Monthly Archives: June 2011

Lotus Exige S

Lotus launches in China

Lotus Exige S

Lotus Cars Ltd announced its official foray into China on Wednesday, seeing the huge potential from China’s surging super sports-car market.

The British sports-car maker has authorized Symphony Lotus Ltd as its importer and distributor around the nation with the launch of a new logo to avoid confusion with the local Youngman brand which already uses the “lotus” name (Lianhua in Chinese).

It will start first with an outlet in Beijing — expected to open in October — before moving into the cities of Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou by the end of the year.
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Bombay Sapphire Imagination

Bombay Sapphire Imagination Installation

Bombay Sapphire Imagination

Bombay Sapphire has launched a global campaign called ‘Infused With Imagination’ that pays tribute to the heritage and the origin of the luxury spirits brand.

The artwork was created by a group of designers, led by Darren Simpson, and is formed through a series of illustrated panels decorated with a total of 75,000 crystals.

Illustrator Yehrin Tong was inspired by the definition of infused to create a dream-like image that “feels like an organic mixture of images both natural and mythical”.
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Jaakko Sorsa

Royal Dinner at FINDS

Jaakko Sorsa

FINDS, Hong Kong’s only Nordic seafood restaurant & bar hosts “A Royal Dinner” On Thursday 23rd June 2011.

Their celebrity chef Jaakko Sorsa has cooked for presidents and royalty, including Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin, the Swedish Royal Family, Saudi Arabian royalty, and countless dignitaries and business tycoons.

The menu for “A Royal Dinner” re-creates the meal that Chef Jaakko prepared for Her Imperial Highness, Princess Takamado of Japan.
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Venetian Macau Resort Hotel

Las Vegas Sands plans expansion across Asia

Venetian Macau Resort Hotel

Casino giant Las Vegas Sands is planning to expand across Asia as figures suggested another Asian country will overtake Las Vegas in terms of gambling.

The gaming giant, which has already constructed massive resorts in Singapore and Macau, is looking to expand to other Asian nations and even to Europe, according to reports from the Global Gaming Expo Asia this week.

Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and Korea are among the company’s Asia targets, with boss Sheldon Adelson describing the region as its “first preference.”
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BMW M5

The new BMW M5

BMW M5

BMW has officially unveiled its new M5, the fifth generation of its popular performance sports saloon.

Sporting a newly-developed high-performance M-series engine, the M5 has been eagerly awaited since a pre-production model appeared earlier this year.

The high-revving 4.4-liter engine has “typical M car thrust,” says BMW, with a power rating of 412kW (552hp) from the twin-turbo V8 engine.
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Indra Nooyi with Ferran Adria

Ferran Adrià To Create Products For PepsiCo

Indra Nooyi with Ferran Adria

Though world renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adrià will be shuttering his legendary restaurant El Bulli this month, regular folks will be able to sample his creative genius at a fraction of the price and the wait now that he’s teamed up with PepsiCo.

The food and beverage giant announced the partnership Thursday, saying that Adrià will lend his creative, culinary genius to all of the company’s brands worldwide.

El Bulli was named the World’s Best Restaurant five times by Restaurant magazine and Adrià himself has likewise been described as the best chef in the world.
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Fairmont BMW Bike photo

Fairmont rolls out BMW bike scheme globally

Fairmont BMW Bike photo

Luxury hotel chain Fairmont is to roll out BMW bikes to all of its worldwide hotels, it confirmed this week.

The bikes program, which was introduced last year at some of the chain’s North American hotels, appears to have proved so popular that it will now be rolled out around the world in time for summer.

The BMW Cruise Bikes, which feature Suntour suspension and a brake routing system, retail at over €800 but are available for Fairmont’s guests to use on a complimentary basis, complete with locks and helmets.
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JEAN PAUL GAULTIER liberation cover

French Newspaper redesigned by Jean Paul Gaultier

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER liberation cover

French designer Jean Paul Gaultier covered the Tuesday edition of French newspaper Libération in old editions of the daily.

He also enlisted the staff to participate in the shoot, dressing everyone from reporters to web developers to a receptionist in newsprint creations.

The campaign, shot by Patrick Swirc features paper renditions of Gaultier’s including a trench coat, a men’s skirt and a bustier with a conical bra.
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Bonhams headquarters

Bonhams unveils design of new headquarters

Bonhams headquarters

Bonhams is to build a new international headquarters in London to provide the most advanced salerooms in the world.

Designed by architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, the building is to be constructed on the site of the company’s current headquarters.

Plans include the construction of facilities offering modern facilities while retaining the Art Deco facades on Bond Street and Blenheim Street.
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Bell Ross only watch auction

Bell & Ross BR 01 Casino

Bell Ross only watch auction

Bell & Ross‘s one-off timepiece for the Only Watch auction features a roulette design built on top of their popular BR 01 watch.

This timepiece, done in all 18k pink gold, is a tribute to the country of Monaco which will be hosting the Only Watch auction this upcoming September.

The “0″ number on the roulette wheel indicates the hours (there are 12 little diamonds on the outer edge of the dial for standard timekeeping), the roulette ball indicates the minutes. The roulette spinner which will rotate once every 60 seconds.
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abu dhabi Volvo Ocean Race

Abu Dhabi’s new sailing village

abu dhabi Volvo Ocean Race

Abu Dhabi is to construct a new sailing village to boost the Emirate’s appeal to watersports fans, the country’s tourism authorities announced June 13.

The new “Destination Village” will be completed in time for the abu dhabi Volvo Ocean Race’s stop in the Emirate, which is currently scheduled for January 1, 2012.

While the Volvo Ocean Race is in town, the 55,000 square meter village will be the home of the flotilla and a place for members of the public to visit and see the yachts, which will be taking a break on the third stop of their round-the-world competition.
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brazil hotel copacabana

Brazil launches new hotel rating system

brazil hotel copacabana

Brazil, which will be the home of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, has launched a new star-based system to cover all of its accommodation offerings.

Only officially-approved properties will be able to use the SBClass system, and that each will be evaluated based on the services it offers.

According to the system’s website, a five-star property must include 24-hour reception areas, in-room breakfasts, branded bathrobes and slippers, cable television, sauna or steam room and eco-friendly initiatives.
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Harry Winston Logo

Harry Winston to open flagship store in Shanghai

Harry Winston Logo

Harry Winston Diamond Corp, the Canadian mining group which owns the jewelers, has this week announced plans to build a flagship store in Shanghai.

And it will be hard to miss, boasting a 12-meter high façade a company spokesman says will be like a “billboard to the world, a billboard to the Chinese people.”

The 460-square-meter flagship store — to be opened “before January” next year — will be supplemented by a salon inside the lobby of the Peninsula Shanghai hotel.
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Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku

Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku Resort & Spa

Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku

Hilton has opened a new 433-room luxury resort on the Bodrum peninsula of Turkey, as development outside of the region’s busy capital continues to accelerate.

The Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku Resort & Spa is situated in the Paradise Bay area of the region, a quieter area north of Bodrum which boasts a crystal-clear bay and comparatively little development.

Hilton’s property features five restaurants and five bars, offering everything from traditional Turkish cuisine to Italian food, local seafood and a traditional pub.
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Colin Scott Stephen Webster

Royal Salute Launches ‘Tribute to Honour’

Colin Scott  Stephen Webster

Luxury Scotch whisky Royal Salute has crafted a blend so rare, so sumptuous that only one man in the world has tasted it – creator and Master Blender, Colin Scott.

‘Tribute to Honour’ has been introduced to pay homage to the oldest crown jewels of the British Isles: The Honours of Scotland.

The narrative of the Honours comprises glorious legends and intrigue and remains a powerful and inscrutable ode to Scottish history.
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American Airlines Samsung Galaxy Tabs

Galaxy Tab Arriving on American Airlines Flights

American Airlines Samsung Galaxy Tabs

American Airlines is seeking to improve the entertainment side of its service by making Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 available to premium class travelers.

In a June 13 announcement Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer, announced that “through our agreement with Samsung, American is the first North American airline to offer a branded tablet onboard its aircraft.”

“We are working hard to revitalize our fleet and invest wisely in new products and services to modernize and enhance the travel experience”
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Vipstore

Luxury shopping websites in China

Vipstore

You don’t have to tell the people at Prada how valuable the Chinese market for luxury goods has become — the Italian fashion icon is so keen to set up a base out East that it is about to be listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

In fact, such has been the rush by the world’s luxury brands to get a foothold in China that there are, apparently, little to no spaces left for them in the malls of the country’s largest cities.

Bad news for the brands themselves — keen to get a slice of a market estimated to be now worth 84 billion yuan (nine billion euros) a year — but it is good news for China’s fast-growing number of online luxury-only shopping portals.
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Angelina Jolie Core Values louis vuitton

Angelina Jolie’s Core Values for Louis Vuitton

Angelina Jolie louis vuitton

Angelina Jolie poses for Louis Vuitton Core Values Campaign on a wooden boat in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province where Jolie shot Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2000.

Louis Vuitton’s president says, “People are not used to seeing Angelina in this situation. I like the fact that it’s a real moment.”

Four of Angelina’s children were also present at the photo shoot, shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz , with lily pads and verdant foliage everywhere.
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Airbus concept plane

Airbus reveal ‘plane of 2050’

Airbus concept plane

A futuristic airplane concept could herald a future where business and economy class give way to work and play areas on board the aircraft of the future.

That’s the vision of Airbus, which this week unveiled its ideas of the plane of 2050, complete with a ‘bionic’ shell which turns partially transparent to provide a panoramic view for passengers.

In the front, the company has integrated a relaxation (“vitalizing”) area, while the rear of the aircraft includes a “smart tech” space for working and virtual conferencing.

airbus plane vitalising zone

In the middle, an “interactive” zone allows passengers to move around a virtual reality cocoon, with the walls transforming to offer them lifelike experiences such as rounds of golf or video conferences.

Passengers will be able to enjoy seats that mold to their body shape, and an automatic bag loading system which delivers hand luggage to the correct place above their seat.

Some of this technology simply doesn’t exist yet, but in many cases the airline is building on ideas which have already been implemented, to some degree, by today’s airlines — if you can’t wait, here’s how to enjoy tomorrow’s technologies today:

Airbus concept plane 2050

Fully stocked bar: Already a staple of Virgin Atlantic’s offering, a place where business class guests can mingle, sip cocktails and tuck into nuts.

Electronic passenger identification using handprints: not used on aircraft, but used to speed up security by some airports (often as part of a premium package).

Mood lighting: available on some carriers and is set to become even more so — it comes as standard on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, set to go into service with All Nippon later this year.

Airbus panoramic plane 2050

Angled seats: A variant is offered in the new business class cabin on board Cathay Pacific‘s long-haul routes, where the long seats have been angled to point towards the windows to give a better view.

Seat canopies: Emirate’s first-class suites feature electronic sliding doors, while some KLM business class services feature “privacy canopies.”

Airbus virtual golf

Virtual screens: Not quite in cabins yet, but the size and shape isn’t a million miles away from the wide screens offered to passengers by Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Emirates (among others), some of which offer a view from the front of the aircraft via cameras mounted on the fuselage.

Virtual golf: Space restrictions mean this isn’t a reality yet, but Air France already offers a virtual art gallery using touch screens on board its A380 aircraft.