The Miami-based designer Luis Pons will showcase five collections from his Framed furniture series at the Wanted Design event in New York City from May 17 to 20. Pieces in the five lines, which are dubbed Frame, Inside Out, Illusion, Blocco Barrocos, and Optical, are Pons’s sophisticated but whimsical take on the idea of combining picture frames with other furnishings. Designs range from midcentury-style cabinets wrapped in what appears to be a stack of picture frames to mirror-clad dressers that incorporate p…

The Parisian eyewear company Lafont has unveiled two adaptations of one of its earliest styles—the Pantos—timed with the much-anticipated release of The Great Gatsby at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15.
The stainless-steel Gatsby ($345), which comes in three antique finishes, features the round frames that appear in the Lafont family’s archives as far back as 1923—the year the family opened its first shop in Madeleine. The Leo ($519), which comes in burgundy, navy, and tortoise acetate, more resembles the m…

Set along the shores of Italy’s picturesque Lake Como, the annual Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este (this year from May 24 through 26) serves as a beauty contest for the world’s rarest and most stylish automobiles. This year’s event includes a high-end car sale by RM Auctions, a retrospective of 90 years of BMW motorcycles, and an “American Dream” presentation in celebration of Corvette’s 60th anniversary.
The BMW motorcycle tribute will feature more than 30 historic and unique motorcycles, including milestone…

With America’s favorite pastime back in full swing, luxury hotels around the country are teaming up with local stadiums to create baseball-themed packages that go beyond peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Read on for the season’s most exclusive game-day experiences.
The recently opened Capella Washington D.C., Georgetown is Nationals fans’ newest hot spot, thanks to the its Take Me Out to the Ball Game package (starting at $3,180), which includes a two-night stay with daily breakfast and one dinner for two in the Gri…

Segera Retreat has opened in a 50,000-acre wildlife sanctuary in Laikipia on the foothills of Mount Kenya, just 13 miles north of the equator, surrounded by a savanna and grasslands and home to an array of animals and birds. The property has eight private villas, each with a Jacuzzi bath and private sundeck, as well as a spa and fitness center. Activities include game drives, hikes, and sleep-outs and helicopter excursions to Mount Kenya, the Great Rift Valley, and other attractions in northern Kenya. Rates st…

Seafaring adventurers can charter one of a number of superyachts this summer to travel to far-flung locations including the Galápagos Islands, Panama, Baltic Sea, and Indian Ocean, among others. These exceptional long-range explorers cruise far and wide while still offering all the comfort and luxury found in megayachts that are commonly seen cruising the Mediterranean. Here are a few of our favorite adventurous megayachts available now.
The 148-foot explorer vessel Big Fish, built by New Zealand’s McMullen &…

For the weekend warrior who has completed a marathon, jumped out of an airplane, and trekked through muddy obstacle courses, Solaris Vail has your next challenge. The 79-residence mountain resort, which opened in 2011, is calling all adventurers for its new Bag a Fourteener summer package (from $315 per person per night): a weeklong trip that culminates in the ascension of Colorado’s tallest mountain, Mt. Elbert. Available through September, the package includes overnight accommodations, training classes led b…

The InterContinental Marseille Hotel Dieu has opened in a historic 18th-century building in the heart of Marseille, overlooking the Vieux Port, with 194 rooms and suites. In renovating the historically protected building, which was originally designed by Mansart as a hospital, the architect Jean-Philippe Nuel has remained true to the spirit of the structure, which has magnificent staircases, vaulted passageways, and terraces with expansive views. The hotel has a brasserie and gastronomic restaurant and a Clari…

Winemaking for William Ballentine Jr. has always been a family concern. He began his career tending vines owned by his father, who established Ballentine Vineyards at the foot of Napa’s Howell Mountain. The knowledge and experience he gained there—and through his work with other growers throughout the valley—now informs the wines of William Cole Vineyards, which Ballentine and his wife, Jane, established on a historic parcel in St. Helena, Calif. Here he continues to make and—in the case of his latest release—…

A little more than two decades ago, there was no such thing as small-batch bourbon. And yet, it existed all the same. The problem was that no one had yet coined a term that adequately described all those incredibly rich limited-production bourbons that were being made by some of America’s best distillers.
That marketing dilemma was solved by Jim Beam Brands (now Beam Inc.) in 1992, when the master distiller, the late Booker Noe, coined the term “small batch” to categorize a series of four boutique bourbons th…