Robb Report March 2017 Issue

“My tastes are aristocratic, my actions democratic.”  —Victor Hugo Circumstances dictate many of our inclinations, as illustrated by the conflicting sentiments of Victor Hugo, who was the product of a royalist Catholic mother on the one hand, and on the other a republican father who prized reason over religion. Patrician and plain elements mingle similarly […]

Setting gems within gems, Boghossian pushes the boundaries of contemporary design. It requires tremendous precision, steady hands, and a degree of bravery to set an exceptional 7-carat pear-shaped ruby within a 10-carat old-mine cut diamond: The slightest misstep can easily crack and break apart the gems. Boghossian (boghossianjewels.com) believes the risk is worth taking to […]

Bina Goenka’s designs are instant successes—and years in the making. Patience is a virtue—just ask Bina Goenka (binagoenka.com), who spent more than a year searching for the hard-to-find queen conch pearls for her latest jewelry collection. “No two conch pearls are ever the same,” says Goenka, who is the designer and founding CEO of her […]

The new limited-production Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Papillon Automate ($290,000, vancleefarpels.com) reflects the personality of its owner in a very physical way: The translucent wings of a butterfly automaton on the watch’s jeweled and enameled dial beat according to the wearer’s activity level. “Our intent was to make nature come alive, and the […]

Bell & Ross’s signature cockpit-instrument design is on grand display in the Bell & Ross BR-X1 Tourbillon Sapphire ($495,000, bellross.com). By far the most expensive watch the brand has ever produced, the timepiece has an all-sapphire case whose transparent sides provide a clear look at the monopusher chronograph tourbillon movement. Working with the Geneva-based complications […]

If you’re going to call your new motorcycle brand Vanguard (vanguard.nyc) and build avant-garde bikes, then Brooklyn seems like an appropriate place to set up shop. Vanguard was cofounded in 2013 by Edward Jacobs, the lead designer for Confederate Motorcycles from 2005 to 2011. His business partner is the former management consultant Francois-Xavier Terny, an […]

If there’s a downside to having a submersible as a superyacht amenity, it’s that most of these vessels accommodate only two or three, maybe four, occupants, while yachts large enough to hold a sub can host two or three times that many passengers. Consequently, many guests may have to wait their turns to take the […]

Alongside Interstate 405 near the gravel piles of Southern California’s industrial South Bay sits the new Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles (porschedriving.com). It’s a 53-acre playground for auto enthusiasts, beckoning those who crawl by on the freeway with its modern glass structure and oasis of green lawns ribboned with fresh asphalt. The building contains an […]

Entrepreneur Andrew Troyer’s appreciation for superior craftsmanship launched his career selling exotic automobiles and brokering yachts in Florida. “Even at a very young age,” he recalls, “I had a discerning eye for fine things.” More recently, this passion put an additional turn in Troyer’s professional path when, after debating a friend on the subject of […]

One does not often go searching for Michelin stars under the industrial ribs of an overpass, but Aska (askanyc.com)—Brooklyn’s New Nordic gem hidden along a lugubrious stretch of concrete beneath the Williamsburg Bridge—demands pilgrimage. Opened in July, the Michelin two-star restaurant is a reincarnation of sorts. Swedish-born chef Fredrik Berselius’s (above) first iteration (also named […]

A decade in the making, New Zealand’s Helena Bay (helenabay.com) is a spare-no-expense retreat that offers exclusive access to more than 800 private acres of North Island headlands, farmland, and coastline. The high-luxury lodge, which opened in November, is framed by lush kauri forest on an idyllic stretch of the estate’s 2 miles of private […]

Set on a leafy Knightsbridge side street within a cluster of restored Victorian townhouses, the Franklin (thefranklinlondon.com) is British to the core. Still, the hotel’s old-school ambience does not preclude a modern edge, courtesy of a 19-month renovation led by Anouska Hempel and completed last August. The London designer—whose other local credits include the Grosvenor […]

A new wave of resorts is tempting travelers to rethink Turks and Caicos. There’s a reason everyone who travels to the Turks and Caicos Islands stays on Grace Bay. The sand is floury white, the sea is clear as gin, and most of the resorts, lined cheek by jowl, share this paradisiacal stretch. Of course, […]

The larger-than-life athlete aims to make a big impact with his latest venture. Yao Ming would rather not talk about himself. But the eight-time NBA all-star, Olympian, and member of Time’s 100 Most Influential People club opens up a bit when the subjects are fine wine and philanthropy. At 36, he is an accomplished vintner […]

Photography by Steven Lippman Stylist: Milka Prica; sylist’s assistant: Patricia Basil Aston Martin’s latest, the DB11, is the brand’s most capable car ever. Some years ago, I had a conversation with an auto-restoration expert renowned for his work on classic Aston Martins. He described how on more than one occasion a tired old example of […]

To create an innovative space for Madrid’s architects and designers, Swiss bathroom experts Laufen enlisted the highly acclaimed designer Patricia Urquiola. The resulting showroom, which opened in November, spans nearly 2,200 square feet of a historic villa and displays Laufen’s luxurious bath wares across two levels. Urquiola used marble, onyx, mirrors, resin, and oak to […]

Photography by Gibeon Photography A private Montana fishing estate takes its cues from the vast and rugged landscape. In summer, wildflowers stipple the mountain slopes of Montana’s Gallatin County, not far from Bozeman. The region is home to brooks flowing with trout and layers of hillsides and jagged peaks. The unmarred waterfront terrain inspired the […]

Furniture designer Ralph Pucci riffs on his new Los Angeles showroom. Ralph pucci is known for his luxurious furnishings that celebrate quality in material and design. Yet his New York and Miami showrooms (ralphpucci.net) eschew grandiosity in favor of raw, open spaces where he can create a unique canvas to showcase his thoroughly modern mash-up […]

The top-of-the-line sedan is the brand’s most powerful production car ever.  Before the rain resumed, the other media members and I were treated to espressos and torrone and then hurried out of the garage and onto the pit lane at Northern California’s Sonoma Raceway. There, a group of driving instructors waited beside a line of […]

Masters of 20th-century art meet on the auction block. Abstract expressionism is having a reunion. Mark Rothko and Robert Rauschenberg—two artists known for very different approaches to the post–World War II art movement—will share the spotlight this spring at Christie’s London (christies​.com) in a high-profile auction of two influential works. Rothko’s No. 1, painted in […]

A hood-ornament collector’s most prized acquisition has a royal pedigree. The first Lalique mascot Gerard Smith ever purchased turned out to be anything but. The California-based entrepreneur discovered the piece, a frosted-glass figurine depicting a woman with long flowing hair, in an antiques store in Carmel, Calif. But soon after purchasing it for roughly $1,500, […]

Champagne Bollinger 2005 Vieilles Vignes Françaises. Few professionals today are as keenly attuned to the subtleties of the marketplace for rare wine as Scott Torrence, vice president and senior wine specialist for the Americas at Christie’s. During his tenure, Torrence has brought to sale a number of important private collections, including that of the heiress […]