TO WRITE A MASTERWORK. Philip Mansel is a British historian of France and the Middle East. President of the Conseil Scientifique at the Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles, his much praised latest book is King of the World, The Life of Louis XIV.Listen to...
Décors Barbares is the textile company and design studio of Nathalie Farman-Farma, who specializes in fabrics inspired by the decorative history of Iran, Russia, and Central Asia. Prior to that, Nathalie worked in the publishing industry in New York City. She was an...
BUILDING NEW BRIDGES. Katia Pizzi is Director of the Italian Institute of Culture in London and 2021 is a year of Dante celebrations and many more.Katia Pizzi, before becoming Director of the Institute you were Senior Lecturer in Italian at the Institute of Modern...
FASHIONABLE FOR FIFTY YEARS. British designer Sir Paul Smith, born in 1946, founded his fashion company in 1970. He was made a Royal Designer for Industry in 1991, the highest accolade for designers in the UK. Primarily known for men’s clothing, today the business of...
THE STORY OF VAUX-LE-VICOMTE. Alexandre de Vogüé and his two brothers, Jean-Charles and Ascanio, own and run the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, one of the greatest Historical Monuments in France.A podcast of this interview is available to listen to here. Alexandre de...
PATERFAMILIAS OF MERIT. Ferruccio Ferragamo has devoted his career to the family business since 1963, and has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. since 2018.Ferruccio Ferragamo, congratulations on your recent award of Cavaliere del...
AUTHENTIC VOICES. James Fox is a British journalist and biographer with an American father and a British-American mother. His books include White Mischief, The Langhorne Sisters, Life - Keith Richards, and most recently Look Again – David Bailey. His work is received...
A BRAVE MOVE PAYS DIVIDENDS. MILA ASKAROVA was born and raised in Azerbaijan, before settling in London in 2002. After graduating from the London School of Economics with a BS in International Relations, she pursued her studies at Central Saint Martins and Christie’s,...
FASHION IS CULTURE. Ines de la Fressange started modelling at the age of 17 and quickly made a name for herself. She became nicknamed by many as "the talking mannequin", due to her tendency to talk with fashion journalists and express her opinions on her profession...
TO RECONCILE ARCHITECTURE WITH NATURE. The Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz, Spaniard by Royal Grant, is known as the forerunner of green architecture.Emilio Ambasz, when did you decide that you wanted to be an architect? I knew since I was eleven that I was going...
Ruth Rogers started her celebrated London restaurant The River Café in 1987 with her partner Rose Gray. It is still going strong today. “The one thing I have always wanted people to feel when they walked in to The River Café is that they are home. In a way this...
WELLNESS AS A WAY OF LIFE. At just 22 years of age, in 1983 Nerio Alessandri founded Technogym. Today Technogym is a world leading company offering products and digital services for Wellness and rehabilitation. Nerio Alessandri, you created your first exercise machine...
THE MINIMALIST WITH MAXIMUM EXPRESSION. Joseph Dirand is an architect and interior designer based in Paris. He started his own design firm in 1999.Joseph Dirand, you are the son of a famous photographer of interiors, Jacques Dirand. Your brother Adrien follows your...
THE GENIUS OF MONCLER. Remo Ruffini is the chairman and chief executive of Moncler. Since his purchase of the Moncler Group in 2003, he has helped establish the company as a leading luxury group. In 2018 he was named "Knight of Labour" in Italy, one of the highest...
"I’ve worked very hard, in order to give back." Giulia Maria Crespi was an Italian media proprietor. She was a non-profit executive and environmentalist who founded Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) whose model is The National Trust in the UK. FAI's properties include...
LAILA IN HAIFA. Amos Gitai is an Israeli filmmaker who was trained as an architect. Born in 1950, and best known to the public for his film Kippur, shown at Cannes in 2000, Amos Gitai bases his work to a large extent on personal experience, including the Yom Kippur...
CREATING A NEW PROGRAMME AFTER FOUR MONTHS OF COVID. French theatre director Stéphane Lissner is the current Superintendent and Artistic Director of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, which was established in 1737. Stéphane Lissner, you were Superintendent and Artistic...
THE ECLECTIC SHOEMAKER. Christian Louboutin is an internationally renowned designer whose high-end stiletto footwear incorporates shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature. The Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris is currently presenting a major...
BACK ON THE ROAD. Thaddaeus Ropac is an Austrian gallerist specializing in international contemporary art. He founded the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in 1981, and today represents more than 60 artists with his galleries in Salzburg, Paris Le Marais, Paris Pantin and...
THE MULTI-AWARD WINNING IMAGININGS OF DANTE FERRETTI, the Italian production designer, set decorator and art director who has worked with acclaimed directors throughout his career. A protégé of Federico Fellini, he worked closely with Pier Paolo Pasolini and latterly...
THE FORCE THAT DRIVES. GIUSEPPE PENONE is an Italian artist and sculptor, known for his large-scale sculptures of trees that are interested in the link between man and the natural world. His early work is often associated with the ‘Arte povera’ movement. Giuseppe...
THE ULTIMATE GIFT OF LOVE. The jeweller Laurence Graff OBE has always been fascinated by diamonds. Graff diamonds was established in 1960 and now enjoys global success with over 50 stores worldwide. Laurence Graff has handled more important diamonds than any other...
REACTING TO VIRTUAL REALITY. Peter Marino is the principal of Peter Marino Architect PLLC, a 160-person, New York–based architecture firm founded in 1978. Widely credited with redefining modern luxury through equal emphasis on architecture and interior design,...
MISSING HOME. Victoire Bourgois was born in Paris, France, in 1987. She is the daughter of the publishers Christian and Dominique Bourgois. Victoire is an artist and is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at New York University (NYU). Victoire, how did you feel...
BREAKING DOWN SILOS OF KNOWLEDGE. Hans Ulrich Obrist is a curator and interviewer. He is the Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He has curated more than 300 shows...
CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN PARIS. Damien Hirst talks about his life and the new paintings on beauty, life and death that he plans to exhibit at Fondation Cartier. This interview with Damien Hirst is also available to listen to as a podcast and on YouTube. Damien Hirst, there...
CIAO! Photographer Mario Testino has created his personal love token for Italy’s people, art, food, and fashion in the form of a new book published by TASCHEN. This interview is also available to listen to as a podcast here. Mario Testino, why Italy? When I was a...
RETURN TO GENOA. Carlo Clavarino is Executive Chairman of the AON insurance company’s Europe Middle East and Africa region. 22,000 people work for AON in this area and Clavarino is a member of the executive committee of AON Corporation. He is also president of the...
THE IMPORTANCE OF FLORENCE. Paola D’Agostino is Director of the Musei del Bargello, in Florence, Italy, a new museum group comprising the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, the Medici Chapel, the Church and Museum of Orsanmichele, Palazzo Davanzati and Casa Martelli. This...
TRANSFIXED BY GUERNICA. We celebrate Ernst Beyeler (16 July 1921 – 25 February 2010), the great Swiss art dealer and collector. This interview first appeared in La Stampa on June 1st 2005.In 1955, Ernst Beyeler was transfixed by Picasso’s Guernica at the Palazzo Reale...
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Money Must Stay in the Family
The plot of Money Must Stay in the Family, unfolds around the family matriarch’s last will and traces the story of an upper class Jewish family from Turin, the fictional Ottolenghis. The multigenerational saga begins with the flight from Mussolini’s Racial Laws of 1938 and continues with the arrival in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the dispersion from New York to Rome, Paris, Tuscany, South America, and Jerusalem.
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