When one of the world’s finest automakers sets its sights on expanding its universe into the world of luxury architecture, it’s certainly worth watching closely. And if the forthcoming № 001 Minami Aoyama is any indication, the British auto titan is conquering that arena in impressive fashion, too.
Aston Martin
It’s not the company’s first foray into home design: Aston Martin announced its first-ever private residence in 2020, and the ante has been upped even further with an insanely cool four-story townhouse designed to put Aston Martin supercars front and center.
Aston
The residence, set to be completed in November 2023, was designed in partnership with Japanese luxury concierge Vibroa.
And just in case you were wondering, the incredibly luxe home has already been sold to a private buyer (who that might be is anyone’s guess, but perhaps it caught the eye of 007 himself).
Aston
The world of Aston Martin now includes luxury SUVs and a luxury Scotch, and this Tokyo mega-mansion shows off the brand’s incredible eye for design and detail every step of the way.
It boasts two Aston Martin parking spots and a viewing gallery visible from the dining room — certainly not a bad view for dinner — plus amenities like its own spa and gym.
Aston Martin
It also comes complete with something no luxury abode should be without: A wine cellar, and the mansion is topped off (quite literally) with a roof terrace boasting next-level views of Tokyo’s skyline.
“As Aston Martin grows in Japan, we are passionate about finding innovative ways to bring our ultra-luxury brand to life and resonate with local consumers,” said Greg Adams, Aston Martin’s regional president of Japan and South Korea, in a statement.
Aston Martin
Adams went on to call the residence the “perfect home for an Aston Martin owner,” and one glimpse at any of its otherworldly amenities drives home that point quite nicely.
Aston Martin
While this one-of-a-kind residence is fit for only one lucky buyer, one imagines it’s not the last foray Aston Martin will make into real estate.
Keep a keen eye out for what the famed automaker has up its sleeves next.
Minimalist EDC specialist James Brand has taken its flagship knife up a notch.
(James Beard)
The Portland, Oregon-based company’s Barnes debuted in 2021 as its first with an integrated frame-lock design, which is machined from a single titanium billet to cut down on extra parts and decrease maintenance requirements.
(James Beard)
But as Acquire notes, the Barnes’ is now available with a 3.5-inch Damasteel Hakkapella DS93X drop-point blade. For the unaware, Damasteel is a trademarked damascus steel manufacturing process developed in Sweden that involves aerosolizing and bonding the metal without making welds, resulting in an extremely durable blade, per knifeart.com. Basically, the blade is stronger and prettier than the Barnes’ Bohler M390 steel predecessor.
(James Beard)
Other key features include ceramic bearings for a smooth action, a double-sided thumb stud for left- or right-handed use (though the black micarta grip and removable carry clip are permanently set up for right-handed users), and an integrated and removable paracord lanyard.
Priced at $1,250, the James Beard Barnes is available to purchase now.
Wine storage is coming out of the cellar and into the forefront of home decor.
Interior designers are seeing a surging demand for custom bottle displays by wine-loving clients who want to showcase their collections in chic storage areas that double as striking visual centerpieces.
Paul Kropp, Head of Operations for custom cabinetmaker Bakes & Kropp, says his firm has recently seen a 25 percent uptick in demand for bespoke wine storage. “Gone are the days of simple wood racks,” Kropp says. “We’re seeing homeowners gravitate to more dramatic wine storage options. Glass and metal play a major role in these more elaborate designs.”
Most of his wine storage projects fall under three categories. The most popular option is a storage area for about a case of wine–12 bottles–that is readily accessible in a kitchen or home bar. There’s also a rising demand for eye-catching wall displays that can accommodate 100 to 300 bottles and full-fledged cellars that hold more than 300 bottles. A climate-controlled storage area–whether it’s a wine fridge or cellar–is a must, particularly to preserve prized bottles for longer periods.
Here, Kropp and other interior experts uncork examples of custom storage areas built for design-savvy wine and spirits collectors.
(Photo: Sire Design/Michael Stavaridis)
“This custom-designed floating wine display came to be as a clever way to create a division between the dining room and formal living room. The client and his wife are avid travelers and like to remember their trips by bringing home a bottle of wine. This front-and-center display is a reminder of all the great adventures they’ve had, and inspires them to continually add to their growing collection.”—Eilyn Jimenez, Founder and Creative Director of Sire Design
“We designed these wine storage towers to provide easy access to the client’s wine collection from their wet bar. The custom-designed columns give the sense of walking into a fine wine cellar, with glassware and decanters right at hand. The display of the bottles gives this kitchen a celebratory atmosphere that’s always ready to entertain friends and family.”–Geddes Ulinskas, Principal and Founder of Geddes Ulinskas Architects
(Bakes & Kropp)(Bakes & Kropp)
“As all wine enthusiasts know, a 50-degree cellar deep in the ground is the ideal environment for wine. When that’s not possible, many mistakenly place their wine rack above the fridge. Instead, we’ve designed these small pullout wine drawers low in the room where they’re stored horizontally and remain within arm’s reach and still stay relatively cool. The drawers serve as a staging area where the wine will be in for a week or two to keep chilled and easily accessed when needed.”—Paul Kropp, Head of Operations, Bakes & Kropp
“This aesthetically-interesting accent piece–which is a functional wine cooler–is definitely a centerpiece to the apartment. It’s made of custom, finished blackened steel frames and insulated tempered glass, and was built to be a functioning wine cooler that holds a desired temperature of roughly 55 degrees.
“A custom designed horizontal, blackened steel racking with recessed LED strip lights hold and illuminate the nearly 400 bottle collection, while custom offset pivot hinges allow for access to the wine storage from the kitchen side.
“Being a floor-to-ceiling cabinet and located in a New York City apartment, the entire cabinet had to be built in a shop, disassembled, and re-assembled on site. The client also has a custom barcoding system where he tags each bottle that goes in, and scans it in to a database on his phone so he always knows where and what each bottle is in his cooler.” —Matthew Miller, Principal and Founder at StudioLAB
“We designed this whiskey display for this client’s impressive collection of rare spirits. We took a complete inventory of each bottle’s size and shape to create a display system where the horizontal spacing of the bronze panels would accommodate individual spirits within the collection.
“The bronze panels are varied and placed in a random rhythm not only to display the differing heights of the bottles but also to create sensible visual interest. The colors of the labels, glass and spirits were also composed in a way to celebrate the diversity of the collection.”—Geddes Ulinskas, Principal and Founder of Geddes Ulinskas Architects
New Orleans is a good value-for-money city, and not just because the drinks are cheap.
The city that gave the USA carnival season is itself a sort of perpetual carnival, a place where spectacle and performances are constantly on offer to even the casual visitor – all at little to no cost. These are the top free experiences in New Orleans to help you save your dollars.
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1. Mardi Gras is a free party, and it’s fantastic
Few cities are as defined by an event the way Mardi Gras defines New Orleans. The holiday, which hits in February or March depending on the year, has been called the greatest free show on Earth, and it’s an explosion of color, costumes and revelry. Despite the cliches, the annual celebration is actually largely aimed at families.
Planning tip: The two-and-a-half weeks preceding Mardi Gras are known as Carnival and are similarly packed with parades and street performances, so if you can’t make the main event, there’s still a party in town.
2. Meander through the woods at City Park
Visitors to New Orleans’ City Park can expect to find ancient live oak trees with Spanish moss beards, slow waterways, Greek-style pavilions and walking trails that meander through woods and wetlands.
A stroll down Royal St is a stroll through the heart of the French Quarter, minus the booze-soaked bacchanalia of adjacent Bourbon St. Various blocks expose visitors to some of the city’s finest Caribbean-style architecture.
Planning Tip: The sectioned-off area that’s chockablock with street performers becomes pedestrian-only in the middle of the day.
4. Groove to the music at Louis Armstrong Park
Usually just called “Armstrong Park” by locals, this park, adjacent to the Tremé and French Quarter, was once the site of Congo Square, the place where enslaved African were allowed to perform their old-world music.
Those performances laid the foundation for the development of all the sonic genres New Orleans helped give the world. Today the park is home to sculptures and walkways and often hosts free festivals and concerts throughout the year.
5. Get artsy at Sydney and Wanda Besthoff Sculpture Garden
Some 90 sculptures by world-renowned artists pepper a series of shady walking trails, which web over two lagoons and through a living forest of magnolia trees and live oaks. The Besthoff Sculpture Garden is a beloved gem and fixture of the local arts scene, representing one of the city’s best marriages of public art and outdoors activity. It’s free to visit and open every day.
Few people can cross the length of St Charles Ave without having to pick their jaws up off of the floor. This is classic overgrown, lush, fecund New Orleans: a wide avenue, cut through by a charming streetcar and flanked on either side by enormous live oaks and some of the South’s most stately mansions.
Planning tip: OK, it’s not free. But at just $3 for an all-day pass, riding the streetcar is very good value.
7. Soak up the atmosphere in Jackson Square
The beating heart of the French Quarter, Jackson Square fronts the gorgeous St Louis Cathedral, perhaps the most iconic building in New Orleans, plus the historic Pontalba apartment buildings, the Cabildo, a state history museum, and the Presbytère – a museum dedicated to Mardi Gras and Hurricane Katrina.
Planning tip: This pedestrian-only area is constantly (like, 24/7) filled with street performers, tarot-card readers, artists and general nonstop pageantry, so it will be buzzing whenever you stop by.
8. Browse the creations at Palace Market
On Frenchmen Street – itself a notable gratis attraction – you’ll find this art market, a sort of bizarre bazaar starring some of the city’s funkiest creatives. “Art market” is a broad brush, and in this case includes weird T-shirts, idiosyncratic crafts, handmade jewelry and the occasional jacket detailing/bedazzling.
Planning tip: If you can’t find what you’re looking for at Palace Market, head next door to the similar, just-a-skooch-smaller Art Garden.
A second line is a New Orleans street parade, led by a local brass band and followed by hundreds of citizens carrying on because life is short, so why not listen to some good music?
While weddings and even conventions throw small second lines, the real-deal parades that occur in Tremé and Central City – both largely Black neighborhoods – have deep community significance.
Planning tip: Second lines generally occur on Sundays outside of summer; local radio station WWOZ has online schedules.
10. Tour St Augustine Church
St Augustine is the oldest Black Catholic church in the country and occupies a lovely tree-lined corner of the Treme neighborhood – and a vitally important position in Black American history. It’s the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, a moving sculpture, and the congregation explicitly preaches for civil rights and social justice.
11. Enjoy views of the Mississippi River at Crescent Park
Many visitors to New Orleans are surprised at how tough it can be to spot the Mississippi River, given that said river is so integral to the city’s identity. But you’ll have no such trouble at Crescent Park, which runs alongside the banks of the famed river adjacent to the candy-colored charm of neighborhoods like Faubourg Marigny and Bywater.
12. Stroll New Orleans’ (in)famous Bourbon St
Bourbon St is a multi-block procession of neon, bars, strip clubs, bachelor/ette parties, drinks the color of a Lisa Frank binder and bad decisions. At least, that’s Bourbon closer to Canal St. The other side of Bourbon is a little more low-key, aimed at LGBTQIA+ travelers around St Philip St and turning residential as it approaches Esplanade Ave.
13. Pop in to the live music clubs on Frenchmen Street
While Frenchmen can feel as busy as Bourbon on the weekends, it’s still well worth a visit; this is the best concentration of live music clubs in the city. Stroll around after 6pm on any given evening and you’ll hear music somewhere that will inevitably pull you in, even during the week.
Planning tip: Be aware that musical acts on the street and in the bars aren’t really free. Locals pride themselves on being good tippers, and if a tip hat or jar gets passed around, you should always kick in some money.
15. Relax by the Bayou St John
Once an actual bayou (a body of very slow-moving water), Bayou St John used to form a natural watery highway throughout the marshy membrane of historic New Orleans. Now it’s a pretty body of water plunked directly in the middle of the city and surrounded by small grassy walkways – a pleasant natural cooling agent on hot days, of which there are many….
16. Check out the Arts Market of New Orleans
The Arts Council of New Orleans puts on this excellent juried arts market twice monthly: at City Park on the second Saturday of the month and at Marsalis Harmony Park (formerly Palmer Park), located just off of Carrollton Ave, on the fourth. It showcases some of the city’s local creative talent, as well as kid-friendly music and activities.
17. Explore the French-Creole mansions on Esplanade Ave
Most visitors to New Orleans have heard of Bourbon St, and St Charles Ave is at least world-famous in photos, but it’s the rare tourist who mentions Esplanade Ave. That’s telling, because this is an absolutely stunning street, lined with French-Creole style mansions and cut through by a bicycle lane that extends all the way from the French Quarter to the fields of City Park.
18. Embrace your Southern Gothic side at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
New Orleans is famed for its necropolis-style cemeteries, filled with raised mausoleums that keep the corpses from washing away during the city’s fabled rainstorms. Lafayette, located in the Garden District and packed with creeping vines, gnarled tree roots and faded statuary, is one of the most pathos-drenched examples of the local Gothic-cemetery genre.
Planning tip: The cemetery is currently closed to the public while repairs and improvements are being made. Call or visit the website to check for details.
19. Window-shop and people-watch on Magazine St
If you like shopping, historic buildings or both, take a walk down Magazine St. The roughly 6 miles of city blocks offer up the best shops, galleries, restaurants and bars in New Orleans. It’s popular with all ages; some blocks seem to cater more towards students, while others are aimed at families.
20. Go green at Audubon Park
Although Audubon is smaller than City Park, it’s also filled with live oaks and Spanish moss and flanked by some of the city’s most impressive mansions and handsome neighborhoods.
