alain elkann interviews

BUSINESS AND FINANCE

Mareike Ohlberg

Mareike Ohlberg

THE HIDDEN HAND OF CHINA. Mareike Ohlberg is a senior Fellow in the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund. Based in Berlin, she previously worked as an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, focussing on China’s media and digital policies as well as...

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Christian Louboutin

Christian Louboutin

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...

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David Rogier

David Rogier

A PASSION FOR LEARNING. DAVID ROGIER is the co-founder and CEO of MasterClass, where since 2015 he is leading the Californian company’s re-imagination of online education. Previously, David launched British retailer Tesco’s first stores in the U.S., where he focused...

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Thaddaeus Ropac

Thaddaeus Ropac

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...

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Rocco Forte

Rocco Forte

A LIFE IN HOTELS. Sir Rocco Forte is a hotelier and the Chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels. Rocco Forte, because of the Corona virus you were not able to open the hotel Villa Igiea in Palermo. It has been a great damage for you? Because of the virus the work programme for...

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Dante Ferretti

Dante Ferretti

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...

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Laurence Graff

Laurence Graff

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...

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Peter Marino

Peter Marino

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,...

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Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

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...

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Carlo Clavarino

Carlo Clavarino

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...

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Marlene Taschen

Marlene Taschen

INDEPENDENT, INCLUSIVE AND INSPIRATIONAL. Marlene Taschen is the CEO of the international publishing house TASCHEN that was founded by her father Benedikt, who is also a collector of contemporary art. TASCHEN specialize in illustrated publications on a range of themes...

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Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano

BUILDING VESSELS OF LIGHT. Renzo Piano is an Italian architect whose notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Shard in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens...

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Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel

AN ARCHITECT IS LIKE A FILMMAKER. The Paris based architect Jean Nouvel injects a sense of originality into the projects he undertakes all over the world. He creates a unique concept for each particular combination of people, place and time, yielding buildings that...

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Fabiola Gianotti

Fabiola Gianotti

DISRUPTIVE RESEARCH. Fabiola Gianotti is the first woman Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. Elected for a five year term in 2016, she was recently renominated to hold the position until 2025 and thus becomes the first...

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Andrew Viterbi

Andrew Viterbi

NEW FRONTIERS IN COMMUNICATIONS. Andrew Viterbi is an Italian born American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc. a company that transforms theoretical concepts into practical means of communications. He is celebrated for the invention of...

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Federico Marchetti

Federico Marchetti

OUR CUSTOMERS BUY BEAUTIFUL FASHION FROM MOBILES. Federico Marchetti is a visionary who started the e-commerce fashion company Yoox very early in the emergence of the web. Now he is the Chairman and CEO of the combined Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, following the merger...

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Larry Gagosian

Larry Gagosian

GLOBAL ART. The art dealer Larry Gagosian has evolved his business into a global network of seventeen exhibition spaces with a vibrant  contemporary program that features the work of leading international artists.This interview is also available as a podcast here...

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Franco Maria Ricci

Franco Maria Ricci

PRESCIENT INFLUENCER Franco Maria Ricci is a, if not the, giant of art publishing and graphic design. Born outside of Parma, as a young graphic designer Ricci came across the typefaces of Giambattista Bodoni in the Palatina Library and felt an instant affinity with...

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Nina Yashar

Nina Yashar

DOYENNE OF DESIGN. Nina Yashar founded the famous Nilufar Gallery in Milano, which has become the reference point to lovers of historical design as well as to people following the evolution of contemporary design. Nina works within ‘interdisciplinarity’, shifting in...

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John Jay

John Jay

MADE FOR ALL. John Jay is the President of Global Creative for Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer. This interview is available as a podcast. John Jay, when did you meet Mr Tadashi Yanai, the founder...

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Paul Andrew

Paul Andrew

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF FERRAGAMO. Paul Andrew is an English fashion designer. In February 2019, Andrew was appointed Creative Director of the globally successful Salvatore Ferragamo brand.  This interview is available as a podcast. Paul Andrew, how did you become...

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Luigi Donà dalle Rose

Luigi Donà dalle Rose

CREATING WORLD HERITAGE. Count Luigi Donà dalle Rose is a Venetian who has spent fifty years making the marine village of Porto Rotondo in Sardinia beautiful and fascinating. Over time he has transformed Porto Rotondo into a glamorous and celebrated residential...

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Prince Dimitri

Prince Dimitri

A PRINCE IN NEW YORK. Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, is founder, president and creative director of the jewellery firm which bears his name, Prince Dimitri. He lives and works in New York, where Prince Dimitri was formerly senior vice president of the jewellery...

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Peter Mandelson

Peter Mandelson

MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE. Peter Mandelson on Brexit lies, Boris Johnson, the weak & ineffective response of Jeremy Corbyn, anti-Semitism, Northern Ireland and the EU. Peter Mandelson is a British Labour politician, president of international think tank Policy...

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Pietro Beccari

Pietro Beccari

DIOR'S FORWARD STRIKER. The interview with Pietro Beccari, the new president of DIOR – in France they call him PDG (Président-directeur général) – took place at the Dior headquarters in Paris at 30 Avenue Montaigne, on the eve of the construction work that was...

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Yossi Yamin

Yossi Yamin

MAKING MEDICINES IN ORBIT. Yossi Yamin is the Chairman of SpacePharma, which provides researchers access to the unique environment of microgravity, using cutting edge remote controlled orbital labs. SpacePharma is headquartered in Courgenay, Switzerland, with research...

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Letizia Moratti

Letizia Moratti

A RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS IN WELFARE SYSTEMS. Letizia Moratti is the former Rai (Radiotelevisione italiana) president, was the Italian Minister of Education, Universities and Research, served as the mayor of Milan, and today is Chairwoman of the Board for UBI Banca, a...

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Hiroshi Mikitani

Hiroshi Mikitani

THE POWER TO COMPETE. Born in Kobe in 1965, Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani is the founder and CEO of Rakuten, a Japanese company based in Tokyo that he started in 1997. Mikitani wanted to build a business that would empower people to pursue and fulfil their business dreams...

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Alberto Rocca

Alberto Rocca

THE JOY OF CONSERVATION. Monsignor Alberto Rocca is a fellow at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana library in Milan, as well as being the director of the Pinacoteca (painting gallery), and director of the Class of Borromean Studies.As director of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,...

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Giorgio La Malfa

Giorgio La Malfa

THE DIVIDING QUESTION OF KEYNES. Giorgio La Malfa was a university professor and a leading light of the Italian Republican Party from 1972 to 2011. In his political career he was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, and...

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// FEATURED

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.

// PUBLICATIONS

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