Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Tatler Malaysia

TATLER HONG KONG On the cover of Tatler Hong Kong are property tycoon Cecil Chao and his daughter Gigi. The duo discuss rebuilding their relationship after Cecil sparked a global media storm in 2012 by publicly offering US$65 million to any man who could convince Gigi, once described as the “most famous lesbian in Asia”, to marry him. tatlerhongkong.com TATLER INDONESIA Justin Lim, the director of the multi-pronged, globe-spanning Hemera Group, talks about pivoting his businesses in Southeast Asia in response to the coronavirus pandemic. He is planning to open Covid-19 testing labs in Indonesia and glove and mask factories in Malaysia, among other projects. tatlerindonesia.com TATLER MALAYSIA On the cover of Tatler Malaysia’s September issue is acclaimed rug designer Omar Khan, whose creations can be seen in luxury hotels…

SARAH SAW A versatile stylist who wears many hats, Sarah has been venturing into video directing and producing lately. She showcases her 16 years of styling experience in our cover feature this month (p.170) LISA BAE Lisa Bae is a fashion stylist and creative consultant based in Los Angeles. Her body of work includes fashion campaigns, editorial shoots and TV commercials. For Tatler, Bae styled the fashion shoot at Joshua Tree National Park (p.102) KIM MUN Skilled in fashion shoots and conceptual portraits, this shutterbug from Hopscotch Photography found his calling in capturing moments when he received a fully manual Olympus camera from his mother. He photographs rug designer Omar Khan for this month’s issue (p.170) PJ LAM Originally from Hong Kong, photographer PJ Lam is now based in New…

Tell us about the invention of the saxophone in a nutshell. Ping Wei: Invented in the 1840s, the saxophone is a very modern instrument compared to say, the flute or the clarinet. Its maker Adolphe Sax was from Belgium but the saxophone was invented in Paris, and its history is intertwined with that of military bands. Where are the majority of the world’s saxophones made? Ping Wei: Japan and Taiwan are now the biggest manufacturers of saxophones. It used to be France, but Europe could not cope with the production demands. Who is considered the world’s most famous saxophonist? Ping Wei: Kenny G. Everyone knows him, as he was the first to play pop, blues and oldies that the public was more familiar with. Previous saxophonists mainly played jazz or…

Luxury living has evolved such that it no longer is just about the private space. More and more are looking for a home that allows them to live, work and play under the same roof. The idea of self-contained spaces, where one can relax, exercise and socialise without the need to leave the confines of home, is more appealing than ever. Setia Sky Seputeh, a project by S P Setia which is expected to be completed next year, ticks off every item on this wish list but elevates it with a resort-in-the-city concept. Ideally located in the cosy, tranquil neighbourhood of Seputeh, it straddles strategically between Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. Amenities, be it schools, offices, hospitals and eateries, are easily accessible—in fact, Mid Valley Megamall is just quick stroll…

On paper, the bios of Alessandro Sartori and Jerry Lorenzo could not read more differently. Sartori is the 54-year-old artistic director of Ermenegildo Zegna, one of Italy’s largest tailors with more than a century of history. Long before his formal education at the Istituto Marangoni Milan, he created his first suit, a sharp blue number, at the age of 15 in the hopes of impressing his family. “It took six months to make, and it was a complete disaster—I can’t look at it now because it’s full of mistakes, but I thought it was beautiful at the time,” he says, chuckling at the memory. Lorenzo, on the other hand, is the designer behind eight-year-old, Los Angeles-based streetwear label Fear of God, beloved by the likes of Kanye West, who sported…

Since Gary Graham’s eponymous label (now called GaryGraham422) debuted in 1999, he has been known for reimagining vintage textiles into modern outerwear carried by stores like Dover Street Market and the now-shuttered Barneys New York. “I’ve always been very attracted to jacquards and tapestries,” he says. “I started collecting them whenever I would go on antique trips to upstate New York with my partner Sean Scherer. I saw them as textile paintings, in a way. Most of them came from France and Belgium and I’ve been told they were woven for the tourist industry in Europe.” This fall sees the 2010 CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund finalist collaborating with Joyce Hong Kong on a unique capsule collection of cocoon coats and printed slip dresses using surplus and vintage fabrics, where patriarchal…

At July’s Phillips Jewels and Jadeite sale in Hong Kong, an exceptional 12.55-carat diamond ring, circa 1953, went under the hammer for an eye-popping US$1.1 million. Designed by Harry Winston with an enormous centre stone and clean-cut silhouette, the design epitomised the luxury and optimism of the post-war era. And at a Sotheby’s auction last year, an art deco emerald- and diamond-set necklace made for Hélène Beaumont, an American socialite and close friend of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, sold for nearly US$3.6 million to an Asian collector—more than twice what it fetched in 1994. These sales are indicative of the buoyant market for high-quality period pieces, as well as art deco’s rising popularity in Asia. “There is certainly an increased interest in antique and period jewels in Asia…

Swiss watch brand Hublot has collaborated with Milan-based car company Garage Italia to create the Big Bang Millennial Pink. This dusty-pink watch comes with a fabric strap that’s been photographed on Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor Kenny Kwan. Proving that pink’s not only for girls, Kwan, who is known for his appearances in A Chinese Tall Story (2005), New Police Story (2004) and Jian Xia Qing Yuan (2011), wears his timepiece with a coral-coloured suit. You go, Kenny. Swiss Made Franck Muller’s latest wristwatch celebrates Switzerland, the watchmaker’s home country. Limited to just 50 pieces, this ticker’s openworked movement comes in bright red and is housed in a hand-polished titanium case complete with white enamel coating. Wear with a white alligator strap. London Calling Backes & Strauss has collaborated with…

6 Inside the 41mm case is the manually wound calibre CHR 29-535 PS—the same one found in the previous black-dial version of the Ref 5370P—which holds six patents for chronograph innovations, plus one for the rattrapante mechanism. GRAND FEU ENAMEL DIAL Deceptively simple in its appearance, Grand Feu enamelling is actually a highly challenging decorative technique. It takes immense skill and patience to achieve that perfectly smooth, even and glossy dial finish that is the result of numerous applications of enamel and multiple firings in the kiln. SEEING DOUBLE In 1923, Patek Philippe unveiled its first rattrapante (split-seconds chronograph) and has since been recognised as a purveyor of this highly complex complication. A rattrapante chronograph allows one to measure two time intervals by way of an additional chronograph seconds hand.…

SKYE “In the same abstract series as Anders, I sketched the design for this rug quite quickly. For what I thought was an easy design, turned out to be hours of brainstorming with the factory and production team to figure out how to translate my drawing to the finished product. “Fleshing out the intricate line work requires a level of skill that very few tufters have. There are lines of silk that only reveal themselves if you walk in a certain direction.” LI LING I always design because it’s quite dramatic, but at the same time very restrained. It’s got something to do I think with the neutral colour palette and the light contrasts of the white. It’s a subtle combination on a very ornate pattern. “In testament to this…

1 WORKING WITH BRANDAMBASSADORS AND BARTENDERS Each brand has its own heritage and character that is better explained by ambassadors who have lived and worked in the distilleries. Because spirits are the tools of their trade, who better to speak for spirit brands than bartenders? We engage guest bartenders visiting Malaysia as well as work with local industry talents. It is our goal to inject some fun into the scene, to network, and to share the experiences of people all around the world with our friends in Malaysia. 2 HOSTING TASTING EVENTS Reaching out to new groups of consumers is always exciting. We have brought in brands that were not well-known in the local scene, and watching the reactions of customers discovering a new product always feels rewarding. For every…

BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ AKA RAMA IX A passionate fan of the saxophone, the late king of Thailand was so loved by his people that many Thais continue to pick up the instrument. ESSENCE CARSON Born in Peterson, New Jersey, the professional basketball player representing the Washington Mystics in the Women’s National Basketball Association plays not just the sax, but also the electric bass guitar, piano and drums. NICK OFFERMAN The American actor best known for his portrayal of Ron Swanson in NBC’s Parks and Recreation plays the saxophone, but it was pure chance when the show’s writers decided to give Swanson an alter ego as a jazz musician.…

The awards-season gilding of Ang Lee’s sultry Lust, Caution brought Chinese cinema a new level of praise and attention on the world stage when it was released in 2007. However, the erotic spy thriller’s graphic sex scenes between lead actors Tang Wei and Tony Leung drew controversy in China, where critics argued the film sensationalised the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang that inspired Lee’s adaptation, tarnishing one of China’s best-loved authors. Despite a troubled relationship with her home country, Chang remains one of China’s most celebrated literary figures of the 20th century, and this month marks both the 100th anniversary of her birth and 25 years since her death. Her stories of futile romance and family spats in Hong Kong and Shanghai have provided evergreen inspiration for numerous screen adaptations,…

As a photojournalist for 15 years, Samsul Said has covered international news around the globe. His coverage on the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh and Malaysia in which he highlighted their dire living conditions had won him recognition and the top prize in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards in the Professional Current Affairs & News category. As he told the New Straits Times, “I hope the reality of the misery depicted in these pictures will draw the attention of the world to these people. The Rohingya are human beings just like us, who dream of a perfect life.” Here he shares what his work means to him. For me, photojournalism is a chance for me to explore the world. Even though we’re brought into situations that will put…

FIGHTING SPIRIT Boss debuts an easy-breezy capsule with British heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua for fall-winter 2020, including ten pieces from jersey trousers to logo hoodies that can be worn out and about or while working from home. Every piece features motivational quotes from Joshua like “One more hour, one more day”—wise words for difficult times. IN HIS SHOES A feature-length documentary directed by renowned Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino dedicated to Salvatore Ferragamo’s family history and life’s work has been selected for the 77th Venice Film Festival and will be released globally this month. Salvatore, Shoemaker of Dreams, which took three years to produce, delves into the fashion brand’s archives with the help of the Ferragamo family and never-before-seen tape recordings. “It is an honour that a director of Luca…

DID YOU KNOW First created in 1961, the bag became emblematic of the ’60s jet-setter lifestyle. In fact, Jackie Kennedy was seen carrying the bag so often in her travels that it became known simply as ‘The Jackie’.…

Cartier has tapped into its mix of ambassadors for the latest Panthère de Cartier campaign, including Taiwanese actor Chang Chen. The actor has starred in martial arts films including Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013) and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin (2015), which won the best director award at Cannes. He was also awarded best actor at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in 2008 for his role as a legendary board game player in Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Go Master (2006). Tiny Pretty Things Caught in a variety of dance poses, Van Cleef & Arpels’ breathtaking ballerina clips were first designed in the early 1940s. A 1941 brooch depicts a playful Spanish dancer with a fan, while another made in 1942 was inspired by an 18th-century…

Chinese actress Liu Shishi has partnered with Qeelin, which hopes to redefine traditional Chinese symbolism by merging East and West in its fine jewellery pieces. “She exudes a warm strength and quiet confidence that defines modern women in this new era,” says Qeelin founder and creative director Dennis Chan of Shishi. “She is fiercely independent yet truly cares for those around her. Gently elegant but clearly a force to behold.”…

Rolex is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Geneva, but the company was actually founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London Louis Cartier created the first pilot’s watch in 1904 for his aviator friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who needed a timepiece that allowed his hands to remain free for controls while flying Made in 1505 by German locksmith Peter Henlein, the Pomander is thought to be the oldest known watch in the world Last year, more than 21 million Swiss watches were exported to collectors worldwide, for a total wholesale value of US$2.4 billion…

What’s special behind this year’s Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication? This piece highlights Jaeger-LeCoultre’s savoir-faire and design creativity, from our watchmakers’ exceptionally complex movements to the refined finishes of the case and dial. It is a blend of many handcrafts that dress and decorate the movement and bring this piece to life. Tell us about the movement. We constantly seek to further develop our calibres with our spirit of innovation. The Calibre 945 is one of our greatest chiming calibres with superior acoustic qualities. The sound of the minute repeater is elevated through the soldering of our patented ‘crystal gongs’ directly onto the sapphire crystal back. And the use of our trebuchet hammers results in a more amplified sound that is harmonious and clear. Tell us about your first watch.…

When I interviewed Patek Philippe’s president Thierry Stern last year, he glanced at the very respectable Swiss timepiece on my wrist and remarked, “Take that for servicing in 30 years’ time, and they’ll tell you, ‘Sorry, buy a new watch.’” However, it will always be possible to service, fix or restore a Patek Philippe, claims Stern. “This is the only brand worldwide still able to repair every watch it has produced since the beginning,” he states, an assertion no competitor has refuted. Four generations of the Stern family have owned and operated Patek since 1932, but the watchmaker’s history goes back much further, to 1839. It is by no means the oldest Swiss watchmaker—Blancpain was established in 1735, Jaquet Droz began work in 1738, and Vacheron Constantin, founded in 1755,…

Liu Xiaodong spent the spring of 2019 in his Beijing studio, painting monumental portraits and landscapes from photos he had taken that year on a trip to the US-Mexico border. He spent months trying to capture the arid, cactus-studded Texas terrain, the faces of migrants who had been arrested for crossing the border illegally and the uniforms of the American policemen who locked them up. In June, Liu decamped to London, where he set up his easel in plush homes in the city’s ritziest boroughs, painting wealthy Chinese expats who call the British capital home. The stark disparity between these places was not lost on Liu, 56. Within six months he’d gone from meeting desperate asylum seekers in the Chihuahuan Desert to sitting in leafy west London with entrepreneur Veronica…

So here’s the pitch: a woman arrives in Paris from South America. A lawyer and model, she is striking and glamorous. She meets a dashing Morocco-born Frenchman making a name for himself as an art director in fashion and advertising. He is drawn to her taste and elegance; she is impressed by his creativity and, a decidedly un-French trait, his “enthusiasm”. Starting out as friends, they become husband and wife, and eventually launch a publishing company that turns the tables on the world of coffee-table books. The story of Assouline is, if you’ll forgive the pun, one for the books. It could well be a rom-com with a literary theme come to life, where the characters are so suave and attractive and polished, their homes and boutiques so exquisitely designed,…

The giant pause has encouraged us to rethink the way we live, and ideally find ways to push for greater sustainability in every aspect of our lives, travel included. But what if you go beyond doing less damage or reaching net neutral and instead try to be an active part of a solution? That is the premise of regenerative development, described by Bill Reed of Regenesis Group as a way “to transform and develop a collaborative relationship with nature”. In terms of travel, this means picking hotels and experiences that play a vital role in building holistic ecosystems in their communities. “To travel in a regenerative way is more than just offsetting your carbon footprint for flights; it’s about understanding the impact your tourism dollar makes on the destination you…

CAPELLA BANGKOK The highly anticipated Capella Bangkok sits at the centre of the historic Charoenkrung district—a riverside enclave that is currently undergoing a creative rebirth. Once the hotel opens in October, guests can check into villas with expansive views of the river as well as dine at Côte by celebrity chef Mauro Colagreco, whose restaurant Mirazur in France topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019. capellahotels. com/bangkok RAKXA BANGKOK Thailand is one of Asia’s best wellness destinations, and you don’t need to leave the city to enjoy a full-fledged retreat. Come December, Rakxa, an integrated wellness and medical retreat, will open its doors in Bangkok. Nestled in the city’s preserved ‘Green Lung’ along the Chao Phraya River, the wellness destination will offer programmes conceived by world-class medical doctors…

2018 BIN 707 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 97+ points by Robert Parker, 98 points by The World of Fine Wine 2018 BIN 389 CABERNET SHIRAZ 98 points by Andrew Caillard MW 2018 BIN 407 CABERNET SAUVIGNON 96 points by Decanter 2018 BIN 28 SHIRAZ 94 points by Andrew Caillard MW and James Suckling 2018 BIN 128 COONAWARRA SHIRAZ 95 points by Tony Love, 94 points by James Suckling 2018 BIN 138 BAROSSA VALLEY SHIRAZ GRENACHE MATARO 95 points by Andrew Caillard MW and The World of Fine Wine Please visit penfolds.com for further details.…

Success is never achieved overnight. When you look at people who have achieved wealth, influence or power and the story of how they got there, you will realise that they have been putting in the work for a long time—those critical steps needed to make success possible at a very high level. Stories like these remind us that it’s important to have a purpose in life and not be afraid to dream big. Find out what drives you, what do you care about, how do you make a positive impact, what legacy do you want to leave behind? And we find that these weigh heavily in the minds of the various individuals featured in this issue. For a second-generation leader like Joanne Kua, sustaining and future-proofing her company is uppermost…

THERE’S NO STOPPING HER With 20 years of experience in the creative industry, Joanne Lim’s artistic career is dotted with a myriad of pivotal moments, both challenging and rewarding. Upon reflection, Lim recalls that starting a commercial and mall magazine from scratch were two of the most pivotal moments in her career. And now, she’s embarking on a new milestone project with her own design house, photography studio and workspace called S.P.A.C.E. The deceptively simple name is an acronym for Styled Photography + Artistic Curation Extraordinaire. “Stylists and art directors need to evolve too and not only focus on fashion especially now in these uncertain times,” she reasons. Having worked with countless magazines, newspapers plus creative projects with department stores and brands both international and local, Lim aims to make…

The eldest of Malaysian entrepreneur Kua Sian Kooi’s four children, Joanne Kua grew up seeing her father’s passion for the insurance business he had built from scratch. The economics graduate clearly has a head for numbers as well, but a career in the family business “was never written in stone”, she tells us. After getting a master’s degree in management and risk regulation from the London School of Economics, she joined Deutsche Bank’s London office, working in the Credit Risk Management department. The year was 2007, which was the peak of investment banking. “Everyone was having a fantastic time,” Kua remembers. There is a rueful tinge to this recollection, of course, because the global financial crisis would throw markets into turmoil just a year later. When the great recession hit,…

It is one thing to admire an artwork through LED screens. It is a whole other experience to appreciate each brushstroke up close, embracing thoughtfully expressive colours, and connecting with an artwork in a personal way. Having been raised in an artistic family, Lim Wei-Ling is only too familiar with the power of art to evoke emotions. When she first graced Tatler Malaysia’s cover in May 2003, Lim was fresh out of her first solo exhibition and the proud owner of her newly-minted Townhouse Gallery. Starting out as a jewellery designer, Lim’s business epiphany led her to pursue a career as a stockbroker, acquiring and honing her business intuition which would prove vital later in life. After eight years, she took a year off to revive her passion for painting…

Barricades greeted us at the iconic paifang (Chinese archway) when we arrived at the mouth of the Green Dragon. There, a few security guards instructed us to scan the QR code given and placed green stickers on our shoulders, which allowed us to enter the premises. “Please queue up before the gate—this is for everyone’s safety,” one of the men explains to newcomers. “It’s the standard procedure now.” Not unlike a beast with its teeth forcibly uprooted, scant stalls were littered both left and right. It was significantly emptier, and quieter than I remembered it being. The entryway to Madras Lane, Petaling Street’s renowned hawker street, was dark and dormant. Eerily enough, a local florist stall had sympathy flower arrangements placed outside, which added a sense of foreboding to the…

The heart of the matter is that we’ve grown complacent, and that we’ve somehow overlooked the inevitable consequences of a growing global consumption that has been left unchecked. The problem with waste persists despite numerous efforts, and it’s still growing. According to a news article written by The Star on July 30, 2019 entitled “Generating more waste than ever”, SWCorp’s deputy chief executive officer Dr Mohd Pauze Mohamad Tara revealed that in 2018 alone, Malaysians have already generated a “whopping 38,142 tonnes of waste per day, an increase from 19,000 tonnes of waste a day in 2005” and observes that more than half of that waste was simply sent to sanitary landfills, despite 40 per cent of it being recyclable—and according to a 2020 report on global waste management by…

South Korean-born, Denmark-raised designer Christine Nielsen was trained under Alexander McQueen and then worked under Sarah Burton as head of design at Alexander McQueen before becoming directrice de studio at Givenchy and Balenciaga. She launched her eponymous Paris-based label Hyun Mi Nielsen in 2016, specialising in punk, avant-garde pieces. When did you first realise you wanted to work in fashion? Very early on. As a kid it was my favourite thing in the world to play dress up and draw. Who was the first designer you worked for? The most amazing designer I have ever worked for was the legendary Lee McQueen. While I was studying at the Royal College of Art and Design, I did an internship at Alexander McQueen. Many years later I returned to Alexander McQueen working…

Be it Princess Diana’s delicate fascinators or the towering feather crowns seen in Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway shows, many of the most fantastic hats created over the last several decades have one thing in common: they were made by a bald-headed man with a slanted grin, most often seen sporting a curiously askew hat and always with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. This month, British master milliner Stephen Jones celebrates the launch of a 240-page book, Dior Hats: From Stephen Jones to Christian Dior, published by Rizzoli, which documents his work for the house of Christian Dior alongside designs by Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré and Christian Dior himself. With photographs by Sølve Sundsbø and text from fashion critics and historians, the book is a testament to Jones’s legacy and…

This season, luxury brands are straying from the somewhat brutalist look of perfectly chiseled brows, angular contouring and slap-matte lips. Instead, they’re opting for a babydoll-inspired face with soft rosy cheeks, candy-stained lips and a bright complexion. With quirky packaging to boot, it’s a welcome reminder that make-up should be—above all else—fun. GUCCI Gucci Beauty’s latest collection keeps to the brand’s vintage-kitsch modus operandi with delicately carved gold-and-turquoise packaging that recalls memories of sneaking into your mum’s vanity case. The Poudre De Beauté Éclat Soleil, a soft and silky bronzing powder, is housed in a deep compact, and the Rouge à Lèvres comes in a nostalgic set of shades inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood. DOLCE & GABBANA Feel the Sicilian summer sun on your skin with Dolce &…

The biggest rough diamond ever discovered was the Cullinan diamond in Botswana. Found in 1905, it weighed 3,106 carats and was cut into nine separate stones, many of which are set in the British Crown Jewels First discovered by British gemmologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in 1951, Painite is thought to be the rarest gemstone on Earth. Until 2001, only three examples of the deep red jewel were known to exist Known as the “stone of heaven”, jade was more valuable than gold and all other gems in imperial China Scientists believe Neanderthals created and wore the world’s first jewellery using eagle claws 130,000 years ago…

If any type of jewellery could call itself a true work of art it would be the micro-mosaic. Painstakingly constructed with the tiniest pieces of glass or enamel-like material called tesserae, micro-mosaics can be made using gold, copper or black Belgian marble, and are inspired by mosaics, which date back more than 2,000 years. Some of the finest examples of mosaics have been excavated at archaeological sites from Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire. But as an art historian, what fascinates me is that micro-mosaics really took off towards the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Founded in Paris in 2012, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts is the first school established for the general public to learn about the history, culture and savoir-faire of the…

Tell us about your favourite piece for 2020. Arceau L’heure de la Lune features a complex horological complication with a daring graphic design. The watch now comes with meteorite dials, which offer a unique and creative touch that lets us dream with our feet on the ground and our heads in the sky. Watches like Arceau L’heure de la Lune allow us to stand out from the rest of the industry. Who wears an Hermès watch? We have always been about craftsmanship. It’s part of our DNA. So, wearing an Hermès watch is about appreciating style that is rigorous but free of any formalism. It’s about asserting oneself as a man or woman. He or she is relaxed and occasionally whimsical. Describe Hermès in five words. Elegance, discretion, refinement, quality,…

Moss, River, Dwelling. The naming of things, a task undertaken by the Maker, doesn’t come naturally at all times. “Some days are easier than others,” says Omar Khan about titling his works. “In what I like to call ‘season one’ of Omar Khan Rugs, I immediately felt that they had individual personalities. Nomenclature not only imbues each rug with character, but also helps the public to identify them.” Soft-spoken at first blush, Khan’s marked trait is his razor-sharp wit, which makes storytelling one of his strengths. “I went through a whole Greek god phase, so imagine rugs with names like Hephaestus. But when we had to sell the designs...” Out sneaks a sliver of Malaysian dialect: “Ah lah, nobody could spell them. “Have you seen the one baptised My Little…

“It all started when Flavio Del Monte, director of institutional relations at Massimo De Carlo gallery, contacted my brother, Edward. Flavio said that there were going to be portrait sessions with Liu Xiaodong in London and asked if we wanted to take part. It was a very exciting opportunity. Liu is a great artist; I’ve liked his work for a long time. His brushstrokes are so distinctive, and it’s amazing how he creates a narrative in his pieces. We sat for Liu for one day for six hours straight in July 2019. Being in the room with such an important artist and sitting as his subject is fascinating. Liu wanted to paint us somewhere really personal to us. My brother and I both used to live in London and it…

OMAN Oman offers a range of holiday options—incredible city culture, unique desert experiences, breathtaking mountains, deserted beaches and hidden wadi gems—all of which can be done in a week-long itinerary. If you start in Muscat, you shouldn’t leave without staying at the uber-luxe Chedi Muscat, which houses the Middle East’s longest swimming pool. Then, drive out into the Wahiba Sands for a night or two to take in the desert dunes and sleep in a traditional Bedouin tent. Next, journey to the Jabal Akdar Mountain Range and stop at Nizwa’s market to pick up honey and juicy dates and watch as goats are sold by local farmers. Once in the mountains, spoil yourself at Anantara Jabal Akhdar, which boasts an outstanding view of Oman’s fabled mountains. Take the costal road…

As wine grows more popular in Asia, the market has blossomed from highly conservative to increasingly adventurous. Even exotic regions like Georgia and Greece are gaining favour here. Yet some famous wine areas of central Europe still get scant attention. For the sake of simplicity (and eschewing controversy), by central Europe, I mean most of what lies between France and the former USSR—Germany, certainly, as well as Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. That might also include the Balkans and possibly Switzerland. It’s a region with a difficult history: carved up, horse traded, fluid in identity, but rich with the syncretic potential that frequently arises in borderlands. Let’s set Germany aside because it has arguably already wooed Asian markets with its riesling, either semi-sweet and quaffable, or ultra-luxurious…