Reality Bytes: Exclusive Interview with French artist Arthur de Pins

In the hysterical, superscripted world of French artist Arthur de Pins, reality is an out of whack realm that’s begging for attention, laughs, study and introspection. Mixing pure wit with ample creativity, the observation of mankind and all its idiotic idiosyncrasies has never been this clever or belly achingly funny. With computer-enhanced drawings, the frames look like a slick, out of an Academy award-winning animated feature.

But is it art?

Senior Eeditor P.Ramakrishnan says, "Hell yeah!"

Within the technicolour, bilingual (French and English) official website of Arthur de Pins, 48, there are various samples of his artwork, clips of the mini films he’s made, posters, portraits, caricatures of celebrities and more. It’s multimedia art that pretenders often speak of, but perhaps de Pins is one of the few to realise.

“When I was at university, I wanted to choose between animation and illustrations,” says the artist. “Now it looks like I’m doing both. Today, everything is mixed together; comic books are turned into TV series, illustrations are animated in Flash, and illustrators work hand in hand with animators on character design. So, inspiration is coming from everywhere. As for me, it’s mostly from Europe and Japan, but the software I use (illustrator) has also its own ‘style’ – drawing without outlines, pastel colours - it’s a mix of everything.”

There is an online cult following of de Pins’ work with odes thrown at him like virtual bouquet hoisted towards thespians. With devilish detail, his portrayals of daily Parisian life are exaggerated, comical wonders. Using vector graphics (with Photoshop), every little nuance and minutiae of life is captured. In one of his images, a gaggle of girls try to put their makeup on in front of a mirror. Mouths wide open, their expansive eyes peer at their visages being covered with powder and puff… but pay attention to the precocious little girl in the centre trying to make room and grab a lipstick that’s got the essence of image, the seminal theme within the frame. 

Well, e-frame!

With an exhibition of his work in the making, de Pins is also working on a film, a sample of his short featurettes already visible online and heavily pirated and redistributed by fanatics (who are of course breaching copyright laws - whatever their intentions may be - by hosting them on their web sites, YouTube and the like).

“I’m working on a feature film based on my short movie, La Revolution des Crabes, says de Pins, a short film which has already won 33 creative prizes (see it online at www.arthurdepins.com).

His perspective of Paris is diametrically different to those who view it for its architecture, art and sartorial scenario. No moist paintings of couples kissing in gardens with iconic sites blurring in the distance. There isn’t a cliché in sight, and his images have delicious unpredictability.

De Pins’ universe is almost exactly like ours, minus the drudgery and mundane grayness, the long pockets of time where nothing happens eradicated and only its brightest moments are captured. In a tailspin of activity, a bus ride becomes a multiple act of characters living their daily lives, trying to fit into a tight space while maintain their distinct quirks. An S&M couple, half nude, find each other in leather straps and translucent tops, among a mélange of humdrum others, who seem listless in their angst inside the vehicle.

Women have exaggerated figures of old coke bottles; rotund bottoms and pronounced cleavages. Men seem lackadaisical and half asleep, listening to their own music whilst trying to escape their quotidian world.

Unrestricted by his own surroundings, the erotic and sometimes violent images can be sourced to inspiration that’s transatlantic. “I’m inspired by ‘fashion’ illustrators like Kiraz, LJordi Labada and Monsieur Z, and also by Japanese cartoons – as any other French cartoonist is!”

What separates de Pins from any hack with access to Photoshop is the technical finesse and depth to this work. Its in the shading, gradation and choice of colours, the subtle comic genius that’s clearly at work. If only reality was as interesting. In fact, if only the multi-million-dollar comedies churned out of Hollywood resulted in as many laughs!

The way his dream works, perhaps a project with Spielberg is indeed prescient. “One day I’d like to make an animation with exactly the same kid of drawing of my illustrations, but it’s not possible at the moment because my characters are too complex to be drawn by hand and frame by frame. Maybe later a new software will allow that.”

When asked to send us a self-portrait (this interview as done by phone and e-mail), he sent the image on the cover page. 

You gotta laugh.

Weekend Lols:

At least my Starbucks lady thinks I'm hot and tall. If not anyone else... 

She was Short / Sweet 😊

Parting shot: High tea with Cartier: Got this pencil sketch on the way out!

John... something artist. Thank you!

Where The Macallan Begins: A Tasting Session That Starts in Andalusia, Not Scotland

The brand's monthly education series at The Macallan House in Central offers Hong Kong drinkers a rare look at the supply chain behind one of the world's most coveted single malts.

The invitation said whisky. What arrived, over two hours at The Macallan House on Duddell Street, was a lesson in viticulture, cooperage, and the particular obsessiveness of a distillery that has spent 200 years refusing to leave quality to chance.

Stephane Levan, The Macallan's Brand Ambassador for Hong Kong and Macau, opened proceedings with a statement that immediately reoriented the room. "For a lot of people, they think that the journey of The Macallan starts in Scotland," he said, pausing for effect. "Actually, the whole journey of The Macallan starts in Spain."

What followed was one of the more illuminating spirit education sessions available in Hong Kong, a city that, for all its sophistication around fine wine and premium spirits, rarely gets this close to the production fundamentals. Levan hosts these sessions on a monthly basis at The Macallan House. For anyone with a serious interest in Scotch whisky, attending one should be considered essential.

The Sherry Triangle and Why It Matters

The session began not with whisky but with geography. The Sherry Triangle is a designation within Andalusia, Spain's southernmost region, defined by three towns: Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa Maria. It is the only place on earth where sherry can legally be produced, and it is, Levan explained, where The Macallan's character originates.

Only three grape varieties qualify for sherry production. Palomino Fino underpins the dry styles. Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel yield the sweet varieties that leave the deepest imprint on the wood. Summer temperatures in the region can reach 50 degrees Celsius in direct sun, making harvesting a nocturnal operation. Workers move through the vineyards from midnight until approximately five in the morning, racing to deliver fruit to the winery before heat begins to degrade quality.

The sherry that seasons The Macallan's casks is produced through two distinct ageing methods. Biological ageing, conducted beneath a protective layer of flor yeast that seals the wine from oxygen, produces lighter, mineral-driven wines. Oxidative ageing, with full exposure to air, produces the darker, richer profiles with pronounced nutty and dried-fruit characteristics.

During the session, guests tasted both styles. A Fino from Valdespino, The Macallan's partner producer, was strikingly pale and almost saline on the nose, demonstrating how little the flor-protected wine would transform a cask. More arresting was El Candado, a Pedro Ximenez from the same house, its viscosity visible as it clung to the inside of the glass. At 400 grams of sugar per litre, derived entirely from sun-dried grapes, it read closer to liquid confection than wine. The implication for oak seasoning was obvious.

The tasting context mattered because of what The Macallan has done, systematically, to control it.

In September 2024, the distillery's parent company, Edrington, announced the formation of Tevasa Forestal Group, a joint venture in which The Macallan holds a 50 percent ownership stake. The new entity combines the Tevasa cooperage in Jerez, which has produced European oak casks for the brand for over 40 years, with Forestal Peninsular and Forestal Peninsular de Cantabria, two sawmills in Lugo and Cantabria that source oak from forests in northern Spain and southern France.

This announcement concluded a series of investments that began in March 2023, when The Macallan acquired a 50 percent stake in Grupo Estevez, the family behind Valdespino Sherries, along with its vineyards and bodegas. Six months later, the distillery acquired the Vasyma cooperage in Jerez, specialising in American oak casks, and entered a joint venture with Coopers Oak, a sawmill in Ohio that supplies American oak staves to Vasyma.

The result is a level of vertical integration that Levan described without understatement. "Ever since last June 2025, The Macallan owns the finest sherries and broker casks in the world," he told the group. "No other whiskey brand as I speak today comes close to that."

That claim can be evaluated against the facts of the partnership. The Macallan now has ownership positions reaching back to the forest, through the sawmill, through the cooperage, through the sherry producer, and finally into the seasoning process itself. Casks are filled with sherry at Valdespino facilities for 18 to 24 months before any whisky touches them. The distillery specifies the oak dimensions, the toasting level, and the seasoning duration. Nothing is left to the supplier's discretion.

Igor Boyadjian, Managing Director of The Macallan, framed the investment in terms of heritage rather than commercial strategy. "As we celebrate The Macallan's 200th anniversary, this further expansion of our supply chain will ensure our reputation for richness and complexity for generations to come."

One of the session's more counterintuitive moments came during Levan's explanation of the solera ageing system used for sherry production. Unlike Scotch whisky, where age statements reflect the minimum time liquid has spent in cask, sherry vintages are not fixed. The solera is a dynamic system of stacked barrels, with older wine drawn from the bottom tier and replenished by younger wine from above. The age on a sherry label represents an average rather than a discrete vintage.

Some casks within Valdespino's soleras carry wine that is approaching 100 years old. Levan described one such example as "literally a liquid history in a glass," a phrase that applied with equal accuracy to the El Candado we were tasting, and, by extension, to the casks that will eventually travel north to Speyside.

Hong Kong occupies a specific position in the global single malt market. The city's duty-free status, gifting culture, and high concentration of affluent consumers have made it a bellwether for premium Scotch performance across Asia. The global whisky market reached approximately 78 billion dollars in 2025 and is projected to continue growing, with Asia Pacific leading expansion through the 2030s across markets including China, India, and Japan.

The Macallan leads the secondary market by both value and volume, a position reinforced by the kind of provenance storytelling that Levan delivers each month in Central. For a Hong Kong audience accustomed to evaluating luxury goods on the basis of heritage, craftsmanship, and supply chain integrity, the sherry cask narrative is not incidental to The Macallan's appeal. It is the appeal.

Attend the Next Session

The sessions reward curiosity. By the time the first whisky glass was raised, the room understood exactly what it was drinking, and why the glass smelled the way it did.

As Levan put it, with the Fino still on the table and the El Candado catching the light: "That veil is actually protecting the wine from oxidation... your wine at the end will be very, very, very dry."

The Macallan is betting, with the receipts to prove it, that the opposite of dry is where the real value lies.

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The Macallan House is located in Central, Hong Kong. Monthly tasting sessions are available by private invitation and booking. 

All images Vincent Tsang 
Words.P.Ramakrishnan

Kerala artist Geetha Balakrishnan

 

A vibrant and beautifully preserved example of a traditional South Asian art form, a Kerala-style mural painting in Madhubani style by underrated Malayali artist Geetha Balakrishnan. The complex composition of the deities, the rich symbolism of the dancing figures and lotus flowers, and the intense, saturated palette indicate a professional hand that's well-versed in the traditional craft of the Indian subcontinent. The custom white framing and the pristine condition of the contemporary work currently hangs in Dubai. 

Radha Krishna Nritya 

Large scale oil on canvas
60 cm by 75 cm (24 in x 30 in) 

Driven to Sustainability: A Dialogue between two iconic brands: The Macallan and Bentley Motors

United by a dedication to craftsmanship, creativity, and innovation, The Macallan and Bentley Motors have joined forces for a partnership program that is unprecedented in its scale and its stature. They share a joint vision of driving towards a more sustainable future, while continuing to pursue the uncompromised excellence for which both are known. The sustainability strategy is wide-reaching and incorporates a range of elements including giving back to communities; nurturing The Macallan Estate; progressive packaging; and partnering with sustainable suppliers.

Ultimately, the partnership hopes to build on the legacy of balancing excellence with environmental and social responsibility. A partnership that will hopefully inspire others to join us on a journey that can be both exceptional and ethical.

In conversation with Elizabeth McMillan, Senior Marketing Manager, Sustainability, The Macallan and Alex Quelch-Cliffe, Decarbonisation Manager at Bentley Motors, it seemed pertinent to ask them to join in this conversation together. Both share the excitement for the opportunity to learn from the other and utilise their respective areas of expertise to drive forward our own sustainability journeys.

What are the breakthroughs from this collaboration that is new to both brands with regards to sustainability?

Elizabeth McMillian: Through a programme of knowledge exchange and the open sharing of innovative projects and plans, The Macallan and Bentley will benefit from each other’s expertise, advancing the decarbonisation transition of each of the brands’ operations on their journeys to become carbon neutral on The Macallan Estate by 2030.

Bentley already operates the world’s first certified carbon neutral luxury car manufacturing facility. Like The Macallan, the goal is for carbon neutrality to now extend across the entire business. By harnessing partnerships with organisations that share a common purpose we will seek to find solutions to big challenges and Bentley Motors’ ambitious sustainability vision echoes that of our own.

What do you think is the most exciting part about The Macallan and Bentley collaboration?

Alex Quelch-Cliffe: At the heart of our collaboration is a shared vision of sustainability. Personally, I am interested in not only the immediate benefits we can deliver from our two brands working closely together – but the potential for Macallan’s insights to bring a different perspective and solutions to the challenges we face in the wider automotive industry.

Is there a new sustainability implementation for the brand that you’re working on currently already in place?

EM: The Macallan and Bentley will look to support one another in their mutual goals to achieve the following: becoming carbon neutral by 2030, a conversion to electric vehicles, The Macallan Estate will transition to a 100% electric passenger vehicle fleet by 2025, including two exclusive hybrid Estate vehicles from our partner. The entire Bentley range will be electrified by 2023, and fully electric only by 2030. The partnership will unlock access to a wider network of suppliers for both to further evolve the progressive sourcing principles of each brand. Promoting the use of sustainable materials with responsible sourcing and packaging will be fundamental to the creation of mutually curated products, experiences, and content. The partnership will build upon the innovative research, sourcing and use of sustainable materials by both and finally, investing in people and cultivating a community of artisans to realise its vision of creating beautifully distinctive products and accessories.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in the journey towards sustainability?

ACQ: Rather than seeing challenges, the most striking thing both we have encountered are the opportunities for rich storytelling, shared learning and collaborative development. This is very important to both of us, to ensure that we conserve natural resources as much as possible whilst also creating products and experiences that are extraordinary for our customers. We are exploring all avenues to reduce single use plastics and waste from our production processes and products.

When the proposal to collaborate with a car came up weren’t you originally surprised?

EM: We identified the luxury automotive sector as a valuable opportunity to broaden The Macallan’s reach beyond the spirits category and to bring our single malt to our target consumers around the world in new and engaging ways, while also appealing to existing aficionados and their passions and interests.

What’s the biggest message to Prestige readers about this unique, unprecedented collaboration – what should people take away from it?

ACW: Through this global brand partnership with The Macallan, we will travel forward using our imagination, to envisage how the world will be and embark on an exciting and extraordinary journey into the future.

EM: Our partnership is built on a long-term shared commitment to seek to find solutions to the big challenges we both face. Through our global brand partnership, my hope it will take us to thinking and innovation that we would not have reached on our own around sustainability. Both brands demonstrate a commitment to sustainability across key areas of the business including innovation, environmental performance, and community development, so together we will enhance our progress.

Taner in a Tux at Island Shangri La Suite at The Island Shangri-La Hong Kong

Trust the process. Shooting in one of the most gorgeous suites in Hong Kong - the Shangri-La Suite at The Island Shangri-la in Hong Kong, was a bit iffy about taking the shot in the large bathtub in the largest private bathroom in the city. 

Pacing up and down like a lunatic, sent out panic smoke signals to frequent collaborator, photographer Dino Busch. The phrase trust the process came to mind. Once we all emptied the room, the final shot came through. Impeccably. 

Like I said, trust the process!  

Full look; Dunhill. 

In February 2024, at the National Portrait Gallery, a new chapter of Dunhill - now more than 130 years in - unfolded as Simon Holloway presented his debut collection for the Richemont-owned brand. As the latest creative director of Dunhill, Holloway didn’t just revitalise the polished British icon, he reinvented modern menswear for a contemporary market. Full feature in my Best of Style column. 

Photography: Dino Busch @dinobuschphotography

Stylist: Bhisan Rai @styledbybhisan

Hair and Make-up: Karen Yiu @karenyiumakeupart

Model: Taner from Model One @tanersc @modelonehk