The power, the magic and the elf. Art, daring and naturalness. The desire to create, build, help... After the confessions of Milena Smit, who also belongs to this group of chosen ones, eight other personalities will overwhelm the following pages with talent and more talent that has not only crossed the borders of beauty, but redrawn them. Some impressive careers that Magazine honors with enthusiasm.
True art advances to the present and alerts to the future, flies away from speculative bubbles and is daring: for that reason alone it is worthy of consideration. Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza is daring as a collector and patron, she alerts us to the future by helping painters and sculptors from around the world spread their wings to fly high and, at the same time, move their fins to dive into the oceans and remind us that they are in danger. She could have followed the more classic path of her grandfather or that of her father, 'Heini', but she has taken the path of someone who seeks the genuine, the precious.
Francesca does not go, look and buy, but approaches the artist, dialogues, collaborates, interacts and gives him time and space. It is the formula so that the power of the works blinds us with beauty and at the same time opens our eyes whether in Madrid, Córdoba, Venice or Jamaica. From her father he learned that art was a weapon of mass construction and peace in the nuclear age. in the Cold War. She also knows that the ocean floor can be saved and make us see that life and beauty await us in the mirror of the future.
And here comes the poet, the ascetic, the creator who has neither retired nor lost himself, nor lives in an ivory tower, but who for a time has chosen silent and, at times, anonymous work. Amanuensis of detail, sculptor of air: astronaut who conquers space with needle, thread, thimble and any fabric, poplin, tulle, crepe, muslin... 'Le voilà, le magicien!'. An illusionist touched in turn by other magicians. There are the wands, that of Delicadeza, that of Balenciaga, that of the indelible memory and imprint of his mother. You have to call him by his name. Josep Font. And call him on the phone to make sure he is a legend (and at the same time real, human, attentive, pleasant).
“Sometimes I have been working silently, sometimes anonymously so as not to be tied to a brand for a long time,” he explains. There are those who seek the wild side, the unknown dimension, he dives into deep waters and puts his all into everything he does in pursuit of freedom. Perfectionist and daring in facets such as household items with which he will soon surprise you. He promised that he would return to Barcelona. He will comply. Master, we are waiting for you.
60 years ago Charles de Gaulle established the national Order of Merit, a medal awarded to the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, the mime Marcel Marceau, or Charles Aznavour. The choreographer Blanca Li received her in 2019 and perhaps there would be nothing more to add, because she is not easy to explain everything she does and how she does it. Her power to multiply, disguise and unfold as this dancer, choreographer and a thousand other things is almost unlimited and difficult to fit. It's opening a Pandora's Box of experiments in radical beautiful things, of working one day with the Bolshoi or with the no less adored techno group Daft Punk and that's without mentioning Beyoncé, Blur or Coldplay.
Li is a magnet for new dramaturgy from the Teatros el Canal in Madrid and he is triumphing. Did anyone doubt it? At the Académie des Beaux Arts he occupies Chair II in the Choreographie section. An honor for someone who was not born in France. Sometimes it seems that he has so much talent and has drawn from so many sources that he was not born anywhere and everywhere. At the Académie they define her in the best way: “A post-movement olé-olé 'aureolée' (with halo) dancer, with an unclassifiable notoriety and singularity.”
Jesus Christ Superstar. Bulería, joy, flamenco with tango lyrics, of lost love. “My mother gave me life and you are taking it away from me,” he sings in Querencia. The wind blows in favor of the voice of Israel Fernández, a voice of wet earth, of torn rope, of desperate verse. A vibrant, spontaneous, sparkling talent who ties up her long hair or lets her hair down. That he remembers the Paquera de Jerez, the Torta when she sang hug me and with the siseo at the same time said hug me. His music comes from the guts and the velvety guitar playing of Diego el Morao. There is no need to travel to the Moon, or conquer new planets in search of water.
The fresh water is there, on their vinyl, you just have to put the needle and orbit around it and a message: “Get inside me.” Talent of a cold drop, overflowing, desperately beautiful to the point of provoking tears. Israel has a bit of Morente, a bit of Federico García Lorca. She talks about life, but she pronounces the 'way', which amounts to the same thing. “I have to see you cry, you have to miss me because no one will love you the way I love you.” Heartbreak with a voice of golden foam. With it night never falls and with it always “lights of day are born.” She was nothing like him.
Belgrade is Beograd in Serbo-Croatian. And the o is shaped like a red heart. In Belgrade two rivers cross and give off, the muscular Danube and the meandering, green Sava. From the Kalemegdan you can see how, for a moment, they greet each other, kiss each other and always with the force of the waters. The industrial designer Sacha Lakic is from Belgrade, heart in what he does and the strength of the current of a creative river that has surprised wherever he has made the pencil dance: at Peugeot, at Yamaha, creating electric cars for 20 years and in Roche Bobois where he has designed dreamy, bubbly sofas and furniture with a retro-futuristic air that Jacques Tati would have loved and incorporated into his masterpieces My Uncle or Playtime. Lakic conceives a film design, accessible but spectacular that in his day earned him the Compasso d'Oro, which is like the key to all the wonders of Belgrade and wherever one wants.
The pandemic taught us (invited us) to value the forced pause. He told us how to treat time differently, to respect us. To impose our rhythm a little. We did it? Elena Foguet, Business Director of Value Retail Spain, is what visitors look forward to every day when they approach Roca Village, an open-air commercial space that, beyond fancy brands, breathes in a different time, that does not gallops, nor trots, nor runs. Who walks and admires the street works of art that turn the walk into a living space, who sends positive messages of solidarity with vulnerable women and children in the Do Good program -focused on the fight against child marriage-, which invites us to breathe deep and that the shopping experience is a joy, a way to know more, to meet people from other countries.
“I want to waste time,” declared the magnificent French poet Blaise Cendrars. It's not about losing it, it's about molding it as we want, without rushing, with pauses. We are what we think, what we eat, what we look like and how we look like it. We are better if we take control of life. In English there is the expression shopping spree (compulsive buying). In La Roca Village we can do the opposite, let our experience be a minuet, a waltz, a dancing walk, like children do. Close your eyes and say “this is better than yoga.”
It is very difficult to define beauty. It doesn't matter what the dictionaries say. Professor Jordi Llovet explained that he tried it once in the university classroom and released a white dove to fly. Blade Runner style when Rutger Hauer dies and the pigeon he's holding flaps its wings and leaves. But it does not work. Laura Ponte has had to listen to a thousand debates about whether she was pretty, about her features, about her bearing. About the asymmetry of her face, something that could be understood as something natural because she was born in 1973, the year Picasso died, the painter who made facial asymmetry one of her most recognizable hallmarks. Ponte's new and successful adventure has been to design a collection of jewelry together with Renault to pay tribute to the brand's hybrid engine, the Austral E-Tech full. The pieces are inspired by engine components and made of gold and silver.
Beauty is Pollock and Dubuffet, Yayoi Kusama and Rousseau, the naive painter, who painted tigers in the middle of the foliage. Beauty is knowing how to grow old with dignity and carelessness and remain yourself. Laura Ponte is electric beauty, fine rain that falls, a figure that confirms that the definition has powerful meanings. And she is one of a kind. Because of her appearance, but also because of her attitude. Beauty is searching and searching, seeing that life is a kite that must be caught in flight. Beauty is posting a photo on Instagram with curlers on. Laura Ponte is that and much more
It's not just that he is photogenic, nor that he is multifaceted. It's not just that he's handsome and that he laughs about it. It's about the fact that without even having superpowers, he displays a great sense of humor, and most importantly, he is and continues to be from the people. From Tossa de Mar, he triumphed in Spain, went to Milan, grew up in Paris and took off in New York and left the stratosphere. He then landed, waved like an astronaut, and the missions haven't stopped since. At Cape Canaveral they spent many months wondering why that rocket was not on their list of launches and why they had named that spaceship with its wide, deep look Velencoso.
His fresh and fun collection of clothing and accessories OOTO (Out of the office) is his latest achievement, very well done. By the way. The only thing missing is Lucía, her mother, who carries her in her heart and chest. The camera loves him, he has started working on his own projects related to fashion and he has good hands. He was a finalist in a baking and pastry competition. And he has had very intelligent girlfriends. He can't ask for much more from life. At least for now. But Velencoso doesn't ask, he simply keeps going, spreads his smile and doesn't stop.
He emerged from total anonymity, from some photos he posted on Instagram, and has become the phenomenon of Spanish cinema and warns that he is going for more, that next year “is going to be the bomb.” His career has been brilliant. He left home at 17. At 20 he imagined that everything would have happened to him at 25, but it was at 23 when everything changed. In the last four years she has been nominated twice for the Goya Awards, she has been an Almodóvar girl (Parallel Mothers, 2021), she has become friends with Penélope Cruz, she has been a Netfl ix star (The Snow Girl, 2023, she was top 1 global platform). She knows Madonna and Lady Gaga and has signed contracts with Cartier or YSL Beauty. A meteor.
