As I make my way through the busy streets of Ashrafieh, it might be due to my biased perception but my eyes are drawn to Maktabis everywhere. And all of them in the carpet business. There’s Nivine Maktabi’s Oumnia, with its modernist tribal rugs, Hadi Maktabi’s traditional Oriental carpet shop…
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Business
Seven years on, Philippe Massoud’s ilili , the New York-based Mediterranean fusion restaurant is busy redefining the concept of Lebanese cuisine. New York City is now several years deep into its fascination with Brussels sprouts. In a town known for its seasonal food fads – think pork buns, cupcakes and…
Inventor of the boutique hotel concept, Ian Schrager saw the future of the hotel industry before it came. Now, he goes even further by turning the concept on its head, redefining the notion of a boutique experience as being a matter of size. Miami. June 10. Monday. A rumpled visionary,…
Once upon a time, the world’s wealthy sent their daughters to Swiss finishing schools but by the 1960s, gender equality, women’s liberation and an emphasis on higher education for all prompted a decline. Nowadays only Villa Pierrefeu remains. It’s not about balancing a book on your head, how to hold…
At the age of seventy-four, hotel magnate Adrian Zecha is an hotelier phenomenon, though he’s quick to dismiss it. Currently the executive chairman of Aman resorts and chairman of the luxury hotel management company GHM, Zecha, in a rare interview, talks to Nicolas Shammas about hotels, lifestyle and why he…
The most pertinent question for oil producing countries is what will happen when the oil is gone. But as some of the world’s largest oil producers, the Gulf countries have different ways to cope once the rigs stop pumping. Petroleum and economic expert Dr. Marwan Iskandar debates this issue. Those…