The New Medici

There is a world of difference between the work you do for a corporation and the work you do when you are working for an individual. There is a relationship between you - a partnership which is not transactional which is more based on instinct, intuition, taste. We're not saying we're quite like Michelangelo but it's the same sort of relationship he would have had with the Medici - they had a vision and they employed his skills to make it fly. This relationship with visionary patrons is a very special relationship and allows us to create extraordinary, original and beautiful luxury experiences.

We have been lucky enough to partner with a range of clients who come to us with different starting points from a dream to a product to a unique place that they want to share with the world. Bee Emmott, through ArtFarm, has been that client more than once. At The Fife Arms in Braemar, at The Audley in Mayfair, at Mount St. Restaurant in London, she and Hauser & Wirth founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth have built a version of hospitality that owes more to the idea of the patron than the operator. We have been lucky enough to work together to establish what that looks like in practice. What follows is a conversation about what patronage looks like today, how we keep the craft alive and the responsibility of the new Medici of the 21st century.

Tess: We've been discussing this for a while, this whole idea of the new Medici, so let's start with definitions; what does patronage mean to you today?

Bee: The idea of patronage in relation to the Medici family, is not simply about a wealthy family and one artist. There is a role in making a judgment about what skill you think is important to champion, to enable it to prosper and be sustainable in the future. So in 50, 60, 100, 200 years' time, it still exists. That's the responsibility you have. To say: I'm making a judgment call that this is important, for whatever reason, and I'm going to create the conditions where that skill can flourish. Where we won't rush the maker, we won't prescribe any particular constraints, but we will enable you and empower you to do what you can do.

Tess: One thing that comes to mind for me is our project, The Fife Arms, can you share more on how it began?

Bee: Iwan and Manuela Wirth fell in love with a Victorian coaching inn in the middle of the village of Braemar. They went in, had a cup of coffee, and thought this is an incredible location, a magnificent building in the most fantastic landscape, and it felt like a real opportunity to reinvigorate it and give it back to the village and the local community. That took about five years. And each time we've developed another project, it's been very much led by a place we've fallen in love with, or that has a personal connection to the Wirths.

Tess: And then the work of actually knowing the place begins. Which is the part most people underestimate.

Bee: The Fife Arms was a real labour of love to deep-dive into what that place, what that location, what that community had to offer. Whether that's the craftspeople who have lived and worked there, the historians living next door, the landscape that has material to offer, the stories that particular building has to tell. You can't come in as Swiss art gallerists and say, "We know Braemar." You absolutely have to work with the people who do. It's only through that incredibly deep, forensic research that we discovered what the Fife was and could be for the future. We rely on partners, such as Here, our architects, interior designers, craftspeople, local characters or whoever it is, to really work with us to get under the skin of what that place is about, and that journey of discovery is what the experience of The Fife Arms embodies.

Bee: Braemar is so rich in stories – Francis Farquharson, an American journalist and Editor of Harper's Bazaar, was married to the Laird of Invercauld and spent her time in the Highlands. She was great friends with avant garde designer Schiaparelli, who often visited and was inspired by the tartan designs – The Fife has a bar named Elsa's, after Schiaparelli, that nods to her. It makes you wonder how the editor of Harper's Bazaar was married to a Laird in Scotland? And why would they be in Braemar?" There's a glamour to that, and there's an intrigue, because it makes you want to know more about what's so special about this tiny village in the middle of nowhere?" We started exploring things like tartan and tweed, and how, because of people like Francis Farquharson and Schiaparelli, there's this incredibly rich fashion life cycle of The Fife and Braemar. Something we could never have predicted.

Tess: And that texture is what then attracts the next generation of makers. The Kuitca mural, for one.

Bee: Guillermo (Kuitca) came from Argentina to spend six weeks in Scotland. You have the River Clunie running past the dining room where his mural covers the entire room. Kuitca often listens to music when he works, so I am sure he did whilst working on The Fife but he would of course also have been listening to the sound and rhythm of the River Clunie outside. You don't have to know any of this, you don't need a sophisticated art education, but there's a sense of the artwork 'fitting' and a rhythm to the brushwork that seems true to the place. You couldn't have that piece in London. You couldn't have in America. You could only have it in that particular location, next to that river, with that Argentinean artist having that experience. Every single moment of that mural is down to a human being's judgment about what he felt he needed to do.

Tess: And it scales all the way down to the objects. The egg scissors have become almost mythical.

Bee: The most stolen element of The Fife Arms. Hundred-pound scissors that chop the top off your very local egg. All those tiny little touchpoints are telling you the story as you go. Without you even knowing, you're engaged in it. And it's not didactic. It's not trying to explain everything to you. You're here to enjoy yourself. If you want to know more, talk to us. But just be excited by the eccentricity. Those things should spark your curiosity. A reason to ask why.

Tess: In twenty, fifty years' time, what do you think will still be there?

Bee: The investment in all of what we've talked about. The craft, the details, the tradition. Really doing it the difficult, the hard way, which is slower, there's risk, it's painful, it's frustrating, there's all the imperfections and mistakes that will be made along the way. It informs how the press talk about The Fife Arms. It informs how guests talk about it. It encourages loyalty, because people trust it. The authenticity and the integrity behind it all creates that loyalty. And from a business standpoint, you don't have to redo or reinvent every couple of years, or satisfy the latest trend in hotel, because that's just not what this type of hospitality is about. The Fife will always be Scottish Victoriana, maximalist - just like Marmite - you'll love it or hate it, but it is what it is, and it's not trying to be everything to all people. It's a living, breathing ecosystem. Never static. Jinny Blom's garden at The Fife has grown and evolved each year - it was amazing from the beginning, but it grows richer each season.

Tess: We have a line on this at Here: you only get to keep what you decide to hold on to. Does that resonate?

Bee: Completely - ultimately that's come down to the individual. An individual making a judgment about what's worth preserving, what conditions to create, what skills to sustain. That's what patronage means now. Not simply collecting but creating the conditions for something to exist and continue. The New Medici offers a hopeful idea: that a personal vision of the world can be as much about enriching the world - about creating beauty, preserving tradition and simply deciding that something matters enough to protect it and pass it on for years to come.

Bee has unpacked what patronage looks like when it is given the time and conditions to go deep. We've seen new expressions also are emerging. The opening of The Manifesto Library located inside Livraria Lello in Porto, a project by Service 95 and Dua Lipa, suggests a different kind of Medici entirely, one who uses platform and influence to protect what they love. The means are new. The instinct is ancient. We cannot wait to see where this goes next.