Our news round-up this month brings interesting highlights – from fashion and jewellery collaborations and virtual experiences to artistic packaging and an innovative beauty product.
Hospitality Meets Fashion
The tropical paradise One&Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives has added Missoni’s prints and artistic energy to its island. The Italian fashion brand has placed a pop-up store and customisations across the property. On the beach, the distinctive Missoni pattern takes over the Beach Club adorning parasols, loungers, cabanas, beach towels and the DJ booth. Missoni’s spontaneous style is distinguished through various furnishing items, tapestries and fabrics used to personalise the resort’s sandy exteriors, its treehouse, the Grand Residence and Grand Sunset Residence, and a limited number of Grand Water Villas.
One&Only Reethi Rah is part of the Missoni Resort Club project led by Alberto Caliri, Creative Director of the Missoni Home Collection. The project sets out to promote Missoni’s lifestyle philosophy worldwide.
Virtual Reality Experience
One of the oldest Haute Horlogerie manufacturers, Audemars Piguet, has joined forces with Dreamscape Immersive, a virtual reality content creator, to develop a digital experience for its fans. Entitled The Clockwork Forest, it transports participants into a forest inspired by the Vallée de Joux, the birthplace of Audemars Piguet. Becoming the heroes of this magical world through the avatars they have chosen, travellers equipped with VR headsets and motion sensors are given the mission of restoring the course of time before the irreversible disruption of nature occurs. This adventure was inaugurated in the futuristic setting of the Manufacture des Saignoles in Le Locle, Switzerland, where it was only available for customers and visitors. Now, this highly anticipated experience will be open to the general public at Dreamscape’s Geneva location from the beginning of March until the end of April; participants must make a reservation.
Watch out for tickets at www.dreamscapegeneva.com
Ethical Jewels
Etika Jewels is a sustainable online jewellery retailer in the Middle East that is now offering carbon-free diamonds. The pieces are an exclusive collaboration with Diamond Foundry, a California-based, innovative lab-grown diamond manufacturer. The partnership will expand Etika Jewels’ offerings to include carbon-neutral, lab-grown diamonds in addition to their existing ethical lab-grown diamond collection. The collaboration with Diamond Foundry enables Etika Jewels to provide sustainable lab-grown diamonds made using renewable energy. The Diamond Foundry uses cutting-edge proprietary technology to grow diamonds in laboratories with zero carbon emissions thanks to a hydropower-led process. Being ethically and sustainably produced in the USA, these diamonds represent the future of responsible luxury with zero carbon footprint attached.
Scented Art
A partnership between Guerlain and Matisse, two French houses emblematic in the country’s cultural and artistic heritage, is set to make 2023 the year of Matisse at Guerlain. Two colourful designs by Maison Matisse are featured on a limited-edition Maison Matisse Bee Bottle for Exceptional Creations and across new pieces of the L’Art & La Matière collection. To celebrate the 170th anniversary of the Bee Bottle, a new release in the Exceptional Creations collection will feature a design inspired by The Music, one of Matisse’s most renowned paintings. The coloured motifs will adorn 14 unique bottles. Meanwhile, for the L’Art & La Matière collection, hearts, jasmine blossoms and leaves come together alongside an exclusive olfactory masterpiece. The new Jasmin Bonheur fragrance was inspired by the 1950 artwork, The Thousand and One Nights, and so were its lid and box. The vibrant design of the perfume’s packaging is also echoed in an edition of the Figue Azur candle.
Make-up For All
Lancôme has unveiled HAPTA, a handheld computerised make-up applicator designed for users with limited hand and arm mobility to make beauty accessible for all. As Lancôme’s first motion-stabilising make-up device, HAPTA works with every move to help customers overcome hand-motion challenges so that applying lipstick becomes simpler. Its adaptive strap and innovative self-levelling technology allow for more precise application. The self-levelling technology is embedded with real-time sensors for a full range of motion and steady application. HAPTA will later be enhanced with new robotic features to also work for mascara application and it will then be further extended to other beauty products. “HAPTA’s revolutionary technology has the power to help many people to use and apply beauty products to make them feel confident and self-fulfilled,” said Paul Tartrat, Lancôme Innovation & Beauty Tech Director.