Sofitel Luxury Hotels has announced plans to open four new properties in the Asia-Pacific region this year. The new openings will bring Sofitel’s regional portfolio to 42 hotels in operation. Sofitel’s plan is to be present in all of the world’s major cities, with a target of 150 hotels by 2015.
“Asia Pacific is a key region for us, and we aim to expand our luxury footprint here with another 12 properties committed to be in operation by 2016,” said Markland Blaiklock, Senior Vice President, Sofitel Asia Pacific.
OLIVOCARNE – A PIECE OF SARDINIA IN LONDON
posted in: Global, Restaurant on November 29, 2012
Olivocarne
61 Elizabeth St London SW1W9PP
www.olivorestaurants.com
When designing the new venue for London brand Olivo, Pierluigi Piu’s intention was to tell a story about Sardinia (its proprietor’s home island) through iconographic references to the main features of its traditional economy (handicrafts – weaving, in this case – and sheep farming). Included also were quotations from the works of a Sardinian contemporary artist, Eugenio Tavolara, who worked throughout his lifetime to express and safeguard the traditional culture of that island. Far from wishing to evoke Sardinia through trite images good for “low cost” tourism, the tale has been told with a language which winks at contemporary design. Also featured is the work of Sardinian artisans who have moulded a huge terracotta bas-relief of bucolic inspiration and given life to a crowd of peasants, horsemen, shepherds, wild boars and hunters, which animates the restaurant’s walls.
Photographs by Riccardo Sanna.
ASCOTT TO BUILD RESIDENCES IN CHENGDU
posted in: Global on November 19, 2012
Citadines South Chengdu
Opening 2014
www.the-ascott.com
CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has secured a contract to manage its first Citadines-branded serviced residence in Chengdu. The 177-unit Citadines South Chengdu is slated to open in 2014. Ascott holds the position as the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in China with about 8,000 apartment units in 43 properties, across 17 cities. In Chengdu, Ascott currently operates one Somerset-branded serviced residence and expects to open two premier Ascott-branded properties in the next two years. With this latest contract, Chengdu joins Shanghai and Suzhou as the third city in China with all three of Ascott’s brands of serviced residences.
“Chengdu has strong growth opportunities for serviced residences,” says Lee Chee Koon, Ascott’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for North Asia. “Its economy grew by more than 13% for the first half of 2012 over the same period last year. In Central and Western China, Chengdu has been ranked the top city with the most Fortune 500 companies. Chengdu is also a popular tourist destination and venue for exhibitions and conferences.”
NEW CENTURY PROPERTIES TOWER IN MANILA
posted in: Global, Uncategorized on November 12, 2012
Acqua Iguazu
Manila, Philippines
www.acqua-iguazu.com/
Century Properties Group is launching a new signature tower in Metro Manila.
The tower, called Acqua Iguazu, is the first collaboration of Century Properties with the international interior design brand yoo inspired by Starck, founded by the French designer Philippe Starck and the British real estate entrepreneur John Hitchcox.
The Php 1.7-billion development (US $41.4 million) is the fifth of six buildings to rise within the developer’s 2.4-hectare (258,000-square-foot) Mandaluyong City project called Acqua Private Residences.
“We continue to establish international collaborations because the local market has shown its readiness for branded real estate,” says Century Properties Co-COO and Managing Director Marco R. Antonio.
Cotton On Global Flagship Store
42 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Wanting to take store store interiors back to their Australian roots, Cotton On appointed Australian shopfitter ONE Group Retail Experience to project manage the development, site construction and store fitout for the Cotton On Global Flagship store on Granville Rd, Hong Kong.
With five offices across Australia and a South East Asian operation based in Singapore, ONE Group Retail Experience was positioned to lead the project, providing an authentic architectural envelope in Hong Kong’s main shopping district to house all brands of the Cotton On Group.
NOT-SO-RAW HIDE
posted in: Global, Restaurant on October 9, 2012
Sentinel Bar and Grill
111 St George’s Terrace, Perth 6000
(08) 6103 0507 or www.sentinelbar.com.au
Australian furnishings brand Art Hide recently created its second installation at the Sentinel Bar and Grill in Perth. The unique application of cowhide in an outside dining area added warmth and texture to the space, using natural hides in varying shades of colour.
Sentinel’s first installation of a 20 square metre natural cowhide interior wall hanging complements and balances the extensive use of jarrah inside the restaurant. Sentinel loved it so much they used the Art Hide piece as a visual centrepiece of the restaurant’s branding and commissioned a second piece.
ENRICH YOUR PLATE
posted in: Global, Resort, Restaurant on July 25, 2012
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit
250 Sukhumvit Rd, Bangkok, Thailand
+66 (0) 2649 8888 or http://www.sheratongrandesukhumvit.com/
Guests of Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok, can now ‘enrich their stay’ with extra dining benefits at the renowned Orchid Café. Throughout August, guests staying in Premium Deluxe Rooms, Grande Deluxe Rooms, and Grande Suites or Themed Suites will receive food credit for lunch or dinner.
Premium Deluxe Room guests receive *Baht 500 food credit per room per stay
Grande Deluxe Room guests receive *Baht 1,000 food credit per room per stay
Grande Suite or Themed Suites guests receive *Baht 1,000 food credit and one complimentary glass of house wine per room per stay
Dining at Orchid Café is a highlight of a stay at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit. The feast includes almost all the cuisines of the world.
Valid for stays between August 1 – 31, 2012 only
Senior Vice President, Design & Innovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Mike Tiedy, unpacks what makes Starwood’s W brand so special.
W Hotels redefined the traditional resort experience when it introduced W Retreat & Spa in the Maldives in 2006. W Retreats — of which there are now four — are different to the average resort because they create unique experiences through music, fashion, design and cocktail culture.
ST ALI DESCENDS UPON UK
posted in: Café, Global, Restaurant on June 2, 2011
St Ali London:
27 Clerkenwell Road, London
The Melbourne-based roaster and café owned by impresario Salvatore Malatesta, is going worldwide. To ensure the quality coffee keeps flowing, St Ali has imported the UK’s first Slayer espresso machine, is importing and roasting its own beans and is developing a Barista Certification Programme to educate and test baristas eager to develop their skills. The 2,522 square foot venue will also be acquiring a late night license to cater for restaurant patrons and live events. Tim Cooke, an Aussie industrial designer based in the UK, designed the fitout as part of his company Long Black Ltd. And Paul Jewson, who was previously cooking up amazing dishes at Outpost has moved back to the UK to head up the kitchen, with input from St Ali’s head chef Ben Cooper. Tim Styles will be heading up operations, another Aussie ex-pat, who began his career at St Ali when it first opened, before working for Intelligentsia in the US and Square Mile coffee roasters in the UK before returning to the fold. Phew, it’s an ex-pat invasion. Next to come is the Sensory Lab, the experiment-al coffee lab that first opened at the entrance to Melbourne’s David Jones.
MAG.MA REBUILDS RUINS
posted in: Bar, Global, Restaurant on April 12, 2011
L’Olio Colto:
www.oliocolto.it
Talk about being ‘of a place’. L’Olio Colto restaurant, in the Italian countryside municipality of Taggia, is surrounded by two things — olive trees and stones. Consequently, the restaurant is primarily constructed of wood, stone, smatterings of iron, and a shade of grey-green that isn’t olive green only because it’s meant to symbolise the changing colours of the olive leaves. Local architects Mag.MA Architecture are all too familiar with the historic buildings of the area, and wanted to give the locals a new experience while simultaneously reconstructing an old edifice. Rather than seeing heritage as a constraint, and looking more like a bunch of archaeologists than architects, Mag.MA slavishly reconstructed the three-storey building from what was essentially a pile of ruins. L’Olio Colto occupies two levels, the bar with food shop operates on the ground floor, and the restaurant occupies the basement. The architecture is rustic, with iron strung across the ceiling like ribs of the vault, open, with traditional arc entrances, and purposefully bare. Paying homage to the simplicity of life refined centuries ago in Taggia.
