the territory of BMW, a company that made its reputation through design as much as through automatic self-levelling suspension.

All these architectural and design influences I think can be seen in Gaggenau, but I wanted to check this thought with Sven Baacke. So, I asked him.

Stephen Bayley: Is there such a thing as ‘German Design’?
Sven Baacke: Of course. We have the Bauhaus. And Gaggenau has been in the Black Forest for more than three hundred years. There’s nothing more German than the Black Forest! But at Gaggenau, while we certainly admire precision, we have soul as well. That’s not something you’d dare admit to a German engineer!

The Weissenhofsiedlung, designed by Mies van der Rohe, 1927

Stephen Bayley: What’s your approach ?
Sven Baacke: I reduce everything to the essentials, but do not remove the poetry. To me, a fridge is architecture. There are so many variables involved, so many different criteria. But everything comes together in a well-balanced kitchen. One thing is certain – I like open spaces, not closed doors.

Stephen Bayley: How do you define luxury?
Sven Baacke: Luxury is not so much about owning things. I don’t like to talk about Gaggenau as a luxury brand. In any case, luxury is culturally determined. If you live in a Chinese city, the ultimate luxury is fresh air. In Tokyo, it is space. For us Europeans, luxury is a personal thing. It is subtle. It is personal. It is about experience. And especially the experience of cooking, taking time to buy ingredients and spending time with friends.

Stephen Bayley: And are you a good cook?
Sven Baacke: Ah, but what is ‘good’? Certainly, I do not like baking because it is all about chemistry. I prefer to be intuitive. I love being in Sicily because the produce is so good that you hardly need to change it.

A Gaggenau wine cabinet at the EuroCucina exhibition

A Gaggenau kitchen design incorporating a Vario 400 series oven

Stephen Bayley: So, would you agree with [cookery writer] Marcella Hazan when she said, “I don’t
measure, I cook”?
Sven Baacke: Yes!

Stephen Bayley: Does good design last forever?
Sven Baacke: Yes. I admire Apple, but a first-generation iPhone is now obsolete. Our 90cm oven has been on the market since the eighties. It’s an investment, not an indulgence!

Stephen Bayley: Where do you find inspiration?
Sven Baacke: I like the oak cutting-board I recently bought at Margaret Howell in London. And I have just bought an electric Audi, but I also want to buy an old Porsche Targa or an original 1959 Mini. I am in love with combustion engines, but this is not a technology that’s going to get us to the next generation.

Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion

Stephen Bayley: What about the Frankfurt Kitchen?
Sven Baacke: My grandma had something like it. Very German. But its successor was Otl Aicher’s book Die Küche zum Kochen (The Kitchen is for Cooking) which inspired me at college. Aicher was the designer who gave BMW and Lufthansa graphics their amazing clarity.

Stephen Bayley: What new technologies will influence cooking in the future?
Sven Baacke: Revolutions are very rare. Cooking will always be an analogue activity. Look – we are not going to the moon, so I think future improvements will come from better manufacturing. And from a better understanding of how, for instance, we can make cleaning easier. Perhaps we will be able to make equipment disappear from view when not in-use.

Stephen Bayley: You have ten designers working at Gaggenau. What do you tell them?
Sven Baacke: Well, you have heard of forecasting. We have this intellectual game I call ‘back-casting’. I ask my designers to jump into the distant future and then jump back to the near future. And, with the jumping concluded, we both firmly agreed that the idea of wanting to save time in the kitchen was ridiculous, because wherever else would you ever want to be other than in a well-designed kitchen?

Find out more: gaggenau.com/gb

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

The gallery’s founder Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar in front of a painting by Farzad Kohan in the exhibition ‘Human Being, Being Human’

Galerie Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar, a new gallery in the heart of Monaco, celebrates its opening with an exhibition of works by Iranian-American artist Farzad Kohan, but it is no ordinary commercial enterprise, as Rebecca Anne Proctor discovers

A visit to Monte Carlo is like stepping inside a gallery filled with glistening works of art. The picturesque town, with its expansive sea views, its numerous neatly landscaped gardens, countless restaurants, luxury boutiques and cultural institutions, continues to fuse its regal past with its new contemporary character.90

Entering this mix of glamour and culture is a new art gallery, Galerie Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar, which opened its doors in December 2019. Named after its founder, the art collector and wife of artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, the gallery is dedicated to contemporary and modern art and highlighting works by established and emerging international artists.

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While the Behnam-Bakhtiars are known for their support of the Iranian art scene, particularly through the Fondation Behnam-Bakhtiar, where Maria holds the role of curator of the permanent collection, Galerie Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar will not limit its exhibitions or roster of artists to any particular culture or nationality. “The nationality of an artist is not what is important; what is crucial is the art and what the artist is trying to say. My mission is to show established and emerging artists from all over the world,” Maria says. The art and objects on show will be specially curated and exclusive to the gallery.

Located close to the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco at the Villa Sauber and to the Grimaldi Forum (which hosts the annual artmonte-carlo art fair), the gallery has placed itself at the heart of the city’s art centre. “Monaco is such a great place for art and culture,” says Maria. “Moreover, here in Monaco we have a wonderful group of collectors, some based locally and others who return regularly. We aim to add a new and exciting dimension to the Monaco art scene with our diverse programming.”

Installation shot of Farzad Kohan’s exhibition ‘Human Being, Being Human’ at Galerie Behnam-Bakhtiar in Monaco

Monaco offers a particular segment to the European art market. “It boasts highly influential residents and visitors who provide the perfect platform and exposure for our artists,” adds Maria. “And, for generations, the Prince’s family in addition to the government of Monaco have been great supporters of the arts.” Anyone who knows the city will be familiar with its buzzing social life, its numerous galas, operas, ballets and art exhibitions. “It’s wonderful that we will now be a part of this exciting agenda,” adds Maria. “It’s a place where you can really foster connections.”

Read more: Audemars Piguet’s Olivia Giuntini on art and women’s watches

Maria has been on the international art scene since 2009, firstly through the Fondation Behnam-Bakhtiar, established to promote emerging and established Iranian artists, and secondly as a collector. “I have been collecting art and supporting artists for a long time and this gallery is a way for me to further solidify my love of art,” says Maria, who has also hosted multiple non-profit functions in support of the arts in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. “I do what I do out of love,” she adds. “A gallery, like an artwork, is born of passion and dedication.”

The gallery will stage five to six exhibitions per year with, she says, “no specific geographic focus”. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition is ‘Human Being, Being Human’, by Los Angeles-based Iranian-American artist Farzad Kohan. The works on show, with their vibrant palette and meticulously drawn abstract lines, explore a segment of human experience, one marked by positive affirmations. “Farzad’s work was so important for us to start with because of the universal themes he addresses,” states Maria. “His paintings go beyond national and cultural boundaries. He speaks about love, kindness and humanity – themes that touch everyone from all walks of life.”

One of the paintings by Farzad Kohan’s in the exhibition ‘Human Being, Being Human’

The works exhibited in ‘Human Being, Being Human’ are being seen for the first time at the gallery. In one painting, replete with numerous thin lines, Kohan has written in his signature style the phrase “I have the power”. While at first this might appear boastful, when the viewer looks at the title of the work, To Change, they might think otherwise. “The way one perceives Farzad’s paintings is left up to the viewer’s own perspective,” Maria explains. In another painting. the word “everyday” is repeated, prompting the beholder to focus on the meaning of each instance. Then, as in the former work, one can see the title of the painting: Thankful. Indeed, gratitude for the everyday and for everything in life is a vital component to living a more compassionate existence. “I am a big fan of positive thinking and energy and I think it’s so wonderful to have a work in your home that offers positivity through beauty,” notes Maria.

Kohan’s work places an emphasis on form and material allowing for a reflection on the accumulation of various parts that make up a whole. For Kohan, art creation is akin to the diasporic experience, with which the artist, born in Tehran and now living in LA, is familiar. All stages, materials and processes, like all chapters in life, are part of a larger work and greater vision for the artist. In addition to his paintings, Kohan also makes installations and works on paper, particularly ink drawings.

Read more: Meet Russian style and fitness guru Polina Kitsenko

“He has developed signature techniques which he applies so skilfully to his multi-layered paintings,” says Maria. “I really connected to his ‘Human Being, Being Human’ series, where each painting is poetic, sentimental and beautiful not only visually but above all in its message. To me these works are brilliant because they incorporate various affirmations in the shape of an artwork.”.” Another facet of Galerie Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar’s activity is publishing. “Being a true bibliophile, one of the most exciting aspects of launching the gallery is the fact that we will run our own publishing house to produce books and catalogues to accompany our exhibitions.” This, in turn, Maria hopes, will open the door for dialogues between the gallery, its artists, curators, writers and of course, readers and visitors.

The goal of the gallery, as Maria states, is to give back to the larger community. “I want the gallery to serve as a platform that inspires change and highlights the importance of social responsibility,” says Maria. “For every exhibition, we donate a portion of the proceeds to a selected organisation that makes this world a better place.”

While the gallery is in essence commercial, its aims are higher. “One of the main reasons I love art is for its educational side. I appreciate surprising angles, different views and the diversity that art offers in its subjects and many explorations,” she adds. Galerie Maria Behnam-Bakhtiar, like the artworks it chooses to exhibit, offers an artistic and peaceful space in the heart of busy Monaco – a brief escape through art from the chaos of modern life.

‘Human Being, Being Human’ by Farzad Kohan runs until 4 March 2020. For more information visit: mariabehnambakhtiar.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Dinner hosted by the owners of Château Mouton Rothschild at the Palace of Versailles. Image by Leif Carlsson

The Palace of Versailles hosted one of its most opulent evenings since the times of Louis XVI, as the owners of Château Mouton Rothschild invited guests, including royalty, winners of some very special auction wines and LUX, to an evening of music and cuisine catered personally by Alain Ducasse. All in aid of the Palace’s restoration fund

Guests at the Versailles Celebration Gala Dinner, including (see below image) Catherine Pégard, Prince Albert II Monaco, Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, Camille Sereys de Rothschild, and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, enjoyed a menu created with the personal oversight of Alain Ducasse, accompanied by legendary vintages of Mouton Rothschild, including the celebrated 1982 and near-mythical 1945, direct from the estate’s cellars.

For more information visit: chateau-mouton-rothschild.com/ chateauversailles.fr/

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

The K11 MUSEA features a roof garden where clients can grow their own herbs and vegetables

Adrian Cheng has high hopes for the new K11 MUSEA in Hong Kong: to change the way retail, art and culture collide, says Darius Sanai

Entrepreneur Adrian Cheng

When billionaire Hong Kong entrepreneur Adrian Cheng opened his K11 MUSEA development on Hong Kong’s Victoria Dockside late last year, he heralded it as “The Silicon Valley of culture”. It was a concept that some found hard to get their heads around, but a visit to the development is enlightening and points to ways K11’s innovations could have influence across the world in future.

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At the heart of K11 MUSEA is a funkily designed luxury and fashion retail mall, housing the usual roster of names found elsewhere in China, from Alexander McQueen to Supreme. It’s the architecture and design, headed by New York-based James Corner, and the depth of concept in the detail, that is so innovative. K11’s roof is a kind of kitchen garden-cum-safari park, with spaces where clients can grow their own herbs and vegetables, a natural butterfly park (open for visits by any passing butterfly), a giant aquarium mimicking Victoria Harbour directly below, and rangers working to show local school groups the rooftop flora and fauna Inside, alongside the living walls and slides connecting different floors, is a constantly rotating roster of curated public art, chosen by Cheng (a significant collector) and his team. An e-sports zone allows you to indulge in the sports of your choice, there are public art and performance spaces, and nattily attired concierges sit at desks made of recovered logs.

The interiors of the luxury and fashion retail mall

Cheng’s aim in the development, which sits on prime waterfront land in Kowloon directly facing Central Hong Kong across the water of Victoria Harbour, is to bring retail, culture and technology together. Cheng is himself a complex and multifaceted entrepreneur: third generation heir to a multi-billion-dollar property and services empire, he is reinventing the family company, which also includes
brands like Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, for the future. He has as many friends in art and fashion as he does in the traditional family industry, and you feel Cheng is never happier than when reinventing something – and yet he has also invested time and money into a foundation to restore traditional Chinese crafts, and is something of a craftsman himself – it is his own hand that forms the calligraphic decorations around K11 MUSEA.

Read more: Plaza Premium Group’s Founder Song Hoi-see on airport luxury

The development has innovative platforms being planned using AI and facial recognition, as well as tie-ins with AI retail companies Cheng’s group has invested in, across the water in Shenzhen’s technology zone and across the globe: these are the spaces developers and retailers around the world will be watching.

The Kube kiosk designed by Rem Koolhaas’ studio OMA

As Cheng tells LUX: “When you purchase or sign up for something at K11 MUSEA, our loyalty programme allows us to understand your preference, basically what excites you the most. With enough samples, we can sufficiently draw correlations that will shape how we curate our brick-and-mortar spaces in the future. This is the advantage of running vast spaces like K11 MUSEA because it offers flexibility and a lot of possible curations. It’s about growing with our customers, predicting their needs and also working with brands and partners to create an inspiring customer journey. In fact, one of the companies I invested in, Moda Operandi, which we brought into K11 MUSEA, has a similar model. Online preferences will shape the store display, styling services and the various events that they host. Both K11 and Moda believe in creating a journey of wonder, for customers to learn and discover.”

There is also, importantly for Hong Kong’s current climate and from a scion of one of its most important families, a significant public/ community aspect to K11 MUSEA and the surrounding Victoria Dockside area which Cheng and his family company, New World Developments, has revitalised.

K11 MUSEA may be ground-breaking, but it’s unlikely to be the last creation of its kind from the peripatetic multi-business, multicultural Hong Kong dynamo.

‘Musea: A Book of Modern Muses’, published by Condé Nast, is available at boutiquemags.com

For more information visit: K11musea.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Polina Kitsenko promotes fitness in the Running Hearts marathon, which she cofounded with Natalia Vodianova

Gauhar Kapparova

Russian style and fitness guru Polina Kitsenko wants it all. Co-founder of the biggest charity marathon in her home country and of a new sports club, she is obsessed with making health and fitness the heart of the luxury lifestyle. She takes time out to speak to LUX Editor-at-Large Gauhar Kapparova

LUX: Which aspect of your life inspires your half-million Instagram followers the most: the fitness inspiration, your style choices, your charity work, travel?
Polina Kitsenko: Instagram has changed so much in the past few years, especially its purpose and influence. It used to be enough just to upload a picture of yourself in a nice outfit, or to put up a pink sunset and get your share of likes. Today Instagram has turned into a powerful way to educate and communicate with people. People want content, something that inspires them, teaches them. But the most important thing isn’t the actual image – it’s what can be found underneath. Engagement comes more from the comments, where an article, post, or call to action is arguably more important than the visual content. Captions used to be short, but now you get whole essays that can barely even fit on one post. As a rule, the longer the text and the more current the issue, then the more the audience will engage.

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LUX: How do you feel about the term ‘influencer’? Does it describe what you do?
Polina Kitsenko: I’m against any type of branding, like calling someone a blogger, influencer or philanthropist. Everybody has a multidimensional personality and can’t be put in a box like that. Anyone with a social media account is an influencer, whether they have 100 followers or 100 million. They are still influencers for their followers. Instagram now is a vital means of communication and information. We once got the news in newspapers or on TV, but nowadays news is when someone we follow goes somewhere, does or says something, or writes something interesting. Everyone is an influencer – we just have differently sized audiences.

LUX: What advice do you give your clients about building a social media presence?
Polina Kitsenko: I can only give one piece of advice – content. It’s the key word. Instagram is a form of mass media from which we can learn a great deal. If the content that you’re creating is unique, then you have a competitive advantage over others in the same field. If it’s properly curated content, it will help you grow and gain interest.

LUX: You have many commitments, with motherhood, charity work, fitness, travel, your communications agency and #SlimFitClub sports studio, and motivational speaking. How do you balance all of these?
Polina Kitsenko: Obviously I can’t balance all of my interests. During the week, all my focus is on my work putting my services out to the public and promoting my projects and myself. My family really suffers during the week, but I try to make up for it at the weekends. It’s practically impossible for 21st-century working mums to find a balance. But I’m not sure that spending more time with your children improves your life or theirs. It’s important to do what makes you happy, because if you are happy and living your best life, then you can only make your family feel better. Trying to find a balance is like trying to walk to the horizon – you’ll never reach it.

Polina with Natalia Vodianova

LUX: How did you attract support from Olympic champions and top actors and musicians for Running Hearts, the marathon charity you created with Natalia Vodianova?
Polina Kitsenko: That was the easy bit. First of all, most of these people are my close friends and secondly, as they’re already famous, they’re well used to helping public projects. And since we felt that we’d come up with a really good project, asking them to support something really beautiful and meaningful wasn’t hard at all.

LUX: What do fitness, running and exercise bring to your life?
Polina Kitsenko: Mainly the pleasure that it brings and how it widens my social circle. Sport in the fresh air allows the body to develop a more effective immune system and to unload the nervous system. Exercising in all weathers makes you tougher and less susceptible to infection. Training indoors can improve your fitness and muscles, but will hardly impact your health. You need to experience contrasting temperatures.

Read more: LUX interviews Instagram legend Gstaad Guy’s two alter egos

LUX: What advice would you give someone about developing a healthy lifestyle?
Polina Kitsenko: They say that 21 days are enough to change and form new habits, and this is what I believe. So, I think that it is necessary to go on a kind of journey similar to what we’ve set up at #SlimFitClub, such as #SlimCamp, where you can spend eight unforgettable days and you
won’t go hungry in the slightest. The first step is to establish healthy and tasty eating habits, but it’s not a diet. The second step is getting into the habit of exercising in the right way. And if you spend the first eight days doing this, it’s easier to continue once you’ve left. However, if you’re the only one in your social group who maintains healthy habits, it’s going to be extremely hard to change your lifestyle. It makes it easier if you find like-minded people like at a studio or a club, or a trainer with whom you enjoy spending time.

Polina trekking in the mountains

LUX: Your Instagram feed shows that you have an eye for fashion. Describe your style.
Polina Kitsenko: I have an eclectic taste. When looking for something to wear, I always think about
whether it’s appropriate for the weather, the surroundings and the occasion. It also has to be something I look good in. I love mixing up different styles. Some things I really love and my wardrobe is built around them. I like school dresses with little flowers and collars, biker boots, straw hats, denim, striped shirts, pumps, and I like trouser suits – they can be worn with plimsolls or dress shoes, or crop tops, so they’re not just for meetings or conferences.

LUX: Do you have any go-to designers?
Polina Kitsenko: I like to mix Dior with H&M or fast fashion, but I depend on brands less nowadays. What matters to me is that something suits me and that I like it. It shouldn’t be expensive or in my wardrobe already. Almost everything is in there.

Read more: Plaza Premium Group’s Founder Song Hoi-see on airport luxury

LUX: What changes over the years have you seen in the way modern women dress?
Polina Kitsenko: Modern women are more comfortable in the way they dress. People don’t dress up as much. There have been various economic crises, and over-consumption in society, and this is has led to the trend for eco-friendly fashion and ethical consumption. In Silicon Valley, the new IT-magnates are rebranding fashion. Steve Jobs started this trend of a limited wardrobe with his seven identical turtlenecks and seven identical pairs of trousers. Technically his clothes changed every day, but in essence, they stayed the same. Many people simply do not want to spend time thinking about what they’re going to wear. They find their own style, choose some key items, and just replicate them.

Polina at #SlimFitClub, her new gym in Moscow

LUX: Does being Russian inform your look?
Polina Kitsenko: I think that the world is so cosmopolitan today that no-one dresses in a way that reveals what country they’re from. We are all citizens of the world and my Russian heritage manifests
itself as more of an attitude. We used to really dress up because for decades we were deprived of everything. Thankfully today things have changed and we’ve levelled out.

LUX: What are made you the most proud of?
Polina Kitsenko: There have been many milestones in my life but the most significant ones recently have been the creation of our charity marathon and seeing it grow from a small race into an event with
thousands of people and raising a huge amount of money. It has given me great satisfaction to establish other socially significant projects that have been built on the knowledge that I have gained on this one. And there is my new project, #SlimFitClub, a studio of personal trainers and unique sporting adventures.

LUX: Describe your perfect day.
Polina Kitsenko: My perfect day happens very rarely. It’s a day when I achieve a balance and manage to do some exercise, work productively and spend time with my children, then go home, drink some champagne in the candlelight and go to bed at a reasonable time.

Follow Polina on Instagram: @polinakitsenko

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Commissions by Audemars Piguet include Ryoji Ikeda’s Data-Verse (2019)

Olivia Giuntini is brand director at family-owned Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet, known for its thoughtful artistic collaborations. LUX travels to meet her at their HQ high in the Jura mountains to talk about art, fish and why women don’t just want diamonds

Olivia Giuntini

LUX: So many brands are partnering with artists now. What makes you different?
Olivia Giuntini: We always want to push boundaries and pursue our own path with a free spirit. When we meet artists, we definitely see who has this spirit and who has not. For example, Ryoji Ikeda was not part of the plan historically, but we met him a few years ago. Some discussions happened and we finally met again two years ago and that’s the moment when he proposed his three-part audio-visual installation Data-Verse [the first part of which was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2019], and, we said, “Yes this is the right moment to do it”. But Ryoji is an artist unlike any other. He is a musician and composer, and he is also somebody who uses open data that is accessible to anybody. This accords with what struck me when I first met him – his work is dedicated to making sure that people don’t use their brains first so much as their emotions. He is a kind of free spirit, which is something that definitely links us. It’s about sharing common values. Jana Winderen is another example. She came here and made music from the sounds of our village of Le Brassus. She always wants to raise the awareness of sustainability, so she went onto the lake here to record those fish that nobody can hear and composed music from that.

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LUX: Did you have any idea what the artist was going to do when you first spoke?
Olivia Giuntini: Composing music from the sounds of Le Brassus certainly wasn’t the brief. Not at all. We met her and she came back and said what she wanted to do. So we found a fisherman who was
prepared to spend hours on the lake with her so she could make the recordings.

LUX: Audemars is a fascinating family-owned company. Your chairwoman Jasmine Audemars, for example, was a campaigning journalist and edited the Journal de Genève.
Olivia Giuntini: We have really interesting discussions on the board. Of course, we still have to keep on building a future for Audemars Piguet that stays true to the founder’s vision. What Jasmine said to François-Henry [Bennahmias, the company’s CEO] when he was appointed seven years ago was, “I would like more people to know more about who we are. I would like people to respect us as we are.” And that’s what we need to do with this brand beyond the selling of watches and the crafting of amazing gardes-temps.

LUX: And are you looking to strengthen your relations with your existing collectors?
Olivia Giuntini: It’s funny, because if you talked to Michael Friedman, who is our head of complication, he will tell you there are no collectors in the world. But I agree with you – we do have collectors and we want to strengthen the relationship with them. We want to open other minds, too, such as women’s – I’m sure we’re not on their radar.

Dan Holdsworth’s Continuous Topography (2016) was also commissioned by Audemars Piguet

Read more: Tailor to A-listers Nigel Curtiss on designing identity

LUX: Why is that?
Olivia Giuntini: Because everything has been done instinctively within AP and, apart from Jasmine,
this has been driven by men. The fact that I’m here today and that we want to recruit more women into top management is because we believe that we need to have a different angle. We sell 30 per cent of our collection to women. But it’s not just a question of figures; it’s about being more visible to women who don’t know us because we’ve been a kind of masculine brand.

The new Frosted Gold Philosophique watch from the Millenary collection

LUX: Have watches always been considered male and a bit geeky?
Olivia Giuntini: Watches designed for women have been more like jewellery. And I’m constantly saying to men: don’t think that women are always looking only for diamonds. It’s not true. And I think that Audemars Piguet has a legitimacy there, in a field where we can offer female clients different kinds of finishes that are attractive and sophisticated. I’m convinced that many women are really interested in movements, but, honestly, it’s been a world driven by men and their preconceptions of women. It’s beginning to change, and we have a role there.

LUX: Is the aesthetic of the watch more important to women?
Olivia Giuntini: Of course, in a way. But I think that men are convinced that, for women, a diamond is more important than a movement. And I’m sure they’re wrong.

Find out more: audemarspiguet.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Nigel Curtiss’s brand is expanding into suits for women (modelled here by the designer’s daughter Aiden), luxury leather goods and less formal wear for men

Gauhar Kapparova

Nigel Curtiss makes suits for A-listers, with cuts and fabrics that fuse the wearer’s own personal style with a timeless elegance. LUX’s Editor-at-Large, Gauhar Kapparova hears how he moved from being a model into design, about his time in Japan, and what makes the perfect Curtiss capsule wardrobe

Nigel Curtiss

LUX: Why have you chosen to move entirely into custom design now?
Nigel Curtiss: I moved into custom design for many reasons. Firstly, for a pragmatic one, being a small luxury-level designer selling to retail was not fun anymore. Many stores, especially independent ones, were struggling and the problems were passed down the line. Secondly, I was becoming weary of the system, the cost of a show, the samples, a showroom, fighting for space on a shop floor, and most importantly my collection not being bought and displayed as I imagined it. I felt increasingly detached from the end user. In a way, I felt comfortable going in the opposite direction of fast fashion. Slowing it down, making it more personal.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

LUX: You’ve said that you don’t design just clothes but an identity. Do you mean the client’s identity?
Nigel Curtiss: I feel that in modern-day fashion you end up wearing the personality of the designer. In many cases you are shouting that from the rooftops by wearing their logo. It is not so much about the personality of the wearer but being part of a tribe. My clients generally prefer to show their own personality. I work closely with them to understand what makes them tick. The clothes need to complement the person, not take over. There is an underlying theme in what I do – amazing fabrics, lightweight construction, comfort and perfect fit. The client gives me the clues to do the rest.

LUX: Do you notice a style divide between your clients in the US and the UK? Does your design approach change accordingly?
Nigel Curtiss: No, I don’t. Maybe because the clients who want to work with me have the same desires and all demand the best. The only location-specific changes are due to climate. Clients in Miami can’t wear what I sell in NYC in the winter.

LUX: Clean, uncomplicated lines are a signature part of the Nigel Curtiss look. Do your clients inspire you to add design touches that tap into their personal tastes or lifestyle?
Nigel Curtiss: Absolutely, that happens all the time. Quite often, when I understand that they have a more expressive personality, I will suggest some details that will make the difference without taking over the garment.

LUX: You began an almost decade-long tenure working at Comme des Garçons after first being cast as a model for them. How did you make this transition?
Nigel Curtiss: I guest lecture at Parsons School of Design and get asked this question a lot! I always say that I think I’ve had a lot of luck in my career, but that I made my own luck. I modelled in the first CDG show in Paris. They didn’t use models, compliments”, or “My wife says I look great/sexy in this”. That’s when we know we’ve cracked it.

LUX: Made-to-measure tailoring that doesn’t date taps into the idea of slow fashion. How sustainable is your business?
Nigel Curtiss: Sustainability is becoming so important. Made to measure is already a far more sustainable fashion option. We have no dead stock, in fact no stock and no landfill. What we do isn’t a passing fad. My clients wear what I make them for years until it’s worn out, and that’s a long time. Also, we try to limit our carbon footprint and are looking at biodegradable packaging, recycled hangers, and so on.

Read more: Fine dining on the ski slopes of Andermatt, Switzerland

LUX: Quality fabric is a cornerstone of your design ethos. Who makes the best fabrics?
Nigel Curtiss: There are so many great sources of fabric. English wools; Italian wools, shirting and silks. I love Japanese fabrics, too. But for me, it has to be amazing quality, beautifully designed and close to my manufacturing base. I’m not going to ship fabric half-way around the world.

LUX: Has a particular fabric ever inspired a design, rather than vice versa?
Nigel Curtiss: For me, the fabric is always the starting point. I don’t design first then look for a fabric.

LUX: If you could ban one item of men’s clothing, what would it be?
Nigel Curtiss: This is one of those questions that always comes back to haunt you. I can’t think of anything I hate except anything that’s boring. Oh, and fast, disposable fashion.

LUX: What five pieces make up the perfect Nigel Curtiss capsule wardrobe?
Nigel Curtiss: Only five? That’s going to be tough. Charcoal-grey suit. Navy sports coat (you can wear it with the charcoal pants). Perfect slim, dark denim jeans (you can wear them with both jackets). The perfect white shirt, and a pale blue one (if that doesn’t count as my fifth item). The Nigel Curtiss navy polo shirt. It’s my classic and all my clients buy it. The collar stands up just perfectly to wear with a jacket or without. I have some high-profile clients who wear them with a suit on a daily basis. That’s six or seven outfits!

Read more: Artist Richard Orlinski on pop culture & creative freedom

LUX: You have a great celebrity following, with Kyle MacLachlan, David Schwimmer, Pierce Brosnan, Jeff Goldblum, and so on. Is it different designing for the red carpet?
Nigel Curtiss: The vast majority of my red-carpet attendees are the powerful men behind the scenes – the studio heads and the top executives. They are happy to be more low profile. I’m always very happy to work with any celebrities and dress them so they stand out in the most positive way. It shouldn’t be about the clothes.

LUX: You also dress a lot of high-profile athletes and sportsmen. Do you take a different approach to designing their clothes?
Nigel Curtiss: We try to use more performance fabrics, with natural-stretch, cool, lightweight fabrics. We might need to work more on the silhouette, but the concept stays the same.

LUX: Who will you be dressing for the 2020 awards season?
Nigel Curtiss: Well, we are already working with a few but I’m not at liberty to say anything yet. Also, you really don’t know until the day.

LUX: What is the first thing you notice about a good suit?
Nigel Curtiss: The balance. The fit can be altered for a client but if the balance is off, then it will never be right. But I can’t think of a design detail that I would look at and say it’s ruined the suit. I’m happy to look at creativity in context.

LUX: Are there rules for dressing well or is this an outdated concept?
Nigel Curtiss: Being British, we were brought up with so many rules. For dressing, for how to eat, the list goes on. Working with Rei encouraged me to re-evaluate those rules. I don’t like them. However, I think that if you are unsure about how to dress, then rules can help you feel better about what you are wearing. Some of my clients need to start in that place and then we edge them towards being confident in what they are wearing. Compliments help a lot!

LUX: What is next on the horizon for the Nigel Curtiss brand?
Nigel Curtiss: A proper, luxury Nigel Curtiss women’s tailoring brand is very close. Watch this space.

View the collections: nigelcurtiss.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

Georiga’s capital Tbilisi sits amidst the Caucasus mountains, on the border of Europe and Asia. Image by Denis Arslanbekov

Why should I book now?

Thinking of booking a spring break? There are few places more lovely than the Caucasus mountains, on the border of Europe and Asia. And in the region, Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, is unmistakably the most beautiful city. In a broad valley surrounded by mountains, at its heart is a medieval old town with a fortress towering above. The country has two millennia of history and feels like it was once the centre of a culture and empire – which it was. Winters are cold, summers are hot, and spring, with the trees and blossoms in full bloom, are perfect.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

What’s the lowdown?

The Radisson Blu is the best-located hotel in the city, at the top end of the broad Rustaveli Avenue, the magnificent boulevard, lined with palatial buildings, that bisects the town centre like a more elegant Champs-Elysees. Rooms have views across the city to the mountains beyond. It’s a modern, light and airy place with a lot of glass everywhere. Climbing out of our car and being greeted by the doorman was our first taste of hearty, genuine Georgian hospitality – we had two recommendations of things to do before even entering the reception area. The receptionists were equally friendly, and, you felt, from their hearts: this was genuine national pride, not just training.

Filini is the hotel’s chic Italian restaurant (above), and in the warmer months, guests can dine on the rooftop terrace (below)

Getting horizontal

Our “superior” category room was spacious and very light, with full glass walls on two sides, and gorgeous views across to the churches of the old town. Decor is contemporary and minimal: whites, creams and light greens. The minibar was filled with local snacks – creamy Argo beer, and packets of local pistachios. There are two restaurants in the hotel, both of them contemporary-chic, and an excellent selection of neighbourhood restaurants just across the square. Wander down Rustaveli Avenue, where a highly fashionable passeggiata takes places every evening in the warmer months, and you get to the Old Town’s wonders, but as a place to stay, we preferred being slightly out of the tourist main drag at the other end of Rustaveli.

Read more: Galleria Continua’s Lorenzo Fiaschi on opening a space in Rome

The rooms on the higher floors offer the best views over the Old Town

Flipside

The Radisson Blu Tbilisi really didn’t have any drawbacks. Although we would advise anyone visiting to pay more for a room on a higher floor, to maximise those views.

Rates: From GEL 424.80 (approx. £100/€150/ $150)

Book your stay: radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-tbilisi

Darius Sanai

Plaza Premium Group’s newest concept provides a “first-class” experience with fine dining and spa facilities. Pictured here: the relaxation area at Plaza Premium First Hong Kong

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Plaza Premium Group is one of the world’s leading premium airport services companies. The group provides luxury airport lounges, transit hotels, meet & greet services and dining in over 42 international airports with plans for expansion throughout 2020. Here, LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai speaks with the group’s Founder & CEO Song Hoi-see about the rise of wellness tourism, the group’s new “first-class” concept and the airport of the future

Plaza Premium Group’s Founder & CEO Song Hoi-see

LUX: Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to found plaza premium lounges?
Song Hoi-see: Before I started Plaza Premium Group, I used to work in the investment banking industry and enjoyed the privileges that came with flying in business class. Upon leaving the sector I went back to flying economy class without having access to the benefits of airport lounges. It made work on the go a lot more difficult and the airport journey became much less comfortable, I felt that the travel experience was somehow incomplete. I wanted to create something for the majority rather than only the 15% passengers taking business and first-class benefiting from such services. I therefore decided to disrupt the status quo by creating this new idea of an independent, pay-per-use airport lounge concept – Plaza Premium Lounge – in 1998 for all travellers regardless of airlines or class of travel.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

LUX: Have you seen a change in the airport services industry since having opened the first
independent airport lounge over 20 years ago?
Song Hoi-see: Definitely! When we first started Plaza Premium Lounge – our idea was to create an airport lounge for all travellers to enjoy a meal, facilities to conduct businesses and a relaxation area for guests to wait for their next flight. In the next few years, we observed travellers were looking for more especially during long-haul travels. We started to add shower facilities and lounge bay where our guests could freshen up before boarding. In addition to departure, we also take care of arrival passengers’ pain points – those arriving early in morning like Hong Kong travellers landing Heathrow at 5 or 6 a.m., what they want most is a hot shower and we developed the concept of an arrival lounge. Imagine there are over 25 fights landing Heathrow T3 before 9a.m. every day and now they are able to freshen up prior to heading to town or going to a business meeting.

Plaza Premium lounge in Dubai airport

Interior designs are also evolving. Comfortable seating, soothing lighting, warm colours to facilitate relaxation and rest are fundamental. We take a step further and look into how design elements and features impacts on customer experience. We started to infuse local cultural and destination elements. In our Brazil lounge, we invited local graffiti artist and created an art wall featuring vibrant colours. One of our Taiwan lounges showcases a hand-crafted Taipei city skyline. Plaza Premium Lounge in Siem Reap incorporates a temple triangular-shaped ceiling and black and white photography of local attractions and one of our latest openings in Cebu domestic arrivals uses locally sourced wood as part of the design materials.

Today, everyone is a traveller and they travel for different purposes – business, leisure and bleisure. Some travel alone and some are in group or with families. Services desired are very different and we must continuously evolve to meet their needs. This year, we launched Playroom in our Helsinki lounge – a dedicated kids zone featuring educational toys that are also sustainably made. In our existing locations, we also added kids’ friendly services – kids menu and cutlery, high chairs for babies and colouring sets, etc. Agoda did a research last year on family travel and it shown 7 out of 10 families globally take at least two family vacations a year and in UK, there are 7% of families going away five or more times per year. We want to ensure our family guests can take care of their little ones in our lounge while parents are able to enjoy our facilities and services.

Airport lounge is getting popular among travellers however, there is a group of elite travellers that desire a more elevated and personalised experience and beginning of Plaza Premium First launched in 2018.

A guest room at Aerotel London Heathrow

Travellers often need to find a space to sleep without leaving the airport when their connecting flights are just a few hours later. We disrupted the industry again with the creation of Aerotel in 2016 – it is a simple but very efficient concept. We create guest-rooms with quality beds and pillows, hot showers and convenient set-up to facilitate guests to sleep or nap at the terminal building. It is the world’s first in-terminal airport hotel concept. Nowadays, we have already evolved the brand to include both airside and landside locations to suit different travellers’ demands. Our latest opening was Aerotel London Heathrow in October is at Terminal 3 Arrivals.

Airports can also be a challenging journey for older travellers or when travelling with big groups, and our meet-and-greet service is the perfect solution. We started to speak with airport partners and introduced Allways services to offer buggy, luggage handling, fast-track security, lounge stays, gate-to-gate escort, etc.

Read more: Fine dining on the ski slopes of Andermatt, Switzerland

LUX: How have you responded to the demand on consumer experience?
Song Hoi-see: Plaza Premium Group and our brands were born out of the idea of launching something that would elevate the airport experience for travellers and ultimately making travel better.

For example, brand partnership is an important element we introduced to the Plaza Premium First concept. Early this year, we worked with Poly Art to curate an inspiring art collection at the Hong Kong location with the purpose of transforming an airport lounge into art gallery – we wanted to create a space for our guests to not only anticipate their next journeys ahead, but also have an inner dialogue on what travel means to them. Currently, Aerotel London Heathrow is showcasing aerial photography from London-based travel photographer Tommy Clarke. We admired his visions of taking striking photography around the world to illustrate natures in a new perspective. Also something intriguing for our guests to appreciate while they are staying with us.

Wellness is also a trend we have been observing and listening to. Global Wellness Institute is predicting that the wellness tourism sector will reach close to US$1 trillion on a global level by 2020. Airport as a starting point of a journey, we brought in healthy food options such as Beyond Meat Burger at Plaza Premium First Hong Kong. In addition, we also launched Root98, a herbs-and-seeds inspired concept as part of our Airport Dining portfolio.

LUX: How has the rise in technology changed the way people travel and utilise lounges?
Song Hoi-see: Technology is making the airport journey more efficient, whether this be through facial and fingerprint recognition, electronic payments, chatbots, and online or mobileApp applications, next-generation technologies are changing the ways we travel. That’s also exactly the reason why travellers are expecting more from the airports. They look at airports as destinations in their own right filled with shopping, restaurants and a whole host of activities like yoga and even ice-skating.

The emergence of digitalisation also drives us to rethink our businesses. While we create a friendly online environment to see and book our services, we must not forget this is people business. Our guests expect personal touch when they experience our services and maintaining a high level of service standard does not come easy. Therefore, we invest more than 130,000 hours every year on training to ensure we are the best all the times.

LUX: Can you tell us a bit about your newest concept, Plaza Premium First?
Song Hoi-see: This is a “first-class” airport lounge concept that we have made available to all travellers. We recognised the needs from affluent and discerning travellers who appreciate personalised services such as a la carte dining, a bar that serves largest collection of Scotch whiskey and high-quality artisanal coffee, etc. As mentioned earlier, brand partnership is key to this concept and we have worked with tea brand TWG to create specialty tea mocktails and cocktails, Italian coffee brand Lavazza, internationally-known beverage company Pernod Ricard and more will follow! Most importantly, our team are all Lounge Ambassadors who will provide a guided tour to first-time guest so they can familiarise the services and facilities to enjoy the fullest.

Currently we operate Plaza Premium First in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, soon it’ll open in Jakarta later in 2020.

The bar at Plaza Premium First in Hong Kong

LUX: Plaza Premium First has some interesting partners such as Elemis Spa. Can you tell us
how you go about choosing who to partner with?
Song Hoi-see: Apart from the experiences and products we look for from a partner, we want to ensure both parties share the same vision and mission. Plaza Premium Group is always aim at making travel better through outstanding services rendered by a dedicated and passionate team and taking an innovative approach. We want to work with partners to ensure these values are safeguarded and bring in experiences to surprise and delight our guests.

Read more: Francis Alÿs receives Whitechapel Gallery’s Art Icon Prize 2020

LUX: Do you have any more inspiring ideas in the pipeline?
Song Hoi-see: We have an ambitious development plan to open in 15 new locations by the end of 2020 alone. As part of this, we will launch Aerotel Sydney – the first in-terminal airport hotel in Australia, in the third quarter of 2020. A nearly 3,000-square-metre lounge space combining Plaza Premium First, Plaza Premium Lounge and Allways will be built in Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to fully open in the 1st half of 2020. In our home base Hong Kong and the birthplace of Plaza Premium Lounge, we will launch two new locations with uplifted experiences incorporating specialty offers to suit modern travellers’ needs. (Our team will share the press release as soon as it’s ready with more details!)

LUX: What are your visions for the next 5 years of travel and airport hospitality?
Song Hoi-see: The airport of the future will be shaped by changing technology. Robots will be in line to help passengers in airports, AI-powered products such as chatbots and virtual assistants will be used to further revolutionise customer service and optimise efficiency, and technological advancements will help bring about a much-needed change in the way airports assist travellers with additional needs.

I want to highlight that these are all hardware and we cannot forget the most important element in the airport hospitality services – people. Therefore, we see people as our most valuable asset. Our passionate global teams communicate regularly to share best practices, while we empower local teams to execute in order to ensure it’s culturally sensitive so local audiences feel at home and oversea guests get a sense of place while experiencing our services.

LUX: Do sustainability and environmental factors play into what you project for the future of
travel?
Song Hoi-see: Absolutely, sustainability is one of our core goals. We are constantly looking into it and we have already started by taking small steps. For instance, we started to introduce water taps in our Langkawi lounge so travellers can fill up their water bottles and have installed big refillable bottles for shampoo and shower gel at Aerotel instead of one-time plastic bottles. In our Playrooms, we have educational toys that have been made using sustainable materials. It’s still baby steps but we are working towards this goal. At one of our Plaza Premium Lounge new openings in Hong Kong, we will incorporate plants and greens to our interior design, creating a greenery hideaway at a busy airport.

In addition to being eco-friendly, we must ensure our businesses are sustainable and growing with a friendly working environment for our global teams to work in.

LUX: Where do you see the next Plaza Premium lounge being located?
Song Hoi-see: Many locations! Plaza Premium Lounge has recently opened at Dubai International Airport. By 2020, we will open Plaza Premium Lounge across six other international airports including Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Denver International Airport in US, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia,  Sydney Airport in Australia, Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, and Hong Kong International Airport.

Discover Plaza Premium Group’s lounges: plazapremiumgroup.com