Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 14 i Winning Magazine

There are many ways we can explore the spaces and cultures around us. In modern life, exploration doesn't even require leaving the house, so readily is the world literally at our fingertips — from FOMO-inducing travel posts in our Insta feed to a home-delivered feast of any global cuisine we could name. This, our Modern Explorers issue, was created to inspire us all to think not just about the places we can go, but also the ideas we can encounter, the people who take us there — and what we'll wear along the way. Our cover story (page 16) follows the next chapter in Hugh Grant's career — an onscreen evolution from bashful romantic hero to villainous mastermind. As the British leading man reveals in this candid interview, he's finding…

On a rainy summer night, on a club stage in Woodstock, New York, Shawn Mendes was ready for tears. Happy tears, overwhelmed tears. Just some processing-everything-as-it-happens mistiness. “There's probably a high chance I cry a lot,” he told the small crowd, pressing the backs of his hands to his eyes and emerging with a grin. It was the first time in over two years that Mendes, the 26-year-old Canadian pop star, had performed in front of an audience, after he abruptly pulled the plug on his career at its pinnacle. In 2022, amid what he called a mental health “breaking point”, he cancelled a multimillion-dollar, two-year international tour — over 80 scheduled arena dates — acknowledging that, in that moment, he couldn't handle it. It was a startling admission, especially…

For the longest time, property was typically where Australians invested their spare cash. Shares have also been popular, and more recently ETFs (exchange traded funds), crypto and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have boomed. Bonds and gold remain attractive to many — especially as a certain political figure preps to move into a certain white house — but there's an emergent investment category coveted by only the smartest. Cars. Of course, classic cars have long and handsomely rewarded investors. In 2022, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR race car hit a new record for the highest price fetched by a humble car at auction: €135 million (about $210 million at the time). No decimal points misplaced. One of just two ever built, the stunning silver Mercedes, with its protruding exhaust pipes and classic…

Think back to your childhood. What do you miss most about those more innocent times? Perhaps a favourite toy or a glorious summer holiday? For Garima Arora, chef and owner of Bangkok's two-Michelin-starred Gaa restaurant, her standout childhood memories are about discovering new foods. “You know that feeling you have when you taste something for the first time as a child or as a teen? That excitement?” she asks, eyes glowing. “It eludes us as we grow older. Things excite us less — food excites us less. That feeling is something I like to chase, and I want to give my diners as well.” At Restaurant Gaa, Arora makes her guests a promise: come to eat with us and you are guaranteed to try something new. Her degustation menus typically…

The Argo cocktail bar at the Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong, looks how the Starship Enterprise would look if Chappell Roan did the interior design. Concentric rings of light radiate out across the ceiling, emanating from the column behind the circular bar like a huge bioluminescent tree, glass spheres dangling down like glowing fruit. In a side room, the towering walls are panelled entirely in mirrors and hung with framed insect models constructed from petals and coloured paper, their vivid forms lending an Alice in Wonderland trippiness to the view out over the sparkling lights of Victoria Harbour. Hong Kong is home to some of the world's most impressive cocktail bars, many of them located in luxury hotels like the Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental. Far from the kind…

The corporate workplace has traditionally offered a certain level of amenity — be it end-of-trip facilities for cyclists to shower and change, or in-foyer cafes for coffee upon arrival. These are only a smattering of what's now being offered, post-pandemic, to entice staff to commute to the physical workspace. Multidisciplinary design studio Biasol has been involved in a number of wellness centres, both standalone as well as those integrated into office buildings. For a psychology and movement practice in Melbourne's Aberfeldie, Biasol dedicated the upper two floors of a three-level building to wellbeing. The space is open to the public as well as to onsite practitioners. A sense of anticipation builds via the staircase, with its reeded glass wall and “Live the Life You Deserve” signage, which signals the shift…

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it's lethal,” said the novelist Paulo Coelho. Yet in a post-pandemic, Trump-era world, who wouldn't argue that routine is deliciously comforting? Increasingly we are creatures of habit, dining at the same restaurants, shopping at the same boutiques, taking the same exercise classes. We are also addicted to our Netflix, Apple TV+ and Stan-supported lifestyles. A recent Deloitte study showed we consume more than six hours of digital entertainment a day, or 44 hours a week, and that 74 per cent of us start as soon as we wake up. Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, the authors of the 2018 book “Make Time: How to Focus On What Matters Every Day”, term this always-available, always-new entertainment an “infinity pool”. “It's a place that…

If you're so over the same beauty regimen, why not add a little daily adventure? These luxury products, from perfumes and serums to hair conditioners, do things just a little bit differently. SAMUEL GRAVAN WOODY FIG VANILLA 37 EDP Madagascan vanilla tincture aged for no less than 90 days is the key to this limited-edition, handmade scent. Tahitian and Madagascan vanilla beans are sliced, the paste extracted and a tincture created with tonka bean butter, cocoa absolute and a creamy sandalwood accord. The result: potently divine. AUGUSTINUS BADER THE SERUM Maybe it's the rare, star-shaped edelweiss plant from the Alps that gives this formula its superpowers. From hydrating, renewal and plumping to firming, revitalising and balancing, it not only has your skin's needs covered but also offers serious protection against…

The 1950s and ’60s generally evoke a simpler way of living, with families heading down the coast for holidays rather than to an airport, as is now often the case. The humble fibro holiday shack often consisted of only two bedrooms, with the second being wall-to-wall bunks. While there are now a number of palatial beach houses on our shores, some of the most memorable hark back to this postwar period in terms of simplicity — where the reason for going is to feel immersed in the native coastal scrub. Nothing could be simpler than the beach house on an island just south of Hamilton Island by the architect Renato D’Ettorre. Designed for a client who is in and out of airports for business, the brief given to D’Ettorre and…

What better way to escape the city than to head to Breakneck Gorge, a short distance from Hepburn Springs, in Victoria's Central Highlands? Although Hepburn Springs and Daylesford aren't well-kept secrets for those seeking high-end accommodation, Oikos, which is Greek for “house” and pronounced “eekos”, takes a tad more navigating. “Our client is Greek, hence the name,” says Brett Robertson, the director of the architectural practice Robert Nichol & Sons, which designed the project. Robertson explains that the clients wanted a second guest house on their property after they saw how popular their first guest house (completed in 2002) had become. Set towards the crest of the property, Oikos is extremely spacious for a one-bedroom dwelling. Approximately 70 square metres in area, about the size of an apartment, it features…

The fashion industry is undergoing a revolution as shoppers turn to apps, AI and augmented reality to put their most stylish foot forward. Technology can now take the guesswork out of shopping and also save time and effort in the changing room. From every angle, fashion selection and the perfect fit have become exact sciences. And with greater focus than ever on personal branding — whereby dressing well can impact how we are perceived in both corporate and personal settings — these new digital assistants make it easier than ever to create a signature wardrobe style. From online shopping experiences that allow customers to try-on outfits virtually, to customised measurement functionality and digital selection tools, you have to wonder if a trip to the mall in search of the perfect…

Of all the internet-breaking, meme-baiting, conversation-starting gowns the designer Daniel Roseberry has made in his five years at the house of Schiaparelli, it is possible that the most … well, shocking, was the strapless black sheath Kylie Jenner wore to its couture show in January 2023. You know (and you probably do know because it became pretty much inescapable), the one that had the life-size faux lion's head attached to the left shoulder like a trophy, and had repercussions far beyond the gilded world of the fashion season. The animal rights world claimed it glorified hunting. Statements were issued. The dress became so controversial that it has not seen the light of day since. But it also made clear that no designer working today understands how to navigate the attention…

Dulce de Leche-Filled Butter Cookies Argentina | Alfajores Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes, plus cooling time | Cooking time: 15 minutes Makes: About 24 cookie sandwiches When you say the name of these cookies to most people, the Argentinian version is the one that comes to mind most commonly (although there are numerous country-specific iterations). Even within Argentina, these dulce de leche-filled cookie sandwiches can be found plain, rolled in coconut, coated in chocolate, or coated in meringue, like the Chilean chilenitos. The Spanish version from which this cookie takes its name is more like a candy or confection, made with almonds bound by honey and spices and coated in powdered (icing) sugar. A regional variation of Spanish alfajore from Medina-Sedonia in southern Spain that stuffs the honey nut mixture…

Romain Herbreteau's hands move confidently as he scoops a wet mix of ground and steamed soybeans into a tofu press under the fluorescent lighting of restaurant Mora's dedicated soy factory. Watching a French guy make tofu by hand in an industrial park in the suburbs of Hong Kong is a testament to the restaurant's commitment to Cantonese cooking's most important ingredient: soy. I've always loved Chinese food — the rich sauces, the bold textures, the pungency of ginger and garlic. But it's not until experiencing the food of Hong Kong at the source that I come close to understanding the importance of soy as an overarching ingredient in Cantonese cooking, and the incredible subtlety at the heart of this great cuisine. A few suburbs away back at Mora, Herbreteau's creations…

There are very few professional sports played in diamonds and dresses, but when it comes to tennis, looking chic is built into the game. At Wimbledon, dress codes stipulate players must be almost entirely in white (with the exception of trims no larger than a centimetre, to be exact) in keeping with tradition. There are no strict sartorial rules for spectators, but smart and conservative is assumed. Much like polo and sailing, tennis is a sport historically associated with privilege. It's been called everything from a “hobby of the rich” to “haute athletics”, a dignified activity where a game may be followed with cucumber sandwiches or a G&T. “Tennis is inherently linked to sociocultural factors,” says Simar Deol, a senior foresight analyst at trend consultancy The Future Laboratory. “Interestingly, the…

If I stare too long, the glossy, petrified tree trunk seems to pulsate energy through the roof, down into the walls and past the fragile washi paper screens. “The house breathes,” explains Akihiro Tokunaga, the building's owner, snapping me out of the hypnosis. “You can feel that this tree is still alive.” Some 140 years ago, labourers on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, soaked a massive felled tree in the ocean for 12 months. Once dried, the solidified trunk became the centre pillar of a house, with everything else taking shape around it. Despite the architectural achievement, the home — and 140 years’ worth of abandoned belongings inside it — was next in line to be flattened into a public carpark. After seeing an online alert from…