https://www.scmp.com/rss/312590/feed Josh Sims is a london-based writer and editor contributing to the likes of The Times, CNN, The Economist and Wallpaper, among other titles. He's the author of several books on style and design, the latest being 'Men of Style' (published by Laurence King) en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Josh Sims Josh Sims Andrea Zagato says that, when you’re 106 years old, you think very carefully before risking your reputation. “It’s a lot of history to protect,” says the CEO of the legendary Italian coachbuilding company that bears his family name. Zagato was founded by his grandfather Ugo in 1919, and would go on to lend its styling skills to the likes of Bugatti, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini; and to make classic versions of the Ferrari 575 GTZ, Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa and BMW... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/design/article/3343459/andrea-zagato-us3-million-capricorn-01-italian-coachbuilder-zagatos-first-hypercar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/design/article/3343459/andrea-zagato-us3-million-capricorn-01-italian-coachbuilder-zagatos-first-hypercar?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 22:00:10 +0000 Josh Sims Josh Sims “It’s a statement,” says Peter Chua, bar industry consultant and founder of Singapore’s acclaimed Night Hawk bar. “It says to the customer ‘I care about your experience’. If I go into a bar and see anything else now, I’m disappointed.” The cleanliness of the tables? The friendliness of the bartender? Those top-notch spirits? No, Chua is referring to the quality of the ice in his drink. “It’s ice,” he says, “that sets a bar apart, that tweaks the guests’ perception of it.” Not just any ice, of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3338153/rocking-artisan-ice-now-integral-part-cocktail-experience?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3338153/rocking-artisan-ice-now-integral-part-cocktail-experience?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Dec 2025 22:00:12 +0000 Josh Sims Josh Sims Duyi Han is rarely overwhelmed by digital technology – because he’s native to it. “Though you can still scroll too much,” he laughs. “The [digital world] has allowed me [to] research, edit, experiment and render my ideas about visual culture. Without it I would have to [spend] a lot of time in libraries. And I already don’t feel like I have enough time.” Aptly enough for an artist and designer who is often immersed in screens, 31-year-old Han is one of just four recently selected by Apple’s... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/design/article/3329628/meet-duyi-han-shanghai-born-designer-selected-apples-designers-tomorrow-initiative?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/design/article/3329628/meet-duyi-han-shanghai-born-designer-selected-apples-designers-tomorrow-initiative?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:00:32 +0000 Josh Sims Josh Sims Back in 2023, just after ChatGPT was launched to the public, Raoul Masangcay, co-founder of Elias Wicked Ales & Spirits in Manila, the Philippines, thought an experiment was in order. He asked an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to devise a hazy pale ale, which his brewery then made. “People thought the idea was cool even if the beer was fairly standard and not so distinctive,” says Masangcay. “We even used AI to name the beer [Foggy Daze] and generate the [promotional] artwork. Clearly, AI... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3316308/beer-brewers-across-globe-are-turning-ai-create-new-ales?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3316308/beer-brewers-across-globe-are-turning-ai-create-new-ales?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jul 2025 00:00:09 +0000 Josh Sims Josh Sims When Stuart Wee entered the coffee industry, he did so to fix what he saw as a fatal flaw in speciality coffee shops, mainly, that “they don’t seem very special any more”. Today, the co-founder of Singapore’s immersive Restaurant Absurdities and its minimalistic Asylum Coffeehouse has adopted a strategy of quality and innovation, going so far as to spend two years developing his own roast using a cutting-edge, low-energy digital roaster from Taiwanese company Rubasse. “Speciality coffee is... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3315490/coffee-revolution-brewing-meet-asias-growing-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3315490/coffee-revolution-brewing-meet-asias-growing-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:15:08 +0000 When Pete Davidson appeared in a fashion brand ad campaign last month, one aspect of his appearance was glaring: the absence of his 200 tattoos. The actor had spent some US$200,000 getting them “burned off”, as he’s put it, in a process he has described as “horrible”. But perhaps he is ahead of the curve. As he noted: five years ago, when he first pondered the move, “everybody was getting tattoos”. He’s not wrong. Naturally cultural attitudes to tattoos vary around the world, but polling over... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/article/3304769/why-are-celebrities-removing-their-tattoos-and-should-you-too-50-cent-mark-wahlberg-pete-davidson?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/article/3304769/why-are-celebrities-removing-their-tattoos-and-should-you-too-50-cent-mark-wahlberg-pete-davidson?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Apr 2025 22:00:21 +0000 Danielle Busch admits it wasn’t just the failed attempt at making wine at home that encouraged her and her husband to try making mead. “He was watching Vikings on the History Channel at the time, and he’d played Dungeons & Dragons a lot before that,” chuckles the co-founder of California-based Batch Mead. “So, yes, he had heard of mead, but, like many people, he wasn’t quite sure what it was.” Indeed, if The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones thrust mead into the spotlight – “I welcome you to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3273340/blame-game-thrones-mead-could-be-next-big-drinks-trend-gen-z?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3273340/blame-game-thrones-mead-could-be-next-big-drinks-trend-gen-z?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Aug 2024 23:15:08 +0000 “Cigarettes had their time and now fewer and fewer people smoke. And I think alcohol is going through the same process,” argues Tatiana Mercer. “There’s growing concern with alcohol’s impact on our performance, our health, our sleep. I think younger generations look up at older generations with hangovers and think ‘why do you do this to yourself?’” 8 Christmas cocktails and winter warmers to try in Hong Kong Mercer isn’t a zealot – she still likes a G&T. And for much of her career she has... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3248070/functional-drinks-new-mood-making-alcohol-alternatives-trending-health-conscious-gen-z-bella-hadids?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3248070/functional-drinks-new-mood-making-alcohol-alternatives-trending-health-conscious-gen-z-bella-hadids?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2024 10:00:33 +0000 “Having a celebrity name attached definitely has its benefits, but it’s a double-edged sword – for the brands and for sommeliers,” admits David Farber, ex-banker and co-founder of Porte Noire wines. “Of course celebrity gets people talking about what you’re doing, but there can also be negative connotations in celebrity when it’s attached to a product. It puts the product under the microscope.” Farber has pondered this question a lot, because his business partner is the actor Idris Elba. The... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3236895/celebrity-wine-any-good-leonardo-dicaprios-champagne-telmont-jay-zs-armand-de-brignac-listers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3236895/celebrity-wine-any-good-leonardo-dicaprios-champagne-telmont-jay-zs-armand-de-brignac-listers?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:00:10 +0000 Rare is the artist who wants their work to blend in with its surroundings. Tobias Rehberger may be the exception. The 2009 Golden Lion-winner has long been fascinated by camouflage, and particularly his own versions of “dazzle”, the striking World War I-era disruptive pattern painted on ships and aircraft to bewilder the eyes of would-be enemy observers. “The idea of having something that’s meant to be looked at becoming something that disappears has always been intriguing to me,” says... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3207545/how-german-artist-tobias-rehberger-disrupting-art-world-stripy-cars-talking-skyscrapers-wartime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3207545/how-german-artist-tobias-rehberger-disrupting-art-world-stripy-cars-talking-skyscrapers-wartime?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jan 2023 04:00:19 +0000 Think of rum and you almost certainly think of the Caribbean. “But they were just the first to go global,” argues Janno Gironella, head of research and development at Tanduay Distillers in the Philippines. “The fact is that there’s a tradition of making rums in other places – like here.” Indeed, the Philippines’ history is steeped in sugar cane and its by-products. Tanduay, in fact, is the world’s largest producer of rum by volume, and has been making the spirit there for 168 years. Historically... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3207556/forget-cuba-filipino-rum-set-explode-2023-don-papa-and-tanduay-craft-brands-palawan-blanco-and-kasam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3207556/forget-cuba-filipino-rum-set-explode-2023-don-papa-and-tanduay-craft-brands-palawan-blanco-and-kasam?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jan 2023 06:00:15 +0000 Jaume Plensa has no concerns about appearing unfashionable when it comes to his view of what art is really all about. “I think beauty is the soul of art,” he says, unequivocally. “Art has this tremendous importance, especially in the sense of introducing [beauty] to people’s everyday life. Of course, we can discuss what beauty means and that may be different for you than for me – but I think everyone has some conception of beauty in the back of their brain … and when you’re in front of it, you... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3199145/spanish-artist-jaume-plensa-art-era-nfts-celebrity-sculptor-demands-his-public-works-be-important?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3199145/spanish-artist-jaume-plensa-art-era-nfts-celebrity-sculptor-demands-his-public-works-be-important?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:13 +0000 Proponents of the flying taxi say the technology and the demand are already there – all that stands in the way are doubts over safety and the necessary legal framework. Within a couple of years, grabbing a taxi could mean travelling over the city rather than through it. Indeed, the vision of a future espoused by the 1960s animated series The Jetsons, in which cars fly rather than drive, may be edging closer, given the number of companies now developing a new generation of VTOL (vertical take... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3176015/are-flying-taxis-future-transport-experts-say-passenger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3176015/are-flying-taxis-future-transport-experts-say-passenger?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 May 2022 12:00:25 +0000 Marc Randolph, the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, serial entrepreneur, business guru and now host of his own podcast That Will Never Work, talks to STYLE about entrepreneurship, investment and the importance of work/life balance. You left Netflix in 2002. Why? The skills involved in start-ups are very different to those you need when you have a repeatable, scalable business model. I’m not going to diminish what it takes to do that because I know how hard it is – and that I’m not good at... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3171532/who-netflix-co-founder-and-first-ceo-marc-randolph-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3171532/who-netflix-co-founder-and-first-ceo-marc-randolph-business?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2022 09:00:27 +0000 “You can take a good photo on a phone now. And with social media you’ve got a place to put it. I’ve seen pictures that my wife has taken and said, ‘Wow, I really love that. If I’d taken it, it would be worth a lot more money.’ But brand matters, doesn’t it?” Mick Rock has a wry laugh at his observation, seeing how prints of his photos have become highly collectible in recent years. Dubbed – not always to his liking – “the man who shot the 70s”, it was Rock who chronicled the then-rising stars,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155872/meet-mick-rock-legendary-music-photographer-who-shot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3155872/meet-mick-rock-legendary-music-photographer-who-shot?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Nov 2021 23:00:08 +0000 Florian Leonhard, who is an antique violin restorer, authenticator and dealer, recently sold a musical instrument to a new client in Beijing, one of just four sales he’s made over the last year. If that sounds like a bad business to be in, the instrument in question was a Stradivarius violin, and it likely cost around US$15 million. Why such a high price? Because antique stringed instruments – violins, violas, cellos – have become a hot investment. The same violin might have sold for around US$2... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3143167/stradivarius-violins-gibson-les-paul-antique?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3143167/stradivarius-violins-gibson-les-paul-antique?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jul 2021 07:58:17 +0000 Jeweller Francesca Grima says attitudes are beginning to shift: “When seeing jewellery, people often want to know what carat the stone is and don’t consider the piece in its entirety, the workmanship, the idea – that’s what matters. But thankfully people are starting to get that, because that’s what’s at the heart of more avant garde jewellery.” Dazzle like Kate Middleton with these 5 jewellery pieces Francesca is the daughter of Andrew Grima, the society jeweller of the 1960s and 1970s, the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3136190/what-defines-avant-garde-jewellery-discerning-high-jewellery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3136190/what-defines-avant-garde-jewellery-discerning-high-jewellery?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jun 2021 00:00:11 +0000 “The very rich who can afford these kinds of cars are getting younger and younger and they’re less and less interested in old technology,” says Robert Palm. “They might even see it as a negative thing to be seen to be driving, say, a conventional-engine Lamborghini. That’s one reason why even if these new engines had been around 20 years ago they wouldn’t have sold – the market for them wasn’t there.” Palm is the designer and CEO of Classic Factory, the company behind Elextra – a maker of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3110040/electric-cars-are-being-joined-luxury-yachts-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3110040/electric-cars-are-being-joined-luxury-yachts-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Nov 2020 08:15:30 +0000 “Things have changed,” reckons Vik Kachoria, CEO of Spike Aerospace. “A small company now has the ability to design something that once would have taken thousands of engineers at Boeing to do. But this really isn’t some kind of Star Trek leap forward. This isn’t rocket science.” Indeed, Kachoria leaves space travel to be revolutionised by private companies such as Space X. Rather, his company is one of a small clique of start-ups looking to change the way we fly. Or, rather, to bring back what... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3091720/supersonic-passenger-planes-will-become-reality-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3091720/supersonic-passenger-planes-will-become-reality-again?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Jul 2020 19:00:19 +0000 John Rogers, a professor of bioengineering at Northwestern University in the United States, says that virtual reality (VR) technology is all very well. But while it can offer a deeply immersive experience, that experience is constrained: it is just an audiovisual one. What if physical sensation could be added to that? “Electronic skins” – which add tactile sensation to virtual reality experiences – have been prototyped before, but using clunky electrodes and typically offering far from the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3085286/vr-gets-touchy-feely-electronic-skin-game-changer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3085286/vr-gets-touchy-feely-electronic-skin-game-changer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 May 2020 22:00:13 +0000 Does it really matter if the masterpiece you’re looking at is an original, or a copy, if it looks identical? John Myatt argues it doesn’t. Indeed, he says the financial wheelings and dealings of the art world have distorted what counts, and that’s our aesthetic response. “Looking at what I call a ‘genuine fake’ is to give pleasure to the eye, to the intellect, to get that visual stimulus without it being stripped away by someone’s idea of the value of that item,” he says. “But, you know, the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3049456/why-forged-art-might-be-better-real-thing-real-van-gogh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3049456/why-forged-art-might-be-better-real-thing-real-van-gogh?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Feb 2020 08:00:05 +0000 Josh Sims Josh Sims With the market for high-end goods getting more crowded, it is tough for brands to stand out. There are the usual limited editions and celebrity endorsements, but a bespoke service is a claim to quality. While luxury brands have been offering tailor-made services for a long time, there have been some new entrants lately. Take Ettinger. The British leather goods company has a long and esteemed history – it was established in 1934. For the first time in its 85-year history, it has launched its... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3031578/millennials-are-demanding-exclusive-bespoke-services-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/article/3031578/millennials-are-demanding-exclusive-bespoke-services-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2019 02:00:11 +0000 The Milan Design Week – the Salone del Mobile fair, plus curated events across the city – grows by the year, both in numbers and in vision. Once essentially a trade event, it has now been upgraded to a blend of interior products and artistic expression plus plenty of fanfare. Here is our selection of the latest products and designers to look out for.   Prada Tower unveiled at Milan Design Week ‘explores effect of space on art’ DECORATIVE OBJECTS Furniture may be something that we only tend to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3010498/milan-design-week-designers-reveal-their-latest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/3010498/milan-design-week-designers-reveal-their-latest?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2019 06:00:06 +0000 What is StockX.com? Detroit-based StockX was founded by 40-year-old sneakerhead Josh Luber with Dan Gilbert, the billionaire founder of US company Quicken Loans, backed by Mark Wahlberg and Eminem.         View this post on Instagram                   #Repost @stockx ・・・ WANT THIS SHOE FOR $10? We're teaming up with @eminem to give you a chance to win his Jordan 4 Encore (2017) and other exclusive prizes from his personal collection. Only 23 pairs of the Jordan 4 Encore... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3006345/how-stockx-putting-ticks-sneakers-mark-wahlberg-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3006345/how-stockx-putting-ticks-sneakers-mark-wahlberg-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Apr 2019 04:00:04 +0000 When Apple released its HomePod speaker earlier this year, news that the computer giant was working on high-end headphones may have excited some techie types, but it left audiophiles – those with an obsession for sound equipment – largely underwhelmed. For the true hi-fi geeks, the very idea of music played via something made by a purveyor of mobile phones did not cut it, as it might for more average folk. But then the audiophile world is a niche whose (mostly male) ranks happily spend thousands... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2182189/audiophiles-would-you-pay-us12-million-pair-speakers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2182189/audiophiles-would-you-pay-us12-million-pair-speakers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jan 2019 02:00:00 +0000 OCCUPATION Artist SOURCE OF INSPIRATION The more damaged the soul, the more I want to connect because the more I feel I can learn from them, and the more I’m inspired to keep painting. I think there’s an exchange there. It leads me to want to feed back into the soul of the Earth. Sacha Jafri is happy with the awards he has received, but he is looking forward to another kind of award. “I have to say that I’d rather get an art award,” laughs the British painter, “because I’m always questioning... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people-events/article/2182174/sacha-jafri-whose-paintings-are-loved-bill-gates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/people-events/article/2182174/sacha-jafri-whose-paintings-are-loved-bill-gates?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Jan 2019 02:00:30 +0000 Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about the controversy surrounding Gillette’s recent #MeToo ad. In the highly divisive campaign, the shaving company takes issue with male-led violence and sexism, and has angered some audiences – some say the ad emasculates men, while others accuse the company of seeking to make a profit off social issues. The trend of lifestyle and luxury brands “genderising” products or borrowing from the momentum of significant gender issues is a growing... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2182336/gillettes-metoo-ad-jane-walker-whisky-and-boy-de-chanel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2182336/gillettes-metoo-ad-jane-walker-whisky-and-boy-de-chanel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jan 2019 07:30:30 +0000 As far as fashion goes, it might seem that the fur debate is won. “Things are changing around the world now, even in markets [that have traditionally been the biggest consumers of real fur] like China,” notes Yvonne Taylor, director of group corporate projects for the animal welfare campaign group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). “The fact is that when the likes of Gucci say it will not use fur any more, that makes headlines all around the world.” And Gucci is by no means the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2177283/fake-fur-or-real-do-labels-lie?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2177283/fake-fur-or-real-do-labels-lie?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Jan 2019 04:02:21 +0000 here was a time when owning a Ferrari or a Bentley was enough in itself. Not any more. Blame the steady increase in the numbers of the super-wealthy, perhaps, but the run-of-the-mill production car is losing its lustre to the special edition. Take, for example, Rolls-Royce’s latest collection lines, the Wraith Luminary, Black Badge Adamas Collection and Silver Ghost Collection. Each of these consists of between 35 and 50 units. Editions have included models with woven metal interiors, dappled... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2167493/limited-edition-automobiles-rule-road-carmakers-produce?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2167493/limited-edition-automobiles-rule-road-carmakers-produce?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2018 02:00:30 +0000 OCCUPATION: Product designers WORDS OF INSPIRATION: “Find that singularity [in your work]. It’s important to communicate where you come from, to reveal your background in a very true way. That’s getting harder with globalisation, but you have to separate out from that. “Our work is hybrid because we [in Brazil] belong to a very hybrid society. Many societies have a rich cultural atmosphere, East meets West, a melting pot, and Brazil is a very much a fusion of races that makes it a very... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2167097/why-campana-brothers-favour-kitsch-over-scandi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2167097/why-campana-brothers-favour-kitsch-over-scandi?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Oct 2018 02:02:57 +0000 Even those who consider themselves well versed in art may not have heard of Bahman Mohasses. His striking, disturbing oil painting, Il Minotauro fa Paura alla Gente per Bene, painted in 1966, recently sold at auction for US$765,306, almost double the estimate. Even a more recent name may not register – kaleidoscopic abstract expressionist Monir Farmanfarmaian – who last year saw an entire museum open, and dedicated to her work. This, it might be argued, is because they’re both Iranian. And... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2150358/young-iranian-artists-are-offering-glimpses-countrys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/2150358/young-iranian-artists-are-offering-glimpses-countrys?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jun 2018 02:00:25 +0000 ivestock production will be unsustainable by 2050, and will severely curtail both the consumption of meat and the use of leather in luxury items, says Natalia Krasnodebska, head of communications of Modern Meadow. Her Nutley, New Jersey-based company is a leading developer of Zoa, an artificial leather that is biologically grown from a yeast that manipulates proteins from the ground up. Luxury meets sustainability in Luxarity’s Made in Love fashion pop-up Krasnodebska acknowledges that “there’s... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2134742/orange-fibres-3d-print-luxury-brands-look?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2134742/orange-fibres-3d-print-luxury-brands-look?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Feb 2018 04:01:48 +0000 The Asian Golfing Industry Federation held its summit last month, and one of the key topics may strike you as unusual – it was sustainability. The idea of making the sport eco-friendly may initially seem improbable, but the trend is picking up – not just across the region, but for golf at large. “Increasingly, people in the golf industry here all know sustainability is a necessary aspect of good practice now, albeit mixed with a degree of trepidation,” says Eric Lynge, CEO of the federation,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2132266/how-asian-golf-courses-are-going-green?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2132266/how-asian-golf-courses-are-going-green?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Feb 2018 03:00:30 +0000 Tom Davies didn’t expect his company to be turning over £450,000 (HK$4.54 million) in its first year. Indeed, many people had told him his business idea was crazy. But he had a hunch that the demand for bespoke-made spectacles was there. Now, 15 years on, this October will see the opening of the British designer’s first factory in Britain, his other one being in China. “Bespoke eyewear is, in effect, a new category of product, and that’s been confusing to a lot of people,” says Davies, who this... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2115553/ed-sheeren-effect-why-bespoke-glasses-may-be-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/fashion-beauty/article/2115553/ed-sheeren-effect-why-bespoke-glasses-may-be-next?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Oct 2017 01:32:16 +0000 Although the 18th and early 19th century might be described as the golden era of automatons – all the more so as clockwork was then considered an effective metaphor for the workings of the human body – they actually have an ancient past. The Greeks in the third to first century made automatons using pneumatics and hydraulics rather than escapements and weight drives; Ctesibius, often cited as the “father of automatons”, created what he called “contrivances and amusing things pleasing to the eye... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewellery/article/2110304/automatons-have-lesser-known-history-tracing-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewellery/article/2110304/automatons-have-lesser-known-history-tracing-back?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Sep 2017 15:34:27 +0000 Look closely into the window of watchmaker Jaquet Droz’ Charming Bird timepiece and there’s something small and rather marvellous happening: a tiny bird spins on its axis, chirping and flapping its wings. Behind this scene, however, even tinier sapphire tubes and carbon pistons pump away to make it all happen. The piece is part of the company’s Automata collection. The latest piece, launched this spring, is the Loving Butterfly. Another piece is set to be unveiled in China at the end of the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewellery/article/2109827/are-automatons-once-again-face-luxury-watches-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewellery/article/2109827/are-automatons-once-again-face-luxury-watches-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:00:15 +0000 Michael Schieschke is asked the same question every day: if they use hydrogen or helium, and whether helium can burn. “But I think most of the public understands that these aircraft are safe now, but it’s true that, as an industry, we still have to do a lot better on communications,” he says. Schieschke is talking blimps – and as the chief operating officer of arguably the most famous name in airship history: Zeppelin. If that conjures up the airship’s pre-second-world-war glory days –... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2097307/airships-revolutionise-luxury-transport-companies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2097307/airships-revolutionise-luxury-transport-companies?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jun 2017 02:45:45 +0000 France can be beautiful in June. It is a fine time for dining, shopping – and driving to see old Hong Kong friends in fresher, warmer light. And Citroen’s luxury marque DS embodies Gallic automotive style. Its DS3 Performance is worth a look on your next trip to Europe as it might make your visits there all the more enjoyable. You’ll be lucky to find a DS3 Performance beyond a parallel importer in Hong Kong, or indeed on the mainland, where the brand begins with the DS 4S THP 130, from 144,900... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2094871/ds3-performance-combines-style-french-design-and-thrust-hot-hatch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2094871/ds3-performance-combines-style-french-design-and-thrust-hot-hatch?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 May 2017 01:01:57 +0000 Paolo Pininfarina says it’s not enough to do things in a new way. “You have to be relevant too,” says the 58-year-old engineer, designer and chairman of the Cambiano-based automotive styling house, Pininfarina. Businesses must also meet the unexpected, he adds. Founded by his grandfather, Battista “Pinin” Farina, in 1930, the Milan-listed company has created the look of almost every Ferrari since the 1950s, and shaped many Fiats, Lancias and Alfa Romeos. However, the design house’s latest... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2093943/car-designers-have-be-china-now-says-pininfarina-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2093943/car-designers-have-be-china-now-says-pininfarina-chairman?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 May 2017 07:46:44 +0000 There is no question that the Mercedes-Benz A180d hatchback is a Mercedes. Its bonnet badge is big. Beyond that badge, the latest generation A180d does not scream Mercedes, as a G-Wagen, or one of the company’s more typical big saloons do. At first, it looks an ordinary compact saloon; or a family car for small passengers. This may be a product of its being an entry level car for the company: a Mercedes-Benz for those who were just about to buy a slightly roomier Ford Focus, having assumed... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2093131/mercedes-benz-a180d-hatchback-well-styled-practical-compact-your?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2093131/mercedes-benz-a180d-hatchback-well-styled-practical-compact-your?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 May 2017 07:45:52 +0000 What a difference a name makes. “Up until two or three years ago, if I said I was developing a flying car people would laugh,” John Brown says. “Now, over the last year, suddenly everyone is taking us seriously. It’s the power of big brands to change attitudes.” Brown is the owner of the German company Carplane, which is just as it sounds – it makes a car that flies, part of the next generation of personal flying vehicles that could revolutionise our conception of mobility. The brands he is... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2093008/why-flying-cars-are-no-longer-fantasy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2093008/why-flying-cars-are-no-longer-fantasy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 May 2017 02:45:00 +0000 “Please mind the rims,” I’m reminded as I approach a pot-holed road. It’s a rather disquieting request, since we’re about to test the off-road capabilities of the Maserati Levante (pronounced “Levant-eh” and named after a warm, if changeable, Mediterranean wind), so the notion that the car may not be able to cope with a few little bumps is not the most promising start. But Maserati is completely upfront about it: “Maybe 90 per cent of the Levante’s customers won’t take it in anything more... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2079900/fast-spacious-assured-maserati-levante-may-be-least-suvish-suv?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2079900/fast-spacious-assured-maserati-levante-may-be-least-suvish-suv?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Mar 2017 07:49:07 +0000 Anyone who worries that the machines are taking over might not be reassured by the spate of product launches over the last year. There’s Amazon’s Echo: Alexa and the Google Home Hub, August’s lock and Emerson Sensi’s thermostat, Sleep Number’s It bed and Kuna Toucan’s camera, Lifx’s colour-changing bulbs and WeMo’s slow cooker. They’re all “smart”. They talk to the internet. Even fridges are at it. LG’s latest, launched this month, not only allows you to use touchscreen or an app to see – via... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/2078379/smart-homes-inventions-set-make-hi-tech-life-lot-more-luxe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/2078379/smart-homes-inventions-set-make-hi-tech-life-lot-more-luxe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Mar 2017 00:30:45 +0000 At 81, Peter Brock’s hang gliding days are behind him. “But it was pretty thrilling to be up there on a thermal with an eagle,” the American recalls. “In fact, it was more exciting than anything else I’ve done.” That is saying something. After all, Brock had a brief career as a racing driver, but also a much longer one as both a builder of racing cars and – the feats for which he is legendary in petrol-head circles – as a designer of cars too. Perhaps unsurprisingly, even his hobby turned into... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2077854/less-more-peter-brock-who-helped-build-and-design-iconic-sport?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2077854/less-more-peter-brock-who-helped-build-and-design-iconic-sport?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Mar 2017 10:50:06 +0000 Roads are congested. Parking is difficult. The climate is in crisis. No wonder smaller cars are in demand. But imagine, if you will, the kind of car wash that did more than just scrub your car clean, but which – as the combination of washing machines and ignored care labels often do – shrank your car. This then, is precisely what it feels like to drive Volvo’s new V40 T4 R-Design: it is the neatly proportioned hatchback that wants to be a full-on family saloon. It tries really hard, too. You can... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2075481/volvo-moves-design-ladder-v40-r-design?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2075481/volvo-moves-design-ladder-v40-r-design?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Mar 2017 07:31:56 +0000 When Bugatti opens its fifth shop later this year, in Doha, passers-by might for forgiven for thinking some major mistake had been made. Where, they might ask, are all the cars? Then again, to others this thought might not occur at all. “I think there are probably people who go into these shops without even knowing that Bugatti is a carmaker,” says Wiebke Bauer. “In fact, I hope so, because that means the products inside are good enough to stand up on their own merits.” Bauer is the head of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2064038/laptops-wine-stoppers-how-worlds-top-automotive-brands-judge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2064038/laptops-wine-stoppers-how-worlds-top-automotive-brands-judge?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Jan 2017 13:15:15 +0000 Here’s something of a shock: it’s a sports car from Fiat. Now Fiat may be Italian – and we all know just how much the Italians love their sports cars – but, yes, this is the very same Fiat that over recent years has had a runaway smash hit with its tiny Fiat 500, small on proportions but big on personality. In its short life, the Fiat 500 has become something of a cult object, replicating the love felt for the original of 1957 in the way that the re-imagined Volkswagen Beetle did but, perhaps,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2055159/small-car-giant-fiat-rolls-out-classic-retro-sports-model?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2055159/small-car-giant-fiat-rolls-out-classic-retro-sports-model?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Dec 2016 06:58:58 +0000 “I am a young executive. My habit is to brag. I use a slimline tablet. And I drive an XF Jag”. The words of poet John Betjeman, whose subject in the 1974 poem Executive actually had to make do with borrowing his firm’s Cortina. The latest generation of Jaguar XF is, however, surely a very 21st century kind of saloon. Certainly, like its predecessor, it’s won many a gong, not least Germany’s prestigious Golden Steering Wheel award – the kind of thing Saudi princes possibly have for real – and the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2051195/new-jaguar-xf-more-bourne-bond-stealthy-and-invisible-crowd-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2051195/new-jaguar-xf-more-bourne-bond-stealthy-and-invisible-crowd-right?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Dec 2016 08:35:18 +0000 There’s an old joke about the number of pristine, perfectly clean Land Rovers you see around – looking such because, of course, they’ve never actually been used any place where they might get dirty. All that 4x4 potency is wasted – aside, of course, from making the driver feel that bit more macho than his pedestrian desk job typically allows. One enterprising company even offered “Sprayonmud”, “to give neighbours the impression you’ve just come back from a day’s shooting or fishing – anything... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2044811/land-rover-strikes-pose-convertible-four-wheel-drive-range-rover?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/motoring/article/2044811/land-rover-strikes-pose-convertible-four-wheel-drive-range-rover?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Nov 2016 00:47:28 +0000 Bespoke services are enjoying boom times, and the fantasy of a one-off luxury car designed just for you could soon become a reality. The idea of a completely individualised car has, in a business that requires standardised tooling and economies of scale to work well, remained a dream. Yet, Rolls-Royce now says it could be around the corner – or at least here within the next couple of decades. That’s the contention of Giles Taylor, Rolls-Royce’s head of design, whose latest project, the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2041616/rolls-royce-predicts-it-will-create-tailor-made-car-rich?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2041616/rolls-royce-predicts-it-will-create-tailor-made-car-rich?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:00:15 +0000