PRIVATE TRAVELLER COLLECTION

Iceland is an island of over 100,000 km2 that rises at 500 meters above sea level. Its volcanoes are still active: they have erupted over 30 times in the last two centuries.

Not so long ago in 2010, the Eyjafjöll’s spectacular eruption kept all of Europe grounded for an entire month.

At the vanguard of sustainable energies thanks to its glaciers, volcanoes, hot springs and geysers, the island enjoys a limitless supply of cheap and green electricity.

The island is a must-go spot for fans of extreme landscapes and back-to-basics lifestyles, who dream of immersing themselves in its eternal snows.

Iceland is also at the forefront of feminism: it is the first – and only – European country to have elected a female President.

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was the first woman in the world who was voted President through universal suffrage.

In winter, the climate gets rough. Temperatures routinely drop below -15°C and the weather can change very suddenly: predictions can’t be relied on, although rainstorms can…

High-tech garments are a must to protect yourself from the extreme cold, when driving a jeep or a snowmobile across the glaciers. You can pretend you’re Mike Horn or Gilles Elkaim. Actually, before you go, make sure you have a look at the two adventurer’s achievements.

On a trip to Iceland, your life won’t be much different from theirs: waking up before dawn (there is barely six hours of daylight every day) to discover the crevices, the cauldrons or the ice cones in the stunning setting of the glaciers.

Three sites have shaped the country’s image and are a concentrate of all Icelandic landscapes: Thingvellir National Park, the Gulfoss waterfall and Geysir.

In Thingvellir, you are halfway between Europe and America: in the huge rift created by continental drift. You will walk along a lake in a vast lava field, and watch endless stretches of green plains. You will dive in the incredibly blue waters of the Silfra crack. Marine springs make your descent easier, as there is very little current. This Unesco-listed diving site is amongst the most beautiful in the world: under the water you can see cracks, volcanoes and hot water springs, thanks to an incredible level of visibility in the glacier’s pure waters .

I am not a great fan of travel. Travelling puts me through a lot of stress and anxiety. It is very visceral and unconscious, and I don’t know how to get rid of this stress. I think I got it from my grandma on my mother’s side, who had to leave Corsica in the twenties.

For years she unable to go back, or even to have any news from her family. I can understand what my grandma must have felt: leaving your loved ones behind…

But still I love going places, discovering somewhere new, as long as there is no obligation for me to do so. For a long time, I used to take only the smallest amount of luggage possible. But now I take things that I love: my tea, gluten-free treats, notebooks…

I pack my clothes in pretty bags; I pick a nice toiletry bag, beauty products… I prepare meditation sessions for the plane.

When I rent a holiday house, I get bed sheets, towels and tablecloths shipped over.

I’ve always loved Italy. It is be one of the only countries where I would feel comfortable living, where I would immediately feel at home – without getting that exciting feeling of being in a foreign city.

I learned Italian in high school, and I used to speak it very fluently, like a second mother tongue.

When I was a junior perfume designer for Guerlain, I used to go to Calabria at least once a year for bergamot harvest season. Regio di Calabria is a large and slightly provincial Mediterranean town. It is a bit like an old-fashioned, faded version of Cannes. The seafront has this holiday feel to it, but in February it is always cold and windy. The sea is pretty cold in the strait of Messina. The place is very near Taormina. You can take a boat and go to Sicily for the day.

Being a perfume designer doesn’t mean you have an extraordinary sense of smell. But in Calabria you do get really unusual smells: the factories have this warm, green smell of hot citrus fruit. There is the smell of the sea. Over there, everyone can grow bergamot: once I met a fisherman who had his own fields. It is interesting to see how these fragrances can work together.

The food there is incredibly tasty – typical seaside Italian food with lots of seafood, fish pasta, vegetables… It’s fantastic. And the landscapes! In Calabria, some villages still very much bear the mark of the ancient times. You can still find preserved spots with no tarmacked roads and wooden shacks. The nature is still untouched.

I love hotels. But when I get there, one small detail and the experience can go completely wrong.

If the place is perfumed, it ruins everything for me. If I am staying in a hotel, like I did in London recently, and its perfume is so pregnant, so concentrated that it blocks the air, that breathing becomes difficult, I find it unbearable. This needs to be said! Hotel managers do not imagine that this can be unpleasant: it is 90% of the time. Perfuming a room can mean two things: that the client smells bad, and that they are not at home. But the most thoughtful thing you can do for someone is to make them feel like they’re at home.

Perfume tells a different story from the one that is imposed upon us. Balzac used to say: “I belong to the opposition party, which is called life”. I would like to show that there is something else to perfume than what we are being force-fed all day long.

The perfume industry is still very macho. I don’t understand why women are not rebelling against that. There is always this caricatured view of women.

Even a smell that you love becomes unpleasant if it is too concentrated. The body resists and worries. This goes against all sense of pleasure in perfume. We should come back to common sense, to associating pleasure with sincerity and with a form of beauty.

More personal: Rome. A city for farniente and curiosity, a city for losing control. I was lucky enough to stay at the Villa Medici, in the city’s historical centre - which is also the heart of modernity and creativity. You can walk everywhere, to all the shops and museums. You are part of the city’s face. I like the cultural shock, and feeling immersed in all this beauty.

A place’s visual beauty is very important in my quest for serenity, quiet and plenitude. I need to be cleansed out by beauty. It helps me recharge my batteries.

It is small but its power is legendary. In the 50’s, James Cooper dreamed up a car that was as fast as a Formula 1 and could slalom the Alps’ most sinuous roads or whizz around central London just as effortlessly. Inside, it feels like sitting in a go-kart or in a bumper car... Pretty subversive from today’s perspective!

After staying parked away for a while, the Mini is now one of the most iconic cars of our times, thanks to its ability to reinvent and transform itself. Just like the very latest model, presented at the Geneva Auto Show last Spring.

More suited for Victoria Beckham’s shopping than for James Bond’s car chases, the Mini Clubman Bond Street can tackle Mayfair’s tight U-turns just as elegantly as Windsor or Versailles’ alleys. It holds the road like a dream, and changing gears makes you feel like Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Raïkkonnen… all of that without compromising on absolute comfort: the driver is comfortably seated on a Champagne-coloured moulded leather seat, in front of a Black Carbon leather dashboard.

The bodywork is sculpted like a jewel, with Midnight Black metallic paint contrasting with a Champagne-coloured roof, mirrors and stripes. So chic and feminine, and as addictive as a Roland Mouret dress…

Paul Smith Mini, 1997
Unique creation with 84 stripes et 24 differents colors.

Over the past ten years, fixed gear bikes – or fixies – have gone from the courier’s arsenal to the hipster’s kit, and then to the list of the urban design amateur’s most prized possessions. With sleek minimalist lines and a custom-made design that makes each piece unique, the bicycle has turned from a means of transportation into a luxury item. These days, you select and flaunt your fixie as you would a fashion accessory. 

Famous brands are increasingly trying their hand at the production of luxury bicycles: Louis Vuitton’s polo bike, Chanel’s black and white model, Fendi’s city bicycle with removable fur saddlebags… Paul Smith, a notorious cycling fanatic, has teamed up with mythical London brand Condor to create a line of couture bicycles that marry old-fashioned finish (a Brooks leather saddle and leather grip on the handles) and cutting-edge technology (hand-crafted frame and wheels), with the designer’s typical touch of colour. Smith also designed a line of fluo leather racing saddles for Kashimax.

Marc Schmitt, a journalist and  figurehead of the Paris bike polo scene, was prompt in spotting the trend: in 2011 he launched Steel, a quarterly magazine on fixies. “Beyond a sport, we are bringing the spotlight on a whole culture and a lifestyle”, he explains. The magazine offers features on urban practices of single-gear riding, portraits of riders or makers, but also fashion stories for the style-conscious cyclist.

Fashion has also embraced the trend. Dayglow lycra is a thing of the past, thanks to British label Rapha’s vintage-style merino polos: a few years ago, the brand even launched a line in collaboration with Paul Smith (him again!). For women on two wheels, US brand Vespertine has created reflective jackets that make you want to keep them on once on foot. And Levis launched a line of stretch-rich jeans: today’s hipster can ride comfortably without giving up on skinny jeans. No more excuses to keep your bike in the garage!   

Haydon Clout, the owner, hails from New Zealand. The chef, Matt Ong, is British. The décor is reminiscent of an old-fashioned French bistro, with racks full of Bourgogne and Côtes du Rhône, a zinc counter and wooden tables.

The menu changes every day: a plate of charcuterie as appetizers, 4 starters and 4 mains, a plate of cheeses and 3 deserts. Today, black pudding was matched with squid and black radish; roasted cod with heirloom tomatoes; and rice pudding with white nectarines. Subtlety primes. English cheeses, served in small touches, are perfect for the winter. A truly lovable place that will soon convert you into a regular.

No wonder this mythical avenue in Paris was named after an English king: with all its palaces, Avenue Georges V is the most British of all Parisians. If the Beatles and the Rolling Stones where regulars at the Georges V hotel, you now need to head to the Prince de Galles to meet the French and British crème de la crème.

After two years’ redecoration under the direction of Pierre-Yves Rochon, this masterpiece of Art Deco built in 1928 has retained its legendary understated elegance. The perfect bar to sip a Bloody Mary…