THE PEOPLE'S MONARCH - Royal Brunei Airlines

72
LIFESTYLE IN PERSON
You are credited with launching
the Meurice Prize. How has the
experience impacted you both
professionally and personally?
Since 1835, artistic expression has been
essential to the art of living at Le Meurice,
where art coincides with a certain French
genius. Such luxury is of the kind that
gives full expression to creativity and
innovation. More than a celebration of
savoir-faire, it is a consecration of art at
its highest level. It was clear to me that
Le Meurice should give its support to the
emerging French art scene.
And so true to its heritage, in 2008 Le
Meurice launched this international Prize
to reassert its commitment to the arts
and provide material support each year,
as a non-profi t endeavour, to help an
artist working in France gain international
recognition. The Prize has an endowment
of €10,000 for the artist and €10,000 for
their gallery.
The Le Meurice Prize for contemporary
art is a powerful and pure experience
because it encompasses the very act
of creation. Every edition brings me
something new.
MUHIBAH
Apart from being associated with
arts, do you think Le Meurice would
ever champion other fi elds/causes?
Two years ago, to coincide with the Year
of Russia in France, we reinstated the
Meuriciades, originally hosted by Florence
Jay Gould in the 1950s, as a means of
promoting a different culture to our own.
These new Meuriciades on the theme of
Russian muses, with a text by Vladimir
Fedorovski, focused on young Russian
artists such as designer Liana Yaroslavsky,
fashion designer Vika Gazinskaya,
photographer Dimitri Tolstoï and DJ Vitaly
Kozak. Yannick Alleno imagined an all-
Russian cocktail reception which included
his interpretation of the salmon coulibiac
which was served every Friday at Le
Meurice in 1908 to please the hotel’s
Russian clientele.
Last year we trained the spotlight on
Brazil with the launch of the grand
Brazilian Festival, with the support of the
Brazilian Embassy. Joining in these two
weeks of celebration and creation were
Chef Samantha Aquim and her staff,
fashion designer Rosa Kanno, Gol de
Letra Foundation, set up by footballers
Rai and Leonardo, and the iconic
Havaianas brand.
The
Art
Of Living
Naturally, Le Meurice lends its support all
year round to charities and humanitarian
organisations such as Unicef, Emmaus,
Red Cross, les Blouses Roses, and Main
dans la Main.
As a palace hotel, we take sustainable
development to heart and implement
environmentally-aware practices.
In the years you’ve been with
Le Meurice, what is one aspect of
the hotel that never ceases to
amaze you?
Located in the heart of Paris, Le Meurice
is an endless source of inspiration for
anyone who enjoys the buzz of the
French capital. I still love the way Le
Meurice encapsulates French genius for
the art of living, from its public areas,
designed by Philippe Starck, to the rooms
which Charles Jouffre has decorated
in an 18th-century style, to Yannick
Alleno’s three-star cuisine. Le Meurice is
a unique, incredibly generous experience.
Everything is sumptuous and luminous.
No detail is overlooked, even the ones
too tiny to even be seen.