Chelsea Barracks, with spatial layout and interior design by Elicyon. Photo Michael Sinclair

An architect by training and an interior designer by trade, Charu Gandhi cites her multicultural upbringing as the source of her fascination with people and how they occupy space. To translate her design language to others, she founded design studio Elicyon in 2014, and has since completed super prime luxury residential projects in New York, Dubai, Shanghai, and London – to name just a few. Here, Gandhi speaks to LUX Contributing Editor, Samantha Welsh, about the importance of finding fluidity between disciplines and cultures, and her optimism about the future of women in design

Charu Gandhi

1. What are Elicyon’s chief design principles?

At Elicyon, we are led both by how space is used and a fine attention to detail. We also focus on how those can be executed differently for each project. Often you can walk into a project and know how the home would work best for the client. I have a strong spatial understanding that helps to guide the design scheme. What we aim to do is to make our clients fall in love with design, and embark on the journey of learning about materiality and craftsmanship when they work with us.

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2. What questions do you ask when considering the design brief for a super prime residential scheme?

We have an extensive briefing process that’s about getting to know the client. We ask how each room is used differently by family members and at what times of the day. Designing a home is often about evoking a feeling: I always ask clients to think about a time they really enjoyed themselves – be it an experience in a restaurant or a holiday destination – and what they loved about it. They might remember that they loved the linen on a hotel bed, the details of a ceiling in their favourite restaurant or even the size of the bedside tables in a hotel room.

41-43 Beaufort Gardens, designed by Elicyon. Photo Michael Sinclair

3. How does Elicyon deliver projects globally?

We’ve delivered projects in every continent, and what it really comes down to is great planning. It’s paramount to understand the logistics of a project thoroughly, and often working with a strong local team has proved invaluable. They act as our eyes and ears on the ground. For each new location, we do a recce to understand the particularities, culture and to be familiar with the buildability (seeing what is physically possible to build locally).

Having worked internationally for many years, we have built up a solid black book of partners that we can rely on, from transport companies to logistics managers, the majority of which are based in London but have global reach.

Read more: Molori Designs Founder Kirk Lazarus on Ultra Bespoke Luxury

4. How did this cross-cultural appeal come about?

Having an international client base naturally means we are asked to help on projects in many different continents – we might start with their London home, and end up designing their homes in Dubai, LA and Shanghai too. It’s a reflection of how multicultural London is as a design centre.

Ultimately, however, it comes down to my upbringing. I have travelled extensively since an early age and was educated at an international school, so my school friends live in all parts of the world. I also have an innate interest in people and how they live and occupy spaces.

Chelsea Barracks, with spatial layout and interior design by Elicyon. Photo Michael Sinclair

5. What during your training most inspired your vision as an architect and designer?

My first year at the Architectural Association was my most formative year, led by a brilliant teacher, Julia Wood, who passed away too young some years after. She turned the notion of architecture on its head – and we explored concepts through dance, through sculpture and the human body, and she introduced us to a myriad of conceptual artists of the time. I remember being particularly struck by Rachel Whiteread’s work.

6. What do you think has changed for women in architecture in recent years?

There is no better time to be a woman in architecture: the playing field, from a London-centric view, is full of great women designers, thanks to groundbreakers like Zaha Hadid who cracked the mould. Nevertheless, there are worrying statistics of those who graduate as architects versus those still in the role 10 years on. In my mind, the UK needs to fix its childcare challenges, and only then will the female-led architecture and design ecosystem thrive.

I know the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Architects Registration Board (ARB) have task forces working on it, and that I too have a responsibility as a leader to grow and build female teams.  I am proud to say that at Elicyon our senior leadership team is entirely female. As an industry, however, we must endeavour to always do better.

Find out more: Elicyon.com

Andermatt in summer

As well as making it a world-class ski resort, the development of the Swiss village of Andermatt has from the very start aimed to attract people who want to live there full-time. Karen Chung meets three residents who, in their different ways, call it home

Andermatt was born from the conviction that if you build it, they will come. With the ultra-ambitious yet sustainable mega-development of what was previously a sleepy, tucked away Alpine village, the town now offers an unparalleled lifestyle mix in a traditional setting.

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The development has since grown into so much more than simply a luxury holiday destination, with a high-low mix from its flagship hotel The Chedi Andermatt and world-beating concert hall, Michelin-starred restaurants and serviced apartments, through to cosy pizzerias, its relaxed attitude and a wish list of outdoor activities and cultural events accessible all year round.

But what is it actually like to live there? Seven years after The Chedi Andermatt hotel put it firmly on the map, three residents reveal why Andermatt has it all.

JOHAN GRANVIK
The serial entrepreneur

Johan Granvik grew up near Andermatt and travelled the world before ending up back in his hometown. The businessman behind Andermatt’s boutique Schwarzer Bären hotel and its delightfully cosy-modern Italian restaurant admits his career trajectory has taken him by surprise. “Usually, people tend to go to the big city and never come back,” he says. “I left for the US at the age of 16 and never imagined I would come back. But I said to myself, if a project like this is happening in my own hometown, I want to be part of it.”

The Chedi Andermatt courtyard

He joined the launch team for The Chedi Andermatt hotel in 2013, stayed a year and a half, then with a friend he set up his own bar and nightclub. “There’s a lot of opportunity here. We added a restaurant on the slopes and another nightclub, then two summer businesses a few years later.” He notes that the development has brought in more people, but also left enough space for start-ups to do their own thing. “Although Andermatt is growing at an exponential pace, for me the character of the town is pretty much the same. Some thought it would become like St Moritz, but I don’t think it will. I talk to a lot of people in our restaurants who love it here because it’s so down-to-earth, and that’s quite unique. For us the focus is on improving the business,” he says. “We’re in this for the long haul.”

Read more: Umberta Beretta on fund-raising for the arts

Looking down on the Piazza Gottardo. Image by Valentin Luthiger

KAREN O’MAHONY
The working-from-home holidaymaker

“In normal times, I travel a lot in the US, UK and Europe reviewing potential investment opportunities, followed by months of intensive due diligence and analysis. When I need peace and quiet to think, I find the fresh air and light of Andermatt, and the lack of distraction, makes me really productive,” says Karen O’Mahony, a private equity investor who realised the full potential of her holiday home after London’s first lockdown. Sure enough, she swiftly joined the ranks of professionals who, forced to hit reset on their professional lives during the pandemic, swiftly saw potential upsides in the new normal. With the seismic shifts in working pattern and ties to major cities loosened, she can fit in two hours of cross-country skiing first thing in the morning, and be back at her desk before the London business day begins.

The Andermatt Swiss Alps Golf Course. Image by Valentin Luthiger

“At any time of the year, Andermatt is steeped in nature with views of the mountains on all sides. From skiing, walking, golf and eating out, there’s something to do all year around, and this makes it much more of a home than a holiday property,” she says.

FRÄNGGI GEHRIG
The local

Folk musician and accordion player Fränggi Gehrig juggles a schedule of rehearsals and concerts during peak season with working on his own music and enjoying the mountains during quieter spells. As he appears on the screen from his home studio in Andermatt, the windows behind him reveal a tantalising view of snowcapped mountains in a stroke of unintentional Zoom one-upmanship. “I was lucky to be born here and to live in the mountains, the beautiful weather, the sun,” he says. “And we’re right in central Switzerland, so most places where I work are at most just a two-hour drive away.”

With a laugh, he recalls how he did his military service in the area where the resort now stands. “It’s hard to say how the town would have developed without this investment,” he says. “Now I might play between 80 and 120 concerts a year. In summer I might play four or five concerts a week. I also play a lot more now in Andermatt than I did a few years ago.

The auditorium of the Andermatt Concert Hall. Image by Anthony Brown

And, of course, for me as a musician, the most beautiful thing is the new concert hall” – which opened with an epic inaugural concert by the Berlin Philharmonic in summer 2019 that put Andermatt firmly on the cultural map. “The fact that a venue like this, with such an incredible acoustic, is right here in my hometown is amazing – and the other half of the concert-hall complex is a conference centre, so I also play private gigs for companies at dinners. It’s a good place to network, and as it grows, I think there will be even more opportunities for me as a musician. I could never imagine living anywhere else.”

Find out more: andermatt-swissalps.ch

This article was originally published in the Summer 2021 issue.

Andermatt’s newest apartment building Altera features twelve luxury residences

Andermatt Swiss Alps is the hottest destination in Switzerland right now. The sustainable ski/golf/mountain living resort in the mountains in the centre of the country achieved record property sales last year and that’s set to increase with the recent launch of two more luxury apartment buildings. Buy while you can…

A recently published report revealed that Andermatt Swiss Alps made a total of CHF 76.9 million in 2020 from its property sales, an increase of approximately 25% from 2019 and the highest figure in the resort’s history.

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While the pandemic continues to have devastating impacts on global tourism, the demand for Andermatt’s luxury alpine residential properties has continued to rise. The majority of apartments in the Frame and Alma buildings, which launched in the summer of 2020, were sold out within several weeks, and there are only a few residences left in the resort’s newest buildings, Koya and Altera, which launched in March.

The open-plan living room in one Altera’s apartments

The interest is partly due to the rare investment opportunity (it’s difficult for foreigners to be able to buy apartments Switzerland), but also thanks to the resort’s development as a thriving year-round destination.

Read more: Tasting with sustainable Napa wine producer Beth Novak Milliken

Since the start of the project in 2007, a total of more than CHF 1.2 billion has been invested to transform what was once a sleepy ski village into one of the most exclusive and dynamic alpine resorts. It’s part of central Switzerland’s largest linked ski area which offers high-altitude cycling and hiking routes in the summer, and home to luxury hotels such as The Chedi Andermatt as well as slope-side Michelin-starred restaurants.

The interiors of Koya’s apartments are inspired by Japanese design

Andermatt’s latest residences

Located in the village’s car-free area known as Andermatt Reuss, Koya and Altera each offer a distinct atmosphere complete with sophisticated design details and luxurious owner amenities.

Koya’s stylish, Japanese-inspired, mezzanine-style apartments are already sold out, but Altera offers twelve, equally beautiful residences for contemporary Alpine living. Each room has been carefully designed to maximise natural light and highlight the staggering views of the surrounding mountains through tall, floor to ceiling windows. The building also features a communal ski room, residents’ lounge with an open fire, a spin studio, sauna, and relaxation area.

For more information, visit: andermatt-swissalps.ch

Visitors to The Garrison Club at Chelsea Barracks are greeted by the art-deco inspired lobby

Chelsea Barracks in Belgravia is one of the most spectacular luxury developments in the world. And at its heart is the semi-secret Garrison Club, a discreet private space where an all-star team of concierges look after their residents every need, as Anna Tyzack discovers

It’s a typical Belgravia street scene – majestic townhouses, gleaming black railings, sausage dogs, cyclists and shoppers. Yet behind the pale stone buildings of Chelsea Barracks is a secret organisation, working 24/7 to ensure the residents of London’s newest neighbourhood want for nothing. “Anything’s possible,” explains André Bremermann, general manager of Chelsea Barracks. “From private jets to movie screenings, from business meetings to introductions to prep schools – we have the relationships in place to make these things happen.”

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The Garrison Club is not dissimilar to the Society of the Crossed Keys in Wes Anderson’s 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel – it’s formed of leading concierge staff from five-star hotels, as well as prime developments such as One Hyde Park and 199 Knightsbridge. Never before has a service on this scale been available to an entire community – every resident in the 5-hectare Chelsea Barracks development is automatically a member. “What we’re doing here is unique,” Bremermann says. “Chelsea Barracks is not a gated community, it’s a new and exciting part of Belgravia – yet residents can enjoy the security and services of a five-star hotel.”

The Chelsea Barracks townhouses

An average Belgravia townhouse, according to luxury staffing agency, Greycoat Lumleys, has a staff of five or six; residents in 8 Whistler Square, which is just one building within Chelsea Barracks, have access to a team of more than 38 people. This is what makes The Garrison Club so ground-breaking, says Bremermann: residents enjoy the same freedom and anonymity as any Londoner yet with a powerful support network at their fingertips. “They can contact us via the Chelsea Barracks Residents app or on the phone,” he explains. “It’s the modern equivalent of bygone Belgravia when households had footmen, valets, butlers and housekeepers.” Indeed, there’s even a Garrison Club Rolls Royce parked up by the main entrance, ready to whisk residents to Harrods or anywhere else they want to go within a two-mile radius. “You see cars like this at the world’s finest hotels but never private residences,” Bremermann says.

Read more: Sea2See recycles marine plastic to create fashionable eyewear

His team are well aware that true luxury is time – and this, he says, is The Garrison Club’s main consideration when responding to their members. Residents at 8 Whistler Square are greeted by the same faces each day, who will offer to help with their shopping, ask if there is anything they can organise, without ever being intrusive. “It’s about having the right presence and being intuitive enough to read people,”

Bremermann says, “Never a long conversation but always an acknowledgement.” The Garrison Club runs the communal parts of the development, which so far include a Technogym, Elemis spa and 20m pool, connected to the residences and townhouses via lifts and underground walkways. With the app, residents can book training rooms or a Pilates studio, or treatment suites in the Elemis spa. “We know leading personal trainers and beauty therapists and can put our members in touch with them,” Bremermann says.

Residents of the new townhouses at Chelsea Barracks are able to use the facilities of The Garrison Club, such as the spa and pool (above)

His team also runs the private cinema, which has tiered seating for 16, blankets and a popcorn and drinks bar, and the games room with private drinks cabinets for residents and a billiard table. “We can arrange food and drinks at any hour of the day,” he says. “We’ll get to know the residents and make sure we have what they want to hand.”

Read more: Introducing the next generation of filmmakers

The private business suite, with lounge area and two boardrooms, is a surprise hit with residents, who are opting to work from home rather than travel into the office. The Garrison Club staff are on hand to provide tea and coffee and help with the video conferencing and other technology. “If lunch is required, we can arrange for it to be delivered from Daylesford Organic up the road within an hour,” Bremermann says. “We enable our residents to be flexible – which is another luxury in today’s world.”

Residents can make use
of the business centre

For families, the fact that The Garrison Club has relationships with top private schools including Garden House and Eaton House is reassuring, as are its links with leading staffing agencies who can source nannies, housekeepers and drivers. The club can help organise events such as 21st birthdays and christening parties in the opulent Residents Lounge, which can be booked for a relaxed dinner for friends or larger celebrations. “Residents can bring their private chef or we can find them caterers,” Bremermann says. His team also has a close relationship with entertainers Sharky & George, who host some of London’s most elaborate children’s parties. “We can transform the Residents Lounge into a jungle with real crocodiles, Komodo dragons and meerkats as well as aerial acrobatics,” says George Whitefield, co-founder of Sharky & George. “Or an Alice in Wonderland UV disco with edible bubbles, karaoke and 60mph candyfloss.” Bremermann also anticipates helping organise private events in the communal pool and in the spas at the 13 newly completed townhouses, all of which have pools.

The Billiards Room at The Garrison Club

It’s The Garrison Club’s all-seeing eye that Bremermann expects residents will be most grateful for, though. Chelsea Barracks will evolve into a lively neighbourhood with cafés, an art gallery, restaurant and an NHS health centre, but the club’s job is to make sure its members are safe and secure at all times. “It seems free and open here but there are many discreet cameras and everybody working for The Garrison Club is also part of the security team,” Bremermann says. “We know who goes for a run every morning; we know who is familiar and who isn’t. We look after Chelsea Barracks like it’s our own home.” For residents with older children who are studying in London, this support is reassuring, he continues. “We’ve employed people who really care. This is our residents’ London home and it’s our job to make it feel that way.”

The residents’ lounge

As more townhouses and residences are complete, and more residents move into the neighbourhood, The Garrison Club will grow and evolve too, Bremermann says. “We’ll listen to the residents and react to their needs – even if eventually we have to use a golf buggy to respond to their calls.” He sees the moving-in process as a key part of The Garrison Club’s role – so far his colleagues have arranged state-of-the-art machinery to transport valuable artworks and pianos through upper-floor windows and have overseen snagging lists for overseas residents making internal changes to their properties. “There are always glitches when you move into a new home – we are here to smooth things out.”

The Garrison Club is causing quite a stir in Belgravia. One resident is investing in a residence in Chelsea Barracks in order to gain membership, while those who would previously have bought up the period townhouses on Eaton Square are opting for penthouses in the development. “I can see why they’re making that choice,” Bremermann says. “In Belgravia, you’re buying a legacy; at Chelsea Barracks you’re buying a legacy and also a lifestyle.”

For members only

A private jet to Paris
Garrison Club has links with VistaJet, and can also book you lunch at the Le Grand Véfour.

Supervise your shopping
Staff are on hand to receive deliveries and will unpack your groceries.

Plan your birthday party
Complete with private chef, professional tablescapes and entertainment for the little ones by Sharky & George.

Find you a dog walker
Or a leading personal trainer, beauty therapist, nutritionist. Or a hairdresser, to come to the private salon in the spa.

Find a school place
The club has links to leading local private schools and can also find you a nanny and baby-sitter while they’re at it.

Find out more: chelseabarracks.com

This story was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

The Rocco Forte Balmoral hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland

Since he created it in 1996, Sir Rocco Forte has grown his eponymous luxury hotel group to include multiple properties in key destinations across Europe, with a major expansion this year within his family’s native Italy. And there are plans for the boutique group to move into the US, Middle East and Asia. LUX’s Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai speaks to the group’s chairman and founder about new openings, changes in the hospitality industry and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur

Sir Rocco Forte, Chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels

LUX: Rocco Forte hotels is currently in a period of planned rapid expansion – why now?
Sir Rocco Forte: We had a period of consolidation after the financial crisis and have gradually come out of that and the business profitability increased. We’ve improved the quality of the management team. Generally taking the company forward, it was the right moment to start expanding again and looking at adding additional properties…

There are a huge number of different luxury brands within Marriott. Having said that, I think there’s an opportunity for the niche player somewhere, a business that is much more personalised in its approach to its customers, where attention to detail is extremely important. I think people are looking for things which are more individual, more related to where they are going. They want the rubber stamp wherever they go. I think it is going to get more and more difficult for these big companies to actually deliver that, and for a smaller organisation like mine, it’s easier because the top management is hands on. The business and the detail of business has some advantages.

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LUX: How has the landscape and your business philosophy changed since you started?
Sir Rocco Forte: It’s changed significantly on the technological side, the way people buy hotels in particular is much more a business done through the internet than there was than it was before, there are online travel agents who are becoming quite powerful. Customers are now more inclined to book through the web than going to direct to hotel. Then there’s the social media aspect which is also becoming more important, as a means of communication and promotion of properties. There is an interaction between guests who have tried properties and posted comments and so on. This is picked up by other people and used to validate their choice. TripAdvisor type sites didn’t really exist before and now people use it to make up their minds about hotels. Then you have the back of the house side of things; technologies have come in there and give management a greater ability to know their guests. There is increased technology in the rooms, television, wi-fi. Wi-fi became available 20 years ago and now people complain unless they had the fastest band available in the hotel. People used to pay for wi-fi and now they don’t want to pay for it anymore. Telephones, actual landlines have gone out of the hotels; they are hardly used.

In terms of the actual service side, the principles remain the same. The customer wants to be treated as an individual, wants to feel a warm welcome when he goes into a hotel, wants to be recognised. Maybe the relationship between the customer and the staff members has changed to some degree, it’s become slightly less formal, which is something that we did from the beginning.  I wanted to de-formalise the service to some degree. Then you’ve also got to keep up to date in a hotel because there are things that people have in their own houses that they expect to find at a hotel and it is a competitive market place.

The front hall at Brown’s, a Rocco Forte hotel in London. Photo by Janos Grapow

LUX: The marketplace is much more crowded nowadays with new players coming in and there’s Airbnb. What is it that has allowed you to keep going and growing with so much more supply?
Sir Rocco Forte: Airbnb doesn’t really effect the luxury end to any great degree. Airbnb has already started to show problems with consistency. There are plenty of niche players coming in and it does eat into the marketplace, but if you have a well-located hotel and you deliver an excellent service and have a regular clientele that like the place, it’s very difficult to prize a luxury customer away from a hotel that he’s used to and where the staff are trained to his needs. There have been a lot of new openings in London and there are more in the pipeline; there’s always a supply and demand equation. I think you’ve got to try and distinguish your hotel group from others and make a potential customer feel that they will get something special, something different if they come to you. The staff are the people who deliver the service and you’ve got to ensure that they’re motivated in the right way. They need to have the right training, the right philosophical background. We put a lot of effort into induction where we tell them about the family, the history of the company, the history of the hotel and something about the city where the hotel is located  so everyone has a sense of heritage and belonging as a family. It is my sister and myself and three children running the hotels, we know a lot of the individual staff members and it creates a sense of warmth in our hotels which you cannot necessarily find anywhere else.

Read more: Chaumet’s latest exhibition reveals the symbolic power of tiaras

LUX: Is it important that your guests can recognise the brand when they’re staying at one of your hotels?
Sir Rocco Forte: Yes, part of having a group is that, you get cross fertilisation and you get customers using more than one hotel, following the brand. So the brand is important because the customer knows that if he comes to Brown’s or goes to Hotel de Russie in Rome, he will get a certain type of service and a certain type of welcome.

LUX: A lot of your properties are significant and historic properties in individual cities, how do you imbue them with the Rocco Forte brand?
Sir Rocco Forte: The induction is consistent throughout the company that creates the blueprint on which the hotel is based. My sister who leads the decor has a strong agenda and sense of place. It is very difficult sometimes to please everybody. The thing is you get a hotel designer to design the hotel and there are the prototype rooms, but it is never quite finished, it is a design hotel, you are always adding little bits and pieces and so on, which gives a more personalised touch. My sister does that very well. She usually buys locally, which give the rooms a more homely feel.

The view from the Popolo Suite at Hotel de Russie in Rome

LUX: You have lots of developments happening in Italy at the moment – is Italy a particularly important destination to you?
Sir Rocco Forte: Italy is not the easiest place to do business, so in a way that is an advantage for us. Italy is a tourist destination, it is the prime tourist destination in the world. The American market loves Italy and that’s a very important market for travel. About 40% of our business comes from the States, you can get high prices for the rooms you sell, which in some destinations it’s impossible to do. So from that point of view, it’s attractive. The bureaucracy and the labour laws make it difficult, but the demand is there if you get the right hotel in the right location and at the price.

LUX: And Italy is underserved by luxury hotels, isn’t it?
Sir Rocco Forte: Yes, there’s no luxury chain across Italy, and we now have the opportunity to create one. We have six hotels and the three new hotels that we’re developing — we are doing a second hotel in Rome, a small 40 bedroom hotel in Puglia, and we have just taken on a place in Palermo, which is a 100 bedroom hotel and used to be a jewel of a place, but is now very run down and it’s been badly run for many years. It is a wonderful destination hotel. The city Palermo is having a revival, a lot of people are buying houses there, and doing them up. It is quite a good time to go in there and I already have a resort in south of Sicily, and Palermo is the airport you use for that so having the two properties working together is beneficial. But obviously, I need to be in Venice and Milan, I’d like to be on the Amalfi coast and some of the other heritage cities with smaller hotels. I am pushing to try and get there.

I also still want to be in the States…New York and LA and Miami maybe, I’d like to be in Paris, I’d like to be in Moscow, and probably another German city. Hamburg or Dusseldorf would complete the German equation. We are doing our first hotel in the Far East, in Shanghai, which will open next year. We don’t have a clear date, things get delayed quite a lot there.  It is moving forward, but slower than it is supposed to. That will be our first step into that part of the world. We will see. If I am going to travel to my hotels and if they are way out, that’s less attractive. I have to think carefully about it, about how far we extend geographically. Within Europe it is fairly straightforward.

Read more: Maryam Eisler’s new photography series reimagines pastoral romance

LUX: With the new portfolio that you are developing, are most of the hotels owned or managed, or both?
Sir Rocco Forte: The Palermo hotel we bought, but we probably won’t keep the ownership. We are talking to a partner about taking it on and leasing it back to us. The other two are leases, I prefer leases to management contracts because we’re in control with a lease. You have complete control of the property and you can do more or less what you want. With a management contract, the owner tends to interfere all the time. He thinks he knows how to run the property better than you do. If the hotel is doing well, he doesn’t need you, if the hotel is doing badly it is your fault. You take on more risk with a lease, but then it is a bigger upside and you have control over your own destiny.

A Junior Suite at Hotel de La Ville, one of two Rocco Forte hotels in Rome

LUX: As an entrepreneur, what qualities have you needed to get to this stage with RF Hotels?
Sir Rocco Forte: Very difficult to say. I think you have to have a passion for what you’re doing, what you want to do, and you have to really care, and have people around you who believe in what you’re trying to do, who will help you to do it. You have to have determination. Where there are obstacles you have to overcome them. You have to have the determination to overcome them, not take no for an answer, continuously try to move things forward. It is easy to get dispirited, upset and to give up. A lot of people do, but I am not made that way and I am always looking forward, always looking to see if I can do things better. It is that, and I think the minute I stop having a passion, then I should stop working. But I hope that will never happen.

LUX: Do you have dreams of passing on the business to your children one day?
Sir Rocco Forte: Yes, but my kid are still in the early stages and they might well reach a stage, where they don’t want to take on responsibility so we’ll see. At the moment, that’s the idea. And it’s good having them working the business, it gives a certain continuity to the business and it adds value to the business. In the short term, it makes us different to a lot of other companies and from a personal point of view, it gives me a huge amount of pleasure: my kids have left home, but I see them all the time. We’ve got something in common to talk about and to argue about, and to enjoy. You never know — I could go under the proverbial bus tomorrow. And then what happens? The business is in a position where it can continue to go forward, but then my family would have to decide what they want to do.

LUX: Talking about the younger generation, do you think that, as customers, their demands of the hospitality industry are different?
Sir Rocco Forte: Apart from the technological side that we were talking about it earlier, the way they dress is differently, but in the end of the day they still enjoy service and being looked after. It depends…a lot of them are brought up under very comfortable circumstances and they understand that way of life and I don’t think they are particularly different. All the ones I’ve seen using my hotels, seem to enjoy the facilities like anybody else. I suppose there is more of a consciousness of wellness and well-being and looking after yourself than there was in the previous generations. We meet those demands through the facilities that we have in the hotels already. But I wouldn’t say there is anything dramatic and to build a hotel for a specific sector of a population is narrowing your market quite considerably. I also think people whether they are millennials or older people, like the idea of heritage and like the idea of history, and they enjoy it when they experience it — I don’t think that has changed. Most people want to know what is the next thing? I don’t know what the next thing is, but I think hotels tend to follow trends rather than set them. Mine do anyway. I think in the luxury sector, that is more so than it is anywhere… You have hotels now that have no staff, you put a credit card in a slot, you get a room key and you go up to your room. And there isn’t a restaurant, there are communal rooms for people to use, you help yourself, all these sorts of things, but not at the top end of the market. I don’t see anything dramatic on the horizon.

Read more: Where I would invest £100m in property by Knight Frank’s Andrew Hay

LUX: Your portfolio is predominantly city-based. Have you ever been tempted to start a resort hotel in tropical climates? And if not, why not?
Sir Rocco Forte: Because anything I’ve looked at hasn’t really worked financially. I haven’t managed to find anything. The hotel in Puglia has a beach facility available, but it is not on the sea. And then there is a seasonality thing, which is difficult. When you are building a new hotel from scratch, to finance that on quite a short winter season, for example, is difficult because it closes, then it opens for a very short summer season and then it closes again…

A luxurious villa at Rocco Forte’s Verdura Resort in Sicily

LUX: And what about the residences model that a lot of new hotels seem to have now, is that something you’d ever consider?
Sir Rocco Forte: It depends on the property, the location and the size of the property. But in Rome we’re now doing five luxury apartments, which are situated on the corner of Piazza de Spagna, which is within walking distance to our hotels (one is on top of the Spanish steps and the other one is on Piazza del Popolo). So that’s a new endeavour. Also we’re building some villas now in Verdura, which initially will be let as basically a sort of extended stay or hotel accommodation for families who want to stay together in one unit. We’re starting to get into that market.

LUX: Are there any other new developments in the pipeline that we should know about?
Sir Rocco Forte: My daughter has been working on the spas. The spa in the new hotel in Rome will be her spa design, which she thinks will be the first properly designed spa. She thinks that it has more activity and treatments and so on, which will encourage people to come and see. There are a range of creams that she produced which are properly organic so that is a bit of a new venture. Otherwise, we are continually looking to improve the facilities in our hotels. We are looking at the food side particularly. It is difficult for hotels to do restaurants well. We are always searching. A lot of places that have successful restaurants started out being run by restauranteurs, rather than hoteliers and then they have a few rooms as well. For example, Chiltern Firehouse or Costes originally, they had a few rooms and then they bought the hotel next door extending it. I haven’t found the key to creating really successful restaurants. Our restaurants are doing well by the standards of hotel restaurants. If we are doing 120 covers a day, we are happy, but there are restaurants doing 250 covers a day. Some hotel restaurants you go into, you never see anybody there. That is not the case with ours, but we can do a lot better than we do.

Discover the full Rocco Forte portfolio: roccofortehotels.com

The Rosewood Baha Mar’s pool

There has never been a better time to luxuriate in the Bahamas, as Jenny Southan finds out at the new exclusive luxury resort of Baha Mar in Nassau on New Providence Island

In an ever-more tumultuous world, the idea of escaping to an island holds much appeal. New Providence is one of 700 islands in the Bahamas, and a dream for castaways who want more than one or two luxuries to be marooned with. Positioned on the pale sugar sands of Cable Beach, multibillion-dollar resort Baha Mar is setting new standards for expat living with a collection of private residences that are up for sale.

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How often have you said to yourself, “I wish I could just live here”, as a holiday comes to an end? Now, as well as hotel rooms for short-term sunseeking, the SLS Baha Mar and the Rosewood Baha Mar are offering a variety of homes, available from US$726,500 to $25 million. So, if it really was the trip of a lifetime, you can invest in living it all over again, whenever you want.

Rosewood Baha Mar and its grounds

With the first release in January 2019, the residences are hot new entrants to the market, and lovers of the Bahamian laid-back lifestyle, of pristine beaches, swimming pigs and rum cake, are snapping up purchase agreements already. The Rosewood has 87 one- to three-bedroom residences priced from $995,000, plus four three- to six-bedroom beachfront villas from $6.4 million to $25 million, each with its own private swimming pool. Meanwhile, the SLS, which is operated by US lifestyle hospitality company sbe and is now 50% owned by Accorhotels, has 107 one- to three-bedroom residences costing $726,500 to $4.2 million. House hunting has never looked so good.

What’s the difference between the two brands? While many of the perks are the same, Genevieve Conroy, vice-president of residential sales and marketing for Baha Mar, says: “The SLS is more contemporary. Residences have sleek white furnishings, and a modernist, minimalist flair coming through. They’re sexy and cool. The Rosewood is more elegantly traditional in style. Clients walk in and they definitely gravitate to one or the other.”

Not only can owners generate additional income from renting out their property, but they will qualify to apply for residency in this independent realm of the British Commonwealth. What is more, buyers may be exempt from income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. From being able to bank in one of the world’s largest and most trusted financial centres, to reliable medical care, to international schools, supermarkets and buying a car, it is easy for people to transplant their lives here, whether they are relocating full- or part-time.

Read more: Inside one of the world’s most exclusive business networks

To have a home on Baha Mar is to live on one of the most covetable of Caribbean bases. Conroy says: “You have these two globally recognised brands in one of the best resorts in the world – that is formidable. Owners get butler and concierge services, complimentary valet, and we are one of the few resorts that doesn’t charge them a daily resort fee.” On top of this, people looking to decorate their new homes can make use of the resort’s superior arts programme. A dedicated local curator will help them choose (or even commission) Bahamian work to display. Owners also receive 15% preferential pricing in many of the resort’s restaurants, shops and spas.

Baha Mar has almost 50 restaurants and bars, with cuisines ranging from Mexican to Chinese. There are nine tennis courts (including grass), as well as a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course (with 24 free rounds of golf annually for homeowners ), VIP entrance to Baha Mar’s Bond nightclub and Platinum status at the largest casino in the Caribbean (007 fans will feel like they have a starring role in Casino Royale, which was filmed on the island). Residents are also gifted VIP access to NEXUS Club by the eponymous luxury hospitality company founded by singer-songwriter-actor Justin Timberlake, the Tavistock Group’s Joe Lewis, and golfers Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.

Being part of a branded community guarantees certain standards, as well as international neighbours from a variety of backgrounds. The offshore lifestyle, of course, is key. Baha Mar has its own private island, Long Cay, which can be hired exclusively for parties and which has its own rum tasting room. It also has VIP use of the superyachts (213-ft/65m) Eternity I and II for private charter. Quirky touches at Baha Mar include Airstream food trucks and a daiquiri shack on the beach. Although residents can use two on-site spas (one of which is a flagship ESPA), treatments can be arranged at home. Gourmet meals can be cooked by in-house chefs.

A residence at SLS Baha Mar

How can buyers choose between the SLS and the Rosewood? Luigi Romaniello, managing director at the Rosewood Baha Mar, says: “The residences at Rosewood Baha Mar offer owners the opportunity to bask in the comforts of a home while indulging in the benefits of a five-star, world-class, luxury resort. Owners also become part of the elite Rosewood Residences global network. Worldwide privileges include preferred rates, special food, beverage and spa benefits, and VIP courtesies and treatment across Rosewood Hotels and Resorts.”

Meanwhile, Richard Alexander, general manager of the SLS Baha Mar, says: “Ownership at SLS Baha Mar provides a Bahamian retreat for contemporary global citizens and the opportunity to connect with a discerning community. Blending sleek design, an impressive array of culinary offerings and elegant nightlife, SLS Baha Mar residences are a rare and unique proposition surrounded by sparkling turquoise waters. More than a home – they are ushering in a new era of glamour in the Caribbean.” Where do we sign?

Baha Mar living – the facts

Number of residences Rosewood: 91; SLS: 107
Price range Rosewood: $995,000–$25m; SLS: $726,500–$4.2m
Types of property Rosewood: one- to three-bed apartments with balconies; three- to six-bed beachfront villas with terraces, hot tubs, outdoor showers and workout areas; SLS: one- to three- bed residences with terraces and sea views
Tax advantages no income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, wealth tax or inheritance tax for most nationalities
Services and amenities NEXUS Club Baha Mar membership, 24 annual free rounds at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Royal Blue club, Platinum-tier status at Baha Mar Casino Club Blu, VIP access to Bond nightclub, VIP reservations at Baha Mar restaurants, concierge and complimentary valet
Nearest airports Lynden Pindling, 9.5km away; private jet terminals
Non-stop flights British Airways from London; American Airlines from Miami and Charlotte; Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United from New York; Delta from Atlanta; JetBlue and Delta from Boston; United from Chicago; Air Canada and Westjet from Toronto; Bahamasair from Houston and Miami and Ft Lauderdale

Find out more: residences.bahamar.com

This article was originally published in the Summer 19 Issue

Exterior render of the new One Monte-Carlo residences in Monaco

The new One Monte-Carlo development could just be the swankiest place in the world for you to hang out with your money, your trophy spouse, and your Ferrari

Wander to your living room window, glass of Cristal in hand, open the balcony door and step out into a view of the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and beyond it, the Mediterranean. Feel the need for an emergency handbag? No problem, a flagship Louis Vuitton is just downstairs.

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Welcome to One Monte-Carlo. To call the development, created by Richard Rogers, the celebrated British architect, and Bruno Moinard, ‘interior architect’ to the stars, lavish would be a dramatic understatement. Built next to the Hôtel de Paris on Casino Square, and opened amid much champagne this spring, One M-C bring new heights of extravagance to a principality not exactly unknown for its swanky places for you and your money to live.

Render of One M-C residences and public space

Designed by Richard Rogers, One Monte Carlo houses 37 luxury apartments and dozens of retail stores

Moinard, responsible for the contemporary yet warm interiors of luxury temples such as the Plaza Athénée and Château Latour, tells LUX that, “in line with the vision of Monaco’s future, we used materials that give life and humanity to this exceptional project”. Combined with Rogers’ curvaceous forms, this gives One M-C a sense of the mountains overlooking the city. Some of the principality’s bland 1960s apartment blocks must now be feeling ashamed of themselves.

The catch? You can never own in One M-C: the apartments are available for long-term rental only, and most have already been snapped up. Worth selling your LaFerrari for a year’s rental? We would.

Find out more: montecarlosbm.com/en/hotel-monaco/residences

This article was originally published in the Summer 19 Issue

Render of a project for a confidential client in China by Design Haus Liberty

London-based architecture and interior design practise Design Haus Liberty might be a relatively new name in the industry, but it has already developed a reputation for creating unique atmospheres in residential and commercial properties across the globe. LUX Editor Kitty Harris speaks to founder Dara Huang about her fascination with pottery, sustainable design and the importance of place

Dara Huang

1. What’s inspiring you at the moment?

I have been really inspired by pottery lately, it sounds strange, but I find the medium of clay, porcelain and the art behind how it’s made and formulated incredibly interesting. The different ways you can finish, heat or perform pottery in multiple ways is inspiring. I am mostly inspired by the volumetric forms and natural colours it comes in. There is a really nice LOEWE show at the Design Museum that really highlights some gorgeous pieces.

2. How important is sustainability to your design approach?

I think sustainability is such an important issue to think about when you are designing something. It is not always as superficial as where the materials are made out of, or the ratings of the installation. At Design Haus Liberty, we think about the direction the wind blows, the pattern the sun sets and how that effects the way the architecture passively sits in its environment. This is to ensure that the occupiers are as comfortable as possible.

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3. What are some of the challenges you face when refurbishing existing properties/developments?

Definitely everything you can’t see. Opening up a building to refurbish it is a can of worms as you never know what is going on inside. You will find rotting structure, asbestos and leaks. It is usually the most difficult to refurbish grade listed buildings. We have had to replace old timber inside floors which needed reinforcements on either side.

Design Haus Liberty and House of Sui Sui project: Hampstead Manor in London for residential interior refurbishment, for client Mount Anvil – completed 2017

4. What makes good design?

Balance. I don’t really practice Feng Shui but I do think that it doesn’t feel right when the design is off balance. I use my intuition for that rather than a calculated metric. Once the design feels balanced, the way you live in the space will too. Some of these principles do coincidentally correlate with Feng Shui but I think it’s common sense. It can be in colour, objects, the direction doors open or where they face, placement of furniture or art etc.

Read more: andBeyond CEO Joss Kent on creating luxury in the wilderness

5. Do you believe that contemporary architecture should reference the past?

I believe all good architecture should reference the context whether it’s a nod to the history, the urban planning, or the cultural references. Architecture should tie in with the place and not be 100% foreign. With that said, it is not that it needs to look like its surroundings, but it should have a concept derived from the place.

Design Haus Liberty Mercury installation in the penthouses at South Bank Tower, for client CIT – completed 2015

6. What’s your favourite building in London and why?

Good question! It would have to be something historical. I don’t particularly have one building in mind but I do love St Paul’s Cathedral. I love spaces more than buildings such as Carlos Place, Mayfair and Regent Street, for the grandeur of buildings enveloping you. It is quite breathtaking. The more contemporary work in London has been a disappointment compared to its past.

For more information and to view Design Haus Liberty’s full portfolio visit: dhliberty.com