Archive for July 2011

Sensational Crossing

Travellers on the Eurostar departing at London’s King’s Cross station for Paris will now have an extra reason to linger in the British capital. The recently reopened St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London, built in high Victorian gothic style, has been restored to perfection by the Manhattan Loft Corporation and conservation architect Richard Griffths.

Regarded in the past as the most romantic building in London, the hotel features a sprawling 542-square-metre centrepiece-worthy lobby and two restaurants and bars; one of which, The Gilbert Scott, is helmed by celebrated chef Marcus Wareing.

The 245 guest rooms, including 38 Victorian suites, emphasise the ultimate in classic but never boring British style. And, for a special touch, indulge in a refreshing dip in the pool or a dose of pampering at the barber’s shop and luxury spa with its six individual treatment rooms.

Up Close And Personal

Tucked within 60ha of indigenous forest in Nairobi, Kenya is an unassuming red-bricked house. You might think nothing of it unless you happen to be a guest… and the recipient of a morning wake-up call from a Rothschild giraffe poking its head through your bedroom window.

The Giraffe Manor is a ’30s family home that invites you to be part of a community of long-necked residents, whose friendly disposition earns them snacks from delighted guests. Unlike a zoo where your experience is hindered by a wall of glass, you get to experience the place with the rest of the warthogs, bushbucks, dik-dik antelopes and over 180 species of birds that inhabit the surrounding forest.

The estate was turned into a giraffe sanctuary in the ’70s when its owners adopted a Rothschild baby giraffe named Daisy to protect the species from extinction. Daisy inspired a book, Raising Daisy Rothschild, which was later made into a film.

Set Sail On Monaco

For the super-rich who cannot decide between an extravagant weekend in billionaire’s playground Monaco or a luxurious getaway aboard a fully loaded megayacht, why not combine the two?

Derbyshire-based Yacht Island Design is floating the idea of a USD1.1-billion, 155m-long boat modelled after the Mediterranean paradise. Dubbed Streets of Monaco, the concept vessel features scaled-down versions of prime landmarks including the Monte Carlo Casino and Hotel de Paris. And it wouldn’t be Monaco without some Grand Prix action – delivered by way of a go-kart track that circuits the deck.

The owner can also entertain in unrivalled style at The Atrium – the centrepiece of the ship – which links upper and lower living areas with seven spacious guest suites and a waterfall that cascades into a glass-bottomed fountain. The main apartment, sprawling 4,800 sq ft, is spread over three floors. A multipurpose courtyard in the yacht’s stern doubles as a helipad and a sports hub; while a library, cinema and expansive sun decks add to the boat’s charm.

Tapping Into Shape

From the world of luxury home fittings comes Mimi, a taps collection from Gessi, an Italian brand with a presence in nearly every designer home from Dubai to Miami. With soft curves and sleek architectural lines, the faucets are testament to fabulous design and superior craftsmanship.

Each item is lovingly crafted by skilled artisans. Minimalist in personality yet confident in portraying a modicum of strength, each Gessi creation bears the makings of timelessness, elegance and the spirit of la dolce vita.

Venti, Vidi, Vici

Howard Schultz, Founder and CEO of Starbucks Corporation, shares how he nearly lost the USD10 billion company he created.

Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks, has candidly admitted making some shocking mistakes and taking drastic measures three years ago to save the global company, which suddenly started losing its way, and has rebuilt Starbucks’ reputation by going back to the company’s main proposition when it was founded 40 years ago – sourcing the world’s fi nest coffee.

What brought you back to the front line as CEO in January 2008, eight years after OPPOSITE Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks Corporation, back in the hot seat. you had stepped away from day-to-day operations to become chairman?

I felt I had to take responsibility for what had suddenly started going wrong after a 15- year magic carpet ride, when everything we touched seemed to turn to gold. The sales were improving quarter after quarter, until, in 2007, they suddenly didn’t. I realised we were engaging with the wrong things while competitors in the coffee business were sweeping into the marketplace to take the food off our table. I held myself responsible for all the problems we had created and felt I had to return to take daily control to have any hope of saving Starbucks.

You left the company in 1986, four years after you joined as head of marketing, because, as coffee-roasters and retailers of whole beans first and foremost, the founders did not share your dream of creating an empire of Italian-style coffee houses. So, having started your own small chain, Il Giornale, why did you bother buying them out and rebranding?

It seemed like destiny to buy the company I had had so much respect for when the owners, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker, decided to sell their Seattle stores and roasting plant 16 months after I left. I was attached to the Il Giornale name but I knew I had to let it go. Starbucks had established a reputation for high-quality coffee and I felt the name – which comes from the first mate in the classic novel Moby Dick – was a great one in itself.

Against The Flow

Whether it’s rising above a poverty-ridden childhood in Perak’s slums or transforming a fledgling water treatment company into a world leader, recently-crowned Ernst & Young Global Entrepreneur of the Year Olivia Lum shows Low Shi Ping how she turns life’s daunting tide in her favour.

When her primary school teachers barred her from physical education because she was too scrawny, Olivia Lum didn’t take it lying down. Instead, the nine-year-old filled up plastic bags with stones, tied them to her legs and walked for hours every day to build strength.

Rain or shine, Lum trained for months, surprising everyone to clinch top spot in the 100m race at the sports meet. The prize? A pair of Bata shoes. “It was the happiest moment of my life,” Lum remarks.

It doesn’t take long to realise that the 50-yearold founder and group CEO of Hyflux relishes turning life’s adversities – however immense or insignificant – into fuel that propels her to greater heights. It’s how she emerged from the depths of poverty in bleak Kampar, a former tin-mining town in Perak, to become one of Asia’s wealthiest and most influential women.

More recently, she became the first woman to be anointed as the World Entrepreneur of the Year in the 11 years that global accounting giant Ernst & Young has been running this international programme.

Legends In Time

The launch of Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean in Capri provided Kenneth Tan with a glimpse of the timepiece’s odyssey into the present day.

The minute you set foot on the mythical island of Capri, off the western coast of Italy, it is easy to see just why the island has, for over two millennia, held a legion of thinkers, artists, poets and writers in its thrall. Its magical beauty is in making you feel suspended between the world of dreaming and reality, with its mysterious cobalt waters promising adventures afar and its dramatic limestone cliffs and secret grottos filled with a surreal mysticism.

The island today holds just as much fascination and its many beguiling natural and historical riches provide the visitor with a destination that’s simply extraordinary. This very place was chosen by Swiss watchmaker Omega as the venue for its international launch of the new Seamaster Planet Ocean, a reference that can trace its roots back to the Seamaster 300 issued to Royal Navy divers.

From its early days, when the seahorse came to be adopted as the emblem of the range, up to the present day, the Seamaster has come to define a well-loved line; and the Planet Ocean, first introduced as a particular reference under the range, has become vital to the brand, contributing between 12 and 15 per cent of its sales.

Higher And Haier

Among the many stories that have emerged from the Chinese economic ascendency is Haier – a white goods manufacturer that commands the largest global market share in its category. The brand also holds the distinction of having the highest brand equity in China, surpassing the Bank of China in 2009.

At the company’s helm, since its humble beginnings in 1984, is one of the most powerful women in the corporate world – its Group President, Yang Mian Mian. In an exclusive with The Peak, she talks about the journey that the company has taken, and the many right things that were done, to make the present day possible.

As the economic juggernaut that is China continues to grow, stories of corporate success are continually told; the turbo-charged speed in which its companies procure raw materials and garner consumer base before its international rivals even stir, the acquisitions of foreign brands (even English Premier League football teams) by Chinese business interests, and the ability of its companies to provide so much more for so much less – to the point that it’s infl uencing legislation on Capitol Hill to address the trade imbalance.

An Expert's View Of ST Tropez

Anthony Peregrine offers tips on exploring the first resort of the rich and famous.

Why go? Saint-Tropez is, quite simply, the most famous resort in Europe – and it was attracting the artistic and dissolute long before Brigitte Bardot’s time. The pointillist Paul Signac led them in from the late 19th century and, by the 1940s and 50s, the village was a summertime extension of the Parisian Left Bank: Juliette Greco, Boris Vian, Sartre and Picasso. Then Bardot appeared in And God Created Woman, transforming localised libertinage into a worldwide reputation for illicit pleasures. The place never looked back.

The great, the rich and the A-listers still tack in by the yachtful, meeting for villa soirées, in Le Club 55 on Pampelonne beach or at the Hotel Byblos’s Les Caves du Roy nightclub. If they weren’t there, the charming little village streets would not have quite so many yacht charter firms, top-end estate agencies, ferociously expensive restaurants and big-ticket designer boutiques.

In the wake of the A-listers comes any amount of flotsam and jetsam, whose obsession with air-headed extravagance can get on the nerves. But the well-heeled, scarcely-dressed, harebrained excess is vital to keeping Saint-Tropez in the planetary spotlight.

Haute In The Hamptons

HRH Tengku Zatashah and Aubry Mennesson take in the luxurious, laidback charm of the Hamptons – America’s nonpareil playground of the rich and famous.

The Hamptons in Long Island, New York, is, for us, the idyllic summer haven. We’ve been going there for over a decade and it’s most certainly the playground of the rich and famous for New Yorkers who can’t wait to get out of the hot steamy city and hit the cool beaches.

The Hamptons is fresh, fun, cool and glamorously chic. Made up of charming villages with beautiful stately homes, such as Southampton (realm of the Old Money), Bridgehampton (polo playground), East Hampton (New Money/ showbiz crowd), Montauk (farthest point of Long Island and famous for its lighthouse), Watermill (listed as the 14th most expensive zip code in the United States by Forbes), Sag Harbor (whaling port), Amagansett… there is so much to discover and even the drive there is nothing short of beautiful!

So, in this month’s column, we bring you all our favourite hotspots, events, and hangouts of the Hamptons, where you can mingle with the “locals” like Steven Spielberg, Martha Stewart, P Diddy, Russell Simmons (Kimora Lee Simmon’s ex), Billy Joel, Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin, Kim Cattrall, Ralph Lauren, Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Jessica Parker.