Imagine the white-sand beaches and sandstone hills of Spain’s most famous island — but without the thudding electronica and all-night dance parties — and you’ll get its rustic, low-key neighbor,
now coming into its own. More…
Richard Christiansen, the founder of Chandelier Creative, and Vanessa Holden, former senior vice president of West Elm, document their three-week trip around the world searching for creative inspiration exclusively for T.
“See things as they are,” suggested Ven Indacara, a student monk in Yangon, as we sat together last week, legs tucked under us, on the cool, shaded, tiled walkways that run between the hundreds of shrines scattered
below the glowing, gilded Shwedagon Pagoda. These past two weeks on the road, we’ve been trying to do just that: take things in, appreciate them for what they are, remember to carry them with us in the future. It
turns out Myanmar is the perfect place to do just that — especially after a frenetic stopover in Hong Kong. If Hong Kong is a party, Myanmar is a tranquil meditation room.
In the city of Yangon, the largest in Myanmar, and on the plains of Bagan, the ancient city about an hour away, we were drawn to the gold-plated and gilded stupas, or Buddhist shrines. There’s a jarring juxtaposition
of the old and new — the temples are routinely renovated, and they stand out against the faded, painted stucco of the neighboring temples that house countless Buddhas — and a wonderful acceptance that both
must live alongside one another. Even the peaceful sound of the wishing trees, hung with ringing bells, send karma throughout the city. Read more…
Tucked away in the Siena region of central Tuscany, the idyllic Hotel Monteverdi has opened a heavenly new spa in partnership with Santa Maria Novella, the cult skin-care and fragrance label (and one of the most storied apothecaries
in the world). Housed in a centuries-old granary, the space offers an extensive menu of treatments including olive- and grapeseed-oil massages and outdoor mineral baths overlooking the rolling countryside.
Despite its reverence for tradition, Japan has an ambivalent — and unsentimental — relationship with its Modernist architecture. Why preparing for the future sometimes means destroying the past.
EVERY 20 YEARS, the most sacred Shinto site in Japan — the Grand Shrine at Ise — is completely torn down and replaced with a replica, constructed to look as weathered and authentic as the original structure built
by an emperor in the seventh century. To many of us in the West, this sounds as sacrilegious as rebuilding the Western Wall tomorrow or hiring a Roman laborer to repaint the Sistine Chapel once a generation. But Japan has
a different sense of what’s genuine and what’s not — of the relation of old to new — than we do; if the historic could benefit from a little help from art, or humanity, the reasoning goes, then
wouldn’t it be unnatural not to provide it? Read more…
Richard Christiansen, the founder of Chandelier Creative and Vanessa Holden, former senior vice president of West Elm, document their three-week trip around the world searching for creative inspiration exclusively for T.
“I only want love stories,” declares Brigitte Singh, making more of a demand than a wish. Singh’s eponymous block-print company, based in Jaipur, is something of legend in India: We heard her name buzz
around a crowded party in Delhi and whispered frequently by her competitors during our time there. She is truly a master artisan — in fact, the red poppy print that launched her career is permanently on display at
the V&A in London. Her love affair with India moved us deeply, and getting to know her and her vision for the future of Indian makers helped us to understand the knot of culture, craft and commerce that has shaped India
over centuries. Read more…
Geoffrey Kent, the founder and CEO of the luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, is adding, coincidentally albeit poignantly, to the discussion about big-game hunting. The Kenya-raised Kent led his inaugural safari in
1962 under the slogan “hunt with a camera, not with a gun,” and expanded his program over the years, even attracting a post-Liz-Taylor-breakup Richard Burton. In “Safari: A Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer”
($35, Harper Collins), out tomorrow, Kent recounts these anecdotes and more from places as far-flung as the North Pole and the Galápagos Islands. “I wanted this book to inspire people to travel,” he says.
“You can find out more about yourself and find out more about others.”
Villa Lena, a 500-hectare estate with its own olive grove and vegetable gardens, invites artists to stay — and leave their mark on the hotel.Credit Sasa Stucin
While many Parisians travel to Tuscany in August to enjoy their requisite monthlong holiday, chef Guillaume Rouxel, the former head chef at Inaki Aizpitarte’s smart 11th Arrondissement bistro Le Dauphin,
has packed up his cooking knives and traveled to Italy to work. Rouxel has taken on a chef residency at the hip hotel and artist retreat Villa Lena, a sprawling 500-hectare estate perched high up in the hills, just a 50-minute
drive from Pisa.
The hotel — opened in 2013 by Lena Evstafieva, the former head of exhibitions for the Moscow art gallery Garage, and her husband Jerome Hadey, a musician — is popular among young families, fashion types and artists,
who stay in spare, apartment-style abodes dotted about the grounds. And in the summer, artists fill the 10 bedrooms of the central Villa, an impressive neoclassical building. Read more…
From left: Bas Princen; Giorgio Majno/FAI Archive; Man Ray Trust, via SIAE 2015From left: inside Fondazione Prada; a room at Villa Nechi Campiglio; Man Ray’s “On With the dance,” 1940, at Fondazione Giorgio Marconi.
Milan gets a bad rap for being an all-work, no-play kind of town—especially from visitors who lament the lack of Instagram-ready Renaissance architecture they’d find around every corner in other Italian cities.
But as the country’s center for design, fashion, finance and publishing, Milan has an energy and sophistication you can’t get anywhere else in Italy. Here, five locals — leaders in their creative fields
— share their favorite places to eat, drink, shop and play. More…
Alessandro Moggi
