Celebrity Life

Socialite and fashionista Denise Lo invites us into her home to discover how she makes her trinkets and objects the stars of the show.

Perched above Kennedy Road, the balcony of Lo’s Christian Dior-inspired home overlooks the heart of Hong Kong. A self-proclaimed hoarder, Lo has made her residence a museum of personal likes, souvenirs and artworks amassed from her extensive travels. Her previous home, a little further uphill on Bowen Road, was an exercise in minimalism – “completely concrete and graphite, with dark-grey and light-brown tones” – but after a tenant moved out of Lo’s Kennedy Road space, she took the plunge and moved in. The move coincided with her new role at Dior at the time, which seemed reason enough to make the change.

[caption id="attachment_211027" align="alignnone" width="1055"] Socialite and fashionista Denise Lo invites us into her colourful, eclectic home.[/caption]

Her stint at the brand appears to have influenced her home decor quite heavily, with light grey coloured walls and white panelled trims reminiscent of the signature colour of the maison’s stores. Paired with these are light, warm wooden floors that are the opposite of the concrete aesthetic she describes at the old home. When it comes to the layout, practicality is Lo’s priority: the kitchen at Kennedy Road used to be three times the size, but since Lo doesn’t cook, she slashed the area to make room for a study and guest bathroom – she has guests over often. Lo also installed extensive storage space behind three of her panelled walls to store her treasures.

The living room features a large, pale grey plush sofa, a light grey rectangular ottoman and two white chairs from Restoration Hardware surrounding a large wooden coffee table. When designing her home, Lo considered the overall feel before deciding how to decorate it, wanting a very comfortable, light and airy setting. Most shelving, aside from the two ceiling-length bronze shelves flanking her television, are painted white to keep the atmosphere light.

Travel is a large source of inspiration. “I’m a shopaholic,”Lo admits. “I love to travel and buy different things but somehow whatever I buy looks good in my house. Sometimes it’s ethnic, sometimes it’s a Dior-esque sort of thing, or sometimes it’s just cute.

“I’m definitely eclectic and buy so many things, but they all mean something and bring me joy – that’s why I can never get rid of things.” Not surprisingly, she’s looking for a bigger place to make room for her ever-expanding collection.

Lo adores elaborate table settings. Occupying almost half of her home, her long rectangular dining table seats up to 12, with plush light-grey chairs to match the rest of her house. For our shoot, she sought the help of good friend Monica Cheung to style her home.

As a result, her dining table was bursting with an assortment of flowers in a variety of vases, all from French brands such as Astier de Villatte.

[caption id="attachment_211028" align="alignnone" width="927"] Denise Lo has a penchant for flowers and vibrant trinkets.[/caption]

“Elaborate table settings make me so happy,” she says. “Even looking at all the pictures again after entertaining, as well as putting it together, makes the entire living experience more pleasurable. I just love tableware. I have four complete settings, but the problem is where to store them all.” Most of Lo’s tableware including the coloured crystal glasses are from Dior. She’s also a fan of kitsch designs and quirky decor, such as the Señor and Señorita vases displayed on the dining table.

Lo’s design mantra revolves around how she feels: “Everything in your house must be something you like. You could be buying the most expensive furniture, but if you don’t feel like you’re at home, then it’s a problem,” she says. “I like my home to be comfortable, to have things that I love, so that when I look at them it brings me so much happiness. All the things here, I don’t get tired of them – even pieces I’ve had for more than 20 years. That’s why it’s very hard to practise the Marie Kondo method. How can you throw everything away? That’s not me.”

One of her favourite pieces is a decorative foldable screen by Coquecigrues that’s hand painted with bamboo leaves and figurines, which she bought at La Boutique Living on Shelley Street. Art is also a large decorative element in Lo’s home, which she mainly credits to Sotheby’s Asia chairwoman, Patti Wong, who introduced her to art collecting.

“My favourite artist is Yoshitomo Nara,” she says. “I love anything Japanese. Takashi Murakami and Ayako Rokkaku are also among my favourites. I like girly, colourful things.” Lo also has two colourful and cartoonish paintings by American pop artist Mr Likey, which add bursts of colour to her living room.

The post Modern Wonderland: Denise Lo Invites Us Into Her Colourful Home appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Two savvy, sophisticated businesswomen host a Provence-inspired cocktail party to toast the release of a new Champagne.

The post Better Together appeared first on Palm Beach Illustrated.

In the next instalment from our series Startup Life, Iva Bravic Millereau tells us about her globetrotting journey to Hong Kong via Shanghai, Moscow, Miami, Canada and Croatia. We find out more about what it takes to run a successful business, the importance of wellbeing and her plans for the future.

More than ever, we’re looking to focus on our wellness -- the fragility of our ecosystems and our health. And early 2020 saw the launch of Hong Kong’s latest wellness brand, RE.VITYL™ by Croatian Iva Bravic Millereau and New York-based Rashia Bell have focused on bring natural products using elemental energies to the market with healing crystals, plant oil products and stylish silk accessories.

Name: Iva Bravic Millereau

Profession: Co-Founder & Managing Director

Industry: Wellness and E-commerce

Inception: 2019, Product Launch May, 2020

Company size:  4

The post Startup Life: Iva Bravic Millereau of RE.VITYL appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Amitt K Singh for TMM He is calm, sharp, intelligent and a handsome cop, who knows his job right. Probably this is the impression we all could make out from the screen presence of Amitt K Singh as Vinod Sharma in Bhaukaal, a web series with more than 100 million views on MX Player. The […]

The post Amitt K Singh: You need to be honest to the character to bring the best appeared first on TMM.

The donation will help expand ongoing cardiovascular research at the Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Research Center at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

The post Sally Ross Soter Gifts $5.9 Million to the American Heart Association appeared first on Palm Beach Illustrated.

CEO of New World Development Adrian Cheng has announced plans to support the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to aid vulnerable children and young people around the world to fight against COVID-19.

Through this charitable initiative, Cheng will donate 500,000 masks to UNICEF that will be distributed to children who are most in need, including those in refugee camps and communities, as well as underequipped medical workers. “With this donation, it is my sincere hope that we will help to galvanise global efforts to protect children and youth, especially those residing in the world’s most vulnerable zones, from COVID-19,” said Cheng. With a presence in 190 countries, UNICEF is committed to delivering assistance to children across the areas affected by COVID-19 and is working with governments, implementing partners and donors to find solutions to logistical and operational constraints to ensure children in need continue to receive humanitarian assistance. By providing a half million medical masks to vulnerable children and young people, Cheng’s contribution looks not only to save lives, but also to support the global containment of the virus and safeguard against its possible resurgence.

"Our ecosystem at New World Development places a great emphasis on education and healthcare, bringing to the forefront the importance of creating shared value across communities worldwide. I hope this donation will play a role in giving youth refugees the health protection they desperately need at this challenging time." - Adrian Cheng

[caption id="attachment_206793" align="alignnone" width="1139"] Adrian Cheng, CEO of New World Development[/caption]

This initiative is the latest of Cheng’s efforts to combat COVID-19 worldwide. Driven by New World Development’s vision to contribute innovative and sustainable solutions to today's most pressing problems, the group created a US$7 million fund and made a donation of more than three million medical face masks to fight the spread across Greater China in January 2020.

Shortly after, in February 2020, New World Development donated over US$1.2 million to establish a “community anti-epidemic fund” in Hong Kong. Presently, the donation has generated more than two million masks and 10,000 preventative kits which include medical face masks, hand sanitiser gels and sanitising wipes, all of which have been distributed to low-income families within Hong Kong.

The post Adrian Cheng Teams Up With UNICEF to Provide COVID-19 Relief appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Happy Mother’s Day 2020: Interesting wishes, quotes and messages for your beloved mother When it comes to defining love, we guess just the word ‘Mother’, summarizes it all. It is impossible for a child to return even a fraction of his or her mother’s unconditional love, care and dedication and all we can have is […]

The post Happy Mother’s Day 2020 appeared first on TMM.

During the lockdown, Vidyut Jammwal has been inspiring people to train their body and mind through his fitness sessions. Words: Deepali Singh for TMM You don’t have to look beyond Vidyut Jammwal if you need a fitness inspiration. Movies like Force, Commando and Junglee have proved that when it comes to fitness and physical agility, […]

The post Vidyut Jammwal : If you can do a simple thing well, you can achieve difficult things too appeared first on TMM.

Once the boy wonder of classical music, superstar pianist Lang Lang now tempers his flamboyant virtuosity with a new-found intellectual rigour, and is devoting more energy to his educational foundation.

One of the most famous classical musicians in the world today – and certainly one the best-known concert pianists – Lang Lang, who took up the instrument at the age of three and was performing and winning competitions just two years later, is, at the age of 37, something of a phenomenon. Named by Time magazine in 2009 as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, he’s played for princes, presidents and prime ministers, and has been repeatedly praised not only for his absolute mastery of his chosen instrument, but also for his tireless efforts as an educator and populariser of classical music, which can only be described as evangelical.
Born in the northern Chinese industrial city of Shenyang in 1982, as a child he was driven mercilessly by his policeman father, who’d decided that his son would become the greatest classical musician in the country. In the event
– and after one major hiccup when, at the age of nine, he was told by his then teacher that he’d never make it as a concert pianist – he achieved much more than that. In his mid-teens he and his father left the Beijing slum where they’d been living and moved to the United States. Lang Lang enrolled at the famous Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and, two years later, burst on to the international stage after standing in with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a sick André Watts.
Since then he’s lived like a rock star, hobnobbing with rappers and superstars of sport, with whose lifestyles he often identifies. Known initially for his dazzling technique and deeply emotional interpretations of the romantic repertoire, including works by Chopin, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, he’s also collaborated with jazz musicians such as Herbie Hancock, the singer-songwriter Billy Joel and even the rock bank Metallica, as well as recording music for the video game Gran Turismo 5. An injury to his left arm in 2017 threatened to destroy his career and kept him from performing for more than a year; his return to the stage has seen him exploring the more cerebral side of his prodigious talent by focussing on rigorously intellectual works, such as Bach’s Goldberg Variations. And last year his life took another change of direction when he married the German-Korean pianist Gina Alice Redlinger; the couple divide their time between homes in Beijing, Paris and New York.
In Hong Kong for a private performance earlier this year, Lang Lang found time to sit for an exclusive photo shoot with Prestige, talking to everyone and delighting them with his easy charm and self-deprecatory humour. Although now nearer 40 than 30, he brimmed with an enthusiasm that can only be called boyish, revealing himself to be a born communicator and talking at length – and in an accent located midway in the Pacific between China and North America – about his educational foundation and its frankly inspirational aim to spread a knowledge and love of music to young people around the world.

[caption id="attachment_206439" align="alignnone" width="1346"] Watch and Tops Bruno Cucinelli | Trousers Zegna | Watch Hublot Big Bang Unico Rainbow King Gold[/caption]

The post Superstar Pianist Lang Lang’s Foundation Gives Youth Access to a Music Education appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Sakshi Duggal Kumria:- Numerologist, Astrologer, Vaastu Consultant, Life Coach and Healer Interview by team TMM Vaastu is the science of direction that originated in India. It combines all the five elements of nature and balances them with man and material. It enhances health, wealth, prosperity for all the planets. According to Vaastu, direction plays a […]

The post How to create a balance between Vaastu and planets? appeared first on TMM.

Spend the day with five posh, passionate moms and discover that parenting in the Palm Beaches is anything but uneventful.

The post Super Moms appeared first on Palm Beach Illustrated.

Founder of LC Capital, Jonathan Cheng is a new breed of private equity and property developer. The entrepreneur dissects the market.

Now more than ever, alternative assets and private equity are under challenge to play an important role and deliver returns as global markets and economies struggle to recover after the pandemic. The firms that successfully emerge from the global wreckage will require uniquely focussed strategies and talented managers.
LC Capital was founded in 2015. Jonathan Cheng is its current Group CEO and Managing Director. LC Capital is a boutique, specialised investment operation favouring organic growth of assets under management and focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. It combines international management expertise of private equity with local knowledge and characteristics covering property development, and its associated business lines.
In property development it prefers to buy raw land and build new projects. Instead of refurbishing properties, LC Capital aims to add value to its investments besides just providing capital. Taking majority control over corporate governance allows LC Capital to strategically manoeuvre business direction of its projects and investment vehicles. And majority control allows it to influence corporate governance and strategic business direction.
“We aim to be active not passive and seek to cultivate and drive holistic business cultures,” says Cheng. “We step into design and create synergistic business strategies to establish a vision, brand and ultimately an exit.” Property is developed through its associated company Infinity Capital Group. Since 2015, LC Capital has completed and is currently developing $175 million in property in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Australia and Japan.

[caption id="attachment_206384" align="alignnone" width="1300"] The TELLUS on Parker Hotel development in Perth, Australia[/caption]

LC Capital positions and focusses itself as a disciplined private-equity manager – a smarter version of a typical property developer that seeks to create and sustain value in its investments. It combines food-and- beverage expertise, ownership and management in its property investments and developments. “Extracting a premium from the potential synergy between the collaboration between landlord and tenant represents a major opportunity and challenge if we assume both roles,” says Cheng. “For LC Capital, this relationship doesn’t necessarily have to be adversarial.”
“The traditional tenant-landlord relationship will always be contentious – there’s little sympathy on either side. Tenants rarely meet landlords and there’s no personal interaction as in the past, when the landlord would personally collect rent and visit the tenant. However, since LC Capital controls its properties and acts as the tenant, so the relationship is more collaborative with any partners we work with on the F&B concept.”
It began its property-development activities with luxury hotels and high-end residences in Niseko, Japan and Australia. LC Capital retains ownership and management in hotels and their food and beverage outlets. “Entering the food and beverage business was a natural extension of their ambition to create and sustain value in our properties,” Cheng explains.

[caption id="attachment_206385" align="alignnone" width="1426"] The TELLUS villas development in Niseko, Japan[/caption]

The vision beyond property construction is to build a unified brand across properties. Each unit in Niseko features its own onsen and a commitment to creating a sense of quality of cosiness, warmth and belonging in each unit.

[caption id="attachment_206387" align="alignnone" width="1500"] Private onsen at TELLUS Niseko, which opened late last year[/caption]

Cheng describes his hands-on style approach in making and managing investments and projects. He disavows management by spreadsheet, as he favours meeting employees and spends significant time on sites.

“Understanding your businesses at the ground level is vital for success.”

Cheng assumes a cautious and nuanced view of how business and industry will emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. “The post- pandemic environment will provoke a change in outlook, not necessarily a wholesale change in fundamental business and investment strategies.”
“Tourist numbers are presently at a standstill and revenues will be affected going forward. It will change the way our properties adapt to changing business conditions. The massive number of aircraft groundings are an indication of the severity of the situation. When the financial markets normalise, the economy and business will recalibrate.”
Cheng emphasises and leads an organisational learning process that enhances the brands of LC Capital, its businesses and the properties by creating a total, all-encompassing experience. For example, its TELLUS Lounge in Hong Kong is an expression of quality and sophistication. Cheng also explains his conservative rollout plans for TELLUS: “We were prepared to accept capital expenditures for the initial start-up period of 18 months in order to establish the business and brand.”

[caption id="attachment_206394" align="alignnone" width="1300"] LC Capital's founder, CEO and Managing Director, Jonathan Cheng | Jacket Loro Piana[/caption]

Cheng describes himself as an entrepreneur. And he defines that through the importance of getting out of one’s comfort zone and always sensing and feeling. “Business schools can teach a lot, but they only provide a framework for your experience. And with experience comes acumen. I strive to achieve a natural balance between theory and practice.”
LC Capital’s seeks to grow its property development arm in Asia Pacific: it’s currently looking at acquiring land in Bali, among other opportunities overseas. Moving forward, there has to be scalability.
“An effective investor and operator understands a market, how a company’s operations succeed in that market, and develops a sense of what’s going on around them. Most of all, it’s all about the rhythm. If you make mistakes because of poor timing you can always get your rhythm back.”

The post How Jonathan Cheng of LC Capital is Driving Value in an Uncertain Market appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.