1	The Thing About Juanes The Colombian rocker lets us into his studio for a peek into his very private musician’s world. read more...
2	A Feast for the Senses Fruits from Peru, pork from Spain, beef from Argentina and Amazonian health foods are just some of the year’s fads. read more...
3	The Binds of Marriage Veteran newswoman Maria Hinojosa travels the world on her mission to uncover the hidden practice of child marriage. read more...
4	The Good Fight Los Angeles philanthropist Antonia Hernandez and the California Community Foundation are in the business of social change. read more...
5	A Major League Reinvention After years of trying to establish a serious following in the U.S., Major League Soccer is hitching its hopes on the growing Hispanic population. read more...
6	The Trendsetters These tastemakers are living the high-life, setting new styles and changing the face of luxury brands. read more...
7	A Family Man Writer, producer and funny man Rick Najera brings his homey brand of humor to the stage with his new play Sweet 15 (Quinceañera). read more...

the Trendsetters

In our annual luxury special we look at some spectacular designers who have cornerd the luxury market while at the same time revolutionizing high style. Among this year’s crew are a Hollywood sibling and top drawer furniture designer in his own right, a South American fashion maven, a captain of style on the seas and the leader in sleek automotive design.

By Marcela Rojas

Sami Hayek
The Craftsman
He may have a famous last name, but Sami Hayek is a creative force in his own right.

Through his Hollywood-based atelier, Sami Hayek Studios, the 34-year-old designer is reinventing the art of living. From elegant and functional furnishings to large-scale housing projects, Hayek is not afraid to apply his masterful techniques to a variety of mediums.
“The whole point to the studio is to narrate stories through objects, spaces and furniture,” Hayek explains. “It’s tailoring an experience to how you want to feel when you walk into a room.”
Indeed, the Coatzacoalcos, Mexico-born designer has traveled the globe designing exclusive spreads for clients such as Louis Vuitton and Bentley. His signature furniture, from curvy stools to sleek desks, combines rich woods, leathers and metals. The eye-catching pieces fetch between $380 and $18,000.
“I like to think we create unique lines that are organic to the client’s needs,” Hayek says. “My point of view is to always bring warmth and function to aesthetics.”
Hayek’s work is not limited to interior design. A graduate of the Pasadena-based Art Center College of Design, he has incorporated his training that combined industrial design with architecture into a number of projects, including designing a 120-unit middle-income housing complex in Tijuana, Mexico. His work seeks to push the boundaries of style and affordability.
“We are redefining luxury,” says Hayek. “Luxury doesn’t only have to be for the rich. It’s a state of mind. That’s one of the things that drives me as a designer.”
Another, of course, is his roots. “The idea is to blend your resources with contemporary applications,” he says. “I look to bring the colors and textures of Mexico into some of my work, and of course, that street-smart creativity.”

Maria Rojas
The Artisan
An odd couple brings
Peruvian artisan works to a boutique near you.

Brit-born, Los Angeles-based designer Gregory Parkinson is known for his fanciful and eclectic array of finely crafted threads. Peruvian artisan Maria Rojas has worked for some 30 years perfecting the art of knitting, an Andean tradition handed down to her by her mother. Together, they are creating an odd confluence that is breathing new life into the world of high fashion and textile design.
“We love Gregory’s original style,” says Rojas. “He combines the old with the new so wonderfully.”
Through her Lima-based women’s collective, Punto Nuevo Fashions, Rojas and her team have handcrafted dozens of scarves and cardigans for Parkinson’s label, she says. The pieces are made using the finest Peruvian materials, including baby alpaca fleece, Pima cotton and custom dyed wools. Some of the elaborately detailed scarves made for Parkinson’s clothing line take as long as 15 days to create and sell in the U.S. for $400 a piece.
“The great thing about working with Maria is her ability and confidence to turn a suggestion into an actual sample with incredible technique and passion,” Parkinson says.
Rojas, 36, started knitting at age 7. More than a decade ago, she began producing handmade garments for the Kansas-based catalog, Peruvian Connection.
What started as a one-woman operation has now grown to include more than 100 women who feverishly work to create a vast line of apparel, from wedding gowns to skirts to sweaters. Rojas says she formed the collective to preserve native skills and to provide the impoverished with gainful employment. “We are trying to give these women options and to show them alternative work opportunities,” she explains.
Along with ensuring that knitting as a Peruvian art form is not lost in generations to come, Rojas said she also hopes to one day market her own creative ideas.
“We have a goal,” she explains. “To export our own label throughout the world.”

Xavi Dalmau
The Seaman
For entrepreneur
Xavi Dalmau, boating just got serious.

Xavi Dalmau is swelling up the
marine industry. Through his new company, Luxe Marine, the Venezuelan-born, Miami-bred entrepreneur has brought a sophisticated European speedboat to the U.S. market.
Luxe Marine is the exclusive distributor of Frauscher, a luxurious line of Austrian boats that has been making big waves in Europe for more than 75 years.
“It’s for people who enjoy the finer things in life,” Dalmau says.
Indeed, Luxe Marine sells three of Frauscher’s models—606 Riviera, 686 Lido and 757 St. Tropez—for between $104,000 and $169,000.
Able to reach speeds of more than 55 mph, each boat is individually handcrafted and furnished with leather upholstery and teak decks. “It has the quality of a yacht, but it’s hassle-free,” Dalmau explains.
Dalmau, 37, traveled the globe searching for the perfect product to launch his company before casting his eyes on Frauscher at the Cannes Boat Show in France last year. He immediately fell in love. The once casual boater had found his passion.
His instincts proved to be on point. Frauscher has been selling well, Dalmau says. Luxe also has partnered with a West Coast dealer that will soon offer a line of Frauscher’s electric-powered boats in California. “It’s a fun project to build a brand from scratch,” Dalmau says.
Luxe Marine is also looking into selling the SEABOB, a high-end, high-speed jet ski of sorts that performs underwater. Dalmau described the German-made water toy as something James Bond would have used.

Horacio Pagani
The Carmaker
From his native
Argentina to his adopted Italy, Horacio Pagani is
driving the trend in
performance cars.

In Argentina along the eastern slope of the mighty Andes mountain range, a powerful dry wind blows, reaching speeds in excess of 25 mph. Zonda is the term used to describe this natural force.
Naturally, when it came time for carmaker extraordinaire Horacio Pagani to name his ultimate driving machine, the Argentine aptly chose Zonda.
The sleek precision vehicle, developed for both racing and road use, is made of carbon fiber and represents the optimum in aerodynamic and ergonomic design. It comes in several models, including coupes and convertibles, with some selling for a cool $1.2 million.
Production is limited to roughly 25 cars per year. But big spenders beware: Zondas are still not available for legal street use in the U.S. However, the company is working on the 2009 U.S. release of a new car that should be street legal.
The so called super car was built out of a dream Pagani had some 20 years ago, when he showed the first drawings of the project to Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio. The Zonda is a paean to the deceased racing giant.
The compatriot would become instrumental in Pagani’s career, having introduced him to Modena, an Italian city that is home to the great Ferrari and Lamborghini factories.
Pagani worked at Lamborghini, starting as a third-level mechanic, before setting up Pagani Composite Research in 1988. The company worked with Lamborghini on several projects, including restyling the 25th anniversary Countach. He later set up Modena Design to meet the growing demand of productivity.
In 1992, he founded Pagani Automobili. That same year he constructed a prototype of his dream car that was later tested in the Dallara wind tunnel. The encouraging results would mark the start of a years-long effort to perfect the Zonda, the first of which debuted in 1999. Newer models are continually being developed. As Pagani continues to master perfection, it is clear that his passion—which started at age 12 with wood and clay carvings—is as powerful as his fast cars