A roundup of September’s most noteable updates from the Style desk
WATCHES
Toledano & Chan’s brutalist B/1 marks the launch of a different kind of luxury watch brand
Toledano & Chan’s brutalist B/1 marks the launch of a different kind of luxury watch brandSupplied
Philip Toledano is an artist first and a watch designer second, which might explain why the timepieces he creates look so different from anyone else’s. The New York-based watch lover, who shares his unique taste in timepieces at @misterenthusiast on Instagram, is the co-founder of Toledano & Chan, an independent brand that debuted earlier this year. Its B/1 timepiece features an asymmetrical stainless-steel case inspired by brutalist architecture, a dial made of sparkling lapis lazuli and a Swiss-made movement, all packaged in an angular concrete presentation box. Limited to 175 pieces and priced at $5,500, the B/1 sold out within an hour following its launch and made Toledano & Chan one of the world’s most celebrated independent watch brands overnight.
Now, Toledano is faced with the challenge of outdoing himself. “Everyone is asking the same question: ‘What’s next?’” he says. “I think that when you start just churning out watches because you know that people will buy them, then what’s the fun? For me as an artist, the interest is in always pushing the idea forward in unexpected ways. I feel very strongly that if you have the privilege of being able to make something, you had better bloody make sure that you try and make something different and expand the vocabulary.”
Following the launch of the B/1, the brand announced a second version with a case made from copper-infused carbon fibre, a first – as far as Toledano knows – in the watch world. The one-of-one piece was auctioned off to benefit UNICEF. Toledano won’t say whether more are forthcoming but confirms that he and co-founder Alfred Chan aren’t finished with the B/1′s eye-catching design. “We’ll stay with the same shape for a bit, but it will be about finishing, about materials, about styles,” he says.
For more, visit toledanoandchan.com.
BEAUTY
La Prairie’s latest cream gets bossy with aging skin cells
La Prairie Haute Rejuvenation, $2,605 at Holt Renfrew (holtrenfrew.com).SUPPLIED/Supplied
It’s not just our computers and phones that thrive on having access to a wealth of data. Skin cells also require information to function at their best, something that La Prairie is aiming to harness with the introduction of Life Matrix Haute Rejuvenation, a hyper luxe cream that helps reset the information available to cells to keep skin looking its best.
Dr. Daniel Stangl, director of innovation at La Prairie, says this launch helps drive the liveliness of skin. “Skin cells use a wealth of complex cellular information to ensure the optimal functionality needed for a healthy and youthful skin.” He explains that, as a result of aging and the influence of lifestyle choices and habits, the information cells need to function properly can become inadequate or even unavailable, resulting in a shortened health span and accelerated aging. He uses the production of new collagen as an example of how information encoded in DNA drives the activities of RNA biomolecules and proteins to do their job.
To achieve this through a cream, Life Matrix makes use of La Prairie’s Exclusive Cellular Complex, a proprietary blend of active ingredients, alongside extracts of peony root and calendula flower to help modulate and reset the levels of RNA biomolecules. The result is dense, full skin that maintains its youthful qualities.
ART
Ceramic star Julie Moon mounts her first hometown show since 2018
Julie MoonMAY TRUONG/Supplied
This month, celebrated ceramic artist Julie Moon is headlining a new exhibition at Patel Brown Gallery’s Toronto outpost, her first solo show in the city since the installation Acid Garden at the Birch Contemporary gallery in 2018. In that presentation, Moon showcased an array of outsized, psychedelically-minded 3-D works – vivid abstractions of organic forms both familiar and imagined. For her new show, she continues to explore floral forms as a formidable font of inspiration.
“I’ve worked with botanical sculptures before,” Moon says while standing in her studio in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood. “Sticking with that theme just feels natural.” But as comfortable as she is with exploring familiar ground, Moon endeavours to keep a sense of experimentation and forward-momentum in her practice. For example, she’s been toying around with a paper cutting technique – her first time using the method – for the Patel Brown show. “It’s a process of masking certain areas,” Moon says. “While the clay is still wet, you lay a piece of paper over it, and you can paint the clay. When you lift the paper up, the clay underneath will have maintained its colour – whatever the paper covered stays the same. It’s a great way to explore the graphic sensibility of my work.”
Moon has also pushed the boundaries of her glazing effects, moving from well-defined, starkly saturated hues to incorporate more mottled and multi-layered looks and deriving inspiration from the Tang Dynasty tradition of Sancai glazing (which combines brown, green and off-white glazes to create trippy results). With her whimsical works having been featured in exhibitions in Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Montana, Moon’s current show is an opportunity to reconnect with her local audience as well as those new to her vibrant and verdantly shaped world.
For more, visit juliemoon.com.
WINE AND SPIRITS
Despite a volatile growing environment, Uruguay’s Bodega Garzón winery is thriving
Germán Bruzzone has been celebrated by the wine world for taming the challenging growing conditions at Bodega Garzón.SUPPLIED/Supplied
After 15 harvests at Bodega Garzón, a groundbreaking fine wine producer on the south-eastern tip of Uruguay, Germán Bruzzone is still learning. “Because of the weather, every year is a new challenge,” he says. The undulating hills around the town of Garzón are subject to an average annual rainfall of 1,200 millimetres (more than Bordeaux), which would create mildew and other problems if it weren’t for quick-draining, weathered granite soils and persistent winds from the coast. The vineyard team strips the leaves from the vines to expose the grape clusters and keep fungal diseases at bay. But rainy conditions can slow ripening, which means Bruzzone and his team need to effectively monitor their vineyards to result in top quality wines.
Before the first vines were planted, Italian oenologist Alberto Antonini studied the geology, climate and soil to determine the best varieties for the site near the coastal resort town, Punta del Este. The expansive 250-hectare estate was carved into 1,500 separate parcels based on contour and exposition, planted with 70 per cent red wine varieties and 30 per cent white. Sites with southern exposure to the Atlantic Ocean were reserved for albariño, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, while northern aspects were selected to ripen red wine varieties, such as tannat, cabernet franc and marselan, a crossing of cabernet sauvignon and grenache.
The natural factors and attention to detail results in a range of delicious and distinctive wines year after year, notably refreshing and fruity albariños and ripe and refined tannats that stand out as some of the best value prospects for the cellar. Garzón’s reserve tier tannat, cabernet franc and albariño are consistently available in British Columbia and Alberta, while a selection of the single vineyard and the flagship red blend, Balasto, named after the vineyard’s soil type, are currently featured at LCBO Vintages outlets and online. – CHRISTOPHER WATERS
For more, visit bodegagarzon.com.
JEWELLERY
For the latest expression of its Ice Cube jewellery, Chopard prioritizes a sense of movement
Ice Cube jewellerySUPPLIED/Supplied
“At Chopard, everything is about passion,” says Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director of the Geneva-based watch and jewellery house. She shares this explanation while breaking down why the brand is debuting an haute joaillerie capsule of its Ice Cube collection, an angular lineup first introduced in 1999 that has grown to become a bestseller. “This moment of minimalist design and fashion – a quiet luxury – felt like the right time to push the boundaries of creativity and craftsmanship,” she says.
In the core Ice Cube line, unisex rings, bangles, earrings and pendants are meant to be stacked and layered to create an undulating effect. In the haute joaillerie versions, that movement is captured in a singular piece thanks to individual 18-carat rose gold cubes created in varying dimensions. “These pieces and how they have been brought to life by the hands of our craftspeople evoke buildings of different heights across an urban skyline,” Scheufele says. The effect is amplified by a mirrored finished, a sprinkling of diamonds and flexible construction that twists and wraps the piece around the wearer’s body.
In the rarefied world of high jewellery, achieving that level of movement is a technical feat that’s valued almost as much as the finest metals and stones. “Much like art, jewellery is an extension of one’s style, taste, appreciation for beauty and the unique know-how and craftsmanship that goes into each piece,” Scheufele says. “This comes across through each Chopard piece a customer chooses to wear and how they style it to make it their own.”
For more, visit chopard.com.