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Inside Luxury King Francois Pinault's Private Palazzo Museums

Filed under: Art, Wealth, Architecture & Design

Francois Pinault is a man justifiably envied by many. With a fortune of $8.7 billion the high-school dropout-turned luxury goods titan is the majority shareholder of PPR, whose brands include Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta. He also owns famed auction house Christie's and the renowned Chateau Latour winery. His amazing contemporary art collection, worth an estimated $1.4 billion, encompasses 2,000-plus works by over 80 artists including Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami and Damien Hirst. Much of it is now housed as his two incredible private museums in Venice, the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana. Both historic buildings were transformed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando and are the subject of a smashing new book from Skira Rizzoli.

Tadao Ando: Venice - The Pinault Collection at the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana shows how Ando's designs seamlessly blend history and innovation while adhering to the strict laws governing the preservation of historic buildings in Venice. At the Palazzo Grassi, prominently located on the Grand Canal, Ando's quiet but expert renovation of the eighteenth-century rooms makes a perfect backdrop for Jeff Koons' eye-popping balloon sculptures. At the Punta della Dogana (shown on the cover above), the Venetian Republic's original customs warehouse, the large-scale space was subtly subdivided into refined rooms for installation art. The "dialogue – that is collision and friction – between the new and the old," Ando states, "is the driving force in creating a city's future."

Tags: architect, architecture, art, art collection, Balenciaga, billionaire, Bottega Veneta, Chateau Latour, contemporary art, Damien Hirst, France, Francois Pinault, Gucci, Italy, Jeff Koons, luxury goods, museum, PPR, Richard Prince, Tadao Ando, Takashi Murakami, Venice, Yves Saint Laurent

It's Not All Caviar And Champagne For Luxury CEO

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

He's the heir to a luxury fortune and he has married one of the world's most beautiful women, Salma Hayek, it's easy to dismiss François-Henri Pinault as just another blessed rich guy. But Peter Gumbel's profile of Pinault in Fortune magazine shows that François-Henri Pinault is a lot more than just a lucky guy, he's a major player in the luxury arena, helming PPR, the luxury conglomerate that includes Gucci, Bottega Veneta and other brands.

And it isn't all fabulous parties and jetting about. Earlier this year after a meeting in Paris with union representatives from various PPR businesses about store closures, layoffs and other measures he found himself in a taxi that was surrounded by angry employees who kept him trapped for an hour as they yelled. Police had to come rescue him (a video is after the jump).

There's no denying that the luxury market has taken a huge hit in the past year and any potential recovery has been slow so far. Pinault has to prove to the world that he can be a successful CEO and a worthy heir to the empire founded by his father, François Pinault. His $4.7 billion payment for a controlling stake in Puma in 2007 seemed a little outside the luxury purview at the time but the acquisition has helped shield PPR from bigger losses. His proactive budget cutting in spring of 2008 also helped the company stay flush. Pinault seems to be one of the faces of the new luxury, a little more informal, a little more budget conscious and a little more flexible in terms of making big moves--all necessary characteristics in today's fluctuating market.

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Tags: francois-henri-pinault, luxury, ppr

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Ch�teau Latour, Yours for $200 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Fabled Bordeaux brand Château Latour, widely regarded as one of the finest wines from the Medoc region, is being offered for sale by top-drawer investment bank Lazard Freres, the London Times reports. French business tycoon and president of the luxury-goods group PPR, François Pinault, is seeking $200 million - $280 million for it, the paper reports.

Pinault, whose holdings include Christie's (also rumored to be for sale), Gucci and Puma, piad about $150 million for Latour in 1993. Bernard Magrez, owner of the rival Pape Clément winery, is said to be a strong contender, perhaps with backing from his and friend fellow wine aficionado Gérard Depardieu.

The Château Latour estate consists of 190 acres of Bordeaux vineyards, but only grapes from the 115 acres that surround the actual chateau at the heart of the estate are used to make the Grand Vin de Château Latour (right). A case of the 1961 vintage fetched an impressive $170,000 at auction by Christie's in Hong Kong last month.

Gallery: ChÃ¢teau Latour