Princess Alia Al-Senussi is a key figure in the development of cultural relationships between the West and the Global South, and in the growth of the art scene in Saudi Arabia. In a conversation moderated by LUX’s Leaders and Philanthropists Editor, Samantha Welsh, Alia Al-Senussi speaks with South Asian philanthropist and collector Durjoy Rahman about significant art world debates and developments at the nexus of the developed and developing worlds

LUX: Durjoy, is the relationship between art in the Global South and the rest of the world changing?

Durjoy Rahman: I have been collecting for the over 25 years, and I have always been passionate about creativity, both personally and professionally. Living in Dhaka, I have realised there is a lot of untapped creativity that can probably be moulded and presented to a wider audience, to increase visibility, benefitting Bangladesh, South Asia and, in a bigger picture, the Global South.

These days there is a very fashionable phrase: “Your West is my East”. What one person calls “West” is actually somebody else’s “East”. It depends on the position you are coming from. I have asked many scholars, and no one has been able to give me a clear definition of what the “Global South” is. I think the geopolitical or geographical definition has different meanings and narratives and I expect plenty of discourse and redefinition during the next decade.

LUX: Alia, what has your global vision of the art world been informed by?

Alia Al-Senussi: I came to the art world from a very established position, in the heart of London, so my view has been shaped by the Western perspective, an institutional perspective, a gallery art world ecosystem perspective.

I was very lucky to enter the art world at a time when these perspectives were changing. Tate Modern had just opened and revolutionised the way that we put art in context. There is no longer the “South Asian gallery”, the “Middle Eastern gallery” or the “Asian gallery”.

Alia Al-Senussi in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. She is a Senior Advisor, Arts, and Culture, to the Ministry of Culture in Riyadh

It was about showing art in conversation with itself, through the eyes of a subject, subject matter, or a generational perspective, rather than a geographical one. And, ever since, as much as I’m in the art world, my perspective on the art world is not as an art historian. It is very much about somebody looking at art, strategy and cultural strategy through the perspective of cultural diplomacy, soft power and how culture interacts with the art world ecosystem, but also very much with identities, governments and politics.

LUX: Alia, how have you noticed the art world changing in the Middle East?

AAS: My work in the Middle East started in 2007, when Art Dubai started. In the last five years, we’ve seen a rapid evolution in the Middle East, positive developments in Saudi Arabia, and Dubai becoming, in many ways, a platform for art from the Global South.

LUX: What do you think is the role of philanthropy in art. Does it engage, facilitate and shape discourse?

DR: This is what DBF is all about. From day one our approach has been very discursive, and we try to position our strategies in a very discursive manner.

For example, we work with photographers like Sunil Gupta, whose retrospective involved queer art. On the other side of the coin, we work with Wadham College of Oxford University, restoring the Holy Qurans, which we announced during the month of Ramadan.

My philosophy towards philanthropic activities and my involvement in the foundation is to challenge negative perceptions. It’s not only about Bangladesh, but the whole perception of South Asia, that I am trying to change through the activities that DBF undertakes. This is why we don’t only focus our activities in Southeast Asia but globally, be it in Europe or America.

Durjoy Rahman is a philanthropist and collector based in Dhaka, Bangladesh

LUX: Alia, could you share with us your belief about the role of art and philanthropy?

AAS: I think it is at the very heart of changing perception. I have a deep belief in – as Durjoy said – the power of culture to change people’s minds and perceptions. And I’m not just talking about the West, I mean: it’s even neighbour to neighbour.

For example, we’ve seen black art in the United States transform people’s perceptions of BLM and people’s perceptions of segregationist history. You walk around the Tate galleries, and you see two paintings facing each other in the room about conflict and war. One is about the pogroms in Eastern Europe, and one is about the massacres at Sabra and Shatila [of Palestinian refugees by Christian militias during the Lebanese Civil War in 1982]. These speak to exactly the same universal horrors that many people experience but are from two very different conflicts and parts of the world.

LUX: What responsibility or soft power do you feel you have?

AAS: I feel a deep sense of personal and professional responsibility. In any projects that I get involved in or commit to, I pay a lot of attention to professionalism. I teach a lot and one of the questions I often get asked is, “How do I get involved in the art world? How do I start my career?” I say, “Get involved, show up.”

I think the idea of showing up is really important. Someone invites you to something, go. Someone expects you to be at something, be there. Someone expects you to respond to your emails, respond; and I think that idea of showing up really illustrates a commitment to people.

LUX: What is soft power for you, Durjoy? How can you and/or art bridge discourse?

DR: Everybody wants to understand art. Even Picasso said, “Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the songs of a bird?”

An artwork from the Bhumi project, supported by the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation that was shown at the Kochi Biennale in India in 2022/23

When I invite people to an art show and they say that “Well, we don’t understand art.” I say, “There is nothing to understand. Just be there. Just try to comprehend that it is something interesting.” An example of how it’s not about soft power, but engagement, is what DBF did during the pandemic. All the major art institutions in South Asia closed for either health or commercial reasons. DBF decided to get involved with a community from north Bangladesh, which had hardly been hit by COVID-19. The project was called Bhumi and involved a minority group in the area who were craftspeople working in textiles. The project involved 260 people from 60 families, and it supported their daily livelihood. The project didn’t end with the pandemic, it was actually taken to last year’s Kochi Biennale to exhibit the works of the craftsmen and shows what is possible during difficult times.

This is an example of how art, philanthropy and art activism can show how culture can play an important role in times of crisis.

AAS: Just like Durjoy said, you see these very different and very nimble organisations involving themselves with communities and making a difference. The Islamic Biennale did exactly that. It was really revolutionary in the context of art in Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Arts Biennale was at the Hajj terminal in Jeddah, and offered locals to come to a place that they’d never entered because the Hajj terminal inherently is a place for Non-Saudis to come into Jeddah to then go on Hajj.

The locals could see this exceptional building, feel the power of Islam, but also of spirituality and of a community coming together. For people who were not Muslim, or had no connection to the Hajj, they saw objects and works of art in a contemporary and historical environment.

The Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, 2023

Certain organisations have the power to be really nimble. They can profess their politics and support artists for art and culture. I think Delfina Foundation, for example, has been very clear about their support for artists from across a plethora of humanity and does it in a sophisticated, nuanced, and empathetic manner.

LUX: Where are you seeing Next Gen concerns amplified through art?

AAS: I think you see the next generation wanting to amplify diverse voices. There is this desire that art is geographically, ethnically, and sexually diverse so people can express the totality of who they are. There is a sense of activism to it, but there’s also a sense of declaration. I don’t always read into these institutional shows or works of art as activism. Sometimes an artist just wants to say, “This is who I am, and this is the art I make.” Artists are going to make art based on their life experiences.

LUX: Durjoy, where do you think the line is between declaration and activism?

DR: I think the majority of people want to see the origin of the artist, their background and their surroundings, reflected in the work they are producing. If I show a Bangladeshi artist and his or her work looks too different or has no context, sometimes curators even question it and say it doesn’t show their struggle or their originality. I’m not an art scholar or academic: I look at art based on whether I like it. But I think it’s important for an artist or a creative practitioner to show the origin, the struggle, and the history.

I think that we want to encourage artists going forwards to show their origin and their perception. An artist should be free to express their opinion, whether they are from Iraq, Lebanon or Africa. If they are willing to they should go ahead. DBF and I always try to work with artists who have enormous creative boundaries that they want to exhibit in front of their audience.

Al-Senussi in conversation with installation and media artist Chris Cheung during Art Basel in Hong Kong

LUX: To what extent do Next Gens feel obligated to witness and pivot or create change?

AAS: What I see more in my lecturing and my academic experiences, is that the next gen is very much about wanting to change the world and wanting to illustrate that. Through their careers and artwork, they want to be a part of the change in some way. It’s a little disheartening because there is this negative feeling about the future of the world, but at the same time there is a feeling that maybe we, collectively, can change the world.

You also see artists that are just reflecting on their own childhoods, like Farah Al Qasimi. She talks about her family home and the changes shifting in the UAE. It’s an activism, but then it’s also a reflection on the changing world.

LUX: Can art collaboration bring about changes of perception?

DR: Definitely. Art has a vital influence on culture towards current situations. I think art has a very influential way to foster international connections and collaborations and can question issues that are happening.

Read more: Maria Sukkar and Durjoy Rahman on supporting artists from your hometown

When I was in Paris at Asia Now art fair, I was talking to an artist from Israel and an artist from Jordan. When these two artists sat together, they realised where the problem lies. I didn’t see a division in their opinion, and I think this is an example of art bridging divides. Art can be used as a very strong tool to solve many of our problems including sustainability and global climate change.

AAS: I think art, at this time, is one of the only tools that we can look to, to unite us or to heal us. Unfortunately, it can also be used and utilised in other ways, but I have faith and hope that we will see a change.

Find out more:

durjoybangladesh.org

aliaalsenussi.com

Aino Grapin is CEO of Winch Design, an international design studio for luxury planes, homes and most famously, yachts. Here, Grapin speaks to Samantha Welsh about the increased focus on sustainability in yacht design and the special requests of next generation yacht owners

1. What was the founding vision for Winch Design 36 years ago?

Drawing inspiration from Andrew’s own passion for sailing and the sea, Winch Design first began in 1986 by focusing its creativity on sailing and motor yachts. With a 36-year heritage in superyacht design, our studio is now creating projects across land, air and sea.

The challenge we set ourselves for each day is to realise the dreams of our clients. Their aspirations are, in themselves extraordinary in their sophistication and scale, inviting a creative response that has to be both unique and full of imagination.

2. Deeply embedded at the outset in environmental and social responsibility, how is the company working to meet UN sustainable development goals at studio level?

Andrew had a genuine interest in sustainability very early before it became such a hot topic and has driven that passion into the business. We have created our own ‘Life Worth Living’ plan to care for people and the planet through four key pillars: protecting our air, land and sea, caring for our communities, leading our industries and transforming our business. We have also partnered with the Water Revolution Foundation and signed their Code of Conduct, committing to prioritising sustainability throughout our entire supply chain.

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At studio level, we have a dedicated sustainability specialist whose responsibility it is to research, source and test, not only materials, but suppliers too. They manage a resource matrix of sustainable suppliers that analyses and tracks their methods of sourcing, manufacturing and application of each material to check it meets the correct criteria.

3. Data shows the average age of a boat buyer has decreased by over ten years since the pandemic, what does this new generation want from a luxury fit-out?

We are seeing an increase of younger owners, who are typically more in-tune with the effects of climate change and ocean pollution and are more likely to request or be open to innovative and sustainable yacht design.

In terms of interiors, younger clients do not like the high-gloss and dark wood finishes which are typically associated with traditional yacht interiors. Natural textures and experimental finishes are more popular with younger clients.

Younger clients are also asking for more informal social spaces, a step away from formal dining and entertainment styles traditionally found. This is showing that guests really want to switch off when they’re at sea. Clients are staying on board longer and require more multi-functional spaces.

Explorer yachts are also gaining popularity with the younger crowd. Clients want to be able to navigate around the globe for extended periods of time in a 7* environment. Their yacht must be able to thrive in any environment, no matter how harsh.

4. At project inception, how do you persuade clients to make sustainable choices?

We make sure to introduce all of our clients to sustainable options right at the start of the process. The choice of sustainable materials becomes a part of the narrative of the project and we educate our clients to understand that sustainable options don’t mean you have to compromise on luxury.

5. Where are you focusing your design energies?

Alongside sustainability factors and the increased popularity in explorer yachts, we are seeing an increased focus on the use of glass on yachts. Huge expanses of glass are being used, to bring the outside in and allow clients to feel immersed in their surroundings. This yearning for a connection with nature has also led to the increase in more refined, natural interiors, with open grain woods, soft, light furnishings and even living walls of greenery.

Read more: Markus Müller on Nature Economy

We have no set house design style and as a result each project we complete is totally unique. Currently we are working on a variety of projects across our yacht, aviation and architecture studio. These include VIP submarines, the world’s largest twinjet plane and the OWO (Old War Office) penthouse.

6. What do clients most want from their time at sea?

Our clients want time to switch off, enjoy time with their family and friends and explore new destinations in complete privacy.

Find out more: winchdesign.com

Kishwar Chowdhury’s Bengali heritage is a crucial part of her approach to cuisine

Australia based Bengali chef Kishwar Chowdhury was a finalist in the 2021 series of Masterchef Australia. Here she speaks to LUX Contributing Editor, Samantha Welsh about the ways her heritage influences her cooking

LUX: Dhaka, London, Heidelberg, Las Vegas, how has living in all these very different locations shaped your outlook?
Kishwar Chowdhury: Having lived on a few different continents and constantly traveling through my work has definitely shaped who I am. When I finish my kitchen projects in a city, I’m often roaming the markets, finding where the locals eat and befriending anyone who’s love language is food! I find that you can get to know people and learn about cultures very intimately, in a very short space of time by immersing yourself in their food. I carry these encounters with me and it definitely shapes my creative process.

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LUX: You had several career options but you seem drawn to something beyond personal ambition. How did you find this back home?
KC: Before moving into the world of food I was happily immersed in the printing, packaging and design industry. But food allowed me to express the deeper inquisitions and thoughts I had about the world. I feel very fortunate that I have an audience that is interested in that voice, whether it’s about ethnicity and ownership or ecology and waste. I feel I can wholly express myself through this medium and in doing so, found a collective global audience that resonated with me. I can see the impact that this has on the next generation, including my children and that to me is reason enough to be here.

Chowdhury takes pride in using techniques from many different cultures in her cuisine

LUX: Congratulations on having the drive and talent to make it to the final of Australian Masterchef! What made you do it and what have you learned along the way?
KC: The short answer to that is my son, Mika, made me do it. During the lockdown, we were living on a farm outside of my hometown of Melbourne. Like many others, it was a time that made me reflect on what I really wanted to do with myself and what it was I would be leaving behind. It became integral to me to pass down to my children all the things my parents had spent a lifetime teaching me. I spent a lot of that time cooking, writing and drawing. My son was the one who urged me to apply for Masterchef after seeing an ad on TV and the rest is history.

Kishwar Chowdhury came third place in the 2021 series of Masterchef Australia

My biggest takeaway from the Masterchef experience was finding who I am as an Australian-Bengali. I think many of us around the world who belong to minority cultural diasporas live with their feet planted in two boats. Masterchef gave me an opportunity to express who I am through my dishes and represent both the Australian and Bengali sides of my identity.

LUX: Your recipes have reached an international platform and you champion your Bengali culture, as distinct from ethnicity or religion; is that important to you?
KC: Being born and bought up in Australia to Bengali migrants from both India and Bangladesh meant that I grew up identifying with Bengali food and culture beyond national borders. My food reflects the history and cross cultural influences that landed in the Bay of Bengal. Being a major trade port for the British East India Company, Mughals who bought their Persian cuisine and sharing porous borders with South East Asia, the layered food tapestry in this region is incredibly diverse, delicious and largely undiscovered. It’s impossible to write about Bengali cuisine and confine it to a certain ethnic group or religion.

Kishwar Chowdhury has worked closely with the UN World Food Programme and ASCR to combat issues of hunger and food distribution

LUX: You could be said to subvert tropes about women’s work and women’s place in South East Asian society. How has this been received?
KC: I always say cooking has been a privilege for me. I get to approach it from a creative space and head kitchens, which is still, across the world, an anomaly. I do find frustrations in breaking stereotypes when people think cooking is a natural skillset for women or something that should be imparted on girls. I grew up in a household where both my mother and father cooked and believe that cooking is a basic life skill that every person should acquire. The burden of cooking still predominantly rests on South Asian women and women across all cultures in general. It is twice as difficult in that space to break that mould and to be seen as a chef rather than a cook.

LUX: How do you deal with preconceptions about how and where it is appropriate to serve South East Asian food?
KC: There has definitely been a hierarchy of cuisines that have been considered worthy of fine dining spaces. I do think that mould is being broken and we see a rise of restaurants showcasing heritage cuisines taking out Michelin stars and getting global accolades.

Durjoy Rahman with Kishwar Chowdhury

I find that the hardest preconceptions to break are within one’s own cultural confines. Often, I recreate dishes that are historically peasant dishes or “Andarkhanna” food that is served at home. People who have never come across these dishes are receptive to the incredible techniques and subtle flavours that exist in heritage Bengali cuisine. But often the beauty and rarity of these dishes are overlooked when they’re cooked at home.

LUX: How did you come up with the controversial concept to repurpose leftovers to haute cuisine?
KC: Some of the greatest restaurants in the world, notably the famous René Redzepi’s Noma, have been exploring this concept for years and shed a global light on the importance of sustainability in this industry. This, together with the cultural significance of eating nose to tail, repurposing food scraps and using every part of an ingredient, whether it be a fruit, vegetable or a whole animal, led me to carry that ethos into my kitchens.

LUX: Tell us about your activism, particularly the UN World Food Programme and Feast for Freedom.
KC: I’ve never considered myself an activist, but feel a deep sense of responsibility to do something about the disparity in food distribution. Whilst one side of my work is about creating magical experiences, there is also a very real side of the food industry that entails waste, hunger and lack of access to basic nutrition for millions. Through working with the UN WFP and ASRC and having the platform and the ability to shed light on these matters is how I push for change.

Preservation and legacy are at the core of Kishwar Chowdhury’s cuisine

LUX: How can you capture a cultural legacy and preserve it for the next generation?
KC: It starts with preservation through practice and the written word. In my case, recipes, particularly from this part of the world, are difficult to preserve, as they are not scientific, like baking. They require a tactile understanding of spices and ingredients, seasonality and also locality. I’m currently writing my book on recipes from the Bay of Bengal and trying to pass on more than just recipes, but a way of life. As for the next generation, I think immersing my children, as I was, in art, cultural experiences, rituals and festivals, creates a muscle memory so that they too will want to recreate all this as they get older.

Read more: Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation: Bridging Global South And North

LUX: What would you tell a young chef embarking on their career?
KC: I would say find your voice in food. What is it you want to share with the world through your food, find the people and kitchens that will help you attain the skill set you need and always follow your stomach!

Find out more: @kishwar_chowdhury

This interview was conducted in association with the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation

X Museum. Image courtesy X Museum and Weiqi Jin

Michael Xufu Huang is the co-founder of X Museum, a platform for cultivating talents and supporting young and mid-career artists within a global context.Here he  speaks to LUX Contributing Editor, Samantha Welsh, about making art more accessible in China and the impact it has on the next generation

Michael Xufu Huang. Image courtesy X Museum

LUX: Londoner, Beijinger, New Yorker, where is ‘home’?
Michael Xufu Huang: Home is Beijing now. I went to middle school in England (Dulwich College) and university in the States (University of Pennsylvania), I spent a few years in New York. I do see myself as a world citizen. The global experience has influenced my vision to bring international artists to China and take Chinese talents to the world.

LUX: How has your international experience influenced your approach to build-up a cultural institution in China?
Michael Xufu Huang: When I lived abroad, I saw how other international institutions’ approach organising their exhibition programmes and fundraising. Places like New Museum and Palais de Tokyo gave me a lot of inspiration. You didn’t see institutions that focused on under-represented artists in China before I launched X Museum.  For example, most Chinese museums rely on ticketing, which limits the options for exhibition programmes because museums often need to organize “blockbuster” exhibitions with well-known western names or Instagramable shows to generate enough income to cover their costs. A museum couldn’t provide the most forward-thinking platform to support artists if they needed to make money from the public as that would require following the public’s taste. My international experience has made me learn to step forward and introduce patrons’ networks and corporate sponsorships to X Museum. This allows the museum to explore more innovative programmes and give the lesser-known emerging artists a platform to shine.

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LUX: Why were you drawn to collecting art?
Michael Xufu Huang: I guess it’s partially because of my horoscope sign! My sun sign is in Pieces, I‘ve been drawn to beautiful objects since I was young. Going to museums like Tate when I was doing A-levels really opened my eyes and helped me to discover interesting art beyond the aesthetic level. This has taken me on a new journey where the meaning behind an art piece also appeals to me. I like to gather things I love together, that’s probably the reason why I love collecting.

The Endless Garment, exhibition view. Image courtesy X Museum

LUX: What is so compelling for you to curate emerging young Chinese artists?
Michael Xufu Huang: I want my peers to have more visibility on the international stage. In the international art world, Chinese emerging artists don’t really receive equal attention. I hope to give them more opportunities to be shown internationally.

LUX: Thinking of how fashion, music, art converge and lead discourse eg Punk, or artist-designer crossovers eg Schiaparelli, McQueen, Abloh, how are you finding crossover with other cultural fields helps young artists push their talent and their message?
Michael Xufu Huang: I think to crossover with other cultural fields can help artists attract a new audience. In China, art is still considered to be niche. I feel I have the responsibility to make art accessible to a mass audience, especially the young generation. One way of doing this is to integrate art with mass culture. X museum not only provides artists opportunities through exhibition programmes, but also links them with creatives from other cultural fields. We also discover artists from other disciplines with mass influence and offer them opportunities to show their talents through a special programme called “X Invites”.

Last summer, we invited the multi-hyphenate public figure, Sida Jiang, to present his first solo show as an artist at X Museum. Jiang is a very popular actor/TV producer/TV host and director in China. Here at X museum, he “transformed” his role as an artist and presented installation, video, performance, and multi-media works. These works explored the boundaries between personal identity and public domain. Through his popularity and recognition in the mass cultural fields, his show brought a group of new audiences to X museum and inspired people who didn’t know much about art to explore more in this field.

Issy Wood: Good Clean Fun, exhibition view. Image courtesy X Museum

LUX: How do your crossover partnerships with luxury lifestyle brands amplify conversations for your generation?
Michael Xufu Huang: Fashion and art, they are both expression of taste. Through making art crossover with luxury lifestyle brands, people can see how complementary tastes collide. In today’s world, contemporary art is part of lifestyle. Through lifestyle crossover, we engage a wider audience and inspire more people to collect art. For example, those young people who collect luxury hip sneakers have a huge potential to turn into art collectors.

LUX: How does the X Museum programme respond to how millennials engage with social media?
Michael Xufu Huang: If we have influencers come to the museum show, they take photos of the exhibition and post on their social media. That could organically bring more followers to our museum and give people access to art. For each exhibition, our PR team not only allocates budget to traditional press, but also budgets for influencers. We have different social media strategies to engage more people online and offline.

LUX: Are artists also digital disruptors?
Michael Xufu Huang: For instance, X Museum’s website developer is also an artist. Our website is a naked-eye 3D experience that not only supplements our exhibition but allows audiences to engage for longer with each artwork through its interactive feature. People love to absorb information in a gamification way.

LUX: Is globalisation going to change how the next generation supports the arts?
Michael Xufu Huang: In China, people are having more opportunities to see western art now. People have more opportunity to understand how the art world operates. Now younger artists can start working in a global context. Many talents studied abroad and come back to China to contribute to society. They build up global contacts rather than local contacts. They can create works to international standards.

Collection as Poem in the Age of Ephemerality, exhibition view. Image courtesy X Museum

LUX: What is the art philanthropy vision behind X Museum?
Michael Xufu Huang: We want to bring art to a broader public. We also have a social responsibility to support people who don’t usually get access to art. We have helped people who are in need, such as donating masks during the outbreak of covid and after lockdown offering people working in the medical services free access to our museum shows. Philanthropy is not only about donating money, but also nurturing artists and young collectors. It’s about inspiring them to do something innovative and beyond, and you could say it’s philanthropical when they achieve success.

LUX: In this connection, what is ‘Form the new Norm’?
Michael Xufu Huang: I think form the new norm is an attitude towards life. It is so easy to follow but I think if one really wants to be remembered, one should be brave to find ones own path and attributes that help to distinguish oneself from others. And I guess for us it really applies to our architecture, wall design, light design, website design and artists, and so on..

Read more: Patrick Sun on Promoting LGBTQ+ Art in Asia

LUX: What is the X Museum ecosystem and how is that expressed through an immersive experience?
Michael Xufu Huang: X museum always values the symbiotic relationship between art and technology. We launched X Virtual Museum to the public officially in 2020. This X Virtual Museum continuously renews and regenerates as our museum exhibition changes. It’s not like other online exhibitions which just show digital artworks. X Virtual Museum is not an online copy of the physical museum. Nor is it a simple documentation and archive of the exhibitions. Rather, it is an extension of the physical space and museum programmes. It is intended to accentuate the differences between the physical and the virtual and offers a game-like, treasure hunting experience. Many “components” found in the X Virtual Museum are extracted from the museum architecture and structure.

X Museum. Image courtesy X Museum and Weiqi Jin

LUX: How did you interact with your community during covid lockdown?
Michael Xufu Huang: I think firstly our website was designed to be a naked-eye 3D experience that really attracts users internationally to view our exhibitions online. And we organized mask donation to the hospitals in Wuhan. And after the lockdown we provided free entrance for medical workers and provided free covid-19 insurance.

LUX: And what are you particularly looking forward to presenting this year?
Michael Xufu Huang: I’m looking forward to all our upcoming exhibitions. But there are a few major collaboration projects coming up which I’m very excited about. They are different than regular exhibitions, as these yet to be announced collaborations really let us curate in a broader context and can highlight our creativity and innovation.

For example, we will launch the Polestar Art Car in late 2022. It’s a unique and continuous programme set to make exciting creations that will change the world’s engagement with and interpretation of art and design in automobiles. We will invite the most innovative artists to transform the car in 3D and not only 2D format.

Michael Xufu Huang is the co-founder of X Museum

The Library in the Riverstone Kensington

Penny Hughes is the Chairman of Riverstone, a group that is changing the senior living sector. Samantha Welsh speaks to Hughes about why Riverstone is different from other retirement home models.

LUX: You have a track record of leading world class consumer brands, across diverse industries, Coca Cola and Aston Martin, for example.  What qualities have you come to admire in leaders?
Penny Hughes: I strongly admire tenacity, drive and enthusiasm, but most of all I admire leaders with the ability to evolve and overcome change. At the start of my career I had no female role models. As a leader, and through experience, I have moved to being a positive campaigner for diversity, taking decisions that result in enhanced diversity & inclusion.

LUX: What has driven the transformation of the senior living sector from Cinderella to a sweet spot in the alternative property assets class?
Penny Hughes: Internationally, 5-7% of the market is focused on later living, while in the UK it is less than 1%. It’s not just a new asset class, it’s an undiscovered one. We are getting older; populations are growing and we are living longer. Research indicates that over 65s want to downsize, they want to release equity to enjoy life, and, most importantly, age in the places they love. Growth in this sector is adding value in creating options for the over 65s to ensure they can live the life they want to live.

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LUX: Are institutions also meeting ESG targets through investing in later living?
Penny Hughes: Many institutions do not place enough emphasis on the ‘Social’. The pandemic spurred a renewed focus on community living. Already Riverstone is in discussions with local schools to provide engagement for our residents – such as reading clubs with school children – and learning opportunities for the next generation.

LUX: What are the public policy gains offered by the retirement home model?
Penny Hughes: Policy makers are opening their eyes to how bespoke later living schemes can help alleviate pressures on the NHS and the social care system. Our approach aims to focus on prevention rather than cure, yet we are also able to offer on-site GP consultations and prescriptions to residents’ doors should our residents wish to access this service.

Riverstone Fulham Lounge

LUX: Has the pandemic offered new opportunities and ways of repurposing vacant property?
Penny Hughes: The pandemic has placed a heightened importance on our homes; there is a clear focus on what we need and what we don’t. For many of our future residents, they are at the stage in their life where they want to downsize, release equity, and live within a community that encourages healthy and active lifestyles. This further benefits the wider community as it unlocks appropriate and much needed housing for all generations.

LUX: Given the governments targets for delivering new homes, how do you compete with residential developers?
Penny Hughes: We’re living longer. By 2030, one in five people in the UK (21.8%) will be aged 65 or over (Age UK). The Riverstone offering, in prime central London, is meeting the demand for home ownership among the over 65s, which research indicates remains high, whilst also offering residents their own slice of luxury.

LUX: Your communities are disruptors, you celebrate metropolitan living, are you the new place-makers?
Penny Hughes: Metropolitan living is captivating. There is always something exciting going on, and most definitely keeps people active. I wouldn’t say we are place-makers as we choose vibrant established locations, however, we provide a wealth of private amenities and outstanding facilities, such as our gardens, curated by Chelsea Flower Show landscape and garden designer Andy Sturgeon, and our restaurants for the whole community

The Garden at the Riverstone Fulham, landscaped by Andy Sturgeon. Herb garden by Jekka McVicar

LUX: ‘Live the life you want’ – why are the world’s Baby Boomers so demanding and what do they want?
Penny Hughes: We are creating a place that is welcoming and accessible, not too formal. We are also creating The Riverstone Club, which will comprise state-of-the-art wellness spaces including a pool, spa, treatment rooms and yoga studio, alongside cinema, library, espresso bar, and business suites for personal and private affairs. Equally we don’t want people to feel intimidated if they want their privacy, so they can enjoy the chef’s table, or dine with friends.

LUX: What differentiates the Riverstone brand from other equally recognisable names?
Penny Hughes: This is a new asset class for prime central London, there aren’t many operators within this sector. Our competitors are either operating through rental models, or locations that appeal to a different audience.

Read more:6 Questions: Paul White, Four Seasons

LUX: How does the apartment ownership structure assist in managing wealth transfer?
Penny Hughes: 75% of our future residents currently own a large home. Riverstone’s model presents an option to downsize and free up equity. Each apartment is sold with a 150-year lease. A monthly fixed membership fee is charged during residents’ occupation, and this covers staffing, repairs, security, maintenance and general operating costs. Additional care and other services are charged separately on a pay-as-you-go basis. When looking to sell a Riverstone apartment a deferred fee (a percentage of the sale price) is payable when the property is sold. This management fee is a new model for the UK, however widely used in New Zealand and Australia.

Riverstone Kensington Yoga studio

LUX: What is the long term strategy for the group?
Penny Hughes: We are continuing to explore new central London sites as part of our plan to deliver a £3 billion portfolio. We have been very pleased with the reception for our Kensington and Fulham developments after they launched recently.

LUX: And can you share any well-being tips with us?
Penny Hughes: We should all – at every age – dedicate quality time to our own health and well-being. My passion in life is having a purpose and making a difference. I don’t do well sitting at home! Activities such as going to the gym, or paddle boarding on the river help give me space to unwind, whilst also being a fun form of exercise.”

Find out more: riverstoneliving.com

Eugenia Koh, Head of impact and sustainable investing at Standard Chartered

Eugenia Koh believes that while philanthropic support is essential, capital markets must help to close the funding gap for global sustainable development goals. Here, Koh, head of impact and sustainable investing at Standard Chartered, speaks to Samantha Welsh about current trends among next gen investors and how they are influencing their families to become more sustainable

LUX: Which sectors are your UHNW next generation clients eyeing post-pandemic?
Eugenia Koh: We find that they are particularly passionate about entrepreneurship and sustainable development. We conducted a thought leadership survey at the height of the pandemic, which found that clean water and sanitation, good health and wellbeing, climate action, quality education, and zero hunger were among the causes of highest importance to investors.

LUX: Does this growing preoccupation with ESG have any intergenerational repercussions?
Eugenia Koh: There are increasing demands on the next generation of clients globally as they navigate a wide range of fast-moving challenges which may be very different from those that their parents face. The resilience and increased interest in sustainable investment during the pandemic has helped some next gen investors with educating their families on the topic. One of them had his sustainable portfolio outperform the family’s main portfolio, and this has changed the family’s view to be more receptive to exploring sustainable investments and how they can help with better risk management and performance.

LUX: How easy is it to measure the performance of ESG investments?
Eugenia Koh: It is important not to be overly simplistic in using performance as a marketing tool as not all ESG investments outperform, depending on the strategy used and depth of ESG integration. When linking to performance, the concept of materiality is key. Not all ESG factors are equal and material: ‘E’, ‘S’ and ‘G’ factors differ based on industries. Take, for instance, airlines: their material ESG factors would include fuel efficiency, carbon emissions and health and safety practices, which would have a bigger impact on bottom line and consumer expectations as compared with such issues as child labour. Material ESG factors have a potential impact on financial performance, either in influencing value creation or destruction.

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LUX: How do you foster a sense of community among participants of the Future Global Leaders Programme?
Eugenia Koh: We keep the experience intimate by keeping the number of participants small, but diverse. Our next gen clients come from a variety of backgrounds: some are entrepreneurs themselves; others are involved in their family business, or are doing something completely different. They appreciate the opportunity to discuss topics that are close to their hearts.

LUX: What’s your go-to advice for next gen investors?
Eugenia Koh: To be clear on their objectives. Just as investors demand rigour in their traditional investments to achieve their financial objectives, they should likewise be clear about their impact objectives and the best approaches to achieve this.

LUX: How can investors avoid fraud, greenwashing and Covid-washing?
Eugenia Koh: Investors should ask their advisers about the ESG strategies of the companies into which they are investing, as well as learning about how ESG factors are integrated into the fund manager’s selection process. At Standard Chartered, due diligence is an important part of what we do. We have launched ESG Select, our in-house review framework, to better support clients in their selection of high quality ESG products with a strong performance track record.

Read more: Deloitte’s Jessica Hodges on Sustainable Investing 

LUX: Tell us about Standard Chartered’s sustainable development goals.
Eugenia Koh: We contribute to raising standards across the world and support the fight against climate change while playing our part in reducing poverty and global inequality. For instance, we are contributing to climate action and clean affordable energy with our commitment to provide project financing services for $40 billion of infrastructure projects that promote sustainable development. We are also looking to raise $75 million for our foundation, Futuremakers, in order to reach 50,000 young people, micro and small businesses to reduce inequalities.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

LUX: What drives your own passion for sustainable, responsible, impact investing?
Eugenia Koh: I remember going to Cambodia as a youth with my church group to engage and help the community there and being struck by the poverty, especially in one of our trips to a garbage slum. My friends and I decided to make an annual trip there to continue engagement with the youths we had befriended, and one of my friends eventually moved to set up a social enterprise in Cambodia. That was my first experience with impact investing and leveraging business to uplift families out of poverty.

My [subsequent] experience in grant-making and CSR has helped me see that while philanthropic support is essential, there is also a role that capital markets and finance can play in sustainable development. There remains a significant funding gap in achieving the [UN] Sustainable Development Goals — the annual financing gap to achieve the SDGs by 2030 currently sits at $2.5 trillion — and we need the private sector and finance to play a role in contributing towards this. I am excited when I come across clients and investors who are passionate about contributing towards this, and to be able to help them in their journey.

Eugenia Koh is Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at Standard Chartered Bank

Harnessing renewable energy from sources like hydro electric power is essential for investing in the future

Jessica Hodges

From renewable energy to alternative food products, biotech to healthcare, ESG is helping to bring impact to the forefront of investment portfolios. As a partner at Deloitte, Jessica Hodges is responsible for helping private clients build responsible investments into their portfolios. She speaks to LUX about the increasing centrality of ESG to business strategy and why family offices need to be ahead of the curve. By Samantha Welsh, Philanthropy Editor.

LUX: What drove your own interest in ESG?
Jessica Hodges: I was interested in ESG issues from a young age – albeit the acronym didn’t exist yet – and was always keen to get involved in projects that had a social or environmental angle. My job means I come into contact with a large number of families, and I’m keen to ensure that we, and they, make an impact through the work we do. Considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks is becoming increasingly central to business strategy.

LUX: What trends are you currently noticing among family offices?
Jessica Hodges: Family offices are all unique, but generally we are seeing more of an interest from the next generation in issues that have a positive impact on the environment and on society. Younger generations are becoming increasingly involved in managing their family’s wealth and demanding investments that align with their values. They are particularly focused on how they measure ESG impact, considering on a case by case basis the impact companies are having and how they may change to align to ESG values, as well as using data to understand it.

Many next gen clients feel a real sense of obligation – particularly if the source of their wealth may not have been considered to have positive impacts in the past. Often in a family with multiple siblings, you might see one sibling managing the family business, one running the family office and one leading the philanthropic side of things.

LUX: Which sectors are next gen investors most interested in?
Jessica Hodges: Areas of focus include renewable energy infrastructure projects; alternative food products; agricultural technology and alternative farming; healthcare and biotech. What is so interesting is how ESG is bringing that ‘impact’ element into the broader investment portfolio – an area I think family offices are ahead of the curve on.

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LUX: What makes family offices potentially well suited to ESG investing?
Jessica Hodges: Family offices typically have more control over deciding and managing their priorities than public funds as they are private. They do not have to respond to shareholder demand in the same way, and have flexibility over how they use their large pools of capital. Their investment horizons are also often long term: instead of looking to make a quick return, they invest over five year periods or more, and do not have the same financial return requirements that larger venture capital firms have.

Being smaller, and typically more flexible and agile, makes it easier to introduce policy change and implement if they have the skillset to do so. Additionally, there are some family offices that are heavily focused on supporting their local community, helping to make more noticeable and measurable change locally rather than on a macro level.

Jessica Hodges delivering a speech at the Deloitte Family Office Conference

LUX: What basic interventions can a family make to incorporate ESG targets into an investment model which has been in place for generations?
Jessica Hodges: Due diligence of sustainability practices is key. This is an area that family offices will need to consider planning for, as a resource for sufficient oversight of external managers could be an issue for smaller organisations. It’s also key to have effective controls in place to measure and monitor fund managers, and ensure strategic objectives set by the family office are met.

ESG-proof due diligence and investment processes are also extremely important. This can include fully understanding the investment philosophy of any external managers (without any complicated jargon), obtaining evidence of shareholder engagement, and verifying performance data. The easiest intervention to make is often an exclusionary policy: the family picks a few areas they are not willing to invest in, such as organisations that negatively impact the environment or public health.

Read more: Professor Peter Newell on why the wealthy need to act on climate change

LUX: The ESG sector is unregulated and family offices value authenticity and trust: how do managers evaluate risks such as data validation, fraud, and greenwashing?
Jessica Hodges: It’s key that family offices have independently verified credentials. Besides checking a firm’s governance mechanisms, internal systems and controls, assurance would focus on whether there is a positive risk or ESG culture and a good level of awareness. In the same way that auditors come in to very financial data, providers will come to verify non-financial data over ESG metrics.

LUX: How is the ESG industry model disrupting traditional investing models?
Jessica Hodges: Firms are trying to determine which of their investments have both positive and negative social or environmental impacts and want to be clear on the implications of these with their public disclosures. They are also figuring out factors that will resonate most with their clients. If product governance is not thought through properly then there could well be negative consequences. My expectation is that there will be increased monitoring requirements with regards to asset portfolios, leading to additional costs – although proponents of this would argue that it is money well spent.

The sales part of the investment cycle is more complex since investors in ESG are not seeking to solely meet financial return objectives: at what point do you determine your exit? Historically, family offices – along with private equity – might have been looking to exit at the point when they could maximise their financial profits. Now, family offices will need to consider whether the targets outlined have been achieved, along with the broader impact on society or environment.

LUX: What makes a successful family office?
Jessica Hodges: The most important thing for a ‘successful’ family office is alignment of goals, and understanding what the family hopes to achieve. It is only by knowing where you want to get to that you can understand if you have really got there and measure how you performed!

Landscape photography by Isabella Sanai

Jessica Hodges is an Investment Management Audit and Assurance Partner at Deloitte

Utsava Kasera is a next-gen portfolio entrepreneur who has put his faith in his latest investment: a premium Prosecco, aimed at shaking up the drink market in the UK and US. The Indian-born, UK-educated citizen of the world speaks to Anna Tyzack about his business portfolio across tech, fashion and hospitality, and his new direction in sustainability

Portrait photography by Charlie Gray

It was Phantom, Mandrake and Tintin comics, or rather the lack of them in India, that drove Utsava Kasera to start his first business at the age of 12. His group of friends were as obsessed with comics as he was, and as there weren’t many available locally, he started a small library. “When my father travelled to the big cities like Delhi and Bombay [Mumbai], he’d bring one back for me; if I did well in my exams, he might bring back two, and I’d rent them out to my friends,” he explains. “The library was a good lesson in entrepreneurship: where demand exceeds supply, there is always the chance to start an exciting business.”

It is this entrepreneurial spirit that has driven him towards his venture, an intriguing attempt to shake up the drinks market. While prestige champagnes have proliferated, and the market for the cheaper Italian sparkling wine, prosecco, has expanded, there has been no crossover between the two categories. Until now: Kasera has invested in a premium prosecco as a rival to champagne.

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The rollout of Ombra Di Pantera is now being driven in the UK. “The UK is one of the biggest markets for prosecco – more people drink it than champagne. And yet there are few luxury options, few competitors to grande marque, non-vintage champagnes like Moët et Chandon or Veuve Clicquot,” he says.

Ombra Di Pantera is the answer to this gap in the market – it’s the finest quality prosecco and will soon be available online and then in a select number of London’s bars and restaurants. “Our vineyards produce the most refined Glera grapes, used in the best proseccos, and the family in charge is passionate about production and cultivating and harvesting the grapes, and they have passed this passion and their techniques down through the generations,” he explains. The name pays homage to the Venetian term for prosecco, ombra de vin, ‘wine’s shadow’ – it is said that in ancient times the traders in Piazza San Marco kept the wine cool by storing it in the shadow of the Campanile. “Prosecco is faster to produce than champagne and it is drunk when it’s younger, but the best ones are exceptional,” Kasera says. “I’ve learnt from whisky that age doesn’t necessarily define the quality – it’s about the vintage and the methods of production.”

The winery at Conegliano Valdobbiadene, Veneto

As with all Kasera’s investments and business ventures, the opportunity to create Ombra Di Pantera was a case of right place, right time. He was introduced to the Italian family who had been cultivating the beautiful Ombra Di Pantera vineyards for many generations and he immediately saw the potential. He had similar good fortune, he says, when he met Kevin Pietersen for coffee and soon signed up to invest in the cricketer’s ethical fashion label, SORAI, set up to preserve and protect endangered species; and when he met the founders of the Singapore private members club, 1880, in which he is now an investor and advisor.

Read more: Olivia Muniak on how collective dining brings us together

Kasera says his own father drilled into him early on that you make your own luck in life. From nothing his father built up a successful chemical company supplying the chemicals to manufacturers of a detergent that is now a well-known name in northern and eastern India, a market of hundreds of millions of consumers. As a boy, Kasera used to love hearing his father talk about his world travels and the people he met along the way. “In 1972 he flew to Afghanistan and hitchhiked to the Munich Olympics; in Munich he met a guy on a bus who he stayed with for the next three months; they stayed in touch and that same guy went to my sister’s wedding in India,” he says. “It’s stories like these that showed me how small the world is if you take the time to explore it. I knew from the start that a 9-to-5 job wasn’t going to be for me.”

At school Kasera was a sports star, being the city captain for table tennis and a keen cricketer. After graduating from university in Delhi, he studied at the London School of Economics and gained a master’s in international business and emerging markets at the University of Edinburgh. “It was overwhelming at first – the language, the curriculum and the different culture – but it was good experience for me; there were people from 26 countries in my class.” Along with gaining his master’s he made a cosmopolitan network of friends and learnt to appreciate whisky and cognac. He was recently listed on the University of Edinburgh’s Alumni 100, a showcase of its Business School’s most inspiring former students and is also now an advisor to the British Council’s Creative Spark Higher Education Enterprise Programme. “It’s great to be able to help motivate young potential entrepreneurs to realise their potential,” he says.

His main investment focuses are now tech, luxury and environmentally sustainable solutions; in 2011 he worked on a sustainability project in the chemical industry in Switzerland and Germany, fostering in him an interest in renewable energy. “It’s been a process of learning as I go along,” he says. “I’ve made some bad investments that didn’t turn out as I hoped but I’ve got a good feel for it now – it’s so rewarding when things go well.”

The vineyard where the Glera grapes for Ombra Di Pantera are grown.

The entrepreneurial landscape has opened up dramatically since he left Edinburgh, he continues, largely due to social media. When used intelligently, social networking platforms break down so many boundaries, he says, allowing entrepreneurs and investors to reach a huge audience without expense. “It enables things to happen out of the blue; it brings people and opportunities together,” he says.

Read more: Pomellato’s Kintsugi collection imagines a more sustainable jewellery industry

Some of the truly unique opportunities, however, are still found away from social media and screens, he says – the bourbon whisky that he discovered in Austin, Texas through word of mouth, for example, and the Pinot Noir he tried in Armenia that he says would rival a good red Burgundy. For entrepreneurial inspiration, Kasera thus aims to explore five new countries a year; so far this year he’s visited Armenia, the Seychelles and Northern Ireland and Georgia. He also reads extensively and makes a point of expanding his network wherever he is in the world, often choosing to stay in Airbnb accommodation or with friends rather than checking in to a hotel.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic put a damper on his travels. While this was frustrating in many ways, forcing him to put investment and philanthropic plans on hold, the time at home helped him gain new perspective. “I like to be busy; I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to do in the future, what’s on the horizon,” he says. “I read the Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das, which is a secular reading of the great epic, Mahabharata. It relates so much to modern times, which I found very inspiring.” He also taught himself to cook, perfecting Indian-style scrambled eggs with coriander, spices and tomato, and, with Ombra Di Pantera in mind, completed a WSET level 1 online wine course.

As the world opens up again, Kasera is looking forward to Ombra Di Pantera’s unveiling in New York City, where he aspires to open a prosecco bar to give more people the chance to sample fine prosecco. “I hope it will be a brand ambassador for Ombra Di Pantera as well as hosting small pairing lunches and dinners,” he says. “I’d like to see Ombra Di Pantera inspiring a whole new area of luxury proseccos.”

What’s also sure is that it’s impossible to tell what sector new generation entrepreneurs like Kasera will be investing in. Sector-agnostic, and symbolic of his generation, truly global, he looks for opportunities that expand and stretch the luxury sector, increasingly with sustainability in mind. He remains tight-lipped about his next ventures, but I suspect they will be increasingly impactful in the new world of luxury.

The premium Prosecco

Ombra Di Pantera’s Prosecco Superiore Brut Millesimato DOCG aims to conquer the hearts of aficionados of champagne and other high-end sparkling wines, who may not previously have considered a prosecco. The Glera grapes that go into this wine are grown in the foothills of the Alps north of Venice, in an area with sunny days and cool nights. This gives a balance of ripeness and freshness. The result of hand-harvesting, careful selection of grapes and a personalised winemaking process is a sparkling wine that is creamy and light.

My favourite indulgence

“Depending on the time of day and the mood, it’ll either be a whisky or a cognac. As a ritual before dinner with friends, or if I’m admiring a view, I’ll drink a glass of Louis XIII 100-year-old cognac. It never fails to get me in the right mood. Whisky is a passion I share with my friends; we taste it together, we collect it and we exchange notes.”

Find out more: ombradipantera.com

Thank you to Nobu Hotel London Portman Square for providing The Nobu Penthouse for our shoot. Styling by Grace Gilfeather; grooming by Brady Lea (Premier Hair and Make-up).

This article was originally published in the Autumn/Winter 2021 issue.

Harlan Estate’s vineyards in Napa Valley, California

Will Harlan is the second-generation managing director of California’s iconic Harlan Estate, maker of some of the most expensive and desirable red wines in the world. Over a Zoom tasting of the winery’s flagship wines, Harlan, who took over from his father Bill this year, talks to LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai about how to create a business for the generations

LUX: Your father Bill Harlan, who founded Harlan Estate, got into the wine business almost by accident.
Will Harlan: Yes, Harlan Estate is the first wine endeavour that my father founded, it got started in the early 80s and his vision for Harlan Estate evolved over the course of his life. He grew up in Los Angeles, not around wine, or anything, but he had the opportunity to go to Berkeley [part of the University of California].

During his college years, that he had heard about this place up north, where you could taste wine for free. They wouldn’t check your ID and he really enjoyed going up there as a college student and kind of developed this very fuzzy dream that someday, if he could ever afford it, he would love to find a piece of land, plant a vineyard, make a little bit of wine, start a family.

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He graduated and did a number of different things, but it wasn’t until he approached his forties where he finally had the wherewithal to be able to start thinking more seriously about this dream of coming to Napa. It was probably in the late 70s that he started coming up here and looking for vineyard land, not knowing anything about the wine industry, and through a certain series of events, he tried to purchase a piece of property.

Will Harlan, second-generation managing director of Harlan Estate

[Napa wine legend] Robert Mondavi really took my dad under his wing, wanting to show him the potential of Napa and that not all land in Napa is created equal. Robert understood how fuzzy this original dream that my father had was and maybe how naïve it was too, but he also recognised that my dad was genuinely interested in doing something in wine and wanted to help.

Mondavi says, “Bill, I know you’re interested in buying some land in Napa Valley, but not all land is created equal. I want to send you to France and really show you what some of the great wines of the world are all about, pieces of land that they’ve been able to capture and what sets them apart.” So he organised a trip for my dad to go to Bordeaux and Burgundy, made the introductions. At the time I don’t think the French wine producers were particularly excited about welcoming random Americans into their homes so it was really important that Robert was able to set this up. My father returned to Napa Valley with this drive, this new vision of wanting to create a “first growth” of California.

LUX: What is your personal vision for Harlan Estate?
Will Harlan: I’m very excited for the future. I feel like there’s so much potential. As a region, I think we’re really coming into our own, in terms of an international kind of understanding and recognition, but I also feel that there’s always the opportunity to understand your land better.

Read more: Product designer Tord Boontje on sustainable materials

LUX: How does Napa Valley compare to Bordeaux, or specifically your wines to top wines from Pauillac (home of chateaux like Lafite, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild)?
Will Harlan: We never like drawing comparisons. They are all different expressions of Cabernet and I think that’s wonderful. We have quite different climates. In Napa Valley, we have almost no rain during the growing season, but we have plenty of sunshine and the humidity is very low so we don’t have mildew issues. We have vines that get quite dry by the end of the growing season so we’ve got to focus almost all of our efforts on ensuring that all of our vineyards are used to this low hydration environment by forcing them to grow very deep root systems for example.

It’s very easy for us to ripen fruit. It’s never really a question whether or not we’re going to achieve ripeness. For us, it’s about aligning that ripeness at an earlier stage in the season before acidity begins dropping off and before sugars start to rise too much.

At the end of the day, the character of the two regions is quite different and I feel that the best thing you can do is to try to really understand your plot within your region and make it the best version of itself.

The Harlan Estate tankroom

LUX: We know some wine collectors who think about buying wine estates and then decide against it, saying they will be a money-pit..
Will Harlan: I’d say they’re probably right! It requires a lot more investment than people expect, but mainly, a lot more time. People who are very wealthy tend to understand return on investment timelines very well and once they start understanding what that means in the wine world, they think, “Right, you wouldn’t touch this.” So, I think it really comes down to what are your motives? Are you doing this because you happen to love wine and you love drinking wine and you think it would be fun and interesting? I would probably say  that’s not the ideal lens to approach getting into the wine industry. But if you’re ready to devote your life and your time and your effort, and probably more capital than you might think, then okay.

Read more: Is Germany the next global art hub?

LUX: How much harder is it to make a great wine at this level than a good wine? And what do you have to do differently?
Will Harlan: It probably comes back to my feelings on character versus quality. First of all, it’s about finding a piece of land and being able to capture that land to create a very distinctive wine. It takes a lot of time and resources, but you also need to recruit a team that has the capacity to really dive in and understand the land. You have to have one of the better teams around, but you also have to understand that it takes time, decades, even generations for people to truly connect to the land, to become familiar with the properties, the growing seasons and how they react to different weather environments.

LUX: We are tasting the 2006 Harlan Estate today – is that the year you started being involved in the family business?
Will Harlan: In ‘06, I was almost 20 years old. So, I wasn’t as involved in the family business yet, but I was always a little bit curious about the wine industry. I didn’t actually think I was going to go into it. I don’t think I had the perspective or the context at that age. On the other hand, it was the first year I worked harvest which was the start of my experience.

The Harlan family on the lawn of the estate

LUX: And then we have the 2012. By then, you were then fully involved. Is that correct?
Will Harlan: I had started working on a little side project. I was living in San Francisco, working in the tech space and the consumer internet tech space. It turns out San Francisco is just close enough to Napa Valley to feel that gravitational pull I had already started to feel. I was curious about wine, and I was starting to attend a lot of the blending sessions that we had.

I had this idea of wanting to create my own little bottling. It didn’t have a label or a name. I was just bringing it to different social events. I ended up building that into its own proper label called “The Mascot”, which is made from the younger vines by different properties. That was the spark for me: getting to see that I could find my own entrepreneurial path within wine and the family business.

So, that’s what drew me in, but of course, I didn’t really have any credibility in wine world. You have to have worked a proper harvest. 2012 happened to be the year that I got really serious about joining the family business and so I spent that growing season in the winery. It was so rewarding and so fascinating to really understand the production side of things.

Read more: The gastronomic delights of Suvretta House, Switzerland

LUX: Was there ever a possibility given how close you are to Silicon Valley, that you might have just ended up there?
Will Harlan: Very much, that’s what I thought my life was going to be. So, I’m glad that I found my way back to wine, but the tech world has always been very interesting to me.  I got to forge a few really strong friendships there with folks that were at the beginnings of their path.

LUX: There’s quite a strong link between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Napa Valley vintners…
Will Harlan: There is. I feel like we have two speeds: Silicon Valley moves extremely quickly and Napa Valley moves at the pace of the seasons. I think Silicon Valley oftentimes yearns for something that is connected to the land, something that is physical, something that has a visceral core to it, that connection to nature. But at the same time, Napa Valley can learn from the Silicon Valery approach to work. So, there’s a wonderful connection between the two.

LUX: Bernard Arnault [owner of LVMH and Chateau Cheval Blanc, Dom Pérignon and Krug champagnes, and many more] or Francois Pinault [owner of Chateau Latour, Clos du Tart, and many more] come to you and say, “Name your price. I want your winery.” What do you say?
Will Harlan: We never built any of this with the intention of selling.

LUX: I’m offering you $2 billion.
Will Harlan: We’re not doing this for the money. Before my dad was in wine, he was in real estate development. You can make a lot more money in real estate development than you can making a few thousand cases of wine. It’s never been our driving motive. And as I said before, you only really get into wine if you truly love it.

Harlan Estate 2006

The Wines (tasting notes by Will Harlan and Darius Sanai)

Harlan Estate 1994

Will Harlan: It’s always had a certain energy and an incredible density. It’s a very tight weave, not necessarily a heavy fabric, but the weave is very fine. It’s just beginning to soften, showing you a little bit of detail. We think it’s going to be one of our very long-lived wines.

Darius Sanai: Initial impressions are of a full bodied, fruit-led wine, but after a few seconds this dissolves into an array of lacy micro-flavours, from meats to dried fruit via summer blossom. Remarkable. As good as any top Bordeaux, except different, less stern and reticent, more talkative, but just as much of a polymath. Serve at a dinner with guests including Ptolemy, Queen Elizabeth I, Einstein, Jane Austen and Audrey Hepburn.

Harlan Estate 2006

Will Harlan: A cooler vintage. It’s taken a bit of time for this wine to relax. It’s still in the phase of being a little bit introverted. It has a certain herbal quality that I always recognise and I feel there is some wonderful detail in there and some higher notes.

Darius Sanai: This wine is all about potential. Like dining with a group of star PHD students from Oxford and Stanford. Enjoyable company now – it’s not closed down or dull – but you just know how much more it will have to say in 10 or 20 years.

Harlan Estate 2012

Will Harlan: This is a vintage very close to my heart. It was a very good growing season Wonderful. It always had this welcoming generosity. It is almost this kind of spherical experience on the palate. Very, very welcoming, very approachable and very seductive in a sense. Very plush and velvety tannins.

Darius Sanai: One to open when receiving the Marquise de Pompadour in one of your rooms at Versailles.

Harlan Estate 2016

Will Harlan: In the long run, I feel that this will be recognised as one of the great vintages of Harlan. It’s kind of like the 1994 in a certain sense. The winter before the 2016 vintage, we finally got some much-needed rain. It shows you so much detail and complexity, even though it’s quite young. It’s special.

Darius Sanai: An intellectual and a seducer: rich and rigorous at the same time. It doesn’t taste young, and it’s delicious now, but you know all its complexities will develop over the eras. A wine for the President to open to celebrate the US Tricentennial in 2076.

Find out more: harlanestate.com

Opera Gallery at Masterpiece London 2019. Photograph by Ben Fisher. Courtesy of Masterpiece London

In his second column for LUX, art collector, advisor and chairman of Masterpiece London Philip Hewat-Jaboor discusses how art institutions are engaging a new generation of collectors and dealers

Philip Hewat-Jaboor. Photograph by Danny Evans

I’m often asked why we’re seeing a new generation of collectors and dealers entering the art market, and I think the impact of the past year has both accelerated this growth and brought into perspective how important it is for the art world to engage, nurture and support the young.

This past year all involved in the art world – museums, galleries, dealers and auctioneers – have had to evolve and come up with increasingly sophisticated ways to draw in new audiences. The move to online platforms has drawn in younger buyers who are digitally native and the process of buying art has become almost instantaneous, without any of the perceived barriers of a gallery or auction house. According to this year’s Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, high-net-worth millennials are now the fastest-growing group of collectors.

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In my opinion, one of the greatest changes we’ve seen over the past 20 years (and certainly since I first started working in the art world), is how knowledge and experience is communicated and shared. There has been a shift towards collaboration and discussion in art world, especially, over the past year. Knowledge, history, opinions and even prices are much more readily available whether that’s via a gallery’s website, through social media, an online article or panel discussion. This access to knowledge is vital to engaging younger collectors and nurturing new dealers.

Masterpiece London 2019. Photograph by Ben Fisher. Courtesy of Masterpiece

Engaging with young people and reaching new audiences has never been so important to preserving the longevity of art, and over the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in new initiatives, young patron groups and innovative uses of social media to provide a greater level of accessibility. Christie’s Education, for example, recently launched their Young Collectors Club, The National Gallery in London have a Young Ambassadors initiative, there’s the Young Patrons Circle at the V&A, and at Masterpiece, we have a Young Collectors group as well as a school of Vetting and museums-focussed symposiums open to young professionals. These not only invite younger generations to be part of the discussion, but give them the opportunity to discover a breadth of collecting possibilities and learn as much as possible from lots of different disciplines.

Read more: An exclusive private tasting of Ornellaia with Axel Heinz

Michael Diaz-Griffith, executive director of the Sir John Soane Museum Foundation in New York, founded the New Antiquarians to generate interest in collecting amongst a younger audience and is passionate about supporting the antiques business. “In the past two years, younger lovers of art, antiques and design have really started buying. They may have relatively small budgets, but they are spending in interesting ways – often a heady mix of old and new art, antiques and contemporary design,” he told me over email.

Photography, contemporary art and design are particularly appealing to the new collector, partly due to the more accessible price points whilst the world of traditional, or older works of art is less familiar and relies on the passionate communication of the dealer or museum curator to engage new collectors. Nevertheless, the thirst of the next generation to engage with works of art, to become involved and to expand the breadth of their horizons is really exciting to see.

Philip Hewat-Jaboor is Masterpiece London’s Chairman of the Fair. Read his previous column here

This year’s edition of Masterpiece London will take place online with smaller-scale live activations in London in June. For updates and online events, visit: masterpiecefair.com

Jean-François Dieterich (left) with Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar at the Villa Cuccia-Noya.

The south of France, home to Matisse, Cézanne and Van Gogh, has one of the greatest artistic legacies in the world. Now the mayor of one of its most exclusive communities wants to create a cultural heritage for the next generation, as Lanie Goodman discovers

“I am made of all that I have seen,” French artist Henri Matisse once famously stated. The grand master of colour certainly got an eyeful during his lifetime of world travels. But when Matisse first arrived on the Côte d’Azur in 1917, he was so taken with the sunlit vistas of luxuriant gardens, graceful palms and the shimmering blue sea that he decided to settle in the south of France for the rest of his life. The artist’s love of plants extended to a philosophical perspective on all living things. “We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe,” Matisse muses in his writings.

For over a century, European crowned heads, artists and writers have flocked to the south of France to create their own private Eden, and predictably, the 2.48 sq km commune of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat – a lush secluded peninsula of seaside splendour midway between Nice and Monaco – has a rich history of outstanding artistic effervescence.

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These days, the town’s mayor, Jean-François Dieterich, is aiming to revive the cultural excitement with a contemporary art exhibition – with about 15 works in total – of French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar to inaugurate the beautifully restored Villa Namouna, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat’s brand new cultural space. This initiative is part of an ongoing programme to revive the once celebrated artistic enclave in the commune by showcasing living artists of international renown. “I find that the approach of Behnam-Bakhtiar – who has found serenity, joie de vivre and sources of inspiration through the outstanding natural landscapes of this peninsula – has a certain continuity with the artists of the 50s,” Dieterich says. “But he also has his own contemporary abstract technique and a rich palette of colours.”

My Tree of Life (2019–20) by Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar.

For the 36-year-old artist, Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, who now lives and works in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the timeless Mediterranean landscape has had a profound effect on his point of view and his palette, much like Matisse. “My art has definitely changed since I moved here in 2010,” he says. “Although the technique I used, peinture raclée, was similar to now, a lot of the works were dark.”

Above all, explains Behnam-Bakhtiar, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has been a grounding force. “This place gave me a new life and something that helped me to become a more complete, balanced human being. It has helped me cope with everything that has happened to me. I shifted my whole focus on things that are truly valuable, such as the dormant energy that exists inside us and our connection to nature.”

Read more: Discovering Deutsche Bank’s legendary art collection

We are at Behnam-Bakhtiar’s studio, situated on an upper floor of a white villa on the Cap. The room is ablaze with colour, a mesmerising assembly of large abstract canvases, stacked one behind the other and propped against the wall; in the centre of the room is the artist’s working space, a table littered with tubes of paint and a scraper. From the window, you gaze out at a palm tree, a verdant garden and patches of sea.

The show, entitled ‘Rebirth’, will debut with a one-day private viewing of 35 new paintings held at Villa Cuccia-Noya, a sumptuous waterfront estate owned by distinguished businessman, philanthropist and art collector Basil Sellers. “What an enormous energy rises from his works,” Sellers enthuses, referring to Behnam-Bakhtiar’s latest canvases. “I was astounded.”

Blue Soul Groove (2019) by Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar

Energy is indeed the very term Behnam-Bakhtiar uses to describe the palpable vibrancy of landscapes that he tries to capture in his paintings. Under the umbrella of the rebirth theme, the artist will also unveil two public installations – one on the Cap and the other in the village. It will be a first for the community in terms of public artwork – one of the works will be a lightweight but huge wrought-iron sculpture in which three suspended figures of a man, woman and child look as if they have sprung from the earth. As Behnam-Bakhtiar explains, the idea of the work is to convey “harmonious living with nature”, something which he feels should be transmitted to future generations.

The Paris-born artist, whose previous exhibitions include ‘Oneness Wholeness’ at London’s Saatchi Gallery in 2018 and at a Christie’s Middle Eastern, Modern and Contemporary Art exhibition in London in 2019, spent his formative years in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war. Articulate, calm and soft-spoken, Behnam-Bakhtiar briefly alludes to his imprisonment and torture but would rather speak about transformation. “My last exhibition, at the Setareh Gallery in Düsseldorf, Germany, was called ‘Extremis’ and it focused on all the hardcore experiences that happened in my past. For Saint-Jean, I wanted to do something that is the other side of the coin, to represent positivity and light.”

As you stand in front of his recent series of paintings, ‘Trees of Paradise’, the blended bright colours slowly conjure discernible shapes that “are part of the Cap Ferrat scenery”, Behnam-Bakhtiar says, urging me to touch the canvas. Despite the complex texture that meets the eye, the surface is surprisingly smooth. For inspiration, he adds, he often walks through a wooded section of the Cap, not far from the curvaceous Villa Brasilia, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Dieterich and Behnam-Bakhtiar at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat’s town hall

“One painting may take me anywhere from five months to a year to finish,” he says, flashing a smile. “It takes a lot of time and patience.” Essentially, he explains, his process consists of painting, scraping, drying – hundreds of times – until he’s happy with the work. “When you know it’s right, you leave it. It just suddenly clicks for me.”

Whether mere coincidence or simply the glamorous allure of this privileged finger of land, a remarkable convergence of writers, artists, filmmakers and actors lived, worked and entertained on Cap Ferrat during the late 1940s and 1950s and the ‘dolce vita’ of the 1960s. Winston Churchill painted on the jetty undisturbed; Picasso sunbathed at the pool of Le Club Dauphin at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat. British writer W Somerset Maugham, in search of the simple life purchased a Moorish-style villa, La Mauresque, planted superb gardens and hosted everyone from artist Marc Chagall (who had a neighbouring home on the Cap Ferrat) to Noel Coward, George Cukor and Harpo Marx. Another illustrious resident was British actor David Niven, who lived in the villa La Fleur du Cap on the coastal Promenade Maurice Rouvier and often lent his home to his friend, Charlie Chaplin.

Read more: In the studio with radical artist Mickalene Thomas

“There were numerous films shot in Saint-Jean,” says mayor Dieterich. “There were also legendary actors and directors who spent time here, such as Gene Kelly, Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, and Otto Preminger.” However, Cap Ferrat’s glorious artistic heyday revolved around the presence of two major figures: the Greek-born editor and publisher Efstratios Eleftheriades – known as Tériade – and poet, playwright, filmmaker and artist, Jean Cocteau.

In the postwar years, when the Côte d’Azur was a sun-drenched haven for artists, Matisse was a regular visitor to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat where his friend and collaborator Tériade lived in the turquoise-shuttered Villa Natacha, overlooking the harbour. The influential editor of Verve, who had commissioned every major artist of his time to design covers for his magazine, brought together the likes of Bonnard, Balthus, Miró and Derain. As a mark of friendship, the frail 83-year-old Matisse designed a stained-glass window – a Chinese fish surrounded by begonias – for Tériade’s dining room and also painted the villa’s walls with black enamel plane trees.

During that same period, Cocteau lived in a white-washed seaside house, the Villa Santo Sospir, owned by patroness of the arts, Francine Weisweiller, who had fallen in love with the rugged beauty of the then deserted Cap Ferrat in 1948 and turned it into her dream home. Weisweiller met Cocteau in 1950 when she financed Les Enfants Terribles, the film he had written, and invited him to the villa for a few days. He ended up staying 11 years and decided to ‘tattoo’ the white walls with whimsical mythological frescos. The privately owned villa is currently under restoration to preserve Cocteau’s Greek gods and local fisherman, plus the bohemian jumble of Madeleine Castaing-designed exotic wood furniture and curtains as well as vintage bric-a-brac.

The Villa Cuccia-Noya

Behnam-Bakhtiar, who was contacted by the owners of Santo Sospir just prior to the villa’s temporary closure in 2017, was enchanted. “They wanted me to do a show. The energy there was unreal and I went there every day, for about four weeks, trying to take it all in.” His exhibition, ‘Oneness, Wholeness with Jean Cocteau’, consisted of 36 sculptures scattered about the villa and garden, as well as an audio installation with a dialogue between Cocteau and himself.

Does Behnam-Bakhtiar feel in sync with the spirit of his artistic predecessors? The artist pauses, gazing at one of his ongoing ‘Trees of Paradise’ canvases. “You know, I was looking online and stumbled across a video of Cocteau sitting at the same table of Santo Sospir. He’s addressing the people of the year 2000 and saying the same things I’ve been talking about now – about how we are losing our humanity and behaving like robots. It’s a real honour to continue in his footsteps and work with the mayor to help revive what used to be here.”

Nostalgia aside, call it a reawakening of a state of mind when it comes to beauty. Or, as Matisse aptly summed it up: “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” And Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar would be inclined to agree.

Benham-Bakhtiar’s exhibition ‘Rebirth’ will open with a private view at Villa Cuccia-Noya on 10 September 2020; the show will run at Villa Namouna from 11 September – 11 October 2020.

For more information visit: sassanbehnambakhtiar.com

This story was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue, out now.