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Old Meets New   


The Alpina Gstaad epitomises a marriage of luxury and traditional Swiss craftsmanship.  

A suite at The Alpina Gstaad

Certain hotels have a reputation that precedes them. The Alpina Gstaad is one of them. The joint vision of French businessman Jean-Claude Mimran and his ski-instructor-turned-business-partner Marcel Bach, it became the first five-star hotel in Gstaad to open its doors in a century.  

Gstaad is known for its tight exclusivity: it is the only Alpine village to have passed laws, back in the 1950s, to forbid new builds not in the traditional ‘chocolate-box’ Simmentaler style. So, I am not surprised to hear, over a glass of chilled Louis Roederer with German-born general manager Tim Weiland, that it took some 13 years to get planning permission due to objections from wealthy neighbours, eventually opening in 2012.   

The Alpina Gstaad was, after some back and forth, built in the style of the wooden chalet synonymous with this part of Switzerland. But as I am reliably informed, there are more to these chalets than meets the eye; usually snapped up by billionaires and quietly internally renovated with ‘iceberg’ bunkers that go down four storeys, housing cinemas, swimming pools and dance floors.   

The Alpina Gstaad was built to the tune of some US$325 million with 56 bedrooms and residences. That this hotel is on another level is clear just from the entrance: through a cavernous tunnel, past a shimmering waterfall, transporting you to the subterranean entrance where row upon row of supercars are parked, including one Lamborghini with an eye-popping rainbow graffiti paint job.  The underground entrance ensures that guests' first impression is not a typical Swiss chalet but something rather more dramatic. (It is only when I go for a snowy swim in the outdoor pool the next day, heated to a toasty 32 degrees, that I realise I hadn’t seen the façade until now.)  

The lobby of The Alpina Gstaad

As our gull-winged Tesla chauffeur glides to a halt in front of the lobby, it’s a sensual feast: blue-chip contemporary art hung as far as the eye can see, from Tracey Emin’s signature scrawl ‘And I said I love you’ captured in neon pink above the DJ stage, to the enormous green Janus-like sculpture Doppelkopf by artist Thomas Schütte, to Rashid Johnson’s giant rainbow collage of broken mirrors, oyster shells and ceramic tiles juxtaposing the gigantic stone fireplace. Tropical orchids cascade from the double-height lobby, while soft leather embossed with delicate patterns encases the vast pillars framing the imperial staircase.   

With this boldness of form, comes a fusion of the elegance of time. In the lobby, cast your eyes up to see an ancient wooden ceiling in hues of turquoise and gold with baroque cherubs, a stunning piece that originates from southern Europe and dates back to around 1780. Chaletbau Matti, the local chalet designers that led the construction of the hotel, found the ceiling in 32 separate pieces, had it restored and reassembled into its current grand form. The lobby table is made from a single enormous section of a local tree trunk.  

Hung in the corridors are pieces of original découpage, the art of silhouette on filigree paper, an age-old Swiss art from the Gstaad-Saanen area. Reminiscent of illustrations from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, many of these are by local artist Anne Rosat, portraying landscapes, bouquets of flowers and scenes of local life; a link to its Swiss heritage.   

  

The antique ceiling, restored and put back together

In the rooms, the minibars are housed in 250-year-old rustic antique cupboards, the ceilings and walls clad in warm reclaimed timber used in barns from the 18th century, still showing all the carvings, nicks and scratches of their very different former lives. These were sourced by Hirsch Bedner Associates, the US designers that worked on the bedrooms, while French designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance created the authentic Japanese restaurant Megu, with silk screens made from reclaimed kimonos. The restaurant offers sashimi so fresh it is hard to believe we are 800km from the sea.   

At Sommet, the Michelin-starred restaurant, we enjoy the company of visionary head chef Martin Göschel, who pops out of the kitchen frequently to chat and personally bakes sole in molten beeswax from the hotels’ beehives at our table. Pairing generous glasses of wine with each of the seven courses is the knowledgeable Italian sommelier Andrea Ferrari.   

The driving force behind the design, the art and the interiors is Nachson Mimran, creative director and chairman of the board at The Alpina Gstaad, and one of Jean Claude Mimran’s sons. He has turned The Alpina Gstaad into something more than the sum of its parts: a hub for a sort of mini-Davos-meets-Shark-Tank for socially minded entrepreneurs, deep-pocketed investors and is a sometimes a pop up space for sustainable companies such as Pangaia.               

Guided by a strong social conscience, which can be seen with to.org, a foundation, venture fund, and changemaking platform co-founded with his brother Arieh, Nachson describes himself as “a creative activist”.   

  

Nachson Mimran in the To.org artist residency at The Alpina Gstaad

On a walk in the snow-blanketed gardens, this is discovered first-hand. A small wooden hut, the first ‘demountable’ post-war house designed by legendary French architect Jean Prouvé, is located at the bottom of the garden, now used as an artist’s residency and meeting place. It is filled with creative works, drawings and sketches, as well as a 3D-printed table to sit and mull over ideas. For when nature calls, outside is a large futuristic pod with a sliding door which opens to reveal a portable toilet.   

Nicknamed ‘The Throne’, it is no ordinary lavatory. It is 3D printed from upcycled single-use medical plastic made by Nagami, a Spanish studio that specialises in robotic 3D printing. It has been given a mission to replace the festival and campsite portable toilet with a more sustainable design, improving sanitation in construction in developing countries.   

The Alpina Gstaad; a hotel with impeccable standards of luxury but so much more besides.  

This article appeared in Billionaire's Makers Issue, Spring 2022. To subscribe, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.