Bal Harbour

BY JORGE S. ARANGO Château La Coste in Le Puy-Sainte- Réparde, just 20 minutes from Aix-en- Provence, offers more than gorgeous wine. It encompasses an auberge, various restaurants, and an art foundation, all set on a 500-acre open-air site. From June 23 through September 21, the Château's Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion (the last built work of the Pritzker Architecture Prize–winning architect) will host "Pure," an exhibition of sculptural furniture, lighting, and art. The exhibition is curated by Ralph Pucci, one of the pioneers of collectible design. "I had read about Château La Coste [when it first opened]; my wife and I went to Aix and visited a few times," says Pucci. "I was incredibly impressed." Seven years ago, he and estate owner Paddy McKillen began discussing a show that would highlight Pucci's sculpture studio. The resulting exhibition is a milestone for the preeminent functional-art maven, commemorating 50 years since Pucci stepped into his family's mannequin- repair business and transformed it into a boundary-bending gallery space. "I was offered the Niemeyer or Renzo Piano spaces," says Pucci of La Coste's many architectural masterpieces by Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, et al (as well as artworks and installations by Sophie Calle, Andy Goldsworthy, Sean Scully, Richard Serra, and many others). "When we took the long walk to the Niemeyer pavilion, I saw the building come up with the sun beaming through, very white and fluid forms, piercing through nature, and I knew this was the place." "Pure" features pristinely white works in Pucci's proprietary Plasterglass by Elizabeth Garouste, Paul Mathieu, Patrick Naggar, Eric Schmitt and others from Pucci's stable of artist-designers. For more information, visit chateau-la-coste.com through, the white Plasterglass others artist-designers. chateau-la-coste.com SECRET CENTRAL LONDON London has seen a flurry of new hotel openings in the last two years, mostly from big brands like Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental, so it's refreshing to see a new option that's determinedly a little different. The Newman is an 81-room, Art Deco–inspired new-build property from an executive team with experience at Firmdale hotels and restaurateur Corbin & King—both superb examples of distinctly British hospitality. More intriguing, though, is its unexpected location: Fitzrovia, the arty, often overlooked neighborhood sandwiched between Marylebone and Bloomsbury. Centered in leafy Fitzroy Square, the area is home to plant-crammed, cobblestoned mews and laneways, which make it easy to feel you're far from the city center. (Among the most Insta-ready: Colville Place, Charlotte Place, Warren Mews.) It's a hot spot of small independent galleries, too, from emerging-artist hub Alice Amati to Australian specialist Rebecca Hossack, patron and co-founder of the free Fitzrovia Arts Festival each June. Stop in for a pint at the Lore of the Land, a gastropub co-owned by director Guy Ritchie, or a coffee at the Attendant, a witty repurposing of an underground Victorian-era lavatory; the Australian-skewing Lantana is the other option for coffee snobs. Try superb Middle Eastern BBQ at Honey & Smoke, or some tapas at bar-restaurant Salt Yard. End the evening with a cocktail at the speakeasy-style Punch Room inside the Edition hotel. NEXT UP: LITCHFIELD, CONNECTICUT BELDEN HOUSE & MEWS IS A 31-ROOM HOTEL IN THE HEART OF TOWN OPENED BY ANTHONY CHAMPALIMAUD, OWNER OF NEW YORK'S CHIC TROUTBECK ESTATE. FINLAND OCTOLA, THE 740-ACRE ARCTIC CIRCLE RESORT, DEBUTS ITS SECOND LUXURY CABIN THIS WINTER AND IS NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS. LIE IN BED GAZING AT THE STARS—OR MORE LIKELY, THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, AS THIS IS A PRIME PERCH FOR VIEWING THE OTHERWORLDLY PHENOMENON. The jewel-box Belden Bar offers a curated selection of locally grown, milled, and distilled spirits. The Foundry chair by Vladimir Kagan for Ralph Pucci P H OTO BY A N TO I N E B O OT Z (C H A I R) ; W E A R E C O N T E N T S ( PAV I L I O N ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F B E L D E N H O U S E & M E W S This summer, Château La Coste's Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion will house "Pure," an exhibition of design curated by Ralph Pucci. Art & Vines in Provence

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