ELAIssue22015-Cover_Layout130/11/201515:49Page1 VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 2 2015 US$10 NGN2,000 ZAR130 KES1030 EGP79 GHS42 GBP6.80 ELITE LIVING AFRICA ELITE DE GRISOGONO CEO FAWAZ GRUOSI ON BREAKING THE RULES SALOMON KALOU DISCUSSES LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL BESPOKE THIS SEASON’S MOST STYLISH SUITS OLIVIER CREED CREATES VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 2 2015 1 • ISSUE 2 2015 VOLUME DRIVING SCENTS FOR SUCCESS MACHINES ELITELIVINGAFRICA.COM FASHION. WATCHES & JEWELLERY. STYLE. TRAVEL. TECHNOLOGY. LEISURE. FOOD & DRINK. Published by Alain Charles Publishing Ltd. ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:03Page1 ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:03Page2 ...and more. Luminance Sandton Shop L33, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton Tel: +27 11 326 7941 Luminance Hyde Park Shop 45, Hyde Park Corner, Hyde Park Tel: +27 11 325 4765 Jimmy Choo Shop U21a, Diamond Walk, Sandton City, Sandton Tel: +27 11 326 6658 www.luminanceonline.com @LuminanceOnline S01ELAIssue2ContentsNew_Layout101/12/201512:10Page4 4 CONTENTS 62 THE OPEN SEAS Top of the picks at this year’s prestigious Monaco Yacht Show 55 BESPOKE SPEED How to get the fastest, most powerful and unique cars in the world 34 20 42 HOME COMING FASHION GOLD STRUCK Ivorian footballer FORWARD Interview with Salomon Kalou on life Looking good in this jewellery maveric at the top seasons sharpest suits Stephen Webster CONTENTS 16 62 HIGH FLYERS YACHTING Speaking with Africa’s & AVIATION most successful The world of private jets entrepreneurs and superyachts 27 70 WATCHES & INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY INSIDER The latest and most The best VIP destinations luxurious watches and uncovered jewellery 84 42 CONNOISSEUR STYLE Fine wines and Clothing and accessories sumptuous liquors from exclusive designers 94 50 PROPERTY: TECH NEWS NEW YORK The latest gadgets and The most desirable electronics addresses for sale in New York City ELITE LIVING AFRICA / ISSUE 2 2015 S01ELAIssue2ContentsNew_Layout130/11/201516:11Page5 ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:04Page3 ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:04Page4 S02ELAIssue2EditorsLetter_Layout130/11/201516:29Page8 8 EDITOR’S LETTER Managing Editor Ben Watts Editor WELCOME Gemma Taylor Online Editor Hiriyti Bairu Fashion Director old, diamonds and pearls. At Elite Living Africa, we are getting Joseph Toronka ready for the festive season with some of the world’s most Staff Editor beautiful jewellry and watch designs. Avant-garde jewellery Tom Michael designer Stephen Webster tells us about his obsession with gold Senior Designer (pg. 34) and we take a look at some of the most exclusive and Nicky Valsamakis Gluxurious holiday destinations to put in your calendar (pg. 70). Designer Miriam Brtkova Gentlemen, look your best this new year by making sure you are up-to-date with Assistant Designer the most chic new fashion trends (pg. 42) and take your new suit for a drive in the Thomas Davies ultimate customised supercars (pg. 55). Production Donatella Moranelli Sophia Pinto For those looking to experience the best of fine dining in South Africa, our run- Magazine Manager down of the region’s top restaurants will make impressing company a breeze (pg. Steve Thomas 74), while our review of the Monaco Yacht Show (pg. 62) and the best properties in New York (pg. 94), could prove food for thought for a New Year purchase. West African Business Manager Chidinma Anah Finally, don’t miss out on our interviews with Ivorian footballer Salomon Kalou International Account Manager (pg. 20) and Bond Street’s first West African jewellery designer Vania Leles (pg. Roman Zincenko 16). Our love of Creed perfume also seems to have gotten out and we meet the Publisher team behind this olfactory legacy (pg. 12). Nick Fordham Publishing Director Pallavi Pandey Chairman Derek Fordham Published by University House, Gemma Taylor 11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place, London, UK, SW1W 0EX Editor +44 (0) 20 7834 7676 www.alaincharles.com Editorial: [email protected] Subscriptions: [email protected] Sales: [email protected] Printed by Paarl Alain Charles Publishing Ltd. has taken all reasonable care to ensure that the information contained in this publication is accurate on the date of publication and cannot accept any responsibility for unsolicited submissions and photographs. While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and Alain Charles Publishing Ltd. takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any contributions. All rights reserved. ISSN: 2059-7134 Cover image: Aston Martin Rapide. www.astonmartin.com Enjoy our previous issue online at www.elitelivingafrica.com Image provided by Tim Wallace ELITE LIVING AFRICA / ISSUE 2 2015 S02ELAIssue2EditorsLetter_Layout130/11/201513:06Page9 ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:05Page5 ELAIssue22015DPSforISSUU_Layout102/12/201512:05Page6 +234 S03ELAIssue2Creed_Layout130/11/201515:55Page12 12 PERFUME Asense of LEGACY The House of Creed perfumer Olivier Creed is the 6th generation of the Creed family, and, perhaps, the most influential. Elite Living Africa talks to Creed about how he and his family have created some of the world’s most exquisite scents. ames Henry Creed founded the House of slow and intricate and needs much patience. It’s like Creed in London in 1760 and it has been cooking and all the work it takes to make a delicious J creating perfumes for notable customers ever meal. I like to try new oils and new ways to use them, since. Creed claims that Tabarome Millesime new ingredients just arrived in the laboratory. It’s good (2000) was originally commissioned by a legendary fun too. It’s science, it is art and also fun; a big and British statesman who loved fine brandy and the splendid adventure. You need patience, a sense of highest quality cigars, presumably Winston Churchill. exploration and a good imagination to make great “Like perfume, and a sensitive nose. I have inherited my However, Creed's mainstream breakthrough success came in the mid-1980s with the fresh fougčre a painter, I lay good nose from all those generations of perfume fragrance Green Irish Tweed (1985), an eau de out my palette ancestors, all the Creed masters over 250 years. parfum composed by Olivier Creed himself. and then I smell the ELA: How long does the process usually take? Elite Living Africa (ELA): How does the process of concept in my OC: It varies, maybe weeks, months, even years. So composing a fragrance begin for you? head and much varies with each fragrance, it is like a painting. Olivier Creed (OC): It can begin in so many ways: When I was very young, I painted a lot. Some a moment of inspiration from a view, a smell, a flower, I select which pictures come together in a day; others go slow and a book, fabric, a film, a piece of porcelain, or a concert oils I shall use. take many months. Perfume is the same. All is to do of music. Anything to me can provide inspiration, any These may with luck, inspiration, how my raw materials come thought, any clue can make a perfume. Anything! The change as together, how they "mesh", how they blend, how whole world is my inspiration. Or I can make I proceed, but they work together. So much is different with each a conscious decision, as with Vetiver Original, where I always know perfume - you never know how long it will be, how I decide to explore a specific oil or raw material. This in my mind long it will take. was the wish to turn the spotlight onto a certain perfume ingredient, to explore it in depth and to the exactly how ELA: Do all fragrances take about the same time to full. In all its ways, in all its odours and complexities I want the compose or can it vary? and beauty. And, of course, with all its interesting finished OC: It is different every time. Sometimes, like for chemical difficulties too. perfume instance, Love in White, it comes very quickly and to smell.” easily. The fragrance makes itself, and comes together ELA: What are the first steps in creating a fragrance? effortlessly, like magic. Others are not quick or easy at OC: Like a painter, I lay out my palette and then all. Aqua Fiorentina, we had to work on for a long I smell the concept in in my head and I select which time before the perfume became right. oils I shall use. These may change as I proceed, but I always know in my mind exactly how I want the ELA: How do you know you have hit upon the finished perfume to smell. I have the vision, always. final version? It is constant before me. So then I have to work to OC: It is an instinct. Again, like a painter, like complete that vision in reality. a writer, it’s a thing you feel. Something in your mind, you hope, says: "Now this perfume is finished. Stop". Suddenly, you sense that the ELA: How does the process continue? ABOVE AND RIGHT The OC: We try this, we try that. We have to wait a week, Creed flagship store in Paris perfume is ready, perfectly balanced with and Royal Princess Oud eau a beginning, middle and end. A perfume ready to maybe a month, to see how the blending goes, how it de parfum 75ml, $318, matures, then we add a little, subtract a little...it is very www.creedfragrances.co.uk. tell a story, to be read like a book. ELITE LIVING AFRICA / ISSUE 2 2015 S03ELAIssue2Creed_Layout130/11/201515:55Page13 THERE ARE PIECES THAT FURNISH A HOME. AND THOSE THAT DEFINE IT. +2348035341111 [email protected] LAGOS www.ilbagnonigeria.com ABUJA S03ELAIssue2Creed_Layout130/11/201515:55Page14 14 INTERVIEW BLACK When the man behind jewellery house de Grisogono, CEO Fawaz Gruosi, introduced his striking black diamond creations, the industry was in shock. Nevertheless, they became a resounding hit.