Archive for December 2011

Bags Of Success

The Peak, together with UK Trade & Investment and Anya Hindmarch Malaysia, recently teamed up to host a luncheon welcoming celebrated handbag designer and entrepreneur Anya Hindmarch to Kuala Lumpur in her capacity as Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom. The luncheon, which was co-hosted by British High Commissioner Simon Featherstone, Datin Azliza Ahmad Tajuddin, CEO of The Peak, and Soo Shea Pin, Managing Director of Anya Hindmarch Malaysia, welcomed 60 specially-invited guests to the private event held at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

Celebrating William & Son

Guests of The Peak and Shalini Ganendra Fine Art @ Gallery Residence were dazzled by the finest of English luxury when the master himself, William Asprey, recently visited Kuala Lumpur. Asprey, who is the Chairman of William & Son, was on hand to welcome guests to an evening of The Peak’s Art Series. William & Son’s selection of bespoke luxury became the centrepieces in the award-winning Gallery Residence, recently opened to the public after a masterly transformation by architect extraordinaire, Dato’ Dr Ken Yeang.

Home For The Holidays

Few getaways can speak a of grand holiday quite like a stay at the stately Prince Park, an exclusive property in South Devon that often plays host to a spectrum of events, from private weddings to spectacular shooting parties. Set amidst beautifully-manicured gardens and landscaped parkland, the 900-year-old estate is saturated with history and heritage as established with a noteworthy mention in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey that recorded “what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth.”

Your trip begins with a four-hour drive from London or a brisk helicopter ride to the landing area within the grounds. A butler awaits to usher you into the palatial comfort of this ancestral family home, where the live-in chef may be instructed to prepare a sumptuous meal with fresh ingredients from the kitchen garden for your gustatory pleasure. Surrender to post-feast drowsiness with a siesta in a four-poster bed: the six double and twin en-suite rooms, like the rest of the house, are tastefully furnished with fine paintings, antiques and tapestries.

The ‘WOW’ Factor

Jetsetters who love the high energy of trendy, cosmopolitan getaways will quickly latch on to the new playground of cool: W Retreat & Spa Bali in the heart of Seminyak. W is the über-cool, chic hotel chain that originated from New York and has now spread far and wide to cater to its die-hard fans. For us, Bali usually symbolises quaint, rustic Asian charm but, at W Retreat Bali, we were in the midst of glitz and glamour, funk and fun – mixing cutting-edge designs and cool lighting with local influences, creating a hip place to chill in.

With wide-open lounge spaces and large, comfy laid-back sofas, W Retreat Bali is located right on the beach for the ideal chillax location. What we loved best about W is its playful contemporary attitude – W for its signature concierge service “Whatever/ Whenever”; the WooBar, where you can “sip, play and flirt”; WOW suites with panoramic view of the sea and pool area; WIRED and WORDS, a quiet business centre and library for downtime; WET for the pool area; AWAY Spa for the most modern designer spa; SWEAT for the body beautiful in the gym; and, our favourite, Bliss products in the bathroom. Even the hairdryer came in a bag
labelled BLOW – so cute!

By The Water

The scarcity of prime real estate in Singapore in recent years has been the reason for colossal developments around the Marina Bay area. These edifices have, by a calculated force of will, been conjured from the sea and constructed on reclaimed land. Equally ingenious in concept is the Fullerton Bay Hotel, a building inspired by the smooth glide of a stately ocean liner. Built with concrete stilts, the blue-hued glass building hovers above bay’s tranquil waters and, reflected in its glass windows, is the Moshe Safdie-designed triple-towered cantilevered work of art, located opposite.

The six-storey, 100-room boutique hotel whispers of an Art Deco past – a retro-meets-futuristic projection of imagined perfection. Ten-metre high chandeliers greet visitors at the entrance, a location teeming with history – Clifford Pier. It was the first point of entry for the city-state’s forefathers during Singapore’s fledging years.

The Lust List

As only one was ever made by Montblanc, it will be an exclusive club indeed that owns this pinnacle of Montblanc’s craftsmanship. High jewellery and writing instrumentation combine in a one-and-halfyear effort by craftsmen from the famed Montblanc Artisan Atelier. One finds diamonds and emeralds decorating this sparkling fountain pen in channel setting, each facet reflecting light a thousand times over. On its cap is the Montblanc diamond, an icon hallowed by time as will, undoubtedly, the pen strokes that originate from its rhodium-plated 18K gold nib. PRICE: USD1.5 million (RM4.65 million).

The Dream Project

Over the last decade, the attentions of visitors on the road up Berjaya Hills in Pahang would have easily been riveted by a monolithic castle – replete with turrets, spires and stone fortifications – en route to the recreated French village of Colmar Tropicale. That castle, a scaled replica of the actual Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg in Alsace, is known today by its elegant moniker – The Chateau, a sign of imitation being the sincerest form. And not unlike its namesake in France, The Chateau of Berjaya Hills is also poised to become a tourism magnet as the world’s first spa and organic wellness resort.

Visitors venturing into The Chateau for the first time will marvel at how this edifice was put together, with the place resonant with antiquity and a lived-in calm. At 3,000 feet above sea level, a delicious cooling breeze regularly swishes through the 34,000 square metres of property, much of it commanding stunning views of the natural highlands. In this relaxing clime and pristine location, it’s easy to see why the idea of first building a resort intrigued Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, Founder and Chairman of Berjaya Corporation.

A Toast To The Tastemakers

When the going gets tough, Nathalie Guedj maintains the uncompromising standards of luxury as she gets going.

A yardstick often used to measure the strength of a director is her response to a crisis and Nathalie Guedj proved herself a staunch leader during the recent financial downturn. The elegant Managing Director of Carrera y Carrera described the economic plummet as the biggest challenge she had ever faced but her insistence throughout that the luxury brand’s philosophy and production would not be compromised kept the company in good stead and she smoothly sailed it out of troubled waters. “The quality, skill and traditions behind every piece of jewellery had to be maintained; we have occupied a market niche for a very long time and no crisis should change that,” she said.

The Partnership

Despite the vagaries of time, appliance manufacturer Miele Group, which began as a partnership in 1899 between Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann, remains in the hands of the two founding families. At the recent launch of the first ever Miele boutique in Malaysia, at Menara Kencana Petroleum in Solaris Dutamas, one finds the two heirs, and fourth generation to a partnership forged a century ago, namely Dr Markus Miele and Dr Reinhard Zinkann, who both serve as the current Managing Directors at the Miele Group.

“We’ve been very lucky,” Miele says, a smile playing on his lips, alluding to the unique ownership structure of Miele. In the case of four successive generations of men from two separate families being partners in Miele, it’s indeed a massive stroke of luck, a circumstance that’s almost impossible to find. Even Zinkann himself admits that he’s not heard of such an enduring story of corporate partnership, where three generations of male heirs have succeeded their fathers in a two-family company.

In The Footsteps Of Artists

Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning,” so said Giotto di Bondone, the famous Florentine Renaissance artist. And, certainly, the feelings of yearning are palpable. As you walk cobblestoned paths, you come across sights to captivate the senses: from the beautifully-preserved Pantheon and its dazzling oculus to a precious Caravaggio triptych tucked away in a church dedicated to the French king, Louis IX, a few steps away from the Piazza Navona, to the sight of a goldsmith quietly working on a bespoke piece of jewellery in his little atelier, Rome, and all of Italy, seems to live and breathe the spirit of artisanal craftsmanship.

It was this yearning to celebrate this quiet but fiercely proud element of handcrafted luxury in all its guises that prompted the house of Fendi to study and publish a guide to the art of fatto a mano (Italian for ‘handmade’) titled The Whispered, which was launched in November 2010.