1. Who are you?

2. What do you like about what you do?
I’m free to write about the most amazing things of life.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Beauty as such – can hurt sometimes …

4. Please tell us about your brand “Adi Weiss” and your aims.
Adi Weiss has his own Shirt-Collection and his own blog: www.adiweiss.at
Furthermore he is known as Austrian’s most famous “Mode-Fuzzi”. Adi Weiss has no more high aims

5. Are you working with other blogs, especially in the fashion & lifestyle industry, and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
No, I’m not. My team and I are snowed under with work on the www.adiweiss.at – homepage. That’s what we concentrate on the most, at the moment.

6. Your TOP3 with regards to Austrian fashion brands and why?
There are a lot of talented people in Austria, hard to mention only three of them …

7. Your TOP 3 with regards to international fashion brands and why?
D’Squared, Dolce & Gabbana and of course, the Adi Weiss-Shirt-Collection )) Three brands with the perfect cut.

8. What are your general comments about the fashion industry and the future trends?
Fashion is not just worn by models, that’s why there need to be some rethinking in this case!

9. Any comments you want to share with us?
My only advice: No Ballerinas and High Heels forever!

1. Who are you?

2. What do you like about what you do?
Being creative… This is what I love since being a child. I always used to draw, to sing, to play instruments or to write…Also a good thing is to get in touch with lots of different people around the world. And also working with people, who feel the same passion for art like me.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Hm, this is a difficult question. I think there is nothing I don´t like…. maybe sometimes there is too much work, but on the other side this is also a good point. Haha…

4. Please tell us about ‘C-Heads Magazine’, include your strategy and tell us about your future goals and target groups

C-Heads Magazine is all about photography, music, art, fashion, trends and lifestyle. We show talents, newcomers and well-known artists from all over the world. We think, that art is an important part of life. The playful side of life. Breathtaking pictures tell stories. Music that touches and supplies the soundtrack of life. Fashion that can show, who you are and what you want to express. Art that shows our individuality and connects us to each other.

Our target group are people around the world who are interested in any kind of art. A big target group of course are artists themselves, like stylists, make-up artists, fashion designers, musicians, illustrator and so on… the list is long.

A special point in our magazine is, that there is a chance for everyone to get into the magazine. This is our Be-Inside concept. We don´t mind f.e. if you are a star photographer or someone who just loves doing photography during your free time. When at the end the pictures are what we like you can make it into the magazine.
Future Goals: it would be great if we could get more and more well-known and of course it would be great if we can continue doing what we love and live from it. We would love to have C-Heads Magazine also in a printed version at one point! But this is really talking about the future.

5. How is ‘C-Heads Magazine’ positioned?
The good thing is, C-Heads Magazine was the first Austrian Online Magazine. We started this project, when the idea was still fresh and new. So we are like a primary rock in that scene.

6. Are you working with blogs/websites and if yes, what is your favourite one and why?
Being honest, I am not so much into blogs any more. I owned a blog myself some time ago. But at the moment there are too many of them, and most of them are repeating the information.

7. Your experiences with the creative industry in general?
In my opinion the international creative industry is mostly very professional , well organised and open minded. So i have lots of good experiences with it.

8. Which future trends do you see for the creative industry, especially in Austria?
I think that Austria´s creative scene is going to getting more and more attention in the future. There is a lot of potential in the new generation. I hope that the scene will be able to progress by opening their borders. Working together more and more tolerance between the different scenes is an important part of that.

9. Your TOP 3 magazines and why?
TUSH Magazine is awesome. Full with very good high quality and innovative fashion photography. I also like ID Magazine and V Magazine. They are always so colourful and fresh in a way.

10. Any comments you want to share with us?
Yeah, maybe strange, but everyone should try to make this planet into a heavens place…. so it´s all about love. Thanks a lot for the interview!

On April 21^st 2010, the Ringstrassen-Galerien Designer Award will take place for the 7^th time with a new addition: For the first time the well known RG Designer Award will be announced internationally in cooperation with NOT JUST A LABEL, the leading online platform for young fashion design. The Ringstrassen-Galerien is the finest address for shopping in Vienna. A unique shopping experience is waiting in the heart of the city for everyone who is looking for that something special.

In addition to its proximity to the many sights of Vienna, the unique architectural concept and modern, international flair make Ringstrassen-Galerien a shopping centre second to none. Every year the renowned location becomes the arena for the ceremony of one of the most prestigious awards in the Austrian fashion scene.

The theme “Black And White” calls on young and ambitious designer to submit their ideas and sketches.

During the Fashion Gala Show on April 21^st 2010 the finalists will present the chosen outfits, as well as selected outfits of their current collection, in an inimitable fashion show. The winner will receive a cash price of € 3,000, a trophy designed by NJAL’s and Lady Gaga’s favourite jewellery designer AND_I and a portrait story in an Austrian Lifestyle Magazine.

The Ring Hotel, Vienna´s Casual Luxury Hotel, is partner of the Ringstrassen Galerien Fashion Award.

International glamour will be given to the event due to the performance of Kiera Sunshine Chaplin. Topmodel from Ireland, grandchild of Charly Chaplin and great-grandchild of Eugene O’Neill, Nobel prize laureate in literature, will fly directly from New York to Vienna, where she will attend the event and of course enjoy the city. Star moderator Nazan Eckes from RTL will present the gala.

This year’s highlights will be the fashion shows of the Viennese designers Anelia Peschev, ep_anoui and Elfenkleid. They will present their most actual fashion collections during the Vienna Awards for Fashion & Lifestyle.

At the gala the following categories will be awarded:

1. Stylist
2. Hair Stylist
3. Makeup Artist
4. Fashion Photography
5. Fashion- und Lifestyle Journalist
6. Design Branding
7. Tribute to Fashion & Lifestyle (Label)
8. Accessory Designer
9. WKO Special Award “Go International”
10. Model
11. Designer of the Year
12. Seitenblicke Special Award Lifestyle Icon

Like in 2009, all awards will be designed by CRYSTALLIZED – Swarowski Elements.

The Vienna Awards for Fashion & Lifestyle are supported by Elle, Wien Kultur, Aussenwirtschaft Österreich (AWO), Goldwell, The Ring (Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel), Evian, Don Gil, Frey Wille, Luxarella.com, cremesso, Camitz Sparkling Vodka, CRYSTALLIZED (Swarovski Elements and Epamedia).

1. Who are you?

I would say that I am a cosmopolitan citizen who wants to make a positive impact in the world. Events in my life encouraged me to be extremely creative and to think for myself. I am originally Slovak and grew up in the old Austro-Hungarian empire, moving to Vienna many years ago. During the last five years I also lived in Marbella, southern Spain. I am also a Spanish resident, even though I now spend most of my time in Vienna. In addition to my main role as a full-time mother, I am an athlete, holistic therapist, former UNIDO staff member and blogger. During the last years, I also created a business concept with my first website-blog, The Best of Marbella. Many friends and business acquaintances would generally describe me as a dynamic and ambitious businesswoman, who doesn´t give up on her dreams.

2. What do you like about what you do?
Public relations, which is very much part of my work: The Best of Marbella blog-website is driven by my love for Marbella and its people. I like to interact and communicate in different languages and express my creativity, touching peoples’ lives in positive ways.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Practically nothing, although I have to say that in the beginning writing blogs and updating the website was time consuming. That was really the only challenge; however, I have a very supportive team and associate network, especially my friend-web designer and artist Syl Chad who helps me enormously. There are so many positive aspects of my work that I always prefer to look at the bright side of life …

4. Please tell us about your blog ‘The best of Marbella’ and your aims with it.
The Best of Marbella is much more than an interactive blog-website. It is a unique marketing and promotional concept, one of the leading references about Marbella, the Costa del Sol and beyond. Even during the initial stage The Best of Marbella is listed as one of the top 101 blogs to watch in 2009, according to the WE Magazine in the USA.

We are still developing our project, however, already in this initial stage it is visited by more than 90 countries in the world. Please read about our success story on our blog.

The Best of Marbella mainly promotes the multi-cultural and cosmopolitan lifestyle of Marbella, as well as selected businesses, properties, dining, nightlife, arts and cultural venues, health and beauty, golf clubs, local clubs and associations, events and in addition, business categories from A-Z, linked to an important and thoughtfully selected brand name: The Best of …

The Best of Marbella is also an ever expanding network of local and international professionals. We are associated with many top quality professionals, our associated partners such as CCG, C+Golf, 4Business Global Network, Marbella Dutch Business Club, Asociacion Francofonos, Business and Lifestyle Network, Concordia, Society Living Magazine, The Sentinella Costa West, Blue Sky Luxury Car Hire, Manifesto Design, Smithwood Productions and many more …

5. What are the benefits of a membership?
There are several subscription options and many benefits. Anyone interested in the membership should contact: maria@thebestofmarbella.com. We promote and support charities free of charge and with other colleagues from press and media we offer an exchange of services which is a win-win situation for all.

Benefits:

• Top Google ranking of any business or event when listed with us
• Local and international “visibility” in more than 90 countries around the world giving your business or event massive exposure
• We created strategic alliances with members and associates so that all businesses can also be promoted through a multitude of other websites and blogs that are inter-linked with us
• We promote our members through press and media that are associated with us and by personally introducing our members to each other
• We send free events and business newsletters to 20,000 entries from our database and in addition regular press releases (blog posts) to our ever-expanding social media network. For example, The Best of Marbella can be found on:
  www.thebestofmarbella.com
  thebestofmarbella.blogspot.com
  The Best of Marbella @ Twitter
  The Best of Marbella @ Zimbio
  The Best of Marbella @ YouTube
  The Best of Marbella @ Facebook
  The Best of Marbella @ linkedin
  and many other social and exclusive networks …
• Being promoted by us, your business or activity will become an essential part of our success story as one of the top 101 blogs/websites to watch in 2009, acknowledged by WE Magazine in the USA.
• If suitable, we include businesses and their activities in the promotional packages or events that we promote. “The best of Marbella” can offer and suggest holiday or luxury packages” such as golf breaks, luxury accommodation, luxury car hire, boat or yacht cruises, luxury shopping, cultural excursions, beauty, fitness and anti-stress holidays, adventurous holidays, property investment and corporate holidays, single or family holidays, weddings packages or cultural and business exchange with other places. The Best of Marbella is a franchising concept that will connect many places and countries in the world. Our first franchising destination is The Best of Vienna blog and we are planning to do the same with Moscow and many other attractive destinations in the world.
• Member to member discounts and special offers

During the current economic crisis, many places, especially tourist destinations like Marbella, need promotion and connection with other cities from abroad. Knowing both Marbella and Vienna and speaking many languages, I am in a unique position to connect people and places in many ways.

Marbella has the best climate in Europe and in places like Vienna, where the winters can be too long, cold and grey, escape to sunny Marbella even for a weekend can be uplifting and refreshing.

Another goal is to strengthen the inter-cultural and business exchange between Marbella and Vienna. There are so many talented musicians, artists and singers and most of them need promotion. For example it would be fantastic to invite the Wiener Philharmoniker orchestra or Die Wiener Sängerknaben (The Vienna Boys Choir) to Marbella or, conversely, to move productions and artists from Marbella to Vienna. Since I returned to Vienna, I reconnected with the local, international and diplomatic communities in Vienna and have been discovering new venues, clubs and luxury networks that inspired me to many new ideas.

There are many artists, dancers and musicians in Marbella like Stephen Lloyd Morgan that would be delighted to perform live concerts in the Grand Hotel Wien or The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel. On the other side, one of the most important events in Marbella that visitors from Vienna and abroad should not miss is Marbella´s International Arts Festival. I am convinced that the Department of Tourism in Marbella and Vienna would also support this kind of inter-cultural and business exchange.

Furthermore, Marbella has so much to offer, not only because of its fantastic climate, beautiful beaches, world class golf courses, delicious food and exciting shopping, parties and nightlife, but also because it boasts some of the most prestigeous and luxurious properties in Europe. I also highly recommend anyone who wants to learn Spanish to visit Marbella. In the next months, we will include many properties on the Best of Marbella, as well as numerous golf courses, hotels and restaurants, to offer our readers the best choices. So, please check the site regularly for updates or even better, keep up to date via a subscription to our free events and business newsletters.

6. Were you working with other blogs and if yes, which ones and why?
This is the first blog I started a year ago when I recognized the opportunity to meet people´s needs by offering a unique promotional concept. We are currently preparing the Best of Vienna blog to connect the two blogs and places in many ways and initiate an inter-cultural and business exchange.

7. Please provide us with your TOP 5 for Marbella
It is very difficult to choose from so many beautiful places in Marbella, but my favourite place is the Paseo Maritimo (seaside promenade) ideal for walking, running and enjoying the warm weather. You can also try delicious food and Spanish wine in numerous chiringuitos. My favourite beach restaurant is Trocadero Playa. Everyone should visit the old Town of Marbella (Orange Square), which is very special and Puerto Banus promenade where you can admire the exclusive yachts and luxury cars, enjoy shopping in some of the most popular boutiques and visit some of the numerous restaurants and bars. If you like golf, Marbella Golf club is one of the best golf courses on “Costa del Golf”. When it comes to beaches and beach clubs, I like the Buddha Beach in Puerto Banus. My favourite restaurants: Villa Tiberio, Sol i Luna, Salotto, Passion Cafe and many more. You can find details about all these places on the Best of Marbella blog in the Dining and Nightlife section.

8. Restaurants/bars/shops/hotels/sightseeing
There are many wonderful restaurants, bars, shops, hotels and sightseeing trips that will be included on our blog-website soon. There is so much to do and see, including the beautiful white villages and places close to Marbella like Ojen, Monda, Guaro (with its Luna Mora festival), Ronda, Gaucin and El Chorro. Further afield Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz and Gibraltar await the curious visitor. The best way to find all the information is to check the existing blog articles and subscribe to our free events and business newsletters that will be sent out as of January.

9. Any comments you want to share with us?
I would like to emphasize the importance of blogs and social media in marketing any business. A lot of people don’t yet appreciate the importance and significance of blogs, so here is a simple explanation why The Best of Marbella is using blogs to promote its members and why it became so successful so far:

1. Blogs are a fantastic marketing and networking tool provided by Google. They are free and can be used in many different ways, depending on individual creativity, knowledge and expertise. In our case, it is a basic tool where every promotion starts.
2. Google invests billions of dollars to develop their software technology that we use
3. Blogs are the fastest growing medium of communication for businesses and individuals and have rapidly become influential components of the Internet. Their importance will grow for some time to come
4. Though blogs have a social function in the first instance, they have also become very popular because of their effectiveness in SEO (blogs are getting the kind of traffic that static websites can only dream of – even without SEO tactics).
5. We include blog links in all our social media networks and profiles including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many other social and business tools and networks
6. In our case, our blog is interactive, constantly changing and the most important part of our website www.thebestofmarbella.com that we use for our PR and marketing campaigns and to connect with people locally and globally.

Edited by Manifesto Design.

1. Who are you?

In the recent past, I participated in various exhibitions in Austria and abroad; in 2009, I was nominated for the “item-art prize for painting” in Ulm, Germany, I took part in group exhibitions in Frankfurt/M. and St. Christoph, Austria, and in the near future, some of my works will be shown in the course of the “14. Art Auction” in Berlin under the patronage of film director Fatih Akin as well as at the 7th “Biennial of Contemporary Art” in Florence.
Additionally, I held a number of shows in Vienna, the current one, titled “Hunting now”, at Gallery Steiner.

2. What do you like about what you do?
In my paintings, I aim to display our present life, the daily life with its sometimes very special moments. Facing our fast-moving society, I think it’s necessary to conserve our current visual impressions, that’s just what painters have always done, and I enjoy depicting today’s lifestyle the way I see it.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Being a freelance artist is always connected with pressure – financially and artistically. Sometimes it’s pretty annoying, especially if it’s only a self-made problem caused by one’s own perfectionism, on the other hand, being under strain can be really necessary for creating good and interesting works. So it’s quite an ambiguous thing, you hate it, but you need it, too.

4. Please tell us about your paintings and your aims?
Being inspired by the permanently changing urban lifestyle, I trace the ambivalent mixture of cultural tendencies and individual concepts of today’s people in my realistic paintings. Modern human beings are viewed against their social background, always ‘living under the lens’; and in the obtrusive, revealing style of close-ups and snapshots, complex situations are reduced to an exemplary detail or a fleeting moment while the circumstances remain untold.

5. Are you working with blogs and if yes, which ones and why?
No, I’m not working with blogs.

6. Is there a gallery where you can find your paintings?
From 18.8.-14.9.2009, Gallery Steiner (Kurrentgasse 4, 1010 Vienna, open Mo-Fr 11-20h, Sa 12-17h, Sun closed) shows my current solo exhibition titled “Hunting now” – at the same time, selected photographs by Stavros von Kazinyan can be seen there.

7. Which painting do you admire the most and why?
I admire Gottfried Helnwein’s work, and I guess “Mouse I” is my favourite – disturbing, overwhelming, just amazing.

8. Any comments you want to share with us?
In 2008, I really enjoyed working together with “The Ring Hotel“, Vienna – apart from two exhibition cooperations, I painted a commissioned work for the bar “Drings” which was a great and challenging task because the product had to meet various requirements: it should thematically and visually reflect the bar’s focus on extraordinary vodka brands and cocktails, and additionally, a neutral colouring was needed because it should not disturb the great effect of the ‘mathematics art’ installations by artist Markus Mooslechner, especially the spectacular “Drings”-eyecatcher, the wide bar front. At least, I created a photorealistic work with soft restrained colours, corresponding to the unique and very special atmosphere of the cosmopolitan, stylish, and highly fashionable “Drings”-bar.

A few examples: Stein Group, Geisel Privathotels in Germany, Schössle Hotel Group and Bulgari Collection. Mostly all boutique hotels are furnished in a themed, aspirational or stylish way, boost between 30 and 80 guest rooms and suites and have special ‘unique selling points’ like for example their location, special features like a spa, themed restaurant or bar, the history of the building, their name, the façade or the connection to a specific luxury lifestyle brand like for example Bulgari Collection.

That is why boutique hotels are considered to be individual and unlikely to be found within the large hotel chains. The term ‘design hotel‘ comes along when parts of a small size hotel are designed by a well known designer or when the hotel did choose a famous interior design company for the room concept, restaurant or bar design or other parts of the hotel. Good examples of design hotels can be found on www.designhotels.com like for example the Lux 11 in Berlin, designed by Guiliana Salmaso – Silvestrin/Salmaso, London as well as Goetz Maximilian Keller – MK Architects, Berlin. This design hotel is situated in Berlin’s upcoming district of ‘Berlin Mitte’, The positioning and style of the hotel has been adapted to the various shops, restaurants and bars in this district. It was opened on July 1st, 2005 and one can see that the interior design and modern structure has been developed together with the historical setting of the building. The hotel offers 72 rooms, suites and apartments so it fits to the defined number of rooms boutique hotels in general feature. Look at the different color concepts and the use of various interior design elements … this is what design is all about.

Another good example of a design hotel is the Rockhouse Hotel, Jamaica. It is stretched across the cliffs of Pristine Cove in Negril, a great location! Interior design/architecture by Jean-Henri Morin, Australia and Cornerstone Design, Jamaica, this hotel can also be defined as ‘lifestyle hotel‘. The hotel can be seen as ultimate exotic escape. It offers 34 rooms and suites in 4 different categories, including villas. The rooms are built from timber, stone and thatch and designed to exist in harmony with the jungle-like garden and volcanic rock of the hotel’s setting.

Boutique and design hotels tend to position themselves, in addition to using the terms ’boutique’ and/or ‘design’, also as ‘hip’, ‘trendy’ or ‘lifestyle’ hotel, different terms with no exact definition. A lifestyle hotel can be seen as a hotel that tries to keep updated with traveler preferences as well as changes in overall travel. A lifestyle hotel can also be seen as a hotel that defines its target group / target audience as well as the travel preferences, habits, level of income, characteristics and ‘personalities’ of this target group, and by combining both a lifestyle hotel defines its interior design, hotel products, level of service, type of outlets etcetera, creating a ‘home-away-from-home’ feeling for the dedicated guest, offering the same ‘lifestyle preferences’ in a hotel as the guest does have at home.

As the big hotel chains see potential in this segment (Hyatt Hotel with their concept ‘Andaz’, InterContinental with their brand ‘Indigo‘, Rezidor does launch ‘Missoni‘ and Starwood has ‘Element‘), the future will show if this trend will continue. If travelers, which tend to prefer small hotels that cater more individually to their personal needs and preferences, will focus more strongly on ‘lifestyle hotels’ … good question.

Anon Optics was founded 2001 by Burton Snowboards and is a leading lifestyle brand, producing not only sunglasses but also skigoggles for wintersport, focusing strongly on upcoming trends in fashion and lifestyle. They even have their own blog.

It was a great party and I like their glasses, I thank Vice for inviting me!

1. Who are you?
Florian Weitzer – I am 35 years old and I´m managing 3 hotels in Graz:
lifestyle design hotel daniel, Hotel “Das Weitzer” and “Grand Hotel Wiesler”

2. What do you like about what you do?
I like to have the wide range of challenges instead of being focused on routine job.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
To deal with the sort of people who are not open minded, accounting and authorities.

4. Please tell us about your hotel and your aims with it?
The Weitzer (www.weitzer.com) is a unique composition of tradition and modern lifestyle
… with the extra effort: Mercedes SL 1983 “the Legend”, “VINOFAKTUR” the best Styrian wine boutique, “Die Blumeninsel” a creative flower shop and BBQ on the balcony of a Weitzer guestroom, you can find these unusual hotel-experiences at the Weitzer in Graz, where else?

5. Are you working with blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
until now I did not find the right blog…

6. Your TOP 3 hotel / destination / food and beverage experiences?
Top hotel, top destination and top food&beverage experience are combined in the following locations:
www.kleinsasserhof.at
www.almdorf.com
www.steirereck.at

9. Can you offer possible readers 3 things they absolutely need to do/visit/see when visiting your city?
Climb up and visit the Schlossberg discover Graz from above,
take a ride with one of our “daniel” branded Vespa’s starting from design hotel daniel, enjoy a Styrian meal at “Der Steirer” with a selection of 500 Styrian wines in the Vinofaktur.

10. Any comments you want to share with us?
Graz is a destination which is almost unknown but there are a lot of unique pleasures to discover. Here you can find a lot of cultural events, lifestyle and Austria’s capital city of culinary pleasures (Genusshauptstadt) AND! you will be amazed about our prices. In times of economic crises you don not have to abstain.
Come and enjoy Graz!

• Jan Hendrik van Dillen – Palais Coburg
• Oscar del Campo, Imperial & Bristol
• Carl-Peter Echtermeijer, Grand Hotel Wien & The Ring Hotel
• Johann Mikats, Ambassador.

In May 2008 van Dillen, del Campo, Echtermeijer and Mikats met with Vienna Deluxe to determine which factors their luxury hotels have in common. At the traditional Café Griensteidl, it was remarkable to note what a magnet Vienna has become for foreign guests.”

Click below to download the complete article in German, English and Russian (PDF, 2.4 MB):