Air Magazine - Empire Aviation - July'16

Issue sIXTY TWOjuLY 2016

Luxury • Culture • People • Style • Heritage

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Idris Elba

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Forty EightBeyond GreatnessWith a multitude of Hollywood releases, Idris Elba is seemingly everywhere. At what price?

Fifty TwoAll that Glitters...A longing look at the stunning Bouton d’or and Perlée collections from Van Cleef & Arpels

Editorial

Editorial director

John Thatcher

Editor

Chris [email protected]

Contributing Editor

Hayley Skirka

art

art director

Andy Knappett

designer

Emi Dixon

illustrator

Andrew Thorpe

CommErCial

managing director

Victoria Thatcher

Group Commercial director

David [email protected]

Commercial director

Rawan [email protected]

Business development manager

Rabih El [email protected]

ProduCtion

Production manager

Muthu Kumar

ContentsJuly 2016 : ISSUE 62

Sixty TwoThe Wag ClubLights, no cameras, all-action: revisiting the London nightspot where ascending stars came out to play

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July 2016 : ISSUE 62

Contents

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Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media

Publishing is strictly prohibited. HOT Media Publishing does not accept liability for

omissions or errors in AIR.

Tel: 00971 4 364 2876Fax: 00971 4 369 7494

EighteenRadarThe Ennstal-Classic winds through the scenic Austrian Alps, celebrating how driving should be

Twenty EightJewellery7 Carlos Place is where jewellery dreams are crystallised, and Jessica McCormack is the architect

Thirty Four TimepiecesBastions of horology, the House of Bovet declined to move with trends: they march to their own beat

From Thirty EightArt & DesignKoons and Hirst (titans of art) talk inspiration, while Made in Tashkeel showcases UAE design creativity

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Seventy EightTravelCoral reefs, sandy beaches and tranquility; daydream away to Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa

Sixty EightMotoringMaserati brings its exquisite styling and motoring excellence to... an SUV? This we simply have to see

Seventy TwoGastronomyAponiente is the greatest restaurant you’ve never heard of, serving an ingredient you didn’t expect

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Empire Aviation GroupJULY 2016 : ISSUE 62

Welcome Onboard

issUe siXTY Two

Contact Details:[email protected]

Welcome to this issue of AIR – Empire Aviation Group’s aviation lifestyle magazine for aircraft owners and onboard guests.

A business jet offers a very practical and luxurious way to travel but the private aviation experience starts and ends on the ground and so this is a vitally important part of the service and makes a substantial contribution to the overall passenger experience.

From passenger reception to terminal and lounge facilities, the transfer to the aircraft and boarding process, ground services should provide a seamless set of complementary services to match the inflight standards.

As a global operator, we work with specialists around the world at some of the key aviation hubs to ensure that our services are complemented to the same high standards by the ground service providers who partner with us to support our passengers – whether they are aircraft owners, or charter clients.

EAG is a Dubai-headquartered private aviation company, so we are very fortunate to have two of the world’s finest international airports on our doorstep, with Dubai International and Dubai Word Central (DWC) Al Maktoum Airport serving as bases for some of our managed fleet of aircraft and very often the departure and arrival points for EAG flights.

Dubai is one of the world’s leading commercial and private aviation hubs, with a global reputation for high quality service; EAG is able to work with ground service providers at both Dubai airports, to ensure we are able to deliver the best experience to aircraft owners and passengers.

Quiet, relaxed executive terminals with a range of high quality facilities, the red carpet service for VIPs, and fast and comfortable transfer from the terminal to your awaiting business jet, are just some of the ways that our ground partners help create a memorable experience.

In this issue, we focus on our partnership with Jetex Flight Support at Dubai World Central, and the contribution this relationship is making to our passenger and client experience, since we started to base business jets there.

Like EAG, Jetex is a global aviation company headquartered in Dubai, so this really is the ideal partnership at DWC.

Enjoy the issue.

Steve Hartley Paras DhamechaExecutive Director Executive Director


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EAG rolls out the red carpet for clients at Dubai World Central Private aviation is not just about the flying experience - the service on the ground makes a vital contribution to the overall passenger experience, whether it is a business or leisure mission.

EAG has the benefit and privilege of having two of the world’s finest international airports on our doorstep.

Since starting our operations at DWC, we have been building a new partnership with Jetex, one of the world’s leading FBO (Fixed Based Operators), which manages the

private executive FBO terminal at DWC. There are many advantages to working with the expert ground specialists and Jetex is providing a range of vital services supporting EAG flights and passengers at DWC.

For passengers, the benefits of the Jetex FBO are quickly apparent, even on the airside, where there is direct access to the main entrance of the terminal from the curb, for comfort and convenience, with the option of a red carpet welcome.

Inside, the impressive private lounge facilities and welcoming refreshments make for a relaxed transit through to airside, with E-gate access and a separate screening area for baggage. Customs clearance works 24/7 with the dedicated Jetex

staff at the terminal and there are always a minimum three Jetex agents per flight on hand to assist.

Once airside, passengers can see their aircraft parked in front of the terminal and enjoy a fast (around one minute) and luxurious transit from the terminal to the business jet, courtesy of the Rolls Royce limousine service.

Jetex operates a fleet of three luxurious, black Rolls Royce Phantoms specifically for the purpose.

Welcomed onboard by EAG crew and comfortably seated on your business jet, it is a short taxi from the terminal to the runway and then you are ready for takeoff.

Definitely not your average flying experience.


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Meet Jetex Flight Support

infrastructure at the Dubai South Aviation District, which is set to be the gateway to Expo 2020. Located in the VIP Terminal, the Jetex Dubai FBO promises luxurious personalized services for their valued guests. The FBO, with a team of dedicated Jetex professionals on board, will provide ground support, fueling, ground equipment for all types of aircraft, interior and exterior aircraft cleaning, 24-hour security arrangements, and concierge services: hotel, limousine, helicopter transfers and shopping.

On May 24, 2016, Jetex was awarded the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) certification for its Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at Al Maktoum International VIP terminal. This prestigious accreditation awarded by

Jetex Flight Support was established in 2005 at the Dubai International Airshow. Today, Jetex has a prominent presence in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, with FBOs in Agadir, Casablanca, Dakhla, Dubai, Marseille, Marrakech, Mexico, Paris, Rabat-Salé, Santiago and Shannon, operations centers in Beijing, Dubai and Miami in addition to a global ground support station network.

Jetex operates through the world’s first and only 7-star VIP terminal equipped with world-class

the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) marks the first certification for a Dubai-based FBO.

“Dubai World Central marks the next chapter in Dubai’s development as one of the world’s leading aviation hubs,” says Adel Mardini, CEO and President of Jetex Flight Support. “It makes absolute sense for us to be present there and the new general aviation terminal that is being built now will feature highly luxurious facilities that will set a new standard of excellence for our global customers.”

The company’s commitment to having a personal touch means that Jetex is on the ground to assist clients across 31 countries and 61 stations, and this number continues to grow quickly.

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Winding through the mountain-roads and picturesque towns of the Austrian Alps, the Ennstal-Classic is about appreciation as much as acceleration. Helmut Zwickl and Michael Glöckner founded the Classic with an objective to ‘make motor sports like in earlier times – something to touch and experience – with the cars of earlier times on today’s streets.’ They’ve created a nostalgic motoring summit that attracts the ‘who’s who’ of international racing, all competing for the Alfred Neubauer trophy. Porsche-museums has brought its family-fleet to Gröbming, Mercedes-Benz sends the legendary pre-war silver arrows, and the factory museums of Alfa Romeo, Auto Union, BMW, Jaguar, and Lamborghini have also showcased their classic motoring jewels. It’s where driving is celebrated as an artform; as it used to be, and how it should be. The 2016 edition takes place from July 27-30. ennstal-classic.at

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CritiqueJULY 2016 : ISSUE 62

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Film

Our Kind Of TraitorDir: Susanna White

A money launderer for a group of gangsters asks a vacationing couple to deliver incriminating evidence to an MI6 agent…

AT BEST: “It’s so sleek and involving that it’s easy to ignore the nagging plot holes. We’re too busy imagining what we might do in the same situations.” contactmusic.com

AT WORST: “While well made... the film doesn’t have a distinguishing feature to make it a cinematic must see.” Daily Express

EqualsDir: Drake Doremus

Two young lovers living in a future devoid of emotions discover that a disease has the power to bring them back

AT BEST: “Through... powerful performances and delicate direction, it speaks to human relationships in a way that’s intimately familiar, romantic, and, yes, emotionally gut-punching.” Collider

AT WORST: “Feels cobbled together from George Orwell, THX-1138, The Giver’ perfume commercials and the Apple Store.” The Wrap

The BFGDir: Steven Spielberg

In an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, ten-year-old Sophie befriends a 24ft-tall ‘Big Friendly Giant’

AT BEST: “It is an adamantly well-done action adventure yarn that boasts top-notch special effects and real heart.” The Young Folks

AT WORST: “For all of its technical excellence and surrealistic flights of fancy, this isn’t Steven Spielberg at full throttle.” The Independent

Microbe and GasolineDir: Michel Gondry

A shy schoolboy has trouble making friends until he meets a like-minded outcast; they plan an epic road trip across France

AT BEST: “Just when it seemed Gondry would be lost in the clouds forever, he comes back down to earth with a winsomely grounded coming-of-age tale that makes the most of his talents.” Time Out

AT WORST: “It’s erratic stuff, often amusing, occasionally ill judged, but packed with off-kilter, ramshackle charm.” The Observer


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Theatre

D iving into The Deep Blue Sea at Lyttelton Theatre, Paul

Taylor of the The Independent says, “Helen McCrory and director Carrie Cracknell won awards for their striking collaboration on Medea. They resume their partnership, with more mixed results… The play may unfold in a dingy Ladbroke Grove rooming house, but it focuses on a woman who is a Fifties equivalent of Phedre, flouting convention in her obsessive infatuation with a man who cannot match the intensity of her feelings. McCrory gives a commanding portrayal of a woman exhausted by unreciprocated desire, alternating between flurries of desperate clinging and bleak, clear-eyed recognition that she and (RAF hero) Freddie are death to each other.”

The Guardian’s Susannah Clapp feels that, “(Cracknell) plants a gunpowder trail. The painful realism of the play is encased in strangeness. In an indelible performance, McCrory is buffeted, wretched, plaintive, strung-along, strung-up, manipulative... Yet she makes of Hester Collyer a remarkable and unexpected heroine.” Of the aura, Natasha Tripney at The Stage

surmises, “This is a play and a production of facades, cool and blue and smoke-wreathed, which makes it all the more wrenching and desperate when McCrory’s Hester breaks, when she crumbles to the floor, when she abandons all her measured calm... It’s a restrained but still deeply moving production of a Rattigan masterwork.” The play shows until September 21.

Elsewhere in the West End, The Threepenny Opera shows at the Olivier Theatre until early October. “Bertolt Brecht took The Threepenny Opera from an eighteenth century script by John Gay and relocated it to Victorian London. This National Theatre version (by Rufus Norris) wants to straddle the contemporary and the antique,” says Lloyd Evans of The Spectator. It is, he believes, “…Quite a muddle. The moral atmosphere feels puerile and dated. Who today would consider a serial killer a charming daredevil? We no longer regard beggars as decorative, swindling desperados. And our attitude to misogyny has developed since Brecht’s time.” Variety’s Matt Trueman remarks that, “Norris deploys the staple Brechtian

techniques – characters squawk “scene change” to move things along – but they come laced with irony, all knowingly naïve... It’s basically pastiche, one big epic spoof. This is straight-up entertainment: Brecht for the bourgeoisie. Somebody’s turning in his grave tonight… Mac’s gang make a lovely ragbag bunch as well... Trouble is, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Without the anger to back up the politics, it’s little more than diverting.”

It feels the critics are urging for the sun to set on Sunset at the Villa Thalia, performed at the Dorfman Theatre until August 4. “If the characters were stronger you could forgive the clunkiness, but they’re on about one dimension each... The cast make the best of it, and I genuinely would watch Ben Miles in anything: his Harvey is the best thing here, a seamless mix of irritating American holiday maker and sinister American foreign agent. But it’s not enough to make this lumberingly unsubtle play a worthwhile summer destination,” scathes Andrzej Lukowski, writing for TimeOut London.

Variety’s Trueman is slightly kinder. “A Greek holiday home becomes a symbol of a diplomatic powerplay in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s two-act time-hop… If Simon Godwin’s production remains watchable enough, it’s energised by strong performances… But there’s never any doubt that we’re watching nations, not people, and in nailing America, Kaye Campbell heaps too much blame on one man… It’s simplistic and schematic, and ultimately, entirely forgettable as a holiday fling.”

We’re back in the fire though with the opinion of Dominic Cavendish at The Telegraph: “Campbell’s disappointing new play gives the cynics ample ammunition… You can allow a playwright some leeway on dramatic artifice, poetic licence and conversational exposition, but Campbell draws on our funds of indulgence til there’s nowt left in the bank…” Ouch.

Above: Nick Fletcher, Helen McCrory in The Deep Blue Sea. Image by Richard Hubert Smith

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Art

“B acon of a very different flavour”, says The Guardian’s

Alastair Smart of Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms, in full swing at the Tate Liverpool. “Two big problems faced this curator. What’s left to say that we haven’t heard (many times) before? And two: Bacon being such an uneven artist, who turned out almost as many misses as he did hits, how to maintain quality control throughout? The show solves both problems with minimum fuss, by including just 30 canvases and by focusing, tightly, on one relatively neglected aspect of his career: the architectural ‘frames’ he used in many of his pictures... It honed, one suspects, a keen sense of space, which the architectural elements in his canvases made manifest. Despite the myth of him as a visceral, instinctive painter, this revealing show presents a much more considered artist than we once believed.”

The Guardian’s Laura Cumming admires the bold works on show here, saying that, “Narratives begin to form in your head but the story is sidelined every time by the sheer force of the image… They are there to highlight, to focus, to point to the figure. The lesson of Liverpool is that Bacon’s art is exactly what he wanted it to be, no matter how many ways we might like to explain it: not stories but pictures that hold their own, a set of deathless, inexplicable images.”

On to Asia. “Large art exhibition openings and hyperbole aren’t exactly unfamiliar bedfellows, but when Yuz Foundation director Ashok Adicéam introduced the Yuz Museum’s retrospective of Giacometti’s sculptures, paintings and sketches as ‘an historical moment’, it was not without some justification…” says TimeOut Shanghai of the groundbreaking Alberto Giacometti Retrospective. They add, “Shanghai gets to see his work up close for the first time. It’s a fascinating, important exploration of the artist’s life and work.” Barbara Pollock of ArtNews writes that, “This retrospective is extensive, including more than 250 works, ranging from paintings by the artist’s father from the early 1900s to his monumental sculptures slated for the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City at the time of his death…” With commentary on a deeper level, she also believes the exhibition – which shows until July 31 – could carry wider significance, saying, “There was a time when only the Shanghai Museum was… equipped to handle shows like this retrospective… with strict standards for climate control and art handling. Today, it seems private museums are trying to meet those same standards. If they are successful, this would presage an optimistic future for the art scene in China and would have long-range benefits for China’s emerging artists.”

Those seeking an ethereal art experience can opt for Georgiana Houghton: Spirit Drawings, at London’s Courtauld Art Gallery. 19thct.com fills in the backdrop: “In 1871 Houghton rented a gallery and showed her watercolour drawings in London. The exposition was met with mixed reviews, and only one painting sold. These days, we can appreciate her paintings for what they are: beautiful, colourful abstract paintings, full of movement. She was a pioneer, choosing this abstract and free-flowing way of working instead of meticulously working out historical scenes.”

The Guardian’s Mark Brown ackowledges her ahead-of-its-time technique, too. “She has been dismissed as an eccentric, amateur artist who claimed to talk to the dead and receive their help with her watercolours. But Georgiana Houghton’s abstract style is beginning to be recognised as being decades (in front) of painters in a similar vein such as Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian…” The gallery’s curator, Barnaby Wright, said the works were extraordinary and pre-dated works by artists considered abstract pioneers by some 40 years. He recalled being given a Houghton work. “I fell straight into the trap of saying it was a piece of 1960s or 1970s psychedelia. Turns out it was 1865.”

Left: Glory be to God. Right: The Eye of the Lord. Both by G. Houghton; Images courtesy of Victorian Spiritualists’ Union Melbourne


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Books

A nnie Proulx has a towering literary reputation and is back on the

scene with Barkskins, a 700-page novel that spans 300 years: music to the ears of Charles Finch at USA Today. “[It] is both very long and, astonishingly, actually ambitious. It tracks the gradual but ceaseless ravaging of the forests of the new world between 1693 and 2013; its aim is nothing less than a reckoning with the human role in the present global ecological crisis. It succeeds.” He goes on to praise that, “There have been numerous novels with this kind of chronological scope, but they’re almost always primarily historical in purpose… Proulx, by contrast, has a whole competing host of ethical, conceptual, historical, and literary concerns: she wants to de-emphasise the human point of view, draw our eye out to nature, even as she writes

her saga through individual people. The result is a marvel. This is a long novel worth your time.” Jim Carmin at the Star Tribune adds that, “Proulx’s lyrical prose and great descriptive prowess keeps this potentially rambling novel intact and gives flashes of personality in just a few words… [She] has created a moving opus of evolving Western environmental values in novel form. How society has arrived at our present-day calamitous time of climate change is seen through the eyes and actions of these memorable characters created by a gifted author.”

Monterey Bay by Lindsay Hatton is a debut novel that opens with the arrival of a 15-year-old Margot and her entrepreneurial father to Monterey, California, in 1940. Publishers Weekly explains that, “Hatton takes up a formidable challenge, setting her story in one of American literature’s

most famous locations. She does an excellent job of recreating the Cannery Row that no longer exists, honouring the memory of John Steinbeck and ‘Doc’ Ed Ricketts… and all the workers who once toiled there, as seen through the eyes of a precocious teenage heroine.” Kirkus.com further reveals in its review that, “[a] twisting path eventually brings the resourceful Margot back to Monterey Bay in the 1980s with a sizable fortune and a plan to honour her father’s Monterey venture and Ed’s scientific ideas by establishing an aquarium. Chapters alternate mainly between 1940 and 1998, with the latter conveying some of the humour and challenges in running the facility; the descriptions of marine life are sensuously precise. Overall, Hatton shapes a jagged coming-of-age and growing-old story with fine vignettes held together by Margot’s pluck and her commitment to feelings and memories that matter deeply. Along with creating a fully-realised, realistic heroine seen across decades, Hatton is a writer of often exceptional prose, sometimes overwrought but always thoughtful.”

Lastly, The Hogarth Shakespeare project – where the Bard’s plays are reimagined as contemporary novels – returns with its third iteration, by Anne Tyler. Vinegar Girl, says The Guardian, is a “sparky spin on The Taming of the Shrew, in which a brusque school teacher is pitted against a Russian lab assistant in this intelligent revamp.” The Express thinks it, “a modern reworking [that is] a curious choice for Anne Tyler. There is much of her trademark wit and sharp observation here. She shifts effortlessly from humour to pathos and creates emotion without any hint of sentimentality… [And] while Tyler imbues her characters with greater depth than Shakespeare’s originals, her natural gift for exploring family dynamics seems constrained by faithfulness to the original written text. There is more than enough here to entertain and engage but we look forward to Tyler returning to stories of her own imagination.”

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Seven, Carlos Place

‘O nce upon a time…’ would be an ideal way to begin talking about this New

Zealand-born, London-based diamond-jewellery designer, though not for being a princess requiring a hero – Jessica is self-made. It’s that hers is a realm of stones and gold, poetry-woven storytelling, swirling in romance and the nostalgia of creativity. The compositions she personally designs are driven by love: suitors seeking a unique creation to woo; those looking to resurrect an adored jewel from a trinket-past; clients who pour their heart into centring newly-found stones within a bangle or ring, to be cherished by generations to come (and treasured by themselves, until such time arrives).

A coterie of clients will confess that there’s a charming quality to the entire experience. First is the setting: not a castle, but 7 Carlos Place, a five-storey townhouse in the heart of Mayfair. The

sterile-boutique approach is banished from this kingdom, replaced with an art-filled, sumptuous home where the entire process can be savoured and the personal approach fully indulged. She curated this welcoming property and deems it her ‘silent partner’, confiding that, “The house plays a big role; it’s a living, breathing entity, and an important part of the experience. Jewellery is a snapshot of a period in your life, and I want to evoke those feelings in a place that is an extension of my home. It’s an oasis just off Bond Street, where people come and spend time in the library, in the gardens, and in the house, because ours is not a quick process and I want to make sure everything falls into place. Fine jewellery requires a delicate approach.”

There’s a definite juxtaposition here: Jessica is among the haute jewellery elite, yet aficionados and the plain-curious are welcomed to 7 Carlos

without appointment to peruse the displays, muse over design ideas, or simply soak up the aura. She describes her clientele as “like a cult, or a club.” Not that it is a closed circle, simply that “word of mouth is how we’ve grown the business and usually, once buying a piece, clients come back and develop that creative relationship, having the trust and confidence to commission. They’ll acquire a piece and then, by the second or third purchase, I find the bespoke discussions begin to develop. Diamond jewellery is all about trust, and you need to earn that on both sides… plus I need to be able to understand the client, so they can acquire a creation that they adore.”

Her passion for the craft began early (her father owned an auction house), and was further crystallised during a stint at the high-jewellery department of Sotheby’s in London. Jessica’s life around jewels shaped her

Step into the bespoke world of Jessica McCormack, where distinctive hand-

crafted jewellery and signature techniques weave a spellbinding tale

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as a modern jeweller with traditional values, procuring stones with a distinct personality; “At Sotheby’s I was exposed to Russian crown jewels, 1920s Cartier heirlooms and such. It was eye-opening and inspiring, and it’s when the penny dropped and I realised I wanted to be in the world of jewellery. Being around my father and heading off to source stones that weren’t necessarily precious but became re-birthed in a precious light was not a monetary pursuit. It was looking at gems from a different perspective, which is what I still do.”

It was during that spell in London that Jessica encountered her co-directors Michael Rosenfeld and Rachel Slack. “They’re both super strong: Rach is the great granddaughter of Earnest Oppenheimer, so hails from a long line of diamond buyers, and has a love for the old-school glamour they represent. Yet she’s a modern woman who still wants to be able to wear jewellery every day, and while her business nous is strong, that understanding of the lifestyle side is crucial. As for Michael, I call him the Rain Man of diamonds. He’ll remember a stone I sold years ago that was set in an engagement ring. He’s great because he cherry-picks incredible stones and will bring them to me whilst instinctively knowing my true reaction towards a stone; he’s taught me everything I know about

how to intuitively appraise a diamond.” It would be remiss to pigeonhole

her designs with a conveniently broad brush-stroke – Jessica can create both discreet and pretty or bold and spectacular – but she admits to a couple of distinct hallmarks. “First and foremost, everything is made downstairs by artisans in the basement, which allows me greater creative freedom. In terms of both setting and making, I like Victorian and Georgian styles, inspired by my love of old jewellery. The Victorian method we deploy is layering white gold on the front and yellow gold on the back – originally they used to use silver with yellow gold on the reverse to provide strength, as they didn’t have white gold. I personally love the mixed metals and the warmth of yellow gold against the skin, and it is something unique that can only be done by hand; you can’t manufacture that process. Another of our signature styles is in the setting. A Georgian cut-down has metal pressed around the stone, and it softens the visual sharpness of the diamond – for me, a diamond can sometimes have quite a harsh quality, so this process brings out a more-delicate beauty.”

In addition to the commissioned works are the signature collections with wistful names – Tattoo, The Jewels of the Urban Night, Party Jacket, Messenger of the Gods and Perfect

Opening page: Jessica McCormackClockwise from below left: New York Reflection ring; Snow Drop Riviere; Tattoo pendant; BT Tower diamond earrings

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along the way), she has resisted the urge to ‘go global’. “True luxury is time, and I love the idea of someone having the time to come to London, knowing this is where their jewellery was designed and then crafted, and this is its home. They’re aware that it is something you can’t get anywhere else in the world, and that’s special. I do have clients in the Middle East, who say ‘all I can do is envy your designs on Instagram until I get the chance to travel to England’, but I love having a London-centric little business.”

She oft-mentions jewellery as a ‘world’, and jewellery is clearly the centrifugal force of Jessica’s own sphere. “The world of diamonds can be quite immense and male dominated, and we’re spirited within it. I want to rekindle the creative spirit of how jewellery used to be made and want to grow small, not big, to return to the roots in order to find new ideas, to move backwards like a detective searching for clues. I have a strong belief that we’re an integral part of the foreverness of jewellery, and I encourage the conversations, the sharing process and the tangents my clients go on, because ultimately it is about owning an art form that you really love, whomever you are and whomever it is for.”Jessica McCormack’s 7 Carlos Place in Mayfair, London, is open Monday to Saturday. jessicamccormack.com

I like Victorian and Georgian styles, inspired by my love of old jewellery

Storm. Her newest collection is Couture Bridal. “The house collections each have a theme or a style but usually were influenced by ‘what would I like to wear?’ Each has its high-end pieces but the intricate details and design hallmarks are present across the entirety of that particular collection. The diamond content and the price point shouldn’t dictate how much love and attention goes into crafting each piece of jewellery,” she enthuses.

For all the success (attracting the eye of style-setting, bona fide A-listers

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal; this month’s must-haves and collectibles

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Plainly-describing this as merely a ‘yellow diamond bangle’ belies the incredible power this piece possesses, but then ‘The London Jeweller’ has always let his jewellery do the talking. The creation is composed of an Important fancy vivid yellow diamond spiral bangle, with round

pink and pear-shape white diamonds set in 18ct white gold. This is one irresisitble treasure from a glittering array of unique pieces – a collective that one can begin to explore at the flagship boutique on London’s New Bond Street, or by visiting davidmorris.com

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It began as a concept, unveiled at the elegant Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este by Lake Como back in May; such was the demand that a strictly limited run of 99 cars will be built to order. The Vanquish Zagato represents a collaborative partnership that stretches back over five decades, pairing

Aston Martin’s acclaimed dynamic and material qualities with Zagato’s signature design language. Previous iterations have performed exceptionally in the investment stakes, and with a 6L V-12 powertrain, the sporting GT is guaranteed to vanquish foes on the road, too. astonmartin.com

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They may be the hottest bespoke luxury handbags to emerge from London right now, but the Lottie looks to become a timeless classic that defies trends with its clean lines and rounded edges. Personal touches extend to changing the

colour of the handle, strap and main box components, plus a choice to match or contrast the colour of the suede interior lining. You’ll notice there’s no logo (as per the design ethos); those in-the-know will just know. charlottealuna.com

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At the legendary Cinecittà Studios, Karl Lagerfeld united the glamour of Italian cinema with French elegance. He created a line of handbags featuring the iconic silhouettes of Boy Chanel and models inspired by the 7th Art, with the most

eyecatching being where Lagerfeld, ‘appropriates the most important symbol in film-making’ in black resin, illuminated with a rhinestone lens.’ Its interior conceals a leather strap that unwinds like a film reel; a style blockbuster.

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The Middle East can delight in the fact that this is a regional exclusive, ensuring an extra element of uniqueness. Lucea is a collection that has proven popular despite being a fairly recent addition to the Bulgari portfolio, and materials range from steel to rose gold and diamonds. A new dimension

is the addition of a sumptuous green dial, punctuated with diamond indices. This ladies’ timepiece is inspired by the connection between the light and time, and Bulgari says that green was chosen for its ‘association throughout the ages with growth, new life, and even wealth.’

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There’s something about the colour of this turquoise stone that makes you feel you are staring into its soul. Surrounded by 18ct rose gold, the mesmeric ring is to ‘bring colour to your life’ – as with all pieces in the Ginette NY jewellery box. Frédérique Dessemond is the driving force. Born and

raised in Marseille, she moved to the US and started creating pieces dedicated to strong women: modern jewellery with a subtle balance of emotion, sensuality, pure materials and natural stones. It’s French-inspired artistic expression, designed to be worn. ginette-ny.com

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The death of The Greatest saw not only an outpouring of emotion across the globe for the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion, whose appeal transcended all boundaries before it, but brought with it a wave of memorabilia-

hungry fans keen to snap up anything bearing Ali’s name. Something unique to own is Taschen’s GOAT, Champ’s Edition. It totals over 600k words, 792 pages, is limited to 1,000 copies and comes with a sculpture by Jeff Koons, for USD15,000.

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F or many crossing the globe during the Eid holiday, keeping time is imperative

and can be potentially complex; so what better time to talk about watches designed for travel. It was in 1884 that the International Meridian Conference in Washington decided to divide the Earth into twenty-four time zones. Soon after, watchmakers were scratching their heads, trying to come up with a horological way to deal with the technicalities. The first watches with dual time zones had two separate movements and two dials. Later, clutch mechanisms for a second hour hand were invented. Today, world timers are some of the most sought-after complications; here’s my choice of the best available.

Patek Philippe was one of the first to adopt the world time system invented in 1935 by the Geneva watchmaker Louis Cottier, in its World Time 5930. The current World Time 5930 is very loosely based on a watch from 1940 (the reference 1415 HU). What’s remarkable about the workings of this watch is that when you’re changing time zones, the entire hour hand is disengaged from the movement so neither the amplitude of the balance nor the steady progression of the minute hand are affected. Besides technical superiority, it’s also the world’s smallest, thinnest world-timer chronograph. The white gold case and the striking blue hand-guilloched dial centre are typical of Patek Philippe’s refined elegance.

With IWC, when it comes to travel, the two go hand-in-hand: the aircraft etched on the back of the Timezoner Chronograph model is the Junkers Ju 52. Back in the 1930s this plane

In the ZoneTarIq MaLIk

brought the world closer – it was the most common civilian aircraft, so this piece is a tribute. The watch itself is more modern, and allows you to set the time zone with a press and turn of the bezel. another useful feature is the ‘S’ marking, that enables you determine where in the world it is officially summer.

The original Jaeger-LeCoultre World Time was made to commemorate the International Geophysical Year. This was an effort supported by 67 different nations to encourage scientific exploration and experimentation, and this watch was worn by the first men to reach the North Pole. The world map on the dial has graded lacquered shades of blue for the oceans, and continents engraved and finished in a white gold sunburst motif. Besides a rich and colourful heritage, the JLC Geophysique World Timer includes a 274-part movement with World Time and True Seconds (which jump, instead of the traditional sweeping

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movement), and this watch tells time for all 24 zones.

Let’s mention the Girard Perregaux Traveller. The brand first introduced its Traveller collection in 2013 and what I love about the design is the slightly curved dial, with a plunging rehaut minute scale. In 2014 an upgrade was released: The Big Date Moonphase. The moon phase complication in the sub-dial has noteworthy details: the image of the lunar surface is forged from mineral glass, and floats between a grey on black Milky Way – the stars are made of silver, and one of them conceals the GP logo. Lastly is the Vacheron Constantin Overseas World Time, which displays 37 different time zones, including some that are off-set by a half or quarter hour. at the centre of the dial there is a ‘Lambert’ projection map with the continents and oceans in a velvet finish. Special.Find Tariq’s co-founded vintage watch boutique Momentum in Dubai’s DIFC. momentum-dubai.com

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Timepieces

Defenders of ArtAs the House of Bovet celebrates its crystal anniversary of Pascal Raffy at the helm, we catch up with the man ensuring watchmaking traditions remain at the very heart of this horology dynasty

WORDS : HAYLEY SKIRKA

S itting on an armchair on the 32nd-floor of Dubai’s Shangri-La Hotel, gazing out across the

city, Pascal Raffy pauses for a moment, drinking in the view.

“Ah, beautiful Dubai,” he sighs, quietly, before taking a sip of his strong espresso, ordered with urgency and the only telltale sign of any jet lag he may be suffering despite having flown in late the night prior. A man of passion and drive, it’s no wonder he feels at home in the bustling emirate sprawling below him. Clearing his throat, Raffy begins our chat by emphasising that, at least in the eyes of this particular gentleman, success in any field comes from continuity. And as owner of the House of Bovet, a dynasty with an incredible patrimony dating back almost two centuries, his is a continuity that’s been defined over an incredible span of time.

Despite having taken over the helm at Bovet a mere fifteen years ago, rendering the House an adolescent under his watch, Raffy acknowledges the crucial need for endurance. “The most important thing, as with everything in life, is not to shine but to last. Our continuity and meaning through the collections, the upholding of traditions and values, and paying homage to the unbelievable patrimony of the brand, is of utmost importance.”

And certainly, just glancing at any Bovet timepiece renders these values discernible, but that’s not to assume that remaining true to them has been the easiest of paths. Indeed, back in 2001 Raffy was known in horology circles as the old-fashioned gentleman of the watchmaking world. “As other houses raced to follow the globalisation trend, we declined [politely, of course]. Marketing follows globalisation – it’s simply not our cup of tea,” he remarks matter-of-factly in his soft-spoken Lebanese lull. Instead, the house focused on keeping the ancestral skills of watchmaking alive. “There’s a beautiful expression in English,” continues Raffy “If you want to lead, then lead by example.” And, in an ever-increasingly globalised world, that’s exactly what the watchmakers did.

Having first realised his interest in timepieces as a child when Sunday mornings were spent marvelling at his grandfather’s horology collection, it was love at first sight for Raffy and Bovet when they met at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Instantly, Raffy made the decision to ensure the house stood strong on its traditions, despite the common conception of the time that the ancestral crafts of horology – the likes of métier paintings, enamelling, guilloche, engravings and everything

that Bovet has proudly stood for – were old fashioned. In his mind, Raffy had no doubt that the next generations would need to come back to true values and, a quick scan of today’s horology landscape shows that he was correct: just look at the countless novelties at Baselworld this year that pay testament to watchmaking arts.

And yet, perhaps because of this ingrained stubbornness, or simply as the original defenders, Bovet somehow seems to pay these arts more justice than any other horology name.

If you want to lead, then lead by example

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According to Raffy, that’s down to his biggest investment, his extended family of 142 at his watchmaking headquarters in Switzerland. “The biggest challenge in life is not to buy buildings or to build machinery – this, you can find so much of. The most important thing is to rely on human beings. People who turn up every morning not as employees, but instead to their second home. As two hands to a plough – you can have a project or a vision for your house, and you can be a very difficult collector (as I am) – but if you don’t have that second hand to make such a beautiful noise when the plough turns, then you don’t do anything, other than betray one of the most iconic watchmaking houses in Switzerland.”

And that’s certainly not something that is about to happen under Raffy’s watch. After standing his ground while the watchmaking world bowed to what was deemed trendy, Bovet timepieces remain a distinct luxury.

The star of this year’s show is the magnificent Bovet Récital 18 Shooting Star. Limited to just 50 pieces, the timepiece displays the entirety of the world on a hemisphere – allowing the wearer to ‘see’ all time zones, and enabling him to tell the time for any zone with a single glance. Usability is key – world time is assigned with a slight turn of the crown and wearers can select a secondary city by then depressing the crown, which sets the double roller above the hemisphere into action. Raffy explains, “Innovation in watchmaking is necessary to allow the collector to live his selfish pleasure; to enjoy his timepiece without needing a watchmaker nearby.” The Shooting Star departs slightly from

some of the House’s more traditional and extravagant displays of beauty. It is definitely a more contemporary offering yet appears no less regal. Despite its modernity, the inclined case – reflective of angled writing desks from an era when the written word was considered a true art form – defends traditional values.

The leading lady for this year comes in the form of the Lady Bovet Flower of Life Amadeo Fleurier. No longer one to shy away from women’s horology, Raffy smiles when quizzed about Bovet’s developments in timepieces for the fairer sex. “In 2001, I was weak in the ladies collection. I was a very selfish collector, very proud of owning my watchmaking House and I simply wanted to please myself. That weakness lasted six or seven years until one day, I was watching my daughter Alexandria, and I thought how truly complicated she was.” Subsequently, the Miss Alexandria Tourbillon was born, the first Bovet tourbillon for women. Since then, the House has presented some remarkable complications for women and The Lady Bovet Amadeo Fleurier builds on this, giving a feminine interpretation to the mechanical architecture of the technically impressive Virtuoso II. Adorned with various bridges presenting voluptuous shapes with concentric curves on the dial, this timepiece is a perfect balance of graceful harmony and symmetry. Again, usability is key and with a quick manoeuvre, it can be reversed to reveal an entirely different face – a classic dial featuring a hand-gilded flower of life engraved on a dial of mother-of-pearl or grand feu enamel. The complications don’t end there. The piece can also be

Wake up every morning knowing that you don’t know everything transformed into a hanging pendant or a truly intricate desk clock. With pocket chain timepieces being the essence of almost five centuries of watchmaking history, this feature is a serious nod to the old fashioned way of expressing time, and something that no other watchmaking House could achieve quite so perfectly.

With a clear vision for the future that encompasses patience, education and a true appreciation for art, Pascal Raffy and his family of 142 watchmakers are successfully steering Bovet forward. And his reasoning for this success? “Believe in destiny, let time do her thing and be generous. But that does not mean be stupid. And perhaps it helps to wake up every morning knowing that you don’t know everything: it’s a good motto to live by.”

A true devotee of ancestral watchmaking arts, those which are so palpable in Bovet timepieces, Pascal Raffy is without a doubt a romantic visionary who could not be better seated than at the helm of one of the world’s oldest watchmaking Houses.

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Art & DesignJULY 2016 : ISSUE 62

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Born In The UAE

Tashkeel prides itself on supporting the local creative community through residencies, studio time, fellowships and exhibitions.

Made in Tashkeel is its highly anticipated annual showcase

A t the 2016 edition, works are eclectic: they vary from Arabic type design to traditional

portraiture, to printing, photographic studio and darkroom activity. Despite the broad spectrum of the media, though, they all have something in common, explains Studio Manager Tamsin Wildy. “The criteria for submitting work to Made in Tashkeel is that the artist or designer must have attended a workshop, exhibited, or been a member at Tashkeel over the last year. All of the work within the show has been made in the studios here in Nad Al Sheba or at Tashkeel in Al Fahidi.” Art-lovers keep their eyes peeled for

this cultural-calendar staple, and it has been an exciting 12 months leading up to the event. “The mood in the studios has been energetic, with members being incredibly busy with their work and exploring their ideas. It has been interesting to see what emerges, and how the members are critiquing each other’s work. It’s fantastic to watch the collaborations that build, and also witness the way that the artists or designers share skills and knowledge with one other,” Tamsin says.

Tashkeel was borne of the ambition of Lateefa bint Maktoum, and is ‘a contemporary art organisation based in Dubai committed to facilitating

art and design practice, creative experimentation and cross-cultural dialogue.’ The event is into its eighth year, and is going strong. “Our proudest accomplishment is the growing number of members and the continued success of the Tashkeel community”, enthuses Tamsin, adding, “we’ve been able to support artists and designers in the development of their ideas, and continue to build and create a space for artists and designers who are on-the-rise to explore and play, whether from the wider community or based within our own studios.” A contributing factor to this is the venue itself, she says. “Tashkeel is an incredibly unique

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place and until you have visited Nad Al Sheba or the studios in Al Fahidi Neighbourhood it’s difficult to understand how the energy of the place creates such a positive working environment.”

When it comes to this year’s eye-catching and innovative pieces – as well as naming the ‘artists to watch’ – Tamsin is spoilt for choice, such is the strength-in-depth of the creative stable. “All the selected works demonstrate a high level of skill, so each piece stands out in its own right. There are some beautiful portrait photographs by Sham Enbashi from the photography studio and they sit beautifully beside the painted portraits by Saif Mhaisen, Judy Shinock, Natalia Lasso and Emma Pathare. There’s the laser cut fashion pieces by Kay Li, Jeff Scofield’s sculptures (which explore contrasting materials) and some beautifully illustrated works from Azim Al Ghussein and Harsheet Thurkral. Not to mention the works of more established artists, such as the 3D calligraphy piece by eL-Seed, mixed-media print piece by Manal AlDowayan, Ammar Al Attar’s Seven Bones from his Salah Series, and the bright and bold screen printed fabric pieces by Khalid Mezaina. It’s hard not to mention every exhibiting artist.”

This is good news for the avid collector. “The exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to view the works of emergent and established artists… Some of them are more proven than others, so it’s a beautiful combination that offers different contexts and mediums yet exhibits what artists in the UAE are making, building and designing. When you invest in a new artist, you are enabling them to further their practice and the great thing about this show is we can connect you to the artists. Being able to meet and talk to them directly about their creative work is invaluable.”

Made in Tashkeel is not merely about the showing of art: it is also famed for accompanying workshops and programmes that are a breeding-ground for budding artists, and in some cases have been a launchpad to wider acclaim. “In terms of success stories there have been quite a few. We run a design programme for emergent designers in the UAE and through this

channel the participants attend various sessions with other mentors and designers. The end product is exhibited at Design Days Dubai (D3), and the pieces this year were beautiful. We’ve also run workshops in collaboration with Azza Fahmy and D3. Alia Bin Omair, one of the participants, has just launched her own jewellery collections this year at Fashion Forward.”

An inspiring aspect of Tashkeel is the way they urge artists to ‘think big’. Part of this is outside collaborations such as Tanween – Tashkeel’s design programme that is an alliance with Small is Beautiful (a research programme and annual global conference that supports creative micro businesses).

Elaborates Tamsin, “Having visiting artists who focus solely on their work and developing their ideas demonstrates that it is viable to work as an artist. Tanween provides the designers with an exclusive opportunity of sustained mentorship with established experts… and also provides them with constructive feedback and exposure to new methods. Tashkeel encourages the exchange of ideas between international and

local practitioners, and the non-prescriptive and process-based nature of the residencies allows our visiting artists to develop projects in response to new surroundings and context, or to conduct research benefitting from our resources.”

They look pretty in print, but this year’s art crop are most impactful in the intended setting. “Visitors can experience the work on a more personal level. As this is a group show, it’s important that each artwork creates some dialogue with the other pieces in the show, and we wanted the works to guide the viewer around the gallery. Each year the show has a different feeling to it, and we respond accordingly so that the space works for both the artist and the viewer. The gallery is generously sized, which means we can exhibit 3D and 2D work alongside each other without compromise. I think what is interesting are the studios and facilities, that allow people to see where each piece of work has been made or developed.” Made in Tashkeel runs until September 1, 2016. For more information about the exhibition – as well as details of workshops – visit tashkeel.org

The exhibition is an opportunity to view the works of emergent and established artists

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Previous page: Silent Drama, Kay LiThis page: ‘Fragments Series #2C’, Ink on Tea Tinted Paper, Harsheet Thukral

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Why are the art world’s glamour twins showing work in a far from glamorous part of London?

Waldemar Januszczak finds out

SeeingDoubleSeeingDoubleSeeingDouble

J eff Koons, the art world’s No.1 celebrity, is showing a retrospective of his work in a

grubby corner of London — at the gallery of the guy who comes in at No.2. I will repeat that for the realists among you, the naysayers and the hard of believing. A Jeff Koons retrospective has arrived in Vauxhall.

It’s a surprise on many levels. The most salient is that Koons is the most celebrated and glamorous artist on the planet just now, an international art star who shows at Versailles and the Centre Pompidou; London’s Vauxhall, meanwhile, is a grubby and interstitial

part of the city without a past as far as modern art is concerned. There are places in the metropolis where you can imagine a Koons retrospective occurring. Vauxhall isn’t one of them.

Yet there it is, opposite a row of lock-up garages on a street that belongs in an episode of Minder, surrounded by council estates, occupying a workshop that was previously employed in the bang’n’shift manufacture of theatrical props. That was before Damien Hirst acquired it and turned it into the whitest and airiest suite of art spaces in London – the Newport Street Gallery.

If Koons is the biggest art celebrity

on the planet, then Hirst is probably at No.2. Between them, they represent vast reserves of wealth, power and fame. Though not, perhaps, of credibility. Not in some quarters. When Hirst announced that he was opening a new gallery in Vauxhall with a collection of paintings by John Hoyland, the forgotten British abstractionist, the response was shockingly sniffy. I loved the show. Lots of others didn’t.

Not that Koons or Hirst look anything but delighted with themselves as they settle down on a black power settee for this pioneering joint interview.

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the cunning magazine ads that Koons produced in 1988, and that Hirst cites as the first examples of his work he remembers seeing. Koons had a show at the Sonnabend Gallery, in New York, called Banality: a very Koons subject. The gallery asked him if he

Hirst was still a student at the time. He remembers coming across the ads in the college library at Goldsmiths and being blown away by them. At more or less the same time, Charles Saatchi, who had recently opened his own private gallery in St John’s Wood, north London, put on a show of young artists from New York, including, and especially, Koons. As Hirst remembers it – and I can back him on this – the Saatchi show changed everything.

Inspired by New York Art Now, as Saatchi’s event was called, Hirst decided to mount his own exhibition of young London artists – his Goldsmiths contemporaries – and to house it in a converted warehouse by the river, at Surrey Docks. That show was called Freeze. And, as I can again vouch, it triggered a revolution. Freeze didn’t just launch the phenomenon of the YBAs. Freeze began the popularisation of contemporary art in Britain that would eventually result in Tate Modern.

No wonder, at the extra-private private view of Koons’s show later that night, that both Nicholas Serota, the emperor of the Tate, and the new director of Bankside, Frances Morris,

Dressed, as always, in a crisp two-piece suit – sans tie on this occasion to signal some informality – Koons looks like he should be selling apartments to heiresses on the Upper West Side, rather than explaining his art in Vauxhall. But then he always does.

The first thing I want to know is when they met. Koons thinks it was in 1992 at Arolsen, a castle in Germany where both were invited to a group show. His contribution was a gigantic puppy made of live flowers, 43ft tall, which sat in the courtyard of the castle, oozing a floppy, droopy, canine bonhomie. It’s now the centrepiece of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Hirst thinks that they may have met earlier, in New York, at a lunch organised by the madcap art dealer Jeffrey Deitch. But having had his memory jolted in the correct direction by the more precise presence on the black settee, he begins yappily remembering the meeting in the castle.

“Jeff was like a superstar to me. When I got there, I had this little room, and I made this installation called Room Closed Scissors Open Flesh Cut, with this projector showing bodies being cut. Next to Jeff’s Puppy, it was nothing. I was, like, ‘Hell... What have I done? I’ve gone to do a show with Jeff, but Jeff’s in the middle of the courtyard with this huge thing.’

“I was feeling quite intimidated. But then Jeff came along and was really, really friendly to me. He said, ‘Come inside the Puppy.’ And I remember him saying, ‘This is a high-maintenance artwork.’ And me thinking, ‘What the hell is a high-maintenance artwork?’ Then he took me inside. And it was like a chapel in there. It all had to be watered. Firemen had to get in with their hosepipes. And I thought, ‘Oh my God. I can see exactly what a high-maintenance artwork does.’”

Listening to them on tape, it’s more obvious who’s the boss here. With his squeaky Leeds accent and his incessant interruptions, Hirst is a schoolboy presence seeking constant attention, while Koons is stately, measured, teacherly. I find myself imagining a situation in which Hirst sticks up his hand and begs “Please, sir”, while Koons politely advises him to wait his turn. This teacher-pupil relationship was exactly what was illustrated in

If Koons is the biggest art celebrity on the planet, Hirst is probably No. 2 wanted a catalogue, but Koons said he’d rather have adverts placed in those art magazines that had been hostile to him. He would both storyboard them and star in them.

In the most contentious of these ads, for Artforum, headteacher Koons showed himself in front of a classroom of enthusiastic schoolchildren, writing ‘Banality as Saviour’ on the blackboard.

“I wanted to show that I’m going after the kids. I knew they were opposed to me at Artforum. So I thought, ‘I’m going to show them. I’m going to go around them. I’m going to the future generation.’”

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could be seen inspecting the art a tad sheepishly. If Koons hadn’t inspired Hirst, and Hirst hadn’t changed the rules, Tate Modern would not be there now.

How come you’ve opened your own gallery, Damien? “When I did my show at the Tate,” he chuckles, remembering the display for the London Olympics that went on to be the best-attended solo exhibition in Tate Modern’s history, “they wouldn’t let me drink coffee in the gallery when I was installing. I said, ‘Are you joking? You can’t bring in a coffee?’ So I was, like, ‘I can’t wait till I’ve got my own.’”

The entertaining selection of art he has now installed in Vauxhall goes back to the very beginning: the celebrated Hoovers with which Koons announced his arrival in the art world in 1980. Sitting pristinely in their glamorous Perspex cases, lit with A-list neon, the Hoovers were a new type of celebrity, ready-made for a new kind of celebrity America.

Where Warhol’s soup cans spoke of the noisily labelled choices available on the modern supermarket shelf, the Hoovers seemed to mark a shift in consumer taste from the loud and the quotidian to the silent and the fetishistic. Hirst tells me he keeps one in his bedroom, next to the bed. I am not in the slightest bit surprised. With their voluptuous retro styling and their purring presence, the Koons Hoovers are tangibly sexy. And, of course, they came in 50 shades of red.

Everything in the show is from Hirst’s own collection, except for a light box borrowed from Koons himself and a painting called Boy with Pony, lent by one of the Gettys. Hirst began his buying spree 13 years ago, and now has,

in Koons’s words, “one of the biggest collections of my work in the world”. It contains prime examples from all of the many Koons phases – six roomfuls of blue-chip art worth a mountain of Brixton pound coins. In fact, make that two mountains. Koons collects, too. But from a different tranche. “As Damien has been involved with contemporary work, I’ve been more involved with non-contemporary.” Jeff owns pictures by Courbet, Manet, Picasso, Dali, and

It’s more obvious who’s the boss here...Koons is measured, stately, teacherly altogether, there are about 100 such works in his collection.

“It’s my way of time travel. And another thing – I wanted to teach my children that when they think of art, they think of somebody other than their father. Instead of ‘Oh, that’s what my dad does’, they can look at art and think, ‘Oh, that’s Magritte.’ So they have lots more sense of opportunity in their own lives.

“You know, what’s really nice here is that Damien and I can have a dialogue. Boy with Pony is having a dialogue with Picasso. Picasso is having a dialogue with El Greco. El Greco is having a dialogue with the art before him. This is what it’s about; this cultural linkage.”

And with that, Koons and Hirst give each other a mental hug and head off downstairs, where the marvellous display they have created together awaits them, and you.Jeff Koons, at the Newport Street Gallery in London SE11, until October 16, 2016.

Opening page: New Hoover Quik Broom, New Hoover Celebrity IVPrevious page: Balloon Dog, BlueThis page: Gallery six, feat. installations Boy with Pony (left) and ‘Play-Doh’ (right); All images copyright Jeff Koons

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Idris Elba is a legitimate box-office heavyweight, and it’s his passion for the profession that has driven him to new frontiers of success… but at what cost to his

personal life?

WORDS : MATTHEW STADLEN

BEYOND

H e’s 6ft 3in, ruggedly handsome, irresistible to women and one of the world’s

most in-demand actors – and the Bond rumours still won’t go away. But Idris Elba isn’t immune to the fear of middle-age spread. “I’m insecure about getting old,” admits Elba, now 43. “I’m losing my hair, getting loads of grey in my beard.” He grabs his stomach. “Carrying a bit of chub.”

Anyone else would describe his ‘chub’ as 95kg of muscle, but Elba remains bemused by his heralding as a sex symbol. “If I just looked at me I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh he’s sexy!’ Maybe I’m

not my own taste,” he says, laughing. “I’ve never really thought about it. What’s really interesting is the idea that the black man, so to speak, is never really described as sexy. Not ever. They say, ‘cool’ or ‘athletic’. I’ll go with that.”

Certainly, Elba’s star is far from fading. This year, the Hackney-born actor’s famous scratchy voice has been heard as Shere Khan in the celebrated reboot of The Jungle Book, and he starred in Bastille Day. A Hundred Streets (with Gemma Arterton) is out later this year, Stephen King has just confirmed that Elba will star alongside Matthew McConaughey in

the film adaptation of his book series The Dark Tower, and he continues to attract audiences of millions in BBC One’s dark detective series Luther. He is a TV presenter, music producer and DJ –known as Driss on the decks – and has a clothing range with Superdry. His flavour of the month in July is playing the villain in Star Trek Beyond.

Acting remains his driving force, even though, thanks to his mild dyslexia, he can find certain lines hard to learn. “It is my absolute heartbeat,” says Elba, when we meet in a slick central London hotel. “I find it a fascinating life experience to be able to turn into

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someone else. I love it. I get paid very well, I get to see the world, I get to meet and work with great people.”

He’s dressed casually but also immaculately, in a sweater from his own range. It’s a struggle, it seems, to keep himself upright and much of our conversation is conducted with Elba semi-horizontal.

Though his current base is London, Elba leads a nomadic existence, with homes on both sides of the Atlantic. His romantic life isn’t entirely settled either. In February it was reported that he and Naiyana Garth, the mother of his two year-old son Winston, had separated. Elba already has a daughter from his first marriage, and this week his second wife, an American lawyer, told how they had married spontaneously in 2006, only for the relationship to end weeks later.

Elba has described acting as “quite a selfish profession”, and admitted that his personal life has suffered because of it. There’s no doubt that his success has been hard won. Born in London to immigrant parents, he recognises that his early life experiences made him “deeply” ambitious. “My parents didn’t have much and I always wanted to be that kid that could have whatever he wanted,” he says.

They couldn’t afford to buy him the same trainers and jeans the other children wore. “I was like, ‘Why?!’ Okay I’m going to put myself in a situation where I don’t ever have to say no to me or my children for anything I want.’” He was an only child but wasn’t spoilt and learned how to look after himself. “I didn’t get any of that over-coddling. My mum is more on my back now as a grown-up than she was when I was 10. It was more: ‘You get out there and defend yourself’. Now she’s like, ‘Did you brush your teeth?’”

Elba studied performing arts at Barking College of Technology, trying his hand at ballet, modern tap and drama. In 2001 he moved to America in search of roles, with a partner who would become his first wife (they split when she was still pregnant with their daughter, Isan). Struggling to find his break, those early months were not easy. “My marriage was broken up,” he says. “And we were having a baby, so I had to vacate the home because it wasn’t a very good environment for her

and I just ended up living in my van.” He doesn’t want to go into it now, but he has revealed before that he briefly dealt cannabis. His daughter still lives in America and, despite being “very close”, he admits it’s “tough”. “I’m passionate about my children,” he says. “It’s the best gift you can have, as a parent watching your own seed grow.”

Isan was born on the day he was offered the part of Stringer Bell for The Wire – the role that would announce Elba to the world. Famously, he had kept his American accent up throughout all the auditions, only letting on he was British when they gave him the part. It was to be the launch pad for a gloriously varied career - Elba singles out playing Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom as a particular high, especially for his late father, who was born in Sierra Leone. “He looked at me like ‘What?! You?!” he recalls. “But his heart was so bursting with pride. As far as offering yourself as an actor, that was a standout role for me.”

Eyebrows were raised when Elba wasn’t Oscar-nominated for Mandela, and at this year’s ceremony, which was criticised for its lack of diversity, he was passed over again for his role in Beasts of No Nation, a film about child soldiers

in Sierra Leone that premiered on Netflix (he was nominated for a Bafta and Golden Globe). “I made a film about people that lose their children and those children get thrown into war,” he says, when I ask about this. “Do you think I give a damn if the Oscars give it a nomination or not? The nomination is in the fact that we got the film off the ground, we told the story. Not only that, Netflix bought it and many saw it.”

It’s impossible to resist asking about Bond, but Elba won’t play ball. He has trained in Muay Thai and kick-boxing. He’d make a believable 007. “I do like fighting. That’s always been part of my make-up. I’m an only child so when my cousins would come round we were like, ‘Right! Let’s fight!’ I’m not one to back down if there was a confrontation. I don’t like to get into confrontations but I give as good as I get.”

For all his success, though, he has a surprising admission to make. “I just wish that I could be happier. I have all these really great opportunities and things happen and sometimes... the cup is half empty.” Perhaps it’s time for him to enjoy the fruits of his labour a little more. “As much as you work hard for something, the important things in life shouldn’t be ignored. If they are, then it just doesn’t feel as good.”

He recognises that his early life experiences made him deeply ambitious

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PHOTOGRAPHY : ŽIGA MIHELČIČSTYLING : CLAIRE CARRUTHERS

MAKE-UP : SHARON DRUGANHAIR : ANGEL MONTAGUE SAYERS

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For its people, Ancient Rome had the Colosseum, Athens boasted Olympia, and 1980s London had The Wag Club. Yes, it was that

important to its era – though there wasn’t exactly a masterplan to conquer the world. Chris Sullivan, the club’s founder, explains how

this Soho hotspot became an (accidental) icon

WORDS : CHRIS UJMA

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“O ne night, Prince asked me where the VIP section was – and fair play,

everyone was staring at him – but I told him, ‘everyone here is a VIP’. Why would we get famous people in and then hide them in the corner? The reason the likes of Robert De Niro, Jean-Paul Gaultier and David Bowie would come was because I would look after them. Well-known people could let their hair down, and part and parcel of that comfort was that I didn’t allow photographers in the club and I certainly didn’t have the paparazzi on speed dial when someone of note came in. We had no VIP area, so they had to talk and mingle with everyone else.”

It can only be The Wag, and that anecdote can only be from the mouth of its charismatic director, promoter, designer and booker Chris Sullivan, whose 18 years of tales from club-ownership could easily take a lifetime to regale. His club on Wardour Street, London, opened its doors in 1982 at an address that already carried acclaim from its days as Whisky A Go-Go. But there was a new sheriff in town, who made it not-merely a night-time venue but the zeitgeist for a generation of influencers, whose collective creative minds shaped the art, music and culture of the eighties – and beyond.

I blunder in our conversation when asking Chris to put the club in context, and about what ingredients made the elite want to cram through the door on any given night. He swiftly corrects me, explaining: “Elite is the wrong word: that implies the rich cream of society. This venue was predominantly for poor art students but many, like George Michael, Boy George, John Galliano, Jonathan Ross and Tim Roth went on to become famous. The social situation then was exactly as it is in London now, in the respect that most of the venues were owned by big conglomerates who operated loads of clubs over Britain, and most played terrible chart music, commercial rubbish – then it was Bucks Fizz, now its Rihanna, then it was pop, now it’s sickly R&B – and if you wanted alternative there was no place where you could go to meet like-minded people who thought outside the box and had a mind of their own.”

It was authentic, it was uncontrived, took hard graft to create, and achieved

a vaunted reputation… by the inner-circle who got past the bouncer, at least. Above all else, it was entirely organic. “The general person, as is now, followed fashion to a rule, and would never have dreamt of making their mind up for themselves, but there was a small group of 500 true individuals who liked to follow their own path, and that’s who The Wag was designed for. Primarily though, it was designed for me. One thing I’ve found is that if I’m not happy [with something] others wouldn’t be either. So I stuck by my own tastes and carried on: that’s the only way you can be with such a venture. It wasn’t intended to be fashionable, trendy or to appeal to a certain amount of people… it was a proper cottage industry. It was designed for people like me, and reflecting on some of the changes I made, I think ‘how on earth did I know

that was going to be successful?!’”We talk just before the release of a

four-disc retrospective that celebrates the influential nightclub, and Chris is working on the sleeve-notes in Portugal while writing about the CD for The Guardian, Q Magazine and such; his memories are still in demand, 35 years on. He captured the sound of The Wag by, “simply going though the playlists. The first disc is songs from early in the evening when people were filing in, landmark tracks that stand out in your mind. CD2 comprises songs that were played later on in the night and formed the ‘peak’ soundtrack to the evening, when people started jumping about. A lot of the music is from my childhood when I was a Soul-boy, pre-Punk Rock. CD3 is music we played in the Jazz Room on a Monday, where DJs like Gilles Peterson and Sylvester

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played Afro-Cuban and Mambo tunes respectively, and introduced jazz to a new generation; experimental jazz that you could dance to, with influences of Brazilian and Latin vibes. CD4 is pre-house contemporary music. And with each of them I can play the tracks, close my eyes, and it whizzes me right back.”

When listeners envisage their own ‘close your eyes’ moment, what décor should they imagine? The interior design “was down to action/reaction like any piece of art or style, whereby you always react to the movement that came before you. When I started The Wag, clubs in general were like discotheques, all mirrors and flashing lights. We decorated the walls with modern paintings that were bright, illuminated by single white spotlights. I designed all of the furniture, which was fifties-inspired. A few years later

This page: Party revellers at the WAG Club in the 1980s.Next Page: Chris Sullivan at The Wag Club, 1983

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economic concept that other clubs seemed to have lost in 2016: selling affordable beverages. I supplied within reach of their pocket and made sure the drinks were never more than 50p (USD0.73) above the pump prices in the pubs. Other clubs in the West End made their drinks massively overpriced so people would go there, order one, sit there all night with no atmosphere, then they’d go home having had a bad time. With my club they’d think ‘oh that’s a reasonable price’, have a few drinks, pluck up the courage to dance, perhaps meet someone on the dancefloor, and would go home feeling like they had the best night of their life.” The Wag Club formula, copyright Chris Sullivan.

He mourns how other places operate. “The country has been blighted by the loss of institutions like mine. I know of conglomerates whose music playlist is based on the feedback of focus groups; it’s like living on a diet of McDonalds. The main thing is to express individuality. If you want to do something, put it all on the line and it might be difficult for a while but you can succeed by being yourself.”

There’s a bittersweetness to how he felt on opening night, then years later when it finally closed. “The first night, I turned up an hour before opening and there was a queue curving down the road, blocking restaurants, and the police had been called to deal with the complaints. It was a double feeling:

firstly relief that my week of promotion had actually worked – this was pre Facebook, Twitter et al, and I had spent my time walking round London, going up to attractive young ladies and stylish strangers, inviting them to my club with Xerox flyers. The second thought was ‘How am I going to get them all in?’ On the final night it was more relief, but that it was coming to an end. It was sad that this institution was going, but running a club six nights a week was hard. I continued because I regard nightclubs as psychological sociology – it’s a clinical examination of a ‘scene’ that keeps shifting, and you need to have your finger on the pulse.”

Alas, just as mighty Ancient Rome and Greece, The Wag Club would crumble despite its dominance. Each had their seismic impact, their heroes, their gasp-inducing debauchery, their legend. The Wag feels like a product from a bygone (yet distinctly more-glorious) era; approachable stars and stars-in-waiting, not hiding behind velvet ropes but rubbing shoulders, zero pretence in a place with unspoken respect and great music, run by a visionary owner who was direct, wouldn’t stand for any nonsense, but cared deeply. It’s a sorely missed venue that lives on in the pantheon of club greats as the place from the scene, in which to be seen (and heard).Relive the playlists of the glory days with Chris Sullivan Presents The Wag, a 4CD Remastered Deluxe Box Set.

They would go home feeling like they had the best night of their life

when we opened up the second floor, I can only quote the esteemed British art critic Brian Sewell who said it was, ‘reminiscent of a 1930s bar in Weimar Republic, Germany, replete with futuristic kaleidoscopic hues’. I created a cubist/futurist style on a budget, and it almost killed me because I did it in three months.”

While running the club Sullivan wore many hats, not least being the one booking the performers. “It just wasn’t allowed to be bland. I rarely put on Punk bands, because it had been done by then. I arranged theme nights, and would take the general likes of the club members and dissect it. One night you might have a Dub band, another night Ska, another night Soul, and so on.”

He adds, “It was a mixture of having to be unique and good. I’d book members if I knew they had a fresh new band and were good – people like the Fine Young Cannibals and Sade, who came from our crowd and would pull a crowd. We featured and introduced plenty of acts from the USA too, such as Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison etc, who are purely legendary. It was a booking system governed by what I liked: if I didn’t like it, I didn’t put it on. We had one guy who described himself as ‘high-octane paranoiac country and western’ so he went on stage by virtue of how he described himself. The Pogues did one of their first ever gigs in my club but it wasn’t about hype, it was simply that I have Irish heritage, and hearing them reminded me of sitting in my grandfather’s front room listening to rebel music after having been forced to go to church on a Sunday morning.”

Sullivan bands-around marquee names but matter-of-factly. “Before I started the Club I had already been a pop star and travelled the world, so the famous people were just ‘normal’ and there was no hero-worshipping – I don’t look up to anyone, and would rather revere a brain surgeon or a doctor. Paul Weller, Spandau Ballet, Madness, George Michael, the Sex Pistols, The Clash… I knew them all from their humblest beginnings, and when they became international stars I realised that while it does have something to do with talent, it is also about timing. They’re no different from you or I.”

So the recipe for success was star power then? Err… no. “It appealed to the masses because I cracked a simple

MotoringJULY 2016 : ISSUE 62

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WORDS : CHRIS UJMA

Trident TestedThe Italian marque has taken its pedigree off-road,

and the Levante represents a significant auto-arrival. Meet ‘The Maserati of SUVs’

MotoringJULY 2016 : ISSUE 62

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F or the pareidolia-inclined among us, the ‘face’ of the expressive Levante looks

vicious. Granted, other Maserati models like the GranTurismo and Ghibli appear ready for a fight too, with their narrowed eyes (headlights) and a bared-teeth snarl (the grill), but the bolder Levante looks like it’s chewing on a wasp. (Okay, given the sheer style it bears, maybe not a wasp, but a morsel from a Michelin-star tasting menu). Either way, don’t expect any scars: this is unblemished beauty from a carmaker used to emerging from on-road duels unscathed, and the stylish beast strides out from a dedicated production

competition. It’s an undoubtedly self-assured foray into the upper echelons of SUV production – just look at the strapline, ‘The Maserati of SUVs’ – and while devotees of the brand have endured a wait, their patience has been duly rewarded.

You get a stunning drive that coaxes hyperbole. Along with its groundbreaking Q4 intelligent all-wheel drive system, the Levante benefits from ‘advanced active air suspension: five ride heights, and six levels of capability and comfort. Combined with Maserati’s acclaimed Skyhook system, with shock absorbers featuring continuous damping variation, it can prioritise

comfort or assume a more sporty character,’ explains the company.

The aforementioned 3-litre engine has two versions, both twin-turbo petrol, with the top of the range cranking 430-hp and 350-hp from the other; as ‘standard’ is that guttaral signature engine sound. Speed-wise we’re talking about reaching 100km/h in 5.2 seconds with a top speed of 264km/h, and 6 seconds with a limit of 251km/h, respectively. How are they looking to wipe out the opposition? The best in class 0-100km/h is one, with the lowest centre of gravity in the SUV class being another. There’s lashings of aluminium, used extensively in the chassis, body

A self-assured foray into the upper echelons of SUV production facility at Mirafiori near Turin intent on showing the world that its creator means business.

‘Business’ is exactly why Maserati has made the carefully-considered move into the SUV class; it’s a segment that captures around fifty per cent of global car sales, and loyal clients of A-list automakers have refused to be left behind, thirsty for their own sophisticated ‘something for the weekend’. A cluster of names from the top-tier have already added a crossover to their fleet – most notably Porsche with its successful Cayenne, followed by Bentley, Mercedes, BMW, et al – yet what you’ll notice is that Maserati is the sole flag bearer for Italian excellence here. On this occasion they’ve stepped away from the low-slung hypercar stereotype of Italia and are going toe-to-toe with rivals in the chunky-luxury niche; yes, they’re over 100 years of proven craftsmanship, but this is a whole new ballgame with entirely different rules.

Perhaps, then, the Levante’s face is less ‘angry’ and just bears a determined demeanour. Maybe the vehicle is building momentum like the warm, Mediterranean wind after which it is named (that can change from gentle to gale force strength in an instant), focusing its glare, and drawing steel from an inner turbo V-6 to catch the

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and the control arms of the suspension. Steering relies on hydraulic assist, in a motoring world that has mostly converted to electric, and teamed with the air suspension it gives an arguably more-authentic responsiveness. The mentioned five ride-height can raise the ground-clearance by a maximum of 1.6 inches – as much as 9.7 inches above the ground – while reduced aerodynamics, the Maserati Stability Programme (MSP), and driving modes such as Sport and Off-Road mean this vehicle can handle Sheikh Zayed Road at a canter, and adeptly navigate the desert’s Empty Quarter (in fact, it was put through its paces in the

inhospitable conditions of the latter). The little nuances are where you’ll

discover that the Levante is a much gentler soul, and there are elegant design touches to raise the heart rate. You can’t escape the cognizance that this is pure Italian styling akin to a First Class cabin, and the dedicated Sport and Luxury packages create a clear distinction in personality. There’s the custom interior – personalised to taste – leather-upholstered dashboard, redesigned wrap-around front seats, and a Zegna Edition option that takes a haute couture approach to car-interior-tailoring. This combines premium Italian leather with bespoke silk from Ermenegildo Zegna, whereby the finest leather is combined with natural Zegna Mulberry Silk fibre inserts on the seats, door panels, roof lining, sunshades and ceiling light fixture, while the comfort seating features a central silk insert too. Tan, red and black premium leather are available, all complemented by dark grey Zegna silk and light grey

stitching. A slew of details are parked under ‘Occupant Wellness’ too. What’s in a tow bar? Everything, when it’s the first in the company’s history. There’s an air quality sensor, glove box with PIN-code access, 8.4-inch capacitive touch screen, and top of the range Bowers & Wilkins surround system… all packed inside a car that feels much bigger than its actual dimensions.

Maserati has come to the party with a five-seater, two-tonne, self-levelling, five metre-long work of art, with a body of hybrid material. For their first SUVenture it doesn’t quite conquer performance perfection, but despite its lineage it seems nobody anticipated the Levante to be quite this good, and a spectrum of auto-critic responses to its arrival encompass “compelling”, “refreshingly different”, “handsome”, and “scandalously tempting.” It’s a bullish SUV that goes anywhere, and a splendorous Maserati that glides from A to B; possibly the best of both worlds, and both roads.

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WORDS : JOHN CARLIN

The Best Restaurant

You’ve Never Heard OfAponiente near Cádiz was empty until Ángel León started experimenting with plankton. Now it’s won

two Michelin stars. John Carlin tries the daily special – cod tongue and squid liver included

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I f you want to eat like a whale but not feel stuffed at the end of your meal, Aponiente is the place for

you. On Spain’s southwestern tip, next to Cádiz, Aponiente may be the only restaurant in the world where plankton is on the menu, and it certainly is the one where the notion of feeding the sea’s tiniest organisms to humans was first spawned.

If you’re thinking, “Oh no, not more of this Spanish vanguardista molecular cuisine business,” you’re not wrong. But hold on. I’ve eaten at Ferran Adrià’s celebrated El Bulli restaurant, and at plenty of its imitators, and had imagined I was beyond the point of saturation with these multicourse, microtapa extravaganzas. Give me a piece of grilled fish and some veg. Give me beef and potatoes, bangers and mash. Give me grub, as the one dissenter from El Bulli orthodoxy

among the star Spanish chefs once railed, that you can defecate, for heaven’s sake.

Yet, knowing what I now know, I’d be mortified had I passed up the chance to eat at Aponiente and meet its master spirit, the man known in Spain as “the chef of the sea”, Ángel León. The New York Times put Aponiente at the top of a list of ten restaurants it was worth a plane ride to eat at; in my case, having been on holiday in the neighbourhood, it would have been madness not to have undertaken the one-hour drive.

I turn up at Aponiente, a small 32-seater restaurant hidden away in the Andalusian town of El Puerto de Santa María, a couple of hours before lunch and sit down at a table with León. His story is the classic one of the innovator whose talent goes unrecognised for years, but who battles on, despite the buffets of fate

and the scorn of his peers, overcoming hardships and privations eventually to achieve riches and acclaim. He does not come from a poor family – his father is a doctor – but he was, by his own admission, useless at school, which he left with dubious prospects aged 16. He studied cooking for three years, then went to work at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Bordeaux.

“I had always been hyperactive, but never found where to channel my drive until I discovered cooking,” he says. “I fell in love and poured everything I had into it. Even into the job I had during my first three years in Bordeaux: washing dishes. I scrubbed away like a demon because I knew that if I toiled hard, sooner or later I’d get my chance.”

Within minutes of talking to León, who won his second Michelin star last year, the secret of his success becomes apparent. It is one he shares with the

Opener: Cumin oystersThis page: Press cuttlefish Next page: Mackerel

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eat, or four, or two, or even none. We were losing money fast. But I ploughed on, stubborn as all hell, and started working with marine biologists at the Campus of International Excellence of the Sea, here at the University of Cádiz, and we started looking at the possibilities of converting plankton into food on a plate.”

León suddenly became familiar with a world of test tubes, beakers and white coats and discovered that plankton contained a density of omega-3 (the fabled fatty acid deemed by contemporary medicine to be essential to good health) that neither tuna nor salmon nor any other sea creature approached. Eating whale food might seem entirely weird, but it could make you live longer.

Employing a machine that León and his scientist friends invented, they turned plankton into powder and then a green gel. He patented the procedure, which has resulted in invitations to gastronomy conferences worldwide, and then the breakthrough came: his first Michelin star, after which the clients started to flock in from far and wide, though more from the Americas than Europe. Since the beginning of this year, Aponiente has been full day and night.

I sit down at my table and the show begins: 22 dishes, each more surprising than the previous one, all delivered by the crisp, reverential waiting staff with impeccably choreographed timing.

We begin with what is advertised as one of my favourite dishes from the Cádiz region, tortillita de camarones, literally meaning little shrimp tortilla. Richly tasty and shockingly greasy at the same time, I usually eat them with a mixture of relish and guilt. León’s variation on the theme is a thin, dry, seemingly oil-free wafer packed tight with shrimpy flavour.

There then lands on my plate what looks like a mini hamburger, which León, now wearing a priestly demeanour he had not displayed during our chat earlier, comes over to say is made with “calamari leftovers”. By that he means the innards that cooks normally clean out and throw away, in this case the liver, which he has made into a sweet yellowy cream. “Sweet because of the algae they eat between May and September,” says León, who has done his homework with the

León suddenly became familiar with a world of test tubes, beakers and white coats

a fortune on mobile phone calls from France to a woman I had fallen crazily in love with down here. They said, ‘Sorry, you’re on your own, kid.’ ”

Armed with his French credentials, he got a job as a head chef in Toledo, in the heart of Spain, at a restaurant that had come up with the novel notion of blending the best of the town’s ancient heritage. He returned home three years later and this time his parents did help him out. In 2005 León opened the doors of Aponiente.

It was then that he set his obsession in motion – not just to cook food that came from the surrounding sea, but to scavenge the depths for nutrients previously spurned by humans, species that the fishermen trapped in their nets but hurled back into the sea because they had no market value, or parts of fish that no one ever thought of eating (tongues, livers), not to mention algae

sainted Adrià and probably all those who triumph on the world stage, whatever their field. He is intrepid, resolute and has manifestly more energy than ordinary people. And more drive. And more faith in himself. Lots more. He rattles off thoughts, ideas, facts, like bullets from a machinegun, making you feel exhausted just listening to him, almost intimidating you with his verve.

The dish-washing ordeal in Bordeaux did end and he did get his chance, which consisted at first of menial tasks in the kitchen. “It was brutal,” he says. “If I made a mistake they’d hit me, slap me across the face. But it worked. All the basic skills of cooking, I learnt there. And I ended up in a top job, as chef de partie, as a line cook, at which point I returned home to Andalusía determined to set up my own restaurant. My dream was to cook food entirely drawn from the sea, from our sea here on the Atlantic coast and the Strait of Gibraltar.”

He asked his parents for money to get started and at first they agreed. “Until they found out that I had blown

and, an idea that he arrived at later, plankton, the unicellular organisms that occupy the lowest place in the planet’s food chain but are the font of all maritime animal life.

“It was ambitious and it was crazy and my customers told me as much during my first years,” says León. “ ‘Where’s the meat?’ they’d ask. I said, ‘There’s meat in the fish, meat like beef. I’ll make fish sausages that taste like meat.’ I said, ‘There’s a whole world down there. We don’t need land to feed human beings. The sea, the democracy of the sea, which has no boundaries, can provide for all of us.’ I was radical in my beliefs. I refused, for example, to serve fried calamari and other staples of the local cuisine.” The enemy of predictability, León soldiered on, driven by the spirit of Adriá, Catalonia’s gastronomic Salvador Dalí, who told him, “If they don’t understand what you are doing, you’re in the vanguard.”

“But for four or five years the outcome was that, even though we had six people working in the kitchen and seven in the dining room, we’d have days when only eight people came to

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to which León moved his restaurant a couple of weeks after I met him. He took me along to see it, a large, airy old mill with tons of space that backs onto acres of abandoned salt flats where he will cultivate, he says, ready-salted tomatoes, and where he will build large tanks, flooded by water from the sea, to grow fish, mussels and oysters.

At the new Aponiente the circus act will acquire a whole new dimension, or rather two. There will be a small chamber into which guests will be taken where the chairs will move as if on a boat, where the sound of the ocean wind will be played over a loudspeaker, where the smell of the sea will storm the nasal passages and where, blindfolded, each diner will be asked to slurp seven varieties of plankton off a plate.

But the pièce de résistance will be something that neither Adriá nor any other culinary showman ever thought of. “Bioluminescence,” León calls it.

“You know the tiny flashes of light you sometimes see in the waves when you go to the beach at night? Well, I worked with the University of Cádiz people to figure out how to recreate that on a plate. And we have! What we will do is turn out the lights in the restaurant, bring each client a plate of liquid plankton and then, at exactly the same moment, the staff will sprinkle a drop of lemon onto each dish. The whole room will shimmer with the light of the dancing plankton.”

I’ve revised my position on vanguard Spanish cuisine since eating here. You can’t get all solemn and bothered about this stuff. You have to enter into it with a spirit of adventure and fun, much as you might on a visit to Cirque du Soleil. Obviously, fish and veg, bangers and mash and so on is what I’ll continue to eat on a day-to-day basis.

A 22-course meal like the one León served me is not meant to be consumed every day. Sometimes customers are so enthusiastic at the end of lunch or dinner that they ask for a table 24 hours later. León advises them to wait a month, at least. I’ll need a year to digest not just the food, but the lingering recollection of it. But I shall be back, if I can, this time next year. Of all the things I need to do before my time is up on the blue planet, Aponiente’s plankton light show is high up on the list. aponiente.com

marine biology boffins. “The rest of the year they eat a different kind of algae and the liver tastes salty.”

Next is the freshest slice of tuna sashimi that has ever slid down my throat, followed by a tiny sardine, the blood of which had been drained out. It has been grilled barbecue-style to give it a smoky flavour and is accompanied by bits of sea cucumber. Then the plankton starts to make its presence felt, first as a green emulsion in a dish of frozen sea water, then as a glaze for a trio of mussels, then to give colour to a cod’s tongue, then as the powdery sprinkling over an oyster. “It’s the plankton that gives the oyster its alkaline taste,” says León. “Adding the plankton dust magnifies its essential quality in the mouth.”

Then a couple of gelatinous drops of plankton are dripped onto my hand by a waiter with a pipette, who instructs me to lick them off. You wouldn’t want to drink a bucket of the green stuff, but it is interesting – one drop salty, one sweet – and allows me the virtuous sensation of imagining that I am purifying my bodily system. I can’t help thinking that before too long plankton will be added to the list of miracle foods – alongside krill and coconut water and what have you – that will allow you to live to 100.

Then it is razor fish wrapped in a leaf from the sea, followed by the meat clones León had spoken of earlier, made of such fishermen’s detritus as stingray, ceviche style, and frogfish and wolffish, presented on the plate in the form of small racks of lamb, and a white sausage stuffed with some other sea creature I had never heard of, all washed down by a huge variety of sherries from the region – from Jerez de la Frontera, from Sanlúcar de Barrameda. León remains pure of heart, committed to the principle of delivering only local produce. Even the curry flavours in one of the dishes originate from peppers grown just across the water, in Morocco, a country with which the people of the Cádiz area feel an old and abiding kinship.

Gimmicky? Sure. But I feel from start to finish that I am enjoying one of the finest, most memorable meals of my life, and that by the end of it I have savoured the whole range of tastes and textures of the sea. Besides, if it’s a gimmick you want, try the new place

I can’t help thinking that before too long, plankton will be added to the list of miracle foods that will allow you to live to 100

AIR

AIR

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journeys by jet

Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa

Maldives

6


Travel

S urrounding the Shangri-La Villingili Resort & Spa’s overwater villas, the turquoise ocean literally pulses with a prodigious

plethora of colourful marine life. Part of the idyllic heart-shaped Addu Atoll, this is the only Maldivian resort south of the equator and its serene location and colourful corals certainly gives this haven a natural beauty and utterly unique charm.

An exclusive retreat, where all experiences are bespoke and tailored to suit your passions, Villingili is dream-like – white sandy beaches lined with hundreds of palm trees as far as the eye can see. Lush greenery ensures an air of privacy for guests no matter which of the 132 villas you’ve chosen as your tropical sanctuary – all boasting private infinity pools or located over the ocean. For something extra special, opt to reside in Villa Laalu – the resort’s Presidential property which comes with its own private spa room and can accommodate six guests. For the thalassophiles, Villa Muthee is an overwater paradise where a private pool overlooks the lapping lagoon waters.

If you happen to pry yourself away from your private enclave, try a nature walk through emerald-coloured forests or set out on a cycling trail where a 17km-coastal route links five islands together, obligatory for the energetic. Chi, The

Spa is the ideal place to rejuvenate afterwards, then find your inner Zen with a visit to the yoga pavilion overlooking the Indian Ocean. The resort also offers its own 9-hole golf course (unique in the Maldives), featuring the highest ‘mountain’ in the Maldives measuring in at a mere 510cm above sea-level.

Opt to dine in-villa or embark on an epicurean adventure by booking a bespoke Dine by Design experience. Lunch aboard a luxury yacht served on the equator? Dinner in the jungle, soundtracked by crickets and lit by flaming torches? A barbecue cooked and served beneath a blanket of stars on your own private stretch of sand? In the south extreme of the Maldives at Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort & Spa, every wish can be catered to.

Land your jet at Gan International Airport, just a few minutes from the resort and enjoy a VIP arrival experience. The resort will not only provide support with the arrival process but be an exclusive partner complementing the private jet experience, with in-flight catering, accommodation of the crew at the resort, and Fixed Based Operator (FBO) assistance. shangri-la.com/male/villingiliresort

What I Know Now

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Tom Aikenschef and owner of a global empire of restaurants

If I were to open a restaurant for the first time again I would tell myself to expect the unexpected to happen. Also to remember not to trust anyone but those closest to me.

One thing I’ve learnt the hard way is to be patient. As a chef, I never am, and like all chefs I always want everything done yesterday. Restaurants take time to settle and grow, you can’t just open the doors and leave them to fill. You have to put in lots of work, determination, know your customer base and keep developing.

My earliest memory of food is from when I was probably aged eight or so – my twin brother and I were helping out in the kitchen with my mother. She would involve us in making cakes and home baking, or just weighing things out, but we were always on hand to lick out the occasional sticky raw cake mix that was left in the bottom of the bowl. Our house had a large back garden where we grew a lot of our own fruit and vegetables. As a result, from an early age I got to learn about seasonality and how to grow and cook great produce.

Other chefs continue to inspire me. Joël Robuchon, Pierre Koffmann, Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, the Roux brothers...Not only has their cooking helped revolutionise the industry, but each one of them is also a great businessman.

You have to have a game plan and set goals for the future, but sometimes take backward steps to get where you ultimately want to be. To be a chef you must be passionate and, most importantly, have the ability to listen and follow orders. tomskitchen.co.uk

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Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971 4 414 0000, F +971 4 414 0001 | jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com JW Marriott Marquis Dubai | @JWDubaiMarquis | JWMarriottMarquisDubai

Elevating Luxuryto New Heights.Comprising two iconic towers, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai stands elevated above Dubai’s Business Bay on Sheikh Zayed Road, in the heart of one of the most desirable locations in the city.

of diverse restaurants and lounges.

1,608 LUXURIOUS GUEST ROOMS AND SUITES

SARAY SPA FEATURING TRADITIONAL HAMMAMS AND A DEAD SEA FLOATATION POOL

For more information please call +971 4 414 0000 or visit jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com

A F R I C A A S I A E U R O P E L A T I N A M E R I C A M I D D L E E A S T N O R T H A M E R I C A

Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, PO Box 121000, Dubai, UAE | T +971 4 414 0000, F +971 4 414 0001 | jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com JW Marriott Marquis Dubai | @JWDubaiMarquis | JWMarriottMarquisDubai

Elevating Luxuryto New Heights.Comprising two iconic towers, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai stands elevated above Dubai’s Business Bay on Sheikh Zayed Road, in the heart of one of the most desirable locations in the city.

of diverse restaurants and lounges.

1,608 LUXURIOUS GUEST ROOMS AND SUITES

SARAY SPA FEATURING TRADITIONAL HAMMAMS AND A DEAD SEA FLOATATION POOL

For more information please call +971 4 414 0000 or visit jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com

A F R I C A A S I A E U R O P E L A T I N A M E R I C A M I D D L E E A S T N O R T H A M E R I C A

Air Magazine - Empire Aviation - July'16

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