The Banyan Tree - KP Ho

"Organic diversification is the best route for growth," 

Advises Ho Kwon Ping (better known as KP Ho) the founder of the Banyan Tree, one of the world's fastest growing hotel chains, which redefined the meaning of the word luxury. . . .

He resides now in Singapore but grew up in Thailand.

The first Banyan Tree resort opened in Phuket, Thailand, in 1995 with just seven staff members. KP had to wait thirteen years to own the next one, The Banyan Tree in Bangkok. Since then there has been no looking back. Currently, the group owns eighteen hotels and resorts, 46 spas and two golf courses; and employs 4,380 staff from 32 different nationalities.
The Banyan Tree group is a family affair, his brother Kwon Cjan (now head architect of all Banyan Tree projects) and wife Claire ChiaTng (a former nominated MP and executive director of the Banyan Tree Gallery that promotes local arts and handicrafts).

Here is a conversation with KP Ho the founder of The Banyan Tree resort group.
 www.powerthemagazine.com
www.banyantree.com 

Ray Kappe-

Ray Kappe is a Californian architect that I have admired  for  a while.  He is renowned for his green  environmental sensitivity and for his forward-thinking design work.  His residentials incorporates new technology. "I'm no different in my mind than when I first started," he says. "I'm doing the kinds of things now I would have done 50 years ago. I feel like a 25-year-old."

The first picture is Ray Kappe's house in 1967. The following ones are from 2006 till today.

www.livinghomes.net

 

Andrew Gn-

Here is a photo of me and my dear friend Andrew Gn (pronounce Gun). Andrew was born in Singapore. His father, who was of Chiu Chow ancestry, made his money selling mother-of-pearl to japanese company Shiseido to use in beauty product. "My Family was collecting antiques and loved luxury" says Andrew" My mother wore lots of Valentino, Chanel and Chloe by Karl Lagerfeld. It has affected my approach which is very much Couture, into detail, hand-work and luxury- The Valentino school".

Andrew has become a Parisian in heart. When designing, Andrew prefers to be alone in his late 18th century apartment located in the 9th arrondissement. The place is his pride and joy. " I like to design at home when I am alone- my apartment is inspiring."He says . "Like my parents I collect antiques and ceramics and antique embroidery. I think we carry our past to move forward. I don't think anyone can say they don't look back"- Andrew Gn designs as well his own shoes and hand bags.
www.style.com

You can see Andrew Gn in this picture showing his artistic flair at an early age in a school play in Singapore. 

Derek Lam-

Another San Francisco native, Derek Lam, a graduate of Parson school, began his career at Michael Kors. In 2003,  he started his own line and won the CFDA Perry Ellis Swarovski Award for new designers. His designs brings his love of elegant figures and a touch of seventies,  the silhouettes are always soft  and feminine.  

Derek Lam designs as well Tod's ready-to-wear.

www.dereklam.com

Guiseppe Zanotti-

Guiseppe Zanotti's new Spring /summer collection is so original, I had a hard time choosing what to show on my blog. Giuseppe has always had a predilection for bejeweled footwear.
He said once:"The woman who wears my shoes does not care about looking good for others - she wants to look good for herself ... a woman who has intelligence."

www.giuseppe-zanotti-design.com  

Fashion Parisian Houses revivals-Rochas

In July 2008, Rochas appointed Marco Zanini as Creative Director, responsible for the Rochas women’s collections. He started with the Fall - Winter 2009/2010 season, presented in Paris in March 2009.

Born in 1971, from a Swedish mother and a Milanese father, Marco Zanini grew up in Milan and developed a strong interest in design, art and fashion. He graduated from Milan’s Accademia di Belle Arti in 1995.

Since then, he has been developing a strong experience in fashion. After several years as Lawrence Steele’s assistant, he went to Dolce & Gabbana as Domenico Dolce’s assistant on womenswear. Then, for nine years, he became Versace’s head designer for both women’s ready-to-wear and haute couture collections. Working closely with Donatella Versace for such a long period, Marco Zanini has been part of the house comeback as a main fashion player. When Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein decided to relaunch the iconic American brand, Halston, Marco Zanini moved to New York to become its creative director.In 2009, Marco Zanini is relaunching Rochas fashion.
www.rochas.com

Tadao Ando- Naoshima

1990 the Benesse Corporation, a Japanese publisher, partnered with architect Tadao Ando to create Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a series of spectacular contemporary art museums designed around the theme of "Nature and Art." It is located in Naoshima, a small fishing island off the southern cost of the Seta Inland sea .

Ando, now in his late fifties and garlanded with prizes, is a self-taught architect who was once a professional boxer, and still has a broken nose to prove it. This surreal career shift would surely be impossible in the West. In the 1970s and 1980s, he evolved a way of working that has produced some of the simplest and most lyrical buildings in the world today - especially houses, churches, temples, museums and art galleries. All Ando buildings, irrespective of their function, are temples of one kind or another: consider the 1995 Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, sunk into its National Park setting, where sky and water are mirrored through a central, cloister-like, oval courtyard. He does not deny the charge. "I believe it is important that architecture should be a space where you feel spiritually empowered. To have particular 'styles' is somehow missing the point. There is a universality to the human spirit that is constant, that should run through all that."
www.andotadao.org

Joseph Altuzarra

Born and raised in Paris, Joseph Altuzarra moved to Philadelphia to attend Swarthmore College, where he studied art with a strong focus on fashion and architecture. After graduating, he headed to New York, did a stint as a design intern at the Marc Jacobs studio, then joined Proenza Schouler as a freelance designer. In 2006, he was recruited as design assistant for Givenchy; while working on the ready-to-wear collections in Paris, he decided to move back to New York and launch his own line. At 26 years old he is now a promising designer.

www.josephaltuzarra.com

Jonathan Becker

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege to be introduced to Jonathan Becker. 
In the last three decades he has been taking pictures for Vanity Fair. He has photographed some of the most distinctive characters from the worlds of film, art, literature, politics, and high society.

Here are some examples of his art work:

www.vanityfair.com 
jonathanbecker.com

Azza Fahmy

Egyptian native, Azza Fahmy, a passionate about Cairo's old souk and its Islamic motifs. 
Azza has been working with her two daughters. She now makes and markets her own jewelry internationally. You can see some of her designs at:

www.azzafahmy.com

Alexander Wang

At 18, San Francisco native and fashion designer Alexander Wang moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design, taking internships at Marc Jacobs, Derek Lam, and Vogue. By his sophomore year, Wang was already designing the first collection of his label, Alexander Wang, which would debut in 2006. Though predominantly clean and pure in aesthetic, the line also incorporates elements of street fashion and the imperfect, a juxtaposition of ideas that mirrors Wang's experiences and background.

Alexander Wang focused on a combination of eighties hip-hop and seventies Parisian chic, channeling Run-D.M.C. and YSL simultaneously. As unlikely a mix as those influences are, Wang managed to pull off a modern and polished, not to mention commercially viable, collection.

A dense crowd turned up at an abandoned Hell's Kitchen warehouse to applaud slim cropped-at-the-ankle leather pants with a hint of biker about them and a silk crepe T-shirt dress studded at the hem. The green matte-paillette shirtdress or the pleated grey silk strapless number would be fun for a party-girl night out, paired with a little fur jacket for Uptown or an olive anorak for Down. Wang, who first made his name with his line of cashmere knits, is off to a strong start. 

“I always knew I wanted my own collection, even if that meant creating clothes on my time off from school. So I did that, and I brought them to an editor at Teen Vogue and she was like, 'This is great!'”

www.alexanderwang.com

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Jasmin Shokrian

Jasmin Shokrian | Dia Diwan

About a man

Fashion designer Tom Ford makes his directorial debut in The Single Man. The film, which was shown at the Venice Film Festival to acclaimed reviews, stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. The story is adapted from work by Chris Isherwood, which is presented as a poem of a man who believes he’s living the last day of his life. John Kortajarena, an icon of Tom Ford ads, can also be seen with a brief cameo in the trailer.

Jim Thompson- Thai silk King-

While in Thailand, I had the great pleasure to visit Jim Thompson's house. I was fascinated by the person and his original background. His house and his foundation in Bangkok reminded me of Yves Saint Laurent's Majorelle's gardens in Marrakech.
Jim Thompson, born March 21st 1906, was an American architect who helped revitalize Thailand's silk and textile industry in the 1950s and 1960s. Armed with samples of silk, Thompson went to New York. He approached the editor of Vanity Fair, Frank Crowninshield, who was the only person Thompson knew who was in any way connected to the fashion industry. He obtained an introduction to Edna Woolman Chase, at the time editor of Vogue, and general arbiter of all good taste in the world of fashion. According to the legend, Mrs Chase took one look at the lengths of Ban Krua silk spread out across her desk, and fell in love. Within weeks a dress in the new material by Valentina, the New York designer, graced the pages of Vogue. Thai silk was "in". Jim Thompson was on his way to a personal fortune, and the Cham weavers of Ban Krua were about to achieve a new prosperity. 

Jim Thompson was on trip to the highlands to visit some friends and the fact that he left his cigarettes and a small silver 'jungle box' on the chair outside Moonlight Cottage where he was staying suggests that he had not planned to be gone for long. 

Thompson was never seen again, and the theories for his disappearance are many, some plausible and others complex and far-fetched. 

Many believe that he was kidnapped for his previous involvement in spying activities. However it is more likely that he was eaten by a tiger, murdered in a botched robbery or fell into an aboriginal animal trap (a pit with a spike) and buried by the Orang Asli when they discovered what had happened. Many hypotheses have been put forward to explain Thompson's disappearance, and there were some reported sightings of him after his disappearance, but what happened to him still remains one of the greater unsolved mysteries of Southeast Asia.

Silks woven by Jim Thompson's company were used in the film version of the musical, "The King and I"