the pen 1 boatcruise | peninsula istanbul

Serenissima.
Away from the crowds,
Hotel Cipriani offers
the luxury of privacy.
belmond.com

What do a bartender, the entrepreneur behind Sea Containers, a famous architect and George Clooney have in common? The answer is Hotel Cipriani in Venice, the star-studded venue that has been synonymous with la dolce vita for almost 70 years. To understand its story, however, we must travel further back than that…

Back in 1927, a Bostonian by the name of Harry Pickering walked into the bar of the Hotel Europa-Britannia in Venice, which he often frequented. Unfortunately, he had run out of funds, but a young – and rather generous – bartender lent him 1,000 lire to purchase a ticket home. It was not until 1931 that Pickering returned, but when he did, he paid back his debt fourfold. The bartender, born in 1900 in Verona, was called Giuseppe Cipriani. He used the cash to open his own bar, which he named after his American benefactor.

See the full feature now only in Schön! alive.

The place to be.
The hotel’s pool – the largest in Venice –
is the symbol of the city’s dolce vita

A legacy project.
Peter Marino in the newly designed reception area

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Room with a view.
Hotel Cipriani’s site boasts 270-degree vistas of the water.
The Dogaressa Signature Suite, for example,
affords a beautiful view of St Mark’s bay.

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words. Huma Humayun
images. Courtesy of Belmond

An eyewear frame is more than something worn. It shapes how the world is seen and, more subtly, how one moves through it. 

For ic! berlin that relationship among design, engineering and innovation has been at the heart of the brand since its conception in Berlin in 1996, when Ralph Anderl, Philipp Haffmans and Harald Gottschling set out to challenge the conventions of eyewear. Today, that same approach has led the brand into a new chapter through its partnership with Audi Revolut F1® Team. As the team’s official eyewear partner, ic! berlin has launched the Racing Edition capsule, featuring two sunglasses inspired by Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

To experience the partnership beyond the frame itself, Schön! travelled first to Neuburg, home to the engine manufacturing, before continuing to Monza, where engineering meets the energy and spectacle of a race weekend. The journey offered a chance to explore the thinking behind the collaboration, and the shared values that connect two brands working in very different industries.
The connection between ic! berlin and Audi Revolut F1® Team is rooted in more than shared German heritage. Both brands work where weight, materials, and fine technical details make a massive difference, and neither identity is limited to pure utility. As Managing Director Davide Lunghi notes, ic! berlin is “a designer brand with strong fashion affinities and strong sport affinities; not a fashion brand, and not a sports brand.” That distinction is central to understanding the brand’s evolution.

Instead of traditional construction, they turned to cold-rolled stainless steel, minimalist architecture and a screwless hinge that would become one of the brand’s defining signatures. 

Laser-cut from a single sheet of 0.5 mm stainless spring steel, Jack was the very first ic! berlin model. Built on the ambition of maximum durability with minimal material, it set the standard for all their glasses that followed. At the time, the ic! berlin frame was designed almost like a technical tool. As Lunghi recalls, the early design was “the eyewear of the surgeon, the designer, the architect.” Precise, lightweight, and functional, it spoke to a clientele drawn to engineering excellence as much as aesthetics.

Three decades later, that original thinking remains intact, even as the brand’s creative vocabulary has expanded. More sculptural proportions and expressive silhouettes have brought a fashion-forward dimension, particularly for women, while materials including acetate and carbon fibre have opened new possibilities. FLEXARBON®, for instance, carries the pursuit of lightness into a material closely associated with the automotive world, while gold and bronze finishes are integrated directly into the stainless-steel construction rather than simply applied as ornament.

Around 80 percent of production continues to take place in Berlin, where frames are handcrafted in the brand’s manufactory. Now part of the Marcolin Group, ic! berlin has become an internationally recognised design name without losing its connection to its origins. 

The brand’s production philosophy remains remarkably close to the one that defined Jack: precision, durability and functionality. Perhaps the strongest proof is found in those who have worn ic! berlin frames for decades, returning not to replace them, but to have them repaired. Good engineering, after all, should be built to endure.

That ethos provides a natural introduction to the Racing Edition. The accompanying campaign, “From 0.5 mm to 300 km/h,” draws a direct line between the two worlds: from the precision of thin stainless steel at the foundation of an ic! berlin frame to the extraordinary speeds of a race car.

The Racing Edition reflects that balance. The silhouettes take on a more dynamic, race-inspired character, while the construction remains distinctly ic! berlin – lightweight, resilient and considered down to the smallest detail. Rather than simply borrowing visual cues from motorsport, the collaboration finds its common ground in a shared approach to performance: understanding how every material, proportion and component can contribute to the whole.

The first stop, Neuburg, offered a closer look at how that approach translates from concept into motion. Home to the engine manufacturing, the Audi driving experience puts performance and control directly in the driver’s hands. Moving across the lineup – from the R8 and RS e-tron GT to the RS 5 – is an ongoing study in power, weight, grip, and balance. On the track, every input creates an instant reaction: braking drives weight forward, acceleration shifts it back, and cornering loads the tyres with physical force. Mastering the track isn’t just about speed; it demands rhythm, anticipation, and restraint. 

The journey continues to Monza, where that same discipline takes on an entirely different scale. Friday at the historic circuit carries an energy of its own. Engines echo across the track, cars flash through the corners and the paddock moves between intense preparation and the spectacle surrounding it. 

Within the Audi Revolut F1® Team garage, every detail has a purpose. Tyres are prepared and heated for their operating window, engineers work through streams of data, and mechanics move with an efficiency developed through repetition and experience. Every decision, adjustment and movement contributes to the car’s performance when it finally leaves the garage.

From a VIP balcony, the circuit reveals another perspective. The cars become flashes of colour and sound, while the vast operation behind them unfolds almost invisibly. What appears to be a few laps of racing is supported by an extraordinary network of people, technology and decisions.

And somewhere between the quiet mechanics of an eyewear hinge and the velocity of a race car, the logic of the partnership becomes clear. ic! berlin and Audi Revolut F1® Team may belong to different industries, but both understand that the most sophisticated design rarely announces everything that went into it. It is felt in the lightness of a frame, the response of a car, the confidence of a movement and the ability of every element to perform precisely as intended. From a 0.5 mm sheet of steel to a race car travelling beyond 300 km/h, the scale may change dramatically, but the principle remains the same: to make performance look effortless.

photography. courtesy of ic! berlin and Audi Revolut F1® Team
words. Clara La Rosa

Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa.

Our daily commute probably doesn’t feel worthy of an entry in a travel diary, but Rimowa believes the journey from A to B doesn’t always have to be dull. For its latest campaign, the German Maison expands its ‘Never Still’ leather collection with a series of compact silhouettes built for routine travel, following people through Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Shanghai. Photographers Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li track and frame the shortest daily journeys as stories worth documenting, finding beauty in the most ordinary moments.

The update introduces two rich colour choices: a deep, smoky Anthracite grey and a muted Mocha brown, both engineered from full-grain leather that naturally patinates over time. The signature Never Still Flap Backpack debuts in a smaller size in the new Mocha hue, featuring the house’s iconic embossed luggage grooves alongside a padded back panel and a suitcase attachment sleeve. This joins a permanent large option in Anthracite, running parallel to the new Never Still Leather Duffle systems which land in large and medium configurations. For lighter transit, the collection introduces a compact, zipped Cross-Body Bag and the sleek Leather Zipped Tote, an entirely black, pebble-grained companion proportioned to hold a 13-inch laptop in place of a traditional briefcase.

Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa.

Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa.

The new Anthracite colour also makes its way into Rimowa’s Distinct collection, giving the leather suitcase a darker, smoky character. Made at the Maison’s historic Cologne factory, the Cabin combines its signature grooves with lightly pebbled leather, colour-matched aluminium corners, palladium hardware and a robust leather-wrapped construction designed to develop a unique patina through long-term wear.

Travel does not always mean boarding a plane or disappearing for a month; sometimes it means a train, a taxi, a walk across town or simply carrying everything you need through another very busy Tuesday. ‘Never Still’ is designed for all of it.

Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa.

Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa.

The expanded Rimowa leather collections are available now across global flagship boutiques and online. Find out more here.

photography. courtesy of Dana Lixenberg, Daniel Arnold and Feng Li for Rimowa
words. Gennaro Costanzo