NOMADESSENCE Magazine (No. 1)

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NO. 1

NOMADESSENCE MAGAZINE

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NOMADESSENCE

EDITORIAL

WELCOME TO OUR WORLD

NOMADESSENCE

“In our evolving world we have an opportunity to reach beyond storytelling to craft legacy through collaboration and synergy.”

- Milena Cvijanovich We are the Glamorous Nomads - unceasingly inspired in our travels and encounters by the concept of Sustainable Luxury.

Is sustainable luxury an oxymoron?

On the contrary, from preserving exquisite, nearly-lost craftsmanship in a hidden valley in Bhutan to promoting a new technology or art that turns harmful waste into gorgeous luxury materials and objects, this exciting duality carries the seeds of resource preservation and community-building needed in our world today with a touch of glamour to turn the heads of the most discerning consumers. The potential for a high-end lifestyle to co-exist with and embody sustainable living is enormous.

Luxury and Sustainability are increasingly being fused in the fashion and food industries where care is being taken to manage both process and product from procurement through to retailing.

In both we find respect for rarity, the notion of time and the importance of heritage. Both can be about creation, education, about pleasure and emotion. And both can be sexy and trendy. Today, we are increasingly able to harness these qualities because the impetus to see these two worlds join forces is on the increase, and marketplaces are responding with care, creativity and innovation.

In over twenty years of globetrotting we have witnessed Dexterity and Invention producing fine products and exemplary services that celebrate a collective human experience interwoven with inspiring stories. The mission of The Glamorous Nomad is to convey the infinite variety of experience and high-end possibilities inherent in Sustainable Luxury as this growing trend develops in the marketplaces and lifestyles of the globe.

At NOMADESSENCE we are dedicated to bringing together companies and individuals who produce and aspire to the very best life has to offer and who are keen to become better guardians of our beautiful planet and its inhabitants without compromising on comfort, pleasure or esthetics. We will cover all aspects of lifestyle from architecture and design to travel, tourism and wellbeing, all inherently oriented to luxury yet grounded on the pillars of sustainability.

Upcycled products, age-old crafts in combination with cutting-edge eco-technology will showcase the “wow” factor you’ve been looking for in your home. Our stories of hidden gems and intriguing activities will support you to exploring lifeenhancing opportunities in a new light.

Enjoy our posts and see the world as your oyster – to cherish, admire and partake in, guiltlessly.

We are the Glamorous Nomads – welcome to our World.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Cover Photos: Gilles Cenazandotti Aurora Robson & josephwalshstudio.com Photo 2: Sarah Turner Photo 3: marasim.co Photo 4: Stuart Haygarth Photo 5: marcfish.com

NOMADESSENCE

“To stretch the horizon of luxury beyond beauty and function to embrace concerns for environment and wellbeing ignite empathy and meaning.”

- Teresa Ashton

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NOMADESSENCE

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

“Architecture is really about well-being.

I think that people want to feel good in a space…

On the one hand it’s about shelter, but it’s also about pleasure.”

- Zaha Hadid

This past year has been challenging for all of humanity. The harsh transition from physical closeness to virtual relationships that we have had to develop with our loved ones has been trying. On the other side of the spectrum, the unexpected prolonged proximity in smaller-than-expected spaces has also been a revelatory experience for many of us with unforeseen obstacles. We have been made particularly aware of our physical environment, at home and at work.

But this situation also brings opportunities, and many of us have had the chance to take a step back from our daily lives to reassess what we expect and strive for in the long term. We cherish moments we can take in each other’s company, we enjoy open spaces and nature and we nurture the time we have for ourselves to reflect and recharge. This transition has been and needs to be reflected in our personal surroundings.

NOMADESSENCE brings you our thoughts on your private and professional environment and how you can best create the spaces you need to flourish at home and at work.

THE HOME OFFICE

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Define your space – If you do not have or do not wish to be in a separate room, in order to absorb surrounding sounds all you need is an eye-level screen behind you. Place a panel that you can place behind your chair and on either side. This can be custom-made to incorporate your company logo and provide an attractive background color for conference calls which can further underscore your corporate identity.

This creates a useful boundary where a wall would be inappropriate or intrusive.

For those of us who are used to traveling, the concept of a nomadic office is nothing new. Yet, we may have new constraints in our own homes, such as space, sound and visual interferences. Fortunately, it takes very little to define a spatial boundary – even elements as ephemeral as color or textural changes, lighting, screens or even a highly functional piece such as a desk tailored perfectly to one’s needs, can make a person feel that they are in a protected and delineated space. If you have chosen an area in your home that you are comfortable working in, there are only a few steps to take to transform it into a cocoon of your creativity whether it be in banking, law, consulting, or any other field. Here are our main tips to make you feel at ease at work…at home:

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Safeguard your corporate identity. Have your background wall or panel - custom-designed to reflect your corporate identity. Use color and graphic signage to enhance your company’s identity and logo when conversing with colleagues and clients. This branding gesture will also reinforce your own identity with your brand.

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

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Mind your acoustics - Choose materials such as textiles, felt, cork and wood for your panels or background wall to absorb acoustic interference.

This will keep your space silent, protect your worktime from interfering with the rest of your environment and keep your conference call environment professional.

THE HOME OFFICE

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Choose colors that define the space in relation to your corporate identity but also in respect of the lighting you have available – natural and artificial.

Dark colors absorb light but can give gravitas to a space. Light colors can expand a space but may also not ground your presence enough. Study the color choice carefully to convey the best message to yourself as much as to your clients.

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Lighting is the one element that can make or break a space. Choose your task lighting well – consider whether the source has to provide you with light to read papers, or has to illuminate your presence on a call, or has to provide the environment for computer tasks, or all three. Lighting can also enhance the feeling of the space being a physical entity even if it is just a corner in a larger room.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photo 1: devorm.nl Photo 2: Juan Carretero Photo 3: Maki Yamamoto Photo 4: bentleyslondon.com Photo 5: 1stdibs.com Photo 6: Maisons du Monde Photo 7: nohrd.com Photo 8: NOMADESSENCE Photo 9: Douglas VanderHorn Architects

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Choose your desk and chair carefully. Consider the ergonomics of your tasks, the functional needs when you are at your desk. The choice of exquisite sustainable desks is vast from wood, to recycled, polished metals to coconut shell, mother of pearl and sustainable leathers. Chairs, ideal for sitting long hours, built of recycled plastic mesh, soft, plush textiles and leathers with wood and metal accents and structures will make you wish you could spend more time at work.

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Count a space at least 250cm x 250cm free space for ease of movement

THE HOMESPA & WELLNESS SPACE

Install a full-length mirror on one wall and preferable a bar for additional movement exercises

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Make sure your space is ventilated naturally or artificially

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Choose your materials carefullyorganic paints, anti-fungal flooring appropriate for your sport, etc. movement exercises

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If possible, include a sink, toilet and shower for comfort and hygiene.

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Choose indirect and dimmable lighting so that you avoid glare into light sources when exercising, in massage sessions or when meditating

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With gyms and beauty centers closed or difficult to schedule, many of us have turned to the idea of creating our own home spas and gyms. Our favorite coaches and service professionals are fortunately at our sides to make these private cocooning spaces a revelation we will not let go of even once our clubs are accessible again. NOMADESSENCE offers you some guidelines in integrating this space in your home.

As with the home office, you will wish to define a space which is separated from the rest of your residence – visually but also in protection from external noise.

For yoga, pilates and other workout practices:

Pay attention to ceiling finishes – consider your ceiling as a fifth wall that you will look at during your exercise or massage sessions – the lighting, ventilation, speaker and other elements should be carefully placed to take your full comfort into account.

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Music is a known healer. Try to integrate a music system when conceiving your wellness space. Keep in mind the comfort of others outside your space.

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Look into compact equipment such as infrared saunas.

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

A home spa can be the most indulgent and inspiring environment without needing much space. The key is to consider every square centimeter with attention as one would in a yacht or plane and make each material and texture choice a part of the sensation of pampering and wellbeing.

50 SHADES OF COCOONING

GATEWAY COCOON Maybe what you are looking for is a place to get away from it all. The beauty of interior design is that it takes very little to create the feel, be it even the illusion of, seclusion. Tackling the design from the point of view of a stage set designer, you can enjoy your new private world designed only through textiles and lighting.

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Play with curtains, screens, possibly elements of furniture such as a bookcase or console, to define your cocoon. A window casing can be a perfect private nook as can the corner of a room with a library wall.

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Choose your favorite color that makes you feel good and apply it as paint, wallpaper or textile paneling on one wall that you choose as your accent wall.

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Flooring enhances the feel of a space. Wood flooring is cozy while marble exhudes a more glamorous and cooler aura.

Carpetting and rugs enhance the tactile effect of a space. Choose according to the persona you wish to experience in that space.

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Explore the cast panoply of seating to express the cocoon you envision. From cozy felts and wools to baroque chateau pieces in intricately carved woods, to sleek, modern Scandinavian minimalist designs to funky, one-of-a-kind pieces reflecting the extreme of creativity, the choices are endless. Let your decision be made by your emotions – this is your space.

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Provide a space for your pet to join you.

And finally, accessorize with your favorite objects – candles, books, boxes, collections.

NOMADESSENCE

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Table lamps, floor lamps and indirect lighting (cove lighting or lighting integrated in built-in shelving for example) provide a soft ambience while the option of dimming allows for further control of the atmosphere of the space. Playing with fiber optics in the ceiling, floor or walls can truly transform a space and transport you to another world.

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Aside from being miniature pharmaceutical factories, mushrooms are being noticed for their ability to transform into surprising functional materials.

NOMADESSENCE

THE AMAZING WORLD OF FUNGI

THE AMAZING WORLD OF FUNGI

THE AMAZING WORLD OF FUNGI

“These rare pieces embody our shared commitment to innovate a kinder fashion industry - one that sees the birth of beautiful, luxurious materials as opposed to the deaths of our fellow creatures and planet” - Stella McCartney

The world of Sustainable Luxury is mushrooming... literally... The amazing properties of our planet’s fungi are being put to use in textiles, packaging and furniture with stunning results.

Luxury brand par excellence, Hermes, has unveiled this month its classic Victoria travel bag touting a vegan alternative to leather – Sylvania. A brainchild of California-based MycoWorks, this hightech textile with leather-like attributes is patented as Fine Mycelium technology. This futuristic textile is grown from mycelium, the root network of mushrooms, that creates a structure with the same strength, texture and behaviour as traditional animal leathers. Fabricated in the laboratories of MycoWorks in San Francisco and tanned and crafted by Hermes master craftsmen, Sylvania is another inspiring example of the extraordinary creativity brought on by the union of Sustainability with Luxury.

Sustainable innovation in the experimentation with mycelium is particularly impressive in packaging and is being applied to luxury packaging such as that of precious wines and fine cosmetics. Renowned brands Origins and Hudson Hemp’s Treaty ship their youth elixirs in this biodegradable, waterresistant and protective organic packaging.

Espousing the shape of the object it shelters, mycelium packaging is produced by filling molds with recycled agriculture byproducts like corn, hemp, wood or bamboo, then injecting spores into the remaining cavities.

The filaments of the fungus grow at an exponential pace and fill the void, becoming the binding agent to transform the composition into a durable, flame-resistant solid material, 100% compostable.

One of our favorite sustainable luxury heroines, Stella McCartney, partnered with Bolt Threads to show us that fungi can be sexy too. Her two-piece bustier and trousers made from recycle scuba nylon and mycelium leather panels entices the most stylish woman to don eco-warrior armour.

Mycelium magic doesn’t stop here. Creatives like UK-based design studios Sebastian Cox and Nir Meiri, are turning this fabulous fungus into ephemeral furniture and elegant lighting. Nir Meiri’s Mycelium Lights bring a glow to sustainability with their organic lampshade lit up from below.

Combined with 3d printing technology, these crafted pieces are only the beginning of a promising adventure in biodegradable, environmentally positive industrial design.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photo 1: Damir Overović Photo 2: Stella McCartney & Bolt Threads Photo 3: abettersource.org Photo 4: Coppi Barbieri Photo 5: Andrew Nunes

These fine tendrils are branching out into another industry – architecture and building construction.

Hard as it may seem to picture entire fungi towns, industry giants such as Arup are experimenting with mycelium bricks whose structural integrity is no magic mushroom joke. The largest living organism in the world is, in fact, a 970-hectare mycelium network spread beneath Malheur National Forest in the western USA. In fact, even NASA has been looking at mycelium-based construction on Mars as it is light-weight, non-toxic, grows rapidly even under extreme conditions and has exceptional insulating qualities.

THE AMAZING WORLD OF FUNGI

“Mycelium… collectively have the long-term health of the host environment in mind.”

- Paul Stamets, famed mycologist.

No need to consume mushrooms to enjoy visions of their extraordinary future for sustainable leathers, objects and the packaging they come in. We look forward to the unfurling of this ancestral underground life form in our world of luxury design.

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Sustainable Luxury is the future and women are undoubtedly the leaders of the fabulously successful new business model. Discover 8 women who show us through their amazing results how cool, glamorous, sophisticated AND essentially powerful Luxury can be when it has the mission to respect our planet and its inhabitants.

NOMADESSENCE

SUSTAINABLE LUXURY HEROINES

Livia Firth ...is co-founder and Creative Director of Eco-Age – the leading consulting and creative agency speciaised in integrated sustainability, and founder of the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC).

LU X U RY HEROINE

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: businessoffashion.com

Livia Firth, the wife of actor Collin Firth,seduced the fashion industry by taking clever advantage of her A-list status to found the Green Carpet Challenge.

Throwing the gauntlet to celebs and designers to take on eco textiles, she got stellar results: Gucci’s 10 years sustainability plan, Valentino’s haute couture eco gowns worn at the Oscars, Mette-Marit, crown princess of Norway’s sustainable Pucci dress at a royal wedding. The Eco-Age creative director and Green Carpet Challenge founder has been championing sustainability in the fashion industry for over a decade and her executive role in producing the “The True Cost” documentary has brought her even more success.

In 2014, Livia and her husband have been given an honorary award from the German Sustainability Awards “Livia is fearless, she’ll pick up the phone to anybody,” said Anna Wintour of Firth’s philanthropy. As Livia says, “No one has to wear hemp and sandals” to show eco-awareness. With a wink she makes me feel her soft black dress whispering, “Hemp by Valentino.”

She is renowned for creating compelling frameworks and campaigns for environmental and social. justice with global reach.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: wikipedia.com

LU X U RY H E RO I N E

Caroline Scheufele Artistic Director and Co-President of Chopard, the Swiss-based luxury brand.

Chopard, has proved itself as a unique luxury jewelry company through The Journey to Sustainable Luxury (launched in 2012), with the help of our friends, Eco-Age, and lead by Chopard’s co-president and artistic director, Caroline Scheufele.

By maintaining the balance between traditional design while consolidating new “green gold” principles, she led the company by having a positive impact on our planet and more particularly on consumer perceptions. The jewelry house is dedicated to transparency and to drive design on its journey to sustainable luxury. Caroline has also pushed the company’s decision to use only Fairmined gold, traceable routes for gems and of course she is the force behind “Green Carpet” collection, which has been created with thehighest commitment to meaningful luxury objects.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: nudeismycolor.com maskbook.org

LU X U RY H E RO I N E

Cécile Lochard Cécile Lochard, Paris-based Sustainable Luxury Guru par excellence, consults for prestigious luxury brands, including HSBC and Louis Vuitton, convincing them of the delicate yet crucial ties between their role as luxury brands and their responsibility towards the environment and their employees.

“It is the world of Luxury which must set the example,” says Lochard, past director of Philanthropy at WWF and co-author of “Luxe et Développement Durable” (Luxury and Sustainability), making a watertight case for this new business model. She dedicates herself to prestigious conferences on sustainable luxury strategies, teaching and personal work on animal intelligence. In 2015 she was appointed Head of Communication and Sustainable Development for CHA LING, new cosmetics house inspired by an ecological dream (LVMH Group) and in early 2019 she has become the Head of Sustainability Communications of GUERLAIN.

LU X U RY H E RO I N E

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: lookfantastic.com

LU X U RY H E RO I N E

Sylvie Chantecaille

Chantecaille sets a luxurious standard in the world of modern, botanical skincare and cosmetics.

Creating groundbreaking formulas for the sustainable luxury cosmetics industry, Sylvie Chantecaille is the CEO & President of Chantecaille Beauté Inc., a brand that harnesses the natural benefits of flowers.

Not only Sylvie is keeping nature and philanthropy at the forefront of her company’s mission, but she is also partnering with organizations that fight for global environmental issues. More and more, the luxury cosmetics is leaning towards a more sustainable and botanical beauty.

DIANA VERDE NIETO

LU X U RY HEROINE

...is the co-founder of Positive Luxury, a company that helps brands adapt to the new sustainability economy.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: Positive Luxury

Founder and CEO of PositiveLuxury.com, the company behind the Butterfly Mark, Argentinian born Diana Verde Nieto created a glamorous website that inspires people to look good and do good simultaneously through responsibly sourced purchases. Her ties with sustainability began with Clownfish, her previous global sustainability communications consultancy.

A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader nominee, Diana has persuaded companies as established as DKNY, Kenzo, and Nike to reach for her Blue Butterfly trust mark.

LU X U RY H E RO I N E

Aissa Dione While the traditional textile industry was disappearing in Senegal with the influx of foreign products, textile designer Aissa Dione came along an Amazon in shining armor and launched in 1992 a company specialized in high-end weaving employing over a hundred people.

Attracting international designers such as Jacques Grange, Peter Marino and Christian Liaigre with her exquisite furniture textiles, Aissa is perpetuating the skills of traditional Mandjaque weavers and the processing of local African cotton and natural dyes. Aissa’s graphic transformation of traditional patterns into fusion designs for the Western luxury market has brought economic transformation to her impoverished region.

Words: NOMADESSENCE Photography: savadi-maison.com

Sustainable Luxury drives positive change through financially viable, culturally enriching and environmentally respectful business opportunities, allowing women from all corners of the globe to connect at all levels and create profitable (and memorable) ventures.