The new BMW M760e

BMW has a long and storied history of making fast, entertaining and slightly louche sports saloon cars. But how does it fare in the new era of hybrids and electronics? Darius Sanai, who has a rich history of BMW ownership, gets in the saddle of the latest top-of-the-range model, the M760e, in a series of reports

One of my favourite books, growing up as a book-and-car-mad chap in London, was a Roald Dahl compilation called The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar. Aimed more at young adults than children, it is a series of unrelated typically surreal tales that mix brilliant storytelling, myth, and a certain topical character.

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They have, incidentally, just been made into a series of short films by Wes Anderson – essential viewing if you haven’t seen them already.

The BMW M760e’s interior uses high-quality touchpoint

But back to the book. One of the stories is called The Hitchhiker, and it features a successful and wealthy gentleman – it is written in the first person, so I wasn’t ever that sure as a child, and still I’m not now, how much the narrator had the author woven into his persona – who gives a lift to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a dizzyingly brilliant pickpocket, or “fingersmith”, as he calls himself.

I won’t give any more of the story away, but what really mesmerised me was not the dark arts of the fingersmith, but the car the narrator was driving: a BMW 3.3 Li.

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Already a modern classic, or an old car, by the time I read the story, this was a masterpiece of 20th century modern design, inside and out. At that stage I wouldn’t have been able to identify an Eames chair from my school sofa, but I knew a beautiful post-Bauhaus car when I saw one.

‘I liked cars that were beautiful, growlingly powerful without being too flashy, and had the ability to transport you long distances effortlessly’

My school friends worshipped Ferrari and Lamborghinis; but for me that came later. I liked cars that were beautiful, growlingly powerful without being too flashy, and had the ability to transport you long distances effortlessly at high-speed, cigar in one hand, to the most glamorous end of Europe. The 3.3 Li as described in Roald Dahl story ticked all the boxes.

And so few years later, when I had enough money to buy my first car, I bought what was effectively the sexier sister car to the car in the story.  The 3.0 CSi was similarly powerful, but slightly cooler and flashier as a two-door version and unspeakably beautiful.

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After that, working as a foreign correspondent in South Africa, I had a chance drink in a bar with the esteemed chief correspondent of France’s Le Monde newspaper who was selling his car, BMW’s successor to the 3.3 Li, a 733i, a big, fast, imposing and swift saloon. It was not as beautiful as its predecessor, but it was a better car, and I bought it. Fast forward quite a few years and one wonders whether the great-great-great-grandchild of that original car, now dubbed the M760e, has anything at all in common with it apart from the BMW badge on the front and back.

‘The new M760e certainly has distinctiveness and character, but it also has a level of quality that is above anything’

Mine arrives on a drizzly day in December and it looks just the part, an imposing slickly drawn tank of a car in solid grey. If they ever made a nimble version of a battle tank, for commanders to zoom around in, assessing the field, this is probably what it would look like, I ponder.

But while imposing, the slickness of its design means it is not flashy – just like the original car in fact. Driving it around London, it doesn’t incite the aggression and envious looks that some cars of this price and opulence do. BMW has a justified base of admiration among car lovers, and I found I was more likely to get thumbs up and photographs.

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The new M760e certainly has distinctiveness and character, but it also has a level of quality that is above anything until you get into the price category 100% above this one, where Bentleys and Rolls Royces roam.

‘You want to feel quality, and that’s where the M760e really excels’

Particularly delightful to the touch were the glass switches for performing functions like closing and opening the doors, which are heavy and long.

Touch is so important for luxury: it’s what distinguishes the feel of changing the time on a Rolex or helming a Riva yacht. And if you’re going to be spending much of your time complying with restrictive speed limits and traffic, you don’t just want to feel comfortable: you want to feel quality, and that’s where the M6 really excels.

Meanwhile, like any powerful and driver focused car, this is a machine that needs plenty of road to show off what it can do and its first few weeks have been confined to within London’s orbital motorway, the M25. So, soon, I will take out out into the wilds of Britain’s Home Counties, traditional territory of Jaguars, Land Rovers, and men in red trousers who enjoy speaking about their second and third homes, to their second and third wives. How will it fare? Watch this space.

The BMW 760e defines what constitutes a ‘grand tourer’

Long-term review, Episode Two: testing the BMW 760e as a long-distance grand tourer

Among car enthusiasts, there has always been debate about what constitutes a “grand touring” car. Named originally after the travel taken (not by car) by the aristocracy of England in the 18th and 19th centuries to discover the wonders of Europe, the original grand tourers were cars with the power, comfort and capability to drive from London to Venice in two days and still leave the driver thrilled.

As cars became more powerful, more comfortable, and more electric, the term should have become completely moot – and in any case the fastest way to get from London to Venice is on a plane, either your own or someone else’s.

Enthusiasts still love the term though, as it evokes piloting your way across the continent, burning tarmac while in charge of your own destiny.

‘It evokes piloting your way across the continent, burning tarmac while in charge of your own destiny’

And this debate about what exactly a grand tourer is, fed our thoughts while piloting our BMW M760e for its first longer trips. The original intention had been to drive from London to the south of France, but a change of plans meant that trip is now waiting until the sunny climes of summer. Instead, our mini grand tour took place through southern Britain, which doesn’t have too many long straight and empty roads, but nonetheless allowed us the chance to stretch the big BMW’s legs.

We had two questions to ask of it: would it prove to be a truly luxury companion on the open road? And secondly, would this four-door powerful and imposing luxury car have that hard to define grand touring edge?

Some would say a grand tourer cannot have four doors, although it may have back seats accessed via the front doors. But more importantly for us is the question of whether a car is not just comfortable at high speed but feels like you are piloting something special and powerful, with the ability to enjoy itself on the open road.

‘The interior has really been honed from the highest quality materials with no obvious cost savings evident’

A grand tourer may be unsettled around town, but it settles down to a long gait on the highway and enjoys thrashing around high-speed curves on its way to your country manor.

Certainly, this BMW feels supremely luxurious cruising on a highway. That’s not just about power and comfort, it also a feeling that the interior has really been honed from the highest quality materials with no obvious cost savings evident.

That’s a serious statement of intent by BMW: given the cost savings afforded by economies of scale in parts manufacture. This is not just a giant version of the smaller BMWs used by the middle classes around the world to ferry their children to school and sports.

‘The M760e looks likely to be a benchmark in luxury car design and experience’

On the occasions we managed to stretch its legs it did feel more agile than any big saloon car would, normally. Much more fun to drive.

A point of distinction, and for the sanctity of the BMW brand, which has been built for decades on creating the “ultimate driving machine”, to quote an advertising tagline. On our experience so far, the M760e looks likely to be a benchmark in luxury car design and experience.

Episode three: BMW M760e long-term review: the passengers’ view

Car reviews, historically, are written by people who drive the cars they are reviewing. This makes sense if the car in question is made to be driven by its owner. However, in the case of the BMW M760e, the top of the range sedan/limo produced by the German car manufacturer, we imagine in a significant number of cases the person behind the wheel will be wearing a chauffeur’s cap and the people that really matter will be sitting in the back.

‘The high-quality leather and vast amount of legroom offered by this long wheelbase set up in this car means even tall and long-legged passengers felt completely at ease’

So, for the third episode of our time with this stunning and imposing car, we called on a variety of experienced rear passengers to give us their opinions. Comfort of seat and space is an important factor of course, and the high-quality leather and vast amount of legroom offered by this long wheelbase set up in this car means even tall and long-legged passengers felt completely at ease.

There is also excellent personal screen within the door controlling everything from temperature for the individual passenger to window blinds. Delightful.

A rarely mentioned but nonetheless important element of comfort is how the car makes you feel if you are a rear seat passenger. In short, does this car make you feel ill?

‘The car’s grace and power makes journeys disappear fast’

Some passengers are more susceptible than others to sickness, but there are certain cars that consistently create a worse effect than others through a combination of ride, road stance, noise. Some electric cars are particularly bad for combining disorientating silence with floaty rides – a terrible combination.

Our survey of seat passengers in the BMW show that it is one of the best performing of all the cars we have reviewed in terms of the “car sickness” index. We think this is due to accommodation of the measured sounds coming from the car – not silent, but not noisy either – and BMW’s historically slightly sporty stance on the road, which reduces floatiness and lean. Whatever the reasons, it’s a great place to be a rear passenger.

The BMW has ‘measured sounds coming from the car – not silent, but not noisy either’

With the final and most important element of our passenger review comes from one of the car’s most exciting features. At the touch of a button, a cinema style screen descends from the ceiling and displays itself in front of the rear passengers. Connect and you can watch Game of Thrones in your own home cinema with your own individual controls while your driver cruises you down the motorway towards your Cotswold country house.

It works very well and is engrossing for rear seat passengers. The car’s grace and power makes journeys disappear fast anyway, but with this element the M760e becomes the first car in the world where you reset passengers are likely to say, “I hope we’re not there yet!”.

bmw.co.uk

Montegrappa’s online configurator allows full customisation of the brand’s iconic fountain pens

Responding to the ever increasing demand for custom-designed products, Italian luxury brand Montegrappa has recently launched an online configurator which allows customers to fully personalise their hand-crafted fountain pens. Here, the brand’s CEO Giuseppe Aquila discusses the rise of a collector culture, adapting to a new generation of luxury customers and how personalisation supports the artisanal industry

Giuseppe Aquila

‘As a company that has remained dedicated to handmade production, a service like the configurator is something we had always aspired to offer, but the technology and market climate simply didn’t exist until relatively recently to make such a step possible.

After spending years reorganising and refreshing our supply chain, eventually we were encouraged by the efforts of a few luxury brands to sell and offer individualised services online. From the outset, though, we knew that our offer needed to be much more than simple monogramming.’

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‘On the one hand, the generational shift in luxury is causing great upheaval. These emerging luxury customers have been nurtured on digital goods and platforms like Nike ID, so we must respond. On the other hand, people in general are much more interested in cultivating a personal style than adhering to fashion. To be different is the fashion.

Then there is the fact that acquiring truly scarce objects has become much more competitive in recent years – in almost all categories. Bespoke and custom production are avenues for collectors to expand their wish lists and secure ‘grail’ items on different terms. Collector culture is growing and diversifying – and will continue to do so.’

‘[Personalisation] is very welcome trend that allows artisanal industry to return to its roots. Of course, now our customer could be anywhere in the world; but in 2020, technology makes it possible to offer them a similar service to what a walk-up private client might have received in 1920. Unlike a century ago, though, production needs to be swift. This means that the modern atelier needs to be well stocked and perfectly organised.

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Personalised products also help craft businesses show their full repertoire. Many of the options found on the configurator are the result of experimentation and artisanal curiosity. Though beautiful and worthy, most would have considerably less opportunity to flourish if we were confined to offering our products within traditional distribution structures.’

‘The configurator is the only platform of its kind in the writing world, so it has been a been a real drawcard for our site and for Montegrappa in general. More importantly though, it has been tremendously helpful with attracting new customers: these are people whose desire to own a writing instrument is distinct from seasoned aficionados and collectors, and are interested in other paths of discovery.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect has been the acceptance from established Montegrappisti. The configurator has been like a release valve for all their ideas – all the pens they have secretly wished to own. It has helped us make many good friends within the community, and to learn from them.’

Design your own Montegrappa pen: montegrappa.com

The KIKU by Savoir Beds features panels of hand-painted gilded silk wallpaper by London-based company Fromental

In 1905 The Savoy Hotel decided to create a bespoke bed for its guests, and so began the legacy of what’s now known as Savoir Beds. Every Savoir bed is crafted from chemical-free natural materials, carefully selected to provide the optimum sleeping environment. Here, we speak to the Savoir’s Managing Director Alistair Hughes about mastering craft, delivering consistency and the brand’s efforts to be sustainable.

Alistair Hughes

LUX: Can you tell us how a Savoir bed is created from start to finish?
Alistair Hughes: Every Savoir bed is tailor-made for the client to ensure it fits them perfectly. The process starts with a ‘fitting’ at one of our showrooms, where our expertly trained staff will discuss the needs of the client and try them on the various models and different support options in order to make a bespoke bed. We have created four varieties of Savoir beds, named No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, and they all have infinite customisable options. Beyond comfort is the design and styling of the bed, our sales team will work to the client’s requirements offering unlimited fabric options for upholstery and styles for the headboard and base.

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Following the fitting, the order is shared with our in-house design team at our Bedworks in North London. Our CAD designer will work with the showroom to create a render which is sent to the client for approval. Once the design has been reviewed and approved by the client, it is then passed on to production. Our fabric specialist will order the clients’ chosen fabric for the headboard and base, once delivered they will carefully check every inch to ensure it is absolutely perfect.

The fabric is then passed on to our cutting room which will cut the fabric. It is also during this stage that our seamstresses will cut the signature Savoir Trellis ticking which is used for all our mattresses, toppers and top of the box springs. Once cut, the fabric is left for a minimum of 24 hours to allow it to relax (when it’s on a roll, it is stretched slightly). The Savoir seamstresses will then sew the mattress, topper and mattress cases, ready to be passed on to the craftsmen.

Here and above: craftsmen assembling a Savoir bed inside the workshops

The bed set starts with the box spring. A wooden frame is created in woodwork, in which large hourglass springs are carefully secured. The springs are then hand-tied together, using eight-way star-lashing. A stitched hair role is then created on the edge of the base, through packing horsetail hair in to a neat roll and stitching in place. An abundance of hand-teased loose hair is then placed on top of the boxspring, with tufting the last stage to ensure all the hair stays in place.

Next is the mattress, hand-tied pocket springs, which are produced in the Savoir Bedworks, are sandwiched between masses of hand-laid, long, loose horse tail, with cotton and wool. The mattress is then hand-slipped to close and hand-side-stitched to ensure the springs stay in place. Like the box spring, the mattress is also tufted, stopping the natural materials moving.

The final element of the bed set is the topper, the natural casing that the seamstresses cut and sew together is filled with long, loose, hand tease horse tail, along with a layer of lambs wool, cotton or yak fibres, depending upon the chosen topper. The topper is also tufted, with beautiful fabric tufts on both sides to create a petal effect when a stitch pulls them closer together.

For clients that have specified a bespoke headboard, this will be crafted by the highly skilled Savoir upholsterers. The frame will be carved and constructed in the expansive woodwork workshop. Once created, this is passed on to the upholsterers, where the fabric which was cut by the seamstresses is carefully applied to the frame. No two beds are the same, so our upholsterers have years of experience to ensure the finished headboard is perfect.

Before every bed is delivered to the client, it is set up by the Savoir Quality Control team. The team will ensure that every detail of the bed is to the clients’ specification. The finished bed is then shipped around the world, direct to its new home.

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LUX: How do you ensure a consistent quality of product?
Alistair Hughes: We make less than 1,000 beds a year because we are focused on making the best, not the most.

We continue to hand craft our beds at our North London Bedworks and in Wales, just outside Cardiff. Every Savoir bed is made to order for a particular client, built by hand to meet specific needs and deliver unsurpassed comfort.

We use only the finest, natural materials including Argentinian curled horse tail, which provides a breathable sleeping surface and the ultimate temperature control for enhanced sleep. The high standard of materials and skilled craftsmanship result in a consistently comfortable bed for our clients and one that matches their style aspirations, as only a bespoke product can.

LUX: The original Savoy bed was designed in 1905 and has changed very little since – how do balance heritage and innovation?
Alistair Hughes: I am immensely proud of the heritage of Savoir, I couldn’t imagine a better legacy for a bed company.

The beds were first created for The Savoy Hotel whose sole aim was to give the best night’s sleep to the most demanding clients in the world. The result was The Savoy Bed, now named the Savoir N°2, and it remains our most popular bed. Liza Minnelli had refused to leave the hotel without one; Emma Thompson said the bed had cured her insomnia.  The product had been raved about for over 100 years by the most demanding guests in the world.

However, innovation is very important to keep driving our business forward. We pride ourselves in being at the forefront of designer collaborations and each year we hand-pick the best brands and designers to create inspired designs. Last year we collaborated with the National Gallery, Fromental, Nicole Fuller and Steve Leung.

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As we have control over every element of production, anything is possible which excites designers. Beds for superyachts or fantastic headboards inspired by art or architecture, we can craft and create anything. Our Savoir designers work closely with collaborators to design a personalised, unique piece of furniture. It’s always a special moment when we have designers visit the Bedworks and they are astounded by the amazing and extremely skilled craftsmen.

This month we launched our most innovative design yet and the world’s most luxurious bed: The Three Sixty. Available exclusively at Harrods, the bed is the epitome of contemporary design and bespoke British craft. It seamlessly combines aesthetics, technology and ultra-luxury.

The Three Sixty, Savoir’s latest bed design

LUX: Why did you decide to change the company name from Savoy to Savoir?
Alistair Hughes: Our heritage is of course The Savoy Hotel, but we also wanted to supply other hotels who might not want the name “Savoy” across their beds!  We liked the idea of Savoir Faire, with all its associations with quality craftsmanship, and the fact it was not a million miles from Savoy.

LUX: Having recently expanded overseas, how does Savoir cater to these new markets?
Alistair Hughes: We have 14 showrooms around the world from London to New York and Paris, as well as worldwide in China, Germany, Russia, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong.

We have collaborated with a number of international designers to create beds for different markets. We have worked with Nicole Fuller in the US, Steve Leung and Teo Yang in Asia and we will soon be unveiling a new partnership with Bill Amberg, the UK’s leading bespoke leather product, interiors and furniture designer.

LUX: Where is the biggest emerging market for you?
Alistair Hughes: Asia is developing rapidly and Savoir is growing its presence in Asia with showrooms in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei and next month we will be opening a 1,385 square foot showroom in the new Raffles Hotel Arcade in Singapore.  We are in advanced discussions about a showroom in the south of China too, so a lot to look forward to.  But that said, America is still the largest luxury market in the world, and as an emerging brand it is an absolutely key focus.

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LUX: How do you create a sustainable product?
Alistair Hughes: All Savoir bed sets have a 25 year guarantee and we turn our back on the throw-away culture.

We refresh beds and mattresses through recycling materials. For example, the existing horse tail is removed from a mattress, it is then re-carded through the use of a carding machine, and then hand-teased and redistributed within the existing mattress casing. The re-carding machine is over 100 years old and is thought to be one of only two in the country. We can also recycle casings for mattresses, re-making and re-tying box springs to re-invigorate the perfect and bespoke mattress tension, which may have been lost over time.

LUX: How does your previous role in management consultancy inform the operations of Savoir?
Alistair Hughes: I think it helped to bring a broader perspective to what I do and how the business can best meet the needs of our clients.  Within bed manufacture in general there had been a strong focus on driving down cost.  Retailers often see a mattress as a grey box, they all look the same, just get the price down. Savoir thinks more of the end client and what they want: a great night’s sleep.  So the focus has been the best product, and understanding that clients are willing to pay for something better.

LUX: Where was your best night’s sleep?
Alistair Hughes: I’m spoilt, having the best bed in the world at home.  At the end of the day, there is nothing like getting into a Savoir.  I love the feeling, especially with fresh, cool and crisp percale sheets.  I’m instantly relaxed…it’s a great feeling!

Beyond that, I grew up in Ethiopia and Malawi and have always had a thing about the big African skies.  On recent family trips we have had some great under canvas holidays, most recently in Botswana.  There is something magical about the lack of light pollution, the stars and the sound of nature (not always quiet, but definitely music to my ears).

Discover Savoir’s range: savoirbeds.com

The Buckingham Gate entrance at Northacre’s No.1 Palace Street development

Luxury real estate developer Northacre was founded in 1977 by German architect Klas Nilsson. Owner of The Lancasters, a luxe development of 77 apartments in Bayswater, the company is currently developing No. 1 Palace Street, a Grade II listed building featuring 72 apartments overlooking Buckingham Palace’s Gardens and The Broadway in Westminster, which will be composed of six residential towers framed around a 20,000sq ft public thoroughfare and pedestrianised piazza. LUX Associate Editor Kitty Harris speaks to CEO Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro about Brexit, millennials and the importance of understanding your customer

Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro

LUX: Northacre provides management, interior architecture and design services. How do all of these components work together?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: How would it function without it is the question. I am always surprised to see other developers that don’t have an interior designer or architectural arm in-house because ultimately, what are we selling? Hopefully, beautiful apartments that people want to live in, and hence you have to create the emotional attachment between what you do and what they’re buying because without it you don’t create a premium. For us, the central part of our DNA is the design. Northacre is the only development firm in central London that was started by an architect. Klas Nilsson started Northacre roughly 30 years ago – he was a pioneer in space and an architect hence design has been at the core of what we do and not an add on. It’s a 360 degree holistic approach to developing.

LUX: Do you think there are irresponsible and responsible developers?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: You know I don’t know if it is about being responsible or irresponsible, I think there is a naivety and short-sightedness in cutting corners. The most important thing that Northacre has is its track record, doing the same thing thirty years in a row and doing it successfully. And so it would be very short-sighted to CGI and erase buildings in front of ours in order to make ours a better view because it takes a client to visit once and then you’ve lost them forever.

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LUX: Do you have repeat customers?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Absolutely, we have quite a few. We’ve probably sold close to 700 homes in central London in the high-end space. At the moment there are 330 transactions about the five million pound mark of which we have sold a decent percentage. One client of ours, who until very recently still lived in our show apartment at Kings Chelsea, subsequently bought another house in Kings Chelsea and he had bought 13 apartments at The Lancasters. He’s bought four more of ours at Park Street, and hopefully he will buy some at The Broadway too. He is a repeat customer, I think like many others, for several reasons. One is that he loves the homes, which I think is the crucial part of it. And secondly, the properties have done incredibly well investment wise.

If you look, for example, at The Lancasters, when we were doing bank evaluations they were saying no way would you be able to sell £1700 a square ft. because the area is at best £1000. A 70% premium is a damn good premium. But when we got it financed, the average sale price at the end was £2850. So yes, the market might have moved, but not from £1000 to about £2850 in the space of about 4 years. Even if it had doubled, it would be at £2000. So clients realised that we have quite a resilient product and in fact, the gentlemen that bought all of the developments I mentioned, decided he wanted to sell one at the beginning of this year. He was an early buyer, he bought in 2015, which we could argue was probably the peak of the market, he made 109% (£700,000) net return on his 10% deposit and it wasn’t on a small apartment in a market that’s gone down.

The lobby in The Broadway – a current development by Northacre

LUX: Which is your keenest market area and are you selling more now to millennial generations?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Our markets really depend on the development because certain things that appeal to one kind of nationality do not appeal to another. Take two examples, No. 1 Palace Street and The Broadway. We retained the 1870s façade at No. 1 Palace Street, which overlooks the gardens at Buckingham Palace, but stripped the building completely so it is entirely new inside. The Asian market doesn’t see this as new and they don’t like older buildings so I would say that the largest group of buyers in that development are from the Middle East. Monarchy is very big there, they love it, and so you can see the different points of affinity between them.

When we bought The Broadway, we thought that it would be perfect for the Chinese market and for the Asian market in general because it was one of the very few mixed new build schemes where you are able to create a destination in central London of its size. It’s 1.7 acres and 268 units with all the amenities, and it has four world heritage sites around it. The mix of these two and its fantastic views resonates very well with them.

Read more: President of Monaco Boat Service Lia Riva on the romance of the riviera 

Where do I start with millennials…they think very differently. We’ve found that millennials are actually very asset light. They love experiences, and they don’t want to be necessarily burdened by having a big asset whilst they could be travelling and creating experiences. And so we haven’t targeted them especially. We will be putting out a property that will resonate with millennials very soon, but it is a different beast completely and so we are looking to target that in a completely different way.

LUX: How do Northacre approach developing?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Ultimately, we want to create an emotional attachment by making our buyers understand that we understand them. And I know it sounds like the ABCs of any company, i.e. understanding your customer, but look at some of the developments around you, it’s clear that the developer doesn’t understand their end customer. The reason is that there are a lot of improvised high-end residential developers because asset prices went up and high-end residential was the best use of these assets. They became high-end residential developers overnight and they don’t realise that it’s not an easy task. Hence they don’t deliver what buyers necessarily want. By understanding your clients, and knowing that real luxury to them is spending time with loved ones, we deliver something that creates an emotional attachment, enabling them at the same time, through in-house services, to focus on what they should be focusing on.

A master bedroom in The Broadway development

LUX: What makes The Broadway different to the other developments?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro:  The Broadway is a very challenging project; very few developers have ever delivered 268 high-end units in prime central London. But also it’s different in that it’s the first real mix-used scheme of high-end residential development in central London and many other cities. We believe this is the direction developing is going take, because you have got to create a sense of place that goes beyond the location itself. It’s important to control the types of shops and coffee shops on the site for the kind of buyer we attract. It’s also very important for the surrounding community because you are curating in an unexpected way by not putting generic shops in. Pret and Boots are fantastic, but we’ve seen enough of them. We are in a position to control that, which other developers can’t if it is just residential.

LUX: And how do you decide what locations to build on?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: The formula of Northacre hasn’t changed in the last 30 years. If you took a map of London and plotted all the Northacre developments by the year they were created, which is very important because areas change, you will see that the formula has always been the same. We develop in areas that are very central or very close to, but not in ‘the’ centre. We create a product that is better than anything else in that particular area, and then we play the price conversion. For example, No. 1 Palace Street: one would say ‘how absolutely fantastic to overlook Buckingham Place, but it would be nicer on the Mayfair side of Buckingham Palace’. Yes it would be, but on that side it was £6000/ 7000 per square ft. and this area is at £2000 and so we could push prices to £3000-4000. You need to understand the macro and micro of areas and of buildings themselves because it needs to become an aspirational building. The Lancaster was 140 metres of 1870s odd, white stucco façade overlooking Hyde Park. How many assets are there like that in London? Hardly any. How many times can you buy a whole block of 5 different architectural styles all in one next to Buckingham Palace like at No. 1 Palace Street? You can’t. So the fact that these buildings enable you to create an aspirational product, create additional value as well.

Read more: Model of the month Emma Laird on juggling acting and modelling

LUX: Do you think that phrase ‘re-defining luxury’ is dead?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: I never really understood the phrase to tell you the truth. For the simple reason that it might not be luxury to you, and it might not be luxury to me. Luxury is personal. For Millennials, like my son who is 16, ownership of an object is absolutely irrelevant. I said to him a few years ago: ‘When you turn 18 I will give you my watch’. ‘Why do I need a watch?’ was his response. Whereas if I gave him £10,000 for an incredible trip somewhere he would love it. So I’ve never been a fan of that phrase. I think you have to strike an emotional cord with people because that, to me, is how you convey luxury. Look at the things that the wealthy collect like art – how personal is art! You might love a painting I might not like it. Vintage wines too. All things are that are personal and rare –  you cannot have the same that I can have.

The Swimming Pool at No.1 Palace Street – a development by Northacre

LUX: How do you think Brexit will affect the market, if it hasn’t done so already?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: It will affect it but there are many things that are affecting the market in general. We have to take a step back for a second and consider that from 1994 to 2014 we had twenty years of a booming market. We shouldn’t be too surprised that there is a pause in this market.

And what does Brexit do? First of all we don’t know what Brexit looks like because no one does. We only know it creates three things. Two that are negative and one that is positive. The first one is uncertainty. No one likes uncertainty, and in times of uncertainty asset prices don’t go up and it doesn’t give buyers a sense of urgency. Second, it is creating an opportunity for foreigners because the pound is weaker, which is the positive. However, this also has a negative ramification to it as well. This being that the weak pound gives an excuse to a lot of the foreign work force working in construction to go back home because their countries are booming more than they were before. They are now sending much less money home than they were before because £1 before was €1.40 now it is €1.14 – a very big difference.

If you look at it more granularly though, what I think is really happening is the market has become binary and it goes back to the fact that you have a lot of improvised high-end residential developers that are creating a product that does not actually meet what people really want. And so when someone says ‘the high-end market is down 15% from the peak’, that is a very misleading number because yes, if you take the who aggregate of it, but if you then look at properties that are actually really nicely developed property by a reputable developer that don’t have any compromises to it, there aren’t many and so the developer still has pricing power. It is not because the customer has become poorer all of a sudden, he is just picky, and rightly so because he is spending a lot of money. So the other developers that are developing a product that is not really ticking all of the boxes can’t attract the high-end market because those buyers want to spend their money on the best. They are not interested in something, even if you give them a 20% discount, they will say: ‘But I still don’t like it, it is not that I like it more’ so then they have to start selling to a different kind of market and that’s why the prices drop because the other buyer says, ‘OMG, it is nice and so expensive.’

LUX: What are your future predictions?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Did you bring the crystal ball?! We do have to look ahead, I think that there are clear trends in the market in general that have nothing to do with high-end residential. I think high-end residential is going slightly back to basics in the sense that for a long time you had developers that thought that the more expensive the property, the more you have got to put in it. And everything has to be covered up because that is going to give a sense of luxury and how much they have spent. Electronics, big screens everywhere etc. The fact is that high-end people like to turn the switch on and off and the button for fading the light is the most they want to see, right? So we are stripping back the technology to basics. And the sense of luxury really is the beautiful light switch. To touch it there’s a sense of satisfaction, it is bit like a door handle that it is the right length, the right thickness, the right feel, the right weight. We are really focusing on those subtleties.

And then there is nothing wrong with a white wall, because ultimately, for these customers, it’s about the art that they are going to put there. All their friends have nice apartments, they don’t need to go and show it off. But what differentiates them is that they have art that nobody else can have because it is one piece. And so how do you create gallery spaces? How do you create as much wall space as possible? So these are the trends that I see: the pairing back, the few great materials and simplicity, ultimately.

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The other trend is really focusing on the staff of the development, so the concierge, the valet etc. How do you enable them to deliver the service you talk about them delivering? I’ll give you a practical example, when we were doing No.1 Palace Street and I was new at Northacre, I said let’s go and interview all the guys that work at the front desk in our past developments. Let’s learn from them because they are the ones that are in the front line. And it is interesting that they were saying, at the Lancaster they were saying: ‘you know we receive two bags of mail every single day, we receive three racks of dry cleaning every single day. Northacre did not give us enough space to put all of these things, and so we’ve got a few there, a few there, a few there.’ These are things you have to consider.

We are also creating an app, where you will be able to do everything from booking a massage to making sure the car comes up to seeing your service charges to booking a personal trainer, so that everything is done in a very, very simplistic way. That then frees up the time of the guys downstairs and enables them to deliver the best possible service.

LUX: Do you have your favourite residential area in London?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Well, I have been living in Chelsea for 21 years now, so that is my neck of the woods. I love it because it feels like a little village, but at the same time, you are 100 metres away from the hustle and bustle and if you have got to get to other central parts of London it is super, super close and it is very close to my office. But there are a lot of exciting places in London, not only where we develop, but also some parts of the East End are super interesting, and I think that how they are attracting tech start-ups is incredibly interesting. And actually the East End is really starting to cater to the millennial generation. Anywhere you go in London houses are very expensive. And so we have to start finding a new model based on how people will be living that also reflects how the millennials think, and that is what we are working on at the moment.

According to Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro, No.1 Palace Street has been Northacre’s most challenging development to date

LUX: What has been the most challenging development for Northacre?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: No.1 Palace Street without a doubt! It has five architectural styles in one block with a façade retention of about 70% of the original façade with a great tall building in the middle. We had to demolish everything inside and dig down four floors underneath. We are doing a top-down construction approach, where you pour the ground floor slab, and then you start digging down whilst going up at the same time. The façade is not thick at all so it’s scary because you are creating the structure and then you have to tie it all back together. And obviously these façades are delicate.

LUX: Don’t blow!
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro: Exactly. When there were high winds last year we were praying a crane didn’t move, because can you imagine? Who is going to go to Westminster and tell them that the façade has come down?

LUX: We hear you are a keen sailor. What’s been your most memorable voyage?
Niccolò Barattieri di San Pietro:  I sailed from the South of France to Hawaii and then from Hawaii to San Francisco. I did about 15,000 miles on a 39 ft. catamaran. The first 2,000 miles I did without a GPS – it was a fantastic trip!

To find out more about Northacre’s past, current and future developments visit:  northacre.com

Model Will Chalker and his family star in the campaign for Acqua Di Parma’s newest fragrance, Colonia Pura

As famous for its striking yellow Art Deco packaging as its ‘colonias’, Acqua di Parma has developed over the years into a lifestyle brand that embodies the romance and artistry of Italian culture. Now under the leadership of new CEO & President, Laura Burdese the LVMH-owned brand is moving in new directions. Following the launch of Colonia Pura, the brand’s latest fragrance, LUX’s Digital Editor Millie Walton speaks to Burdese about the beauty of the Italian lifestyle, working with artisans and the future of luxury.

Acqua di Parma CEO & President Laura Burdese

LUX: All of Acqua di Parma’s products are handmade. How do you maintain a high-level of craftsmanship in the fast paced, technologically driven world?
Laura Burdese: I must admit that matching hand-crafted processes with an always faster time to market, while delivering outstanding products, is not easy at all, but this is our mission. We have some very clear convictions as a brand. We love things made slowly and by hand, so they develop a soul and we cherish the imperfect as the only true form of perfection. We admire the handcrafted, the slightly irregular, the almost perfect. As you may notice, labels on our products are not perfectly applied sometimes, this is because they are applied by hand. So are our iconic rounded hatboxes.

With this in mind, the high-level of craftsmanship resides in the ability to work closely with our artisans since the very inception of a product, controlling each phase of the process and not only the final outcome. I believe this is a very productive and stimulating way to manage the creative process, which let the essence of our products shine through.

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LUX: How does the city of Parma – the birthplace of the brand – continue to inform the company?
Laura Burdese: If you just have a walk in this beautiful Italian city, you can easily recognise that our iconic shade of sunny yellow resonates with the yellow façades of Parma’s historical buildings.

Elegance, beauty, harmony, mastery of craftsmanship: this is what you perceive in Parma and what the brand first experienced in this city, making its own from the very beginning in 1916. More than that, today Parma is a vibrant, lively Italian city, still a source of inspiration for us because here you can truly “smell” the warmth of the most authentic Italian way of life. And I believe that it’s the same spirit you can smell in all our fragrances.

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LUX: How do you see the luxury market developing over the next ten years?
Laura Burdese: It’s a very difficult question. Things are changing so fast nowadays that it’s already difficult to foresee what could happen in 1 or 2 years’ time, nothing is written in stone and 10 years is an eternity. However, I do believe that the luxury market will continue to grow, even if probably at a slower pace, therefore strategy will become paramount. Emerging battlegrounds will be e-business and data management, with the necessity to drive-up investments into luxury, bespoke and taylor made experiences and “lifestyle branding“.

LUX: Acqua di Parma supports many art forms and is culture partner of venues such as the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. How do visual arts influence the brand?
Laura Burdese: Acqua di Parma has always supported the best of artistic creativity in all its expressions with publications, partnerships and events. As you properly mention, one particularly prestigious activity is our collaboration with Guggenheim Intrapresæ, a group of companies dedicated to sustaining the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

We understand the importance of our cultural heritage and we keep considering it as a major source of inspiration in all our creations. In this respect, the values that Acqua di Parma espouses are perfectly reflected in Italian visual arts: the same adventurous spirit and the courage to set aside what is good in order to achieve the best. But also the ability to create styles that resonate with people, that communicate something new, something truthful, allowing the essence of things to shine through.

LUX: Your leather and home collections also promote hand-crafted products. Is it difficult to find traditional artisans nowadays?
Laura Burdese: Honestly, it’s pretty difficult. Making a creative process, such as the artisanal one, also effective and efficient is not simple, but this is how we work. This ambitious objective is possible only if you, as a brand, co-operate closely with your craftsman, motivating them, stimulating them and making them proud to work for you. And I believe this is what give our products such a shining soul.

Acqua di Parma’s latest fragrance, Colonia Pura

LUX: Do you have a favourite fragrance?
Laura Burdese: While I wear different Colonias, depending on the season, I prefer to wear Blu Mediterraneo Fico di Amalfi in summer. Usually I gravitate towards scents that are unisex or more masculine. Lately, I’m in love with Colonia Pura, our new fragrance, a light, modern interpretation of the iconic Acqua di Parma Colonia. True to Colonia, Pura opens with the brand’s signature citrus top notes of crisp bergamot, orange and petit grain. A heart of narcissus, jasmine and coriander, and base of cedar wood and patchouli give Colonia Pura a youthful energy.

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LUX: What’s next for Acqua di Parma?
Laura Burdese: We have always represented the most refined elements of the Italian way of life, but in an understated, discreet way. We are now leading the brand to the next level and keep developing this beautiful Italian story into a global success. Our new fragrance, Colonia Pura, opens a new chapter in the history of Acqua di Parma. Undeniably, Colonia Pura advertising campaign makes a turning point in the way we’ve always communicated. For the first time in our history, we presented an advertising campaign which features a man and his family.

We chose Will Chalker because we believe he embodies the spirit of the brand and conveys a strong yet modern and open masculinity. We were quite fortunate that Will’s family is in the campaign – his wife and young son add a lovely spirit of authenticity and warmth. The campaign images depict Will as a sincere and affectionate father and husband, values that are important in the Italian culture and resonate with the Acqua di Parma client.

As for the next launches, I cannot really reveal our new creations at the moment, but I can assure you they will express the Acqua di Parma personal signature and perfectly embody our brand equity. They will be scents of Italy and scents of life. The ultimate in sophistication: light and simple. Stay tuned.

LUX: How do you relax?
Laura Burdese: I do relax spending time with my kids and my husband. I know it might sound weird, but honestly I have a hectic life and quality time with them is just a gift. We do a lot of sport together, watch movies, talk, share experiences. It’s just about little things that make me feel complete and relaxed!

LUX: What’s the secret to Acqua di Parma’s success?
Laura Burdese: Acqua di Parma is so successful because it is much more than “just” a fragrance brand, it’s a way of life in its most sophisticated form. Our secret has always been moving forward into the future while keeping our DNA intact. We are very proud of our heritage, history and values but we never forget to keep an eye to the future and new generations. Our most important skill and what distinguishes us is the ability to bring style – specifically Italian style – into life.

acquadiparma.com