DREAM WITH A BANG

Bold, bright and playful Hublot's celebrations in Miami brought together the worlds of art and football with creativity like no other. Yanni Tan journeyed to South Beach on an Asia-exclusive press trip to discover the heart and soul of the watchmaker.

- Yanni Tan

There is perhaps no better place in the world to hold a party than Miami Beach. And Swiss watchmaker Hublot knows just that. A longtime patron of the worlds of art and football, Hublot in its signature style fused these two spheres united by their shared values of play, creativity and dreams in a days-long celebration that Prestige Singapore was invited to in early December.

To a glorious backdrop of blue skies, swaying palms and colourful streets, Hublot made its presence felt through a host of events and experiences during the period of Miami Art Week that saw a fascinating intersection of personalities and projects.

A memorable highlight of this press trip was an eye-opening visit to Art Basel Miami Beach, a post-pandemic milestone event at the Miami Beach Convention Center with the global fair's largest show to date. Marking its 20th anniversary, it played host to 282 premier galleries including 25 first-time participants, and showcased a cultural programme across the city's world-class institutions and private collections.

One of the stops within the exhibition was at the Ruinart Art Beach Lounge, where we rubbed shoulders with Jeppe Hein. The bubbly Danish artist introduced us to the limited-edition Jeroboam box he designed for Ruinart Rosé, explained the concept behind his installation Right Here, Right Now, and encouraged us to partake in his art via an experiential activity that had us feeling the texture of chalk and smelling the uplifting scent of chardonnay flowers, before we scribbled our thoughts onto his installation.

Another fascinating experience was a meet-and-greet with sculptor and Neo-Pop visual artist Richard Orlinski, who has collaborated with Hublot since 2017. The Frenchman, who is responsible for the Hublot Classic Fusion Orlinski Bracelet line launched earlier this year at Watches and Wonders, has just opened Galeries Orlinski on Lincoln Road in South Beach.