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 january 2020, volume 44, number 1
THE
FUTURE
ISSUE
98
Hanging in the Balance
With sustainability becoming
rightfully more top of mind,
premium garments, yachts, homes,
jets and everything in between will
soon be reimagined to minimize
our carbon footprint and maximize
a new perspective.
BY CHRISTINA BINKLEY
104
Waste Not, Want Not
Chef Matt Orlando set out to
find a better way to curb food
waste, going so far as to make
coffee grounds into miso at
his restaurant, Amass. His
innovations are a sustainable
(and scrumptious) modern-day
alchemy.
BY JEREMY REPANICH
110
The Smart, Quiet,
Utterly Bizarre Future
of the Luxury Car
For much of automotive history
cars were a static species. Now the
luxury vehicle’s future appears a
bit uncertain with wild new forces
that will shape it in the 2020s and
beyond. Start your engines.
BY JOSH CONDON
120
The New New Worlds
Changing climates and fortunes
are slowly remapping the wine
world, forcing once well-known
regions into obscurity and
allowing under-the-radar locales
to take their places. Here are five of
the latter, from England to India.
BY TED LOOS
126
The Seer
In the 1980s, when Tishan Hsu
first showed his sculptures—each
incorporated themes of technology
and its potential to serve as an
extension of the human body—the
artist was ahead of his time. Now,
in our era of iPhones and Google,
Hsu’s early oeuvre seems almost
prophetic.
BY JULIE BELCOVE
134
On the Horizon
In October, Robb Report brought
a fleet of spectacular yachts
together on a secret island for the
inaugural Red Sea Week. Here, a
few of the attendees share their
experiences.
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 19
 P. 58

Departments THE GOODS

42
TRAVEL
Restorative retreats for your next
OOO, plus where to stay, play
and watch the Millennium Cup
superyacht regatta in New Zealand.
46
ART & DESIGN
The artists quietly changing ceramics,
a geometric light fixture and Rem
Koolhaas at the Guggenheim.
51 60
FOOD & DRINK WATCHES
Flasks and spirits to put in them, The genius watchmaker you’ve
plus the rise of dining as showtime. never heard of behind some of
the most complex timepieces
from MB&F, Purnell and Jaeger-
56 LeCoultre, plus Greubel Forsey
STYLE forsakes modern machinery for
craftsmanship.
Varsity and tennis sweaters get
a cozy reboot, and the innovative
materials designers are using for
function and sustainability. P. 62

28 DREAM MACHINES GENIUS AT WORK

C ONTR IBUT O RS

30 86
ED IT OR ’S L E T TE R GLASSES TO MAKE
THE MOUTH WATER
33 Behind the scenes at Riedel’s
OB J E C T IFIE D
Austrian crystal factory.
Aston Martin’s first
motorcycle, sleek
footwear for real-life
space cadets and an
egg-shaped electric
air taxi.

40
TH E DU E L
Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

64 P. 78

T H E A NSW E R S
with violin virtuoso
Charlie Siem 68 78 FIELD NOTES
WHEELS WINGS
152 A test-drive of Porsche’s Taycan Turbo, Soar to the North Pole in a cool, helium-
93
T H E D E C ID E R plus the first bio-bike and the best vehicles filled airship, and making waves with
Which self-help guru The allure of modern classic
to get you through the snow. alternative jet fuels.
is right for you? cars, auction paddles vie with
74 82 smart phones, the future of
travel and longevity’s leg up.
WATER TECH
A zippy new charter yacht, and an electric Wilson Audio Specialties’ latest sonic
surfboard that will take even neophytes to wallop, and bespoke skis for carving turns
great heights. in style. THE BUSINESS

149
Global residential real
estate’s major shift, plus
Out of Office with Mansour
founder Ben Soleimani.
P. 84

C OVE R
IL LUSTRATIO N BY
CRAIG & KARL

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 23
 Robb Report is owned and published by Penske Media Corporation
in partnership with Rockbridge Growth Equity.

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 CALIBER RM 60-01 REGATTA
LIMITED EDITION

RICHARD MILLE BOUTIQUES

ASPEN BAL HARBOUR BEVERLY HILLS BOSTON BUENOS AIRES
LAS VEGAS MIAMI NEW YORK ST. BARTH TORONTO VANCOUVER

www.richardmille.com
 Contributors

Ted Loos
Loos has written about wine and art for the last
25 years, for The New York Times, WSJ magazine
and others. Formerly a wine contributor for
Travel + Leisure and an Epicurious columnist,
Loos put his vintage knowledge to good use
this issue, surveying five up-and-coming wine
regions in “The New New Worlds” (p. 120). “The
wine world has expanded so much since I began
covering it,” he says. “Just talking to folks in
these emerging locales makes me want to pack
my bags and explore.”

Jemima Sissons Simone Donati Christina Binkley Josh Condon

While writing her story
for this issue, “The
Great Escapes” (p. 42),
on restorative retreat
destinations, Sissons was on
a remote getaway of her own.
“I wrote the story from the
wilds of northern Georgia in
the Caucasus,” she says. “So
it was very easy to appreciate
the lure of going off grid.”
Sissons regularly covers
food, drink and other aspects
of the luxury marketplace
for publications such as the
Financial Times, The Wall
Street Journal, Departures and
Country Life.
Donati is a documentary
photographer whose
work focuses on social,
environmental and political
issues, and his photos have
appeared in solo and group
shows in Italy and abroad, as
well as in Vanity Fair, Monocle
and Le Monde. For this issue
he captured violin virtuoso
Charlie Siem at home for “The
Answers” (p. 64). Donati says
that Siem’s residence was,
without a doubt, the most
spectacular home he’d ever
visited in his native Florence.
Binkley writes often about
what happens when pop
culture and business mix. A
contributing editor at Vogue
Business, she has written
for The Wall Street Journal,
The New Yorker and The
Washington Post Magazine,
among many others. For
the Future of Luxury Issue,
Binkley explored what luxury
brands are doing—and what
we can do—to live more
sustainably in the coming
years (p. 98). “I encountered
so many great ideas while
researching this piece,” she
says. “I’ve implemented a
few myself. For example, I’m
having a friend help me build
a bookcase of reclaimed wood
and steel instead of buying a
new one.”
Condon is Robb Report’s
deputy editor. He’s been an
editor at Cargo, Road & Track,
Details, The Drive and Gear
Patrol, and his writing has
appeared in The New York
Times, Esquire Big Black Book
and many other publications.
For this issue, Condon took a
long look down the road for
“The Smart, Quiet, Utterly
Bizarre Future of the Luxury
Car” (p. 110). “The idea of
the automobile is more up
in the air than at any time
since the invention of the car,”
he says, “and with advances
in artificial intelligence, 3-D
printing, generative design
and autonomous technology,
things are about to get
very, very weird—but also
wildly cool.”

28 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
PA RA D I S E I S A P L ACE O N EA RT H

AT L A N T I S PA R A D I S E I S L A N D B A H A M A S

T H E C OV E AT L A N T I S B A H A M A S .C O M | 1.877.COVEVIP
 There can be no better time to devote an issue
to the future of luxury than the start of a new
year—and a new decade. It feels like a watershed
moment for us, as consumers, but also for so
many of the industries that make up this world.
Our needs and wants are changing: It’s not that we
crave less quality, less refinement, less exclusivity in the
products and experiences we seek out—of course not.
But now, inspired perhaps by the activism of a younger
generation or just the overwhelming evidence of global
warming, we are increasingly expecting—insisting—that
the brands we endorse and patronize tread lightly upon
the earth or change the way they operate in order to do so.
Because it’s impossible to discuss the future of luxury
in this new decade without talking about sustainability.
The former simply cannot survive, evolve and thrive
without the latter (can anything?). Disruption of markets
is already driving the industry forward, often led by
companies unencumbered by the weight of having done
things a certain way for centuries, a legacy that can
prevent some “heritage” brands from moving forward.
And while progress so far has been slow, there is good
news, because we are at the start of what I hope will be
a new golden age of creativity and innovation for luxury
makers and businesses.
In the auto industry, for example, marques have
been falling over themselves to get electric vehicles into
production. And to some degree, luxury-car makers are
doing likewise. Where will this trend lead those of us who
take great pleasure in getting from A to B in style, comfort
and with exemplary performance at our fingertips? What
is the future of the luxury vehicle, and is it the same for
its mass-market alternatives? No, argues deputy editor Paul Croughton
Josh Condon in “The Smart, Quiet, Utterly Bizarre Future Editor in Chief
of the Luxury Car.” Even as technology democratizes @paulcroughton
cutting-edge features and homogenizes the automobile,
advances in on-demand manufacturing and increasingly in glue made from boiled animal bones (another waste
rare private ownership will mean that some aspects of product) and pressed until solid, to make tabletops,
the luxury vehicle will never change, even as everything lighting and mirrors.
changes around it. Find out more on page 110. Another fascinating example is to be found in culinary
In fashion, travel and real estate, new technology is editor Jeremy Repanich’s story about chef Matt
creating new opportunity, says Christina Binkley in her Orlando and his revolutionary restaurant in Copenhagen,
standout piece, which begins on page 98. She reveals Amass. As well as reducing its carbon footprint,
some of the revolutionary solutions being researched limiting water usage and employing numerous other
and employed by businesses across the luxury spectrum. sustainable practices, Orlando tasked his team with using
Recycling of materials is increasingly commonplace, but the waste products from the restaurant’s supply chain,
brands must now look at every link in the supply chain to such as ground coffee beans or old bread, in innovative
implement sustainable new methods and practices. Waste ways. So now there are crackers, brownies, beer, miso
products have become the new must-use raw material: and a particularly popular malty ice cream made from
Witness Stella McCartney’s use of marine-waste plastic ingredients once deemed not fit for consumption.
JOSHUA SCOT T

in her products or—one of my personal favorites—Oficina A shift in thinking that creates radical new opportunities?
Penadés, a Spanish design shop that uses offcuts of leather Sounds like the sort of recipe we all need to get behind.
(some of which it gets from Hermès) shredded, soaked Enjoy the issue.

30 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
D OUBLE TOURBILLON 30°
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The 32nd Annual Premier Event

FEBRUARY 13 - 17
DOWNTOWN MIAMI
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 Objectified

Moon Shoes
As we look to the future in this issue, here we turn
our eye toward products still in development, starting
with Under Armour’s recent partnership with Virgin Galactic
that brings stylish shoes to space tourism. Inspired by
racecar drivers’ lightweight kicks, each pair uses adaptive
technology to form to the wearer’s foot. It’s a far cry from the
clunky space boots of the Apollo 11 days—adding a little more
grace to that one small step. underarmour.com
JARREN VINK

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 33
 Dream Team
A collaboration with fellow
English automaker Brough
Superior, Aston Martin’s
AMB 001 is its first motorcycle.
The track-only model
roars to life with a 180 hp,
turbocharged V-twin engine
mounted in a carbon-fiber
body. And although its
creation was a team effort,
aesthetically the bike is
distinctly Aston Martin, flying
the marque’s signature racing
colors and wings, which,
under the bodywork on the
nose and tank, bear a striking
resemblance to the Valkyrie’s.
It debuted in November in
Milan and will be delivered in
late 2020. astonmartin.com

34 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
HARRY MATENAER Objectified
We Have Liftoff
This zippy little plane from German start-up Lilium wants to revolutionize
the way we travel. An on-demand air taxi, it flies high above rush-hour
woes at speeds of up to 186 mph. Yet its 36 electric engines don’t emit
a single puff of pollutant, offering a sustainable solution to modern
transportation’s hefty carbon footprint. Sound like a fantasy of the very
distant future? It may not be too far off, after all: Recent footage shows
the egg-shaped aircraft vertically ascending and coasting, a good sign that
it will be fully operational in cities around the world by 2025. lilium.com
HARRY MATENAER Objectified

R O B B R E P O R T.
T COM 37
7
 Cryptocurrency is more than just Bitcoin. New cryptos have emerged and given the
blockchain forefather a run for its (digital) money. Most notable among them is Ethereum,
which is both an online currency and a platform for creating smart contracts and
blockchain-supported apps. It typically runs second to Bitcoin in overall value but has
been adopted by some corporate entities, acquiring a possible edge in legitimacy.

Bitcoin VS. Ethereum

B E G AN IN

2009 2015
WHO STARTE D IT?
Satoshi Nakamoto, which is almost certainly a pseudonym. Eight people are attributed as cofounders, but
The creator’s true identity—or identities—remains unknown. programmer Vitalik Buterin is the most active today.

I T ’ S R E A LLY P O P U L A R I N . . .

Prague San Francisco

FAMOU S FR IE ND

Mike Tyson. The former pro boxer launched a line of Bitcoin ATMs that would convert Ashton Kutcher. The actor tweeted his support for Ethereum and “decentralizing
real-world money into crypto. Its design featured his signature face tattoo. the world” in 2014 (prior to its launch) with a link to the site.

HOW MAN Y IN CIRC UL ATION?

18 million 108 million

BUN DLE OF E N ERGY

In a year, mining—a process in which individuals vet other transactions in order to Ethereum mining’s yearly energy usage is equivalent
earn more currency of their own—consumes more energy than all of Singapore. to all of Costa Rica’s.

VALU E (AS O F 12 /2 /20 19 )

$7,277 $147
YOU CAN BUY WHAT W ITH IT?
A trip to space via Virgin Galactic. A $30 million beaux arts mansion in New York.

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40 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
THE GOODS THIS MONTH’S WHO, WHAT AND WEAR
 Into the blue:
Bawah Reserve,
in Indonesia’s
Anambas
archipelago, gives
new meaning to
“getting away
from it all.”

The Great Escapes

Too much holiday partying got you
down? Get off the grid—or back on track—
at these rejuvenating retreats.

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 43
 The Goods | T R AV E L

M oderation, that
noble pursuit,
is never harder
than during the
end-of-year party
season. And while all good things come
to an end, no one says you can’t roll right
into recovery: Once the last toasts have
been made and the last drams drunk,
it’s time for some proper R&R, whether
that means rest & relaxation or reboot
& revitalization. No matter if your
metabolism favors disappearing into the
wilderness or escaping into a sweat-
soaked workout refresher, we have just
what the doctor ordered.

OFF THE GRID

Islas Secas Reserve & Lodge
Nestled in the Gulf of Chiriquí, Panama,
Islas Secas is the ultimate in hidden luxury
for those who desire complete privacy and
off-the-beaten-track adventure. One of the
hottest destinations for 2020, Islas Secas
puts sustainability at its heart: The Tom

Sheerer–designed casitas are nestled in

their own tropical gardens, and the entire
resort is powered by solar energy. With no
TVs and the nearest civilizing influences
20 miles away, guests come seeking
communion with the abundant flora and
fauna. Activities include whale watching,
diving with sea turtles and taking nature
walks that explore the rare birds, plant
varieties and animals—a real-life Planet
Earth. From $1,500, islassecas.com

The Northern Lights

It doesn’t get more restorative than
basking in the Aurora Borealis from the
comfort of a floating palace. Adventure
specialists Off the Map Travel offer eight
new itineraries in Sweden, Finland and
Iceland—all capturing the Northern
Lights from the water. Sweden now has
the world’s first Arctic floating spa, Arctic
Bath, situated in Harads. Meanwhile,
Norwegian guests can go full adventurer
in Tromsø with a catamaran safari,
catching piscine prey by day and drifting
beneath the lights by night. For Arctic
glamping, enjoy luxury yurts at the edge
of the frozen Bothnian Sea. From $1,553,
offthemap.travel

44 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 T R AV E L | The Goods

Loving the 203-foot, classically

the Cup styled sailing yacht from

The Millennium Cup, the
South Pacific’s premier
superyacht regatta, takes
place among an archipelago
of 144 islands known for
dolphin pods, big-game
fishing and world-class
diving, from January 29 to
February 1. New Zealand’s
Bay of Islands, as it’s known,
is also an exceptional sailing
area, with constant winds
and beautiful scenery. And
while the races can be
enjoyed from land in Russell,
where the competition
SHA Wellness Clinic is hard-core health begins—Eagles Nest, a resort
perched high above the town,
and wellness wrapped in a luxury resort in the offers exceptional views
port city of Alicante, Spain. of the course—chartering a
yacht will put you as close
to the on-water action as
possible.
Aspiring sailors can
CLOCKWISE FROM ON THE MEND
TOP: The overwater watch from the 189-foot
bungalow bathroom Bawah Reserve Twizzle, a pedigreed sailing
at Bawah; grilling For those seeking solace—and a spot of vessel by Royal Huisman with
lobsters at Islas meditation—the far-flung Bawah Reserve space for nine guests and 11
Secas; the infinity in Indonesia’s Anambas archipelago crew. The yacht offers a large
pool at SHA Wellness is the last word in tropical luxury. exterior lounge for watching
Clinic; a view of the Comprising six islands, 13 beaches and the competition, a protected
Northern Lights from alfresco dining area below
three lagoons, the resort—accessible only
the water in Norway. and a contemporary interior
by private seaplane from Singapore—is
by Todhunter Earle. Athos,
launching two programs in January for
partied-out sun worshippers: Journey to
Calm includes classes for life coaching,
breathing and mindfulness—all hydrated
with garden-to-glass health tonics—
while Journey to Vitality covers postural
analysis, paddleboard yoga and private
cooking classes using ingredients
foraged from the reserve’s permaculture
gardens. From $1,980, bawahreserve.com
Holland Jachtbouw, offers
even more space, with five
cabins for 12 guests and a
10-person crew. The yacht,
built in 2010, had a refit
in 2016; its 36-foot beam
creates exceptional interior
space, including a large
master suite with a private
deck, plus sweeping upper
decks perfect for watching
the races, dining and holding
social events.
When the races have
been run, visitors can share
in evening celebrations at
the Duke of Marlborough
Hotel, play golf against a
dramatic Pacific backdrop at
the David Harman course at
Kauri Cliffs, dive in an area
Jacques Cousteau called
one of the world’s 10 best
dive sites or visit the region’s
many vineyards. Or take
advantage of New Zealand’s
diverse cruising grounds and
venture down to the South
Island for an entirely different
experience. Unlike for the cup
competitors, there’s no rush.
Michael Verdon
A-List Access: To book,
contact Mark Donaldson, md@
mlx.co.nz.

SHA Wellness Clinic

For those in need of a serious reboot,
SHA is a hard-core, multimodal health-
and-wellness program wrapped in a
luxury resort in the gorgeous port city
of Alicante, Spain. Programs last from 4 Chartering a
to 21 days and range from wellness and yacht gets you
fitness to weight loss, stress management up close and
and anti-aging. The clinic boasts over personal for the
Millennium Cup.
300 professionals from across the world,
including 30 medical doctors working full-
time, and offers a range of techniques and
therapies, from the natural and holistic
to cutting-edge medical treatments like
brain photobiomodulation, a cognitive
stimulation therapy that uses low-level
lasers to improve cellular recovery and
JEFF BROWN

alleviate anxiety and depression. From

around $1,870 for a four-day program,
shawellnessclinic.com Jemima Sissons

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 45
 A RT & D E S I G N

All the
Right Angles
Geometry nerds, rejoice—this hot new
lighting trend is for you.

L
et there be light, sure,
but let it be interesting.
Designers are getting
more creative with
luminescence of late,
bending fixtures into clean—
but still dynamic—geometries.
Made popular by the likes of Bec
Brittain and Lindsey Adelman,
these mathematical shapes have
increasingly become the new
illumination of note. In addition
to adding interior pizzazz, a well-
placed triangle, square or polygon
can shed new light on subjects,
with their structural forms
casting a more alluring glow than
a workaday floor or desk lamp.
Looking for a master class in
such lines and vertices? Danish-
Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s
latest for Louis Poulsen will
give even the brainiest nerd
something to scratch her head
about. Dubbed the OE Quasi, the
pendant contains multitudes—
namely, a dodecahedron core
within a 20-faced frame. Yet for
all its numbers and facets, the
piece emits a remarkably gentle
glow, with LEDs that cast inward,
bathing the intricate center in a
cool shine. Contemplating the
piece yields a dizzying array
of shapes and interpretations.
How you see it depends, of
course, on your particular point
of view. $17,928, louispoulsen.com
Helena Madden

46 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 The Goods | A R T & D E S I G N

EARTH, WATER
AND FIRE
ceramics go way, way back. Ever since
humans discovered that clay hardens
with the application of fire, the craft has
been an interiors mainstay—yet despite its
long history, pottery has remained mostly
stuck in its ancient ways. Now, though,
younger designers are experimenting
anew with the medium’s earthly appeal,
creating bold, vibrant vessels that are
more sculptural statement pieces than
functional window dressings.
“They’ve become a hot-ticket item
and a huge part of our current collection,”
says the Future Perfect’s Laura Young,
who curated a ceramics show last

Eny Lee Parker’s “The traditional approach is very much

Lumpy Breakfast
about mastering ancient techniques. We didn’t have
Table and Stitch
Stool. ABOVE: Andile any interest in that.”
Dyalvane’s vessels,
which incorporate
bolts and other November at the gallery’s LA, New York traditional home. “I wanted to make
industrial objects. and San Francisco locations. “Buying something that softens the space rather
one can be a gateway drug to the world than creating more angles,” says the
of collecting.” Brooklyn-based ceramist. “Clay allows
Sound alluring? Here are some of our me to be a bit more malleable in coming
favorites exploring new ways to marry up with these shapes.” Nor does she stick
clay to kiln. to pots and vases: Parker’s oeuvre of
elemental, organic-feeling ceramics runs
Andile Dyalvane
Ask Dyalvane about his ceramics and
you’ll get a response that sounds more
like ritual than craft. “It starts with a
vision or epiphany,” the South African
artist says. “Then to sketches. I curate
music that fits their narrative and burn
impepho herbs to clear my energy.”
But Dyalvane’s creations are far from
smoke and mirrors; they juxtapose lively
shapes with deeply earthbound textures
and motifs. His process helps him tap
into memories—in particular of his
father, a welder, returning from work
with bolts, nuts and screws in hand.
Such recollections coalesce in evocative
vessels, bowls, sculpture and furniture,
many with industrial metals pressed
into earthen flesh.

Eny Lee Parker

A former interior design student, Parker
developed her ceramics as counterpoint
to the boxy, angular nature of the

48 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0

REM KOOLHA AS: PIETERNEL VAN VELDEN
ABOVE: Alana Wilson’s the gamut from lamps and tables to
Woodfired Shino planters and jewelry.
Moon Jar. BELOW:
Studio Furthermore’s Alana Wilson
Tektites collection uses The Australian artist’s creative
sponges to create new, process is a violent one. Fueled by a
innovative shapes. fascination with nature and change,
including decay, Wilson utilizes
volatile materials such as lithium,
cryolite and salt, which erode the clay
while it’s still in the kiln at 2,300 degrees
Fahrenheit. The resulting pieces look
ravaged by time, as if pulled from an
ancient ruin or shipwreck. Each is
staggeringly unique. “It’s a test and
discovery with each firing,” she says.
Studio Furthermore
“The traditional approach is very much
about mastering ancient techniques,”
says Iain Howlett, one half of London-
based Studio Furthermore along with
Marina Dragomirova. “We didn’t have
any interest in that.” The designers opted
for the road less traveled; in their
case, that means sponges injected
with clay before being fired. While the
cleaning material burns to a crisp, the
ceramic maintains the porous, organic
forms, resulting in creations with
the unique textures of coral and
weather-beaten Icelandic rock. H.M.
A R T & D E S I G N | The Goods
Rem
Koolhaas
Goes
Country
Renowned architect and
urbanist Rem Koolhaas has
spent much of his career
hopping from “one site of
urban density to another,”
says Troy Conrad Therrien,
the Guggenheim Museum’s
architecture curator.
He would occasionally
escape to the Swiss
Alps “to find moments of
repose,” Therrien says,
but “for Rem, going to the
countryside was like going
to Mars.” When modernity
encroached on his beloved
retreat, Koolhaas turned his
attention from metropolitan
cacophony to the rest of the
(mostly undeveloped) world.
The result is Country­
side, the Future, an
exhibition opening February
20 at the Guggenheim in
New York. Beginning with a
towering wall of Koolhaas’s
questions about what lies
ahead, the show sums
up an investigation he
undertook with AMO, the
think tank associated with
his Office for Metropolitan
Architecture, aided by
research from students at
Harvard and universities
in Beijing, Nairobi and
Wageningen, Netherlands.
Filling the rotunda with
case studies divided into
global themes concerning
rural and wild lands—
escapism, politics and
experimentation, to name
a few—the multisensory
installation will encompass
film, archival material
and even John Denver’s
“Take Me Home, Country
Roads” playing in a loop
of 15 languages. Though
decidedly future­focused,
Koolhaas and his team were
careful to consider the past,
such as the predilection in
ancient Rome and China
for writing literature in the
countryside, as well as
the present, including the
innovative use of phone­
based payment systems in
remote parts of Africa.
While the word “future”
conjures images of Blade
Runner­esque cityscapes—
shiny, high­tech and grim—
Koolhaas argues it’s the less
developed terrain that’s on
the front lines of change.
“Rem has been unfairly
tagged as cynical,” Therrien
says. “This show is not
cynical.” Julie Belcove
Is indoor
agriculture
the wave of
the future?
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 49
 P R O M O T I O N

in focus

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MOUSSAIEFF JEWELLERS
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Moussaieff Jewellers is synonymous
with magnificent jewels. Their high
jewellery flower brooch is exemplary
with a 23.76ct Natural Salt Water
Pearl centre, with petals of 36.07cts
of rubies, 29.21cts of colored
diamonds and 7.09cts of white
diamonds. It is set in titanium, thus
exceptionally light and wearable.

OFFICINE GULLO
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Unique is when craftsmanship meets
the most modern technology and
sophisticated cooking elements,
that result in a tailor-made product,
thought to satisfy the particular
needs of the owner. Every Officine
Gullo kitchen is fully customizable in
terms of composition, size, colors
and finishes.
 T
FOOD & DRINK here was a time when a
mainstream Hollywood studio
would bankroll a gritty, original
film about an inventive character

The Rise of the who challenges the audience’s

beliefs. Now, amid changing viewing
habits and a saturated entertainment
market, the only way a studio will green-

Blockbuster Restaurant light that movie is if it’s the origin story

Today’s movies are bigger and louder, packed with
action and more of what viewers already love. The future of fine
dining could look remarkably similar.
for a Batman villain.
The restaurant industry finds itself
on the cusp of its own blockbuster era.
While the last decade saw the rise of
small, personal, independent restaurants,
increased labor costs, soaring big-city
rents, more expensive buildouts and
changing dining habits mean new †

Putting on a show
at the Grill inside
the landmark
Seagram Building in
New York City

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 51
 The Goods | F O O D & D R I N K

restaurants have a better chance to survive

as part of a larger, more established brand.
“I think it’s really hard to have one
restaurant—you need to have three
restaurants,” says Kevin Boehm,
TOP: Raw clams
cofounder of Boka Restaurant Group,
with chile at
which owns some of Chicago’s best
Momofuku K¯awi.
eateries, including Boka and Girl & the
BELOW: A tableside
Goat. “When my partner and I opened
preparation at
Boka, we saw we’d need more than one
Carbone. BOTTOM:
restaurant to make it a viable business The private
proposition.” dining room at
But it’s not just the money side. The Majordomo,
¯ in LA.
dining experience is changing, too.
Just as streaming services and prestige
television give viewers a reason to skip
the multiplex, diners likewise need more
incentive to go to the food, rather than let
the food come to them.
“People don’t want to dine out
anymore, they want to go on an app and
get it delivered to their house,” says James
Syhabout, chef-owner of Michelin two-
star Commis, in Oakland. “The habit that’s
still intact is going to a nice dinner for a
special occasion, rather than, ‘Hey, let’s go
out and have a nice dinner just because.’ ”
What gets people in the door today
are bold designs, recognizable names
and tableside preparations that heighten
the culinary experience by making it
interactive. In other words, restaurants
need to up the production value.
“You used to have dinner and go to
the show—I’m going to give you both,”
says Mario Carbone, cofounder of Major
Food Group, which operates Parm, Dirty
French and his eponymous old-school
Italian joint, Carbone, among others.
“You’re going to come here and I’m But even in the era of disposable thrills
going to put on a performance, and that’s and Instagram celebrity, a blockbuster
your night out.” restaurant doesn’t mean Salt Bae spilling
sodium all over your lap. Venerable
restaurant groups like the ones below
manage to pull off scale with remarkable
skill, creating a production well worth the
price of admission.

Momofuku
Chef David Chang has become bigger
than restaurants. He has a successful
podcast, two shows on Netflix and
1.3 million Instagram followers. His
dining domain has expanded, too: There
are now Momofuku eateries in six cities
around the world, each with a Chang-ian
rubric of Asian and American flavors,
a dearth of fine-dining formality and
MAJORDOMO: MOLLY MATALON; CARBONE

large-format dishes to be shared by

the table. But they’re far from cookie-
INTERIOR: DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN
K AWI CLAMS: ANDREW-BEZEK;

cutter. Executive chefs at each locale

are given the freedom to make the place
their own, with two of Momofuku’s latest
efforts—LA’s Majordōmo and a more
traditional Korean spot, Kāwi, in NY—
being notably different in execution but
equally delicious.

52 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 F O O D & D R I N K | The Goods

“You used to have dinner and

go to the show—I’m going to
give you both.”

Major Food Group

The Grill was a game changer. Major Food
Group’s full reimagining of the landmark
Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan
announced a new era of dining, filled with
bravado and tinged with nostalgia. The
group’s other restaurants in New York
(where it’s based), Las Vegas, Tel Aviv
and Hong Kong differ in cuisine
but are similar in their transporting
effects: Carbone puts you inside the
Copacabana scene in Goodfellas; Sadelle’s
is a luxe interpretation of an old-school
appetizing counter; and the Polynesian is
an ode to Tiki.

ThinkFoodGroup
When not spearheading the hunger-
relief work that saw him nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize, chef José
Andrés is growing a national empire.
Andrés’s restaurants have a flair for the
whimsical and dramatic, most evident
at his avant-garde flagship restaurant,
Minibar, in Washington, D.C., but also at
Mediterranean-inspired Zaytinya, tapas-
focused Jaleo and the modernist Bazaar,
CLOCKWISE FROM a budding chain located inside three SLS
TOP LEFT: Carbone, Hotels across the country. And Andrés is
in Las Vegas; crema unafraid to go big, recently opening the
Catalana at Mercado massive Mercado Little Spain—his version
Little Spain; the of a Spanish Eataly—in Manhattan’s new
Polynesian. Hudson Yards complex. Jeremy Repanich

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 53
 YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU
Elegant options, vessel and liquid, for the forward-thinking imbiber.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:

SirJack’s sterling silver flask
($1,995, sirjacks.com);
Il Bisonte leather and glass flask
($215, ilbisonte.com); Tiffany &
Co. sterling silver and brass
flask ($875, tiffany.com); Jacob
Bromwell copper flask
($650, jacobbromwell.com); Ralph
Lauren canvas, saddle leather and
brass flask ($195, ralphlauren.com);
Snow Peak titanium flask
($150, snowpeak.com).

54 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0 PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE CHINSEE

 F O O D & D R I N K | The Goods

SHOOTING BLANCS
Cognac Ferrand 10
Generations
A collector’s-edition
Cognac made with Ugni
Blanc grapes, with light
touches of orange,
raisins and ginger. ($60)

RUM RUNNER
Don Papa 10-Year
Molasses, vanilla and
tannins enough to be
considered a (boozy)
sweets break. ($70)

HAIR OF THE DOG

Lone Whisker
12-Year
Accessibly-proofed
bourbon with balanced
notes of citrus, honey
and pepper, from
a pair of Napa Valley
vintners. ($150)

PSSST . . .
JOHNNIE’S THE RAT
Johnnie Walker Blue
Label Year of the Rat
The same Blue
Label you love, specially
packaged for the
brand’s latest Zodiac
Collection release.
($250)

THE NEW
AFTER-MEAL NIP
Brancamenta
A bracing hit of
peppermint nicely
smoothed with
rich caramel
sweetness. ($30)

PLATINUM SETTING
Qui Platinum
Extra Añejo
Mellow, grassy and
mildly spicy, this
extra-aged agave spirit
is a clear sipper
supreme. ($60)

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 55
 STYLE

The Varsity
Sweater
Is This
Season’s
Sartorial
MVP
Atoning for recent athleticwear
sins, designers reimagine an
elegant, utilitarian sporting
staple—and its tennis-playing
cousin from across the pond.
 S T Y L E | The Goods

I
n recent years, athletic
attire has been an
albatross hung around
the neck of menswear.
The trend has yielded
numerous cringeworthy
developments: suits with
elasticized cuffs, haute fanny
packs and all manner of
outlandishly proportioned (and
aggressively ugly) sneakers. But
lately, designers from Angela
Missoni to Brunello Cucinelli
have recalled athletes of yore,
in the process resurrecting Alanui
two bygone sportswear staples
with enduring appeal: varsity
and tennis sweaters. Steeped in
clubby, Ivy League rakishness,
they evoke a time when the
sporting life was not antithetical
to style but synonymous with it.
The garments date to around
the late 19th century, when
they served as actual sporting
uniforms for athletes. The
varsity sweater, marked by a
crewneck or boatneck and a
letter or number on the chest,
originated with Harvard’s
baseball team, in 1865. The
letter—which represented one’s
school or team affiliation—
Ralph Lauren.
would historically be accented
OPPOSITE: Drake’s.
with stripes on the sleeve
to commemorate standout
performances and, for team
captains, a star to denote rank. Brunello Cucinelli
Cricket or tennis sweaters, of sport sweaters take their says Drake’s creative director,
defined by a V-neck and stripes predecessors’ motifs and trim Michael Hill, whose cashmere
along the collar and hems, were silhouettes and render them in letterman sweaters come
popularized by British cricket deeply luxurious materials— emblazoned with a bold “D”
clubs and quickly adopted by more “captain of industry” than in intarsia knit. “It is perhaps
tennis players and golfers on captain of the football team. free of the baggage that may be
both sides of the Atlantic. Brunello Cucinelli and Ralph attendant for our friends across
“Varsity sweaters are Lauren riff on classic tennis the pond.”
‘jock’ personified—they feel cardigans in downy cashmere Regardless of whether you
very butch, very athletic, very and wool blends, while Paul made varsity in your school
masculine,” says Brooklyn-based Stuart and Missoni take on the days, the sweaters offer a subtle
vintage-menswear dealer Sean traditional V-neck, with Missoni irreverence that suits men of all
Crowley, who stocks dozens swapping the standard cable ages. Crowley is partial to the
of both styles from the 1920s knit for the graphic kick of its 1930s styling of a sport sweater
through the ’60s. “I don’t know signature jacquards. Italian indie atop a collared shirt, with the
if it’s because of the Britishness knitwear brand Alanui gives the collar’s points draped over the
of them, but tennis sweaters varsity sweater a fresh spin as a neckline. Or “wear it as you
have a slightly more bookish plush cashmere cardigan with would any other stylish piece
quality. If the varsity sweater is collegiate stripes and charmingly of knitwear,” Hill says. “It goes
American, the tennis sweater nostalgic embroidery. beautifully with a tweed jacket
is English.” “For us in the UK, the and cords, and equally well with
Whereas the originals varsity sweater was never part jeans and a field jacket. Don’t
were built for durability on of our school sports kit, so it overthink it. Their beauty is in
the field, the latest generation has different connotations,” their simplicity.” Kareem Rashed Paul Stuart

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 57
 The Goods | S T Y L E
MATERIALS
SCIENCE
during their famous 1953 ascent
of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay relied on
a familiar material to keep the deadly
elements at bay: nylon. Hillary,
drawing inspiration from military
apparel, created a windproof suit of
woven cotton and nylon to be worn
over the pair’s Shetland-wool base
layers. We’ve since improved or
invented fabrics for every possible
weather condition on earth—and
the moon, and Mars—and we’re still
experimenting with the stuff. Fashion
may be cyclical, but the attempt
to innovate materials that breathe
better, last longer or recycle easier
moves in only one direction: forward.
“The advantage of nylon is
mechanical performance,” says
Giulio Bonazzi, CEO of Aquafil,
which produces a recycled version
of the material, Econyl, that’s now
making its way into some of today’s
finest wares. “You get more with less
when compared to natural yarns or
polyesters.”
Despite the fiber’s low weight,
nylon has high thermal resistance
and amazing tensile strength, which
makes it perfect for outerwear.
Burberry has a capsule collection,
including a monogrammed jacquard
car coat, parka and backpack,
developed around Econyl, which
takes fibers from waste materials
like fishing nets and carpet (about 4
billion pounds of floor covering are
discarded each year into landfills
in the US) and recycles them into
a nylon yarn as functional as—and
more recyclable than—virgin
nylon. Stella McCartney, who’s
committed to abandoning virgin
nylon completely by year’s end (see
“Hanging in the Balance,” page 98),
relies on it, as does Prada, which
uses Econyl for its Re-Nylon line of
bags, including a handsome men’s
duffel in navy.
Were Hillary and Norgay to
attempt Everest today, they may
well turn to the adventuring experts
at the North Face, a company so
influential it developed its latest
high-tech fabric, Futurelight,
in-house. The material is created
through a nano-spinning process
that allows unprecedented levels
of breathability in a waterproof
58 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
material. Essentially, nano-scale
holes allow air to permeate
Futurelight without letting water
in, and the material can be made to
increase or decrease airflow, so
it can be customized for cold-
weather mountain gear or sea-level
running kit.
“We have been forced to adapt to
our clothing and environment,” says
Scott Mellin, the North Face’s global
general manager of mountain sports.
Now, he says, “we’re finally offering
clothing that adapts to our needs.”
In the world of high fashion,
brands are contemplating not just
ABOVE: Futurelight will be available in
a wide variety of TNF products. LEFT:
Prada’s Re-Nylon line. BELOW: An Alyx
Studio anorak in FSDX Dyneema.
Brands are contemplating
new fabrics and how to improve
age-old luxury materials.
what new fabrics can do but how to
improve age-old luxury materials.
“We wanted to create a leather
that’s paper thin, which still has
the qualities of leather but also
has strength,” says Gisela Draijer,
Ecco Leather’s marketing manager.
The thinner the leather, the less
durable it is, but leather integrated
with Dyneema, a material 15 times
stronger than steel and typically
found in bulletproof vests, can be
used in applications that would
normally require far thicker
hides. For the brand’s spring 2020
collection, Alyx Studio designer
Matthew Williams transformed
the material, FSDX Dyneema, into
a handsome, slightly techy anorak
in what looks like leather but is
basically an entirely new material:
supple, luxurious, indestructible
armor. Exactly how a leather jacket
is supposed to feel. John Ortved
@montecristo_club
#itsaboutme
 WAT C H E S

Greubel Forsey’s
Extreme DIY
With its aptly named Hand Made 1, the Swiss brand reclaims
a term long relegated to marketing fluff.

N
o matter how liberally
watchmakers toss
around the term
“handmade,” most
pieces constructed
in such a comprehensively
painstaking manner date back to
pre-industrial times. Just a few
of the modern masters—George
Daniels, his protégé Roger W.
Smith and Philippe Dufour—
have wielded the skills necessary
to craft each of a watch’s
components by hand. Greubel
Forsey’s Hand Made 1 is the
latest exception—or at least as
close as one can get while still
maintaining modern standards of
water resistance and durability.
Save for the gaskets, sapphire
crystal, spring barrels, mainspring
and jewels, every component—
from the bracelet and case to the
escapement and gear train—was
made without the use of modern
machines. That means 95 percent
of the watch is brought to life
by hand, and as a result of that
time-consuming craftsmanship,
only two or three will be made
per year. The big idea? Rewinding
the history of watchmaking to
keep this knowledge alive for
future generations, ensuring
these machines survive the test of
time. And also, of course, because
they can. Price upon request,
greubelforsey.com Paige Reddinger

60 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 Where the oasis of Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay meets the serenity
of The Retreat on Seabourn Ovation and Seabourn Encore.

Intimate ships | Award-winning cuisine | Open bars & fine wines | All suite

E X T R AOR DINARY W O RLD S

 The Goods | WA T C H E S

MASTER MIND Previously, tourbillons operated on a

“half of my watchmaking is
traditional . . . with a little bit of a
development,” says Eric Coudray,
chuckling at his headquarters at TEC
Ebauches, in Vallorbe, Switzerland, as
he describes his watchmaking style.
It’s a comical understatement: Coudray’s
techniques may be closer to those of the
19th century, but his mechanisms are such
wildly imaginative modern masterpieces
they’ve solidified him as one of the most
important watchmakers of his generation.
And you’ve likely never heard of him.
That’s because Coudray works behind
the scenes for just a handful of the
world’s most exclusive brands. While
most of his work is closely guarded—
it’s been said that inside his workshop
you can find components for some of
the greatest names in watchmaking—
Coudray allows a few companies,
including indies like MB&F and Purnell,
and the more mainstream Jaeger-
LeCoultre, to use his name.
Like many of today’s top watchmakers,
Coudray began his career learning to
restore antique watches at a school at the
International Museum of Watchmaking in
La Chaux-de-Fonds. But it was at Jaeger-
LeCoultre, where he spent nearly two
decades (and where he and MB&F founder
Max Büsser were colleagues), that one of
his greatest achievements was born.
When Jaeger-LeCoultre released
the Master Gyrotourbillon 1, in 2004, it
marked the world’s second spherical dual-
axis tourbillon. (Franck Muller began
Coudray’s mechanisms
are wildly imaginative modern
masterpieces.
work on a similar movement at the same
time as Coudray, but released his a year
earlier.) The movement rotated the cage of
the tourbillon itself, for greater accuracy:
The spherical outer cage rotated once per
minute while the inner cage, mounted
perpendicularly, rotated every 24 seconds.
single axis because they were designed
to regulate accuracy in pocket watches,
which rest vertically inside the pocket.
Though Coudray debuted this wild
new mechanism 15 years after he joined
Jaeger, the idea took form when he was
still in watchmaking school, inspired by
a pendulum clock created by another
watchmaking genius, Anthony Randall.
“It’s not exactly the same, but it’s a
similar idea with the same philosophy,”
says Coudray. “I thought it would be great
to transpose this to a wristwatch, but I
thought it would be too big. But [Jaeger-
LeCoultre] told me they would create a
box around it, and that’s how it
happened.” The final movement came to
fruition nearly 20 years after Coudray
first dreamed of the idea.
Coudray has now improved upon
his creation with two new versions:
a vertically oriented Spherion triple-
axis tourbillon for MB&F and a pair of
the ball-shaped movements, operating
simultaneously, for Purnell. Each has
vastly increased speeds over the original
Gyrotourbillon. But Coudray insists
his watchmaking is about more than
just flexing technical ingenuity. In an
era where the need for such inventions
is obsolete, he says, it has become more
about the art of the invention than
the function of the mechanics.
“Most of the things I create are more
than just watches,” Coudray says. “It’s not
just for the performance and all of that.
It’s an exercise in style.” P.R.

Firsts in Class

MB&F Legacy Machine Thunderdome

For this masterpiece, Max 20 seconds. The proprietary

Büsser of MB&F tapped
two of the world’s most
renowned watchmakers—
Coudray and Kari
Voutilainen, a collector’s
darling known for creating
exceptional timepieces
under his own name—with
the directive to create “the
craziest, most cinematic
TriAx mechanism, the
world’s fastest triple-axis
regulating system, rises
like a tornado above a
light-blue guilloche dial plate
in a whirlwind of caged
Purnell Escape Watch
gears and pinions. The new
timepiece is a masterful Founded by Jonathan Purnell and travel on a linear path along a single
follow-up to MB&F’s Stéphane Valsamides in 2006, axis but moves instead along multiple
incredible Legacy Machine Purnell produces no more than 50 axes with its balance wheel moving
ERIC COUDRAY: JEROME SAILLARD

three-axis tourbillon ever.”
Working together for the
first time, the pair created
the spherical complication
with three axes revolving
at different speeds, on
different planes, in a
record-breaking 8, 12 and
FlyingT for women, which
won Women’s Timepiece of
the Year in Robb Report’s
Best of the Best awards,
2019. $280,000, limited to
33 pieces in platinum 950
with a light-blue guilloche
dial; mbandf.com
watches per year and is known
mostly among a small group of
top collectors. The Geneva-based
brand brought Coudray on board
to develop its latest showpiece,
built with the world’s first Double
Spherion movement. Unlike a
tourbillon, the Spherion doesn’t
spherically. The dual Spherion cages,
each weighing less than 0.8 grams,
rotate along the same path but in
opposite directions, at rates of 8,
16 and 30 seconds. $425,000 in
titanium and $435,000 in rose gold,
each limited to an annual production
of 25 pieces; cpurnell.com P.R.

62 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 The Answers
with . . .
CHARLIE SIEM
Virtuoso Charlie Siem, 33, has become almost as well known for his personal style
as for his talent with a violin. He’s made international best-dressed lists, has
performed with the world’s top orchestras and the Who, has played for Lady Gaga
and Katy Perry and, at 26, became one of the youngest professors in the UK at
Leeds College of Music. Almost constantly on the road, the native Brit—and his
rare 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin—will appear onstage in Beirut for the first time
this year to perform at the Al Bustan Festival. One of his career highlights was
playing at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, which, he says, “felt like I’d arrived and
I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.” JANICE O’LEARY

What have you done recently for the first time?

I played the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major last year in Turkey. I
waited for 30 years to play that concerto. My goal was never to be a violinist.
1 I just wanted to play that piece. 1 It was a special moment.
Siem says he first
heard the piece What, apart from more time, would make the biggest difference to
in the car with
his mother at age
three and told
your life?
her he wanted to The patience to stay in one place for more than two or three days. My life-
play it. style is quite peripatetic. I’m on the move even if I’m not playing.

First thing you do in the morning?

Drink a half liter of water in one go.

What advice do you wish you’d followed?

I don’t really care what other people think. I just focus on my own experi-
ence. I’m on the stage, so naturally I have to think about how I’m perceived
a little bit. But it’s not good to dwell on it.

What do you do that’s still analog?

Play the violin! Most things, actually. Driving cars, exercising, being out-
side. I like living in a physical way.

What in your wardrobe do you wear most often?

My concert suits. I also dress up and put on a suit for dinner. So those get
worn often, too. I’ve used Meyer & Mortimer 2 in London since I was 18. For 2
The bespoke tailor
my concert suits I have a pleat added in the back so I can move easily and a began its operation
pocket made for my cigar case. on Savile Row
in London but
moved to Sackville
What do you most crave at the end of the day? Street after its
Always a cocktail. Which is why I don’t do it every day. It can become a bad original home was
destroyed during
habit. But I do like to sit down for a gin martini. World War II. First
granted a royal
How do you find calm? warrant in 1820,
it still holds
Routine and discipline. I need the boundaries in order to let go and be set one. Its tailors
have dressed
free. If I’m stressed and distracted, I’m not creative. kings, aristocrats
and famous dandy
Who is your guru? Beau Brummell.

I don’t know that I’ve had one. For me, it’s kind of internal. My journey and
my mistakes shape and push me.

What apps do you use the most?

Spotify, Netflix, Instagram and WhatsApp. I’m in constant contact with
family on a group chat and with my manager. †

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S I M O N E D O N AT I R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 65
 The Answers with CHARLIE SIEM

What song is currently in your head?

Barry White. I’m a big fan. He’s soulful.

Who is your dealer, and what do they source for you?

I have two, in London. They show me great violins that come through their
shops. Florian Leonhard, a German guy, and J. & A. Beare. Through Beare, I
had a copy of my violin made by Peter Beare, and I love it. He makes beau-
tiful violins that are a pleasure to play.

What is your exercise routine, and how often do you do it?

I exercise about three times per week. Strength training on big muscle
groups. Posturally, playing the violin can be taxing. Exercising my back can
give me longevity as a player, plus I enjoy the endorphin release.

Are you wearing a watch? How many do you own?

Not currently. I own a Cartier Tank 3 that I was given on my 21st birthday. I 3
wear jewelry instead. Bracelets, a necklace and a ring. Louis Cartier
created the
brand’s iconic
Cartier
What does success look like? watch in 1917,
Tank watch It’s when I feel I’m living up to who I think I should be. Playing on a level inspired by the
Renault FT-17
that’s the very best that I can under the pressure of a top concert hall. And tanks introduced
when I’m able to come outside myself and give something to friends and during World
War I.
family, I always feel better.

If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

I would love to be able to sit down and play piano brilliantly.

How much do you trust your gut instinct?

A lot. I think I know what’s right early on with most things. But my nature
is to second-guess it.

Drive or be driven?
I like driving, though it depends on the car. I like cars, their power and
speed. I have a Lamborghini Huracán: It’s the most thrilling thing, but not
Lamborghini all that comfortable on a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Florence from
Huracán
Monaco, which is my home base.

Where are your regular tables?

Gritti Palace In Florence, where I sometimes live, I like Harry’s Bar and Trattoria Cam-
hotel, Venice
millo. In Venice, I like Do Forni for seafood. Also Locanda Cipriani on Tor-
cello. 4 I’m a big restaurant person. I tend to eat in them multiple times a

CHARLIE SIEM, WATCH, VIOLIN, BRACELETS: SIMONE DONATI; MARTINI, GRIT TI PALACE: SHUT TERSTOCK
4
Giuseppe Cipriani day, and I always order the same food in each restaurant.
set up the small inn
and gardens with
a restaurant on the When was the last time you completely unplugged?
island in the middle Just now. I went to Venice for two days with my sister and totally relaxed
of the Venetian
Lagoon in 1935. It’s and watched the night change and ate my favorite food.
still owned
and run by the
Cipriaani family and
What’s your favorite hotel?
waas a favorite of The Gritti Palace in Venice. It’s the hotel I stay in most often, so it’s the most
Ernest Hemingway
E
and Charlie
comfortable to come back to. They know me quite well now. The last time
Chaplin. I went they told me I’m the most regular guest they have. I always go with
my youngest sister. It holds a special place in our hearts.

What’s always in your hand luggage?

I only ever have hand luggage, so it always has everything. A book to read,
a charger, minimal clothes, my concert uniform and tracksuits.

Wine of choice?
Italian wine. I like Chianti, and Antinori wines. 5 But I tend to drink Bur- 5

gundy in restaurants. The Antinori

family has been
making wine
What’s your most treasured possession? in Tuscany
My violin. It’s almost 300 years old and worth $15 million. since 1385; the
company is now
run by three
Bowie or Dylan? Antinori sisters
and is lauded for
Bowie. its Sangiovese.

66 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 Porsche’s
New Buzz On test-drives in Denmark and Germany, Porsche’s
new electric car, the Taycan, shows what it’s made of.

68 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
A DEVOTION TO MOTION
DREAM MACHINES
 Dream Machines | W H E E L S
T esla owners believe
electrification is the future
and the transportation
industry shouldn’t drain
natural resources. Porsche
Taycan buyers? That’s not what drives
them. They want repeatable, blistering
and uncompromising performance—it just
so happens that the Taycan is electric. We
tested two Taycan models, the Turbo and
the Turbo S, to see if the marque’s battery-
powered salvos hit their intended targets.
Slip into the Taycan Turbo and you
feel like you’re seated in a 911. This
is on purpose, of course, but what’s
nothing like the 911 is the tech. The
curved driver’s display adds a subtle
futuristic touch to the cabin, as do
the two centralized touchscreens. In
a surprising simplification, we cycle
through the drivetrain options—Range,
Normal, Sport, Sport
Plus and Individual, The Turbo will continue
found with the Sport
Chrono Package—by to accelerate at an
rotating a dial on the alarming rate for as long
steering wheel.
Sport and Sport
as you’ve got asphalt.
Plus both afford the
full shot of 626 ft lbs of torque, but the
accompanying lurch gets a mite tiresome
in a busy city like Copenhagen. The
jerkiness evaporates in Range and Normal
modes, which prove the best options for
stop-and-go traffic or low-speed cruising,
although they both still offer a startling
amount of power.
On the back roads, we pop back into
Sport Plus to feel the Taycan hunker down
70 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
as the adaptive air suspension stiffens up.
The torque curve is linear, and the Turbo
will continue to accelerate at an alarming
rate for as long as you’ve got asphalt. We
hit Launch Control and get a gut punch
on the tear to 60
mph in 3.0 seconds,
eventually hitting 124
mph in 10.6 seconds.
Chuck the Taycan
into a turn and you’ll
feel the 5,132-pound
sedan’s largesse, but
its nimbleness belies the heft. It cuts far
better than it has a right to, affording solid
feedback from the wheel the whole time.
It’ll dance through tighter exchanges with
more ease if you’ve chosen the rear-axle The Taycan can
steering option, a feature that comes go from less than
standard on the Turbo S.  10 percent to 80
The chassis contains two synchronous percent battery
electric motors, one mounted on each axle, charge in roughly
that are fed by a 93.4 kWh lithium-ion 25 minutes.
battery pack. While the Taycan features an
all-wheel-drive configuration, power can
be biased toward either axle depending on
the drive mode. A two-speed transmission
adjoined to the larger rear motor is a pure
bid for maximum acceleration.
While the overboost function on the
Turbo will get you up to 670 hp, the Turbo S
ratchets that up to 750 hp, complemented
by 774 ft lbs of torque. On Germany’s
autobahn, we rip to 60 mph in under 2.6
seconds and hit the top speed of 161 mph in
no time at all.
We hammer the Turbo and the Turbo S
for more than 300 miles each day, and both
vehicles require only about a 25-minute
charge to go from under 10 percent to 80
percent, thanks to the 800-volt technology
and a 270 kW charger. The reported range
tops out at around 279 miles.
Porsche set out to build an exemplary
performance car on an electric platform—
instead of an electric car that has impressive
performance. If the Taycan is the jump-off
point for Porsche’s foray into electrification,
we’re eager to see how far the marque can
push it. porsche.com Sean Evans
Fast Company
Rate of acceleration from 0 to 60 mph:
2.6 sec
Porsche Taycan Turbo S
2.4 sec
Tesla Model S
3.0 sec
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
CHRISTOPH BAUER
2.8 sec
McLaren 720S
2.7 sec
Acura NSX
NEW ROOMS BET TER STORIES

A unique luxury resort & casino

 Dream Machines | W H E E L S

THE FIRST
anticipate unfavorable road conditions toxic, high-performance biomaterials,
to avoid danger, inspiring greater rider such as fabricating body panels from flax
confidence, and keep the rider informed on fiber and seating made from pineapples.

BIO-BIKE? a handlebar-mounted display.

taras kravtchouk was wrenching
on a 60-year-old Triumph Bonneville in
his Brooklyn garage when he began to
envision a modern electric motorcycle—
clean and sustainable—with philosophical
roots to iconic machines of the past. Those
simple machines embodied a spirit of
independence, a concept that remains rele-
vant but now seems rarer than ever. “We
are creating products and services that
do most things for us,” says the designer.
“Food is delivered, and self-driving cars
take us to our door with the tap of an icon.
In the process, I believe the human spirit
becomes dormant. Motorcycle riding
Believing that the freedom to
ride brings with it the responsibility
to minimize environmental impact,
Kravtchouk embraced three fundamental
principles in designing the motorcycle,
beginning with the premise that the most
sustainable object is one that does not
get discarded. The likelihood of being
passed from one generation to the next is
dependent on timeless design, something
the Tarform expresses with clean lines
and the archetypal shape of classic bikes.
The Tarform’s
construction Ethical sourcing is important, too:
includes the use Kravtchouk works with fair-wage
of non-toxic, suppliers that manufacture components in
high-performance environmentally conscious factories. The
biomaterials. company also explores the use of non-
Other design details include components
that are not permanently glued or bonded,
making upgrades and repairs easy. The
goal is to not rely on petroleum-based
products anywhere, ultimately using fully
recyclable materials during manufacture
or in the event the motorcycle itself
should ever need to be reclaimed. “At
Tarform,” says Kravtchouk, “we treasure
the freedom to ride in nature and feel
responsibility to build vehicles that do
no harm to our environment.” The
Founder Edition, unveiled this month, is
priced starting at $32,000. tarform.com
Robert Ross
A-List Access: For purchase inquiries, contact
Taras Kravtchouk at taras@tarform.com.

The Tarform expresses freedom in many

novel ways, primarily through the absence
of a conventional engine.

provides one of the most powerful human

experiences. We want people to reclaim
their sense of freedom.”
The Tarform expresses freedom in
many novel ways, primarily through the
absence of a conventional engine. Powered
by an electric motor that turns the rear
wheel via a roller chain, it delivers 100
miles of range and instant acceleration
with regenerative braking (the regenerative
aspect can be turned on and off as desired),
features that do impose some limits, at
least for now. It will get smarter, too.

TARFORM: RYAN HANDT; WALT SIEGL ILLUSTRATION BY JOEL KIMMEL

Kravtchouk plans to soon integrate sensors
and artificial-intelligence connectivity to
enhance safety. The bike will be able to

When he was 19, Walt Siegl 60-year-old continues to set

Walt Siegl
Q&A The custom-motorcycle
builder on the advent of e-bikes
and a return of the 1980s.
dropped out of art school in
Austria and entered racing,
but his creative talents were
eventually applied to his
passion for high-performance
two-wheelers. Now based in
New Hampshire and one of
the most respected names in
the custom community, the
new standards in form while
staying true to a bike’s basic
function—to be ridden and not
just admired. PETER JACKSON
What trends are dominating
the custom-motorcycle
scene? Without disparaging any
other builders, I think there’s a

72 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 SKI
LIFTS
Whether your ski chalet
sits in the airiest Alps or the
most rarefied Rockies, you’ll
need a vehicle to get there.
Ideally it should ford deep
powder while maintaining
great comfort and possess
a dose of panache. Which
mountain tamer should
you park in your garage?
Jason H. Harper

A fully customizable snowcat with four independent FITS: 7

Tucker treads that float over snow. Think of a party- HORSEPOWER: 557
worthy houseboat—but for the slopes. No amount PRICE: $365,000+
Model 16 Sno-Cat
of powder will stop a Sno-Cat. You want five-star
beds in there? They can do that.

A brand-new American-made electric SUV with a FITS: 7

Rivian range of more than 400 miles. This EV is capable of HORSEPOWER: 750
R1S SUV real-deal off-roading. PRICE: $72,500+
SNOW-CONQUERING UTILITY

A customized Range Rover SVAutobiography Long FITS: 4

Overfinch Wheelbase with crushed-carbon-fiber bodywork HORSEPOWER: 557
Velocity LWB that lends a wild, unique look. And the interior is PRICE: $365,000+
even spiffier. Limited to 10 examples.

Europe’s coolest lifted wagon, finally available in FITS: 5

Audi the US this year. The chassis lift gives 7.3 inches of HORSEPOWER: 335
A6 Avant Allroad snow clearance, which is still an inch less than it’s PRICE:$62,000
competitor Volvo V90 Cross Country. (estimated)

A one-off, off-road Huracán with ginormous tires FITS: 2

Lamborghini and an armored underbody. It likes to go sideways HORSEPOWER: 640
Sterrato in the snow, making it inefficient but fun. PRICE: Make its owner
an offer.

fairly loose interpretation of
how the mechanical aspects
of a motorcycle work. You see
many different geometries,
suspension setups and power
RIVIAN: BEN MOON
with the endurance racers
[motorcycles modeled on
those that race in long off-road
events]. I started working in
this space three years ago
however, mainly because the
interpretation of what a tracker
is—or is supposed to be—has
been used so loosely in the
custom world that it kind of just
new riding experience—
transformational. I’m not sure
if the custom market is going to
get a hold of that anytime soon,
but for me personally, I find it
Mayberry, who designed the
Ronin 47. We are building eight
electric bikes based off an Alta
Redshift and calling the model
the Pact. We took the Alta as a

trains that I personally don’t
find safe.
Regarding the future, I
think the ’80s are coming
on really strong, especially
with the Bol d’Or series—my
take on an endurance bike.
I think the tracker-style
bike [those modeled after
flat-track racers] is dead,
drove itself into a wall.
What’s getting you excited
these days? Electric bikes,
frankly. It’s a completely
really exciting.
What are you currently
working on? I have started
a collaboration with Mike
donor bike because of its overall
quality—the battery pack
and transmission are just so
much greater than anything else
I’ve seen. waltsiegl.com

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 73
 Dream Machines | W H E E L S

ROBB RECOMMENDS...

Vintage Electric
Shelby

Pressing on the throttle, I feel the vehicle’s New to

immediate response as it surges down an
empty street. A light tap of the hydraulic Charter
disc brakes before the turn allows the

Cruise Like a
tires to carve with scalpel-like precision—
ride dynamics worthy of the famed cobra
logo. The Shelby livery is synonymous WAT E R
with performance, but what’s currently
being harnessed is just about 3 hp as I
hold tightly to the handlebars of this new
electric bicycle.
Built in collaboration with Carroll
Once the floating vacation home for Beyoncé and Jay-Z,
Shelby International, the limited-edition
two-wheeler from Vintage Electric
is painted the same shade as many
Shelby iterations, including the Cobra

T
289 Slabside, and its leather saddle and
handgrips take inspiration from those he newly named Illusion is fast
automotive interiors. The cruiser, with a and efficient, able to hit 28 knots
street-legal top speed of 20 mph, runs

SHELBY BIKE: ELLIOT LAYDA; ILLUSION INTERIOR: DAVID CHURCHILL

on a 48-volt battery and a 750-watt
hub motor. The engine-battery combo
takes the power up to 3,000 watts,
giving the bike the juice it needs to hit 36
mph (on private property only) when in
key-activated Race mode. Carroll Shelby
himself would approve.
“A lot of electric drivetrains developed
for the European market are only allowed
to have 250 watts of power,” says Andrew
Davidge, founder of Vintage Electric. “Our
bikes are like having a big-block 427 V-8.”
With a production run of only 300
examples priced at $7,249 each, the
Vintage Electric Shelby may go fast in
more ways than one. vintageelectricbikes
.com Viju Mathew
while burning 20 percent less
fuel than craft of a comparable
size, thanks to an innovative hull
design. It also has an incredible 4,200-
nautical-mile range, making it ideally
suited for more environmentally conscious
island-hopping with an intimate crowd of
friends and family.
When built by Dutch shipyard Heesen
in 2013, the yacht, then named Galactica
Star, became the world’s first to incorporate
this new hull form by Van Oossanen Naval
Architects: the Fast Displacement Hull
Form. Chartered by Beyoncé and Jay-Z
in 2015, the 213-foot vessel is now under
new ownership, sports a 2019 refit and is
available for charter through Burgess.

74 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
Rock Star
this swift 213-foot yacht has been refitted and is party-ready.
The original interior, with a relatively
small volume for a yacht of its size, is by
British design firm Bannenberg & Rowell
and has been left largely intact. The
overall aesthetic is fairly busy, with its
use of polished steel, leather, Macassar
ebony and an expanse of glass. Plenty
of daylight makes its way inside, but the
mash-up may not be to every charter
guest’s taste.
The outside areas include a 1,141-
square-foot sundeck, two lounge areas
(one shaded, one sunny) and a fully
equipped bar paired with a large hot tub.
During winter Wraparound tinted windscreens keep the
months, Illusion views in and the elements out, even when
is available to dining on the windiest of days. There
charter in the are 13 crew to take care of everyone on
Caribbean. board, and for those flying in for the
party, a large lounging area on the foredeck
transforms into a touch-and-go helipad.
Waterside entertaining can take place
in the air-conditioned beach club, while a
237-square-foot foldout swimming platform
and a 108-square-foot drop-down sea
terrace mean all 12 guests can be easily
accommodated. For those who don’t want to
take a dip in the sea, the glass-bottom pool on
the main deck aft is an alluring alternative.
One downside may be deciding on who
sleeps in which of the six cabins. While the
short straw gets the smallest room, which is
a twin, the VIP suite on the bridge deck is a
respectable second to the full-beam master
suite, just without the study and private
balcony. Rates start at $434,000 per week,
excluding VAT and expenses. burgessyachts
.com Julia Zaltzman
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 75
 Dream Machines | WA T E R

ABOVE BOARD
not every day—or body of water—
delivers waves worthy enough to ride.
Hence the paddleboard, more serene than
it is thrilling. But adrenaline junkies now
have another option. No surf is no problem
with Fliteboard, an electric hydrofoil
surfboard that will make even newbies
feel like Laird Hamilton. Developed by
kiteboarder David Trewern, in Australia’s
Byron Bay, the $12,935 plank lifts a rider
well above the water and can cruise as fast
as 28 mph.
Mediocre at best in my surfing heyday,
I hoped muscle memory would at least
allow me to stand during a recent demo off
Malibu’s Carbon Beach. The Fliteboard,
however, was surprisingly stable and easy approval heard from the distant wave-
to maneuver. In no time, I was levitating riders, there was a corresponding snarky
over small swells, gaining speed and remark, as the tech has its detractors.
confidence while gliding beyond the According to Trewern, some of surfing’s
pier to carve wide, taunting turns within traditionalists at his home break viewed
view of the surfers lined up, desperate for it as sacrilege, but, as Hamilton himself The Fliteboard, an “Usingg high-voltage electronics in salt
waves. And when I inevitably wiped out, reminded him, the early Hawaiian surfers electric hydrofoil water is challenging
challenging, and there are abo
about
the board shut off as soon as the throttle in were also innovators. surfboard, can 500 parts in a Fliteboard, including the
my grip hit the water. “It looks very simple, but there’s a lot reach a top speed battery and connectors, all of which are
I imagine that for every hoot of underneath the surface,” says Trewern. of 28 mph. waterproof. And it had to look at home on
a superyacht.”
The deck is built from compressed
layers of carbon fiber, fiberglass and
PVC topped with an ash veneer or
more carbon, depending on the model.

In no time, I was levitating

over small swells, gaining speed
and confidence.

Propulsion comes from a 7 hp, brushless

electric motor—encased in a unibody
fuselage of aircraft-grade aluminum—
mated to a Newton-Rader propeller
and German-made reduction gearbox.
The hydrofoil technology draws from
competitive sailing and features wings
designed by naval architects with
America’s Cup experience.
Riders manage the entire system
via the handheld Flite Controller (with
Bluetooth connectivity and GPS), which
allows for 20 gear selections and stores
each session’s data, such as top speed,
distance traveled and battery power.
A charge is good for up to 1.5 hours on
the water, which is plenty of time—this
bit of fun is also a serious lower-body
JULIEN COSON

workout and builds core strength worthy

of any marine mammal. As Trewern puts
it: “We’re trying to make you feel like a
dolphin.” fliteboard.com Viju Mathew

76 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 I
n a new future-meets-the-past venture,
Swedish company OceanSky Cruises is
bringing airship journeys into the 21st
century with a 36-hour route from the
Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to
WINGS
Hope Floats
the North Pole. The Golden Age of airship travel returns
The Airlander 10 is the largest flying
vehicle on the planet both in length (about
with a polar expedition and green cred to crow about.
300 feet) and volume (1.3 million cubic feet).
And it’s five times the size of the Goodyear
blimp. It’s been nearly a century since
something of its kind has flown commercially,
and founder and CEO Carl-Oscar Lawaczeck
says the diesel- and electric-powered airship
is being outfitted like an ocean liner in the
sky, with eight en suite staterooms, a lounge
and bar and fine dining on board. Viewing
areas will be equipped with panoramic
windows and transparent floors, ideal for
gazing at the Northern Lights or for low-
altitude whale watching.
OceanSky is the result of one man’s
obsession with dirigibles. Lawaczeck says
his interest in unconventional aircraft
began from “a logistical, economic and
aviation point of view,” emphasizing that
airships achieve flexibility in takeoffs and
landings that fixed-wing aircraft simply
can’t deliver. “They solve a huge problem,”
he explains, “and are a last-mile solution to
bring passengers and cargo to places where
there’s no infrastructure.” He also points
out that unlike helicopters, which are often
used for the same purpose, airships consume
a fraction of the fuel and offer considerably
more range. He estimates that the Airlander
will use about 17 percent of the energy a
powerful jet does, making carbon emissions a
whopping 83 percent lower.
With lower power requirements, however,
speed gets sacrificed. But Lawaczeck sees
that as part of the pleasure of flying in such a
craft. “We calculate a low cruising speed of 50
knots,” he says. “We fly low and slow to enjoy
the journey.”
For the Airlander’s leisurely maiden
voyage to the North Pole (a jet could make the
round trip in just 1.5 hours, in comparison),
OceanSky promises an expedition led by
Robert Swan, the first person to reach the
North and South Poles by foot. The airship’s
first commercial flight is planned for 2023 or
2024. The company is accepting 5 percent
deposits on the total ticket price of $94,000,
which are placed in a state-sponsored
escrow account and can be fully refunded if
KIRT x THOMSEN AND MBVISION

the endeavor quite literally doesn’t take off.

oceanskycruises.com Basem Wasef

A-List Access: For reservation inquiries, contact Melanie

Endres at melanie@oceansky.se. Through February,
a roughly $8,800 discount will be given to those who
mention code Robb Report on the application.

78 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 “[Dirigibles] solve a huge problem
and are a last-mile solution to bring
passengers and cargo to places where
there’s no infrastructure.”
 Dream Machines | W I N G S

SALINE SOLUTION Scrutton, director of MIB. And the work is

people from an organization called
MIB may help save the world as we know
it, but these are no Men in Black—they’re
from the profoundly un-Hollywood
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology,
part of the University of Manchester in the
UK. They say that a cleaner replacement
for jet fuel, made from seawater, could be
just a handful of years away.
The biofuel, made by aquatic bacteria,
is not only clean-burning but also cost-
effective to produce and does not impact
food production, according to Nigel
urgently needed.
Aviation’s growing traffic levels are
eclipsing efficiency gains—the proportion
of greenhouse gases that comes from
aviation currently accounts for 2 percent
of the global total. The aviation industry
has promised to slash emissions by
50 percent from 2005 levels by 2050,
and cleaner, sustainable alternative
fuels will be key to getting there. But
in 2018, biofuels were less than 0.1
A cleaner replacement for jet fuel,
made from seawater, could be just
a handful of years away.
percent of the sector’s fuel use, despite
the first commercial flight to use such
fuels taking place in 2008. They can
also be more expensive than fossil-
derived jet fuel, too.
Private flying is particularly
vulnerable, despite increasing efforts by
business-jet makers to support the use of
alternative fuels. According to some polls,
more than half of Britons support a ban
on private flights, and even in the US, the
figure is more than 40 percent.
The researchers, funded by the
US-based Office of Naval Research Global,
are working with the Halomonas bacteria
to make replacements for refined crude
oil. “That’s the vision,” says Scrutton.
“And the beauty of biology is that you can
engineer very pure versions.”
Petrochemicals drawn from the ground,
even after refining, contain impurities
that are part of the emissions problem—
including oxides of nitrogen and sulphur.
“If you burn a pure biofuel, it’ll end up as
just CO₂ and water,” says Scrutton.
And there are other benefits. The
bacteria can be grown using agricultural
and food waste, and the process of
creating fuel would have less impact
and could be cheaper than for current
biofuels. For example, bioethanol comes
from plants, such as corn, that compete
for land with food crops, and algae needs
tightly controlled environments for its
production process.
Scrutton believes that Halomonas-
derived jet fuel is five to seven years away
from being produced at scale. “The next
step is to demonstrate it at a pilot level,”
he says. “That will develop confidence in
the technology.”
Seawater-grown bacteria is not a
complete answer—there are still CO₂
emissions—but the biofuel it makes will
be much cleaner than modern jet fuel
and much more likely to make a difference
than the very distant battery-powered
airliners being promised. Talk about a sea
change. Rohit Jaggi

Friendlier FUEL COMPOSITION PROS CONS

Fuels
Salt water may be HEFA-SPK A kerosene made from vegetable oils, The chemical makeup resembles that Pricey to produce, and the process
the latest wave in
fats and greases. Allowed to be part of of standard jet fuel, yet emissions are relies on hydrogen that comes from
research, but the
a 50 percent blend with conventional jet substantially lower. fossil fuels.
FAA has already
fuel. Approved in 2011.
approved these
three alternative SIP A sugar-based fuel. Approved in 2014. Relies on sugars from plants (such as Expensive to make; competes with
juices for jets. corn), which are renewable. land for food crops. Limited to 10
percent blend with conventional fuel.

ATJ-SPK Made from isobutanol, an alcohol also Doesn’t corrode the way ethanol does; Expensive to create.
GET T Y IMAGES

found in whiskey and derived from yeast; can be sourced from agricultural and
can be used in up to a 30 percent blend forest waste.
with conventional fuel. Approved in 2016.

80 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 You can find a two-story home anywhere. Here, you’ll find a lifetime of stories.

Enchanting family moments are part of everyday life at Golden Oak at Walt DisneyWorld Resort.
Right now, you can live in this luxurious private community with legendary Disney service
featuring custom homes from the mid $2 millions. Welcome home to where the magic is endless.
Golden Oak Realty | 407.939.5713 | DisneyGoldenOak.com/Inspired

of this property. This does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy, real estate to Residents of any state or jurisdiction where prohibited by law, or where
prior registration is required but has not yet been fulfilled. For NY Residents: THE COMPLETE OFFERING TERMS FOR THE SALE OF LOTS ARE IN THE CPS-12
APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE FROM OFFEROR, GOLDEN OAK DEVELOPMENT, LLC. FILE NOS. CP16-0107 (Phases 2 and 4) and CP16-0069 (Phase 3).
For California Residents: WARNING: THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE HAS NOT INSPECTED, EXAMINED OR QUALIFIED THIS OFFERING.
PA REGISTRATION No. OL001147. KY REGISTRATION No. R-176. OKLAHOMA OFFEREES SHOULD OBTAIN AN OKLAHOMA PUBLIC OFFERING STATEMENT
FROM THE DEVELOPER AND READ IT BEFORE SIGNING ANY DOCUMENTS. THE OKLAHOMA SECURITIES COMMISSION NEITHER RECOMMENDS THE PUR-
CHASE OF THE PROPERTY NOR APPROVES THE MERITS OF THE OFFERING. Void where prohibited by law. Equal Housing Opportunity. Broker participation welcome.
© Disney DGO-19-1156106
 TECH
Sonic
Succession
The new Chronosonic XVX speakers
from Wilson Audio Specialties
provide clarity that is the stuff
of both legend and legacy.
T
he Wilson Audio
Specialties
WAMM Master
Chronosonic
loudspeakers
occupy the very top rung
of the audio-perfectionist
ladder, and listeners who
have experienced a pair
of the $850,000 giants
might rightly regard them
as the finest-sounding
speakers in the world. The
crowning achievement
of the company’s late
cofounder and industry
veteran, Dave Wilson, the
WAMM (Wilson Audio
Modular Monitor) set the
bar for an only slightly more
earthbound flagship created
by his son and design
successor, Daryl Wilson.
At $329,000, the
Chronosonic XVX
employs much of the same
technology as the company’s
original masterpiece,
including the 10.5- and
12.5-inch woofers, critical
crossover components and
connectors, but features
all-new seven-inch drivers
with Alnico (aluminum,
nickel, cobalt) magnets
for the critical midrange
frequencies, the accurate
reproduction of which is a
Wilson signature.
A four-inch upper-
midrange driver and
a one-inch silk-fabric
tweeter reproduce
higher frequencies with
82 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
transparent ease, while The $329,000
another tweeter firing Chronosonic XVX
from the rear replicates the stands more than
ambience of the recording six feet high.
venue. Atop the main
cabinet are four smaller
modules containing a single
driver each, stacked in a
novel array that can be
adjusted to optimize sound,
depending on listener
distance from the speakers,
seat height and acoustic
variables of the room itself.
The benefits of such
precision are uncanny
realism, microscopic detail
and an ability to place life-
size instruments and voices
within the room. Part of the
realism is from Wilson’s
enclosures. Made from
proprietary composites
engineered to be sonically
and mechanically inert,
they eliminate resonances
and other distortions
typical of cabinets
constructed of wood,
aluminum or medium-
density fiberboard.
The imposing presence
of the more than six-foot-tall
Chronosonic XVX goes well
beyond its audio authority.
Stunning WilsonGloss
cabinet finishes employ a
multilayer paint process that
renders surfaces worthy of
a 100-point show car, with
new options that add even
greater depth when viewed
from different angles.
wilsonaudio.com Robert Ross
 The very last
of the very best.
Crown Royal XR Extra Rare is the last of an exceptional blend of whisky,
crafted from one of the final batches produced at the renowned LaSalle Distillery.
Any aficionado will appreciate the full-bodied, smooth sipping experience.
 Dream Machines | T E C H

Parlor Custom Skis

N
Located in Boston, this company
gets its name from the former
funeral parlor where the three
founding friends first set up shop.
But don’t let that deter you. Parlor
not only handcrafts and tailors every
plank to your unique skier profile
but also offers you the option to
experience the process hands-on
through its build class. During the
two- to three-day course, clients
will help with every aspect, from
bases to topsheet to sanding the
side walls. The total cost of $1,750
includes the fitting, instruction, skis
and even what they feed you while
working. parlorskis.com

PERSONALIZED
N Romp Skis WhiteRoom Skis
Started in a garage by brothers After ski savant Vin Faraci’s

Morgan and Caleb Weinberg in 2010,
Romp has quickly gained acclaim
for its custom skis. After you call
(or fill out an online form) and are
interviewed by a Romp expert, the
team in Crested Butte, Colo., will
handcraft the fully custom boards
(starting at $2,000) to your precise
needs—whether you know them or
not. Make sure to tick the Countervail
option, as it replaces fiberglass
with carbon-fiber construction and
includes patented carbon-fiber,
vibration-canceling material that
helps dampen the shakes on those
icier hills. rompskis.com
PLANKS
ski season is schussing along, that time of year when
cold-weather couture is on parade from the Yellowstone
Club to Courchevel. To handle the terrain—whether it’s a
groomed run, glade or powder bowl—you’ll need skis that
can carve with you and bring out your best. And it doesn’t
hurt if they also happen to look good. The bespoke sticks
from these Stateside builders will turn heads well before
your first tracks. Nicolas Stecher
N
own handmade boards were all
the buzz at lift lines, he started
creating custom skis on request in
2013. Based in northern Vermont,
WhiteRoom Skis is a one-man
operation that specializes in cores
made primarily from locally sourced
wood and one-of-a-kind topsheets
with intricate inlays. Faraci usually
produces only 12 to 15 pairs—each
starting at $975—every year,
reflecting his priorities: “I don’t want
to be building skis when I should be
skiing.” whiteroomcustomskis.com

Folsom Custom Skis

After a walk-in or phone consultation
with Denver-based Folsom Custom
Skis, the crew will construct skis
that factor in the overall shape, tail,
camber and rocker that are right
for you, usually within two to four
weeks. Starting at $1,299, each pair
features a core made from various
blends of poplar, maple and bamboo
and a specific composite lay-up in
varying percentages of fiberglass
and carbon, depending on your
preferred terrain and conditions.
A lightweight, all-carbon option is
also available for those who earn
their turns by ascending on foot.
folsomskis.com
 PR ESENTING THE

BECK ER C A DILL AC
STRETCHED ESCAL ADE ESV

T R AV E L , W O R K A N D R E S T I N P R I VA C Y I N
© 2019 Becker Automotive Designs, Inc.

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 Sommeliers Black Tie
Burgundy Grand Cru,
Bordeaux Grand
Cru and Syrah glasses
ask maximilian riedel who started
Genius at Work the trend of ditching flutes in favor of
wider-bowled glasses for sipping
Champagne and he’ll tell you, “I did.”
GLASSES
With his first Champagne wineglass,
launched in 2014, he questioned tradition.
Now the industry standard has moved to
more generous bowls for bubbles. The
TO MAKE
wider glass exposes more surface area to
oxygen, allowing the floral aromas and
fruit flavors in the wine to express
themselves. In a flute the yeast character is
THE MOUTH
more dominant.
Maximilian, the 11th generation in
Austria’s iconic glassmaking family and
WATER
CEO of Riedel Crystal since 2013, will also
tell you that his first passion is wine, not
glassware. “The glass is only an instrument
for making the wine taste as good as
possible,” he says. It was his grandfather
At Riedel, the focus is on enhancing fine wine. Claus Riedel who first fashioned an
BY S A R A L . S C H N E I D E R
egg-shaped bowl (instead of the flared
P H O T O G R A P H Y BY O S C A R B A U M G A R T N E R designs—think Waterford), pioneering the
86 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
notion that the shape and size of a glass
affect the taste of what’s in it.
Maximilian’s father, Georg Riedel,
demonstrated to professionals and
fans that Burgundy, say, doesn’t taste
as good out of a glass designed for
Bordeaux as it does out of a Burgundy-
dedicated vessel. The wider bulb of
the Burgundy glass encourages the
delicate bouquet of Pinot Noir to develop.
While the Bordeaux crystal is narrower,
it’s also taller, giving that wine, which
tends to have a higher alcohol content,
more space to open up and lift the
alcohol off the wine, allowing a Bordeaux’s
aroma to come to the fore. And now
it’s Maximilian who’s developing ever
more innovative shapes matched to
varietals, regions and even single wines,
confident that every glass handblown in
the factory will fulfill its mission—to
magnify the pleasure of drinking the wine
it’s destined to hold.
 ABOVE
1 Hot as an Oven
On the production floor in Kufstein, Austria,
furnaces hover at 3,632 degrees Fahrenheit,
turning quartz sand—sourced locally from
Hirschau—into molten glass. From the first team
member who extracts the malleable material from
a furnace, five people will work on each glass.

RIGHT
2 Tools of the Trade
One of the proprietary tools Riedel has devised
waits in a furnace to turn colored glass into hand-
pulled stems. Colored glass bars are heated on
a metal plate until they’re soft enough to stick to
the tool; then they are transferred to sit above an
opening in the furnace, where the glass continues
to heat up to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit.

87
 Genius at Work

ABOVE
4 Mold Rush
After being pulled from the furnace, the molten glass—attached to a
pipe—is lowered into a wooden mold designed for a particular
Riedel glass shape. The bowl of the glass will be handblown into the
mold to ensure consistency across each line of vessels.

BELOW
5 In Living Color
A dab of new molten glass is added to the base of the bowl, and a
master glassblower cuts off the precise amount needed and
stretches it into a thin stem, in this case, for Riedel’s Sommeliers Black
Tie series. Fifty percent of the company’s glassware is made from
recycled Riedel crystal.

ABOVE
3 Shape-Shifters
The glassblowers work fast, constantly turning
the blow pipe to keep the crystal evenly
distributed throughout the glass. Here, what
will very quickly become one of the company’s
notable decanters is pulled into shape. The glass
is heated as it’s being shaped and cooled as it
begins to take the desired form. The heat that’s
released is captured and used to supply heat in
other parts of the process.

88 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 Genius at Work

RIGHT
6 Base Camp
A team member brings one
more addition of molten
glass to the glassblower,
who attaches it to the stem
and will cut off just the right
amount to form the base.

BELOW
7 Spin Doctor
A wooden tool is used to
press the hot glass into a
disk; then it’s dropped into a
thin mold and spun onto the
shape of the base.

BELOW
8 White Glove Treatment
After each glass has been shaped, it goes through a tempering
process that slowly brings it to room temperature. Then the rim is
laser-cut and fired to ensure consistency and a smooth edge.
Finally, it’s hand-polished, packaged and sent on its way.

90 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 CONSIGN TODAY | JANUARY 11-19 | SCOTTSDALE | REGISTER TO BID
PHONE & INTERNET BIDDING OPTIONS AVAILABLE. 480.663.6226 | BARRETT-JACKSON.COM

LOT #1397 - 2003 SALEEN S7

One of 78 produced and one of four equipped with the Saleen
Competition package. Powered by a 7.0-liter V8 engine and 6-speed
manual transmission. Carbon-fiber body, race-spec chassis and signed
by Steve Saleen. From The Scott Thomas Collection. No Reserve

Experience the Barrett-Jackson Auctions live

ALL THE CARS, ALL THE TIME.
exclusively on Discovery Channel, MotorTrend and
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 Ben Oliver Sheila Gibson Stoodley
on cars, p. 93 on auctions, p. 94
Field Notes
BEN OLIVER
Have You Got the
“Analog Auto” Bug Yet?
CARS The modern classic market is where the
value (and the fun) is right now—cars from
the 1980s onward that beg to be driven hard.
W
hile elite carmakers
won’t be creating
their future designs
simpler and cheaper
anytime soon, there
is a growing demand for a new breed of
relatively youthful collector cars that
offer contemporary performance and a
purer mechanical driving experience,
largely unfiltered by electronics. They’re
known as “modern classics,” and you
might want to park one in your garage
now before prices spiral upward.
Each year, collector-car insurer
Hagerty publishes its Bull Market List of
models that have risen strongly in value
over the last 12 months and are likely to
keep doing so. All but 3 of the 19 autos
featured in the past two years are from
the 1980s or later, and more than half are
from the 2000s. This is partly explained
by people, like me, in their 40s who are
starting to have the means and the space
to collect the wheels they plastered on
their bedroom walls as teenagers in the
’80s, and also by the fact that anything
desirable from an earlier era is already
eye-wateringly expensive.
But the growth in value of cars from
the nineties and noughties in particular
is driven largely by the sweet spot they
occupy in motoring history. Sports
coupes like an Acura NSX or a BMW
M3 CSL can be properly fast, even by
comparison with the latest models, but
they don’t feel like iPhones on wheels.
Illustrations by CELYN
Adam H. Graham
on travel, p. 95
Their cabins aren’t festooned with
screens, their electronic stability-control
systems are usually simple and easily
switched off, and you might have to
(get to) change gears for yourself. Take
one out on a Sunday after a week at the
wheel of your modern daily driver, and
you can reconnect with the automobile
as a mechanical device. That’s now a
luxury, not a retrograde step, just as
choosing a mechanical Rolex or Patek
Philippe over an Apple Watch, which
keeps better time, is a luxury.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m no tech
refusenik. Smarter cars are also faster,
cleaner, safer and more comfortable. I’ve
just driven home to the UK from France
in foul weather, and there’s no way I’d
have chosen one of my modern classics
over my 2019 Land Rover Discovery,
with its heated massage seats and
bi-Xenon headlights, which turn deep
French nuit into day.
Luxury automakers know that as
our roads become more crowded and
our cars increasingly drive themselves,
the old differentiators of performance,
handling and the sound of an engine
decline in significance. Instead, the
design and quality of the digital
experience begin to dominate. If the
parts beyond the screens are silent,
safe and green—and don’t require our
attention—that’s not a bad thing.
But those of us who actually like
to drive will want to step back to
David Adam
on wellness, p. 96
something simpler. Manufacturers
can’t respond to this by making a bare-
bones model or two: Current safety and
emissions regulations don’t allow it. The
roadsters you might usually think of as
classics—1930s Duesenbergs or 1960s
Ferraris—remain desirable, collectible
and valuable, but they can be truculent
to drive and tricky to maintain. That’s
why, for many people, modern classics
make a better antidote to modern
driving. They’ll generally start on the
first try and without a crank handle.
They’re analog, but not antiquated.
I’ll finish with an example. The
Peugeot 205 GTi is a small French
hatchback never offered officially in the
US but regarded by many as the best-
handling front-drive car ever made and
a prime European version of a modern
classic. I’m lucky enough to own a
perfect specimen from 1989. I recently
loaned it to a senior banker friend who
has an impressive automotive collection
and who drove it alongside a 1965
Ferrari 275 GTB worth perhaps $2.5
million, several orders of magnitude
greater than my Peugeot. He returned
mine grinning and offered to buy it from
me. As he said it was more fun than
the Ferrari, I suggested a price of $2.6
million. He refused. For now.
Ben Oliver is an award-winning
automotive journalist, consultant and
speechwriter based in the UK.
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 93
 Field Notes
SHEILA GIBSON STOODLEY
Going Once,
Going Twice . . . Gone!
AUCTIONS Will the tradition of raising a paddle
in person be supplanted by avatars and Bitmoji
bidding?
C
ollectors are like elephants.
They remember how they
built their collections, and
they definitely remember the
first time they won at auction.
So it’s significant that generations of
budding collectors are enjoying the
adrenaline rush of their initial auction
win while sitting before a screen or
holding a smartphone instead of sitting
in an auction house and raising a paddle.
The auction world has long
experience with bidders who aren’t
actually in the sale room, thanks to
absentee and phone bidding. That’s
about the only head start auction houses
had on the digital revolution. Online
bidding had a democratizing and global
effect by letting people follow and
virtually join sales they could never
have hoped to attend in person. The
trick, of course, is in convincing those
bidders to come back and bid again,
and bid bigger sums.
The sale room still matters, and
will continue to matter, but it could be
looking down the barrel of an antique
gun. Christie’s officials say that about
half the people who place their first bidss
with the house online eventually show
up to bid in person. Ask any auctioneer
if the physical sale room is doomed,
and you’ll hear instant and occasionally
lyrical variations of “no,” which has the
ring of protesting too much. But their
belief in the unique power and magic off
live auctions seems unshakable. If the
sale room dies, however, online bidding
will be just one of its murderers.
Doug Woodham, managing partner
of the New York firm Art Fiduciary
Advisors, reports that attending a
marquee art sale is “far less exciting
than it was 10 years ago,” since many of
the bids arrive through the phone bankss.
“If very few hands go up in an auction
94 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
room, it’s not that interesting,” he says.
Countering that, some auctioneers
think online bids add intrigue. Richard
Wright, founder of a namesake auction
house in Chicago, presided over
the record-setting sale of an Isamu
Noguchi table in 2018. “Just as I was
about to close the lot, an online bid
came in for $1.1 million,” he recalls.
“It was super-dramatic.” The online
bidder increased the bid to $1.3 million
but ultimately lost to a bidder on the
phone. Still, protracted online and
phone bids can hamper or kill the
energy in a sale room.
Also reshaping the auction business
are the David and Goliath battles similar
Could an auction house that is
100 percent digital someday dethrone
Christie’s or Sotheby’s?
to those happening among art galleries,
where a handful of world-spanning
galleries dominate, forcing dozens
of smaller but still excellent ones to
purchase rivals or merge with them.
Leslie Hindman and Cowan’s Auctions
joined forces in January, and Wright
merged with Rago Arts and Auction
Center in June. Wright, now CEO of
the combined companies
companies, says
says, “You’re
You re
going to have to get bigger to compete.
You need volume.”
Running an auction house is
fearsomely expensive, and the cost
of maintaining offices and sale rooms
makes up a good portion of the bills.
Could an auction house that is 100
percent digital, with no physical
presence at all, someday dethrone
Christie’s or Sotheby’s? Theoretically,
sure, but only if its leaders master two
dauntingly difficult skills: building a
business that’s known for delivering
what it promises and cultivating
and nurturing a network of wealthy
collectors. Neither can be achieved
overnight, and both are easy to botch.
Plus, Christie’s and Sotheby’s have
centuries of practice. Well, 528 years
collectively, to be precise. And it’s more
likely that those two mega-brands will
pioneer new branches and claim the
digital-auction space for themselves. A
dethroning could happen, but not unless
the people behind that digital-only
auction house excel at making human
connections
connections—deepdeep, emotionally char
charged
relationships that give its clients the
confidence to trust the firm with theiir
greatest prizes, and the faith to pledgge a
fortune in pursuit of new ones.
Basedd outside Boston, Sheila Gibson
Stoodley is the publisher of The Hot Bid,
a blogg featuringg intriguingg lots comingg
up att auction.
 Field Notes

ADAM H. GRAHAM

The Roads Less Traveled

TRAVEL Overtourism does have a silver lining—
forcing tour operators to work harder to find unique,
transformative experiences.

I
n January of 2019 the Dutch
government decided to manage
rather than promote tourism in
Amsterdam. Last year also saw
the port of Venice announce plans
to reroute cruise ships away from its
fragile and historic city center. And in
the run-up to Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics,
the Japanese press have coined the term
kankō kōgai, which means “tourism
pollution.” As a traveler to 100 countries
and counting, when I first heard about
these shifts I felt relieved that the
industry was finally addressing some
issues. But another part of me feared for
my future as an explorer: Would new
limits prevent me from experiencing
incredible places?
Overtourism may seem like a
trending phenomenon, but ask anyone
in Florence, Majorca or Kyoto, and
they’ll remind you that it’s a decades-
old problem that’s only gotten worse.
Responsible tourism is not only the
future of travel, it’s also long overdue.
Fortunately, enlightenment is
peeking over the horizon. Governments
have implemented a spree of bans like
a new $1,000 entry fee to Komodo
Island, lesser-known regions in popular
countries are getting a boost from
creative promotion, and time-diffusion
tactics are in play. Premium outfitters
will take you to UNESCO sites in the
wee hours or on a midnight tour of
the Alhambra. The really good ones
are looking deeper than the usual
in-demand experiences to advise guests
with authority that, for instance,
Kyoto during plum-blossom season is
every bit as beautiful as the week of
cherry blossoms and a lot less crowded.
I might be the extreme case, but my
new personal travel motto is: If I’ve
heard of it, I don’t go. This worked like
a charm in Italy, where I traded the
Vespa fumes of the Amalfi Coast for the
mountainous Abruzzo, around a two-
hour drive inland. It’s one of Italy’s least
visited regions and home to a national
park as well as chef Niko Romito,
who mans the stoves at Michelin-three-
star Reale.
A handful of tour operators have
started moving the needle in the realm
of responsible tourism. Remote Lands
offers custom, private tours typically
for four or five guests. CEO Catherine
Heald says, “Luxury was often
superficial. But times have changed.
Travelers now aspire to learn and have
I traded the Vespa fumes of the Almafi Coast
for the mountainous Abruzzo.
meaningful experiences that transform
them as people and promote global
understanding.”
I traveled with that group twice
and was impressed with how its guides
encouraged a holistic understanding of
Asia’s nuanced cultures and emphasized
nature. They pointed out snow monkeys
while we skied the Japanese Alps or
soaked in a cedar-shrouded onsen in
Tokushima after a temple pilgrimage.
After all, pristine landscapes and
indigenous flora and fauna are some
of the rarest luxuries around. If you
miss out on that because you’re with a
gaggle of tourists taking selfies in front
of cherry blossoms, you’re using the
wrong tour operator.
You needn’t cross the pond to
find flourishing examples of this new
approach. A new safari drive through
the riparian desert habitat in New
Mexico’s 156,439-acre Ladder Ranch,
part of the Ted Turner Reserves, is as
thrilling as the dozen or so safaris I’ve
done in Africa. The group’s business
model is fresh for the US but loosely
based on one used by Wilderness
Safaris in Africa, where animal and land
preservation are baked into the design.
It funds conservation programs first and
then builds the properties and guest
experiences around the success of those
projects. The payoff for travelers is
access to a dynamic American landscape
repopulated with bison, elk, desert
tortoises, Mexican wolves, bobcats
and burrowing owls—animals that few
Americans have ever seen.
Ladder Ranch is a poignant reminder
that sustainable tourism is a long game,
and keeping that front of mind can spur
exciting new experiences.
Adam H. Graham’s writing appears
regularly in The New York Times,
among other publications. He is based in
Zurich, though he’s rarely there.

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 95
 Field Notes
DAVID ADAM
Anti-Aging Has Finally
Moved From Silly Fad
to Real Science
WELLNESS We can now take the first legitimate,
measured steps toward boosting our longevity.
A
ccording to a popular quip,
age is down to mind over
matter: “If you don’t mind,
then it doesn’t matter.” But
enough people do mind that
the anti-aging industry is worth some
$100 billion—and counting—every year.
Sadly for those people, and the rest
of us, attempts to halt the clock seem
as futile now as when our ancestors
searched for the Fountain of Youth. The
modern but ghastly practice of so-called
vampire infusions of young blood—
costing $8,000 a liter—became the latest
age-defeating bunk consigned to the
trash, following a warning last year from
the Food and Drug Administration that
they don’t work.
No great surprise there—nor that
people were willing to try it. As I move
through my 40s, conventional anti-aging
advice from scientists and doctors has
remained much the same: Eat your
greens, exercise, don’t drink and get
plenty of sleep. Thanks for nothing. Can’t
science in 2020 do better?
Actually it can. After centuries of
snake oil and false promises, work on
anti-aging is moving from untested
quackery to the lab.
For starters, scientists now have a
more accurate way to measure aging
than simply counting birthdays. It’s
called an epigenetic clock. In exchange
for $300 and a small vial of my blood,
a company called myDNAge measured
mine last year. I did this out of both
professional and personal curiosity—and
because I was secretly convinced that
beneath my middle-aged exterior lies
a much younger man, and I wanted
science to confirm that.
Developed by Steve Horvath of
UCLA, the test analyzed more
96 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
than 2,000 locations on myy DNA
for signs of biochemical changes
called methylation.
y These changes,
g ,
the addition of tiny chemical tags,
accumulate over time, depending
on our lifestyles, and affect how genes
work. I’ve never smoked, don’t drink
as much as I used to and no longer
receive birthday cards from local
takeout restaurants, so I thought my
DNA would be in good shape.
I was wrong. In a short and
unemotional report, the company told
me that sample BL745677 showed my
I was secretly convinced that
beneath my middle-aged exterior lies
a much younger man.
DNA age was 48: 12 months older than
my calendar age. It got worse. Of all the
other 47-year-olds who took the test,
some two-thirds of them have younger
genes than I do. I’d like to say my
first reaction was shock and humility.
Instead I assumed the test was wrong.
And then I read Horvath’s take on that:
“It’s really more likely that planet Earth
will be hit by an asteroid tomorrow than
that this predictor doesn’t work.” I’ve
never heard a scientist talk like that,
with no comforting caveats to soften
the blow (or counteract lawsuits and
peer objections) and no margin for error
offered to console my bruised vanity.
Still, what can be measured can be
managed, and epigenetic clocks could
finally offer a robust way for science
to extend our life spans. It gives us a
chance to see what works—and tthe
motivation to use it. I got myy results
in June, and spurred into action,
I’ve started to run again. I’ve lostt 10
pounds and now drink alcohol only on
weekends. Next year I plan to geet my
DNA age checked again, and I ho ope to
have lost that extra year and then n some.
Iff that sounds too much like hhard
work, you’ll be pleased to learn tthat
shortcuts are being developed. Several
S
anti-aging scientists have told me they
take a common diabetes drug called
p lished
metformin. And test results publ
last year suggest why: Metformin can
help wind back the epigenetic clock.
Blood tests taken before and after
showed that the subjects—all men in
their 50s and 60s who took the drugs
for 12 months in a small trial—shed an
average of 2.5 years.
Scientists aren’t sure yet how
metformin does this, but bigger trials
exploring epigenetic clocks are planned
to confirm it’s so. Only then would it
be widely available. At the moment,
however, many committed users must
buy the drug online. That’s not for me:
It’s impossible to know for sure what
you’re getting. Countering the earlier
motto, I do mind about my age, but it
doesn’t matter so much that I’d take that
risk. It’s unlikely that either exercise or
metformin will take me to 120 years, but
that we can measure progress at all—
and shave a few years off our age—tells
me future interventions should indeed
get us to an extended, healthy life span.
Until then, I’ll continue to run against
the clock.
David Adam is the author of The Genius
Within and the award-winning The Man
Who Couldn’t Stop.
Hanging
in the
Balance
The luxury field is facing serious
environmental and consumer
challenges—and only the bravest
and most innovative companies
will survive. Here’s what that
means for you in the next decade.
By CHRISTINA BINKLEY
Illustrations by DAVIDE BONA ZZI

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 99

ay you’ve arrived home after a leisurely week-
end upstate. You plug in your Tesla—every
spot in your condominium’s garage has an
outlet compatible with any electric vehicle—
or perhaps you drop your Envoy electric car
share with the resident-dedicated fleet. You
slip past the conservatory’s 20-foot-tall trees
and the seven-story meadow wall that serve
ing’s air-filtration system. As you consider a dip
in the saltwater swimming pool, you arrive at your apartment and
the full glory of the sunset across Manhattan, thanks to walls of
high-insulating glass, whose clarity, due to low levels of iron in the
silica, also eliminates the need for artificial light by day. Your build-
ing’s zero-waste pledge means trash receptacles are outnumbered
by compost containers and recycling bins for everything from old
clothes to electronics, and small, wheeled totes have replaced black
plastic bags at the curb on garbage day. When you moved in, your
green movers shuttled your belongings in reusable bins.
This feel-good building is not some grad student’s blue-sky the-
sis project. Designed by Renzo Piano and developed by Bizzi & Part-
ners, it opened recently on Broome Street in New York’s SoHo. It’s
at the forefront of urban residential design that caters to a luxury
lifestyle seeking to tread more lightly on the earth.
Sustainability is driving the future of luxury not only in resi-
dential and commercial design but also in travel, food production
and fashion, as younger consumers reject fuel-gobbling private jets
and other high-octane goodies. No one is suggesting the industry is
where it needs to be, given the science, but increasingly, consum-
ers who want to make better choices have options: Ships that don’t
drop anchor to avoid damaging sea beds, off-grid resorts run on
solar energy, cities in China that use pneumatic tubes rather than
trucks to move waste, and designer fashions made with recycled
and renewable materials are becoming more available as luxury
consumers seek out and demand these innovations.
“It’s a baseline conversation we’re having with all clients because
they know their clients are demanding this,” says John Bricker, cre-
ative director of Gensler, one of the world’s largest architectural
firms. He notes the growing importance of “soft” factors such as
emotional connections and the sense of doing good, as opposed to
hard factors such as price. “Millennials make decisions based on soft
things. It’s a topic that’s one of their passion plays.”
These trends suggest that a luxury lifestyle in the future could
look and feel different at every level, from the back-of-house oper-
ations that keep life on track to the very substances that we touch
and breathe.
Cities will be quieter as gas-powered engines are replaced with
electric and as trucks are taken off streets by more efficient technol-
ogies. Sarah Currie-Halpern, a cofounder of New York–based waste
consulting group ThinkZero, sees a future nearly free of garbage
trucks; instead, she predicts, organic wastes will be liquefied on-site
and used to produce energy for buildings.
Renewable energy will become a routine part of every home.
Alessandro Pallaoro, managing director at Bizzi & Partners, foresees
wind systems on roofs and batteries placed in walls to store energy
produced with photovoltaic panels.
Green lawns will be scarce, especially in the arid western US, as
100 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
daily decisions commonly factor in sustainability and social impacts.
As transparency increases about where materials come from and how
much energy they use, impacts will be quantified and measured. Cer-
tifications such as those offered by the Seattle-based International
Living Future Institute will require many buildings to be regenera-
tive—meaning that their positive effects outweigh the negative.
“If you’re spending a lot of money on a luxury house, you’ll know
where the building impacts are,” says David Briefel, a sustainabil-
ity director at Gensler in New York. Homes and offices, he predicts,
will also be stronger and more resilient to withstand the unavoid-
able effects of global climate change—more floods, fires and storms.
Gensler, with a goal to one day reach net-zero water and energy
consumption for its projects, has installed sustainability direc-
tors around the world. Briefel, a specialist in adaptive reuse and a
designer accredited by Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED), considers traditional construction techniques such
as rammed earth and breezy courtyards as he advises clients about
architecture. “It’s very hard for me to separate good design from
sustainable design, because good design considers all constraints,”
he says.
The fashion industry as a whole may be running behind, but it
is now looking to Stella McCartney, who has made sustainability a
tenet of her eponymous brand, for broader leadership. A longtime
vegetarian, she was one of the first designers who banned the use
of fur, leather and feathers at their collections. Today she is press-
ing ahead with new materials such as “Mylo” (a faux leather made
from mushrooms), products that contain plastic scooped from
ocean waste and even mannequins made from sugarcane deriva-
tives. “What is exciting to me is constantly working on changing
things that are conventional in this industry,” McCartney says via
an e-mail in which she describes her searches for vegan silk and
KOBA, a plant-based fur-free “fur” that also incorporates recycled
polyester. “I’ve referred to myself as a farmer and not just a fashion
designer. Not literally, but in the fashion industry we are taking a
unit of a crop and transporting it. We just do something different
with it than the food industry.”
LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault cited her eco-
friendly approach as a reason for his company’s investment in her
label last summer, after McCartney split from rival Kering. “We are
convinced of the great long-term potential of her house,” Arnault
said in July, noting that he expects McCartney’s focus on sustain-
ability and ethical issues to help guide LVMH. Her responsibilities
advising Arnault and LVMH’s executive committee will go beyond
implementing more sustainable materials, the company says, to
advising broadly on potential initiatives.
McCartney says she is proudest of the effort that led to sustain-
able viscose, a common textile culpable for the harvesting of about
150 million trees a year. She and her team looked for three years
before finding a forest in Sweden that is sustainably managed and
offers a fully traceable supply chain.
S
uch examples of progress are all a long time coming.
It’s been 13 years since former vice president Al Gore pro-
duced the seminal documentary film An Inconvenient Truth,
which made the case that the globe was in danger of over-
heating. Nearly every president since John F. Kennedy has
warned about the need for sustainability. The one who may
have best captured today’s mind-set for purposeful con-
sumption put it this way:
“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but
by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and
consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve
learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of
lives which have no confidence or purpose.”
That was President Jimmy Carter speaking presciently in July
1979, having just emerged from a 12-day retreat at Camp David,
where he read two groundbreaking books that still resonate today:
 Hanging in the Balance

STELLA McCARTNEY AND HER TEAM

LOOKED FOR THREE YEARS BEFORE FINDING
A FOREST IN SWEDEN THAT IS
SUSTAINABLY MANAGED AND OFFERS A FULLY
TRACEABLE SUPPLY CHAIN.

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 101
 Hanging in the Balance

“WHEN YOU GO AND VISIT ANY PLACE

AND ENJOY WHAT THAT ENVIRONMENT HAS TO OFFER,
YOU WANT TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE
THAT THE ENVIRONMENT TRANSFORMS YOU AND YOU
DON'T TRANSFORM THE ENVIRONMENT.”

102 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
The Culture of Narcissism, by historian Christopher Lasch, and
Small Is Beautiful, by the economist E. F. Schumacher. Those ideas
have become normalized for many millennials and Gen Z consum-
ers, much as local farm-to-table cuisine is no longer a hippie ideal.
The very definition of luxury is shifting to include products once
deemed decidedly not luxury, such as faux fur. Even Queen Eliza-
beth recently pledged not to commission any new outfits with the
real kind, which is just as well, because Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors
and Chanel are among the many fashion labels that no longer use
animal fur in their designs.
O
utside the fashion capitals, businesses such as Minneapo-
lis-based Askov Finlayson are trying to redefine luxury for
the 21st century. Founded in 2011 as a menswear outfitter
by brothers Eric and Andrew Dayton, whose family once
owned the famous Dayton’s department stores (now part
of Macy’s), Askov Finlayson was named to several lists of
the best men’s stores in the nation. But the Daytons shut-
tered the retail operation for a makeover, relaunching it this past
fall as the “first climate-positive outerwear brand” and possibly
the most minimalist. There are three product categories: apparel
(T-shirts and a sweatshirt), the label’s popular knit caps, which are
part of a climate-change campaign dubbed “Keep the North Cold,”
and winter parkas, one cut for men and another for women.
The parkas’ materials are nearly 100 percent recycled, from
their 3M insulation to the water-resistant polyester outer shells,
the care labels and even the zipper teeth. The legendary arctic
explorer Will Steger, who led the first dog-sled expedition to the
North Pole, helped with technical details, and there is a data-world
consideration: an interior pocket with “Present Mode” technology
that blocks cellular and Wi-Fi signals if a cell phone is placed in it,
“to help Askov customers go offline and be present with friends and
family,” says Eric Dayton, whose third son was due to arrive any day.
“Every step, we look at how we can reduce the impact, if not
eliminate it,” says Dayton, who sought out a factory that promised
97 percent of the fabric supplied would be used for the products,
reducing waste. The company invests in climate solutions to cover
the “social cost” of its carbon footprint, using the more expensive
Obama-administration calculus of about $43 per metric ton (more
than four times the UN estimate for carbon offsets), then multiplies
by 110 percent to arrive at “climate positive.”
The luxury conglomerate Kering has pledged to eliminate the
negative effects of its entire production by buying carbon offsets,
which help make up for operations that aren’t sustainable, including
building with concrete and steel. Fortunately, given the disparities
and questions about calculating those offsets, more direct alterna-
tives are emerging, such as cross-laminated wood—essentially boards
glued together to create panels sturdy enough for high-rise construc-
tion—once fire codes adjust to the new technology. “Wood traps car-
bon as it grows, which is great, and it’s a renewable resource,” says
Chris McVoy, senior partner with Steven Holl Architects, a New York
firm focused on sustainability. Holl often uses geothermal wells to
sustainably heat and cool buildings, such as the Reach, the extension
of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., completed in 2019.
Holl is also designing the upcoming Kinder Building at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with sustainability in mind, artfully
turning to old-fangled techniques for ingenious features. There, a
façade of 30-inch-wide glass tubes set three feet from the building’s
concrete wall will create a cooling cavity and funnel away Hous-
ton’s notorious heat, bouncing an estimated 65 percent of the sun’s
rays away from the interior. On the top floor, an opaque balloon-like
surface will filter the sun while showering the uppermost galleries
in enough light that artificial lighting won’t be necessary by day
(though curators requested spotlights to highlight exhibit items).
Inset windows, breezeways, natural lighting and cross-ventila-
tion aren’t new. “A lot of these things are ancient,” says McVoy. “In
the ’40s and ’50s, we designed this thing called air-conditioning. We
got onto this terrible track, and now we’re trying to get off of it.”
Concern about sustainability is burrowing its way into high-end
furnishings, too. Achille Salvagni’s designs avoid synthetic glue,
lacquer and welding. Most of his pieces are made in Rome, but he
sometimes uses factories near his clients, echoing farm-to-table
cuisine. If it means softening his impact on the earth, Salvagni says,
“I’m happy to do research on the local materials.”
F
ar-flung travel is one particularly unsustainable footprint
of the luxury lifestyle, with tourism accounting for an esti-
mated 8 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Avia-
tion compounds the problem. Last summer, the uproar over
the private-jet traveling of Prince Harry and Meghan, the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex, was enough to cause the royal
couple to fly commercial in September. It’s likely that more
travelers, at least high-profile ones, could face that sort of protest in
the future—much as fur wearers were once doused with red paint by
animal-rights activists.
“I’m conflicted about travel,” says Gensler’s Briefel, who is hop-
ing to see a celebration of more local travel—trips to nearby retreats
rather than to other continents—just like there is for local food.
“Maybe that’s wishful thinking.”
Maybe. Even the eco-conscious French cruise company Ponant,
founded in 1988 by a group of sailors, has aggressively pursued
cruising around the world in sensitive places, from the Arctic to the
Solomon Islands, albeit in a more sustainable way. Ponant’s luxury
expedition vessels are classified as “clean ships.” Its most innovative
model, launching in 2021, will use electric propulsion systems near
land and liquefied natural gas for longer sailing, dispose of waste
in paper trash bags and, when needed, employ dynamic positioning
systems instead of anchors to hold its place on the sea.
“To be sustainable is not a corporate credo,” says Navin Sawhney,
Ponant’s chief executive of the Americas. “It is literally a way of life.
We have a symbiotic relationship to the ocean.”
Ponant works with the communities where its ships dock so it
can tread lightly on land as well. “When you go and visit any place
and enjoy what that environment has to offer,” Sawhney says, “you
want to be absolutely sure that the environment transforms you and
you don’t transform the environment.” In Africa, Wilderness Safaris
has operated camps for 36 years in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and
Zimbabwe. It introduced light-impact camps in 1985 and launched a
full-on sustainability effort a decade ago, working to reduce waste and
its carbon outputs, says Neil Midlane, the company’s South Africa–
based group sustainability manager. Solar cells have replaced most
diesel engines for energy in its camps; 18 camps are 100 percent solar.
Sewage is treated above ground in plants that use a bacteria-based sys-
tem to produce clean water and little sludge. Glamour isn’t the selling
point, though the safaris rate at the top of luxury service. “This is stuff
that every company in our business should be doing,” Midlane says.
Wilderness Safaris stopped using plastic wrap in favor of Buzz
Wraps (made of beeswax), offers guests coffee cups made of corn
starch, plant sugars and fibers for takeaway, supplies glass water
bottles and has created camps that can be built and dismantled with
minimal disruption to the environment, leaving the sites able to
revert to their natural state within three months.
Lance Hosey, a LEED fellow and one of Gensler’s sustainability
gurus, has studied how sensory experiences promote physical and
emotional wellness. He is the author of The Shape of Green, a 2012
book that explores the relationship between architecture, ecology
and beauty. Perhaps counterintuitively, Hosey suggests that sustain-
ability, instead of provoking feelings of deprivation, is the ultimate
luxury, calling it “guilt-free pampering.”
“There’s a misperception that sustainability is about sacrifice,”
he tells Robb Report, noting that green living can be desirable simply
for the sense of virtue it provides. “We don’t love something because
it’s energy-efficient or biodegradable. We love it because it moves
our heads and hearts.”
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 103
104 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 Want Not
Ice cream made from leftover bread? Coffee grounds in the miso?
Acclaimed chef Matt Orlando is on a mission to use every scrap of food
that passes through his kitchen.
By JEREMY REPANICH
MIKKEL HERIBA; OPPOSITE: CHRIS TONNESEN

Matt Orlando uses

Amass’s dedicated
garden to create
dishes such as
cabbages and plum
yeast miso, dusted
with dried apple
cores and spent
grain (opposite).
 T he meal at Amass begins a bit
unexpectedly, though maybe
it shouldn’t be surprising at
all. Before the first course ever
arrives, the diner has already
ventured to a rough-hewn indus-
trial stretch on Copenhagen’s outskirts and sat
down inside an old shipyard building to eat din-
ner surrounded by exposed concrete walls cov-
ered in elegantly rendered graffiti. The space
is brutalist yet refined, softened by leather din-
ing chairs and smoked-oak tables. Still, it’s not
exactly what you’re accustomed to seeing in a
world-renowned restaurant.
The server announces the tasting menu will
start with bread, but what arrives is a bowl of
large, puffy chips with dip on the side. Despite
its appearance, the server assures, this is bread—
or, at least, it was bread. The restaurant’s day-
106 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
old, house-made bread has been soaked, pureed,
mixed with tapioca, flattened, dried and then
fried to a crisp. It’s delicious. And this quirky bit
of alchemy is revelatory.
Restaurants churn out food waste every day.
And at most places, leftovers get tossed in the gar-
bage or compost heap. At best, day-old bread is
turned into croutons. Chef-owner Matt Orlando
has made it his mission to do better. In addition
to leading Amass to reduce its carbon footprint,
curtail water usage and become a leader in sus-
tainability, Orlando has pushed his staff to see
food by-products not as waste but as a valuable
supply of ingredients that can spark creativity.
And from the test kitchen he’s opened—not to
create new dishes but to invent new sustainable
processes—he’s poised to spread his message that
eco-friendly food can be enjoyable too.
Before Amass, the California-born-and-bred
Orlando had worked his way through some
of the world’s best kitchens, with stints at Per
Se, Le Bernardin and the Fat Duck, eventually
becoming the chef de cuisine at Noma in Copen-
hagen. In 2013, he ventured out on his own,
opening Amass in a place that had remained
mostly fallow since the Burmeister & Wain ship-
yard closed in 1996. Orlando had grown to love
the city but wanted to serve food a little bolder
and richer than the New Nordic cuisine dom-
inating the scene. He didn’t set out to create a
culture of sustainability and eco-consciousness.
GRILLING DUCK: CORY SMITH; FAVA BEAN SHELLS AND ASPARAGUS: CHRIS TONNESEN
“We definitely opened Amass with a mind-set
that is no different than any other restaurant,”
Orlando says. It wouldn’t take long for that out-
look to change.
Six months on, Orlando tucked Amass in for
a brief winter hibernation, giving himself time
to step back from the daily grind. He realized
 Orlando draws on fine-dining staples such as duck
(top left) and white asparagus (bottom left) and more
obscure ingredients, including fava-bean shells (center
left), wild goose (top right) and zander roe (bottom right).

he wanted Amass to stand for something more porate into new dishes. They transformed spent sheep are gassy little devils for their size—is sig-
MAT T ORLANDO, WILD GOOSE AND WHIPPED Z ANDER ROE: CHRIS TONNESEN

than a world-class meal: He wanted it to become
a sustainable restaurant. As the vacation ended,
he regathered his team and challenged them to
change their ways. Could they reduce their food
waste, carbon footprint and water usage while
still serving high-level food?
The surfeit of spent coffee grounds became the
early nemesis. “We came across a fact that made us
go, ‘Wow,’ ” Orlando says. His team learned that, if
you brew all the coffee beans you buy, you’re still
using less than one percent of the nutrients. “The
beans that have gone through growing, transpor-
tation from Africa or South America, roasting,
transportation again to get to you, and brewing—
we throw away 99 percent of it.”
In a corner of the restaurant’s kitchen, Orlando
and his chefs became obsessed with turning the
grounds into something tasty enough to incor-
coffee into crackers and brownies, brewed it into
beers, ground it into flour to bake into bread, fer-
mented it like miso—and more.
“We made a lavender, black bean and coffee
miso that blew my mind,” Orlando says. “Coffee
grounds were our gateway drug. It showed us
the potential of examining a product everyone
disregards as having no value and adding value
by figuring out all the ways to process it.”
The rethinking of waste has fit into a broader
sustainability goal at the restaurant. Since 2015,
Amass has partnered, first, with the San Fran-
cisco–based Zero Foodprint and then with the
University of Copenhagen to analyze the restau-
rant’s overall carbon footprint. The results have
given Orlando and his staff a path forward.
The analyses taught them, for instance, that
lamb’s carbon footprint—because, frankly, baby
nificantly higher than that of pork or even beef,
so they stopped serving it. Amass used only 82
nitrous-oxide-charged whipped-cream canis-
ters in a year (some restaurants go through 50
per week), but they accounted for one percent
of its total carbon emissions, so those were dis-
continued too. And fish caught by trawling with
industrial-size nets can produce up to 10 times as
much carbon-dioxide emissions as line-caught
fish, because of the fuel needed to drag the net
through the ocean, so Amass ensured its supply
comes from lower-impact methods, including
fishing with line as well as with gill or seine nets,
which capture fewer unintended species. The
restaurant cut water usage by collecting all par-
tially full bottles at tables, boiling the water and
then using it to irrigate the garden or wash the
floors at the end of the night.

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 107
 Waste Not Want Not
A fine-dining restaurant produces as much as
25 kilograms of carbon dioxide per guest. Amass,
with the team’s efforts, dropped its average from
18 kilos per guest to 12. The restaurant’s hard
work and tangible results have earned respect
among its peers.
“They’ll even do a small thing. Like recently
they stopped using plastic wrap, and then you
see all of a sudden all these other restaurants are
not using plastic wrap anymore,” says executive
chef Andy Doubrava of Michelin-starred Rus-
tic Canyon, a farm-to-table restaurant in Santa
Monica, Calif. “He’s the trendsetter when it
comes to sustainability. And he’s one of the first
I saw embrace the no-waste ethos but not in a
trendy way. They don’t waste anything, and it’s
inspiring because it’s not easy to do that.”
The strides Amass’s team has made have only
fueled Orlando’s ambition. When the beer-loving
108 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
chef opened his brewery, Broaden & Build, last
January, he carved out a space for a test kitchen.
It has given Amass’s director of research and
development, Kim Wejendorp, a dedicated place
to experiment on food waste and develop fur-
ther sustainable processes for the restaurant and
beyond. That commitment drew the attention of
Copenhagen bakery Jalm&B.
Hoping to do more with its old bread than
make croutons, Jalm&B partnered with Carls-
berg brewery’s subsidiary Jacobsen in 2018.
Jacobsen brewed a beer with the bakery’s
unsold bread, and Jalm&B baked a bread from
upcycled hazelnuts the brewery had used in its
winter beer. In the wake of the collaboration,
the bakery team kept its eyes open for other
potential partners.
“We’re something in between that small
local bakery and an industrial producer,” says
Almost nothing goes to waste at Amass:
Bread turns into ice cream (top left),
Japanese knotweed accompanies grilled
squid (bottom left), dried tomato skins
(center right) flavor sauces, and green
strawberries are pickled (bottom right).
Jalm&B’s marketing manager, Martin Marko
Hansen. “We’ve got a bit more power than a
small bakery, but we’re not so big that we are
scared of these creative projects. And for us,
sustainability is about having only a few ingre-
dients and not all these additives, and we could
INTERIORS AND G ARDEN CABBAGES: CHRIS TONNESEN
tell that’s the goal of the team at Amass as well.”
Hansen, who has a background as a chef,
approached Orlando and Wejendorp about BREAD ICE CREAM: ANDREAS RAUN ARNEBERG;
working together. Over coffee they batted
around a few ideas, none of which seemed
quite right. Then Orlando asked, “How much
bread do you produce every day that you can’t
sell and have to throw away?” Turns out there
were often irregular loaves that didn’t fit in the
bakery’s bags or didn’t ferment the right way, so
they couldn’t be sold. Hansen and team agreed
to drop off some old bread at the test kitchen to
see what Amass could make of it.
 “HE’S ONE OF THE FIRST I SAW EMBRACE THE
NO-WASTE ETHOS BUT NOT IN A TRENDY
WAY. THEY DON’T WASTE ANYTHING, AND IT’S
INSPIRING BECAUSE IT’S NOT EASY TO DO THAT.”
Orlando and Wejendorp made dessert. Tak-
ing a cue from Broaden & Build, they covered the
TOMATO SKIN AND SEA SNAILS: CHRIS TONNESEN; PLATING: CORY SMITH
bread with water, then warmed it to the point at
which the starches broke down to a liquid sugar.
They reduced that, added a little dairy and spun
it into an ice cream that, if someone didn’t tell
you otherwise, you’d think was flavored with
honey, despite having no added sugar.
Hansen wasn’t expecting ice cream, but he
was pleasantly surprised. “I was hoping for the
taste of bread, and I got it—it has a really nice
malty flavor to it with notes of salt, and you can
taste the grains,” he says. The ice cream also
excited Jalm&B’s team because it’s both an upcy-
cled product and a perennial favorite that would
connect with the general consumer. “We tested
it at the [2019] Copenhagen Cooking & Food
Festival and got a great response,” Hansen says.
Jalm&B has reached out to Irma, the Copenha-
gen equivalent of Whole Foods, and he says, “We
didn’t agree on anything yet, but they’re keen to
work with us. And we contacted an ice-cream
producer to see how this could be scalable.”
For Orlando, the ice cream has been a game
changer: “Kim and I looked at each other and
almost said simultaneously, ‘What kind of
impact could we have if we worked with more
large industrial producers?’ ” They could find a
big food company, identify a waste stream, then
make it into something they could turn around
and sell.
“As soon as you start talking about finances
with these larger companies, all of a sudden their
ears perk up,” Orlando says. “But I don’t care if
you’re a tree hugger or some large-scale indus-
trial producer—as long as you’re working with us
and doing something that has a positive impact
on the environment, I don’t care what your inten-
tions are. Sometimes you have to play into peo-
ple’s materialism to move an agenda forward.”
Which brings them back to the coffee beans.
The Amass test kitchen’s latest trials are at the
behest of the Danish government (along with
other food companies) to extract any potential
protein trapped in the grounds. “We have been
trying to master these cookies where we replace
the flour with milled coffee grounds,” Orlando
says. “The technique is there, along with
the flavor, but the texture is horrible. We have
two of the three parts of the process. That’s
enough to keep us going.” So the chefs continue
to test, taste and create food from previously
discarded by-products. If they succeed, they’ll
not only make great food but get people to
embrace a more sustainable mind-set in which,
as Orlando tells his team, “it’s not food waste, it’s
food wasted.”
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 109
THE SMART, QUIET,
FUTURE OF THE
UTTERLY BIZARRE
LUXURY CAR
Artificial intelligence and fast, cheap algorithmic design are about to
transform the automobile—and it will only get weirder from there.
By JOSH C ONDON

The Bentley
EXP 100 GT
 The Future of the Luxury Car
For as long as anyone could remember,
a car was a car was a car.
And then, one day, it wasn’t.
Which is to say the notion of an automo-
bile going back a hundred years—a multi-box
design on four tires, with a wheel and pedals,
aimed by people and powered by orderly lit-
tle explosions—has been upended by a mael-
strom of globalization, technological revolu-
tion, environmental reckoning and a wholesale
assault on the ownership model. Such extreme
disruption has unleashed a rapid evolution of
the automotive species, with strange creatures
now roaming the roads: Rolls-Royce SUVs
and silent, battery-powered Croatian hyper-
cars; Cybertrucks and fin-shaped hatchbacks
with gullwings and brains big enough to take
the wheel for a spell. It’s like looking around
one day and realizing some dogs are now
the size of horses and chirp, while others have
opposable thumbs, sonar and definite opinions
on Brexit.
Take the luxury car. Not long ago the term
meant something fairly specific: a large, impe-
rious saloon with a respectably immoderate
gas-burning engine and a leathered and carpeted
backseat with ample space for raising a family.
Now it’s as formless and atomized as the rest of
the sprawling luxury universe, which includes
collectible sneakers and stiff, terrifying plastic
Japanese teddy bears and feeling very ashamed
of your jet. Tesla’s austere, vegan-friendly robots
are the must-have choice for the Silicon Val-
ley set even as six-figure SUVs proliferate like
5,000-pound bunnies in the exurbs. Meanwhile,
a younger generation of buyers appreciates
zero-emissions vehicles but would really rather
the automobile had the good sense to go away
entirely, like voice mail.
112 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
Yet there are signs the automotive industry is
finally coalescing around an idea of what a car
will be in the future—and down that road lies
an interesting potential detour: The luxury car,
instead of simply representing a pricier version
of whatever the car du jour is, branches off into
something else entirely. For the first time ever, a
difference not just of degree but of kind, trans-
formed by three interconnected forces: artificial
intelligence, the rise of niche manufacturing and
increasing rarity.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
T
wo major technological revolutions
are shaping the car of the future: elec-
trification and autonomy.
Electric vehicles (EVs) will even-
tually win out not simply because of
an increased focus on sustainability,
or because Tesla made them sexy, but
because they provide undeniable benefits for an
industry that’s become overwhelmingly consol-
idated, inextricably globalized and massively MQB platform alone, from sports cars to mini-
regulated—and because EVs ultimately pair vans.) Plus, the world’s largest car market, China,
better with self-driving technology. is pushing a blistering rate of battery-powered
Wide-scale EV adoption not only alleviates EV adoption—more than a million electric and
regulatory headaches over what’s being spewed hybrid-electric cars sold in 2018—with Europe,
from the tailpipe—EVs have no spew, and no the third-largest market, attempting to keep pace.
tailpipes—but the cars are also simpler to manu- Regardless of whether the US intends to con-
facture and suited to the type of modular archi- tinue its retrograde love affair with fossil fuels, an
tecture now favored by the world’s largest auto- increasingly climate-minded global market will
makers, in which a few platforms underpin a ensure the automobile’s plugged-in future.
wide variety of vehicles. (The Volkswagen Group, As for self-driving technology, it’s anyone’s
which owns 12 brands across seven countries, guess when it becomes a widespread consumer
produces more than 30 different models on its reality; it’s not just a question of technological

capability but a complex matrix involving
legislation, infrastructure and liability. Mean-
while, everyone from Samsung to Softbank
to Uber is spending astonishing amounts of
money to ensure a front-row seat whenever the
show starts.
“Without a doubt, on our road map is to
have privately owned vehicles enabled with our
technology,” says Adam Frost, chief automotive
programs and partnerships officer at Waymo,
formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project,
now its own entity within Google’s parent com-
pany, Alphabet. “And our partners are obviously
very interested in that. We’re in discussions with
them around, ‘What is that product?’ ”
But the day when you can Netflix and chill
in your Level 4 autonomous ride is years, if not
decades, away. For now, companies like Waymo,
Cruise and Argo AI have partnered with (or
been bought by) automakers to develop fleets
of L4-equipped taxis that operate within the
confines of certain test cities: Waymo runs
autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans in
parts of Phoenix, while Argo has AI-equipped
Fords operating in Palo Alto, Detroit and Pitts-
burgh. These vehicles rely on information from
As autonomous technology becomes increasingly
capable, there will be less for the “driver” to do.
As a result, vehicle cockpits will become progressively
more streamlined and high-tech, as seen in the Lagonda
All-Terrain Concept by Aston Martin.
onboard hardware such as cameras, sensors,
radar and a laser-based system called LIDAR,
plus incredibly detailed 3-D maps.
“We make a Waymo-specific map,” Frost
says. “It’s a very deep understanding of the phys-
ical environment. It uses a high-definition map-
ping system that understands where hills are.
It can see stop signs, it knows where the traffic
lights are, where the lane markings are. It even
has the curb edge captured.”
According to Alex Roy, a journalist for The
Drive who writes frequently about automation
and is an investor in the AV space, the indus-
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 113
 try’s “geofenced” operating areas and automo-
tive-technological partnerships hint at how the
technology could roll out for personally owned
autonomous vehicles.
“The artificial intelligence stack has to be
taught anew in each city,” Roy says. “You start
with one city, then you add more cities, and then,
eventually, those cities can be connected. It’s
service coverage, like a cell-phone map.” At some
point, Roy says, AV companies will have to com-
pete for personal-vehicle customers in overlap-
ping markets. That could mean choosing a Ford
over an Audi based partly on the brand, specifi-
cations and range of its autonomous technology,
like choosing a mobile phone based not just on
114 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
features like screen size and operating system
but service area and call quality. A vehicle’s tech
capabilities (autonomous and otherwise) will
increasingly become distinct vehicle features,
like the engine or stereo system, upgradable for
those who want the latest and best—and not just
the tech itself, but how it’s deployed.
Consider that, by design, autonomous vehicles
are unlikely to ever truly flaunt the speed limit
like a human would, no matter how much open
road lies ahead. That means, during the period
when roads are shared by both human-driven and
autonomous machines, getting anywhere faster
than the posted limit in an AV might require the
opening of a wallet instead of a throttle.
“Luxury cars that have been upgraded in the
system as ‘priority vehicles’ could be allowed
to travel much faster and overtake nonpriority
cars,” Roy says. “For a price.”
And that’s to say nothing of in-cockpit tech-
nology. The crazed rush to develop self-driving
capability kicked open the auto industry’s door
to Big Data. Now comfortably inside, Amazon,
Apple and Google have no intention of ceding
a massive captive audience—more than 80 mil-
lion new vehicles were sold worldwide in 2018
alone—that will soon have to figure out what to
pay attention to inside a car once driving has
been scratched off the list. Ordering the luxury
vehicle of the future might entail ticking boxes

“WE BUILD THE ENTIRE AUTOMOTIVE EXPERIENCE
AROUND A STEERING WHEEL AND PEDALS.
WHEN YOU THINK 30 YEARS DOWN THE TRACK . . .
IT BECOMES A BLANK SHEET.”
for gaming and entertainment packages that
include the latest Fortnite release and an Amazon
Prime video subscription, or a health package
with integrated real-time biometric monitoring.
If that sounds far away, that’s because it is.
But Big Data is changing the possibilities around
the luxury car in more tangible ways, and some
of the most incredible are happening right now.
NICHE MANUFACTURING
“T
o create a vehicle at the moment,
whether it’s a run of one or a hun-
dred or a hundred thousand, the
investment needed in tooling and
man-hours is astronomical,” says
Felix Holst, chief product officer
and founding partner of Hackrod,
a start-up that explores radical new manufactur-
ing applications in the automotive space. “As 3-D
printing and robotic metal forming and all sorts of
other advanced, automated manufacturing tech-
niques come online, it has the power to put the
consumer in touch with manufacturing—in effect,
mass manufacturing in the quantity of one.”
This is the bleeding edge of automotive pro-
Rolls-Royce says its
103EX Concept (above)
envisions a future in
GOOGLE AI QUANTUM COMPUTING: HANNAH BENET
which each car “is as
unique as your own
fingerprint,” while
quantum computers
like Google’s Sycamore
(right) will transform
every aspect of the
automotive ecosystem,
from battery research
to AV routing—and
automakers are already
investing big.
The Future of the Luxury Car
duction. Even Tesla’s heavily automated Fremont
factory, a vast California facility where whirring
robots press and laser and lift car bodies 15 feet
onto a rail system with the ease of placing a can
of soup on a shelf, relies on an essentially tradi-
tional manufacturing process: Designers sketch
cars, engineers model and refine the design, and
people and machines assemble the parts. But
Holst and Hackrod cofounder Mouse McCoy
saw that a convergence of advanced technolo-
gies—artificial intelligence, virtual reality, algo-
rithmic design, 3-D printing—could flatten the
process in the same way that music software like
GarageBand turned the labor-intensive process
of making an album into something replicable by
a bored teenager in his bedroom. Holst, a former
vice president for design at Hot Wheels, says the
goal was to imagine “whether three kids in their
garage could start a car company.”
The result was Hackrod’s La Bandita roadster,
built on a chassis conceived not by engineers but
by a machine-learning algorithm and brought to
life by advanced manufacturing processes.
“It’s generative design,” says Holst. “Which is
basically, set your needs and parameters for what
you’re trying to achieve and allow cloud pro-
cessing to give you an optimized structure that
solves for those needs.” This type of algorithmic
software can already tackle complex engineering
problems, such as an engine swap. When stag-
geringly powerful quantum computers become
widely available (as of this writing, there are
reportedly only 11 examples online around the
world), such calculations could be computed
across infinite parallel universes just for fun.
The implications for vehicle customization
are astounding, especially in a future of simpli-
fied electric vehicles. A customer could buy a
modular EV “skateboard”—a flat row of batteries
on motorized running gear—then commission a
boutique manufacturer to algorithmically gen-
erate a body design to exact performance and
safety specifications, crash-tested in virtual real-
ity and printed over the course of days or even
hours, and entirely unconstrained by needs like
a driver’s seat or a windshield you can see out of.
“We build the entire automotive experience
around a steering wheel and pedals, so all cars
have a similarity to them,” says Frost. “When you
think 30 years down the track, and the Waymo
[autonomous] driver being an enabler, it becomes
a blank sheet.”
And creativity need not stop at the vehicle †
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 115
“WE REALLY ARE ON THE CUSP OF SOME VERY DRAMATIC
SHIFTS. THERE IS A VIEW OF THE FUTURE THAT IS VERY
LIKE THE GOLDEN AGE OF COACHBUILDING.”

The algorithmically generated chassis design

for Hackrod’s La Bandita roadster

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 117
 The Future of the Luxury Car
manufacturing. The interior and exterior could
be painstakingly hand-finished using a combi-
nation of high-tech and old-school techniques,
like contemporary resto-modifiers do today with
classic cars. That could mean everything from
3-D-printed seats, designed using personalized
body mapping and upholstered by hand, to a car-
bon-fiber rear wing re-created to the exact, laser-
scanned dimensions of the ’95 Le Mans–winning
McLaren F1 GTR.
“We really are on the cusp of some very
dramatic shifts,” says Holst. “There is a view
of the future that is very like the golden age of
coachbuilding.”
To make such bespoke vehicles self-driv-
ing, imagine AI software and sensor hardware
bundled together as an off-the-shelf automotive
component the same way you can buy a Ford
crate engine or parking sensors from Amazon.
Waymo already sells its LIDAR scanning tech
to nonautomotive customers, while San Diego–
based Comma.AI offers a $599 device called the
Eon DevKit, which uses a camera and the brand’s
open-source software to enhance the driver-
assistance systems of numerous vehicles across
brands, like an aftermarket Tesla Autopilot.
Such bespoke and well-equipped machines
THEY’LL CALL IT SENSELESSLY DANGEROUS AND
HERETICALLY BACKWARD—THE KIND OF OUTMODED,
MOSTLY ILLEGAL FUN AVAILABLE ONLY TO HISTORICAL
REENACTORS AND THE VERY RICH.
will not come cheap; they will be the wild excep-
tions among a herd of increasingly homogenized
commuter shuttles—until, of course, they’re not.
Citing huge demand for mass-market but cus-
tomizable 3-D-printed gear from Nike and Adi-
das, Holst suggests such cars “will very quickly
be for the everyman.”
And when such dream machines become
available to the masses, where will the luxury car
go from there?
RARITY
T
here is a future—far away and hardly
guaranteed, but possible—in which
your average car is nothing but a whiz-
zing electric box powered through
inductive charging by the very roads
on which it expertly drives itself. A
luxury version of such a car is easy
to imagine: Just make the box bigger and more
sumptuous, an autonomous transport the size
118 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
of a rock band’s touring bus lavishly appointed
by the great interior designers of the time, hung
with art and plied with every amenity from
sleeping quarters and a gym to climate-con-
trolled wine storage.
But in this same obscure tomorrow there’s
another version of the luxury car, one which is
considered an astonishing oddity to behold—out-
landish, anachronistic, perhaps even deliberately
provocative. That car will look, nearly exactly,
like the car of today: an utterly servile box and
tires, with a steering wheel and pedals, powered
by the crude liquefied remains of dinosaurs.
The automobile may be rolling toward an
electrified, customizable, self-driving future,
but technology trends toward the efficient and
the democratic—two qualities the luxury market
can’t abide. Just consider the story of the “quartz
crisis,” which almost killed off the luxury watch-
making industry as we know it.
In the waning days of the 1970s, the entire hor-
ological industry decided it had seen the future,
and that future ran on batteries. Quartz-powered
watches were more accurate, more reliable and
far cheaper to produce than complex mechani-
cal movements. Everyone from Rolex to Patek
Philippe embraced the brave new world; brands
By the time Level 4
autonomy is here, cars
may no longer need
a steering wheel, as
Rolls-Royce imagines.
BELOW: Tesla’s
Cybertruck brings the
post-apocalyptic future
to the present day.
across Switzerland destroyed their watchmak-
ing machinery, the old ways unceremoniously
discarded in heaps of suddenly obsolete tooling.
Then, eventually, the fever waned. Luxury
buyers were no longer enamored of simplicity
and efficiency. They wanted instead to absorb
themselves in the complex, inefficient, labor-in-
tensive products of human industry, as they did
with their architecture and wines and bespoke
suits. Powered once again by intricate mechani-
cal movements, the luxury watchmaking industry
eventually regrew itself into a multibillion-dollar
industry that shows no signs of slowing.
There is no such mass-market future for
the loud, brainless, gas-powered automobile,
especially when fossil fuel may cost as much
as gold and legislation and liability have driven
human-powered cars from the road in the name
of safety. And as congestion pricing and sub-
scription-based automotive services conspire to
hollow out the middle-class ownership model,
“the luxury of private ownership is about to
become far more rare, especially in cities,” says
Alex Roy, with future roads populated by vehi-
cles paid for “by the minute or mile.”
But for those collectors who can afford to
house and feed and maintain a fussy, demanding,
extravagant curiosity, the reward will be a direct
link to one of humankind’s greatest achieve-
ments, a remarkably robust and sometimes daz-
zling beast of burden on whose back we built the
modern world.
One will need more than access to gasoline
and a dying breed of knowledgeable mechanics.
An archaic automobile kept alive in a distant
future will require space to roam. And in a world
of whizzing boxes depositing us like pre-sorted
mail, what savage freedom it will be to take off
toward nowhere and let the thing bellow and
fart and run where you tell it, as fast as you dare.
They’ll call it senselessly dangerous and hereti-
cally backward—the kind of outmoded, mostly
illegal fun available only to historical reenactors
and the very rich.
Which is to say, according to Roy, “the best
way to ensure you’ll be able to drive in the
autonomous future is to own the road you’re
driving on.”
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 119
The New
New Worlds
Changing weather and emerging fortunes are conspiring
to create promising vineyards in wholly unexpected places.
Where will your next bombshell bottle come from?
Robb Report identifies the likeliest
By TED LOOS

T he world of wine has

always operated on its
own schedule—great-
ness takes time. It gen-
erally requires many
seasons for a vineyard to mature
to the point at which the vines
produce wine with serious aging
potential. In the big picture, some
European regions have spent a mil-
lennium or more refining the taste
profiles of their bottlings.
But the combination of rap-
idly evolving technology, emerg-
ing international economies and
the progressing effects of climate
change has scrambled the tradi-
tional map and fast-forwarded the
timeline. There’s now good wine
from Virginia, Israel and Brazil, but
some countries we know and love—
such as South Africa and Australia—
GONZ ALO GONZ ALEZ REVILLA

have regions that may not be able

to continue making the excellent
wine we’re used to because of heat,
drought and fires.
Amid the chaos, happy surprises
are in store in the coming years, as
we’ll discover on the following pages.

The Oeno Wine Resort in Valle

de Guadalupe, a region of
Mexico with many promising
wineries

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 121
 Georgia
G eorgian wine may present
the perfect blend of storied
past and exciting future. “It’s
an ancient tradition, at least
8,000 years old,” says John
Wurdeman, an American wunderkind
impresario of Georgian grapes. But his-
tory isn’t what’s motivating the newest
fans in the US. “American hipster wine
bars are serving orange wines from
there, made in clay pots, to rebel against
the status quo Bordeaux and Napa wines
they think are boring.” True enough—the
bottles are popping up at places like wine
bar Ten Bells on New York’s Lower East
Side as well as at the Michelin-starred
Washington, D.C., restaurant Maydān.
Wurdeman cofounded Pheasant’s
Tears, a boutique natural winery that
122 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
makes 15 or 16 different bottlings every
year. It’s the Georgian winery with per-
haps the most US snob appeal, but it’s
not alone; wine imports from Georgia
to the US almost doubled this past year
over 2018. Wurdeman employs the most
distinct tradition of the country, ferment-
ing all his wines in qvevri, the traditional
clay pots that are buried in the ground.
The old ways are part of Georgia’s
unique story, but so are modern wine-
making techniques—even though it has
taken a while to shake off the stagnation
of 70 years under Soviet domination,
which did no favors for the wine indus-
A bottle of
Pheasant’s Tears
try. “It’s not an easy history” is how Wur-
and, top, the type deman puts it. Lisa Granik, who holds
of qvevri used to a prestigious master-of-wine title and
ferment it wrote a book on Georgian wine, travels
there often and says that, slowly, “Geor-
gia is entering the modern world.”
Since the country has some 500 vari-
eties of grapes, you can give up now on
getting a handle on the full range of Geor-
gian offerings, but among white, you’ll
see Mtsvane, Kisi and Rkatsiteli grapes;
among reds, Saperavi, which Granik calls
the “Syrah of Georgia.” But, says Wurde-
man, “if people try one Georgian wine,
it’s often orange, since so many of our
grapes lend themselves to that expres-
sion.” His Pheasant’s Tears 2018 Mtsvane
Amber Wine is an example of the quirky,
intense and appealing style, which more
people are discovering. It’s no wonder
that Granik says, “In a generation, we’ll
see more varieties and better quality. The
best Georgian wines are yet to come.”

I n the past five years, the idea of wine from Mexico went
from crazy-sounding to very enticing. A mere 70-mile
drive south of the US-Mexico border on the Baja Penin-
sula is the Valle de Guadalupe, where some 150 wineries,
mostly small operations, have sprouted up to take advan-
tage of wine-friendly conditions. The region produces 90 percent
of the country’s wines.
Most well-established wine regions have rules and customs
governing what gets made, but Guadalupe is in a position to
experiment and see what works. “It reminds me of Paso Robles
15 years ago,” says Tomás Bracamontes, who has become a major
importer of the wines through his company, La Competencia
Imports. “There are no rules. You can do anything you want.
Some people are making Pinot Noir and others Rhône blends.”
Bracamontes’s money is on the white grape Chenin Blanc as far
as up-and-comers go, and “Tempranillo is doing really well,” he
adds, referring to Spain’s great red export.
The wineries may be small, but they’ve caught the eye
of industry power players. Lourdes Martinez Ojeda became
a talked-about winemaker with her work for Bodegas Henri Lur-
The New New Worlds
ton, a Valle de Guadalupe venture of Bordeaux’s renowned
Lurton family (they make Château Brane-Cantenac and many
others). “Having this great Bordeaux family down there has
really helped,” says Jeff Harding, the beverage director at the
Waverly Inn in New York.
Harding, who visited the region last year, became a fan quickly,
putting Guadalupe wines on his list. He compares the climate
to some familiar California regions: “It’s hot in the day, but it’s
between two mountain ranges, so it cools right down at night. It’s
comparable to Napa.” (Others say the torrid climate of the Priorat
area in Spain is closer to the mark.)
Harding’s primary recommendation is about taste: “Big-
ger, riper fruit” is the overall profile compared to other places.
“They’re approachable and great to drink,” he adds, “and it
doesn’t hurt that they go great with Mexican food. Without a
doubt, we’ll be seeing more of these wines in 20 years.” If you
Lurton and, below, want to try something you won’t get anywhere else, sample the
the Llano Colorado natural-style bottlings from La Casa Vieja: Made from the origi-
Vineyard, which nal rootstock—some of the vines are 120 years old—the wines are
grows grapes for it funky, fascinating and distinct.
Mexico
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 123

Okanagan Valley,
T he emerging Canadian region
making the biggest impression
on global palates is the Okana-
gan Valley in British Columbia,
the southern portion of which
lies just across the border from Wash-
ington State. And the valley will be only
more influential in the coming years.
It’s a long, skinny area oriented on a
north-south axis: In the north, it’s cooler,
and Pinot Noir and Riesling grapes thrive;
in the south, much hotter and a home to
Bordeaux red grapes such as Merlot and
Cabernet Sauvignon. “There are so many
places that make good Cab, but I loved
the Riesling from Martin’s Lane,” says
James Tidwell, master sommelier and
cofounder of Texsom, an influential con-
ference of sommeliers. “I brought some
back from my trip—and I never do that.”
The prime mover in the region is
Anthony von Mandl, the owner of Mar-
tin’s Lane, Mission Hill winery and three
other properties that he calls the Iconic
Wineries of British Columbia. “They are
all managed independently,” says von
Mandl of his collection, “in the same way
LVMH has 75 fashion brands.”
Von Mandl—who made his fortune
124 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
England
“I ’ve never seen a category pick up
importers as quickly as English
sparkling did,” says Tidwell. “It
speaks to the quality of the wines.”
Over the past 30 years the bub-
blies have popped up in various parts of
southern England, where climate change
has created perfect conditions for making
sparkling wine. The vintners explicitly
HAMBLEDON HARVEST: JACK TAYLOR /GET T Y IMAGES
model their businesses after Champagne,
planting that region’s three grapes: Char-
donnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
“The style is close to what Champagne was
20 or 30 years ago,” says Tidwell. “Lean,
crisp and focused.”
Hampshire’s Hambledon Vineyard,
founded in 1952 and acquired in 1999 by
former investment banker Ian Kellett,
started selling sparkling wine in 2014. “He
saw the potential in the chalky soils here,
just like in Champagne,” says Hambledon’s
British Columbia
as a wine merchant and brewer, creating
a $2 billion company—touts the unique
characteristics of the area: Very little
rain is one (though perhaps counterintu-
itive, drier conditions make viticulture a
lot easier). “The fruit is pristine,” he says.
“It’s very easy to make pest-free wine in
that environment.” An ancient history of
volcanic activity and a couple of glacia-
tions produced a large variation of rich
wine soils. And climate change—for all
of its catastrophic consequences—has an
upside here. “There’s been a shift for us,”
says von Mandl. “The summer warmth is
different now, and Syrah and Cab are rip-
ening in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Among the best of Mission Hill’s wines
is the 2012 Oculus, a silky and rewarding
Bordeaux-style blend. Another wine in
von Mandl’s portfolio, CheckMate 2015
Little Pawn Chardonnay, scored 100
points from well-regarded Canadian
critic John Schreiner; it also happened to
nab the vote of former vice president Al
Gore, who ordered two cases before that
review was out. The irony of Gore’s con-
A bottle of Oculus noisseurship does not escape von Mandl:
from Mission Hill “Little did he know it was enabled by cli-
Family Estate (top) mate change.”
 The New New Worlds

education manager, Katrina Smith. She

adds that the winery’s bubblies are in a
“broader, richer style” than those of simi-
lar English wineries, and that all the grapes
come from nearby estate vineyards that
Hambledon owns, giving the winery more
control over the product.
The chief winemaker of another spar-
kling winery, Nyetimber, cautions against
too simplistic a view regarding warming
temperatures. “It’s really climate chaos,”
says Cherie Spriggs. “In 2012 we didn’t
harvest a single grape. It was the cold-
est conditions since we’ve been keeping
records.”
And it’s the cooler-than-most condi-
tions that are generally why people like
these wines. “You don’t want too much
sugar in the grapes”—a result of hot
weather—“when you’re making sparkling,
since that all gets converted to alcohol,”
says Spriggs, and it helps explain Nyetim-
ber’s elegant wines (its Blanc de Blancs
is superb). They have even been winning
blind tastings when pitted against Cham-
pagne, which is deeply satisfying for
Spriggs: “That’s our benchmark.” Look for
yet more top-level entries from southern

India
England in the coming decades.

I ndia has an ancient tradition of

wine, but these days its produc-
tion is a drop in the bucket: It’s a
beer-and-spirits kind of country
and has been for centuries. So
the production of premium wine is in
its infancy. But thanks to some wealthy
entrepreneurs, things are starting to
happen.
Pharmaceutical tycoons Krishna
Prasad and Uma Chigurupati—a married
couple who make a significant percent-
age of the world’s ibuprofen—established
Krsma Estates in 2008 in Hampi Hills, a
hot, dry inland area, which Prasad cheer-
fully concedes is “not a wine region.” But
in his travels he stumbled upon a farmer
who was growing wine grapes there and
realized how good the conditions were.
Krsma now produces three wines a year;
its Cabernet Sauvignon is a fairly classic
rendering of the grape, with beguiling
cherry fruit, and has been commended
at international wine competitions.
“A wine bar caught my fancy at 17,”
says Prasad, who is based in Hyderabad.
Later in life, after business success gave
him the means to tackle new frontiers,
he decided to make wine. “We traveled
A bottle of Hambledon in Europe and the US, thought about
bubbly
b bbl and,d lleft,
f retiring to Tuscany or France, but then
handling Chardonnay we said, ‘Let’s make good wine in India.’ ”
grapes at the winery Now he’s making 5,000 cases a year and
notes that his “ego” dictated that the
wine be exported to the States, too. “It’s
a passion and a hobby for me,” he says,
“not a business.”
The founder of Fratelli Vineyards’
Sette label, Kapil Sekhri—whose family
established the industrial conglomer-
ate Tinna Group—has similar inspira-
tions, especially Tuscany. But he’s taken
a decidedly cooperative approach: He
makes Fratelli’s wines in India, with
grapes from the Maharashtra region not
too far from Mumbai, but he does it in
partnership with Tuscan winemakers
Piero Masi and the Secci family. And the
wines have been praised by the respected
British critic Jancis Robinson.
Although those wines aren’t exported
to the US yet—Sekhri says he’s working
on it—he also partners with French-
born, Napa-based winemaker and entre-
preneur Jean-Charles Boisset to make
three Indian wines under the J’noon
label (the best is the white, a blend of
Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc) that
are available in the States. “We started
at the top,” Sekhri says of his collabo-
rations. And he sounds like other ter-
roir-driven winemakers around the
globe when he adds that he doesn’t want
J’noon
J noon and
and, to produce common-tasting bottlings:
top, workers at “We’re letting the vineyards do the
Fratelli Vineyards talking. Just wait and see.”

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 125
 Tishan Hsu in his
Williamsburg,
Brooklyn, studio with,
from left, Outer Banks
of Memory, 1984, and
Portrait, 1982

126 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 THE SEER
Tishan Hsu’s paintings and sculptures about the blurring line between technology and the human
body left ’80s audiences baffled. The art world is finally catching up to him.
By JULIE BELC OVE Photography by PETER ROS S
 ack in the early 1980s, before personal com-
puters and the internet and Wi-Fi and iPhones,
before Facebook and Google and Uber and
Netflix, when tax returns and college theses
and invitations and bills were all on paper, Tis-
han Hsu worked nights word processing in law
firms so he could make art by day. A graduate
of MIT and a keen observer of the human con-
not only the speed with which a word processor
churned out documents but how operating the nascent technology
made a person sit, how it made a person feel. Gradually, a funny
thing happened: The two worlds collided.
His paintings and sculptures began to reflect his assessment
that technology was becoming an extension of the human body,
a condition he concluded was destined to intensify over time.
Modular tiles in his sculptures echoed bits of digital data; three-
dimensional objects hinted at contraptions yet to come. Paintings
CLOCKWISE FROM
evoked computer monitors but also blood cells or flesh. The body,
RIGHT: Autopsy, 1988,
he determined, could no longer be depicted the way it had been
ceramic tile, compound,
for millennia. Hsu was seeing the future. “At that point, art was in
chrome; Cell, 1987,
this camp and the technology people were in the other camp, and
acrylic, compound, oil,
they were going to be ‘evil,’ undermining the humanistic world alkyd, vinyl, aluminum
we live in,” he says. “And I didn’t see it that way.” Making no value on wood; R.E.M.,
judgment on new technology itself, Hsu was interested instead in 1986, acrylic, alkyd,
its inevitability—and its impact. compound on wood;
An archetypal misunderstood intellectual ahead of his time, Hsu in front of Natural
he worked quietly for decades, largely overlooked or forgotten by Language, 1994.
the art world—until now. Curators too young to have been on the
scene in the ’80s have rediscovered Hsu, and a retrospective of
his work will open at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on
January 26 before traveling to the SculptureCenter in New York
in May. “I realized I’d never encountered work like that,” says
SculptureCenter curator Sohrab Mohebbi of a Hsu piece he saw
in a group show in 2018, which spurred him to organize the exhi-
bition. “It really felt of now but was made in 1987. I went to his
studio and was blown away.”

O
n a quiet block in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Hsu, 68,
opens the door to an unassuming building. It is de-
ceptively spacious, with a small studio opening onto
a much larger one. Several of his completed paintings
hang on walls like a time capsule; in one, mouths are
interspersed with a warping grid, and in another, the
surface is striated like a computer screen on the fritz.
Other works, unfinished experiments, lie on tables or lean against
shelves. Hsu lives upstairs. The proximity allows him, on sleep-
less nights, to come down and fiddle around, or just think. He is
tall, a little stooped, his hair still dark. His demeanor is serious.
He doesn’t smile much.
On the back wall, there’s an enormous painting with seemingly
disparate blown-up images: The mouth of a fish represents nature,
he explains; a wound from an incision suggests the human race,
and a temperature dial, technology. “They’re all connected, they’re
all together as one,” Hsu says, then quickly adds that he himself
figured out the symbolism largely in retrospect. While painting it
he would tell visitors, “This is very intuitive. The work will reveal
itself. I can’t give you a shtick that’s going to say what it’s about.”

128 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 The Seer

Hsu’s prognostications about the digital age could perhaps

themselves have been foretold. Born in Boston to Chinese immi-
grants, he grew up with a father who was an engineering profes-
sor and a mother who was a trained opera singer and encouraged
his artistic leanings. Living in Zurich as a small child and then
hopscotching across the US—Madison, Wisc.; Blacksburg, Va.;
Long Island, N.Y.—he studied privately with local painters. One
teacher his mother found had him painting in the sobering real-
ist style of Edward Hopper; another guided him toward impres-
sionism. Hsu began showing—and selling—his paintings while a
teenager in Virginia.
During his last two years of high school, by then transplanted
to a suburb of New York City, he hesitated giving up what he
COLLECTION OF RALPH WERNICKE /HUBERTUSHOEHE ART + ARCHITECTURE, BERLIN AND

describes as the “validation” he received for his art. But he wasn’t

AUTOPSY: COURTESY K ARIN AND PETER HA AS COLLECTION, ZURICH; CELL: COURTESY

drawn to the artist’s life, at least not the cultural stereotypes

ZÜRICH; R.E.M.: PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW YORK; HSU PORTRAIT: PETER ROSS

of it. He excelled academically, and his father and brother had

attended MIT, so he decided to matriculate there to study archi-
tecture, though he never fully abandoned painting. MIT had little
in the way of art offerings, but Hsu found a painting seminar. At
the end of the term, his professor told him, “You should just drop
out, move to New York, eat, drink and breathe paint.”
“I was just like, whoa,” Hsu recalls. “I couldn’t quite compute.”
He worked up the nerve to go down to New York to meet a
few of his professor’s contacts and trawl the SoHo galleries. In
one, he recalls, “you opened this door and there was all this stuff
in the hallway. You go upstairs, and there's this painting on the
wall in an empty room. And that was the show. It was so raw and
laid-back. It was astonishing.
“And this is what he wanted me to drop out for,” continues
Hsu, eyebrows raised in disbelief.
Returning to MIT was a no-brainer. Hsu finished his degree
and stayed on to earn a master’s. Architects still used pencils
then, but next door to his studio, the discipline’s first wave of digi-
tal 3-D graphics was being developed. “I could see eventually this

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 129
The artist with his
1992 painting Splits
 The Seer

is going to be everywhere, and I could just intuit this was going

to change everything,” he says.
He loved architecture, but as grad school wound down, he
started thinking about giving painting a real shot. “I began to see
that it was not a choice—that I sort of had this disease,” he says.
“Or dis-ease. It was something I could not avoid.”
Hsu moved to a barn in the country and gave himself a year. “I
said the only thing I’ll allow myself to do is artwork,” he recalls.
Walks would be tolerated; a paying job, not. “By the end of the
year, the work really wasn’t coming very well. I said, ‘Okay, I gave
it a try.’ ” Conceding defeat, he recommitted to architecture and
took a job.
Then a funny thing happened. Within a few months, his
ideas about art finally started to coalesce. Hsu quit his job and
landed a subsidized studio in Boston. Eventually, with his sav-
ings depleted, he hit upon word processing as a survival gig. It
was the 1970s, and traditional secretaries were still wedded to

“I'M HERE PHYSICALLY IN

FRONT OF THIS MACHINE, BUT
THEN THIS MACHINE IS TAKING
ME INTO THIS WHOLE
OTHER ILLUSIONIST WORLD.”
their typewriters. “So having gone through six years of higher
education without learning how to type, I taught myself typing,”
he says. “I went to a local secretary school, got their textbook and
then got a job temping for law firms word processing. And I say
this only because that began my real interaction with technology
and language.”
With a marketable skill, Hsu moved to New York in 1979. For
years—was it two? five? He can’t quite remember—he made art
in his studio by day, then word processed documents at a law
firm after dark. “It was perfect because I could devote my best
attention all during the day, and when I was really tired and
exhausted, go in and start working for them,” he says. “It was also
very removed. You didn’t have to talk to anyone. You could just
go in there and bliss out. And actually still think about my [art].”
The two worlds Hsu inhabited—mindlessly typing legal doc-
uments in one, dreaming up inventive works of visual art in the
other—could not have seemed more opposite. But gradually,
they merged. “I’m here physically in front of this machine, but
then this machine is taking me into this whole other illusionist
world,” he recalls feeling. “It wasn’t like a window you look into.
This was a totally immersive environment.”
In the way that for centuries European artists painted stories
from the Bible almost exclusively, Hsu decided to make art about
our culture’s dominant alternate reality: technology. And more
specifically, how its relationship to the body was “getting more
and more comfortable, more and more seamless.”
Hsu rounded the corners of his canvases to echo the curves
of a screen, painted eyes and used relief techniques in areas to
allude to human tissue. The pieces looked paradoxically man-
ufactured yet organic; they were illusionistic yet objects in and
of themselves. The work spoke presciently of a future few could
fathom, one that, 35 years hence, we are now living, AirPods
jammed in our ears, fingerprints unlocking our phones. But the
art world was stuck in the ’80s.

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 131
 A
rt galleries tended to build their stables through con-
nections—one artist recommended another, often an “I HATED HAVING TO SELL WORK
art-school friend or a studio mate. Not having attend-
ed art school, Hsu felt a distinct disadvantage when it AND THEN PAY MY RENT OR WHATEVER.
came to networking. In those days, though, an artist
could still walk into a gallery cold and drop off slides I SAID I'D MUCH RATHER
of the work in the hopes of luring a dealer for a studio
visit. Hsu made the rounds. “They all talked with each other,” he
says of the gallerists in those days.
HAVE A 9-TO-5 JOB THAN THIS.
Jay Gorney, who’d opened a gallery in the emerging East Vil-
lage in 1985, explained to him that “sculptures were expensive to
THIS IS PROBABLY WHY I DIDN'T RELATE
sell, hard to ship, hard to move,” Hsu recalls. Being an architect, “I
had a lot of sculptures at that time.” Susan Brundage, who worked
TO BEING AN ARTIST.”
for Leo Castelli—a towering figure in postwar art who repre-
sented Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, to
name a few—kept encouraging Hsu to come back to the SoHo gal-
lery. “She’d say, ‘Well, he’s really busy right now, but maybe next
time.’ ” Eventually, Castelli granted an audience and advised him,
“Get a show in the East Village and then come back to me.”
In the meantime, Baskerville + Watson, on 57th Street, put
him in a 1984 group show with other young artists. “Carole Anne
[Klonarides, the director] was the first one who I think really got it,”
Hsu says. But after the show, she told him, “This is going to be hard.”
“It was just very strange work,” he says. “People didn’t know
where to begin.”
And it had no context: No one else was making anything
remotely like it, which, rather than scoring him points for orig-
inality, left viewers bewildered. Peers in the group show, for
instance, included Richard Prince and Louise Lawler, who were
on the cusp of breaking through as pioneers of appropriation—
blatantly borrowing other artists’ work for their own—and their
pieces couldn’t have looked more different from Hsu’s. Nor were
his works anything like Julian Schnabel’s, Eric Fischl’s or those of
the other neo-expressionists then in high demand.
It wasn’t only his artistic sensibility that made Hsu an outlier.
The art world of the 1980s was lily white, and Hsu stuck out. The
East Village community appealed to him, but he didn’t really feel
a part of it. Nevertheless, boundary-busting gallerist Pat Hearn
took a chance on Hsu. “The reviews in general were very posi-
tive, but no one understood what this was,” he recalls. Musical
instruments? Faux wood? Surrealism? “They were just making
guesses.” Still, some of it sold.
Hsu simplified his work, enabling Hearn and, later, Castelli
to sell more of it. The powerful British collector Charles Saatchi
acquired pieces. “Then the work started getting more difficult for
people. It was much less approachable,” he says. “And I could see
that if I really wanted to pursue the vision that I wanted to do, I
really could not work with this idea of developing a market.” Hsu
moved to Europe.
Unlike just about every other living artist on the planet, Hsu
recoiled from his newfound ability to live off his art in Cologne,
Germany. “I hated having to sell work and then pay my rent or
whatever,” he recalls. “I said I’d much rather have a 9-to-5 job
than this. This is probably why I didn’t relate to being an artist. It
wasn’t cool to me.”
He returned to the US, moved his family to upstate New York
and landed a teaching job at Sarah Lawrence College. For more than
20 years, before retiring in 2018, he continued to make work on his
own time but showed rarely, a state of being that contented him. “It
didn’t occur to me not to do it,” he says. Silk-screening led to Photo-
shopping. “But I knew the digital alone was too detached,” he says.
Seeking what he calls the “effect of painting without painting,” he
began playing with silicone, more commonly a sculpture medium.
Angela Ferraiolo, a member of the visual and studio art fac-
ulty at Sarah Lawrence, describes Hsu as a “very responsive
membrane” and an “exacting” experimenter who spends years

132 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0

perfecting his materials and processes. “He believes in art in its
purest form,” she says. “What his day job did was allow his art
practice to be pure R&D.”
In 2006, Hsu experienced perhaps the modern world’s ulti-
mate melding of the body and technology: He underwent a kid-
ney transplant, particularly ironic in light of his 1987 work Trans-
plant, which was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“The operational theater was totally an art installation,” he says
with a laugh. “It was amazing.” Now, he says, not altogether face-
tiously, “I consider myself a cyborg. Google is my memory.”
One year Sarah Lawrence introduced a course on Asian-Amer-
ican literature, which Hsu had never had the opportunity to study.
He audited the class and came away with a heightened sense of
his own identity. “In fact, I was questioning why I didn’t have
more explicit connections to identity in my work,” he says. “Am
VERTICAL OOZE: COURTESY CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS; HSU'S BRUSHES: PETER ROSS;
I in denial?” What he came to understand, though, is that there
LIQUID CIRCUIT: COURTESY FREDERICK R. WEISMAN ART MUSEUM, MINNEAPOLIS
is no single Asian-American experience and that he was indeed
making work about his identity, which includes his architecture
training and his work as a word processor as well as often hav-
ing been the only child of Chinese heritage in the classroom. “In
a way, I had to create a different body in the world. That seems
very simple. And maybe I was just projecting all of this onto new
technology: We’ll have a different body. Maybe it’s really about
my own situation in the world.”
A
fter spending decades contemplating humanity’s fu-
ture, Hsu in recent years has found inspiration looking
to his own family’s past. Throughout his assimilated
American childhood, which began in the 1950s after-
math of Mao Zedong’s ascent and McCarthyism and
bumped up against the Cultural Revolution in his ad-
olescence, his mother, fearful they would be shunned
in the US and their relatives persecuted in China, urged him to
pretend the family’s roots were in Hong Kong, not mainland Chi-
na. His mother spoke little of her life there before immigrating,
The Seer
FROM FAR LEFT: and her death in 2011 led Hsu to reconnect with his extended
Vertical Ooze, Chinese family.
1987, ceramic Hsu again left New York, this time for Shanghai, in 2013. “I said
tile, urethane, to myself, ‘If no one wants to show the work that I do here, would it
compound, acrylic,
be worth it?’ And I said it would be.” Each morning he would walk
oil on wood; Hsu’s
five blocks to his studio—“Five blocks in China, where you don’t
brushes; Liquid
know the language, is like a universe”—and then delve into old fam-
Circuit, 1987,
ily photographs his Chinese relatives shared with him. Intuitively,
acrylic, compound,
alkyd, oil, aluminum
he blended these artifacts—themselves products of a once ground-
on wood.
breaking technology—with his visual language. As he repeatedly
manipulated the images digitally—a boat is full of people and then
suddenly not—and printed them on aluminum, he says he came
to accept “that this really isn’t about my history. It’s realizing the
absence of this family history in my growing up in the US.”
In this age of ubiquitous digital photography, Ferraiolo sees
the thread from Hsu’s earlier oeuvre in this ongoing body of
work, titled “Shanghai Project.” “It’s about technology’s effect
on memory,” she says, “how we construct memory, how we bring
memory back into the present.”
Although the work is deeply personal, Hsu says the idea of
absence is growing more universal as social media becomes
all-consuming. “Can you be absent anymore? Can you erase your-
self?” asks Hsu, who has never even joined Facebook. “Can you
actually have privacy anymore?”
It was during his time in Shanghai that Hsu received an e-mail
from a curator interested in exhibiting his work. He has since
shown to enthusiastic reviews in Hong Kong as well as in group
shows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Bard College’s Center for
Curatorial Studies in upstate New York. Hsu laughs at how his
friends suspect his years of obscurity were all just part of a grand
plan. “They used to say, ‘Tishan, what’s going on here? I mean
you’re not doing anything,’ ” he says. But Hsu knew people would
see the work differently one day. He simply had to wait patiently
for the future to arrive. “The fact that I could just do my work
and be really true to my vision—I couldn’t really ask for more.”
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 133
 A celebration of the marine lifestyle, Robb Report’s Red Sea Week was an entirely new take on the ultimate
From a distance they looked like ice cubes
floating in the vast blue sea. As you drew
closer, however, whether by helicopter
or speedboat, the remarkable scene came
into sharp focus: a fleet of some of the most
beautiful yachts in the world, moored dis-
creetly off the coast of a secret island that,
for five days last October, played host to
an extraordinary new event on the global
marine calendar.
There was the stunning Maltese Falcon,
one of the world’s largest sailing yachts
at 289 feet, its three towering masts mak-
ing it an unmistakable presence on the
water. Cloudbreak, an awesome 238-foot
explorer, shimmered in the heat. The
magnificent Dubai, all 531 feet of it, held
the skyline while, on the other end of
the scale, the petite, space-age trimaran
Adastra, with a draft of less than four feet,
134 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
was able to moor much nearer to land,
close enough to see the coral beneath the
water from the deck.
They, and 57 other vessels like them
with a combined length of over two and a
half miles, had arrived at a formerly unin-
habited island off the coast of Saudi Arabia,
east of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, for a fes-
tival of culture, cuisine, art and entertain-
ment. Robb Report hosted 381 guests at its
inaugural Red Sea Week, bringing 38 differ-
ent nationalities together in celebration of
the yachting lifestyle.
As you’ll see on the following pages, it
was a memorable few days in many ways.
We asked a few attendees if they would
share what made the experience so spe- Sindalah Island and
cial for them. Exclusive, private, unique some of the yachts
and exhilarating, it redefined what luxury gathered for the
travel and exploration could be . . . inaugural Red Sea Week
travel experience. Photography by NICK DIMBLEBY On the Horizon
 On the Horizon

ea Week has
er changed
my view on five-star
hospitality and
the meaning of travel.
Never before have I
experienced
unparalleled luxury,
exhilarating novelty
and the world’s
most dynamic people
in one place. I feel
privileged to have
been a part of
ILLUSTRATIONS BY K AG AN MCLEOD

something so truly
unique and innovative.”
MICHAEL V. LEWIS,
CEO and cofounder, RealD

136 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP LEFT: Dining
outside at 28° by
Jason Atherton; a
kitesurfer takes off;
Tayeb Al-Ism,
the canyon where
it’s believed that
Moses brought
his people out
of slavery in Egypt;
a helicopter takes
off on another
excursion.
 On the Horizon

Clearly, the
destination is
extraordinary,
but the most
wonderful aspect
was to be able
to explore it with
such diverse
and interesting
people.”
TIM WILTSHIRE,
managing partner and director,
Burgess

Starlit audiences
with superstars,
world-class water
sports, exceptional
dining—there
were enough
once-in-a-lifetime
experiences to last
a lifetime!”
GEORGINA MENHENEOTT,
partner, Burgess

138 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
A total of 61
yachts sailed to
Red Sea Week.
 A performance on
the outdoor stage.
RIGHT: McLarens
line up for guests
to experience.

140 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 On the Horizon

“
My wife, Saira,
and I were
struck by the
disarming
beauty of
Sindalah Island.
Our highlight
was listening
to an exquisite
opera vocal
performance,
with the perfect
red sunset and
the bluest ocean
on Earth as
the backdrop.”
BRANDON BURGESS,
chairman and CEO, Ion Media

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 141
 On the Horizon

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:

A sashimi plate at
the Beach House by
Michael Mina; stand-up
paddleboarding on
crystal-clear waters;
off-roading through
the Bajda desert;
28° by Jason Atherton;
after hours at the
Beach House.

142 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 The finishing
touches: final prep
at the Beach House
by Michael Mina.
RIGHT: Another
gorgeous sunset.
 On the Horizon

ne of the
sions,
the helicopter
dropped us in a
beautiful canyon
just beyond the
Red Sea. The
sun was setting,
bathing us in
soft, golden
light. Our guide
explained that
this was where
they say Moses
parted the Red
Sea, and we were
only the second
group of tourists
to be there. It was
like we were in
another time.”
SOPHIE STENBECK,
venture capitalist and philanthropist

R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 145
 On the Horizon

ea Week
ncredible,
from the island
and its beautiful
beaches to
the quality of
the chefs and
performers
and then the
activities, culture
and ancient
monuments on
top. It was the
very best of life.”
LAWRENCE WOSSKOW,
entrepreneur

146 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0
 The multi-
award-winning
luxury sailboat
Maltese Falcon
 HARRISON K-9 ®

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 The Business
A Pin in the
A
sense of gloom hangs in
the air. “Bloodbath,” “free
fall” and “slump” were just
Bubble
some of the choice idioms
deployed by headline
writers to describe the New York real
estate market during the twilight of
AFTER A ROARING DECADE, 2019. Across the pond, townhouses
in central London—long the favored
REAL ESTATE IS LOOKING A LOT LESS investment vehicle for billionaires from
PROMISING IN THE 2020 S. Bahrain to Belarus—have lost 20 percent
By Lucy Alexander Illustration by Israel G. Vargas of their value in a five-year nosedive.
Worldwide, according to Savills, a global
property consultancy, “everything is
trending to zero.”
“This is not a normal cycle,” says
Frederick Peters, CEO of Warburg Realty.
Even after the global financial crisis,
luxury property prices in the world’s
capitals recovered fully within two years
and went on to smash all records. This
time round, brokers and analysts agree,
it’s different.
So what lies ahead for 2020? “There’s
a saying in New York real estate,” says
Julie Pham, a Manhattan penthouse
specialist: “If you buy and can live there
for five years, you can ride out any
downturn.” Of course, those with skin
in the game like to talk up the market.
But historically, they’ve been correct. In
London, house prices ballooned by 449
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 149
 The Business

percent in the 20 years preceding 2017.
In Hong Kong, luxury apartments now
cost $4,700 per square foot. Manhattan
has seen median condo prices rise 300
percent between 1999 and 2017.
Now the highest end of the market is
in trouble. The average price of a luxury
home in Manhattan fell by 21 percent
in Q3 of 2019, compared to the previous
quarter, according to Douglas Elliman,
New York’s largest brokerage.
A leading cause has been
overdevelopment. More than a quarter
of the 16,242 new condos built in
Manhattan since 2013 remain unsold,
according to StreetEasy, a listings site.
And on they come, like an ever-rolling
stream: 5,000-plus units across 63
buildings are still under construction. In
the financial district, a new tower at 125
Greenwich Street is facing foreclosure
proceedings after defaulting on its debt.
New York City foreclosures rose by 118
percent from last January to October.
One Manhattan Square, an 815-unit
monolith that looms over the Lower
East Side, has become a symbol of the
city’s condo glut. Struggling to sell, it has
offered a series of perks, including 10
free years of common charges for buyers
and a lease-to-own scheme that deducts
a year’s rent from a future purchase. Its
lavish amenities, which include an adult
tree house, a putting green and a cigar
room, now look like peak bubble.
This slowdown is “radically different”
from the sharp crash of 2009, says Peters.
“This has been a gradual letting of air
REAL ESTATE PRICE GROWTH AROUND THE WORLD
150%
125%
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
-10%
A
out of the tires. If you had invested in the transfer taxes and a new mansion tax
stock market over the last four years, you that starts at one percent on transactions
would have kicked a lot more ass than in over $1 million. And Democratic state
real estate.” He does not expect a quick legislators are pushing for even more
recovery. Michael Franco, a broker at with a law that would allow New York
Compass, agrees: “I don’t see this market City to impose a so-called pied-à-terre
turning around and prices starting to tax, an annual levy on nonprimary homes
climb back up in 2020.” that are worth more than $5 million.
Across the rest of the US, the picture Rising property taxes aren’t confined
is mixed. Condo prices in the exclusive to the US. Overseas, foreign buyers must
southern tip of Miami Beach fell by 18 now cough up 10 percent or more in
percent in the third quarter of 2019, Sydney, 20 percent in Singapore and an
compared to the third quarter the eye-watering 30 percent in Hong Kong.
previous year, according to Brown Harris In 2014, a climb in UK transfer taxes put
Stevens, a luxury real estate brokerage, a halt to an extraordinary run in which
and condos on ultra-exclusive Fisher luxury London homes surged in value by
Island lost almost half their value. But 66 percent in five years. Prices have been
the West Coast looks a little rosier—if plummeting ever since, compounded in
you don’t mind the risk of fire. In Los 2016 by the shock Brexit vote.
Angeles and San Francisco, where “We’ve had a significant adjustment,”
housing development is more restricted, says Liam Bailey, global head of research
prices have been holding up because of a at Knight Frank, a real estate agency.
“shortage of homes and the strong local “Dubai, New York and Hong Kong
economy,” says Ed Kaminsky, a realtor at have seen prices fall but not as much as
Strand Hill in Southern California. But London, which is down 20 to 30 percent.”
even there caution is setting in, he says: He expects 2020 to bring increased
“Global and political uncertainty causes political stability and the return of
buyers pause. In Palo Alto and Silicon buyers to London: “If we look at the total
Valley, in 2016, any seller could put any spending power of buyers registered
price on any house and there would be with us, we have firepower of £55 billion
five or six buyers. Now buyers come in in central London. There is significant
low and don’t budge.” money to be deployed.”
New regulations are also likely to But he does not predict a return to
weigh down recovery. In 2017, President the heady price inflation that was once
Trump capped the amount of state and the favorite topic of conversation at
local taxes that homeowners can deduct London dinner parties: “Normally, once
from their federal tax returns. New people start buying, a recovery follows
Yorkers have also been hit by a rise in and then a period of frothy prices. But
I don’t think we will see a big uptick
because pricing is still high by historic
standards.”
Lucian Cook, Savills’ director of
residential research, forecasts price
increases of 3 percent in 2020, “a weaker
recovery than in previous cycles,” he says,
partly because “London has matured as a
global city and financial center.”
If residential real estate in leading
business capitals is perceived to have
peaked, resulting in a dip in speculative
investment, this represents a major shift
in short-term profit expectations for
brokers, developers and home sellers.
Real estate investment has traditionally
been a long game. Only in the last few
decades has it become a way to profit in
the short run. So some see this flattening
as a market correction and a welcome
return to more predictable, slow growth.
These days, Peters says, “people aren’t
buying for investment but rather because
they’re users. Anybody entertaining the

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notion that you’re going to buy and turn

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has left the marketplace. We’re not going

10-YEAR PERCENT CHANGE (Q3 2009 - Q3 2019) 2020 FORECAST to see flipping for a long time.”
SOURCE: KNIGHT FRANK RESEARCH, DOUGLAS ELLIMAN, ZIEGERT IMMOBILIEN Camilla Dell, founder of Black Brick, a

150 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0

London buying agency, says the future for
real estate in mature global metropolises
should be seen as a long-term hedge
against riskier investments rather than the
quick money-spinner it once was: “There
will always be high-net-worth individuals
who make their wealth in high-risk
emerging markets who want to diversify
their wealth to a less risky place.”
Where to seek higher returns? Dollar
buyers currently enjoy a discount of more
than 30 percent in the luxury London
market because of value drops since 2014
and a weak pound. Globally, the growth
in luxury house prices was flat last year in
many cities, but some European capitals
are benefiting from Britain’s Brexit self-
sabotage. Prime residential property in
Berlin and Paris saw values increase by
8.2 and 7.6 percent, respectively, last year,
a trend anticipated to continue this
year. “They look cheap compared to
other locations,” says Sophie Chick,
Savills’ director of world research, who
also tips Spanish cities for price growth.
In the US, brokers foresee ongoing
political turmoil throughout 2020.
Franco expects November’s general
election to be “the most highly contested
in the history of our country.” The
reelection of President Trump would
ensure further unpredictability, while
a Sanders or Warren presidency could
bring wealth taxes.
“When financial markets or
international events turn volatile,
wealthy buyers tend to become very
cautious,” says Patrick Carlisle, chief
market analyst for Compass in the Bay
Area. “And they don’t typically need to
buy another home.”
In Britain, as Robb Report went to
press, analysts forecast a Conservative
majority government and an early Brexit
deal. But the next most likely scenario is
a coalition led by Labour, whose leader
favors nationalization and wealth taxes.
Then, says Black Brick’s Dell, “no one
will want to invest in London, no matter
how cheap the currency is.”
We are in a world of Rumsfeldian
known unknowns. Not to mention the
unknown unknowns. “There are a lot of
spinning plates right now—nationally and
internationally—and it’s difficult to predict
which will totter or crash,” says Carlisle.
What we do know is that a
combination of populist politics, rising
global insecurity, aggressive taxation and
overdevelopment has killed the luxury
BEN SOLEIMANI: ROGER DAVIES
condo as a short-term investment. While
some might sense a buyer’s market, most
brokers believe that, when buyers do
return, they will be looking for a home
rather than a quick buck. “Double-digit
growth is a thing of the past,” says Dell.
“Those days are gone.”
The Business
Out of Office with
BEN SOLEIMANI
FOUNDER, BEN SOLEIMANI
Born in Iran into a dynasty of antique Persian carpet
dealers, Ben Soleimani grew up in London, where his family
moved after the Iranian Revolution. Mansour, the family
firm, flourished, earning a royal warrant from the Prince of
Wales in 2002. “I knew the carpet business like the back of
my hand when I was a teenager,” says Soleimani.
At 16, he left Mayfair for Los Angeles to launch Mansour
in the United States, introducing his own designs and
investing in the development of Melrose Avenue as a
design district. After a period partnering with Restoration
Hardware to work on its rug business, Soleimani, now 48,
set up an eponymous design company, featuring a full line of
home furnishings as well as his signature opulent rugs.
His line is one of the first, he says, to offer the
quality of a high-end professional design center, usually available only to interior designers,
at what he calls “real prices.” “There are no middlemen,” he says. “I do all the design,
and we run a lean business.” The contemporary, richly textured collection is assembled both
overseas and Stateside, using “the best leathers from Italy, linens from Belgium and wools
from New Zealand.”
The first showroom opened last November in LA, where Soleimani, a passionate polo player,
lives with his wife and two children; New York will follow this year. bensoleimani.com L.A.
What is the one thing What was your first job, I probably get 500 a day,
you have to do every day and did you learn anything so it’s a challenge. I go
to stay sane? from it that’s influenced your through them all and
I like to take a good long career? answer them. It’s the price
breath and reflect on how Working for my father you pay for wanting to
lucky I am. Every problem and being given be involved.
has a solution, as long as responsibility at a young
you have your health and age is probably what made What’s your typical daily
family. Sometimes that me who I am today. That, commute?
can help you to reset. and traveling when young. About a 40-minute drive,
I went to 10 schools—that which is longer than I’d
What is your biggest built me. like. I hate wasting time
annoyance at work? in the car. I schedule calls
Leaving things unfinished. Where do you do your best so I can be productive.
I like to close chapters and thinking?
move to the next thing. I I have an old club chair What’s your daily driver?
like to see progression. that I sit in in the early A Cadillac Escalade.
morning when I wake up.
How long should a meeting I drink my coffee and go What’s on your desk?
last? through e-mails and Just what I need that
Not longer than an hour. prepare for the day. It’s day—so it’s clean.
my comfort zone.
Do you prefer e-mail, phone, What’s your ambition for
text or Slack? What’s one adjustment next year?
I’m a phone guy. I like to everyone can make in their To achieve my goals for
call, discuss facts and lives to be more successful? this company—opening
angles, make decisions Never feel sorry for a New York store,
and move on. yourself. Don’t be a expanding, growing
victim. where we need to. A new
What would you tell your company is like an
younger self ? How do you manage your infant—you have to give
Be more patient. e-mails? it a lot of attention.
R O B B R E P O R T. C O M 151
 Whic Gur f You?
Invaluable What’s your opinion of LinkedIn? I’m on a networking cleanse

Fine, but I prefer AngelList

Do you own a Do you think about your

“Hang in there” cat poster? gut flora much?

Unironically! Posters are Er, no Thinking about it right now!

sub-optimized motivation What kind of growth do
you care most about?

The path to Do you know

enlightenment where
Media What kind of Professional Personal involves . . . the jade egg
preference? hack are you? goes?

More
stuff Oh yes
YouTube Lifehacker
Working hard or What’s the best
hardly working? way to achieve Less In the trash
Podcast Biohacker stuff
that?

Rise and grind,

baby! Faux science

FERRISS: TRAVIS P BALL /GET T Y IMAGES; KONDO: SETH WENIG/AP/SHUT TERSTOCK; VAYNERCHUK: AMY HARRIS/INVISION/AP/SHUT TERSTOCK;
Let’s call it “efficient” Faux religion

How do you take

your coffee?

ASPREY: MIKE COPPOLA /GET T Y IMAGES; PALTROW: NEILSON BARNARD/GET T Y IMAGES

Marie Kondo
Well-buttered

Iced matcha
latte, actually
Tim Ferriss

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gary Vaynerchuk

Dave Asprey

152 J A N U A RY 2 0 2 0