The Review

The Review

Style

Fairfax & Favor

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Marcus Fairfax Fountaine and Felix Favor Parker. As the names suggest, we’re talking about a quintessential British brand here. At 24, Marcus and Felix established Fairfax & Favor to create footwear of a classic British style that had an understated, contemporary elegance.  The goal being to ascend to the heights of a leather goods company that were more approachable and ultimately more aligned to their audiences proclivities and tastes. The Norfolk based duo are curating a stable of classic pieces, not producing huge seasonal ranges. It’s the sort of brand that could easily become a wardrobe staple. Arguably every Gentleman should own a casual pair of Chelsea boots and every Lady a pair of suede…

Time

SEAMASTER OLYMPIC GAMES LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION

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Omega’s role as the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games began in 1932 so it is fair to say that the role is theirs to keep. If you’ve never heard of Omega or have just emerged from a childlike state, Omega’s horological influence goes back to 1903. It’s widely accepted as the sporting man’s Swiss luxury watch, with official ties to NASA (the Speedmaster, the first moon watch in 1969) and the watch Bond has worn since 1995’s Goldeneye. The models are available in the five colours of the famous Rings of the Olympic Games. Only 2,032 versions of each model have been created, representing the year 2032, which will be OMEGA’s 100th year…

Style

Protest

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Established in Holland in 1993, Protest have been going strong since the Americans lost the Mars Observer and Intel introduced the Pentium Processor. That’s right, Holland. One of the flatest places on earth gave birth to Protest Sportswear. They are the first to tell me that the Netherlands is the home to exactly five hills and fourteen waves. Officially. The Protest team is made up of sixteen international designers, each with backgrounds in sports and fashion and my word do they love to slide about. www.protest.eu

Time

The Marloe Watch Company

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Historically watch brands from Britannia have had trouble standing up to be counted. Even with our role as pioneers of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve never really been able to create a serial fabrication of pocket and wristwatches. I always found this rather strange considering our island nation has a long standing connection to watchmaking, John Arnold, Thomas Mudge, John Harrison, Thomas Tompion, and George Graham can all be regarded as having left their mark on horology. So it is always heartening to come into close quarters with a watch brand thats really rather bloody good. The Marloe Watch Co is a new and independent designer and producer based in Oxfordshire…

Marine

Project Alba launched by Heesen

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Iconic ship builder Heesen has announced the christening of VanTom, formerly ‘Project Alba’, during a private ceremony held at the shipyard in Oss, in the presence of her owners and the Heesen workforce. VanTom’s construction began like many Heesen projects, as a speculative build with an owner secured just five months later. Arne Ploch from Camper Nicholsons International introduced the private client. In a statement, the yard said: “The owner and his wife worked closely with Francesco Paszkowski, Margherita Casprini, and the shipyard’s engineers to create an interior design that reflects their taste and the lifestyle of their family: a contemporary and unique aesthetic of understated elegance where they can enjoy peace and relaxation…

Finance, Property

London Primed

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As the UK heads towards Brexit and residential tax changes continue to reverberate through the property market, there has never been a more pertinent time to seek expert property investment advice. Sophisticated investor or not, market knowledge and sound financial analysis from a seasoned industry player is always the key to success. Naomi Heaton, CEO of London Central Portfolio, set up one of the first buying agencies in the UK in 1990. Offering a one stop asset management service, it specialises in maximising investors’ returns in central London’s most prestigious boroughs, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and The City of Westminster. As the name suggests, a buying agent looks…

Tech RoundUp

A vision of modern living

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In the latest of a series of new moves by leading technology designer LG, award winning designer Patrick Grant is collaborating with the brand on a series of premium home technology devices. Grant has been showcasing his vision for modern, metropolitan living. His concept combines the elegant and timeless designs of the entire LG SIGNATURE range, with the rich heritage of the townhouse on Carlton Terrace, where the installation will be showcased. Already well known for his formidable designs in the world of fashion, Patrick Grant brings a fresh and unique perspective to home interiors with his design, which includes a freestanding, modular, cubic, living system – his vision for premium modern-living. Patrick Grant…

Design, Tech RoundUp

Kitchen Cool

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The products that’ll make your kitchen exude class and cool. Tefal Jamie Oliver Professional Series, £53-£62 These pans prove that you don’t need to spend the earth to get quality. Apart from the weighty aesthetic, the heat distribution of this cookware is excellent, with even cooking and consistent results. These pans also have exceptional wear resistance – but only if you treat them lovingly (always hand wash and dry). The pans are supremely comfortable, despite being a little heavy; their sturdiness is reassuring and never become too hot to hold. We were even shocked to prefer this Tefal model over a number of higher-end brands.   Magimix Pro 350 deep…

Finance, Interviews, Property, Uncategorized

Naomi Heaton

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Empires are won an lost in the blink of an eye when it comes to the property market in my experience. So what does it take to establish yourself as a magnate in the field. We talk to Naomi Heaton, CEO and founder of London Central Portfolio (LCP) at her London home to try and understand what it took to build such a formidable reputation.  When did you purchase your first property, how did you raise the capital and where was it? I bought my first flat when I was about 26, I very much wanted to get on the property ladder. I literally beg, stole and borrowed in order to get enough…

Travel

Shangri-La, Paris

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Having worked in marketing for many years, I take an interest in the branding of products and what the companies behind them choose as a name. It’s is often quite revealing, as to the intentions or perception that a company has for its product. You must also bear in mind that it sets a level of expectation for the consumer – so when a bold claim is made, they had better back it up. One such claim is naming your hotel group Shangri-La. Novelist John Hilton (no link) came up with the concept in his 1933 novel, Lost Horizon. It was described as a mythical place at the western-end of…

Automotive

JEEP Renegade

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Jeep has showcased its legendary 4×4 driving credentials by becoming the world’s first automotive manufacturer to drive a car up and down an Olympic-standard white water rafting course. Jeep and Red Bull ambassador Aimee Fuller guided the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk on the thrilling challenge at Cardiff’s International White Water Centre. The Renegade and Olympic snowboarder Aimee tackled extreme off-road conditions as they went up and down the 250 metre long course, battling a flow of water that exceeded four tonnes per second and a descent of more than 30 feet from top to bottom. “I’d never done anything like this before so when I arrived and saw the power and…

Travel

Hacienda Na Xamena, Ibiza

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Ibiza must’ve been made on the sixth day, when all that God had left was a brutish hangover and some clay. The island is architecturally unremarkable, a brown featureless lump, where people don’t come for the history, or the culture, but for the twenty-first century Mecca of clubs, comedowns and sexually-charged coastlines. At least that’s what I thought. We’d spent the first four days in the heart of clubland, Platja d’en Bossa, at a hotel called Ushuaïa, which if you know Ibiza, is a place where the party never stops. Everything about this part of the island is imported junk from university campuses in less-sybaritic parts of Europe. Namely Manchester,…

Travel

Kai Matsumoto

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Amy McNichol visits Kai Matsumoto in Japan; luxury unlike any she’s ever seen before If you’re heading to Japan, you’ve probably scrawled ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Mount Fuji’ in to your itinerary and circled them excitedly with felt tip pen. You might not have done the same with Matsumoto, a lesser known city in the Nagano Prefecture, surrounded by gob-smackingly beautiful mountains. The mountains that you drive over (and indeed beneath courtesy of some epic scale tunnels) are tummy-turningly high and belly-flippingly bendy at points. I visited in autumn and despite the dazzling sunshine, the leaves on the towering trees were turning that rich red colour you presume is enhanced in the guidebooks….

Tech RoundUp

Pelican Cases

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Let’s be honest, whether it’s your body weight in gold bullion, blood diamonds or just the sat phone, security is your main priority. You didn’t toil with that despot in the far-flung jungles of wherever just to walk away empty-handed. You want your prize. Except no substitutes, Pelican is the only way. If it were an employee being sent on a fractious investment deal with a tin pot dictatorship, it would be beaten relentlessly, get the deal signed, turn up at HQ bloodied and battered and ask “Do you need me to do it again?” When we turn up on set for a photo or video shoot, it can arguably…

Tech RoundUp

Disaster Recovery

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When I was taught the finer points of disaster recovery, I was in my twenties and was certainly not expecting to learn that the majority of data loss is caused by planned downtime, not floods and fire. However, this does not mean that you should ignore such natural disasters. The digital age means that more and more people are backing up their data to a storage device and putting in a draw for safe keeping. This of course is moderately acceptable if your just backing up your mothers recipes and risqué photos. However when it’s your company accounts and emails you really ought to have something a little more developed in place….

Food & Drink, Travel

Up amongst the stars at Kozue, Park Hyatt

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Amy McNichol My knowledge of Japanese cuisine was only a smidgen above zero when I touched down in Tokyo in October. Despite the popularity of machine-rolled sushi flogged in supermarkets and the flurry of ramen houses that have popped up in recent years, the mass market (me included) is only familiar with a narrow cross section of Japanese cuisine in the UK. With this in mind, I tried to widen my horizons and see what the heck else I could trough during my time there. On my first night in the capital I washed barbecued beef, onions and bean sprouts down with Asahi. That was at a street stall with…

Interviews

Zubin Mowlavi

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You have to get up pretty early in the morning to go toe to toe with me in terms of confidence. People believe that confidence is arrogance or cockiness (if your from my side of the pond). The reality is that my confidence always came from a sense of self-believe because to be brutally honest, having others believe in you is great but they wont be there when the deal needs to be signed or the invoice needs to chased. Zubin has the sort of self believe and awareness that we admire in a character here at The Review. Entrepreneur, musician and innovator. He is the founder of Lucid Fusion, a…