The London-based World Luxury Group is the experienced organiser of successful events in the region. This year the invitation-only ultra affluent public could already see the brands selected by the Group at the previous stations of the Expo roadshow in Dubai at the Burj Al Arab and in Riyadh at the Ritz-Carlton.
The purpose of the 3-day Expos is to provide an exclusive meeting point for the region’s high net-worth individuals and the unique brands hoping to service these people with their products and services. It seems that exhibitors are in the right location, as according to Barclay’s, the Boston Consulting Group and other financial analysts, the wealth in the UAE and Qatar rises and fortunes are made at a more rapid rate than ever before.
The portfolio of the World Luxury Expo is rather diverse; it features a selection from fine art, jewellery and fashion, hand-crafted timepieces, designer furniture and exquisite table settings, automobiles, fine dining, private aviation, and luxury travel. In Abu Dhabi, the Emirates Palace Etihad banquet hall served as an extravagant setting for the event. I will highlight just a few of the brands that exhibited here.
The public who are open to the revolutionary, progressive directions in fine watchmaking could meet Rebellion at the Baselworld Palace this year. The manufacture that was founded in 2008 was created by Alexander Pesci (Rebellion Timepieces co-founder and owner) and Steve Clerici (Rebellion Timepieces co-founder and CEO). The inspiration was high-performance racing – the brand’s own racers, The Rebellion Racing, team participates in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) with two Lola Toyota LMP1 coupes. The Rebellion timepieces typically feature functions and complications to complement this precision-engineered and adrenaline-inducing sport, including mono-pusher chronographs and tachymeters – to enable speed to be calculated from distance and time – as well as hours, minutes, seconds, date and power reserve indicator. In certain models the elements employed in motorsports are also visible, including pieces recalling turbines, alloy wheels, competition dials, brake disks, clutches and gauges. The cases of Rebellion timepieces are made from the finest materials including high-tech titanium, red gold, stainless steel as well as special steel-ceramic, including natural and DLC finishes. Highlights of the Rebellion collection on display at World Luxury Expo include the T-1000 Titan and a diamond encrusted RE-1 Chronograph dedicated to the event.
Those who purchase expensive watches like to keep them in a safe place. Döttling, a company with over 90 years of experience offers a stylish solution for this requirement; naturally with the strictest German industrial standards in terms of technology. They offer many different modern and antique safes, tailored to the customer’s needs and taste. The Colosimo tabletop objects are small yet attractive safes. Their Spike model’s appearance was inspired by Christian Louboutin’s Lady Peep Spikes shoes; the safe has a black calfskin cover, shiny chrome studs, and as a reference to Louboutin’s red soles, it stands on a red pedestal. The must-have piece of watch fans is the Döttling Gyrowinder. It allows completely free rotation of the watch in all directions – including a complete rollover – which comes closest to the movement of the watch on one’s wrist. Most watch winders only rotate the watch around a fixed axis left or right. In addition the Gyrowinder also features a set of counterweights thus watches with various weights can be balanced individually according to their weight.
The concept of Rose Jewellery is that it doesn’t offer jewellery for the seasons but that they design and create timeless pieces that generations can inherit. Their coffee-table book from 2011 dedicated to their 30th anniversary serves to showcase this concept, the ‘Rose and her Royalty’ features snapshots of its elite patrons and special jewellery pieces it has created. The central piece of the anniversary was the ‘Empress of Rose’ necklace, made of a 290 carat Colombian emerald, one of the rarest and largest in the world. This spring in Delhi at the Vogue Wedding Show they amazed prospective brides with the Tanzanite and Yellow Sapphire Collection. The ‘My Rose Garden’ and “Treasures from the house of Rose” collections with diamonds and colourful gemstones, the traditional jadao sets and a selection of “Murano nights” jewels (contemporary Murano glass pieces, spiced up with diamonds); Rose is a definite stop for those in the market for some sparkle.
The Russian Moiseikin creates special jewellery and objects of art; their area of expertise is glyptography (the art or process of carving or engraving on precious stones). They prepared for the World Luxury Expo with the “Imperial Collection”. The highlight of this collection is the “Horn of Plenty“, a tourbillon timepiece consisting of over 4,000 diamonds with the total weight of 30 carats. Director of the company Viktor Moiseikin defines their philosophy as follows: “It’s important meanwhile to combine the ancient symbol with modern times, wisdom of the past with energy of the present.”
This year the World Luxury Expo event series continues in Doha at the St.Regis, and in Kuwait at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel.
Photo credits: Rebellion, Loupiosity.com.
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