Monthly Archives: September 2011

Brikk titanium case

Brikk Trim Titanium Case for iPhone

Brikk titanium case

Luxury design company Brikk will launch a series of limited edition luxury iPhone cases, profits from which will benefit those in need around the world.

The limited edition collection revolves around the theme of “Altruistic Precision” and is launched with the Trim series of luxury titanium cases for the iPhone 4.

The luxury cases are available in gold, platinum, ‘black DLC’ and ‘grey stealth’ finishes and cost from $3,000 to $4,500.
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Caesars Palace Longmu Bay

Caesars plans luxury resort in Hainan, China

Caesars Palace Longmu Bay

Casino giant Caesar’s Entertainment has announced the start of construction on its first non-casino luxury resort, in the Chinese holiday destination of Hainan.

The Caesars Palace Longmu Bay will be a 5-star resort with 1,000 rooms, a Las Vegas-style attraction which will set a ‘global luxury standard’ in China.

The first phase of the project is expected to cover a total of five square kilometers, Caesars confirmed September 27, with a planned opening date of 2014.
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Grey Goose coktails

Heathrow Airport Opens Grey Goose Loft

Grey Goose coktails

Bacardi Global Travel Retail and Virgin Atlantic have announced the opening of the Grey Goose Loft at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at London Heathrow.

Guests are offered an amuse-bouche on arrival at the bar, with professional mixologists creating tailor-made Grey Goose cocktails.

Over the coming months Virgin Atlantic Upper Class passengers will see a series of special events being held in the Grey Goose Loft as Grey Goose celebrates its partnerships in the worlds of art, music, fashion and film.
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Dottling GrandCircle super safe

Döttling GrandCircle Safe

Dottling GrandCircle super safe

German safe maker Döttling has created a new luxury safe called “The GrandCircle“, a vault including multiple components like watch winders, a bar, a cigar humidor, a pendulum clock and a high-end sound system.

The safe is composed of high-gloss lacquered wood varieties, the finest stingray tail skin, Alcantara, and rhodium-plated metal components.

The GrandCircle has a total of 52 individually controlled watch winders enclosing it’s center of attraction: a limited, handmade Naeschke pendulum clock with power reserve mechanism that has six ruby bearings.
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Architectural Chandelier Shower

If you feel as though your shower is lacking style and elegance, the luxurious Architectural Chandelier Shower is exactly what you may be looking for.

Made of crystal, a stainless steel centre head, and back lit by a series of white LED lights; you can stand back and watch in awe as the crystal and water sparkles like a fountain of diamonds.

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PATEK PHILIPPE Ref 3939

Only Watch Auction Collects $6 million for Charity

PATEK PHILIPPE Ref 3939

The fourth edition with the biennial Only Watch charity auction, held Friday in the Hotel Hermitage in Monaco, raised more than €4.5 million ($6 million).

Exclusive timepieces by famous and less famous watch manufacturers are being auctioned off for the benefit of researching Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Complete sale results and a reminder of the models are available after the jump.
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Genoa International Boat Show Italy

Genoa International Boat Show 2011

Genoa International Boat Show Italy

Genoa is one of the largest boat shows of the year, with thousands of boats and a full program of ‘fringe’ events to ensure it caters for every nautical fan in town.

Some 450 debuts from the world’s biggest shipyards are expected for this 51st edition, spread over three pavilions and two marinas.

The largest flagship of this year’s show will be the CBI 50 ‘Alfos’, a 50 meter yacht, although there will be a dedicated mega-yacht area which is expected to boast some 30 boats with sizes up to 50 meters.
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New York Marriott Marquis

New York Marriott Marquis undergoes renovation

New York Marriott Marquis

Following its 25th anniversary last year, Marriott Hotels & Resorts has unveiled the newly renovated New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

A focus of the major upgrade is the brand’s reinvented lobby, including two signature restaurants and lounges.

The makeover includes the hotel’s nearly 2,000 guest rooms and a brand-new, high-tech ballroom and will cost approximately $39 million.
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hotel room dog

Urban Tails Dubai – A 7-Star Pet Hotel

hotel room dog

Urban Tails Dubai has become the world’s first seven-star resort for pets when it opened doors this summer.

Being branded as the ultimate luxury pet destination, this hotel has been custom built for four legged friends.

They offer suites for 70 dogs and 40 cats and promises to take perfect care of them while their owners are away.
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Bishan Central

Bishan Central Condominium, Singapore

Bishan Central

Renowned architect Moshe Safdie has been appointed by CapitaLand Residential Singapore as the lead designer for its condominium at Bishan Central.

Located in the heart of Bishan Central, one of Singapore’s choice residential areas, the condominium will comprise approximately 500 apartments.

There will be two 38-storey towers linked by three bridging sky gardens, which offer opportunities for commonly shared garden and leisure spaces.
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Skipark 360

Skipark 360° by C.F. Møller

Skipark 360

Sweden’s CF Møller Architects has just signed off on the new and spectacular Skipark 360°- set to be the largest indoor ski resort in the world.

The winter park will house the only indoor ski slope to meet the requirements for hosting the World Cup, measuring 700 meters long and with a drop of 160 meters.

At a height of approx. 135 m, it will be one of Sweden’s largest buildings, and will become a landmark in the forest landscape just outside Stockholm.
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Bugatti Galibier Hyper Saloon

Bugatti Galibier To Get a New Design

Bugatti Galibier Hyper Saloon

Auto Motor und Sport reports that the Bugatti Galibier has been delayed until 2015.

The Bugatti Galibier is still in the works but the model being develop differs substantially from the concept we have previously seen.

The group has been taking advice about the Galibier’s design from current Bugatti owners, with half of those who own a Veyron having already been inside the new car.

Bugatti chief Wolfgang Durheimer told Autocar that the Galibier is still in development and “in its second half of the design phase.”
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Absolut Gustafson bottle

Absolut Gustafson

Absolut Gustafson bottle

Pernod Ricard has unveiled Absolut Gustafson at the TFWA in Cannes, a new limited edition for global travel retail.

Absolut Gustafson follows Absolut Flavour of the Tropics and Absolut Watkins as the latest limited edition travel retail exclusive for the vodka brand.

Flavoured, with cherries, strawberries and cardamon and chai notes, the variant has been created in collaboration with Swedish-born, US-based artist Mats Gustafson.
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room Grand Mercure Melbourne

Grand Mercure Melbourne completes makeover

room Grand Mercure Melbourne

Accor celebrated the 90th Birthday of the Grand Mercure Melbourne, Flinders Lane building by recently completing a multi-million dollar makeover of the hotel.

Accor Vacation Club have spent $4 million to bring the property back to its glamorous glory, so well known by stars of stage and screen over the past two decades.

The building is constructed on land which first belonged to Dr. Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System Company — a long-winded name which would evolve into the well-known fashion brand Jaeger.

Later it was home to other fashion brands and personalities, including Henry Buck, who went on to make Henry Bucks into one of Australia’s top men’s fashion brands.

Today, the building houses the upscale Mercure, an ‘all-suite’ hotel newly decorated with contemporary touches added to a period color palette and features.

Rooms, which vary in size from 46 to 64 sq meters, include a kitchenette, dining area with stone-topped table, leather chaises longue, and European-styled balconies.

Artwork chosen for the hotel depicts historical Melbourne, while custom-made carpets were flown in from Germany as a tribute to Stuttgart-born Dr Jaeger himself.

Like New York’s Garment District, Flinders Lane is an area steeped in fashion history, something hoteliers have been keen to preserve.

The neighboring Rendezvous Hotel Melbourne was also refurbished in a multimillion dollar award-winning project last year.

bathroom Grand Mercure Melbourne

Gucci Museo

Gucci, turning 90, opens museum in Florence

Gucci Museo

Italian fashion label Gucci inaugurated a museum in Florence Monday, showcasing the luggage and high-end clothing that have fueled the company’s success.

Located in the Palazzo della Mercanzia, the museum is only a few steps away from the 13th century Palazzo Vecchio and Michelangelo’s David.

The museum features an exhibit showing how their logo has evolved since Guccio Gucci, a former porter at the London’s Savoy hotel, founded the company in 1921.
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Silver bars

Treasure worth £150m found in Atlantic shipwreck‎

Silver bars

When the SS Gairsoppa was torpedoed by a German U-boat 70 years ago, it took its huge silver cargo to a watery grave.

Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration’s divers are working to recover what may be the biggest shipwreck haul ever, valued at some $210 million.

The British ship was carrying some 219 tons of silver when it sank in 1941 in the North Atlantic some 300 miles (490 kilometers) off the Irish coast.
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Avani Bentota Resort

Minor Launches New Hotel Brand Avani

Avani Bentota Resort

Asian hotel operator Minor has launched a new luxury brand to be rolled out across Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Avani Hotels & Resorts launched last week and is intended to draw heavily on the Minor’s Asian roots, offering a ‘grounded personality’ and ‘a simple sense of style’ — Avani stems from the Sanskrit word for “earth.”

The first outpost for the new brand will open by the end of the year in Sri Lanka as the Avani Bentota Resort & Spa, a beachfront resort in the south of the country.
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Beijing gold vending machine

China launches gold vending machine

Beijing gold vending machine

China, already the world’s second largest bullion consumer, has installed the country’s first gold vending machine in a busy shopping district in Beijing.

Shoppers in the popular Wangfujing Street can insert cash or use a bank card to withdraw gold bars or coins of various weights based on market prices.

Each withdrawal is capped at 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) or one million yuan (about $156,500) worth of gold.
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ferragamo jewellery

Ferragamo Launches First Jewelry Collection

ferragamo jewellery

Italian luxury goods maker Salvatore Ferragamo has launched its first jewellery collection in collaboration with Bulgari.

Ferragamo, which listed in Milan in June a week after Prada debuted in Hong Kong, said it hoped its new collection would help meet demand from fast-growing Asia.

“I think this collection will be successful, especially among Chinese clients”, Chief Executive Michele Norsa told Reuters at the presentation during Milan fashion week.
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yacht Vava II

Kirsty Bertarelli’s new Megayacht

yacht Vava II

Kirsty Bertarelli, the richest woman in Britain and her husband Ernesto have bought the biggest motor yacht ever built in the UK, the 315-ft. foot Vava II.

The $160 million megayacht, which now ranks as the 33rd largest in the world, was built by Devonport Yachts in Plymouth and boasts luxury interiors, a helicopter landing pad, lavish guest cabins and four tenders.

Kirsty is a former Miss UK, while her husband is a Swiss pharmaceuticals magnate who has won the America’s Cup twice with his yacht Alinghi and is worth a reputed $10 billion, making him the 81st richest man in the world and the fifth richest in the UK.
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