A Natural Marvel

Louis Kazan has added a new piece to its Venus coffee table collection, a line that debuted in 2013 in a lacquered wood version with an inset crystal top. The Venus Rustic table, introduced in March, has a white-lacquered, rough-hewn texture that distinguishes it from its siblings (the table also is available with a finish of exotic wood veneer). Though each version of the Venus table is made with a metal interior and solid wooden frame carefully melded together, the Rustic’s exterior is crafted from Brazilian…

Biscayne Baywatch

Piero Lissoni is one of several creative contributors on a massive new project in Miami. Lissoni will design the interiors for the common areas in Miami’s One Paraiso tower, which breaks ground this fall. The 53-story building is part of a 5-acre, Arquitectonica-designed residential development located in the Edgewater neighborhood, overlooking Biscayne Bay. The Paraiso community, begins construction later this summer, ultimately will comprise four residential …

Going and Giving

The G2G Collection destination club looks different from its competitors from a number of angles: None of its properties are hotel rooms. No annual fee is required for membership. That membership can be shared by more than one party. But by far the most distinguishing feature of the club is its charitable component. Half of the $15,000 initiation fee is paid in the form of a tax-deductible contribution, and 5 percent of each nightly rate is redirected to the member’s charity of choice. Since G2G sold its first…

Be Your Own Bond

Want to live like James Bond? Sure you do. As Nicolette Tomkinson, a specialist at Christie’s auction house, once told us: “All men aspire to be Bond, and all women want to be with Bond.”

In an effort to be Bond, we’re afraid your options are somewhat limited. Double-0 positions within the British secret service rarely need filling, and you’ll need a lot of luck to procure any of those nifty gadgets without your own personal Q. As for wooing beautiful and sophisticated women, those skills can, perhaps, be t…

Rewriting Bond

Ian Fleming died 50 years ago next month, but in 1953 he penned a novel that not only created a world-famous fictional character—a character that millions of men have since aspired to be—but also a cocktail and a specific way of ordering it that has remained ingrained in popular culture. James Bond and his Vesper martini may be infamous (click here for a story on that specific cocktail), but what if Fleming had never written that cocktail into his stories? What if he had never defined his iconic character’s pr…

Bonding Experiences

James Bond is one of the few action heroes whose style is both enviable and translatable into real life. John McClane’s look is a bit too blue collar for us. Jason Bourne shops exclusively at midrange retail outlets, and prefers darks. Mad Max is tempting, but attracts women a little too versed in S & M (unless you’re into that, of course). Bond, on the other hand, is the human epitome of cool. Everything he touches is instantly gilded in long-lasting élan.

If you can’t get enough of 007, the following …

Vinyasa in the Vineyard

Most oenophiles passively enjoy the unintended health consequence of their passion: that wine may help promote a healthy heart. Several Napa Valley wineries will make that connection an active one this summer by offering exclusive fitness classes in their vineyards. Domaine Carneros (707.257.0101, domainecarneros.com) is hosting personalized yoga classes for groups of 8 to 10 on the terrace of its chateau, catering to guests’ levels of experience. A post-workout flute of the house specialty—organic sparkling w…

The New WallyKokoNut Is Available for Charter

WallyKokoNut, the newest addition to Wally’s extensive fleet of luxury yachts, is now available for charter in Corsica and Sardinia. The semicustom yacht is the second entry in the Monaco-based company’s WallyAce series, which debuted in August 2012.

For 20 years, Wally has been building innovative yachts with a focus on design and technical advancement, and WallyKokoNut is no exception. To minimize noise and vibrations and maximize comfort and stability, the 85-foot yacht employs low-rpm engines that can p…

TAG Heuer Adds a Tourbillon to Its Monaco V4

A decade ago at the Baselworld watch and jewelry show, TAG Heuer introduced the Monaco V4, a radical watch concept that employed a system of belts rather than gears to drive its power train. After five years of tinkering with the prototype, a commercial version was finally introduced to market in 2009. Now, in celebration of the line’s 10th anniversary, TAG Heuer has released the special-edition Monaco V4 Tourbillon.

The most revolutionary feature of the Monaco V4 line, and one of the prime contributors to …

Two Lichtenstein Sculptures Hit the Hamptons

This summer, the beach is not the only sight to see in the Hamptons. Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923–1997) monumental sculptures Tokyo Brushstroke I and II (1994) are now on view at the Parrish Art Museum outside its newly constructed Herzog and de Meuron–designed building in Watermill, New York.

The installation at the Parrish Art Museum—which was founded in Southampton in 1898 and is the oldest cultural institution on the East End of Long Island—is the latest in an ongoing history of Lichtenstein exhibitions at …