Big Spenders Drop $105,629 on a Bar Tab in One Night at The Cavalli Club, Dubai.

A receipt (shown above) from designer Roberto Cavalli's Club in Dubai's Fairmont Hotel, the Cavalli Club, dated January 2, which totalled $105,629, (AED 387,988) was published on social media sites Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday and has been spreading around the internet like... well, champagne.


above: Designer Roberto Cavalli

The Cavalli Club was created by renowned designer Roberto Cavalli and hosts an Italian contemporary restaurant, sushi bar, wine and champagne bar, cocktail and cigar lounge and a boutique shop, all encased within black quartz and a six meter high Swarovski crystal curtains.



The bill, for a birthday party, from the exclusive club included a six-litre bottle of Cristal Champagne for $35,000.



above: The 6 liter bottle of Cristal has been dubbed "the Methuselah"

Also on the bill were a couple of two-litre bottles of Cristal costing $19,000, 24 Diet Cokes at $6 a piece and 10 Red Bulls at $7.80 each, One 3 liter bottle of Cavalli vodka for $1,341 and four bottles of Chivas for $1,181.

The only food listed was a small birthday cake costing $32.67

Staff say the high spend is a regular occurrence in the club, with an average of 24 tables a year spending between $54,448.44 (AED 200,000) and $136,121.68 (AED 500,000) in a single evening. “Despite individuals and businesses feeling the effects of the downturn throughout 2011, Cavalli Club has seen high-spenders consistently frequent the venue,” said David Lescarret, operations manager at Cavalli Dubai.

“Last year saw an average of two tables per month spend between $54,448.44 (AED 200,000) to $136,121.68 (AED 500,000) in one night, and we expect this trend to continue into the New Year, with one customer already having spent just under $108,896.87 (AED 400,000).”

More images of the Cavalli Club:





The luxurious nightclub said it stocks the most expensive champagne in the world - the Louis Roederer, Millennium Cristal Brut 1990, priced at a massive $136,121.68 (AED 500,000) for a single bottle. There are only two other Millennium bottles for sale around the globe according to bar managers, which can be found in London and New York.

Cavalli Club opened in Dubai in the Fairmont Hotel in May 2009, after Beirut-based investment company Pragma Group inked a deal with the Italian fashion designer to obtain the franchise rights for the brand.

info and images courtesy of Cavalli Club and of Arabianbusiness.com

Swimming Pools To Di(v)e For. Amazing Pool & Landscape Designs by OFTB.

Established in 1995, Australia's Out From The Blue (OFTB) is one of the foremost landscape architecture and pool construction companies in the world. They seamlessly integrate contemporary landscape design with quality concrete pool construction, resulting in residential backyards the likes of which you'd never want to leave.

Many of their pools contain at least one transparent wall, which is fast becoming a trend amongst modern swimming pools (see the Casa Devoto pool). Now one of inner Melbourne’s leading residential landscape architecture studios, our team is expanding its practice both interstate and internationally.

Below are a four of my favorite landscape and pool designs from OFTB:

Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:







 

Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:






 

Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:





 

Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:








and a few more examples of their incredible work:




Their team of landscape architects, horticulturists and in-house pool builders who work closely on each project to create highly individual, imaginative and exciting landscape outcomes:

Director: Gary Kilworth
Construction Manager: Josh Considine
Senior Landscape Architect: Lewis Marash
Landscape Architect: Lily Sabo
General Manager: Ezio Ficorilli
Accounts Manager: Jodie Kilworth
Office Manager: Bernie Ficorilli
Construction Supervisor: Craig Bailey


Out From The Blue

Mad For Ads? Taschen Publishes New Book on Ads from the Mad Men Era

Gleaned from thousands of images, this companion set of books offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the “Big Idea.” At the height of American consumerism magazines were flooded with clever campaigns selling everything from girdles to guns.






These optimistic indicators paint a fascinating picture of the colorful capitalism that dominated the spirit of the 1950s and 60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes Mad Men era.





Also included is a wide range of significant advertising campaigns from both eras, giving insight into the zeitgeist of the time. Bursting with fresh, crisp colors, these ads have been digitally mastered to look as bright and new as the day they first hit newsstands.




The editor:
Cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of the West Coast, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum exhibitions around the world and dozens of books.

The contributing author:
Steven Heller is the co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author Program. For 33 years he was an art director for The New York Times, and currently writes the "Visuals" column for The New York Times Book Review. He is the author of 120 books on graphic design, illustration, and satiric art.

Mid-Century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era
Jim Heimann, Steven Heller
Hardcover, 2 vols. in slipcase, 9.4 x 13.2 in., 720 pages, msrp $59.99

Not yet released you can pre-order it for less from Amazon ($37.99) now by clicking on the link below:
Mid Century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era (25)