[ VIENNA ]
YOU’D EXPECT THE CITY that once counted Beethoven and Mozart among its residents to be able to put on a show, and that’s what you get at the Arcotel Wimberger. The centre of its conference suites is a double-height theatre with a big screen, built-in stage and professional lighting equipment. There are even dressing rooms, as well as 11 meeting rooms that can be altered in size, catering for up to 900 people, and 225 rooms on-site. Matthew Priest
Arcotel Wimberger, 34-36 Neubaugürtel, Vienna, +43 1 521 65-0, www.arcotelhotels.com

[ MOSCOW ]
IF SHOCK AND AWE is part of your business strategy, then there are few better places to have a meeting than the Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow. Perched on a dramatic sweep of the Moskva River, it was built by Stalin after the Second World War, one of the ‘Seven Sisters’, a family of enormous gothic towers which dot the city.

Now a multi-billion-ruble renovation (“We lost track of how much we were spending. The owners didn’t seem to care,” says the general manager) has brought it up to Western standards of five-star service and emptied several Italian quarries of their marble. There are all the conference facilities you’d expect (six meeting rooms, ballroom, room for 1,000 delegates in total), plus a couple of special extras.

The Library is a lavish business centre, with computers and Wi-Fi, and shelves lined with leather-bound copies of great Russian novels. Outside, the Radisson has its own fleet of river boats, equipped with ice-breakers for the winter months – rent one for a conference and make your keynote speech while cruising past the Kremlin. Now that’s impressive. Lee Cheshire
Radisson Royal Hotel, Kutuzovsky Prospect, +7 (495) 221 5555, www.radisson-hotels.ru/royal-moscow

IN BRIEF…

The official partner hotel for the London Design Festival, the Andaz Liverpool Street is the perfect place for a meeting away from the crowds. The festival runs from 18-26 September. Andaz, 40 Liverpool Street, London EC1, +44 (0)20 7961 1234, www.andaz.com

IT’S TIME TO START BOOKING FOR THE SUMMER’S EXHIBITIONS AND CONFERENCES and one of the key ones in the Caucasus is Caspian Oil and Gas in Baku. Now in its 17th year, this show is essential for anyone working in the region’s booming energy industry.

A good base for the event – or any of the auto, transport and food expos planned for this year – is the Hyatt Regency. It’s only a 10-minute drive from the exhibition centre, five from Baku’s city centre and 35 from the airport.

Caspian Oil and Gas will be packed with potential clients and partners: the Hyatt’s 10 meeting rooms and two boardrooms are perfect for firming up deals. These functional spaces mean that you can break up into splinter groups for smaller discussions as well, and are well stocked with audio-visual equipment. If it goes well, celebrate at the (allegedly) British-themed Britannia Pub or the Beluga cocktail and vodka bar.

If you want to play the host yourself, the Guba ballroom holds up to 350 for a drinks reception or presentation, or 250 for a banquet. It has its own entrance and a sizeable foyer, which can fit another 80 people. During summer, events can spill out from the ballroom to sip cocktails by the poolside. If that doesn’t win you business, nothing will.

Hyatt Regency, 1 Bakikhanov Street, Baku, +994 12 496 1234, www.baku.regency.hyatt.com

Crème de la Custard

[ BIRMINGHAM ]

RATED AS ONE OF THE BEST VENUES IN THE UK BY Event magazine, the Old Library lies at the heart of Birmingham’s trendy Custard Factory district. Its churchlike interior is perfect for functions and conferences: it holds 150 for a sit-down dinner or 400 for a drinks reception. If you need more room, then the industrial Space 2 elsewhere in the complex can hold up to 1,200 standing, while The Theatre and Factory Club provide settings for speeches or product launches. Access couldn’t be better – the Custard Factory is a few hundred metres from Birmingham’s smart shopping centre and is easily reached from the airport.

The Custard Factory, Gibb Square, Birmingham, +44 (0)121 200 0910, www.theoldlibrary.co.uk

First worn by the very rich while they kept their genuine jewels under lock and key,
costume jewellery is now highly collectable

WHEN IS A WORK of art more than just a work of art? When it’s a piece of vintage
costume jewellery. There has been a phenomenal rise in acquiring old and
glamorous beads, bracelets and gems, etc, over the last 20 years, partly on the back of the growing
interest in vintage clothing, but also because jewellery has an almost unique place in the sphere of collecting.

“Vintage costume jewellery is very unusual, in that you
can wear it but it’s also a piece of art in its own right,”
says Monica Turcich, a specialist in costume and design at
Christie’s.“It’s more accessible, touchable and wearable than
most forms of art, and it’s also practical. Many people don’t
have room to store furniture in their home, but they do
have room for a necklace.”

In 1995, Christie’s held its first Street Fashion Sale in
London which included vintage costume jewellery, with
a similar sale in New York the same year, and interest in
the subject is such that now it holds two sales annually of
20th century fashion and accessories, as well as single owner
auctions. Prices, meanwhile, have risen accordingly.

“A Kenneth Jay Lane floral brooch worth £100 in 1995
would now be worth around £250,” says Turcich. “Essentially,
the market has doubled in value in the past 12 years.”

Costume jewellery is nothing new: some Georgian
jewellery was made of glass, and such items extend back
centuries before that. But the jewellery that is inspiring
investors in recent years is almost entirely 20th century
in design and came about as a consequence of social
upheaval, Hollywood’s influence, the desire for glamour
after two world wars and a higher disposable income.

alt="A Victor Carranza sanded glass bead necklace">
“Until World War I, jewellery had only been a status
symbol for the very rich,” says Susan Mundy of Genre
Vintage Jewellery. “After the war, jewellery began to be
mass produced, which meant that ‘downstairs’ could have
jewellery as well as ‘upstairs’. But ‘downstairs’ could not
afford precious metals and stones, and so the jewellery
produced was made of paste.”

Then French designer Coco Chanel came on the scene
and everything changed. “It was Chanel who made
wearing costume jewellery acceptable to everyone,” says
Turcich. “Aristocrats had always worn copies of their jewels
in public while the real thing was locked away in a safe, but
by the 1920s and 1930s, people were beginning to wear
big, flashy pieces that were not only obviously fake but
that were attractive in their own right.”

Simultaneously, the rise of filmmaking made costume
jewellery even more popular. “People were impressed by
what film stars were wearing in the movies, and so copies
began to be mass produced commercially of what had been
seen on film,” says Mary Turvil of the specialist vintage
jewellery dealers Glitz Guru. “A lot of this, which is now
very sought-after, was made by Joseff of Hollywood.” Other
clothes designers, as well as Chanel, got in on the act: most
of the major designers of the 20th century also produced
paste jewellery, which is as sought-after as their clothes.

Vintage costume jewellery can be broken down into
numerous categories but buyers tend to divide into two
camps: those who are after specific designers and those who
want to buy a certain style. For example, one of the most
popular designers with collectors today is Miriam Haskell,
whose prices have doubled over the last decade and interest
in her pieces shows no sign of abating. On the other hand,
there are those who are interested in, say, Bakelite jewellery
from the 1930s, or white paste (this is very popular for
weddings), or perspex flower brooches from the 1950s.
There are societies that hold tea dances in 1940s’
dress and need the correct accessories and ditto those
with a particular interest in the 1960s.

The field is as varied as it is wide, and so are
the prices. Entry level can actually be quite
low: according to Mundy, a carved Bakelite
bracelet – which would have sold for between
20 cents and $3 when it was first made
– could cost as little as £35 now. But for the
best pieces the sky is the limit: recently, a Bakelite
bracelet sold in the United States for over £1,000. Cocktail
jewellery can start as low as £10, but if it is signed prices soar.
Vintage Chanel jewellery can be astronomically expensive:
as far back as 1987, four Chanel Bakelite bracelets broke all
records when they sold for £900 each in the United States.
Their value would be considerably higher than that now.

As interest has grown, however, so has the scarcity of
the most sought-after pieces. “Jewellery from the 1930s
was extremely popular for some time, but it is getting very
expensive and increasingly hard to find,” says Mundy.
“It comes in two different categories: up to 1935 when it
is quite geometrical, and post-1935 when plastics became
popular. The other area that is now becoming more popular
is the 1950s and 1960s, when cocktail jewellery decorated
with rhinestones first caught on in the United States
and then over here. The film Breakfast At Tiffany’s had
something to do with that. It was elaborate, big jewellery.
By the end of the 1960s, the jewellery, reflecting the times,
was increasingly space-aged.”

alt="An unusual Miracle brooch with faux opals, late 1950s, price £20 to £25, from Glitz Guru.">
Modern buyers really began to flock to the market in
the late 1970s and early 1980s, when, for the first time,
art-world insiders began to recognise these pieces as works
with an inherent value in their own right, not least because
of the care and craftsmanship with which they were made.
At the same time, a flood of books about the subject came
onto the market, probably the best known of which was
Costume Jewelry: The Great Pretenders by Lyngerda Kelley
and Nancy Schiffer, which awoke the investing instinct in
the buyers and created what is now a collectors’ field
in its own right.

To reflect this trend, there has been a huge
rise in the number of vintage fashion fairs,
where this jewellery is also found. The best
advice is to buy a piece in perfect condition,
with no missing stones, and if possible, buy
something that is signed. Check with the dealer
for its authenticity and history. But above all, buy
what you like, so that even if it doesn’t rise in value
you’ll still be able to wear it for years to come, thereby
remaining an investment.

GETTING STARTED

• Read up on the subject: there are many books about vintage costume
  jewellery on the market. One of the best is Costume Jewellery by Judith
  Miller, one of the Dorling Kindersley Collector’s Guides.
• Vintage fashion fairs are an excellent place to start looking for
  costume jewellery. Anita’s Vintage Fashion Fairs (AVFF) organises six
  such events a year. Find details at www.vintagefashionfairs.com
• Carole Tanenbaum has built up one of the best collections of costume
  jewellery in North America, and her pieces have been regularly worn
  by Sex And The City star and style icon Sarah Jessica Parker;
  www.caroletanenbaum.com
• Good UK sources and reference websites include
  Genrejewellery.co.uk, Vintagemodes.co.uk and Glitzguru.com

Some costume jewellery names to look out for

• Joseff of Hollywood
• Christian Dior
• Boucher
• Chanel
• Miriam Haskell
• Coro
• Eisenberg
• Hobe
• Kramer
• Trifari
• Weiss
• Vendome

1 Touchscreen PC

The HP TouchSmart IQ504 comes with a 22-inch highdefinition scratch-resistant
touchscreen that’s thinner in size than its predecessor. You can access panels, play
music files and view pictures using your fingertips, while a built-in microphone, speakers
and webcam will keep you in touch via instant messenger
or video chat, plus a DVD burner is ideal for making copies of home movies. A
light means the wireless keyboard can be used in the dark. You can also zoom in
and out by “pinching” the screen with two fingers.

£1,099; www.hp.com

2 Charger/adaptor

Wherever you are going and whatever gadget you are
carrying you should be covered with the Santok World Travel Charger
Adaptor. Suitable for use in most countries (including Europe, North America,
Australia, New Zealand, Africa, parts of South America, China, Singapore,
parts of the Far East and Pacific islands), the adaptor also has a handy USB
charger so you don’t need to have access to a computer to charge up personal
gadgets such as digital cameras or MP3 players.


£14.99; www.santok.com

3 Digital video camera

Touted as the world’s smallest and simplest
camcorder, the AA batterypowered Flip Digital Video Camera measures just
10.4cm x 5.4cm x 2.9cm and weighs 97g (minus batteries). The screen may be small at
1.5 inches but it does have a 2GB memory for up to 60 minutes of filming with a
fast three-second power-up time. Simple on, start and stop buttons make it easy to
operate. The USB arm plugs directly into your PC to download movies without
the bother of wires. Available in pink, black or silver.

£99.95; www.firebox.com

4 DAB radio

If you loathe fiddly buttons, the compact Dualit DAB Lite
radio is dominated by large dials on the front for ease of use. Preset buttons can store
up to 10 DAB and 10 FM stations while a blue display provides you with station and
track information. An alarm clock, snooze and kitchen timer make it adaptable to
different rooms, while an internal battery charger for up to nine hours’ life and an
energy-efficient switch mode adaptor give it eco credentials. It’s suitable for indoor and
outdoor use and comes in chrome, black or cream.

£85; www.dualit.com

5 Home security alarm

The AlertMe alarm kit allows you to monitor your home via your mobile phone or
broadband. The wireless system is easily installed by placing sensors around your
home that alert you via text or email if someone is trying to break in. It also lets you
know if the smoke alarm goes off and even if the central heating has come on. You
operate the alarm using a keyfob, which also allows you to check who comes and goes
from your home and when.
£399 (software updates and customer support
£11.75 per month); www.alertme.com

A slump in the UK property market has been regarded
as the first casualty of the global economic slowdown.
Yet this isn’t the time to write off its potential entirely,
says Property Correspondent Emma Mahony

ANYONE WHO REGULARLY dips their toe in the property
market – someone looking to buy to let, or put capital into
housing – will know that the time to trade up is during a
recession, when you will get more bricks for your money. While
no one dares to use the “R” word as yet, there is little doubt that
with the credit crunch and rising oil prices, tougher times are here.
The most trusted Land Registry figures for the past quarter (end of May
2008), tracking the volume of completed sales nationwide, showed an
overall decrease in house price inflation of 2.7% – the lowest level since
November 2005. Whereas 18 months ago, an investment property might
have been fought over by first-time buyers or developers, now a more
solid, dependable buyer is having the market to themselves.
So how is the current climate impacting on different areas for investing?

> London

Clapham in south-west London is seen as a good place to invest because
of its abundance of small flats and bigger family houses for letting. As
lettings manager Caroline Dude of Hamptons reports: “Relocation agents
have been active despite reports that their activity may be more limited
given the financial climate in the City.”

The area hit the worst of the credit crunch up to December last year,
when prices fell to an average of £333,417 compared to a peak average
of £453,832 from April to June a few months earlier. Now the market
is recovering and prices are back up to an average property price of
£488,053, according to the latest Land Registry figures, proving that it is
an area which will weather the worst of the housing market storms.
Price of 1-bed apartment and 3-bedroom apartment/house:


£275,000 and £500,000 respectively

Estate Agents: Hamptons, +44 (0)20 7498 8686; www.hamptons.co.uk

align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august105.jpg">
> Nottingham

Unlike London, Nottingham started with a slow
beginning to the year, but investment buyers have
been entering the market since the beginning of
the summer to pick up deals as the rental market
starts to overtake sales. James Gamble of the
Nottingham agency Thomas James comments:
“Sales have slumped by around half in volume
since this time last year. However, a number of new-build apartments have
recently come on the market after a five-year building boom, meaning that
the one- or two-bedroom apartments in the student areas of Lenton and
Arboretum are attracting investors.

“We are seeing a different type of investor,” Gamble points out.
“One with their own money behind them rather than relying heavily
on a mortgage.”

Price of 1-bedroom apartment and 3-bedroom apartment/house:

£80,000 to £150,000 respectively

Estate Agent: Thomas James, +44 (0)845 296 0746; www.tjea.com

align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august106.jpg">
> Glasgow

Scotland’s property market differs from its English
neighbour’s because of its “offers over” system,
where the lowest reserve price is placed on a
property which may go for around 35% more.
This gets around the gazumping problem because
sealed bids are invited by a definite closing date.
Glasgow has not enjoyed the same property
boom as the rest of the country, so it is not expecting the same downturn,
but Andrew Perrett of Savills admits that the “volume of sales has definitely
fallen – except in the top end above the £2m mark”.

The city’s West End is still the place to invest, where the universities and
hospitals are sited and a more bohemian lifestyle is enjoyed, as well as
Glasgow Harbour – the biggest brownfield regeneration project in Europe
– where 650 apartments were sold as phase one of the project in 2003.
Price of a 1-bedroom apartment (Glasgow Harbour) and 3-bedroom
apartment/house: £300,000

Estate Agent: Savills, +44 (0)141 222 5875; www.savills.co.uk

He has more street-cred than you
can shake a skateboard at – meet
the creative force behind the global
clothing company Marc Ecko Enterprises

alt="Multimillionaire artist and entrepreneur Marc Ecko, one of the business world’s highest
achievers under

40"align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august100.jpg">
WHEN THE ECKO clothing line was
originally launched in America in 1993,
it was aimed at cool young skater kids
– similar to its founder. But such has
been the roaring success of the label
that suit-wearing businesspeople are
eyeing the brand to try and emulate
its corporate achievement of becoming a billion-dollar brand.
So how come I am meeting Marc Ecko, who is listed by New
York magazine as one of the “most influential people in
fashion” right now and crowns him “the top dog in hip-hop
fashion”, at the rhino enclosure at Chester Zoo?

“These amazing animals are being killed for a drug the size
of an aspirin,” says Ecko, shaking his head in bewilderment at
the illegal trade in rhino horn for medicinal use. He is here to
officially open the enclosure, and it’s clear that his passion for
the animal extends above and beyond the famous rhino logo he
uses for labelling his apparel and lifestyle products.

Born Marc Milecofsky in New Jersey in 1972, Ecko started
his T-shirt design business from his bedroom in his parents’
home when he was 20. He made just six T-shirts to begin with
– now it’s a $1.5 billion empire. Not that Ecko likes the word
empire: “It’s just a business. It’s what I do for a living,” he says.

empire: “It’s just a business. It’s what I do for a living,” he says.
Nonetheless, since its creation, the group of companies
that now comprises Marc Ecko Enterprises has grown into a
global fashion and lifestyle behemoth and includes clothing,
trainers, accessories and media and entertainment. More
than 5,000 department and speciality stores in the US, and
more than 45 countries internationally carry the Ecko brand.
The entrepreneur now has offices in Munich, Stockholm, Paris
and Milan with eight stores in Germany, one in Austria, five in
Ukraine and four in Russia. With UK sales totalling £10 million,
he’s now looking to expand his business here this year and there
are plans to open a new Paris store this autumn.

align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august102.jpg">
Given the scale of the expansion, it’s no surprise to find that
skater kids are no longer the only ones to be drawn to the Ecko
label. Nowadays, even mass-market celebrities, such as Katie
Price, Peter Andre and singer Alesha Dixon, adorn themselves
in Ecko clothes. It’s clear that its hip-hop subculture roots have
been subsumed by a mainstream market.

The now iconic rhino logo which adorns his watches,
T-shirts and skateboards came about by accident. As Ecko
recalls: “My parents had these driftwood sculptures when
I was growing up. I used to play Star Wars with my neighbour
who had Hans Solo and I needed a ‘ton-ton’ figure, which
I didn’t have. I realised that a wooden sculpture of a rhino
made a great ton-ton.” Thus began Ecko’s love of the rhino
that translated itself into the drawings he went on to do
as a teenager. So when it came to branding his company he
thought a rhino perfectly summed it up: “A big, clumsy animal,
but a very nimble runner – kind of like our company. A little
awkward but it can definitely move.”

However, the direction it was moving in, especially in the
early days, was debatable. Ecko states bluntly: “I didn’t have
a clue what I was doing. We almost went bankrupt a few
times. It was a baptism by fire. Everything you can imagine
went wrong, from not running the warehouse the right way
to borrowing money that I couldn’t pay back.” His business
partners were his twin sister, Marci, who now heads up the
Ecko Zoo York offshoot line of skatewear and Seth Gerzberg,
formerly a drama student, who is now Ecko Enterprises’ CEO.

align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august101.jpg">
Says Ecko: “We were serial entrepreneurs but we saw
an emerging market. Every time we got a stroke right the
return investment would be great. Say you [a stockist] would
order a shipment for October which we wouldn’t ship until
February, but even if you got it late it would always sell.” It was
these early falters, believes Ecko, which made the company
stronger. “In order to learn to walk you have to fall. I believed
in this vision and it was enough to bring me through. The
line between success and failure is so important. To be an
entrepreneur you have to have a tolerance for failure.”

The success story started from Ecko’s childhood passion
for art and illustration. “I grew up in 1980s in New Jersey
during that convergent time in pop culture when you had
MTV and video gaming and hip-hop. That was a time that
really framed my perspective.”

He continues: “Today a young person can go to
Threadless.com and print a T-shirt for $14.99. The idea of
getting something like Photoshop was an abstraction when
I was at high school so I was advised against pursuing my
love for art seriously, even though I was really industrious.”

align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august103.jpg">
He’s not kidding. “My friends were working at local
supermarkets or cafés but I made much more, around
$400 a week from T-shirt sales,” he says. Nonetheless,
he went to college to study pharmacy, even though he
“hated it”.

“At college all my time was spent painting and being
creative and I started getting positive affirmation for my
art. It became a great currency for me,” says the now
multimillionaire street-style guru. So he dropped
out. “I took the passion route,” he smiles. “The first
academic advisor in my whole life who said something
useful was the dean of my university. When I told him
I was leaving he said, “Do what you love and love what
you do, and if you do that everything else will come.”

It did come, thick and fast. Now, Ecko devotes a large chunk
of his time and sizeable income to philanthropic enterprises,
including worldwide educational projects and the International
Rhino Federation: “I think rhinos are one of the earth’s great
creatures and emblematic of a time when we weren’t here,”
he says with passion. “To think of these guys not being around
is sad, so whatever small thing I can do, I do.”

But, despite his success, Ecko doesn’t rest on his laurels.
“I still work really long hours,” he says, albeit now with a young
family to juggle. He and his wife Allison, whom he met at
college, have three young children, Sage, five, Alexander, three,
and Ella, who is nearly two. “I don’t feel like I’ve ‘arrived’,” he
says. “I still feel a tremendous amount of hunger. I am good at
being super-critical of myself. Because of that I stay sober
and grounded in the business sense.

align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/aug/voyager_august104.jpg">
“I am less hands-on than I used to be. I have more than 800
employees around the world,” he continues. “I can’t author
everything at that scale and I don’t think it’s healthy. But
the greatest lessons I learned were from getting blood in my
mouth. As a creative leader you can’t be so self-important
as to think your own view is the only view. You have to allow
your staff to learn on their terms. It’s going to come with
some failure and you just have to manage that.”

His is a multinational company with a worldwide respected
brand, but Ecko still maintains he doesn’t have a clear business
philosophy. In fact, it’s typically unorthodox: “The only two
things you need in business are a nice watch and a really decent
mattress. I know people who don’t spend money on a good
mattress. That amazes me. It’s the most essential luxury, I think.”

He is busy acquiring further home comforts for the future,
too, with the restoration of a 200-year-old mansion in the
New Jersey foothills: “The greatest trapping of success for me,”
he says, “is that I can have a painting studio and I spend about
30% of my time reconnecting with that. I am really blessed
and I pinch myself often. I am able to create with no real
boundaries. How lucky am I?” You said it yourself, Mr Ecko.

The Marc Ecko website is www.eckounltd.com

alt="Platinum – the metal is making an investment comeback as gold prices shoot up"
align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_092.jpg">
HEARD THE STORY about the businessman
who spent £20,000 on a vintage platinum
Rolex? He sold it to buy a much cheaper gold
version after a friend mistook it for steel and
jeered that he couldn’t afford the best. The
friend was not the only one to make this mistake: in 1590,
when the Spanish conquistadors discovered a new white
metal in the rivers of Ecuador, they scoffed as well, naming
the metal “platinum” (from “platina” or “little silver”)
before throwing it back to mature into real silver.

A costly mistake. Platinum is the rarest and most expensive
metal in the world and after some decades in the wilderness,
it’s making a comeback as the first choice for buyers of vintage
and contemporary jewellery and watches. It is not as shiny
as gold and silver, but it is much stronger and has been used
to make the settings for some of the world’s most famous
diamonds, including the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope and the Jonker.

“Platinum has been used in Russia since large deposits
were found in the Ural Mountains in 1824,” explains Robert
Ogden of Richard Ogden jewellers, based in London’s Mayfair.
“Many Russian jewellers emigrated to the West around the
turn of the last century and brought the metal with them.
Until then, silver was used for setting diamonds, but it is
too soft to work finely and it tarnishes. Platinum is a much
stronger metal; it doesn’t tarnish and so it became the
ideal metal to work with. Fabergé eggs had hinges made
of platinum and it was used for the working parts of many
pieces of jewellery, such as the claws.” Part of the reason for
this is that platinum is so strong. It can be stretched very
much more thinly than other metals, giving a delicacy to the
finished work. Almost all diamond settings from this period
are made of platinum; not silver or gold.

alt="Platinum petal earrings from Cox & Power – yours for £3,750"
align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_094.jpg">
Platinum jewellery’s initial heyday lasted from about 1900
to 1930, which means that a great deal of Art Deco jewellery
is made from this, the most durable metal in the world.
Watches, especially pocket watches, were also frequently
made from platinum during this period. However, according
to Marc Salem, of The Watch Guru, specialists for collectors,
the soaring price of platinum in recent years has meant that
many of these beautiful pieces are being destroyed.

“Pocket watches and from the 1920s wristwatches, have
been made in platinum as very exclusive products,” he says.
“But the value of the metal is actually worth more than the
working watch, with its internal movement, which means
that some people are buying these watches, discarding the
mechanism and selling on the metal. There is a real danger that
many of these pieces will be lost.” (Something similar happened
in Russia recently, too, when someone bought a hotel to
dismantle because its pipes were entirely made of platinum.)

Even so, platinum watches, both vintage and new, remain
highly prized – partly because of the workmanship and partly
because they are status symbols, up there with a property
portfolio and classic car collection. “They are the most
exclusive and expensive, and the rarest, made by people like
Patek Philippe, one of the most famous and expensive watch
manufacturers in the world, usually come up at auction and can
cost a stratospheric amount,” says Salem.

Other watchmakers that regularly use platinum for limitededition
series include Vacheron Constantin, Rolex and Breitling.

alt="A platinum Rolex has the same cachet value as classic cars for the super-rich – one recently made £80,000"
align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_093.jpg">
Salem estimates that the entry level for a good platinum
vintage watch is about £3,000 to £4,000, although prices soar
after that. He recently saw a very rare Rolex sell for more than
£80,000: “Platinum is a heavier metal than gold, and some
people like the reassuring feel of its weight. As for the expense
– well, anyone who owns a platinum wristwatch, probably
owns more than just one watch.”

In 1939, with the start of the Second World War,
platinum fell out of favour with jewellers. The USA limited
its use to anything other than the war effort, naming it a
strategic metal and after the war, it did not immediately
regain its popularity. From the 1970s though, jewellers
started using it again and the buying public followed
suit: between 1992 and 1998, sales of platinum jewellery
worldwide soared by 700%.

In 1987, the goldsmith Tony Power and marketing
executive Vicci Cox, launched their jewellery house Cox
& Power. Their first collection was almost exclusively
platinum, as is their most recent offering. “Platinum is
intrinsically pure: it is 95% pure, whereas 18-carat gold
is only 75% pure,” says Power. “White is a fashionable
colour for jewellery, and since platinum is naturally white,
you don’t need to plate it. Its tensile strength, meanwhile,
means you don’t need to make it heavy to hold it together.”

As with vintage platinum jewellery, the cost means that
modern platinum jewellery is for the elite. For instance,
Power’s recent designs include a ring and a pair of earrings,
both smooth oval shapes. The ring appears in the shape
of a bowl, with a single pink diamond: it costs £4,975. The
earrings are hanging ovals, with the diamond on the outer
edge: they are £3,750. “I wanted to make them petalshaped,”
he explains. “The diamonds are perched on the
surface, waiting to fly away.”

GETTING STARTED

A good way of learning about platinum jewellery is to visit auctions of jewellery from 1900 to 1930.
All the major auction houses and many local ones hold jewellery auctions and they’re a good way to
get an overview of the market. Or contact these specialist jewellers:

• Richard Ogden, 28 Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, London, +44 (0)20 7493 9136; href="http://www.richardogden.com">www.richardogden.com

• The Watch Guru; www.thewatchguru.co.uk
• Cox & Power, 35c Marylebone High Street, London, +44 (0)20 7935 3530; href="http://www.coxandpower.com">www.coxandpower.com

DID YOU KNOW?

• Because of its rarity value, in the 18th century,
  King Louis XV of France declared platinum to be
  the only metal fit for a king.

• Platinum has uses far exceeding jewellery. It can
  be used as the catalyst in a catalytic converter or
  in fuel cells and in photographic archival printmaking.
  Platinum prints are both long-lasting and have a greater
  tonal range than other black-and-white prints.

• Platinum is a lot rarer than gold. The annual worldwide
  production of platinum is about 160 tonnes compared
  to about 1,500 tonnes in the case of gold.

• More than 90% of all platinum comes from South
  Africa and Russia, the only two places on Earth where
  the metal occurs in its true form: almost everything
  from South Africa is committed to industrial contracts.

• Around two tonnes of ore must be mined to
  obtain enough platinum to make a ring.

• One gram of platinum can be made into a
  wire two kilometres long.

• The Duke and Duchess of Windsor had platinum
  wedding rings made by Cartier.

• Platinum was first discovered by the ancient
  Egyptians about 4,500 years ago. The casket that
  holds the documents for High Priestess Schepenupet
  is decorated with platinum hieroglyphics. It is now
  kept in Paris’ Louvre museum.
  ]]> http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/going-platinum/feed/ 0 http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/gadgets-9/ http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/gadgets-9/#comments Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:00:33 +0000 admin http://www.bmivoyager.com/?p=811 Words:Camilla Chafer
  

  
  Stay ahead of the game with the latest tech devices to hit the market
  

  align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_083.jpg">
  Nokia camera phone
  With an eye on social
  networking, the Nokia N82
  has a 5MP camera, a Carl
  Zeiss lens, Xenon flash,
  autofocus and video capture.
  Images can be “geotagged”
  so they are recorded by
  location and can be directly
  uploaded to web services.
  External 8GB memory stores
  up to 3,600 pictures or 6,000
  songs. The phone has a
  2.4” TFT colour display, neat
  but small hard keys and talk
  time of 190 minutes.
  
  Price dependent on contract;
  www.nseries.com

  align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_084.jpg">
  Sony video player
  The Sony Walkman A820,
  Sony’s latest MP3 video player,
  comes in three memory sizes
  from 4GB to 16GB (the
  latter gives around 253
  hours of music or 62 hours
  of video), each with
  Bluetooth, a 2.4” LCD screen
  viewable left, right and
  vertical and a long battery
  life of 36 hours (though that
  is halved when using
  Bluetooth). It also doubles as
  a photo viewer. Choose from
  black, silver, gold and pink.
  
  From £139 for 4GB;
  www.sonystyle-europe.com

  align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_085.jpg">
  PocketSurfer internet
  You don’t need a bulky
  laptop to access the web.
  Using the GPRS network (i.e.
  a mobile phone signal) and
  with page loads under seven
  seconds, the PocketSurfer2
  offers a full backlit QWERTY
  keyboard, mouse pad, mini
  USB charger and 640×240
  full-colour widescreen display.
  Battery life is four hours, and
  at just 174g, it’s a light
  addition to your travel bag.
  With 20 hours of browsing
  per month for the first year.
  £179.99;
  www.pocketsurfer.co.uk

  align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_089.jpg">
  Nikon camera
  Uploading pictures is made
  easy with the CoolPix S52C.
  It has an in-built 32MB
  memory, but a Wifibutton
  letting you upload pictures
  to the “MyPicturetown”
  service for storage, or email
  images to contacts, ensures
  you won’t use it. The 9MP
  camera has a 3” LCD
  monitor but only 4x digital
  zoom – optical zoom would
  be better. The “Pictmotion”
  function combines movie,
  stills and music with other
  visual effects.
  £229; www.nikon.co.uk

  align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_091.jpg">
  Canon camera
  The 10MP Canon IXUS 85
  wraps up a host of features
  in a stylish silver “curved
  square” case with a choice of
  black or silver lens ring.
  Along with 3x optical zoom
  (ideal for improved distance
  shots), a 2.5” LCD screen and
  movie mode, features
  include image stabiliser,
  motion and face detection
  technology, red-eye
  correction and 19 shooting
  modes to give you the best
  shot. A good choice for
  budding photographers.
  £239; www.canon.co.uk

  ]]> http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/gadgets-9/feed/ 0 http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/all-the-white-moves/ http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/all-the-white-moves/#comments Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:36:30 +0000 admin http://www.bmivoyager.com/?p=810 Interview | Robina Dam

  Watches, chocolates and banking may soon be joined by cosmetic dentistry as the key sectors
  associated with Switzerland – at least if the sisters behind Swiss Smile have anything to do
  with it. voyager caught up with them as they prepare to expand into the Middle East and USA

  alt="Golnar (left) and Haleh Abivardi are smiling all the way to the

  bank"align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_076.jpg">
  WHEN THE SWISS-based sisters Haleh
  and Golnar Abivardi both chose
  to qualify in dentistry, they didn’t
  imagine they would go on to create a
  new business model for the industry.
  But since setting up their company
  Swiss Smile in 2001, their concept of
  a one-stop-shop for medical and cosmetic dentistry is one
  which has left their balance sheet gleaming as much as their
  customers’ teeth. Now the sisters, who were born in Iran but
  live in Zurich, plan to roll the concept out globally.

  They have gone on to garner business recognition (such
  as a Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award in
  Switzerland in 1997) and expand from one clinic in Zurich’s rail
  station to several international ones, including London and
  St Moritz. They will soon launch several more in Switzerland and
  the UK, with New York, Dubai and Madrid to follow next year.

  HALEH ABIVARDI, 40, Chief Executive, Swiss Smile:

  “When we first set up, we found that people were having basic
  dental appointments with us before going somewhere else
  for cosmetic dentistry, because how can you have beautiful
  veneers on teeth that need root canal treatment?

  “As a result we expanded the business by developing both
  sides: having healthy teeth and gums as well as the aesthetic
  part of a nice smile. When Pricewaterhouse did our audit for
  2006-7, they found our turnover had risen by 62% from the
  previous year. This is partly to do with our expansion of several
  clinics – and we will have another five new openings over the
  next 12 months – and also because the aesthetic treatments
  are much more expensive. You get a better turnover from
  performing cosmetic dentistry than doing a normal filling.

  “In Zurich, our teeth whitening treatments have risen from
  20% to 50% of the services we offer. In London it started off
  at a high 40% and within eight months reached 60% overall.
  However, we’ve still maintained very reasonable costs for our
  aesthetic treatments without compromising on quality, which
  was a deliberate strategy.

  align="right"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_080.jpg"
  alt="The Swiss Smile clinics are designed like boutique hotels to extract the fear associated with traditional dental surgeries">
  “People think that we are in London’s Mayfair and therefore
  are extremely expensive. But our research showed that some
  of the private clinics in London charged £500-£1,000 for teeth
  whitening; we chose to offer it from £195. Dental implants in
  certain Harley Street clinics were quoted at £4,000 whereas our
  price is from £1,300, so it’s an extreme difference. How do we
  offer those prices? Because our brand has grown so much we
  are able to negotiate special prices on our products and we pass
  those discounts onto the patients. Also, all our practitioners are
  self-employed and we keep lease rents reasonable.

  “The dentists we brought to the clinics are specialists in
  their field – after all, the Swiss are generally known for high
  quality – and therefore it meant that if a patient needed to
  be referred for other work, they would be seen not only by
  a leading dentist but that the specialists would discuss the
  treatment so that they had the whole picture of what this
  patient needed and was getting. It wasn’t like the old days
  where you went to your neighbourhood dentist for regular
  check-ups and then a different clinic if you had wisdom teeth
  problems and then yet another place if you needed your teeth
  whitened – it could all be done under one roof.

  “So the appointments were tailored to suit the patient and
  right from the start we opened 365 days a year, and wanted to
  have enough staff to cater for emergency walk-in treatment.
  Where we also differed was that we had state-of-the-art
  equipment. But instead of looking like a sterile clinic, we wanted
  the atmosphere to be more like a boutique hotel so that it
  removed the fear that many people have of visiting the dentist.

  “That’s why many people used to fly specially to Switzerland
  to have their dental treatment done with us. In our Swiss
  clinics, the ‘dental tourists’ make up 30% of our customer base.
  They also account for a significant amount of the turnover
  because many spend from £20,000-£40,000 on cosmetic
  dentistry – we call it a Porsche in the mouth.”

  GOLNAR ABIVARDI, 36, Chief Operating Officer, Swiss Smile:

  align="left"src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/july/voyager_july_079.jpg">
  “The organisers of the Veuve Clicquot Swiss awards contacted
  us and asked us to put in an application, which we did. We
  had studied dentistry, not how to be businesswomen, so did
  not imagine we would be recognised for our business skills.
  So when we won it we were so thrilled. The award also really
  helped to promote the business as it made a lot more people,
  both in Switzerland and abroad, aware of us. Until then, we
  were well-known in Zurich but after March 2007 we saw a
  faster turnover, as patients started coming to our clinic from
  Geneva, Paris and Lugano – with 300 to 400 patients a day.

  “To run Swiss Smile with my sister, we separate the areas of
  the clinics, marketing and finance. The clinics are in my hands
  but we have a shared vision for them. The sector with most
  growth is definitely the cosmetic industry. Over four years
  ago, when we started to offer teeth whitening services, we
  carried out about three bleachings a day. Today, it is between
  20 and 40 a day. What surprised me is that 50% of those
  were for men, mainly executives and senior businessmen. Men
  form 30% of the overall business, but our clients for other
  treatments range from young children to grandmothers.

  “Another way of developing the brand was to launch our
  own product range. There are now 11 products, including
  toothpaste, flossing tape and our special toothbrushes, but
  we’ve designed them like accessories that you would show
  off in your bathroom. Originally they were exclusive to our
  clinics but then other businesses approached us to stock them,
  including luxury perfumery chain Marionnaud throughout
  their 120 stores in Switzerland and five-star hotels.”

  ]]> http://www.bmivoyager.com/2008/06/24/all-the-white-moves/feed/ 0 http://www.bmivoyager.com/2007/06/27/picture-this/ http://www.bmivoyager.com/2007/06/27/picture-this/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:24:29 +0000 admin http://www.bmivoyager.com/2007/06/27/picture-this/ Words style="font-style: italic;">: Virginia Blackburn

  Many art experts agree
  that much of the output from modern British style="font-style: italic;">artists ­ those working
  between 1950 and 1970 ­ is still seriously style="font-style: italic;">undervalued. We tell you where
  to look for an eye-catching nest egg

  src="/images/2007/jul/p086_voyager_july_07.pdf_doc_images_small_up_01.jpg"
  alt="Invest in Art and Sculpture" class="picright"> style="font-weight: bold;">THE
  COMMON GOAL
  when investing in art is to
  discover the Next Big Thing: anyone lucky enough
  to have bought a couple of paintings by Jack
  Vettriano a few years back would now be able
  to retire on the proceeds. But sometimes it is as
  sensible to look back as it is to peer into the future
  and that certainly applies to modern British art, as
  opposed to contemporary British art, which is
  current. Modern British art actually describes the
  art of the last century, rather than that which is
  currently being created, and in this piece specifically
  means the art of the 1950s to 1970.

  Although many of the artists working 50 years
  ago are world famous, their work commands
  nothing like the prices of their American and
  European counterparts on the international stage,
  with the result that many experts believe they are
  seriously undervalued. Even the expensive work is
  relatively cheap: you might have to pay a seven-
  figure sum for a major work by sculptor Barbara
  Hepworth (a major figure in the British abstract
  art movement), but that pales into insignificance
  compared to the $140m (£73m) paid for a Jackson
  Pollock piece at the end of last year.

  src="/images/2007/jul/p087_voyager_july_07.pdf_doc_images_small_up_01.jpg"
  alt="Invest in Art and Sculpture" class="picright">“After
  World War II, a new generation of artists
  emerged, including Hepworth, Henry Moore and
  Ben Nicholson, who were the Damien Hirsts and
  Tracey Emins of their day,” says James Rawlin,
  director of modern British art at Sotheby’s, which
  holds five sales devoted to the subject every
  year. “They received great acclaim at the time
  and it’s not quite accurate to say they’re all
  undervalued: a Moore can cost up to $8m. But a
  great many of them are no longer so prominent
  and their prices reflect this. These include the
  sculptors Kenneth Armitage, Lynn Chadwick and
  Reg Butler, and the painters William Scott,
  Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon. Patrick Heron,
  for example, had a fabulous reputation at the
  time and was well supported, but simply does
  not command the prices of the Americans.”

  Tania Buckrell Pos, director of Corfield Morris, an
  independent specialist consultant to buyers in the
  art market, with offices in London and New York,
  believes that there is another reason the British
  artists lag behind the Americans, and that is partly
  to do with British reticence (Buckrell Pos herself is
  Canadian) and partly because they did not have a
  cheerleader in the art market as influential as their
  colleagues across The Pond once did.

  src="/images/2007/jul/p087_voyager_july_07.pdf_doc_images_small_up_02.jpg"
  alt="Invest in Art and Sculpture" class="picright">“Clement
  Greenberg was a great art critic and
  spokesperson for the American abstract expressionist
  painters, writing about them and leading them
  forward,” she says. “There was no equivalent figure in
  Britain. And indeed, it was the Americans who led
  the way after the war; plus their
  work was physically bigger, which
  affects prices. But the St Ives group,
  Terry Frost and Barbara Hepworth all
  had similar ideas about composition, even
  if they were doing it on a smaller scale, and
  should be judged accordingly.”

  The London-based dealer Caroline Wiseman,
  author of Modern Art Now, From Conception To
  Consumption, agrees. She also adds the names
  William Scott, Victor Passmore, Howard Hodgkin,
  John Piper and Graham Sutherland to the list.
  “After World War II, a lot of these artists who
  went to America were hugely influenced by what
  was going on and produced important work of
  their own,” she states. “Meanwhile, it’s Victor
  Passmore’s centenary next year and there will be
  an exhibition of his work at Tate Britain, which is
  bound to arouse more interest.”

  While there have already been some movements
  to redress the imbalance of prices ­ Peter Lanyon’s
  work, for example, sold for £20,000 to £30,000 a
  decade ago and now goes for 10 times that ­ there
  is value still to be had. James Rawlin believes that
  one artist in particular, Alan Davie, is due for a major
  revival. “In the 1950s he held a small exhibition in
  Venice, where he met Peggy Guggenheim, the great
  patron of the abstract expressionists,” he said. “She
  initially assumed he was an American and bought
  one of his works, understanding that it had a quality
  and a flavour of the period that went beyond
  national boundaries.” Nor was Peggy Guggenheim
  his only famous admirer: his work was recommended
  to a buyer by Jackson Pollock, no less.

  But what was good enough for Guggenheim and
  Pollock was not, rather surprisingly, good enough for
  everyone else. Alan Davie is now almost unheard of
  outside the art market and his work, while not
  exactly cheap, languishes around the £30,000 to
  £40,000 mark, which is where it was 10 years ago.
  This has created a vicious circle, for most people
  who own a Davie don’t want to sell at such low
  levels, being aware that the work is worth a great
  deal more. However, Sotheby’s is auctioning one in
  its forthcoming July sale: Goddess of the Green, from
  1954, is estimated at £25,000 to £35,000.

  Another name to look out for is Terry Frost. “In the
  middle of the 1960s his work changed and became
  much lighter and more spontaneous, but without
  the same depth,” Mr Rawlin says. “His early works
  are now beginning to gather momentum. They have
  moved in price from about £21,000 to £135,000 in
  three years, but you can still buy a small work on
  paper for £5,000 to £7,000. Prices may be moving,
  but this is still a very affordable field.”
  
  
  A CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE
  

  src="/images/2007/jul/p087_voyager_july_07.pdf_doc_images_small_up_03.jpg"
  alt="Invest in Art and Sculpture" class="picright">Even
  at their current levels, these works are
  beyond the pocket of many, but there are
  ways to break into the field of modern
  British art at much lower prices.

  The first is to buy minor works by major
  artists. “Take someone who was incredibly
  prolific in lots of different media, like
  Henry Moore,” advises James Rawlin. “The
  major works might cost a fortune, but you
  can still get a little sculpture for about
  £15,000 or a small drawing for £4,000 to
  £5,000. You may be going in at the bottom of the ladder, but
  you’ll still own an original
  work by Henry Moore.”

  src="/images/2007/jul/p089_voyager_july_07.pdf_doc_images_small_up_01.jpg"
  alt="Invest in Art and Sculpture" class="picright">The
  other way is to invest in a limited-
  edition print (this is totally different from
  posters you can buy anywhere.) These are
  editions that should be signed and numbered
  by the artist ­ typically a print run will be 50
  to 200 ­ and can include screen prints and
  lithographs. Find them at print fairs or at
  dealers such as Caroline Wiseman, who
  currently has a Patrick Heron screen print
  (pictured), one of 50, at £2,500, and a William
  Scott lithograph, one of 80, at £5,500.

  ]]> http://www.bmivoyager.com/2007/06/27/picture-this/feed/ 0