7 minute read
ARES DESIGN
BALEARIC ISLANDS
by Antonio Ribes
Inmobiliaria Rimontgò, Jávea, Spain.
Could you summarise the market in your area in 2021?
The best ever – the market reaction has exceeded all expectations. Sales have increased to levels not seen for a very long time. The post-covid reaction from buyers was so strong that it isn’t an exaggeration to call 2021 a historic year, surpassing even the years before 2008.
How do you see things developing in 2022?
Things are uncertain, because of the current situation in the world. There is still a lot of interest from buyers, but no accurate forecasts could be made right now.
What kind of buyers are coming to your area?
Mostly international buyers with high purchasing power who are looking for a second home, as well as those seeking a ‘Second Prime-Home’ where they can spend most of the year, while working and living in a beautiful, safe and lifestyle-focused environment. The nationalities that stand out the most are German, Scandinavian, French and British, above all.
What kind of properties and lifestyle are they looking for?
As a result of the pandemic, buyers prioritise healthy living conditions and properties with outdoor living space, with quality materials and amenities. The demand for such homes in the luxury segment has risen significantly and there has also been a related rise in sales of country properties.
Many buyers also prefer modern homes, primarily in exclusive areas, first line to the sea or to golf courses and other green zones. Besides contemporary style and amenities they also wish for the latest technology and comfort, and there has been a noticeable drop in interest in more urban areas with focus now on gardens and facilities such as workspaces, home gyms, etc. Some people even ask for an orchard area in which to grow their own fruit, vegetables, herbs and sometimes even olive oil and wine.
Has the market changed a lot over the past few years?
The luxury market continues to gather importance and more recently there has also been a rise in demand for country properties and attractive working farms. This region offers both in good measure.
A WORLD OF CRYSTAL AND PORCELAIN
Akin in many ways to the world of jewellery, those of crystal and porcelain belong to a realm of art, craftsmanship and traditions that stretch back into antiquity, forming a continuum with the past through luxury brands that continue to thrive today.
Of the two, adding lead to glass to create crystal is the older art, having emerged around 3,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, while the firing kilns of China first separated mere pottery from porcelain around the beginning of the modern year count. For this reason, porcelain is also referred to as ‘fine bone china’, for by the time it reached Europe, the Middle East and Far East had already taken this form of artistry to a high point of perfection. Ever since, makers of porcelain and ‘lead glass’ have been inspired to new heights of creativity, quality and skill.
CRYSTAL
Mesopotamia is regarded as the cradle of an industry that is almost four millennia old, and the oldest known fragment of crystal found here was dated to 1,400 BCE. It later also spread to China, India, Europe and eventually across the globe, but today the most revered names in the creation of fine quality crystalware are almost exclusively European, many of them known around the world. One of the oldest of these is the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Sant Louis, known as Sain Louis and now owned by Hermès.
Founded in 1586, Saint Louis worked by royal commission and lead crystal production in Europe, laying the foundations for other renowned French crystal makers such as Christofle, Lalique and Baccarat. Where René Lalique became famous for his Art Nouveau-inspired glass jewellery and decorative creations, Christofle and Baccarat create some of the most exquisite tableware in the world. This is also true of Val Saint Lambert, a luxury manufacturer from Belgium that was founded by a French master craftsman at Napoleon’s initiative.
You see, the great general and statesman had an eye for business as well, and customers of this purveyor of beautiful coloured glass have been grateful ever since. But it isn’t France alone that has a reputation for fine quality crystal, as perhaps the oldest of all manufacturers of crystalware is Bohemia, an institution in the field since the Middle Ages. Its characteristic designs spawned other great names, such as Swarovski of Austria – the largest of all crystal producers – Waterford from Ireland and Atlantis from Portugal, each known for its unique signature style.
Lalique embodies the elegance of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods Atlantis, a quality brand from Portugal
“It is in noble products of this kind that one sees why the European patrimony, from luxury products to beautiful country and city homes, is so uniquely rich and appealing.”
Eva Marschall
Marschall Immobilien Vienna, AUSTRIA
The flowing Art Nouveau styles of Baccarat
Sèvres, one of the luxury porcelain brands from France
Beautiful creations from Lladró Elegance and refined workmanship from Limoges, France
PORCELAIN
When the first Portuguese and Dutch merchants brought back precious fine bone China, it was the blue-and-white style using a cobalt oxide that was copied and later adapted by these European countries to lay the foundations for their own gorgeous blue-white porcelain. In the case of the Dutch, it became famous in its own right as ‘Delft Blue’, though Portugal’s Vistalegre brand continues to be one of the finest in the world today.
It ranks among the likes of Wedgwood and Royal Copenhagen, the British and Danish blue-white interpretations of the Chinese original, as well as famous German brands Villeroy & Boch and Meissen, the latter being the first hard-paste china made in Europe. Their delicate figurines compare with the iconic style of Lladró, a company from the Comunitat Valenciana in Spain who’s characteristically flowing designs are instantly recognisable.
Asprey is another hallowed name in this refined field, but as with crystal the French have the bulk of the top names to their credit, including the likes of Limoges, Sèvres (originally founded as Vincennes Porcelaine), Christofle and Hermès, but some of the leading producers of an artistic, creative world in which finely crafted crystal and porcelain pieces of the utmost beauty add style and function to modern homes just as they did to chateaux and country estates centuries ago.
WORDS: MICHEL CRUZ
INVESTING IN WINERIES
Wine is a world unto itself, and though investing in a winery can be highly rewarding both financially and personally, it is different enough from buying conventional real estate assets to warrant working with experienced specialists.
A Galluran winery, Sardinia
As a pan-European, indeed international organisation that brings together a prime collection of top agencies, EREN is about so much more than the selling of homes alone. Within its ranks are specialists of various kinds, from legal and financial aspects to resort development, complex purchasing structures, land acquisition, finding properties of historic value, (re)development projects and commercial, retail and leisure property. Included in this broad range are also golf courses, hotels and wineries, each a specialist field in its own right.
Within EREN, the wine estate specialists are naturally mostly found in wine-producing countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Austria, and we include their insights in this article.
“Our most important wine estates are located in the renowned region of Gallura – Costa Smeralda, northern Sardinia, a unique, highly desirable destination in the heart of the Western Mediterranean. It is a land historically devoted to producing excellent wine and food, with a mild micro climate and a terroir characterised by ideal paedogenetic substrate conditions. In other words, a unique place where the rural scenery and ancient traditions are the foundations of wonderful wines.”
In Gallura, and all around Sardinia, the typical Mediterranean scrub alternates with vineyards both near the sea and in hill country. “A peculiarity of our Gallura wines is the strong territorial characterisation, where the soil, the climate and the purifying Mistral wind that blows throughout the year under direct influence of the sea produce highly localised conditions and wines rich with the unique aromas of Mediterranean shrub and sea.”
In Sardinia there is a remarkable viticultural biodiversity that covers the island with distinct local varieties, noted among which are Cannonau, Vermentino, Nuragus and Carignano, produced on local farms and rustic country estates within gorgeous Sardinian scenery. Giancarlo knows both the subject matter and its related real estate market well, and is experienced at advising buyers in this most sensory of investments.
Giancarlo Bracco
Immobilsarda Sardinia, ITALY
Vineyard in Sardinia
