Masterpieces
Masterpieces
Masterpieces covers the latest news and trends in luxury jewellery and high horology, providing insights on design, craftsmanship and industry developments.
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South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
How Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is redefining bespoke design: Princess Beatrice's husband's latest project is a US$74 million home in London's Belgravia that blends vintage charm and responsible luxury
A quick Google search of Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi 's name brings up multiple headlines hinting at his many lives in the spotlight. He is, after all, the husband of Princess Beatrice, a descendant of Italian nobility himself, and the founder and CEO of London-based design studio Banda, which now boasts high-end, high-profile projects everywhere from Hyde Park to the Hamptons. First and foremost, however, the luxury property developer will have you know he's also a child of divorce, speaking with unexpected candour about how the experience has shaped his life trajectory and informed his design philosophy. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi's design studio Banda boasts a number of high-end, high-profile projects. Photo: Handout Advertisement 'Having lived in multiple homes with divorced parents and seeing how much design affects family life, the built environment, especially at home, was so important to me,' he tells me matter-of-factly over a video call from London on a sunny Monday morning. Above all, Mozzi is a figure who understands the nuances of family life better than many. Now 41, with several notable property projects under his belt and prestigious clients to match, he's a full-time family man himself, a far cry from the fresh-faced 23-year-old university graduate who started his business with little credentials beyond bold, brash ideas and a sense of urgency to do things differently. 'I guess there was a lot of naivete in me at the time, with a huge amount of energy,' the entrepreneur muses. 'I came to London looking for exciting opportunities and, looking at what other developers were doing, felt there was a lot of generic luxury. Everything looked the same architecturally, interior-wise. Everything felt very uncomfortable – you'd walk into very expensive houses, people telling you, 'take your shoes off'. You didn't feel comfortable sitting down.' Banda's newest project is 5 Whistler Square, in the heart of London's Belgravia district. Photo: Handout Banda's answer to generic luxury has been anything but, blending past, present and future together in what Mozzi calls a completely bespoke manner. The developer's latest project, 5 Whistler Square – housed in the Chelsea Barracks neighbourhood, in the heart of London's famously lavish Belgravia district – is steeped in this ethos of luxury with character, every corner exuding a sense of familiarity for those who strive to fill their inner worlds with the same amount of love and care. 'Good design today is different from what good design [will be] in the future, so you need to be authentic to the location,' he says. Mozzi has spoken liberally in interviews about his desire to create spaces that feel lived in not just right at the start, but that seem even more homely with time. He describes working with the world's finest ateliers to include new pieces that bring energy into any given space, building maybe '30, 40 per cent of the furniture, interiors designed specifically for that project', before introducing vintage furnishings with their own exciting existing personalities into the mix. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi says living spaces need to feel more homely with time. Photo: Handout Orchestrating these voices of varying origins to sing harmoniously together is no simple task, but there's an ease and effortlessness to Banda homes that make you feel as though you might've curated them yourself. A 1950s chandelier by Barovier, the famed Murano glassware maker, takes pride of place in 5 Whistler Square's otherwise airy and modern principal bedroom, anchoring the space as an elegant centrepiece that appears frozen in time. Its quirkier counterpart, a custom velvet banana sofa by luxury homeware brand de Le Cuona – which, in its art deco style, evokes another era but otherwise feels made for the moment – adds that tangible warmth that makes the space come alive. 'One of the things … that made me feel uncomfortable was that [in] a lot of these homes where everything was new, day one [move-in day] was the best day,' says Mozzi. 'To do a little bit of vintage – maybe 10 per cent, maybe it's 20 – allows the new to breathe, to age gracefully.'
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Europe must reduce critical mineral dependence on China, just like US: Boeing
Turbo Sjogren, senior vice-president for government services at Boeing Global Services, said the supply chain was at the core of European concerns about how to face the demands of sovereignty and take on the challenges 'in a manner different tomorrow than they've done in the past'. 'The aerospace supply chain is global. Nobody can do it themselves. Maybe the Chinese can try, but certainly the rest of us, we're going to have to work together,' he told a press briefing in the Boeing chalet at one of the world's largest and oldest air shows. 'Irrespective of who's going to take the lead, irrespective of sovereignty, there will be programmes developed in the United States, where there will be significant European content. 'There will be programmes that will be developed in Europe where there will be significant US content. And that's the nature of the supply chain. To do otherwise takes too long and it's unaffordable.' Sjogren pointed out that the US has had legislation in place since 1973 requiring that the aerospace industry in particular, 'but defence as a whole, cannot be reliant on countries like China' for materials that are deemed critical.
South China Morning Post
13-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
US and EU should welcome Chinese manufacturing, not try to shut it out
In an amazingly short time, China has developed globally leading technology and manufacturing in multiple sectors, including energy storage electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy , telecommunications equipment, biotech and more. Many markets want these goods, and China now makes them better and more cheaply than anyone else. But the unprecedented pace and scale of China's development in these sectors have also caught many countries off guard, posing a threat to their domestic industries, which are now slower, more expensive and less advanced than what is coming out of China. Even though these countries also have policies to help home-grown businesses succeed, they fall far short of the scale and effectiveness of China's industrial policy. And so, many countries, especially in North America and Europe, are doing all they can to keep advanced Chinese products out of their markets. Trade barriers have gone up, with a moving goalpost of reasons for barring or hindering the sale of Chinese goods in these countries, from national security concerns and intellectual property theft to unfair government subsidies . In some cases, these are valid concerns, but usually the heart of the problem is in the imperative to protect home-grown industries and avoid an overdependence on China. The result is that some of the most advanced and affordable products are being artificially shut out of markets that would otherwise be buying them. In the past, places like East Berlin and Cuba kept out foreign technology and never developed anything close to a competitor. Similarly, there are leading car brands from all over the world on American roads, but not Chinese cars, and especially not Chinese EVs, now widely considered the best in the world in terms of driving range, advanced features and pricing.
