MARK GIUSTI

“PALATINA” COLLECTION
A/W 2011 - 2012
Mark / Giusti launches its “Palatina” collection for A/W 2011 –
2012. This is Mark Farhat’s second collection for the Mark /
Giusti brand, following the successful launch at Shoreditch
house last June 2010.
Inspiration for this new collection comes from The Cappella
Palatina (palatine chapel), located alongside the Palazzo Dei
Normanni (palace of the Normans) in Palermo Sicily. Built by
roger ii (from 1130 – 1140), the chapel is adorned with
extraordinary Norman-byzantine mosaics and houses the finest
examples of Arab-Norman art in Sicily. The designer has
recreated these intricate byzantine patterns and applied them to
the interior lining of each piece.
The dominant color used in the “palatina’ collection employs an
extraordinarily deep and vivid orange contrasted by green topstitching
perfectly matching the colors of the mosaics in the
Cappella Palatina.
The use of grained calf leather, beautifully compliments the
previous “Bring Back Time” collection emphasizing the designer’s
attention to detail and timeless quality which characterizes the
essence of the Mark / Giusti Brand.
Effortlessly practical, the collection is comprised of a suit
carrier, laptop bag, i-pad over and additional leather accessories.
The “Palatina” collection will be showcased during Milan
Fashion Week at the Modern Showroom in Galleria Del Corso, 4
milano 20122 and by appointment at the mark / giusti studio in
London.
For further details please visit www.markgiusti.com

Please e-mail info@markgiusti.com

The Qianlong-period vase dating from about 1740

 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c2f18e9a-ee57-11df-8b90-00144feab49a.html#ixzz15AlKda00

The Qianlong-period vase dating from about 1740 sold at 40 times its estimate

The spectacular selling power of Chinese artefacts was displayed in a suburban London auction rooms more used to house clearing sales, when an 18th century Imperial-era vase went under the hammer for £53m ($85.6m).

Bidding at the Bainbridges auction rooms on Thursday for the 16-inch-high vase, made during the rule of the Qianlong emperor, started at £500,000 and increased in increments of £1m during the sale’s finale, onlookers said.
The vase was eventually sold for £43m, but with the addition of a 20 per cent commission levied for the auction house and tax, the final bill comes to more than £53m. It is believed to be the highest price paid for a ­Chinese artwork at auction.
The buyer is anonymous but, if the sale holds true to a pattern set in recent overseas auctions for Chinese artworks, is almost certainly a wealthy Chinese person or a state-backed company keen to bring the nation’s heritage home.
The vase had been discovered by a brother and sister when they were clearing their dead father’s attic in north London and they had little idea as to its value. Like the buyer, they have not been named.
Jonathan Stone, managing director of Christie’s Asia, said the sale “shows the way the Chinese are really going after top quality Chinese works of art wherever they may be cropping up in the world”. Christie’s reported that in 2009, the value of pieces bought by Chinese buyers worldwide to its sales increased by 94 per cent.

Beyondbrics

China’s porcelain patriotism

Experts speculated the fierce bidding was fuelled by agents commissioned by Poly Culture & Arts, a Chinese cultural agency co-owned by the state and one of the country’s largest defence companies.
Poly Culture’s mission to recover the country’s artefacts taken when large parts of China were under foreign control in the 19th and 20th centuries has helped pushed the market in such objects to unprecedented levels.
James Hennessy, of London firm Littleton & Hennessy, said: “Poly’s pockets are bottomless. They have the financial clout to acquire anything they want.”
Wealthy collectors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau have become aggressive bidders in auctions around the world, buying everything from paintings to antiques to wines. Surging inflation is also encouraging people to put their money into fixed assets, gold, property or art works.
Nicolas Chow, international head of Sotheby’s Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, said: “Many of the top pieces in Chinese art, which were going to strong buyers in the US and Europe, are beginning to go back to China.”
He said such purchases were not entirely motivated by support for cultural repatriation. “There is an investment angle as well. More and more financial institutions are interested in art-related products.”
Last month, Sotheby’s held its biggest ever sale in Hong Kong, fetching $400m in a seven-day auction that was dominated by Chinese collectors. Among the sold were an imperial white-jade seal for a record $15.6m and a yellow-ground, famille-rose double-gourd vase from the Qing dynasty for a then-record $32.4m.
Other items on sale at Bainbridges in west London on Thursday included two original boxed Dinky toys, both of them trucks, according to the catalogue, two electric beds and a dining suite billed as “fit for Wayne Rooney”, the troubled Manchester United footballer.

Ferrari 250 GTO

The Ferrari GTO is the direct descendant of the Ferrari 250 GT. The lineage goes back to October 1954 with the introduction of the Europa GT. The Europa GT evolved into the 250 GT SWB (Short Wheel Base) as seen in the above photo with with number 33 (s/n 2733) leading GTO s/n 3909 GT. Enzo Ferrari claimed the GTO was only part of the 250 GT SWB series (of which many were produced) as his justification for the GTO's homologation.
The Ferrari GTO is a dual purpose car. These are cars that are designed for both the street and race track. In this great tradition, an owner could drive the car to the track, race it, and then drive it home. It is a fact that characteristics that make a car excel on the race track do not make for a good street car and what makes a good street car will make a car uncompetitive on the race track. In the early 1960s, technology was such that succeeding in both areas was possible. 

http://luxurymarketplace.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/ferrari-250-gto/

German automotive performance specialist Brabus

German automotive performance specialist Brabus has added to its long list of automotive records by achieving 330.6 km/h (205.2 mph) in a Maybach 57 at the high-speed test track in Nardo, Italy. Labeled the world's fastest and most exclusive ultra-luxury sedan, the high-perfomance Maybach 57 is powered by a 6.3-liter, 730-hp/ 537-kW BRABUS SV12 S Biturbo engine originally developed for the BRABUS ROCKET, the record breaking four-door car based on the Mercedes CLS series which set a speed record for street-legal sedans of a head-spinning 365.7 km/h (227.2 mph) back in October 2006.
The previous record for the Maybach 57 was set in 2005 at 314 km/h (195 mph) with a 640hp version of the SV12 Biturbo engine. The additional grunt has been added to the turbocharged 12-cylinder engine by increasing engine displacement and developing a crankshaft with longer stroke, precision-balanced piston rods and larger pistons to accommodate the increased bore. The engine has also received modified cylinder heads and special camshafts with two larger turbochargers, more efficient intercoolers and a stainless-steel exhaust system with metal catalysts also added to boost performance.
Everything is kept ticking-over by a custom-programmed engine electronics package that also keeps the engine in-line with EURO IV emission limits and limits peak torque to 1,320 Nm (974 lb-ft) is limited by the engine electronics to 1,100 Nm (811 lb-ft). Not surprisingly the standard 250-km/h (155 mph) speed limit has been removed.
Underneath, BRABUS suspension engineers added an air-suspension module that lowers the ride height by some 15 millimeters (0.6 inches) and also developed forged 21-inch BRABUS Monoblock VI light-alloy wheels specifically for the Maybach that are shod with 275/40 R 21 tires in front and 315/35 R 21 tires on the rear axle.
Earlier this year BRABUS also laid cliam to the title of "The World's Fastest and Most Powerful Coupe". See the BRABUS site for further reading.

Provided by Gizmag.com—ideas, innovation, invention

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407 km/h or 253 mph). It reached full production in September 2005. The car is built by Volkswagen AG subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS and is sold under the legendary Bugatti marque. It is named after racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm. The Veyron features a W16 engine—16 cylinders in 4 banks of 4 cylinders.