To mark the company’s 90th anniversary in 2011 Gucci has partnered with Riva and Officina Italiana Design to create this custom made boat by Creative Director Frida Giannini. According to Giannini:

“Over the decades the iconic Riva boat has become without doubt one of the most evocative images of Italian style, sophistication and elegance. It is a symbol of a glamorous lifestyle that sparks fond memories of La Dolce Vita – a golden age when both Gucci and Riva attracted an enthusiastic following among the international jet set. It is therefore especially meaningful in Gucci’s 90th anniversary year to be able to recognise and celebrate the great traditions and values of both Gucci and Riva through the Aquariva by Gucci.”

Inspiration!

Just as luxury resort group Six Senses was ahead of the curve with its sexy castaway fantasy resort in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi, Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket is a spa fantasy that lasts for days, even weeks, depending how long you want to stay. We only had four days but that was enough time to understand why this destination spa is so popular, it goes way beyond pampering. The experience starts as soon as you arrive of the private island of Naka Yai, just of the north-east coast of Phuket in Phang Nga Bay. There’s no lobby, no queues, just walk up the postcard perfect jetty and head straight for the spa for an extensive assessment.

A daily programme is worked out that must include at least two treatments each day. From there, a personal butler takes you to your beach villa that comes with private pool, steamroom, indoor/outdoor show, sea views and a luxe bed that ended up providing the best sleep in memory. This is heaven for spa trekkers. No stress, complete relaxation, super healthy organic food and not one but four spas – Thai, Indian, Indonesian and Chinese – to experience.

What to wear is yet another thing that you don’t have to worry about here. Everyone wears organic cotton pyjamas so save the Pucci and Gucci for Mykonos. These PJs are perfect in the tropical heat. Six Senses is very good at shedding away all the chaos of modern life.

There’s no internet, no news channels (just movies from their library), moving from spa appointment, to meals and back to the villa. The place makes you so aware of how you live, what you put into your body, stress levels and what is really feels to be relaxed.

It would be easy to spend the whole stay holed up in the villa. The aesthetic is Fred Flintstone meets very stylish designer, no sharp edges, nothing overly processed. it’s all about beautiful organic forms and a connection to the natural world.

The rooms feature signs made with coconut husks, sugar palm leaf thatching, earthy tones, textured walls and natural light. There are 61 villas and two ubervillas – the Enclave and the Retreat on the Hill that regularly house royalty and megawatt celebrities in their palatial compounds.

Here, most of the food is grown on the island or sourced locally. Meal options include a “fishetarian” diet or raw foods (think raw vegan food -nothing over 46 degrees Celsius). Buffet breakfast includes a line up of fresh juices for every cure and every day the menu changes. Fat content and calories are noted. Days quickly fall into a rhythm of treatments, organic food, workout sessions and alternative therapies from iridology to blood analysis. The day is followed by perfect rest and deep, deep sleep. Be warned, it can be hard to get to early morning yoga or kayaking because the bed is so comfortable.

Each spa its own little universe, with a gateway into sublime interiors, with surrounding outdoor spaces perfectly complementing the experience. It is so far removed from the concept of the spa with a fountain out front, rows of treatment rooms out the back. Six Senses has gone all out – the ground level Thai-style massage beds, an Indian colonics chambre, the perfect Chinese bamboo garden and pavilion for the post-treatment cup of tea. It would take weeks to try every treatment and to add to the top therapists on staff, internationally recognised trainers and practitioners jet in for guest residencies too.

By day three, there is no such thing as stress, just complete relaxation. I only had four days here, many extend their stay and cancel other plans and it’s easy to see why. The destination spa has an incredible future for travellers looking for a total escape, no tweets, no email, no junk food. Six Senses also understands that a spa doesn’t have to mean one ‘flavor’ of treatment. At Naka Yai, recent visiting practitioners include triathletes, pilates, reiki masters and top personal trainers. This fresh approach to spas is also happening at other Six Senses spas including a new Paris property opening on the rue de Castiglione next month. The brand is continuing on from success at resorts in Doha, Barcelona, Portugal, Jordan, Oman and the Maldives. The Six Senses brand is set to conquer the spa world again with a palatial spa opening in Marrakech in Morocco that opens in 2011. Can’t wait. – Bill Tikos

[via: TheCoolHunter]

Paris-based Agence Jouin Manku took on its first large-scale integrated architectural and interior design commission in 2003, when YTL Design Group from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, invited it to design the residence of a Malaysian power family.

Completed in the latter part of 2008, the residence is the ultimate expression of the taste, influence and industrial-scale capabilities of the prominent family whose entrepreneurial activities have shaped Kuala Lumpur’s skyline.

Three generations of the family inhabit the 3,000 square-meter residence designed to accommodate both private and public functions.

The building includes nine bedrooms, two family rooms, a family kitchen and a private dining area, a family library, a game room, a study, a public reception area, a formal dining room, a ballroom, chapel, 21 bathrooms, a swimming pool, two guest suites plus indoor private and guest parking.

The initial sketches exploring the owners’ usage requirements reveal resemblances to the boring stacked-boxes look still so ubiquitous in residential architecture. And while traces of the ”heaped trailers“ syndrome remain in the finished building, this is not the Jetsons, neither are we looking at EPCOT, Tomorrowland or the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

We are in the lush vegetation of a posh Kuala Lumpur residential area, and in spite of the boxiness of the structure, an elegant circular softness manages to permeate the sightlines and key details of the building, making it an agreeable part of its landscape.

Inside, prominent examples of this curvilinear elegance include the amazing staircases resembling the inside of a shell when viewed from above, and the round ballroom chandelier of 13,000 custom-designed undulating petals of unglazed cast porcelain biscuit.

The curved walls both inside and out have a functional purpose of providing privacy and enclosing each function gently in its own space. The overall sweeping feel inside the spaces invites the viewer in and creates soft, arching vistas.

The concept consists of three layers: the base for public functions, the ring for guests and the private house for the family.

The inside of the magnificent residence is gorgeous with its high ceilings, large windows and abundance of light. White color and natural wood are dominant elements but they allow the view from the vast, mostly retractable, windows to remain the main visual attraction.

The residence is also a wonderful study of contrasts between inside and outside, private and public, traditional and ultra modern, man-made and natural.