Table of contents for May 2019 in Robb Report

Kareem Rashed Rashed is a New York–based writer and stylist covering fashion, jewelry, watches and luxury at large. He has held positions at Vogue and Elle—most recently, he served as the fashion editor at Departures. In this issue of Robb Report, Rashed traveled to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, where he pulled back the curtain on the wild west of precious stone dealings (“No Stone Unturned,” p. 130). In addition to his print and digital work, he serves as a consultant and content creator for a number of brands and retailers. Hilarie M. Sheets Sheets is a freelance journalist and critical expert on visual art and culture. She has covered the art world for The New York Times since 2001 and is a contributing editor to ARTnews. Her work…

By the sheer scale of their work, architects—especially a globe-trotting class of starchitectscan have an outsize impact when compared to other artists. A painting or sculpture may become a sensation, but hovering above a skyline, a building can stand as a mark of civic pride—or a wildly expensive eyesore. At the end of the 20th century and well into the 21st, two of the most celebrated and divisive starchitects have had their fair share of both. Santiago Calatrava vs. Frank Gehry ARCHITECTURAL STYLE Neo-futurism Deconstructivism AGE 67 (Born July 28, 1951, in Valencia) 90 (Born February 28, 1929, in Toronto) FIRST COMMISSION Ernstings Warehouse in Coesfeld, Germany, 1985 (the distribution center for a casual clothing retailer) David Cabin in Idyllwild, Calif., 1957 (a private family vacation home in the…

Hotels are serious business for Ian Schrager. “Actually, they’re a matter of life and death,” he says. “Every detail of every hotel is a matter of life and death to me.” If it sounds a bit overdramatic, that’s because Schrager—the cocreator of Studio 54, the self-proclaimed inventor of the “boutique hotel” and the mastermind behind more than 30 properties over the last 35 years—is passionate about every aspect of his prolific business. He isn’t one to mince words about it, either, as we found out in just four questions. What’s the secret behind your successful hotels? I know how to respond to change. Most luxury hotels are antiquated. They’re still thinking of luxury in the old-fashioned way, providing the same things we used to provide 30 years ago—white gloves, gold…

Las Vegas has always been a domain of luxury, attracting discerning travelers seeking big wins and high-flyers in search of unforgettable getaways. However, what defines luxury today is rapidly changing, becoming more personal, intuitive, and experiential. All of which is embodied at ARIA Resort & Casino, the hub of the new Vegas. STAY IN THE SKY The elevated ARIA experience starts immediately upon landing. Guests of the Sky Suites and Sky Villas are picked up in complimentary luxury airport transfers, then whisked away to a private porte-cochère where they are welcomed by their personal concierge. There, among spaces lined with works from the ARIA Fine Art Collection—featuring artists such as Maya Lin, Henry Moore, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, and Claes Oldenburgyou’ll find a private check-in lounge, dedicated concierge, and a…

From May 16 through 19, philanthropy goes full throttle in the fight against Parkinson’s disease with the Drive Toward a Cure (drivetowardacure.org ) road rally. For this edition, billed as the 2019 California Adventure, entrants will start off in Scotts Valley—with a visit to Canepa Motorsport Museum—and pilot their favorite four-wheelers to Yosemite National Park. The 600-mile-plus route includes pit stops at the Mozart Automobile Museum and Lick Observatory, along with stays at the Fairmont San Jose and Tenaya Lodge. For founder Deb Pollack, whose mother died from Parkinson’s in 2006, the cause is clear: “Our goal is to use the passion for driving to fuel a movement that will help end the disease, while building a strong community of like-minded enthusiasts along the way.” Price for the all-inclusive tour…

Hotelier William Heinecke started MJets (mjets.com) in 2008, but it really took off in 2010 when he pioneered the first and only fixed-based operation in Thailand. Focused on the travel needs of the country’s high-net-worth individuals—as well as those in Hong Kong, Singapore, Myanmar and India—the American-born Thai businessman and his team are making the area’s most exclusive destinations far easier to access. Why are personal jets becoming more popular in the region? There is a global misconception that Asia is different from the rest of the world. The only difference is that it’s a little more affordable and the level of service and return on investment is an awful lot more than what you receive elsewhere. We need our jets to do business. It’s an expensive commodity; flying privately…

The world of Champagne has long been dominated by big houses, but in the last few decades, smaller makers known as grower-producers have increased in prominence. While many still supply grapes to the well-known brands whose hallmark is consistency across vintages, boutique growers have more leeway to experiment and have developed an audience for their quirkier bottles. But the newest generation of winemakers at the grower Champagnes is taking the experiment a step too far. They are sucking charm, grace and complexity from thousands of Champagnes because they have fervently decided that sugar in all contexts is evil. This entire crop of passionate young growers, propelled by the pioneers who paved the way for them, is entering what is now a comfortable world. I don’t mean they’ll get rich, but…

WHEN MERCEDES ABRAMO took the helm at Cartier North America in 2014, it was a considerable achievement: She was the first female president to lead the luxury giant in this country since it was established here by Pierre Cartier in 1909. Abramo has been a skillful force in the corporate world, projecting a calm, polished demeanor while spearheading meaningful changes and driving sales at a time when many of her competitors in the jewelry and watch sector are struggling. Under her charge, Cartier renovated and expanded its historic Fifth Avenue Mansion, successfully launched new collections and customer-facing initiatives, and championed getting more women into the C-suite. To that end, the company is hosting this year’s annual Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards—an international competition for female entrepreneurs working to solve global challenges—for…

Why now? The answer is simply because right now there are so many great stories to tell, so many innovative and extraordinary ideas to share. The luxury world is in a state of change and renewal, and that has brought new ideas and champions to the surface. And while new does not necessarily equal good—and much less best—there’s something particularly beguiling about unearthing that thing that moves the needle, that takes the status quo and builds upon it, whether that’s a product, a brand, a destination or an experience. Discovering a craftsman or -woman—be that an artist, a designer or an architect—whose work you adore can lead to a wonderful, lifelong relationship (and a heavily depleted bank balance). Which is why the act of discovery can be so personal and…

CHEF NINA COMPTON traveled to New Orleans in 2013 to compete in Top Chef, the reality TV competition that actually matters inside the culinary world. After finishing in second place, she left the Big Easy—but New Orleans didn’t leave her. “The city just stuck in my head,” she says. And for good reason: The St. Lucia native saw in Nola a little bit of home. “I love the similarities to the Caribbean—the warmth of the people, the emphasis and energy around sharing food and drinks.” The chef returned two years later and opened Compère Lapin, which mashes up her Caribbean, French, New Orleans and Italian influences. Following its success, last year she opened Bywater American Bistro, already a local favorite for its homey dishes like spaghetti pomodoro and fried Gulf…

ONE OF THE GREATEST joys of summer is heading outside to cook with fire. This season, a new wave of outdoor cooking systems is going beyond the old black kettles of your youth to offer grills, ovens and smokers that will add a new depth of flavor to your prized proteins. THE GRILL Heston Blumenthal brought scientific rigor to the meat-centric meals at his Michelin three-star Fat Duck—and now he’s doing the same for your summer cookouts with his Hub II ($2,000). The grill delivers real charcoal cooking with the ease of a push-button ignition and, for a more crowd-pleasing method, retractable rotisserie poles that allow for whole-animal cooking on a spit. (everdurebyheston.com ) THE SMOKER Only the most hard-core pitmasters are willing to put in the time for real…

MAJORCA HAS ALWAYS suffered from multiple personalities. It’s possible you’ve only witnessed the Balearic island’s boisterous side—the raucous beach party scene set within a string of high-rise hotels lined up one after another along the Mediterranean coast. But there’s a calmer side to this Spanish isle, in the capital city of Palma. More soulful, more authentic, it has long been a quieter counterpart to the coast’s noisy beach resorts—so much so that almost nobody cared enough to visit. But this summer, Palma is stepping out of the shadows and ascending as the island’s buzzier (and, we’ll say it, better) place to stay. A collection of new five-star hotels is largely to thank for the transformation. But it wasn’t the usual case of big-box luxury-brand takeovers—Palma’s strict zoning laws make that…

SLICKERS ARE OUT. (Were they ever in?) Today’s modern raincoats are getting more performance-driven, acting as high-tech body armor that’s waterproof, breathable, ultralightweight and—get this—actually stylish. Topping the list for innovation is Italian brand Herno (herno.it), which has been collaborating with W. L. Gore & Associates since 2012 on a series of sleek fabrics that put to shame the puffy, rubbery raincoats of the not-so-distant past. After unveiling what the label dubbed “the world’s first completely waterproof, windproof and breathable down jacket” last fall, Herno followed up this spring with the Laminar 2-Layer Gore-Tex Paclite shell. Its construction is impressively futuristic: A Teflon layer contains pores that are smaller than a drop of water, yet larger than a water-vapor molecule—so that rain can’t get in but sweat can get out.…

Whether you know André Fu by name or not, odds are you’re familiar with his work. The founder of the Hong Kong–based design studio AFSO (afso.net) has been the creative force behind some of the world’s best hotels, from the Upper House Hong Kong to the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok. Now, he’s giving homeowners a chance to own his refined style with the launch of Modern Reflections, a collection of furniture, tableware, textiles and lighting that debuted at last month’s Salone del Mobile fair in Milan. The influences in many of Fu’s 150 pieces are easy to spot: Contemporized wood screens remind us of the designer’s mesmerizing geometric shapes at Hong Kong’s Upper House while porcelain dishes brushed with gold and silver take us back to his Horizon Club Lounge at…

THE SPANISH AUTOMAKER Hispano-Suiza (Spanish-Swiss), founded in 1904 by financier Damián Mateu and engineer Marc Birkigt, once rivaled Rolls-Royce as manufacturer of the world’s most advanced and opulent automobiles, but, by the end of the 1930s, it was out of the running. Fast-forward more than 80 years to the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show—the venue for the debut of the Carmen, a 1,005 hp electric coupe from the now hyphenless Hispano Suiza, designed in the tradition of Hispanos from the past. Like its forebears, the Carmen is not just remarkably powerful, impeccably crafted and exceedingly rare, it is also beautiful and stylistically daring. Noteworthy are the tapering backlight, fulsome rear fenders and dramatically scalloped tail recalling one Art Deco-era Hispano-Suiza that inspired its design. More than merely appropriating the once-famous…

In charge of Mercedes-Benz USA (mbusa.com ) since 2015, president and CEO Dietmar Exler is focused on pole position in the nation’s premium automotive market. While SUVs and alternative power trains have a key place in the company’s future, he has a soft spot for convertibles and combustion. How deep is the company’s commitment to electrification? Now that we have the right technology with our EQ lineup, we intend to take advantage of the opportunity. Last September, we unveiled our first electric SUV, the EQC, which will go on sale in the US next year. Going forward, we’ll have at least one electric alternative in all major segments. Are you surprised by the continued success of the Mercedes-AMG line? No. There’s still a large number of American buyers who want…

Great design can elevate a mundane object to art, as American designer Jozeph Forakis (forakis.com) knows well. The Havana lamp he created for Foscarini in 1993 now resides in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He recently collaborated with Hong Kong boatbuilder Cheoy Lee to help captain its transformation into the hipper CL Yachts—and is leaving a creative wake in the process. What led to your partnership with Cheoy Lee? During my frequent travels to Hong Kong, I met Martin Lo (Cheoy Lee’s director). He had seen project Heli-X I did for Leonardo helicopters and its radical AW609 VTOL tiltrotor [See “Flying at Full Tilt,” page 82] and thought that if I could design a next-generation aircraft then perhaps I can handle the complexity and challenge…

CAMERA-MAKER Insta360 (insta360 .com), which set the standard for 360-degree image capture last year with the One X, now takes virtual reality (VR) to new cinematic heights. Its latest, the Insta360 Titan, is the first stand-alone 360-degree camera capable of recording in 11K resolution. That level of detail might sound superfluous, but when it comes to VR, more is, well, more. “High-end image quality is a more important factor in immersive content than in any other medium,” says Insta360’s senior product manager, Eric Ji. “Even a slight divergence from reality becomes immediately obvious in a VR headset.” But shooting these ultrahigh-res stills and videos takes a village. For the Titan ($14,999), that village consists of eight lenses and four microphones. Beneath each lens sits a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor…

Walking down the hallway of a dingy roadside motel in Tucson, the scent of patchouli and incense wafting through the air, I catch a glimpse inside a guest room. There, a middle-aged man is handing over a small white envelope, neatly folded to protect its contents, in exchange for a wad of cash. It isn’t drugs but something just as mesmerizing: an exceptionally rare, 8-carat padparadscha sapphire. Welcome to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. Here, in this desert town, thousands of gemstone miners, dealers and designers from across the globe make the pilgrimage every January and February, like the pioneers before them, to sift through rocks and hunt for treasure. “It’s got that nefarious cowboy mentality that this whole area was once known for,” says New York designer Nicholas…

In the Flow Known for its hydromechanical watches that use liquid-filled capillaries to measure time, HYT has updated its technically complex H2O ($115,000 for steel and $125,000 for gold, each limited to 20) with the philosophical phrase “Time is fluid.” Spelled out around the circumference of its domed sapphire crystal case, the message can be customized on a bespoke timepiece to any buyer’s language preference and serves as a reminder that—in general relativity physics at least—time is flexible. An Artist’s Touch Much like van Gogh and his self-portraits, automotive art house Pininfarina—famed coachbuilder for Ferrari and others—has brilliantly expressed its own personality with the Battista. The all-electric hypercar, designed for new marque Automobili Pininfarina, begins delivery next year with a carbon-fiber body and 1,900 hp. Only 150 will be made,…

Mid-1920s Millions of future spring breakers are spared the ravages of scurvy when a bartender at the Turf Bar in Tijuana, Mexico, accidentally uses tequila instead of gin to make a Daisy. The margarita is born. 1938 Tijuana restaurant owner Carlos Herrera serves a Ziegfeld showgirl a combination of lime juice, tequila and salt, prompting the beginning of a never-ending debate about the cocktail’s origins. 1945 Jose Cuervo launches an ad campaign with the slogan, “Margarita: It’s more than a girl’s name.” Pizza makers worldwide lament the missed opportunity. 1948 Texas socialite Margaret “Margarita” Sames claims she—and not a Mexican bartender—invented the cocktail because, as she says, “a person can only drink so many beers.” 1953 The first known publication of a margarita recipe appears in the December issue of…

The connection between art and wine is, in a word, ancient. As long as we’ve had the good sense to put goblets and glasses to our lips, we’ve been making tomb paintings, hieroglyphics and crude drawings to pay homage to that coveted pastime of drinking. Not until 1945, however, did the relationship reach its current elevated heights, when the Baron Philippe de Rothschild established a tradition of commissioning a painting for the label of every vintage from his Château Mouton Rothschild. Today, the concept is perhaps more prevalent than it needs to be—after all, a really great label doesn’t make a bad wine taste better, and even the finest masterpiece on an empty bottle won’t end up in any gallery. On occasion, however, a wine-and-art collaboration is so good, it’s…

If the Belmond Cadogan Hotel’s (belmond.com) stylish new look isn’t enough to lure you over to London for a few nights, perhaps the ghosts of its storied past will. The Chelsea property, which has been renovated over four years and combines a former bank and four townhouses, has played host to everyone from Oscar Wilde, who was arrested here for the antiquated offense of “gross indecency” in 1895, to Lillie Langtry, the British-American socialite who set the city ablaze with her romantic frissons (including a not-so-secret one with the Prince of Wales). For all of its history, however, the new Belmond is a modern retreat where outof-towners feel like insiders, whether sipping afternoon tea in the lounge, cutting into Highland Wagyu beef at chef Adam Handling’s restaurant or strolling through…

STEEL HAS BEEN headlining as the durable metal of choice among collectors lately—so much so that even top-tier watchmakers are getting in on the trend. The latest is Patek Philippe, which debuted its first non-limited-edition stainless-steel Calatrava dress watch in more than 50 years. As you’d expect, the merits of the Ref. 5212A-001 Calatrava Weekly Calendar (patekphilippe.com) extend well beyond its new metal. Within that durable case is an impressive example of Patek Philippe’s mastery of calendar functions. The semi-integrated Weekly Calendar movement (based on the brand’s self-winding caliber 324 used in its Travel Time watches) tells the day of the week, the date and the month. The timepiece also has a 53-week indicator, which takes into account those years with an extra week. While there are few practical reasons…

WHEN YOU CROSS the threshold of Casa Perfect (thefutureperfect.com) in Manhattan’s West Village, there’s a sense that you’re visiting the home of an old friend. And you kind of are: Owner and gallerist David Alhadeff, who founded the contemporary design boutique Future Perfect in 2003, doesn’t just work there—he lives there, too. “It’s an important distinction, because I’m inviting people into my house to view our program,” says Alhadeff. “Nothing’s labeled, nothing’s priced—that’s not how this works. This is an experience.” The 5,000-square-foot townhouse—which is Alhadeff’s fourth outpost, in addition to a Casa Perfect in Los Angeles and galleries in San Francisco and New York’s NoHo district—is decidedly not about shopping. Guests explore it floor by floor, climbing a five-story wooden staircase designed by architect David Chipperfield to unearth art…

Perhaps nobody lives their passions quite like Kenny Schachter. The London-based artist turned dealer, curator and mega-collector has earned his reputation as the straight-talking provocateur of the art world, whether he’s predicting the future of the market, sizing up the latest fair or snapping up another record-breaking piece at auction. But Schachter is obsessed with more than art—he’s a serial acquirer of everything from motors and fashion to cheese. From his classic-car-filled home office in Kensington, he shares what’s driving him right now. What’s the most recent thing you’ve added to your collection? I buy art virtually every week so I’m always adding something to my collection. The most recent were some paintings by Ambera Wellmann,1 a young Canadian painter based in Berlin, and watercolors by Stanley Whitney. The most…

WATCHES AND CARS, time and speed. The link is undeniable, but the affinity goes deeper than mere timing. It’s the ability to perform with the highest level of precision over long periods that truly unites horology and motorsport. Perhaps nowhere is this connection more apparent than with the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15 and 16. Each year, winners of the fabled automotive endurance race—contested at France’s Circuit de la Sarthe—receive a commemorative Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona. The same self-winding mechanical model—with a tachymetric bezel—is gifted annually, differentiated only by the year’s engraving on the caseback. For Tom Kristensen, who finished first overall a record-setting nine times, those chronographs chronicle his legacy. “I wanted to celebrate, so I bought a black-dial Daytona and put ‘Winner 2000’…

FROM AIRBUS TO AUDI, and Boeing to Bell, more than 20 advanced tech companies want to take commuting to new heights. The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flying taxis they’re developing will ferry you above traffic in an ecofriendly fashion. Here are the contenders hovering near completion. Bell Nexus Texas-based Bell (bellflight.com ) knows a thing or two about going up, up and away. Formerly Bell Helicopter, the aerospace firm makes the US military’s fearsome V-22 Osprey vertical takeoff flying machine. On the commercial front, Bell is developing the Nexus, a four-passenger, hybrid-electric VTOL concept that will use six huge tilting fans. Uber signed on as a partner in 2017 with plans to use Nexus as a ride-service transport in major cities by 2023. Lilium Jet There are high…

WHEN IT COMES to audio, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better—but smaller is almost always worse. That’s no concern with the Beyerdynamic (north-america.beyerdynamic.com) Amiron Wireless headphones ($699), which are very comfortable despite their enormous cans. Even though the Amiron Wireless relies on Bluetooth, the sound quality is superb—in fact, we couldn’t detect any differences when connected by audio cable. From the delicate shimmering highs of a cymbal to the rumbling bass of a kick drum, it reproduces it all with precision. But while the bass is solid, don’t expect as much bottom end as from some of its competitors, such as V-Moda’s less expensive Crossfade M-100. The right ear cup serves as a stage for touch controls; everything is done with a collection of swipes and taps of the finger on…

Thomas Heatherwick The Brit designer’s public sculpture-slash-jungle gym, the Vessel, which opened in March in New York’s HUdson Yards to scalding reviews, has already garnered such nicknames as the Trifle Tower. It’s hard to get behind a $150 million Instagram backdrop meant to lure shoppers to a mall. Heatherwick’s rise is well deserved, but has anyone tallied his recent misses? We’re keeping an open mind about his Pier 55 (a Hudson River floating park), High Line condos and Google headquarters in California and London, but if the Vessel is any indication, maybe folks should stop opening their wallets until some of these projects are complete and we see if he’s upped his hit rate. Elasticized Ankles There’s been a premium placed on comfort in menswear over the last few years,…

Too cheap. It was a startling insight for Duffy Keys, cofounder of the Napa-based vineyard B Cellars, when a consultant told him he was underpricing his wine tastings. In fact, customers were surprised at the caliber of his Cabernet Sauvignon given the price. What’s more, the company’s website was cluttered and wordy, often leaving visitors confused, even deterred. And he should rethink his wine club: Swap out the big, infrequent parties for regular, intimate get-togethers where clients could mingle with Duffy and his team. Dutifully, the vintner followed that consultant’s counsel, from hiking the price of tastings up by about 30 percent to decluttering his website. The results were nothing short of remarkable: Attrition rates for his wine club now sit below industry norms, and annual visits to the vineyard…

At a charitable board meeting, members are invited to propose their visions for the future distribution of the fund. Sounds normal, except these are young teens—each given a $10,000 budget—presenting to their grandparents, who established the foundation decades earlier. “You need to expose children to philanthropy early, so they learn and share in the family’s goals and values of giving back,” says Judy Spalthoff, UBS’s head of Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services Americas, of the model her team uses to advise families. A similar initiative is under way at the Frieda C. Fox Family Foundation in Studio City, Calif., where its junior board comprises family members aged 8 to 18, each given $2,000 per year to make one or two grants to an appropriate organization of their choice. “THE CHANGING…