Hasta La Ideas

Low-cost luxury in a renovated Chicago landmark

Fed up with the overpriced minibars and underacheiving service standards that plague the American hotel industry, Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager recently unrolled Public, an affordable luxury hotel in downtown Chicago. Schrager reclaimed the walls of the Ambassador East Hotel and its classic restaurant Pump Room, imbuing a shock of new life into the historic structure. With value and simplicity as the stated ethos, Public marries upscale luxury travel with almost unbelievably affordable prices.

I was a guest of the Public on a recent trip to Chicago and was immediately impressed by the hotel’s pared-down look and flawless service. With austere lighting and dark interiors, the new appearance is a departure from the glitz and glam of the Pump Room of bygone days, which hosted celebrities of all walks from the Queen of England to Richard Pryor. For the restaurant, Schrager kept the name, ditched the dress code and over-priced entrees, and brought in chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten to head up the kitchen. Needless to say, the food is delicious.

The Public’s 285 rooms are individually furnished with an uber-clean, but still slightly eclectic aesthetic to appeal to people of varying tastes. The new direction for Schrager signals a change in demand from travelers, who are willing to trade terry-cloth complimentary robes for a more economical experience. The Public defines its own brand of luxury in the simplicity, efficiency and convenience that the hotel offers. The Public Express—a short menu of healthy meals crafted by Jean-Georges—was a high-speed version of room service that I enjoyed almost immediately upon arrival.

In addition to great suites and common spaces, the hotel also has a few more add-on amenities to boast about. The meeting spaces are ideal for creative workshops, a real boon considering Chicago’s centralized location that makes it a perfect meeting point for businesses. The downstairs library and coffee bar offers international java drinks, so you can have your pick of café con leche, caffé latte or café au lait depending on your European lean. The fitness room is located on the upper floors and features an amazing view of the Chicago skyline, something greatly appreciated by health-conscious frequent flyers tired of exercising in dismal hotel basements.

Public is open for reservations with rates starting at $135. The company has confirmed that their next location will be opening in NYC in 2012.

Eight gifts to spoil those who have it all and still want more from our 2011 holiday gift guide

For a lucky few this season, there is no limit to the gifts they may give and get. With that in mind, we’ve assembled eight premium gifts from the latest update to our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide. From bespoke suiting to a year’s supply of fashionable footwear, each item is guaranteed to make even the most fortunate friends swell with gratitude.

A Day with Ago

Spin some laps on the racetrack or tour the back roads of California or Spain with Giacomo Agostini, the sport’s longest reigning grand prix champ with more than 122 GP wins and 15 World Champions. Hardcore motorcycle-racing enthusiasts will delight in spending the day with the racing legend on their own or with friends along for the ride.

A Day at Aston Martin’s Proving Ground

Get some white-knuckled-hands-on training behind the wheel of a suped-up Aston Martin alongside a professional instructor. For an experience that actually deserves true once-in-a-lifetime status, one can opt to go to the British auto manufacturer’s closed track in Michigan or across the pond in Bedford, England.

Brooklyn Tailors Bespoke Suiting

With a selection of more than a thousand fine fabrics sourced from around the world, Brooklyn Tailors makes bespoke suiting that easily surpasses anything found off the rack. This is the perfect big-ticket item for someone who’s ready to take their look to the next level.

Kaweco Fountain Pen

Perfect for the avid traveler, this pocket-sized fountain pen makes penning love letters or a postcard to mom on the road a truly pleasurable experience. The clean aluminum casing allows the cap to be screwed onto the end to extend the pen while writing, a design that makes it nifty and convenient.

McIntosh MC275

This tech-driven amplifier will surely please the design-snob audiophile in your life. Encased in a handsome stainless steel chassis, the latest advancements in vacuum tube circuit layout bring the original 1961 design into 2012 with a more powerful and detailed soundstage.

Kunst Am Werk Damascus Series Cufflinks

Crafted with vintage watch movements and Swedish Damascus steel, these intricate cufflinks offer a whimsical touch to a polished dress shirt. Each style is limited to just 20 pieces, undoubtedly due to the level of craftsmanship involved in its tiny moving parts.

The Ultimate Shoe Subscription

Net-a-Porter offers this ultra-decadent one-year subscription service for the woman who’s truly obsessed with shoes. Each month a new pair of shoes will arrive on her doorstep for a perfectly timed wardrobe update throughout the year. Valued around $10,000, expect 12 pretty fabulous pairs.

Flash Equestrian Glove

Handmade in England with the finest soft grain leather and lined with silk, these equestrian-inspired gloves are carefully produced in limited numbers. We love the punchy print but it’s their supreme softness that will win over any set of hands.

A well-curated collection of local artists and their work on view daily

During a recent stay at the Four Seasons Resort at Wailea in Maui, Hawaii, we wandered through the artists showcase in the hotel’s lower lobby area. The open-air gallery rotates throughout the week, featuring six different local artists each day. It’s a great way for tourists to engage directly with the local arts community, as the artists present their work directly. Being selected to participate is considered a local honor, and the group is edited each year to keep things fresh. We were impressed with both the quality of the work (hotel lobbies don’t tend to deliver awesome art) but also with the breadth—native basket weaving, photography, sculpture, glass making, and painting. It was great to be able to speak with the artists directly about their work and process.

Of the artists we met, two stood out for their creativity and innovation. They happen to be mother (Nancy Mosely) and daughter (Lisa Widell) who share the Shepards Beads studio in the middle of a Christmas tree farm on Maui, where they create work independently and collaboratively. Nancy works with fimo, which she extrudes to different shapes using a pasta machine. She works the various strands together to make tubes of kaleidoscopic patterns, which are then cut. The sliced fimo is put around beads and glazed, which Lisa then takes and makes into all types of jewelry.

Nancy also uses the cut fimo to make colorful “fabrics” which she then transforms into miniature aloha shirts and muu’muus, many of which feature amazingly intricate fimo flower leis with very, very small petals, each made by hand. The “Aloha” shirt sculptures are then framed in Koa shadow boxes

In addition to clay, Lisa also does Italian lampwork glass beadmaking, finishing her delicate products in precious stones, gold, and swarovski crystals. The jewelry is unique, handmade and bears the distinct mark of the Maui spirit. Had we seen their work in a gallery we probably wouldn’t have given it a second look, but having the opportunity to speak with them about their art and process made us fans, and we left with several pieces. Their work is also available through the Shepards Beads online shop.

We also loved the photography of Cameron Nelson, a technical photographer who captures fleeting moments of ecological beauty. With a spirit of adventure, Nelson travels to global locales in search of original environments. In his extensive career photographing the islands, Nelson has recorded everything from the rugged Napali Coast and Hana’s bamboo forests to competitive surfers in the Banzai Pipeline. Nelson’s camera is equipped with waterproof housing for use when lying in wait for the perfect spray of sea foam.

The artist showcase at the Four Seasons Maui runs year round, with new artists added each year. The collection celebrates local craftsmanship and the aesthetic spirit of a prized Hawaiian island.

A custom interior for tech junkies, kids and CEOs on the go

How many times have you sat in the back of your Bentley Mulsanne and wished you could more easily get some work done? Fortunately, the clever engineers in Crewe have created the Bentley Executive Interior Concept (EIC), an orgy of Apple-powered gear surrounding one of the most beautiful rear seats available, made even more over-the-top by a new satin-finished, pin-striped maple Yachting veneer.

Stephen Viner, the electrical engineer in charge of the EIC, took us for a tour. First, a center console was added to house a lot of the gear and storage space for gadgets, a box of tissues and a small waste bin. Buttons in the center console control most features, including the opening and closing of the leather backed 15″ LED screen (nothing more naff than an exposed plastic back).

The screen is flanked on either side by two seat-back video monitors. The audio and video system is powered by a Mac Mini (which sits in a new, easily accessible tray in the car’s boot), allowing for full-on productivity, and you can of course connect an iPod or iPhone if your preferred tunes aren’t in the Mini’s library; any source then gets played through the car’s Naim audio system, which provides 20 channels, 20 speakers, and 2200 watts.

The system is controlled by a wireless keyboard which neatly tucks into the rear of the console—just below the refrigerated compartment—and a trackpad. A new Bentley app also controls the system from any of your devices. When you’ve finished your work you can easily save it to one of two USB drives. Naturally, the car has its own wi-fi network.

A push of the outer buttons in the console releases the work tables, which rise and unfold (and retract) mechanically. Should you desire to access one of the car’s two iPads, simply wave your hand in front of the tray and it opens to reveal a keyboard and dock.

Sometimes you just need to write something the old-fashioned way, and they’ve thought of that too, with a matching, custom-made Tibaldi pen. New task lights have been added, and of course vanity mirrors to check your appearance for important Skyping, FaceTiming or simply to shoot your daily Facebook profile update.

The Executive Interior Concept is available as an option, and of course can be customized to your needs and specifications. Pricing wasn’t announced, but if you have to ask… Visit Bentley for more information or to find a dealer near you.

Photos by Evan Orensten

This top-of-the-line wet/dry rechargeable shaver trims the competition

One of the best things about electric razors is their low environmental impact. I love to shave in the shower but am always concerned about wasting water, and even though the indispensable Razor Pit extends the life of overpriced razor blades I cringe every time I throw a pack in the garbage, knowing it will sit in a landfill for way too long.

Electric shavers can be a tough alternative though—there’s the tug factor, plus they’re noisy, hard to clean and often dry-shave only. Shavers are still evolving, and very few models have been able to do it right. Panasonic’s awkwardly named ES-LV81-K shaver surprisingly comes as close to perfection as any we’ve seen so far.

For starters, it’s a wet/dry razor, which gives you the flexibility to shave at the sink or in the shower. The cleaning mechanism uses a refillable water tank which mixes with the concentrated, solid cleaning solution—inexpensive, long-lasting and easy to install. Other razors use costly fluid cartridges that gunk up quickly and need more frequent replacement. Panasonic’s five thin foil blades give a shockingly close shave, especially compared to lower-end shavers, which favor one or two larger—and less effective—blades. The head pivots in all directions for help around the jaw, and because it has the fastest cycles per minute of any electric shaver, your whiskers get cut, not tugged. The small pop-up trimmer feels like an afterthought, though, and will do in a pinch but won’t replace a proper beard or body trimmer, and the shaver head feels a bit larger than necessary. Its design won’t win any accolades from Jony Ive or Dieter Rams, but it won’t offend either. Its simple digital battery readout on the front keeps track of your charge and use (I’ve gone two weeks without needing a charge), and a twist of a switch prevents it from turning on accidentally.

The ES-LV81-K is not an inexpensive investment with a retail price of $600 (you can expect to pay 20-30-percent off at most retailers) though it does appear to be a solid investment for years of eco-friendly shaving. It’s available from Amazon and other retailers.