Issue Fifty NINE

APRIL 2016

Grace Kelly
Luxury • Culture • People • Style • Heritage
Leader.
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The newThe
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A Daimler
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 Contents
aPril 2016 : ISSUE 59

Editorial
Editorial director
John Thatcher

Editor
Chris Ujma
christopher@hotmediapublishing.com

Features Editor
Annie Darling

art
art director
Andy Knappett

designer
Emi Dixon

illustrator
Andrew Thorpe

CommErCial
managing director
Victoria Thatcher

Group Commercial director

David Wade
david@hotmediapublishing.com
Forty Four
Amazing Grace
Commercial director
Rawan Chehab How to un-nerve an Oscar
rawan@hotmediapublishing.com winner in 1956: make her
Princess of Monaco. The
Business development manager private life of Grace Kelly
Rabih El Turk
rabih@hotmediapublishing.com Fifty
Telling the Truth
The real story behind
ProduCtion
Catch Me If You Can. Frank
Production manager Abagnale Jr. discusses life
Muthu Kumar on the other side of the law
Fifty Six
The Greatest
Delving into the complexity,
passion and drive of Ali –
gloves off – with the woman
who adored him throughout
Sixty Six
Elvis Reborn?
The unknown singer plucked
from obscurity with a voice
indistinguishable from that
of The King

9
 Contents
aPril 2016 : ISSUE 59
air

Eighteen
Radar
80 competitive sail
boats, 1,000 sailors, the
Caribbean... it must be Les
Voiles de Saint Barth

Twenty Four Forty Seventy Four

Jewellery
Gems are hand-selected;
designs are perfected for
each stone. Glenn Spiro is a
true jewellery architect
Timepieces
When HYT sets about
making a timepiece, they
end up rewriting the rules.
Welcome to hydro horology
Gastronomy
Meet Annie Féolde, the
culinary force behind
the legendary Enoteca
Pinchiorri, now in Dubai

Twenty Eight Seventy Seventy Eight

Art & Design
The tallest building in the
world hosts two giants of the
art universe. Picasso and
Miró are the icons at the icon
Motoring
The UAE adores Bentley.
Did the marque tailor its
powerful, agile Bentayga for
this very region?
Travel
The remarkable Song Saa
Private Island in Cambodia
has a speedboat at the ready
to whisk you from your jet

Tel: 00971 4 364 2876

Fax: 00971 4 369 7494

Reproduction in whole or in part without

written permission from HOT Media
Publishing is strictly prohibited. HOT Media
Publishing does not accept liability for
omissions or errors in AIR.

10
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Actual range will be affected by ATC routing, operating speed, weather, outfitting options and other factors.
 Empire Aviation Group
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Welcome to this issue of AIR, our aviation lifestyle

magazine for onboard guests and charter clients.
In this issue, we are focusing on trends in charter,
as the demand for charter services has continued to
grow strongly since the start of the year, when charter
bookings saw a significant boost, with 30% growth in
the first two months, alone.
This comes as no great surprise, with the global
economy remaining uncertain and business jet buyers
looking to buy new aircraft or replace their existing
aircraft delaying their decisions.
Globally, new jet sales are being pushed back and
even with lower oil prices, the regional fleet of business
jets is likely to grow only modestly over the next one-
two years – but of course business never stops and
business people are still deal-making around the region
and around the globe.
With its range of options, our charter fleet meets
the needs of most business or leisure travellers with
the Falcon 7X, Embraer Legacy 650, 600, Bombardier
Challenger 605 and Challenger 300 proving to be very

Welcome
popular and generating repeat business from charter
Clients. They appreciate and enjoy the experience
of flying in some of the most advanced business jets

Onboard
around, in spacious, comfortable cabins with large
baggage capacity, and offering long range and non-stop
capability.
And thanks to our new office and operation in San
issue fifty NiNe
Marino, we can also help our owners charter their
aircraft anywhere in the world, through direct bookings
and charter brokers, helping to strengthen this vital
part of our service and benefitting our aircraft owners
and charter clients, equally. Charter services don’t
end on the tarmac and in addition to meet and greet,
ground transportation is typically part of the range of
personalised services provided to charter clients, 24/7.

So, it’s a win-win for owners and charter clients.

Enjoy the read.

Steve Hartley Paras Dhamecha

Executive Director Executive Director

Contact Details:
info@empire.aero
empireaviation.com

13

Empire makes its
mark with charter
Empire Aviation Group has seen
business jet charter traffic increase
by 40% in the year to date, compared
to 2015, with strong growth in
corporate charters as a result of
the ongoing economic activity in the
region and the business re-building
opportunities in Iran.
Business charter has accounted for
80% of charter bookings in 2016 with
typical missions comprising inbound
corporate roadshows to destinations
in the region and long haul flights to
international business destinations,
through EAG charter aircraft
operating out of Dubai World Central,
the new global hub of commercial and
private aviation.
Regional industry indicators remain
encouraging although cautious;
industry commentators suggest that
Empire Aviation Group
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
the regional business jet fleet size
has grown seven per cent per annum
over the last five years but aircraft
purchasing is slowing. Charter
demand remains strong and with a
clear preference for larger cabin,
longer range aircraft.
It’s easy to see why.
Corporate charter clients are able
to reach multiple destinations around
the entire GCC region, including
Doha, Kuwait, Riyadh and Jeddah,
or international destinations non-
stop, only through the efficiency
of private charter, which offers the
speed, convenience and flexibility
for demanding business travel
itineraries.
The key trade routes around the GCC
and Middle East (especially Riyadh
and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) remain
very active for business charter,
alongside the European cities such
as London and Paris, and the key
14
business centres in Africa and the CIS
countries.
In the key winter holiday season
for leisure charter, the Indian Ocean
is perennially popular, with the
Maldives heading the list of favourite
destinations.
EAG offers a full management
service to aircraft owners, based
on a distinctive asset management
approach which helps owners to
optimise their investment and protect
the long term value of their aircraft
asset, covering all aspects of aircraft
operation, the option of charter, and
maintenance management.
We have successfully transited
owners from private-use-only to
a model including charter, as the
demand for larger business jets grows
in the charter sector. This shows the
flexibility of the asset management
model we operate which ensures we
can meet owners’ objectives.
www.empireaviation.com

Out of Africa –
On Charter
Empire Aviation Group recently added
a new aircraft to its fleet based in
Africa, where it now manages five
business jets. The latest aircraft – a
Challenger 300 model from Canadian
manufacturer Bombardier – is based
in Lagos, Nigeria and is the first of
EAG’s managed aircraft in Africa to be
offered to the charter market.
The Challenger 300 is a super mid-
size jet with nine seats and with
an intercontinental range (3,100
nautical miles) and high speed cruise
capabilities (Mach 0.83), offering
very high reliability and competitive
operating costs.
The new aircraft will help meet the
needs of the growing charter market
in Africa, and offers a very good
balance of capacity, range and overall
value.
The diversity of aircraft we manage
– from the Dassault Falcon to
Bombardier Challenger and Embraer
Legacy - is an important factor in
offering charter clients a good range
of options, and our experience in
operating particular aircraft models
is also reassuring to clients.
Empire Aviation Group
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
Business jet charter -
designed for business
Companies with a range of different
travel needs but not enough regular
missions for a dedicated business
aircraft, may opt for charter.
At first glance, private charter
flights may look similar to scheduled
airline flights in terms of the actual
flight-time needed to reach a
destination. But this is where the
similarity ends because business jets
offer a range of unique conveniences.
A business jet charter flight does not
follow a rigid schedule and missions
can be tailored to suit any travel
need and specific itinerary, including
multiple destinations. So, your
charter flight is very unlikely to be
cancelled or delayed because it flies
to your personal travel schedule.
Checking-in is an equally personal
experience and is far more relaxed.
Security is paramount of course and
bags still need to be scanned and
all travelling passengers must pass
through security, but without all the
delays that are quite normal with
scheduled airlines. So, you really can
arrive 15 minutes before departure.
With easy check-in and no risk of
lost bags, business jet charter always
makes good business sense in terms
of flexibility, efficiency and privacy.
As well as efficient travel, business
people travelling together
16
on a charter flight can conduct
meetings with the assurance of total
privacy.
When is charter the best option?
According to AvBuyer.com, it depends
on how many yearly hours you fly.
• If it’s less than 150 hours annually,
full jet ownership is unlikely to be the
best solution for you. Charter is best.
• Around 250 hours annually, a block
hour contract could be a better
prospect. This is where you buy a
set minimum number of hours at a
fixed rate with the option to select an
aircraft type that suits your needs.
• Not a regular charter user but
interested in buying an aircraft? You
can sample different types to get a
better understanding of which model
fulfills your mission best.
• Even if you already own a private
jet, what if you need to travel at
short notice and your jet is already
in-use or you need a long-range jet or
one that can operate into a shorter
runway? Many charter operators offer
a supplemental lift policy: charter
another aircraft for your destination.
Chartering as a business tool
offers the opportunity to reach more
remote locations, get to meetings
more quickly, visit more than one
destination in a day, and offers
valuable corporate solutions.
 Radar
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
AIR

18
The sailing world’s finest will dock at
the beautiful island of Saint Barthélemy
this month, as the annual Richard
Mille-sponsored Les Voiles de Saint
Barth welcomes as many as 80 boats
to the Caribbean, crewed by 1,000
sailors. They’re there from April 11-16
to participate in high-level competition
at sea, and higher-level frivolity on
land, once the sun has set and the
festivities ensue. Visitors should
take the opportunity to stay at Le
Guanahani, which celebrated its 30th
birthday this year by taking the wraps
off a four-year, USD40 million makeover.
lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com

19
 Critique
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Film
Demolition
Dir: Jean-Marc Vallée
A successful investment
banker unravels after
tragically losing his wife in a
violent car crash
AT BEST: “A unique take on
what could otherwise be a
morbidly depressing tale…
dishing out tons of energy
and devilish humour”.
Hollywood Reporter
AT WORST: “A frustratingly
aimless soul-search that
veers uncomfortably
between quirk and
melancholy.” The Guardian

The Dark Horse

Dir: James Napier Robertson
AIR

An emotionally-charged true story based on the life of a brilliant

chess champion

AT BEST: “The heartfelt telling of a truly extraordinary true story

with a mesmerising central performance.” Empire
AT WORST: “The script could have done without the odd bout of
heavy-handed chess symbolism”. The Guardian

Everybody Wants Some

Dir: Richard Linklater
Hilarious comedy about ‘80s baseball players who navigate their way
through college
AT BEST: “Endlessly charming and sneakily wise, Everybody Wants
Some epitomises Linklater’s unique ability to magnify human
behaviour with levity.” Indie Wire
AT WORST: “The film’s structure – off-putting in the early going,
irresistible by the end – is ingenious.” ScreenCrush

Francofonia
Dir: Aleksandr Sokurov
A history of the Louvre during the Nazi occupation and a reflection on
art, culture and power
AT BEST: “As fun as it is funereal… a philosophical depth and
richness that are found almost nowhere else in cinema.” The
Telegraph
AT WORST: “Does it all come together? Well, yes… highly personal
yet captivating.” Variety

20
 Critique
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Theatre
F lorian Zeller’s The Truth runs
until May 7 at London’s Menier
Chocolate Factory, a new arts venue
in Southwark that produces its own
plays, musicals and comedies. The
latest piece by the French dramatist
is “funny, thought-provoking and
plays seamlessly as a dream,” writes
The Guardian’s Kate Kellaway. “The
dialogue is pacy, with a heartless
sheen… The Truth moves with the
fluency of a dance that keeps turning
on its own heel. It is an entertaining,
unsettling, must-see show”.
“Zeller delicately and dazzlingly
interlaces the stories of two
couples,” asserts Mark Shenton
of The Stage. It’s a “sophisticated
production”, which is “acted with
both churning tension and great
feeling”. Shenton concludes that
it’s a “playful, poignant infidelity
drama that cuts surprisingly deep.”
Above: Alice (Frances O’Connor) with Michel (Alexander Hanson) in The Truth
On the contrary, Henry Hitchings
of The Standard writes that the aural feast,” he writes. “The feel In New York, Aaron Loeb brings
“production doesn’t always have and look of the show is a wonderful a dark comic edge to the heart
enough zip”, before admitting that, combination of stage, film and music of Midtown at 59E59 Theatres.
“it’s shrewdly performed”. The final video.” Herald Sun’s Kate Herbert Ideation, which Laura Collins-Hughes
result, Hitchings cautiously argues, is similarly convinced, describing of the New York Times describes
is “slippery entertainment, veering Ghost as a “spectacular display as “creepy”, runs until April 17 at
towards farce but also laced with of technical wizardry, tear-jerking this spectacular modern venue. “A
cruel human insight”. songs and tragic romance”. She does comedy that satirises office politics
Meanwhile, based on the Oscar- acknowledge that “some may find this and skewers groupthink, even as its
winning film of the same name, Ghost show to be schmaltzy and too much annihilation scenario comes to seem
the Musical is bringing a slice of ‘90s like a rom-com,” but insists that it’s unsettlingly plausible,” she claims. “It
New York to Sydney’s Theatre Royal “faithful to the original movie while [the production] gradually ramps up
until May 1. The Morning Herald’s still creating a satisfyingly innovative the uncertainty and moral horror of
Cameron Woodhead “regrettably” theatrical production.” Ben Neutze of its little band of collaborators, played
asserts that, “Ghost the Musical the Daily Review arrives at a complex by a first-rate ensemble.
isn’t a patch on the movie it trades conclusion. “It’s not the most “The characters’ alarm mounts,
off.” Nonetheless, “humour is intricate or profound of narratives, the mood darkens, and their anxiety
the one part of the show that but it’s sweet and moving enough. becomes faintly contagious –
unambiguously works… Romance, “Musically, it is a somewhat mixed excellent fodder, really, for post-show
however, is seriously short-changed, bag – unfortunately the weakest conversation.” She concludes that
and at one level that’s down to the number opens the show – but it’s it’s a “psychological game, one that’s
sheer blandness of the songs.” Ron always accessible and there are some both amusing and intriguing to play.”
Cerabona of the Canberra Times great highlights”. He writes that, “The devilishly funny and demonically
explains this musical adaptation “Although there’s really nothing wrong dark comedy… is as sidesplitting and,
of the hit movie is “well produced” with the choreography, it’s a tad on if anything, more deeply disturbing
but “lacking a bit of spirit”. Glam the corny side”, before concluding, that it seemed at first encounter,”
Adelaide’s Brian Godfrey is largely “Ghost mightn’t be your style – I’m enthuses Robert Hurwitt of SFGate,
positive, writing that the production pretty sure it’s not mine – but it’s while Karen D’Souza of S.J. Mercury
“is every bit as magical, charming, generously entertaining and well- News positively describes Ideation as
funny, dramatic and romantic as made. And you can’t always say that a “darkly funny corporate thriller”, as
the original. A stunning visual and about screen-to-stage adaptations.” well as a “suspenseful drama”.

21

Left: Anton Chekhov by Iosif Braz, 1898, © State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
RIght: The Beatles, by Peter Laurie, 1964, Condé Nast Archive London
AIR
“T he 20th iteration of the
biennale offers an intriguing,
if uneven, reflection of the here and
now,” writes Andrew Frost of the
Guardian about the Sydney Biennale,
which runs until June 5. Sprawling
over six main venues, in addition to
a “constellation of temporary and
roving sites”, each venue is a “neutral
zone of related thematic ideas” based
around science fiction. Frost argues
this “connection between the two
genres makes sense”. They “share
a history” and “both express and
explore concerns about the nature
of human experience”. However, he
claims the biennale is “overloaded
– and maybe overthought – the
experience at the venues is more
diffuse than this cluster of words
and concepts might suggest.”
Nonetheless, the “mixture of
materials and metaphor works very
well, and reflects the way in which
literary and cinematic science fiction
weaves its worlds.” Although certain
exhibitions are “highly atmospheric”,
others are “flippant or slight, or
must be read in a context entirely
unapparent”. Although the connection
between the overall theme “might
Critique
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
Art
seem obtuse… the combination of
new and old seems, oddly enough,
futuristic.” Frost carefully concludes:
“That the biennale is at times
frustrating, dystopic, obtuse and
ugly – instead of always utopian,
beautiful, accessible and optimistic
– proves that it is once more a
reflection of the here and now.”
In London, the National Portrait
Gallery’s new exhibition Russia
and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy
and Tchaikovsky proudly features
a striking collection of portraits
showcasing writers, musicians,
actors and artistic patrons; all
have been loaned from Moscow’s
Tretyakov Gallery. Jonathan Jones
of the Guardian writes that, “This
gathering of cultural heroes from the
later nineteenth century up to 1914, is
intense, tortured and troubled.
“[A] tough eye for human frailty
is what makes this exhibition so
intimate and somber.” Commenting
on the artists themselves, Jones
explains that they “share the
sensitivity, honesty and the searching
unease of the writers and composers
they portray.” He writes, “modern
art is often imagined to begin in the
22
revolutionary era or just before,
with Malevich’s Black Square (1915)
or Tatlin’s Monument to the Third
International (1919-20).” Jones
asserts that this is a “shallow” cliché,
that can only be fully understood
by visiting Moscow’s Tretyakov.
Although the London exhibition, which
runs until June 26, contains merely
a “selection of its [Tretyakov’s]
highlights”, it “introduces us to the
remarkable artists who painted
them”. Ben Luke of the Evening
Standard concurs that, “there are
moments of brilliance”. The painting
of Tchaikovsky by Nikolai Kuznetsov
is particularly “emotionally rich,
captured in vivid, lively paint.” The
Telegraph’s Mark Hudson agrees that,
“this relatively small show provides
not only a vivid and intimate survey
of an extraordinary period, but a
kind of advert for the virtues of an
extraordinary period”.
Reviewing Vogue 100: A Century of
Style – also at the National Portrait
Gallery – which runs until May 22,
Hudson describes the featured
portraits as “the absolute cream
of fashion photography.” He goes
on to claim that, “all the great
names in photography are here…
The impression is of extraordinary
brimming creativity. Just as you feel
you must have encountered every
talented person of the past hundred
years, here’s another roomful more”.
Hudson asserts that, “this knockout
exhibition may look like it’s primarily
for those interested in fashion,
but looking back on it, I can hardly
remember any fashion... It’s all about
storytelling, image-making and
personalities.” Sarah Crompton
of The Guardian is equally enthralled
by what she saw. “It is the quality of
the images that guarantees Vogue’s
continuing eminence.”
“Fashion may be fickle, but the
fashion photographer’s lens is also
a mirror,” writes Miriam Bouteba of
Time Out London. “The exhibit is as
much a reflection of a hundred years
of our history as it is a celebration of
the original glossy.”
 Critique
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Books
“T om Bower is to biography
what Cruella de Vil was to
dalmatians,” opens Craig Brown for
the Mail on Sunday, commenting
on Broken Vows: Tony Blair – The
Tragedy of Power. “If you are his
subject, you are also his victim.”
According to Brown, Bower’s “bias
is pervasive, the facts bent to show
Blair in the worst possible light”,
and that the “boundary between
truth and conjecture” are obscured.
“The book would carry more weight
if Bower were not so ham-fisted, so
clearly focused on seeing the worst
in everyone,” he continues, “‘Blair’s
hair had turned grey, and, despite
spending an hour most days in the
gym, his youthful looks had faded,’
he writes, just a few pages before the
end. But whose youthful looks haven’t
faded by the age of 62?”
“A 600-page unrelenting, forensic
monstering,” writes Chris Mullin of
the Irish Times. Blair is “taken apart
and trashed. All motives are assumed
to be the worst.” Andy McSmith of the
Independent describes the release
as “dreary” and that it “does not
assess Tony Blair: it sets out to shred
whatever is left of his reputation… “From Richard Nixon’s dog to the who “yet again shows that she is
if you are furious that the Labour Mughal emperor who had his cook not only a consummate storyteller;
government was ever permitted to skinned alive, MacMillan’s study of she is also a brilliant historian.”
interrupt Conservative rule, here individual lives – both powerful and She demonstrates “excellent dry
is a book to enforce your prejudices.” little-known is exhilarating,” says wit, a broad range of reference –
Writing in The Times, Rachel Kathryn Hughes of the Guardian, from Montaigne and Marx to Punch
Sylvester concurs that “The barrage reviewing History’s People: cartoons and hobbits – and a gift
of criticism is relentless. The book Personalities and the Past. “In for storytelling”.
lacks any kind of balance.” our celebrity-obsessed culture, Meanwhile, Melissa Harrison’s
“Where Mr Bower gets it wrong,” Margaret MacMillan’s reflection having a prolific year; Rain: Four
claims the Economist, “is in casting on the role of individual great men Walks in English Weather is the
Mr Blair as a feckless flibbertigibbet and women in history is timely,” third book bearing her name to have
incapable of the serious analysis supports the Independent’s Rachel already surfaced this year. Shahidha
required to think through and Trethewey. “She rejects academia’s Bari of the Financial Times describes
implement complex policies.” old snobberies against biography... it as a “slender book that calls for
However, the Sunday Times’ Rod As a historian who admits to enjoying slow reading”. Harrison “writes in
Liddle is more favourable, claiming the ‘gossip’ of the past, MacMillan prose that is measured like poetry,
that it is “probably Bower’s finest, believes that history should be fun lilting then staccato by turns,
and most important, achievement as well as enlightening”. Madeleine paces with pauses and breaths, her
so far”. Thien of The Globe and Mail agrees, language as sure-footed as the routes
“Probably the most explosive book admitting that she found herself she takes along uplands.” Katharine
of 2016” agrees The Times Cultural “thinking repeatedly of fiction.” Norbury of the Guardian agrees that
Review 2016. “Bower has a reputation New Stateman’s Joanna Bourke was the book’s “a celebration on that
for unearthing unwelcome truths.” similarly “captivated” by the author, curiously English obsession...”

23

Heaven
Set
AIR
With a natural eye for precious jewels and
the mastery to frame them, Glenn Spiro
W
hat you are about to be told
should, strictly, be imparted
by private appointment
only, within a salon away from prying
eyes. Because this impeccably-dressed
jeweller and designer – who works
only with the rarest and most precious
of stones – conceives each piece in
response to the gem’s intrinsic light,
colour and shape; it is a personal
Jewellery
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
is a true poet of gemstones
WORDS : CHRIS UJMA
attention to character that he also
affords his discerning clientele, hence
the secrecy. “We use truly fabulous,
rare stones, and there’s a shortage of
those. That’s why we work with our
bespoke clients on a very personal
level to get them what they want,
and to create something completely
unique for them. It’s a relationship that
almost always turns into a friendship,”
24
Glenn once shared with Vanity Fair
magazine’s Annabel Davidson.
London-born Spiro’s story is almost
as fascinating to peer into as a deeply-
enchanting gem itself: he trained as
a master jeweller, worked on Cartier:
English Artworks, and in 1995 was
named a senior director of Christie’s,
also assuming the role as their
international specialist of jewellery.
25
 Eventually, Spiro set up workshops in
Los Angeles and Geneva to concentrate
on private commissions, continuing to
forge close, lasting connections with
select gem dealers. Now, G London –
his own specialist House – is firmly on
the haute jewellery radar.
Your first signpost of exclusivity is
the absence of named collections. He
shares with us that, “Sometimes we
find a beautiful gem but no design
springs to mind, so it may sit in the
vault for months or years and then one
day we have an idea that might work
for it and we go from there. We don’t
design in collections for this reason
– it is a far more fluid process than
that.” The earlier comparison to him
as a poet stems from the way he talks
about the selection process, where it
seems as though he sees into the soul of
every stone. “Ever since I first started
AIR
working at the benches in my late teens,
I’ve been fascinated by the allure of
precious gems, and watching people’s
reaction to them. As I’ve worked with
gems from such an early age, my
selection process is very instinctive; I
just touch, feel them and look at them,
with no help from technology. I think
some of the magic of the selecting
and cutting process is being lost as
people are putting all their trust into
technology to ensure they have the
most ‘efficient’ cuts and flawless stones.
Often, stones come to me that aren’t
perfect but there is something about
them that I just love and connect with.
Technology can’t give you that emotion;
you have to trust your instinct.”
Once he chooses to make that ‘find’
the focal point of a piece, the results are
breathtaking (though he says, rather
humbly, that “The gems are Mother
Nature’s great work, we simply place
them in their proper setting”). Glenn
cites his inspiration as originating
from nature, music or just the shapes
and lines, designed “with a playfulness
and confidence that transcends our
collections”. You’ll find a 20 carat
pear-shaped blue diamond here, a rare
Colombian emerald weighing 23.05
carats there, perhaps a fancy cut flat
Mozambique ruby… One piece that
particularly resonates is his Reveal
Ring creation. It is a white gold and
diamond pavé ring that, once twisted,
opens in a flower-bloom fashion, to
reveal a 1.01 carat pink diamond.
The ring is slightly symbolic of the
new direction for the House; still full
of mystique and beauty, but opening-
up slightly, becoming more accessible.
The one-to-one meetings can still
be sought, of course, but there is the
opening of the first G London boutique
space in the UK capital, and a presence
in the the fine jewellery room at
Harrods. “Our corner of Mayfair is
the most extraordinary property; it
was the old Hartnell building, which
we’ve restored to its former glory so
it is a privilege to be able to show our
The gems are
Mother Nature’s
work, we simply
place them in their
proper setting
designs in this magnificent setting,”
purrs the founder. The new frontiers
have brought new admirers. “It opened
the door to clients who have seen
everything there is to see from the big
houses but come to us looking for one-
of-a-kind pieces, which really surprises
them. They are knowledgeable, so really
appreciate works with intrinsic value,
but also exceptional craftsmanship and
the use of unusual materials.”
Spiro creates each piece as a stand-
alone, built around the beauty of a
stone to enhance it when the right
design is dreamt up. Until ripe, it
remains firmly locked away, unearthed
and admired by Spiro, but waiting for
its opportunity to wow the world in the
proper setting. Given their importance,
perhaps the letter ‘G’ in G London
represents not Glenn, but Gem.
Arrange a private appointment at
glennspiro.com
26
27
 Art & Design
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Past &
Present
AIR

The 2016 Venice Biennale will reflect on

the UAE’s contribution to the advancement
of architecture and culture, by focusing on
traditional Emirati social housing

T
he United Arab Emirates is
a world unto its own, where
East meets West and diverse
architecture merges into a convoluted
juxtaposition that, peculiarly, works.
La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy,
is one of the most prestigious events
in the art world and this year Yasser
Elsheshtawy, Associate Professor of
Architecture at the UAE University,
has been chosen as the curator for the
region’s participation. The exhibition
is titled Transformations: The Emirati
National House, and will focus on how
a basic housing model was adapted
by residents to reflect their own
interests and lifestyle. This year’s
National Pavilion will endorse the
UAE’s architecture through sculptures,
paintings and film, to ensure the
region’s artists are at the forefront of
international contemporary art.
“The UAE, by participating in such a
significant event, asserts its presence
at a global level,” explains Elsheshtawy.
“We’re showing that we’re a country
that’s at the forefront of contemporary
artistic and architectural debates.
“Moreover, only a handful of Arab
countries have a permanent presence
in the Biennale and consequently the
UAE’s participation really asserts its
regional significance. Our focus on art
and architecture highlights that the
UAE is a stable and maturing society.”
With only a few buildings that
are over a century old, the UAE is
predominately known for its record-
breaking skyscrapers, improbable feats
of engineering and ‘starchitects’. An oil
boom led to an unprecedented growth-
spurt in the seventies, which resulted

28
 Previous pages: Obaid Suroor,
Untitled (1994)
These pages: Moosa Al
Halyan, Horse Painting (1996)
We’re showing that we’re a
country at the forefront of artistic
and architectural debates
in some of the world’s most enviable
cityscapes, featuring the jaw-dropping
Burj Khalifa, iconic Burj Al Arab,
and Capital Gate building. However,
Elsheshtawy has decided to ditch the
AIR
profusion of glass and steel that mould
these architectural wonders of sail-
designs and petal-domes. “The UAE is
more than its iconic projects, shopping
malls and obviously spectacular
buildings,” says Elsheshtawy. “It has
a wide-ranging scope of architectural
developments that go beyond the
clichéd views and elements associated
with the country.”
The exhibition focuses on the Emirati
National House, also known as Sha’abi
House; a social housing project that
was implemented throughout the
seventies and eighties, to offer homes
and modern amenities to a transient
local population. “The programme
[Emirati National House] in its initial
stages was aimed at providing Emirati
nationals with a modern house. It was
also a way to urbanise the country
by settling its people, who were used
to roaming the desert and moving
from one place to the next,” explains
Elsheshtawy. “A crucial aspect of nation
building was to settle them in a fixed
place – to that end, in addition to the
house, a piece of land was provided for
agricultural purposes.”
An ancient trading port for dhows
voyaging from the Gulf to India and
East Africa, the UAE’s multicultural
mix of community and culture has
always heavily influenced the region’s
traditional Arabian architecture.
A historical medley of Asian and
European influences has since set
the tone for Dubai’s imaginative
and bizarre structural styles. Many
remaining Sha’abi houses show
evidence of this cumulative acquisition.
“Residents over the years have modified
these houses through the addition
of rooms, decorative elements, and
landscaping. This transformation has
made the house fall more in line with
people’s lifestyle and culture. Our focus
is on these transformations and how
they have individualised specific homes
in the country.”
When he relocated to the UAE in
1996, this particular type of housing
quickly caught Elsheshtawy’s attention,
“given its uniqueness and the degree
to which is has become part of the
UAE vernacular.” He settled in Al
Ain, where the original National
House is still common, and the
social project immediately became a comfortable lifestyle in line with the
source of inspiration. “The UAE in its country’s increased levels of wealth.”
early formative years, while having The curator argues that the
substantive resources, was still in the places we inhabit can affect our
early stages of nation building and thoughts and behaviour. “Our built
urbanisation. Accordingly, the early environment plays a significant role
houses were quite modest in terms of in shaping our lives on a number
size and amenities. Over the years the of levels,” he explains. “Having
size and space allocated to these houses an aesthetically pleasing visual
increased substantively, which in turn environment plays a significant
enabled residents to have a much more psychological function by sustaining
30
our interest and also stimulation, thus
leading to overall satisfaction. This can
be achieved by having a harmonious
setting in which various components
and elements work together, without it
becoming too monotonous and boring.”
The UAE and its main urban centres,
Abu Dhabi and Dubai, have witnessed
rapid urbanisation over the years.
Dubai in particular has become
exemplary in terms of its constantly
evolving skyline, megaprojects and
iconic developments. In many ways,
this has enabled the city to be placed
on the map and to be considered an
important urban metropolitan centre.
Elsheshtway believes that, “The
changing population is reflected [in
the architecture]. The fact that more
than 200 nationalities live in Dubai,
for example, has turned it into a major
cosmopolitan centre – something quite
31
unique.” However, traditional Arabic
housing enables residents to enjoy the
lifestyle of their forefathers, but with
modern comforts. These houses are
well designed and proudly protect the
region’s past. Surely that is something
worth fighting for.
The 15th International Architecture
Exhibition at la Biennale di Venezia
will run from May 28 to November
27, 2016
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Master craftsmanship, effortless style and timeless appeal;

this month’s must-haves and collectibles
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

sotheby ’s hong kong

DE BEERS mIllEnnIum JEwEl

Going under the hammer at Sotheby’s Millennium Jewels collection, unveiled at

Hong Kong on April 5 – having been
offered for sale by its private collector
owner – is, at 10.10 carats, the largest
oval-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond
ever to appear at auction. It’s one of twelve
rare diamonds which make up De Beers’
the turn of this century. Paddles will need
to be raised around the estimate figures of
USD30–35 million. This is the second
diamond from the collection to be sold;
a 5.16-carat pear-shaped blue diamond
fetched USD6.4 million in April 2010.

1

OB JECTS OF DESIRE
tumi
BREnT wOOD SlIm BRIEF
A colour pallete of ivory and navy
underpins Tumi’s Designer Select
Collection, the standout element of the
brand’s Spring/Summer 2016 offering.
Comprising a backpack, tote (the perfect
work-through-weekend bag for on-the-go
girls), travel satchel and medium and large
2
E
portfolios, it also includes the dashing
Brentwood Slim Brief. We’ve marked
this for special attention not only for its
multiple design details which transform
the mundane brief into a style statement,
but also for the premium materials used to
create it. A fine piece of craftsmanship.
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

bulgari
OCTO FInISSImO mInuTE
R E p E aT E R

Back in 2014, Bulgari set a new record
when launching the world’s thinnest
tourbillon. Now the brand is at it again,
forcing a rewrite of the history books
with the introduction – at last month’s
Baselworld – of the Octo Finissimo Minute
Repeater, which now carries the crown as
the smallest on the market. To make it so
slender in spite of its complications, the
in-house developed and produced BVL
Calibre 362 measures just 3.12mm thick,
while the overall case thickness amounts
to only 6.85mm. Limited to 50 pieces, this
is a rare gem of a timepiece.

3
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

va n c l e e f & a r p e l s
T w O B u T T E R F ly B E T w E E n
ThE FIngER RIng

Van Cleef’s now iconic Between the Finger
ring has always captured the imagination,
but as a twist the Maison has, with the
latest addition to the collection, used
mother-of-pearl for the first time. Notable
for its regular surface and lustre of the
highest quality, the mother-of-pearl is
displayed as a wonderful contrast to the
diamond-studded pink gold which adorns
the adjacent butterfly, its wings open as if
caught mid-flight. It’s a piece which shows
off the Maison’s savoir-faire to the full.

4
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

I
c h o pa r d
pRECIOuS hauTE
J O a I l l E R I E w aT C h

Unveiled at last month’s Baselworld, this
striking Haute Joaillerie timepiece from
the Precious Chopard Collection very
nearly stole the show. It’s crafted from
18ct white gold and is set with pear-
cut blue sapphires (25cts), brilliant-cut
pastel blue sapphires (7.5cts), marquise-
cut sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds.
The dial depicts a dainty corolla, while its
dazzling bracelet references an ornamental
jewellery lacework theme, as a nod to the
high level of craftmanship used.

5
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

gi vor i
a u D R E y v I n Ta g E

It’s an iPhone 6s with 128GB storage,
yes. But with a Givori, it’s what is on the
outside that counts. They design every
cellphone as a masterpiece in its own right;
hundreds of hours go into painstakingly
embellishing every handset with the
finest materials, to achieve a truly bespoke
look. Upon this iPhone canvas is depicted
the Audrey Vintage: black and white
Swarovski crystals sit alongside finer,
feminine details, such as the playful kitty,
the Lady Cabochon, the stiletto heel, the
flirtatious red lipstick, and the blossoming
flowers – all of which add a joyful nuance
to this phone’s timeless design. Luxury
handwear, handcrafted in Italy.

6
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE
chanel
BOwlIng Bag
Being onboard your jet, you’ll already
know what it’s like to travel in style. But
wouldn’t your journey be that touch more
stylish if you had Chanel luggage? So
thought Karl Lagerfeld, who made luggage
a key feature of Chanel’s Summer 2016
Ready-to-Wear Collection. Reinterpreting
some of the brand’s iconic designs – the
7
11.12 handbag has grown into a weekend
bag, replete with rhinestone airplanes, an
overtly playful tone sees cabin luggage
shrunk into a minaudière, parked on real
wheels – Lagerfeld has also worked his
considerable magic on this sticker-adorned
suitcase-like bowling bag, in navy blue
tweed and leather.
 OB JECTS OF DESIRE

i l l a s l a l aou i n e s
R E F. 4 4 0 6 5 2

They may be new to the Middle East
market, courtesy of Ali Bin Ali, but ilias
Lalaounis arrives with a rich heritage
from its Greek homeland, where its gold
jewellery is still handmade in Athens.
From the Ilion Collection comes Ref.
440652, an 18k-gold bracelet comprised
of a hand-breaded chain, stripped roundels
and clasp. As with all ilias Lalaounis
pieces, this one has a backstory – its design
is inspired by fragments of a necklace
found in the excavations of Troy.

8
 Art & Design
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Icons
at the
Icon
Picasso and Miró bring ‘Passion
and Poetry’ to Downtown Dubai,
a place well-acquainted with the
notion that creativity can change
the world

33
 P We thought,
assion and Poetry, at the Burj
Khalifa, is a stroll down a
chronological narrative path
that, curator Sergio Gaddi explains,
“Crosses figures and themes that
characterised the experiences of both
Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, through
a series of lithographs, ceramics and
graphics. However the exhibition is not
merely a journey which tells a dialectic
relationship between history and
contemporaneity, but also a dialogue
between the signs of tradition lived
AIR
and interpreted by the artists, and the
energies that lit up their creativity.”
And as an observer, you tussle with
logic. Not in trying to decipher the
vantage points from which Pablo
captured his Harlequin with guitar in
1924, or at how Joan looked at both
morning and night skies and arrived at
his brushstroked interpretation of both:
no, such intellectual battles come later.
The first duel of the mind is when you
consider the venue for this exhibition,
which showcases 267 privately-owned
collector’s pieces, each signed by their
creator. By Gaddi’s own admission, The
Annex at the Burj Khalifa – with its
pipework running overhead, low-hung
grey ceiling rungs and distinctly non-
gallery lighting – is not the first place
one would expect to have a profound
encounter with these transcendent
masters of art. Because when first
invited, you make the direct link that
‘Picasso, Miró … of course they are at
the world’s tallest building’; it makes
headlines, and there is a natural aura
to the overall location that can shoulder
such a monumental cultural occasion.
Then… you are directed to The Annex,
and while it is presentably decorated
in striking red and black, you’re
very aware that this isn’t a polished,
gleaming gallery. Yet by the end of the
viewing experience, your thoughts
arrive at a distinctly defiant MiróCasso ‘why can’t we put
mindset – ‘Who writes the rules
anyway?! Who says it can’t be done?’
art right into
– because you become aware that the Dubai’s heart?’
organisers, cognizant of the challenge,
had a specific reason for choosing
the location.
Before getting to that, what of the
exhibition’s title? Gaddi explains that,
“although their starting points were
similarly grounded in ‘reality’, Miró
is a poet, depicting the inner feelings
and the emotions, while Picasso
turned to revolution, discovered new
paths and ways of expression. Hence
Passion and Poetry”. The works are
placed in sections titled ‘Creators of
Myth’, ‘Inventors of New Languages’,
‘Jugglers of Form’, ‘Poets of Colour’ and
‘Alchemists of Art’, and there is plenty
here to inspire a new generation of art-
lovers, and spine-tingle those already
acclimatised with art’s World Order.
Among the mesmeric displays of
Pablo ‘Ruiz’, (Picasso was his mother’s
maiden name which he adopted, much
to the chagrin of his artist father, our
media tour is reliably told) are burin
etchings from the Natural History
collection, 20 Pochoir prints created
between 1904 and 1953 which feature
examples from his pre-cubist Blue and
Pink periods, the cultural costume
depictions from Le Tricorne, and an
assortment of his then-new adventure
into ceramics, from which sprang
pieces such as the Bearded Man’s Wife
pitcher. Meanwhile, 25 boards from
Miró’s curling, looping, 1966 Ubu roi
capture the attention with as equal
force as his Le Lezard aux plumes d’or
coloured lithography, and there is his
bold, etched Le Marteau sans maitre
34
35
 AIR

36
Opener: Le Marteau sans
maître, Joan Miró
Previous pages:
Harlequin with guitar,
Pablo Picasso
These pages, from left:
Woman Sitting; Woman
on a yellow sofa, Picasso
present too. Visual complexity from
both artists sit alongside pieces like
Picasso’s graph synthesis faces, which
are simpler… but, WAIT. ‘Simplicity’ is
almost blasphemous, and makes Gaddi
impassioned: “A common point levelled
at certain pieces, when someone sees,
for instance, one of Picasso’s forty
Carmen engravings, is that they could
draw it themselves. And my response
to them is that an idea is the essence,
and you have to have that idea first.
It appears simplistic and easy, but to
replicate even precisely, would not
possess the same power. Everyone has
their own feelings, but not everyone
can be an artist like Caravaggio, or a
poet like Leopardi: the artistic masters
are able to fix their mind and express
a universal feeling. It is easier to say,
than to do.”
Returning to the question of why
Dubai, and why this venue: well, one
must look back to where Pablo and Joan
converged in their earlier years – the
French capital – to begin unravelling
the mystery. Explains the curator, “At
the beginning of the twentieth century,
Paris was the centre of the world. Put
yourself in that time period, and events
in Paris had a seismic impact and
would dictate culture, science and the
arts. Everything important happened
there during those years, and so all
artists felt compelled to be there, they
had to be there. And as important as
Paris was to the world during that era,
from certain points of view, Dubai is
now.” While it might not be displayed
in a museum, the artwork is housed in
an appropriate location, symbolically.
“Dubai has made huge technological
and architectural steps in such a short
period of time, and the Burj Khalifa is a
landmark of that vision. So we thought,
‘why can’t we put art right into Dubai’s
heart?’ Because to continue developing
scientifically and architecturally, you
37
need aesthetics, you need art, and we
wanted to begin with this exhibition, to
inspire, in an inspirational place itself.”
The other idea is that local designers
can relate to these two European
masters more than with, say, North
European art-influences, such as
Gustav Klimt. “I think that the
Mediterranean landscape is similar
visually to that of the Middle East,
and Picasso and Miró are perhaps
‘closer’ to local artists here. We have
bought two accessible artists who can
get the conversation started, in what
is a carefully curated and enriching
experience,” Gaddi imparts.
They have their differences and
similarities, and upon one of the many
Artistic masters
are able to fix their
mind and express a
universal feeling
plaques at the exhibition, there is an
evocative descriptor that talks about
Picasso as ‘…a brilliant interpreter of
the spirit and techniques of various
traditions of the past… a volcano in
constant eruption of creativity and
energy that fascinated and seduced
the public.’ It says of Miró, ‘...his mind
was a universe in constant movement
due to the proliferation of ideas and
forms… creating a new and personal
language every time the artist engaged
with a new subject, a new technique,
a new image.’ While at this exhibition
one can see the soul of these pure, deep
and genial artists in Dubai, perhaps
ambitious Dubai can also see itself,
within them.
Picasso and Miró, Passion and Poetry,
is an exhibition orchestrated by
Alpha Soul, and shows at The Annex,
Burj Khalifa, until May 17. For more
information, visit picassomiro.ae

I
t was 1976, during the annual
Basel watchmaker’s fair, that a
man sat at a table in Switzerland
opposite a group of watchmakers
from Patek Philippe, who were sitting
in the corner of the same restaurant.
The man was Gerald Genta. It must
be said that new watchmakers study
and admire Genta’s work the way new
students of fine art admire Picasso.
Genta asked the waiter for a slip of
paper and a pencil, and five minutes
later he sent the concept sketch he
had just drawn over to the corner
table. In that moment, the design for
Patek Philippe’s Nautilus was born.
You might recognise the moniker
from Jules Verne’s dramatic novel
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the
Sea, where the infamous captain
Nemo’s ship bore the same name.
The watch was born under dramatic
circumstances too, so I think it is
quite fitting.
The 1970s was a nervous decade
for luxury watchmakers. The Quartz
crisis was underway, and ideas about
what made a fine wristwatch were
being revolutionised. Just four years
earlier, Genta had dreamt up another
inspired design for one of Patek
Philippe’s strongest competitors –
the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, which
despite the original skepticism, was
setting a trend.
In 1976 Patek Philippe broke from
their highly complicated gold and
jewelled tradition and created the
Nautilus reference 3700. The steel
bezel was shaped like the portholes
of a transatlantic liner. Highly-
polished centre links in the bracelet
Timepieces
April 2016 : ISSUE 59
Forty Years
Of Fame
TARIQ MALIk
offset the brushed outer links. All
this is contrasted by the dark, deeply
embossed black dial and white gold
baton hour markers. It was a fairly
large watch for the times, measuring
42mm in width, and earned the
nickname ‘Jumbo’. It was an iconic
Genta masterpiece.
It’s a design that has become highly
recognisable, and the specimens from
the 1970’s are the favourite of many
collectors. For example: a rare version
of the Nautilus with a white embossed
dial from 1978 recently sold at
Sotheby’s in Geneva for CHF250,000
(roughly the same amount in USD).
30 years after the first Nautilus,
the reference 5711 was introduced.
The case of this watch was a little
bigger (measuring 43mm) and the
construction was in three parts
instead of two. The guilloche dial had
39
an electric blue lustre, enhancing the
embossing and making the design
even more eye-catching. The case
back was also upgraded to sapphire,
to make the movement visible.
Today, the latest 5711 is available
directly from Patek Philippe,
and houses the Caliber 324 S C
Mechanical self-winding movement.
The watch is a comfortable size,
40mm: it’s a sporty, elegant watch,
and stays true to the original
marketing philosophy. It might be
one of the more ‘entry-level’ models
available from this prestigious brand,
but that doesn’t mean there isn’t
a waiting list. More often than not,
they’re sold out the moment they
become available.
Patek also released a very limited
version of this watch, the Nautilus
5711/1P, which is made entirely from
Platinum. The differences between
the platinum and steel versions are
slight, with the dial of the latter being
a more vibrant blue, and with a tiny
gem set in the case. The platinum
watch is also far heavier. They are
very scarce, and if you can find them,
they carry a price tag at least five
times greater than the steel version.
Another noteworthy addition
to the Nautilus range is the 5990
Chronograph Travel Time, where even
the pushers for the chronograph
function are cleverly disguised to
maintain the original shape. 2016
marks the 40th anniversary of the
Nautilus, and it is a timepiece that
deserves its time in the spotlight.
Discover Tariq’s co-founded vintage
boutique at momentum-dubai.com
 Timepieces
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Liquid
Gold
Defying expectations, mechanics,
and even gravity itself: meet HYT,
the total non-conformists
of fine watchmaking
WORDS : CHRIS UJMA

B
efore you even get as far as dissecting their time, and create a huge element of surprise. A lot
AIR

timepieces, HYT – The Hydro Mechanical
Horologists – have a name that makes
your brain-cells work. One word at a time, you’re
certain you know what each means: ‘Hydro’,
that’s water or liquid; ‘Mechanical’, okay, got it;
‘Horologists’, watchmaking of course. Then your
grey matter combines them as a meaningful
sentence: water… and mechanics… in a timepiece?
And you feel your grasp on conventional logic
begin to melt.
The confusion that reigns is natural, because
you rightfully assert that horologists have been
actively avoiding the combination of liquid and
mechanics – nemeses, diametrically-opposed –
into such a confined space. But HYT set out with
the mission objective to shatter expectation and
truly innovate, and say of their watches, “Never
since the water clocks of the pharaohs have the
laws of gravity been overcome to transpose this
energy into a portable watch, uniting the worlds of
mechanics and liquid within a wristwatch.”
One wonders what lit the spark, and made HYT
think ‘the world needs this’; CEO Vincent Perriard
is on-hand, to power us through the story. “We
were very bored with the watch industry, because
a lot of people claim to be innovative but really,
they are not! Okay, in terms of design they
are, but when it comes to the system and the
movement, that proves more difficult, and seismic
developments are less frequent. So the idea was
to exploit the paradox of using liquid to tell the
of people said it is, quite simply, impossible, and
would never work. Did we struggle to harness the
technology? Of course, that is to be expected when
you are dealing with such advanced methods. But
it is an important part of the story, to show that
we prevailed.”
When re-writing the rulebook on timepieces,
what technology and facilities did they need to
develop? Well… “Just about everything. I’ll give
one example: our core idea was wanting to play
with liquid inside the watch, and for this we
needed two bellows, one for water, one for oil, and
of course the density is different. So we had to
find a supplier able to manufacture the flexible yet
strong springs. Nobody in Switzerland was able to
create such parts, because this was breaking new
ground. So we went to the USA, to a company who
worked exclusively with NASA. The bellows you
see in the watch? They come from a speed capsule
in the Space Shuttle: no gimmick. These were
engineers working for the aerospace industry,
with its own principles of mechanics, and then
suddenly these Swiss guys were coming to them,
talking about making a watch!” The project, now
a juggernaut, was powerful enough to get even the
most seasoned industry experts excited. “Each
watch is a team effort. We don’t outsource, so
sitting in the room at the initial stages of a new
collection, around the table we have designers,
chemists, engineers, and watchmakers, who
collaborate. Ideas come from all directions.”

40
41
 AIR

42
 Water… and mechanics…
in a timepiece? Your grasp
on logic begins to melt
The technology they developed is stunning,
and impossible to understate (though the
collection names, mercifully, are easier for the
brain to grapple with). The H1 is the pioneer;
the gamechanger, which with its rhodiumed
bellows, an unstructured dial, fluid hours,
screw-locked added lugs, and a 65-hour power
reserve, won the innovation prize at the 2012
Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. For the H2,
“We wanted to work with the crème de la crème of
the watch industry: for example, we collaborated
with Dominique Renaud, concept watchmaker
and an Audemars Piguet mastermind.” It led
to a timepiece that delivered the patented fluid
mechanism in a new configuration, with its own
thermal indicator at nine o’clock to point out
optimal operating temperature. The 62mm-long
H3 went linear, positioning the bellows at the
top, in opposition, giving engineering teams an
unenviable challenge to create the caliber. In the
limited edition Skull Collection you could boldly
‘look time right in the eyes’, with a shape-change
for the capillary glass tube, and skull design
that was such a major success for the company,
teaching them to extend the series in 2016. Finally
is the H4, where the self-generation of light was
introduced using a micro dynamo system that
gives a short shot of electricity to illuminate
the watch. There are three complex movements
43
inside: the micro dynamo, which is powered by
85 components, the liquid system indicating the
hours, and the mechanical movement.
Suffice to say, there is plenty within every
timepiece to keep the aficionado enthralled, even
with regard to the case materials. These have
included titanium gun metal in the H1 Velvet
Gun, leaves of cigar polyepoxyde in the H1 Cigar,
titanium black DLC and pink gold in the Skull
Maori and Red Eye models, and white gold in the
H2 Iceberg. “We are always out meeting clients,
and know them well. What type of person buys
a HYT? They are all freaks about watches! They
love timepieces, and they are total extroverts who
want to be seen with the watch and show what
they have on their wrist: a HYT is a conversation
piece, and they want to talk about it, enthuse
about the technology and celebrate how the
system works.”
Soon, these loyal champions of HYT tech may
not only be waxing-lyrical about timepieces, but
also other commercial creations. The R&D arm
of company, Preciflex, is dedicated to taking the
fluidic capillary system and testing how it can
be applied not only in the watchmaking context
but also in the medical, automotive, and design
sectors – you can only wonder what will emerge
next. One thing is for sure: uncharted waters are
where this brand feels most at home.
 THE PR
60 years ago this month, Hollywood screen siren
Grace Kelly married Monaco’s Prince Rainier, the
defining chapter in her fairytale story.
AIR

B R
INCESS
Although the story would come to a devastating end at
the all-too-young age of 52, her legacy lives on.
AIR reveals the private life of this very public woman

WORDS : HAZEL PLUSH

D E
 AIR

46
 When I
“I
don’t know how to explain,”
says Grace Kelly, her eyes
first arrived in cast low behind a tangle
Monaco I was of microphones. “Taking the step of
marriage is enough to give a girl a bit
very nervous of a twist – and leaving home is…” she
and rather falters, “a very moving thing.” A smile
dances on her lips, but as Kelly looks
intimidated around at the pack of reporters her
body language speaks more than she
ever could. Even in this black and white
footage, it’s clear that she’s nervous.
It’s almost her wedding day, and like
every bride she’s caught between two
worlds – except that her fairytale story
is headline news.
It’s April 4, and the year is 1956.
Kelly is no stranger to the media
melee. She’s a seasoned movie star, an
award-winning actress at the top of
her glamorous game. She has starred
alongside Bing Crosby, Cary Grant,
William Holden and Co. Last year she
scooped an Oscar for her role in A
Country Girl. So why the nerves? She’s
about to embark on the biggest role
of her life. In two weeks time, she’ll
become Princess Grace of Monaco.
One of the journalists offers her a
sip of water. “Miss Kelly, how is your
French?” someone calls. “Comme ci,
comme ça”, she replies with a small
smile and a shrug. So so. There is no
trace of Hollywood shine: right now,
she’s just a girl.
When Prince Rainier III of Monaco
visited the USA in 1955, there were
rumours that he was looking for a wife.
The Principality of Monaco – a tiny
city-state on the French Riviera – was
fast becoming a powerful tax haven and
tourist destination, but its ruler needed
a leading lady. One who could dazzle
the visiting heads of state, business
executives and celebrities.
The pair’s paths had crossed at
Cannes Film Festival, but their
whirlwind romance – and the media
47
frenzy – began when Prince Rainer
III came to America. There were
glamorous dinners, glitzy photo calls,
Hollywood engagements – and then a
real engagement, with a USD2 million
dowry provided by Kelly’s father. She
would travel to Monaco and become
Rainer’s princess, the joint ruler of this
European microstate.
Kelly set sail from New York to
Monaco onboard the SS Constitution
with her family, bridesmaids, poodle,
over eighty pieces of luggage, and a
clutch of reporters. It was from the
Constitution that she held that nervous
press conference – her last interview as
a single woman.
She had left Hollywood behind, but
Kelly’s wedding had all the razzle
dazzle of the silver screen. The acting
world’s own royalty were amongst the
600-strong party: Cary Grant, David
Niven, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner
and many more.
Her dress, the work of MGM’s
Academy Award-winning costume
designer Helen Rose, took 36
seamstresses six weeks to make. The
materials included “twenty-five yards
of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk
net, peau de soie, tulle and 125-year-
old Brussels rose point lace,” revealed
Kristina Haugland in Grace Kelly:
Icon of Style to Royal Bride. With
its button-up collar, ornate bodice
and long lace sleeves, the dress was
demure yet dazzling. It became one of
the most iconic wedding dresses of all
time – indeed, the gown of England’s
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was
reportedly influenced by its design.
Kelly’s family and friends returned
to America after the wedding – but
she remained in Europe. And of course
she could never return to acting: now,
her duty was to her adopted home.
To some onlookers, Kelly had simply
swapped her Hollywood career for a
 more secure, comfortable role. Alfred
Hitchcock – her former mentor,
director and life-long friend – quipped
that he was “very happy that Grace has
found herself such a good part”.
The Princess adapted to her new
duties with poise – but all was not what
it seemed. She finally opened up about
those early years in 1982, in an ABC
20/20 interview. “When I first arrived
in Monaco there were some problems
in adapting,” she admits to Pierre
Salinger in the television report. “I was
very nervous and rather intimidated”.
Sitting in her garden in Monaco, she
exudes confidence and serenity. Her
gaze is now steady, her smile strong
AIR
– she’s as classy and conservative as
the long string of pearls around her
neck. “When we returned from our
honeymoon, Sir Winston Churchill
was the guest of honour at the first
official luncheon we had here in the
palace,” she recalls. “I was very nervous
sitting next to this page of history. But
he was kind and sweet. We became
great friends, and he often came to the
principality for his holidays. We would
try to get the latest films for him to see.”
The Princess became Europe’s best-
dressed monarch – hailed for her tiny
frame and discerning eye for designers
– and she was rarely photographed
without her beloved Hermès Sac à
dépêches. The handbag became such
a staple that the style was dubbed the
‘Kelly’ – a name that lives on – but in a
few months’ time the bag’s true purpose
became clear. The princess was using
it to shrewdly hide her first pregnancy
from the media.
The arrival of Princess Catherine
in 1957 brought stability to the royal
household. “With the birth of our
first child I began to feel at home,”
the Princess tells Salinger in the 1982
interview. “My main function is being
a wife and mother; after that comes all
my other activities.” Prince Albert was
born the following year, and a second
Kelly wasn’t
daughter, Stéphanie, in 1965. simply signing
The Princess immersed herself in
philanthropy, setting up charitable
up for a cosier
foundations for the local arts and alternative to
underprivileged children. She nurtured
Monaco’s cultural heritage, and
Hollywood
donated thousands of dollars to up-
and-coming theatre, film and dance
artists in America. Hitchcock asked her
to appear in his film Marnie, but she
declined. Her sought-after loyalty lay
with her subjects.
The ABC report was the Princess’s
first candid interview in decades – but
it was also her last. In 1983 she suffered
a stroke at the wheel of her Rover P6
3500 while driving back from the
family’s country home with Stéphanie.
She lost control, and the vehicle
plunged down a 120ft mountainside,
leaving both mother and daughter
in a critical condition. Stéphanie
eventually recovered, but Princess
Grace of Monaco died the night after
the accident.
She was mourned on both sides of the
Atlantic, and Rainer never remarried.
He was buried next to her after his
death in 2005.
To some, Grace Kelly was governed by
her duties to her family, her husband,
to Monaco – but she was much stronger
than she could ever reveal. “Women
should have the right to work and
choose the profession that they would
like to do,” she tells Salinger in that
final interview. “Very often I think the
price of independence and freedom is
solitude and loneliness.”
In accepting her ultimate – and
perhaps most challenging – role, Kelly
wasn’t simply signing up for a cosier
alternative to Hollywood. She was
dedicating her life to seeking a richer
and more fulfilling future – for her
family, her husband, and Monaco itself.
48
49
 PRINCIPLE
AIR

To commemorate Frank Abagnale’s birthday

on April 27, the security consultant speaks
exclusively with AIR about how he successfully
conned millions of dollars’ worth of cheques,
and how he turned his life around

WORDS : ANNIE DARLING

50
51
 AIR

52
T
he year is 1964. The place?
New York City. A bustling
metropolis: a chaotic concrete
jungle, creaking at the seams. This
is where Frank Abagnale Jr. found
himself, broke and struggling to
survive – a runaway teen quickly
running out of options.
The third of four children; Abagnale,
whose real-life story was depicted in
the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, was
born on April 27, 1948. “Everything
was great until my mother and father
announced that they were getting a
divorce,” he reveals. Overcome with
fear and unable to decide which parent
to live with permanently, he ran away
from home. He never saw his father
again, and didn’t see his mother
for several years. “I found myself
in the middle of New York City,” he
remembers. “I was 16-years-old and
I realised that the only way I could
survive was if I convinced people that I
was older than I actually was.”
Abagnale, who describes his
teenage self as “very creative and very
observant”, altered his driver’s license
to make himself ten years older; a
strategy aided by his intellect and
prematurely greying hair. But before
long, Abagnale burned through what
little money his father had saved for
him in a chequing account he’d opened
a few years before. “I quickly ran out
of money,” he recalls. “So I started to
write cheques and cash them myself;
each were for around ten or 20 dollars.
“Being a young kid, I justified my
behaviour by telling myself that I was
taking money from a big bank. Surely
a big bank wasn’t going to miss ten
dollars. That’s the reason why I got
away with so many things,” he explains.
“When I look back on that time in
my life, everything I did, I fell into.
Originally, I never dreamed of being a
pilot, or a doctor, or a lawyer.” Even so,
that’s what he became.
Abagnale obtained a Pan American
Airlines pilot uniform, forged a fake
airline ID, and began an unprecedented
five-year crime spree. “One day I was
walking down the street when I saw
an airline crew come out of a hotel.
It suddenly occurred to me that if I
had that uniform, I’d be able to cash
my cheques easier. By this time, some
banks had refused me because I didn’t
have an account with them. This was
before ATMs and debit cards and I
thought: ‘If I make up a story that I’m
flying out of town and need some cash,
this’ll be a lot easier.’”
After acquiring a pilot’s uniform,
he started visiting airports to avoid
suspicion. “I didn’t want people
bumping into me thinking, who on
earth is that pilot?” He asked a flight
attendant on a date and on their way to
dinner, she told him that airline staff
were able to collect their day’s earnings
from deposit boxes located in each
airline terminal, eliminating the risk of
banks altogether. “Well, that was well
worth the dinner I bought her because
afterwards I hit up every airline in that
airport,” Abagnale chuckles. “Before
long, I started to meet a lot of these
flight attendants and they’d ask me if
I wanted to ride the jump seat on their
aircraft. I realised that I could ride on
planes for free – without having to fly –
and that I could stay in all these hotels,
which they’d bill to the airline.”
By the time he was 21-years-old,
he flew an estimated one million
miles on commercial aircraft in the
cockpit jump seat. “Everything I did,
I learned as I went along. It was never
premeditated. I never dreamed about
staying in luxury hotels or flying
around the world. At that time, it was
all about getting my hands on that
uniform to see if it made a difference
when it came to cashing cheques. And
it did, it was wonderful. I was shocked
by the power of that uniform, nobody
53
People read my
story... and assume
that this was a very
glamorous time in
my life, but it wasn’t.
I was very lonely
asked any questions.” While legally a
minor, he created several identities,
which he used to travel to 26 countries,
frequenting London and Paris. “People
read my story or watch the movie and
assume that this was a very glamorous
time in my life, but it wasn’t. I was very
lonely. I couldn’t confide in anybody.”
While Abagnale was jetsetting all
over the world, there was a sudden
epidemic of middle class youth who ran
away from home during the ‘hippie’
era of the 1960s and early 1970s. His
parents weren’t worried, he explains.
“I would send them plenty of postcards
from all over Europe. I told them I was
hitchhiking and living in youth hostels.
I’d never include a return address, so
they had no way to write me back, but
I wanted them to know I was fine. I
didn’t want them thinking I was dead in
a gutter somewhere.”
Abagnale did come clean once about
his true identity to an American
Airlines stewardess. “She asked me
to come out to California and meet
her parents. I did and realised she
was getting pretty serious about me.”
During the visit, Abagnale revealed that
he was a teenager who’d ran away from
home and had been forging cheques.
“She got very upset,” he remembers,
“but told me it was okay and that we
should head back to her parents’ house.

I told her to go ahead of me and that I
needed some time to myself.
“Afterwards, when I cycled down her
street, I could see all these police cars
outside her house. I took off. I told
myself right then that I couldn’t trust
anybody. I told myself that this woman
only liked me because she thought I
was a pilot. In retrospect, that was
me thinking as an adolescent. As I
grew older – I actually got to meet her
again years later – I realised that she
was an adult and had done the right,
responsible thing.”
After seeing wanted posters of himself
around airport cabin crew lounges,
Abagnale stopped cashing fraudulent
cheques and moved to Atlanta, passing
himself off as a retired pediatrician.
AIR
“I knew that I couldn’t keep doing
what I was doing,” he readily admits,
“and I already had a lot of money, so I
didn’t actually need to do it anymore.”
Nevertheless, this realisation didn’t
stop him from taking a temporary chief
administrative role at a local hospital
for a couple of weeks, with nobody the
wiser. “At first I said no,” he laughs. “But
I’m not the type of person who likes to
pass up a challenge! I thought to myself,
‘let’s see if I can really pull this off!’”
He also posed as an attorney in
Louisiana, where he worked for the
State Attorney General after passing
the state’s bar exam. During this time,
he was relentlessly chased by a number
of FBI agents, most notably special
agent Joseph G. Shea. “For the first
couple of years he [Shea] thought I was
an adult,” explains Abagnale. “What
made him suspicious was that they had
no record of my fingerprints, which I
left everywhere I went. They knew I
was American and this was back during
the draft. He found it strange I wasn’t
registered anywhere.”
It was only until Abagnale started
using the name Barry Allen, which
was the same alias as DC Comics’ The
Flash, that Shea began suspecting
I’m an opportunist
and this was a way
for me to get out of
prison
this supposedly hardened criminal
was a young runaway. Abagnale was
eventually hunted down and arrested
in France in 1969, aged 21-years-old,
on an Interpol warrant from Sweden.
Despite their troubled history, after
Abagnale’s arrest Shea became a
“mentor and father figure” to Abagnale,
who later dedicated one of several
books to him.
“I wasn’t surprised when they caught
me,” comments Abagnale, on what he
considers to be an “inevitable” arrest.
“An Air France stewardess who was
on vacation saw me get out of my
car and walk into a little vegetable
market. She recognised me from all
the wanted posters and wrote down my
license plate number.” Abagnale was
convicted of forging USD2.5 million in
cheques, all of which he has since paid
back. “Most of the money was actually
recovered,” he explains. “I was just a
kid. I didn’t know how to spend that
kind of money. They found about USD2
million in safety deposit boxes.”
After serving time in France and
Sweden, he was sentenced to ten years
in US Federal prison. However, not
before he escaped custody on the flight
back to America. “The last thing on
my mind was to escape,” he insists.
“I got on the plane but as we started
to approach New York – I’ll be honest
with you – I started to get really,
very scared. I’d had a horrible time
in France and I was petrified about
having to go to prison again.”
After the plane landed, Abagnale was
briefly left alone in the aircraft, during
which time he dismantled the chute in
the kitchen galley, sliding down onto
the runway. “I ran across the tarmac,
jumped over the fence and took off as
quick as I could!”
Another time, once recaptured
and imprisoned, a US Marshal who
had forgotten his prisoner’s papers
transported him to a detention facility.
Seizing the opportunity, Abagnale
54
escaped once more, after persuading
guards that he was actually an
undercover prison inspector. “I ended
up getting more time for that,” he
says. “I originally had ten years for the
forged cheques, and an additional two
years were added to my sentence for
escaping federal prison.”
Four years later, aged 26-years-old,
the American government offered to
release him on the condition he worked
for the FBI for the remainder of his
sentence. “When I came out of prison,
people assumed I was rehabilitated but
I never thought of myself as a changed
person. I’m an opportunist and this was
a way for me to get out of prison.”
It wasn’t until he met his wife, while
working undercover in Texas in 1975,
that he became a reformed character.
They have “three wonderful sons,
one of whom is an FBI agent” and
will celebrate their 40th wedding
anniversary later this year. “Becoming
a husband and a father made me realise
the importance of family. That’s what
changed my life. Also the FBI,” he
concedes, with a grin. “Their character,
as well as their love of country. It
eventually wore onto me.”
Today, at 68-years-old, he’s one of the
world’s most respected authorities on
forgery and embezzlement. Abagnale’s
been associated with the FBI for nearly
40 years and lectures extensively at the
FBI Academy and FBI field offices. More
than 14,000 financial institutions,
corporations and law enforcement
agencies use his fraud prevention
programmes and over the past 31
years, he’s worked with 65 per cent
of America’s Fortune 500 companies.
“Looking back on my life, I’m not
amazed by the things I did when I was
a teenage boy. What’s amazing to me
is that I did all those things and still
managed to get to where I am today,”
he smiles. “Anyone can change. If you
really want to, and you have to really
want to, you can change your life.”
55
 AIR

56
 “
THE
WORLD
NEEDS
HIM
”During a heartfelt interview,
Muhammad Ali’s wife Lonnie reveals
more about the man known the world
over as The Greatest
WORDS : Matthew Syed

57
 GR
M
uhammad Ali has for a long time
been a journalistic obsession. My
father revered him, I watched all his
bouts on tape as a teenager and by the time I
arrived at Oxford I threw myself into studying
his wider significance. Civil rights, Vietnam,
racial awakening: Ali was an animating figure
throughout what David Remnick, editor of The
New Yorker, called the ‘sixties phantasmagoria’.
I was not an uncritical fan. I recognised the
contradictions. A man who preached monogamy
while living a life of promiscuity; a campaigner
for black rights who once shared a stage with the
Klan; a man who eulogised peace but punched
people for a living. His vindictive demolition of
Floyd Patterson will never be forgotten by those
who watched it, Ali barking “what’s my name” as
each jab bored into the visage of his hopelessly
outmatched opponent.
I have spent much of my career trying to
deconstruct his legacy, writing a column every
month or two. I have long been on the verge
of writing a book but have always hesitated.
TE
Despite reading every article and watching every
interview, I felt as if I had never penetrated
to the true Ali. Where does the man end and
the myth begin? Since his retirement, Ali has
been positioned as a secular saint. A man who
wants “love and tolerance”. The Muhammad Ali
AIR
Center in Kentucky is all about the principles
of humanity, but what about the controversial,
divisive figure who catapulted into the world’s
consciousness in the sixties; who took on the
establishment; who loved throwing bombs into
polite sensibilities? The Nation, which he joined as
a young man, believed that whites were “blue-eyed
devils”, argued against interracial marriage and
called for a separate homeland for blacks within
the borders of the United States. And they were
prepared to engage in armed insurrection to get it.
I never got the chance to meet Ali, despite
years of trying. When he came to Blackwell’s
in Oxford in 1992 for a book signing, moments
from my student digs, I was at an Olympic table
tennis qualification tournament in Italy. When
he visited the Olympic Village in Sydney in 2000,
I had a match to play (I arrived back moments
after he had left). Every time I have requested
an interview, I have been knocked back on the
grounds of Ali’s ill health. It remains one of my
keenest ambitions.
Yet last month I got the next best thing: I spent
a revelatory, tear-filled morning with the person
who has been with him for more than five decades,
who has shared a bed with him for more than
three of those, who has cared for him since the
moment he descended into Parkinson’s and that
beautiful face became a mask: Lonnie, his fourth
wife. More than anyone, she knows the real
Ali. They met when Lonnie was six and he was
58
a 22-year-old about to challenge the fearsome
Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship.
She lived on the opposite side of the street to
Ali’s parents, in a close-knit neighbourhood of
Louisville, Kentucky. Lonnie remembers the
moment vividly. “There are certain things that
stick in your mind. I came home and noticed my
mother looking out the front door, across the
street. My sister was looking out the curtains
too. I asked: ‘What are you looking at?’ They
said: ‘That’s Cassius Clay!’“All the boys in the
neighbourhood, every last one, was in front of his
mother’s house. He was sitting on the front steps,
like the Pied Piper. It was like he was magnetic.
He saw me from a distance and asked me to come
over. I was painfully shy, but he pulled me over. I
didn’t know the pictures of that meeting existed
until two years ago when I caught up with the
photographer. I remember exactly what he had
on: bow tie, black pants, white shirt, black socks,
black shoes.”
Over the years, they would meet whenever
Ali was back to visit his parents and their
friendship blossomed. “He was like my mentor,
my big brother,” she says. “He was always a big
influence on my life, telling me what to aspire to,
what school to go to. He was the biggest, most
extraordinary human being. I remember when he
brought his first wife, Sonji, to the neighbourhood,
who was so much fun. A few years later, he came
with Belinda, his second wife, and I couldn’t
understand it at first. I didn’t understand the
idea of divorce. I kept saying: ‘Where’s Sonji’? “It
wasn’t until I was 17 that I had a premonition that
I would marry Muhammad. Not then, not any
time soon, but at some stage we would be together,
and we would die together.” When Ali became ill
with Parkinson’s disease, Lonnie volunteered to
look after him, and when his third marriage to
the model Veronica Porsche hit the rocks, they
became romantically involved, marrying in 1986.
Davis Miller, Ali’s biographer and one of his
closest friends, who is also with us, says: “If you
really want to understand Muhammad, let me tell
you about a time when I went to a book signing for
his friend, Howard Bingham. It was the summer
of ’93, so he’d had Parkinson’s for some time. As
always during a book signing, he was the last
person to leave. They want him to stay two hours,
he will stay for three. He kisses babies, holds
children to his chest. That is his nature.
“On the way back, we are driving along and
he sees some homeless people on the corner.
He asks Howard to pull over and starts walking
along, raises his hands and says: ‘You look like
Joe Frazier.’ He approaches them, with this mock
serious face, and starts tossing punches. And
he is hanging out, jiving, playing. You start with
three people and they morph into 50, 100. Then
he pulls out his wallet, and gives them his money.
 EA
‘No liquor,’ he says. ‘This is for food.’ When he
runs out of money, he says to them: ‘Stay here.’ We
then rode to the closest ATM so he could get more
money to hand out. That is Muhammad Ali.”
Lonnie smiles through tears as she listens to
the story. “I have seen that a thousand times. He
is so generous, so giving,” she says. “I have seen
him empty his wallet for homeless people, and he
didn’t have anything like as much money as people
thought. A lot of people have taken advantage of
him but he doesn’t mind. They sometimes say:
‘Don’t meet your heroes because you will see the
blemishes.’ With Muhammad I have learnt more
with every passing year about how big-hearted he
is. Even today, he wants to give back.”
Does he regret joining the Nation, I wonder?
Was he manipulated into signing up with an
extremist cult? “Oh no, he believed in the Nation
and had huge respect for Elijah Muhammad [its
leader],” Lonnie says. “But you have to understand
the context. He went to a segregated school. His It wasn’t until I
dad grew up in an even more segregated area.
And then there was Emmett Till, which weighed
was 17 that I had
a premonition that

ST
heavily on Muhammad’s mind.” Till was a 14-year-
old from Chicago who was murdered by white
men for wolf-whistling at a white shop assistant
while visiting an uncle in Mississippi in 1955. Ali
was about the same age as Till at the time and the
youngster was brought to tears when reading of
how Till’s body had been mutilated, with an eye
gouged from its socket. The two men charged with
murder were acquitted by an all-white jury in 67
minutes. “If we hadn’t stopped to drink pop, it
wouldn’t have taken that long,” one juror said. Ali
wrote a school project on the subject.
“Young black men were angry,” says Lonnie.
“When Muhammad lived in Miami, he couldn’t
stay on the beach. He had to stay in Overtown.
He would run down the causeway to get to the
gym... He attended his first meeting of the Nation
when he was in his teens. You know, the group
had nothing to do with Islam; it is more of a social
philosophy. By the late seventies, he realised that
their beliefs were wrong. He became a moderate,
mainstream Muslim. It was no good hating. The
only answer was forgiveness . . . Muhammad, like
most people who go through life, has evolved.”
From this perspective, the Nation of the 1960s
seems less like a militant threat and more like the
vigilante response of a downtrodden minority,
almost like a cry for help. The Nation claimed
that whites were congenitally evil, having been
bred in test tubes by a malign scientist, and
that blacks would be saved from the apocalypse
by a wheel-shaped spaceship. This ramshackle
ideology channelled and, in some grotesque
sense, rationalised the anger of young men like
Ali, outraged by the horrors of slavery and the
indignities of Jim Crow. Perhaps, then, it is
not surprising that this proud youngster didn’t
I would marry
Muhammad
join the civil rights movement, which preached
reconciliation. He wanted some sort of revenge
or, at the very least, separation from what he saw
as his oppressors. His willingness to speak at a
meeting of the Klan was not out of ideological
sympathy but practical reality. The Klan was
one of the only other organisations that believed
that blacks should live separately to whites.
They reached the same conclusion from opposite
ideological perspectives.
How is Ali’s life today? “He does have advanced
Parkinson’s disease, so he is challenged,” says
Lonnie, “but he still is a positive person. We try
to keep him engaged and connected to people,
especially his family. The nature of the illness
is that you become apathetic. The thing he
loves most is watching himself on YouTube. He
becomes so intense. It’s as if he hasn’t ever seen
it before. He watches the Parkinson interviews. I
remember in Michigan one time, he was watching
himself, and said: ‘I was crazy, wasn’t I?’ I said:
‘Yes!’ He loves watching the fights with Frazier,
too. He used to do these doodles of himself in a
boxing ring. The only opponent he ever put in the
ring with him was Frazier.” (Perhaps there is an
element of guilt: Ali regularly insulted Frazier to
sell their fights.)
Lonnie has brought Ali to life like never before:
his character, his majesty, his contradictions.
I find myself more moved, and even more
captivated, by this singular man, who from
humble beginnings played such a crucial role

59
 AIR

60
61
 Where does the
man end and the
myth begin?
 Gastronomy
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

The divisive
incarnation of Ali in
the sixties smoothed
the passage of
the integrationist
project
in shaping late twentieth-century American
AIR

consciousness. I realise something else too. In

1964, a pivotal time in the civil rights movement,
Martin Luther King visited President Johnson
and told him that if he did not end apartheid in
the south, more young black people would be
driven into the hands of the Nation and other
extremist groups. These groups were tiny in
numbers but the young Ali had given them huge
prominence. Johnson got the point, strengthening
the legislation against objections from within his
own party. In this sense, the divisive incarnation
of Ali in the sixties smoothed the passage of the
integrationist project that his later self would
come to fully embrace. This is, perhaps, his
defining irony.
What would he be doing now if he hadn’t
descended into Parkinson’s? “There are many
times today that I wish his voice was stronger,”
says Lonnie. “The world needs him. Islam needs
him. These young people, these jihadists, are so
misguided. He wouldn’t have been a politician. If
he was President, the White House would be open
to the public and he would give everything away.
But he would be doing more travelling, trying
to build bridges. That ability to stand up and
say things. That person is still in his belly... The
tragedy is that his illness means that the world
can’t see it.”
I Am The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, at the O2,
London, runs until August 31. aliattheo2.com

64
 BEHIND
Jimmy Ellis, a country
boy from Alabama, was
cursed with having a
voice identical to that of
Elvis Presley

THE

MASK
WORDS : ANNIE DARLING
AIR

A
dirt-splattered white 1962
Chevrolet stumbles down
Alabama’s smouldering
country roads, spewing dusty sunbaked
rock in its wake. Bouncing over sizzling
gravel, a then-teenage Jimmy Ellis and
his cousin, Lee Jones, embark on their
daily commute. The wearisome drive
takes the pair 275 miles from their
hometown of Orrville in Dallas County
to Georgia, where they go to school. A
cultural labyrinth through geographic
extremes: from ‘60s small-town
America to river-bound cities of gothic
plantations and hardscrabble farmland.
Jones drives, while Ellis lounges
coolly in the passenger seat, feet up on
the dashboard. He strums his guitar
and belts out gospel. Sometimes, they’d
sing together. “When you walk through
a storm, hold your head up high”, is a
regular lyric they’d cheerfully chant,
“and don’t be afraid of the dark.”
Alabama has music deep within its
soul. It breeds music-lovers who spend
their lives losing themselves in the

66
67
 enslaving throb of country blues. Ellis
was no exception. “Although we lived
ten miles from each other, I used to
spend the night at his house before
school,” reminiscences Jones with a
thick southern drawl. “When I woke up,
he’d come running in with his vinyl 45
records and he’d start listening to Elvis
Presley. He just loved music.”
But Ellis wasn’t just a fan of Elvis;
he was both blessed and cursed with
having a voice identical to that of The
King. “He sounded just like him,” says
Jones, “and that wasn’t all he was good
at.” Jones claims Ellis, as their high
school’s quarterback, had some of the
fastest feet in the state, as well as being
an excellent baseball and basketball
player. “He loved and lived life to the
fullest,” he fondly recalls. “The ladies
sure loved him,” he laughs.
Despite his undeniable musical talent,
Ellis remained in Alabama for several
years after college, spending his days
training Tennessee walking horses on
his family’s farm, including three world
grand champions. He was “caught in
the middle”, explains Jones, in that he
desperately “wanted to pursue a music
AIR
career but felt he needed to support
his family as a talented horseman
and farmer.” Eventually Ellis hired a
manager, choreographer and stylist to
help him break into the music business,
but found that his eerie resemblance to
his idol made him obsolete. After all,
the world already had an Elvis.
“Everybody thought he didn’t have
much of a chance. We all thought
that he wouldn’t go too far. Where we
were from – out in the country – a lot
of people were trying to make it. But
having said that, Jimmy was the one
who had the talent. He was the one
who could’ve made it.” Ellis eventually
travelled to Tennessee and California.
“He said those days were hard,” admits
Jones. “He was now quite a bit older
than most aspiring singers. He had a
hard time, but music was his passion.”
Although Ellis had been recording
since 1964, it was only after Elvis’
death, in August 1977, that he was given
any real attention. Cunning record
producer Shelby Singleton – owner of
Sun Records – began marketing Ellis
as a mysterious singer called Orion,
who wore a glittery mask and costumes
that were extraordinarily similar to
Elvis’. This highly contentious publicity
campaign implied to an excitable and
desperate public that Orion’s mask
was worn to conceal botched plastic
surgery. It further suggested that Orion
was, in fact, Elvis, who had faked his
own death to escape the burden of
international celebrity.
Orion more or less spawned the Elvis-
is-alive fruitcake conspiracy theories
that persevere to this day, while Ellis
became confined to Elvis’ ghost. The
recent documentary Orion: The Man
Who Could Be King sheds light on how
Ellis was haunted by the realisation
that he would never be recognised for
himself. “When Jimmy’s promoters
tried to make it out like Elvis hadn’t
died and that he’d come back as Orion
we were shocked,” says Jones. “Jimmy
had always sounded like Elvis, but we
knew that he really wanted to stand
on his own. The problem was his
promoters wanted him to sound and
sing like Elvis to encourage people to
come and see him. That wasn’t what he
was about. He was trapped, really.”
The peculiar similarities between
Elvis and Ellis didn’t stop with their
distinctive voices – both had mothers
named Gladys, although Ellis was
put up for adoption when he was two.
“When he was adopted and came to
Orrville, Jimmy was six years old,”
remembers Jones. Commenting on
rumours that Ellis could’ve been Elvis’
younger brother and the illegitimate
son of Vernon Presley, Jones insists
that he “doesn’t know anything about
that”. According to Orion: The Man
Who Could Be King, Ellis’ birth
certificate states that his father was
named Vernon, but that a surname
wasn’t provided.
After Ellis’ career took off, he
didn’t return to Alabama for several
years. Swept up in the wonderfully
weird whirlwind that was rock ‘n’
roll aprocrypha, Orion successfully
filled stadiums throughout the world,
released nine studio albums and toured
Europe, including a stint in Germany
with Kiss. Jones recalls a barn party
that was held in Orrville for Ellis’
parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.
“He was doing really well around that
time and the party was on their family
farm. We cooked about 250 pounds
of meat for a barbeque that lasted
about a day and a half,” he laughs.
Several celebrities were in attendance,
68
including singer-songwriter Jerry Lee
Lewis who performed for the town’s
awestruck residents.
“We tried our best to keep up with
him,” laughs Jones, “but when he went
out to California we didn’t see him a
whole lot. He left the area and became
Orion. Of course, we heard the Elvis
rumours and all that kind of thing, but
we were never really sure of anything.
One thing’s for certain, he sure spent
a whole lotta money to get to where he
thought he wanted to be and, well… it
never quite worked out.”
On December 12, 1998, Ellis was
murdered in his Alabama pawnshop
during a robbery. He’d returned to the
area after spontaneously ripping off
his mask while performing as Orion
in front of a sell-out audience in 1983.
“He didn’t go back out to California
after he’d finished with Orion, although
he did sing around here for a while
afterwards. Then he had this terrible
Blessed and
cursed with having
a voice identical to
that of The King
thing happen to him,” says Jones. “It
was really very tragic what happened to
Jimmy.” Ellis’ music was played at his
funeral at which Jones was an honorary
pallbearer. “He was a very talented
person; very talented. He could do
an awful lot of things. He was a fine
horseman, an incredible sportsman and
also a great welder. It just turned out
that he was also a great singer.”
Ellis wasn’t trying to be like Elvis.
The problem was that Elvis sounded
just like him. After The King’s death,
an opportunity came knocking. Anyone
who scrutinised Orion – as Ellis was
contractually obligated to call himself
– would realise he quite obviously
wasn’t the late singer, but fans wanted
to believe the masquerade, and Orion
played sold-out shows for years. Behind
the mask, Ellis longed to be himself.
He even released a single titled I’m
Not Trying To Be Like Elvis. His fame
proved to be significant, however it was
equally fleeting. Nonetheless, Jones
affirms that Ellis continues to be a
much-loved and well-respected figure
in his community and that: “His legacy
will live on a good while longer.”
69
 Motoring
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

Where
No Bentley
AIR

Has Gone
Before
With luxury, power and amazing agility on
sand, is the Bentayga the first Bentley
tailor-made for the Middle East?
WORDS : CHRIS ANDERSON

70
71
 I
am driving a Bentley through the
desert, actually across the dunes,
and I’m having to pinch myself.
Like any car you might expect from the
brand, this is a sophisticated, hand-
built USD250,000 machine. And yet
here I am throwing it around, sending
huge waves of sand into the air, then
sliding up, over and down the slopes,
wondering why I’m doing this to such
an expensive vehicle. A representative
from Bentley is with me and he doesn’t
seem to mind at all. In fact, he’s
pointing at the next incline, telling me
to go faster.
But if either I or my co-pilot has
gone mad, thankfully the Bentayga is a
stroke of genius. This is Bentley’s new
luxury SUV, built to the same standards
as any of its current fleet. Its sculpted
high-strength aluminium body sports
the familiar matrix grille and four
AIR
floating headlights up front, while the
interior is full of hand-crafted wood,
metal and leather. The ride height is
different to a regular Bentley, naturally,
due to the intended off-road use, but a
wealth of clever technology has been
included to help make that feat
a reality.
Powering over the dunes just outside
of Palm Springs, California, for the
car’s official launch, the result is
more than capable, handling well and
inspiring confidence thanks to its all-
new twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W12
engine. Packing 600hp, this 12-cylinder
offering has no trouble pulling
the Bentayga over even the tallest
slopes, and out on the road it delivers
0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds and a top
speed of 301km/h. This is a powerful
vehicle, and the potential recreation
use even extends to the race track.
It must be the car the Middle East
has been waiting for. Bentley has
always had a special connection with
the region, and in Dubai, for example, it
has a strong and loyal following. There
are currently two Bentley dealerships
in the city, with the Marina branch
featuring a café, while visitors to the
new St. Regis Dubai hotel can stay in
a Bentley-themed suite, with leather,
wood and other touches inspired by the
luxurious Mulsanne. A new flagship
store is planned for the near future,
making it no surprise that Bentley
recently named the Middle East as one
of its four key markets, up there with
China, Europe and America.
With that it mind, venturing into
the SUV market becomes a logical next
step rather than a risky proposition. If
the Bentley name is faring well in the
Middle East, then a car that handles
its deserts just as well as the roads is
bound to be a top seller. Clearly, it has
to be a SUV that lives up to the brand’s
values, and that means something very
different to those currently traversing
the dunes at weekends.
To make it easy to get the most from
it, four driving modes are included as
standard: Sport, Comfort, Bentley (a
balance between Sport and Comfort)
and Custom, where owners can adjust
and create their own settings, tweaking
the suspension accordingly. Middle
East drivers will most likely request
their models with the All Terrain
package, as this adds Snow & Grass,
Dirt & Gravel, Mud & Trail, and Sand
Dunes. The model I am driving has
this, and the adjustments from road to
sand are made easily at the turn of a
switch. All Terrain also increases the
underbody protection and adds top-
view cameras, showing more of your
surrounds on the in-dash screen.
While the outside may be about
conquering rough terrain, inside the
Bentayga is all comfort. There is a long
list of interior trim and colour options,
with other packages available to add
even more technology, depending on
personal preference. Go for the lot, with
a head-up display, lane assist or traffic
sign recognition, and you won’t have
much to think about or distract you at
all, leaving you to concentrate on the
fun stuff.
Navigation, a 60GB-hard drive
for music and front seats with 22
points of adjustment, heating and six
massage settings, are enough to make
passengers in the back jealous, but
the Rear Seat Entertainment package
72
 The Bentayga will stop that. This adds removable
10.2 inch Android tablets to the front
impresses from headrests, linked to 4G Wi-Fi, and
both a driving with the flip-down tray tables gives
an inflight feel. Three levels of sound
and aesthetic system can be requested too, with
viewpoint the Naim package being the most
impressive, featuring 18 speakers and
a 1,800W amplifier.
The options list continues with 17
exterior colours, a choice of 20, 21 and
22 inch wheels, and an opportunity for
owners to really indulge, purchasing
a Breitling Mulliner Tourbillon
dashboard clock in place of the
standard version. Costing USD160,000,
carved from a single piece of solid
rose or white gold and encrusted with
diamonds, you can also purchase the
matching wristwatch at USD175,000.
A USD250,000 car by itself needs
something extra, of course.
A three-piece Mulliner hamper
set, comprising three separate
compartments – with a fridge, a Linley
fine china and cutlery set, plus a storage
area for dry goods – is another way to
make the Bentayga stand out. Or opt
for the Mulliner styling package, with
diamond-quilted seats and doors, extra
seat embroidery and a custom filler cap.
It is an impressive offering, both from
a driving and aesthetic viewpoint, and
seems perfectly competent whatever
the terrain. Before driving on sand,
I tested the Bentayga on a dirt bike
track, and was amazed at the control it
demonstrated when pointing straight
down on steep inclines. The deserts
of Dubai could be explored in the
morning, followed by the mountains of
Fujairah in the afternoon.
While the appeal for the Middle East
is clear, Bentley is remaining cautious,
building just 5,000 Bentaygas in total
this year. It says there will be a smaller
V8-engined model, plus a diesel and a
hybrid at some point, and how many of
those end up in the Middle East will be
anyone’s guess. But the potential
is there to make it a large number. This
region is a unique hotspot for Bentley
sales and fandom, and thanks to the
Bentayga, long will it continue.

73
 Gastronomy
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59

The
Fair Lady
AIR

of Florence
Self-taught triple-Michelin
star winner Annie Féolde
is a legend in gastronomy
circles; it’s high-time her
culinary expertise made its
mark on the UAE

WORDS :CHRIS UJMA

74
75
 I
n 1993, Annie Feolde was,
definitely, the first woman outside
her native France to possess the
coveted triple-Michelin crown. And
she was, perhaps, the only winner who
was taken by surprise when awarded
the first of those stars. For hers is a
story of absolute humility; of success
not necessarily by design, but borne of
passion for a craft; so it stands that she
must have been proud to receive the
accolade? “We were very happy but no,
not proud, you must never be proud…
you are never good enough to be
proud” she gently scolds, while giving
a vigorous stir to her piping hot cup of
espresso (with a touch of water).
The foundation of her success
lies within the Florence-based
AIR
restaurant Enoteca Pinchiorri. It is
an establishment that started, back
in 1970, with her ambitious husband,
Giorgio Pinchiorri, tantalising local
tastebuds with a sensational cellar-full
of enviable grape-vintages, (served,
unlike anywhere else at that time, by
the glass). Annie’s impact was to enrich
the complex arrangement by creating
hors d’oeuvres to accompany the tasting
sessions. “We didn’t mean to have a
restaurant – when we eventually began
making food I started my cooking in
the corridor, and didn’t have any space.
At first, when we opened, it was only to
serve glasses of grape, which was a very
interesting, unusual and new venture,
and people would get excited about
tasting such wonderful drinks. But I
realised the scene wasn’t complete. The
addition of food was important because
the marriage of cuisine and grape
is delicate, and nearly impossible to
explain. So, no, I didn’t go seeking the
Michelin rating, I was simply looking to
complement the tasting experience in
our restaurant.”
Her oft-quoted thought is, “We
must always remember the culture of
the place in which we find ourselves,
because that’s our identity. But we
must also try to improve, change, and
keep in step with the times.” Which is
apt, because with the the opening of
her UAE-based venture The Artisan
at Burj Daman, there was a cultural
gap to bridge. The approach back in
Italy at the pioneering ‘EP’ eatery is,
“what is luxury, if not a feeling of being
received, accompanied and served
like royalty?” The Artisan heralds a
paradigm shift, not in terms of the
quality of fare and service excellence
– which are elements that will never
be compromised – but in the move
away from ultra fine dining, in order
to smooth into the Dubai cuisine
scene (they tactfully describe it as ‘an
invitation to break free from the usual
fine dining experience’).
Refined-casual is definitely achieved
here: the 120-seat restaurant is
welcoming and elegantly-designed,
with a painstakingly-produced and
perfect Murano glass-feature taking
centre-stage, soft blue chairs that
urge you to sink into them, and the
presence of Italian craftsmanship
abounds. Marble accents, imported
cutlery and crockery; Flos, for example,
is entrusted with illuminating the
ambient and utterly relaxing dining
space. Inviting hues help strike a chord
of comfort and welcome. Annie admits,
“Fine dining is a little bit out of fashion,
as patrons want to be more relaxed,
and people frequent restaurants so
many times that we cannot present a
very sophisticated environment which
feels like a museum, especially in
Dubai. It doesn’t upset me, I think it
is important to seize the moment, and
Food photography: studioquagli.com
here we can provide simple dining with
amazing ingredients.”
Signature dishes at the restaurant will
change with the seasons, as all produce
and ingredients will be imported from
Italy itself. The restaurant will have
its own brand of Parmesan and olive
oil, for example. “I would only open
this restaurant once I was sure I could
76
 Soft blue chairs get the right produce, and you can get
everything here [in Dubai]; visiting
urge you to sink our luxury produce supplier, I was
into them, and the actually a little bit jealous, because the
things you can get here are incredible,”
presence of Italian she enthuses. On-opening, purveyors
craftsmanship of gourmet can look forward to a
line-up that includes Tuffoli con ragu
abounds di ossobuco di vitello (Tuffoli pasta
with cross-cut veal shank ragout
and parmesan fondue), Linguine alle
vongole veraci e pane alla bottarga
(linguini with clams, breadcrumbs
and cured Sardinian grey mullet roe),
and Scottadito di agnello marinate
(in Italian the word scottadito means
burned fingers, and this dish is so-
named because the lamb chops are so
delicious that you can’t resist eating
them sizzling hot). She shares, “The
blueprint is simple: I just want to make
people who may never have experienced
the finest examples of Italian
cooking to fall in love with this simple,
natural fare.” Also tasteworthy is the
line-up of wildly-creative artisanal
beverages, which are worth ordering if
only for the vessels they are served in.
For example, the refreshing Japanito
is poured from an oriental teapot, the
sweet French Mule fills a mason jar,
the flavours of Polynesian echo inside a
pearl shell, and aromatic Ionicis raises
a smile in its clever Chinese-takeway
inspired container.
Heading the kitchen on these shores
is her trusted protégé, Luca Tresoldi,
who has worked as Head Chef back in
Florence for five years. Pre-opening, the
restaurant was a hive of activity, with
cameos from characters that keep the
homes fires burning and the standards
high: when we visited, ‘fiery, Milanese
and passionate’ chef Riccardo Monco
is on-site alongside Luca, while master
sommelier and Cellar Director Ivano
Boso is deep in thought over complex
vintages and pairings, until signora
Feolde sweeps into the room and greets
those under her charge like close
friends, her smile and warmth readily
reciprocated. At this establishment
there are echoes of Florence, not only in
the design and cuisine, but through the
creative input that drives the Enoteca
Pinchiorri experience. Describing the
collective minds behind The Artisan as
‘like a family’ is certainly no cliché, and
now you needn’t travel all the way to
Italy to be welcomed into the fold.

77
 Travel
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
3
journeys by jet
Song Saa Private
Island, Cambodia
C
ambodia’s beautiful islands
remain relatively untouched,
the white sands which fringe
virgin rainforests and give way to
tropical reefs, glistening jewel-like
from where they lay dotted throughout
the Gulf of Thailand, awaiting
discovery. It was to one such paradise
that Australian couple Rory and Melita
Hunter came to realise their ambition
AIR
of creating a sustainable sanctuary of
uncompromising luxury, a pair of side-
by-side islands known locally as Song
Saa – the sweethearts.
Four years on from its opening,
Song Saa Private Island has ensured
that Cambodia’s name resonates with
travellers who pine for privacy in
surrounds lovingly touched by Mother
Nature. Guests here will still be among
the first to experience this untouched,
unhurried world.
Comprising 27 villas in total, each
with a private pool, you can choose
a jungle, beach or ocean setting for
your stay, with the pick of the secluded
78
dwellings being the two-bed Royal
Villa – it has its own private jetty for
your speedboat arrival and departure,
and welcomes the resort’s chefs and
spa therapists to tend to your needs
in-villa. It would, however, be remiss
not to venture out to sample the divine
dishes (fashioned from locally-sourced
produce which includes just-caught
fish) at Vista Restaurant & Lounge
Bar, spectacularly positioned over the
ocean to take in dramatic sunsets,
seascapes and starry nights. Then
there’s the option of kayaking through
fresh-water estuaries, hiking through
virgin rainforest, or snorkeling with
the resort’s marine biologists. Paradise,
most definitely, found.
Access by jet sees you land at
Sihanoukville, from where you’ll
take a 30-minute speedboat transfer
onto Song Saa Private Island.
Alternatively, you can land your jet
at Phnom Penh, and take a 90-minute
helicopter transfer to Sihanoukville,
before boarding the speedboat.
79

AIR
Lita Cabellut
I
was born in Barcelona in 1961,
but I first got engaged to art at
the age of 12. Why? I visited the
beautiful Prado Museum. Seeing the
majesty of Francisco Goya, Diego
Velázquez and Hieronymus Bosch up
close, I immediately knew that I would
become a painter. My adoptive family
nurtured in me an essential belief that
I had felt growing up as a street child in
Barcelona: the recognition of the power
of art, as the power of living.
By 19, I had left Spain to study at the
Rietveld Academy in the Netherlands,
What I Know Now
APRIL 2016 : ISSUE 59
artist
because I felt there was a ‘special light’
in Holland, and I have lived and worked
in the Netherlands ever since. The
place, its people, and its culture helped
me develop my own artistic language,
and my signature technique (a fresco-
like craquelé surface) was inspired by
the notion that the soul of the artist lies
in the materials with which they work.
I showed my series Color of Dew in
Dubai, and it is an important collection
because it shows something I have
learnt over time which carries the
paintings: the balance between the
80
fragility and colourfulness of Nature,
and the strength and determination of
life. You can learn so much about life
from art; I think every viewer should
feel compelled to surrender and study
the skin, the pores and the soul of the
piece in front of them.
In my own work there is a constant,
intense tension between society and
the individual, in relation to life itself.
Over time, I have recognised a deep
and sincere love for the human being,
embracing all of its aspects, be it bright
or dark.
 AFRICA ASIA EUROPE L AT I N A M E R I C A MIDDLE EAST NORTH AMERICA

Elevating Luxury
to New Heights.
Comprising two iconic towers, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
stands elevated above Dubai’s Business Bay on Sheikh Zayed Road,
in the heart of one of the most desirable locations in the city.
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of diverse restaurants and lounges.
1,608 LUXURIOUS GUEST ROOMS AND SUITES
͙͜ǧ


SARAY SPA FEATURING TRADITIONAL HAMMAMS AND
A DEAD SEA FLOATATION POOL
ǧ ǧǧ  

For more information please call +971 4 414 0000

or visit jwmarriottmarquisdubai.com

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