Latest news with #ThomasMann
New York Times
26-06-2025
- New York Times
Playful Tables Topped With Tiles
Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we're eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@ Stay Here A French Hotel With Mediterranean Views, Minimalist Interiors and a Storied Past By Alexander Lobrano 'It's beautiful here. The sea outside our balcony doors crashes against the rocks. The rooms are refined and pleasant,' the German writer Thomas Mann wrote in 1933 during a stay at Les Roches, a hotel in Le Lavandou, France, that was then known as Les Roches Fleurie. In the decades since, the property welcomed everyone from Jean Cocteau and Christian Dior to Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. This month, it reopened after a renovation that highlights its original Modernist architecture and the exhilarating sensation the French describe as pieds dans l'eau ('your feet in the water'), or being right on the edge of the sea. Every room has the same spectacular view over the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, and most include a terrace. Inside, the décor is inspired by the minimalism of Japanese ryokans, '30s ocean liner cabins and the Riviera itself, with oak parquet or terrazzo floors, blond wood headboards and accents of petroleum blue. The chef Anthony Gras, who holds a Michelin star at Les Barmes de l'Ours, Les Roches' sister property in the Alps, serves a contemporary seafood menu at L'Oursin, the hotel's restaurant, which also features a wine list focused on varietals from the South of France, many of them natural or organic. Other amenities include a bar, a gym and a spa with an indoor pool. Rooms from about $920, In Season The Salty Italian Plant That's Inspiring California Chefs By Emma Leigh Macdonald Wild agretti is a small green plant that comes from the same family as both spinach and succulents. It thrives in coastal regions and is known in its native Italy as barba di frate (or 'friar's beard') for its appearance, which can range from resembling the branch of a pine tree to looking more like a bundle of broccolini. Historically it was harvested as a source of soda ash, used for making glass and soaps. Now agretti's salinity is prized by chefs. Over the past decade, California farmers have popularized the vegetable stateside — particularly in the Bay Area, where coastal conditions and mild winters can mimic a Mediterranean environment. The chef David Nayfeld gets his supply from County Line Harvest Farm starting in mid-May, when the first agretti is harvested. At Che Fico, his restaurant in San Francisco, Nayfeld and his team will lightly cure the plant's green leaves — this year, about 75 pounds of them — in olive oil, salt and vinegar to allow for use beyond its season. This summer, Nayfeld is pairing agretti with stone fruits in a salad. At Flour + Water in the Mission district, agretti from Bryan Jessop, a forager based in the region, is served in a rock cod involtini pasta from mid-June through early July. The produce distributor Natoora sources agretti from California, upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, which is how the chef Jess Shadbolt has ensured a regular supply for her menu at King in Manhattan's West Village. She says it has 'a marshy, almost aquatic flavor, with a great texture that's unctuous and has a nice bite.' She blanches the plant in lightly salted water, then dresses it with oil and lemon. This month, she served it with asparagus, fava beans and bottarga. Covet This Designers Embrace Ceramic Tabletops By Monica Khemsurov In the late 1940s, the ceramic artist Roger Capron set up a workshop in Vallauris, France, with a mission to democratize his craft, devoting part of his practice to serially produced functional objects and furnishings. His vibrant tile-topped tables, in particular, became his legacy and, nearly a century later, a new generation of designers are reviving the style for modern homes. The New York-based designer Tyler Hays makes hand-painted ceramic tiles and says he looks for 'any excuse' to put them on furniture. In 2020, he made his first tile-topped coffee table and released new versions set in chunky, cylindrical wood frames this spring. Julia Eshaghpour and Kevin Hollidge of the New York studio Sunfish recently debuted a coffee table whose top is made up of glazed sardine forms. They were inspired in part by Capron, and in part by Eshaghpour's father, a mosaic artist. The New York designer Danny Kaplan also cites Capron as an influence for the tables he recently tiled for the furniture brand Stillmade, as does the French interior designer Dorothée Delaye, whose new Levant tables are a collaboration with the young ceramist Diane Fekete but have the same mottled, painterly feel as midcentury French pottery. The Marrakesh studio Lrnce's tables are based on the founder Laurence Leenaert's drawings — she commissions local artisans to recreate them with zellige tiles. The Spanish artist Fran Aniorte paints directly onto his ceramic tabletops, like he would any other canvas. He considers the pieces a reference to his childhood home of Alicante, where the street benches and fountains are wrapped in tiles. His interpretations, he says, are a testament to how artisans have always brought beauty into everyday objects. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Scottish Sun
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Iconic hotel loved by major celebs to finally reopen after 15 years with new £170million revamp
And two other UK hotels undergoing multi-million renovations ROOM FOR MORE Iconic hotel loved by major celebs to finally reopen after 15 years with new £170million revamp Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AN iconic hotel on the European seaside is set to reopen after 15 years. Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice first opened in 1900, with 180 rooms for the "seaside elite". Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Grand Hôtel des Bains opened more than 100 years ago Credit: 4 However it closed back in 2010 Credit: 4 The beachfront is also being revamped Credit: Alamy Built on the Lido of Venice, it was forced to close back in 2010, with previous plans to turn it into luxury apartments. However, a new €200million (£170million) investment hopes to reopen the hotel. The project is being backed by Italian developer and COIMA and Abu Dhabi's Eagle Hills, behind a number of resorts in the Middle East and Africa. Not only will the hotel be restored, but the nearby parks and beachfront will be renovated as well. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman and founder of Eagle Hills, said: "This is more than a restoration – it is a revival of European legacy through modern excellence. "Venice has always been a bridge between worlds, and we are proud to be part of its future, bringing our experience in luxury hospitality to one of the most symbolic hotels on the continent." One of the first famous guests to visit was Thomas Mann, who was inspired to write Death in Venice while there. The hotel was then even used to shoot the film in 1971. It also hosted the International Film Festival in 1932, with guests such as Liz Taylor and Robert de Niro attending as well as Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando. Roma producer David Linde said it was the "place to be seen, to do your thing" in the film industry. New European Sleeper Train Route Goes Through 15 Destinations He also said it was a "significantly more intimate and concentrated version of Cannes". Along with nearly 200 rooms, there was also a solarium and a private underground tunnel that went straight to the beach. Another hotel undergoing a huge renovation is The Grand Brighton. The £16million revamp of the hotel is set to be complete this year, after celebrating its 160th anniversary last year. There is also the Roslin Hotel, undergoing a £10million revamp. Otherwise the Sun's Deputy Travel Editor has stayed in hundreds of hotels - here are her favourites.
The Irish Sun
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Iconic hotel loved by major celebs to finally reopen after 15 years with new £170million revamp
AN iconic hotel on the European seaside is set to reopen after 15 years. Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice first opened in 1900, with 180 rooms for the "seaside elite". Advertisement 4 Grand Hôtel des Bains opened more than 100 years ago Credit: 4 However it closed back in 2010 Credit: 4 The beachfront is also being revamped Credit: Alamy Built on the Lido of Venice, it was forced to close back in 2010, with previous plans to turn it into luxury apartments. However, a new €200million (£170million) investment hopes to reopen the hotel. The project is being backed by Italian developer and COIMA and Abu Dhabi's Eagle Hills, behind a number of resorts in the Middle East and Africa. Not only will the hotel be restored, but the nearby parks and beachfront will be renovated as well. Advertisement Read more on hotels Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman and founder of Eagle Hills, said: "This is more than a restoration – it is a revival of European legacy through modern excellence. "Venice has always been a bridge between worlds, and we are proud to be part of its future , bringing our experience in luxury hospitality to one of the most symbolic hotels on the continent." One of the first famous guests to visit was Thomas Mann, who was inspired to write Death in Venice while there. The hotel was then even used to shoot the film in 1971. Advertisement Most read in News Travel It also hosted the International Film Festival in 1932, with guests such as Liz Taylor and Roma producer David Linde said it was the "place to be seen, to do your thing" in the film industry. New European Sleeper Train Route Goes Through 15 Destinations He also said it was a "significantly more intimate and concentrated version of Cannes". Along with nearly 200 rooms, there was also a solarium and a private underground tunnel that went straight to the beach. Advertisement Another hotel undergoing a The £16million revamp of the hotel is set to be complete this year, after celebrating its 160th anniversary last year. There is also the Otherwise the Sun's Deputy Travel Editor has stayed in hundreds of hotels - here are her favourites. Advertisement 4 It will also restore the hotel beachfront Credit: Alamy
The Sun
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Iconic hotel loved by major celebs to finally reopen after 15 years with new £170million revamp
AN iconic hotel on the European seaside is set to reopen after 15 years. Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice first opened in 1900, with 180 rooms for the "seaside elite". 4 4 4 Built on the Lido of Venice, it was forced to close back in 2010, with previous plans to turn it into luxury apartments. However, a new €200million (£170million) investment hopes to reopen the hotel. The project is being backed by Italian developer and COIMA and Abu Dhabi's Eagle Hills, behind a number of resorts in the Middle East and Africa. Not only will the hotel be restored, but the nearby parks and beachfront will be renovated as well. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman and founder of Eagle Hills, said: "This is more than a restoration – it is a revival of European legacy through modern excellence. "Venice has always been a bridge between worlds, and we are proud to be part of its future, bringing our experience in luxury hospitality to one of the most symbolic hotels on the continent." One of the first famous guests to visit was Thomas Mann, who was inspired to write Death in Venice while there. The hotel was then even used to shoot the film in 1971. It also hosted the International Film Festival in 1932, with guests such as Liz Taylor and Robert de Niro attending as well as Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando. Roma producer David Linde said it was the "place to be seen, to do your thing" in the film industry. New European Sleeper Train Route Goes Through 15 Destinations He also said it was a "significantly more intimate and concentrated version of Cannes". Along with nearly 200 rooms, there was also a solarium and a private underground tunnel that went straight to the beach. Another hotel undergoing a huge renovation is The Grand Brighton. The £16million revamp of the hotel is set to be complete this year, after celebrating its 160th anniversary last year. There is also the Roslin Hotel, undergoing a £10million revamp. Otherwise the Sun's Deputy Travel Editor has stayed in hundreds of hotels - here are her favourites. 4
Irish Times
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Thomas Mann's 150th birthday present to Germany and the world: a warning from history
Thomas Mann and James Joyce never met in life but, especially in death, found much in common. Both were writers of challenging fiction who ended their days in self-imposed exile in Zürich. Both are buried there, at opposite ends of town. During their lifetimes their respective homelands rejected them first with mockery, then hatred – Joyce's works were banned, Mann's burned. After decades of posthumous apathy, both were resurrected by their homelands for praise and monetisation purposes. Just 10 days before another episode of Ireland's Bloomsday malarkey, Germany is celebrating Thomas Mann's 150th birthday in a state of nervous jubilation. A new, hefty biography heads the long list of books, while critics and essayists have delivered fresh prophetic framings for Mann's major works in the present. READ MORE Is modern Germany and Europe, some wonder, heading back to the Zauberberg (Magic Mountain)? Mann's 1924 novel tells of a healthy young engineer, Hans Castorp, who visits a friend in a Davos mountain-top clinic only to succumb to its self-indulgent charms of introspection, hypochondria, disease and death. Running through the book, two polar-opposite patients - one a humanist democrat and the other a fascism-adjacent communist revolutionary - debate 'power and law, tyranny and freedom, superstition and science'. Mann was channelling the debates that dominated his world a century ago - and ours today. [ The Magician by Colm Tóibín: Beautiful, sweeping exploration of Thomas Mann's life Opens in new window ] For German writer Thomas Wiedermann, who wrote a novel based on the author, the Zauberberg is 'about a pre-war world, a burnt-out society … where the smallest spark is enough to make the world explode'. A century on, he fears the modern world is 'not repeating [the past] but at least mirroring it'. Others see worrying contemporary parallels to Mann's first novel, Buddenbrooks, drawing on his early years in the northern city of Lübeck where he was born on June 6th, 1875. This debut novel, published when he was 26, sweeps the reader through the rise and fall of a wealthy merchant family whose business is built by the first generation, managed by the second and ruined by the third. Last February, the Neue Zürcher daily suggested Switzerland was suffering from third-generation 'Buddenbrooks syndrome', happily living off the family fortune, 'studying art history, working less, retiring earlier'. Rather than citizens, the NZZ argued, 'the Swiss have become consumers of their own state'. Similar arguments can be heard in Germany, trapped in a never-ending recession, and a recent warning from Chancellor Friedrich Merz that holiday-loving Germans 'need to work more'. Mann won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929 for his work, packed with universal, timeless themes that are finding new relevance and attention today. His 150th birthday today became a dual celebration of sorts. [ Opens in new window ] It marked the reopening of the fabled villa that Thomas and Katja Mann had built in California's Pacific Palisades. It was purchased and restored by the German state a decade ago - but it's a miracle there is even a house left. Last January, as wildfires raged through nearby Santa Monica and edged into Pacific Palisades, villa staff raced through the house, snatching the writer's handwritten papers, paintings and beloved Goethe complete works - but had to leave behind thousands of personal mementos and rare books. Much of the neighbourhood was consumed by fire but the worst damage to the Mann villa was a thick coating of soot on the facade, which has been scrubbed and repainted for Friday's party. Mann knew personally how quick disaster could strike. He was on a lecture tour of Europe a month after Hitler took power in 1933 when he decided not to return to Germany and settle in Switzerland. His denunciations of the Nazis from there saw them revoke his citizenship and burn his books. After their invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Mann resettled his family in the US. Asked by a reporter there how he felt living in exile, Mann replied: 'Where I am is Germany! I carry my culture within.' It was here that Mann produced his perhaps most relevant works for our time. Not novels, but accessible and urgent essays and public lectures about democracy, its strengths and its enemies. In 1938, with Europe on the brink of war, Mann warned radio audiences that the greatest danger to democracy was the fascination and novelty of fascism. His observations carry eerie echoes today. 'Once [fascism] has subjugated the body through fear,' he warned from personal experience, 'it can even subjugate thought.' In 1943, with war raging in Europe, Mann warned, again on the radio: 'It is a terrible spectacle when the irrational becomes popular.' He eventually returned to Europe in 1952 but settled in Zürich, shunning Germany. His countrymen had never forgiven him – for fleeing, for surviving the war under Californian palm trees, but most of all for his BBC propaganda broadcasts into his homeland. Many Germans who convinced themselves later they they knew nothing of the Holocaust resented how, even in far-away California, Mann knew as early as 1942 of the mass murder of Polish Jews using poison gas. It was, he warned, 'an expression of the spirit and attitude of the National Socialist revolution'. Even worse than him knowing: he knew they knew, a point he kept ramming home. In another broadcast he lectured the Germans, literally, about the terrible irony of their situation: a dictator dangling before the noses of a people he viewed as 'cowardly, submissive and stupid' a bright future as a 'race destined for world domination'. In an open letter, published four months after Germany's capitulation, Mann insisted he would not return to a 'stupid, empathy-free' German people who 'would like to pretend that 12 years never happened'. The final kick came with his remark in the letter about the Allied bombings of German cities: 'Everything must be paid for'. No wonder, then, that his eventual return to Germany in 1949 was a chilly affair. Many Germans saw Mann as a traitor, even more so after he visited East Germany to accept a literary medal of honour. Two years later, learning that Mann had resettled in Switzerland, the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily denounced him as 'an exponent of an aversion to Germany that goes as far as stupidity'. Germany fell out of love with Mann but eventually warmed again to him in the 1980s. Mann didn't live long enough for that reconciliation - nor to fall back in love with America. A decade after taking US citizenship in 1944, Mann was dubbed a 'suspected communist' and brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee. There he heard himself described as one of the 'world's foremost apologists for Stalin and company'. A chastened Mann warned his adoptive homeland that, with its embrace of witch-hunts and 'loyalty checks', it was 'well on [its way] to a fascist police state'. To his diary, Mann confessed he was 'shockingly touched by the dwindling sense of justice in this country, the rule of force'. Given that, it doesn't take too much effort to imagine what Thomas Mann would have made of German-American president Donald Trump. As for his literary legacy: given that he died exactly 70 years ago, Mann's works enter the public domain next January to join fellow former Zürich resident James Joyce. Brace yourself for the mash-up, Chat-GPT fan fiction: Leopold Bloom on the Magic Mountain, anyone?
