Up Close & Personal

Jocelyn Mandryk - Foto Ruta
  Behind every brand there's an idea; with every idea comes a story. Meet Hugh MacDermott, owner and founder of MacDermott's Argentina.

 

Hugh MacDermott - MacDermott's Argentina
  Behind every brand there's an idea; with every idea comes a story. Meet Hugh MacDermott, owner and founder of MacDermott's Argentina.

 

Martin Nardone - Le Freak Selector
  Knowing how to play is a virtue according to Argentine Martin Nardone of Reactable. Martin likes to play with music, he’s had the music in him since he was a kid. He played in a band when still at school, then performed with a juggler’s group in friends’ houses and on Buenos Aires’ streets before going to university to study composing. Describing himself as belonging to the corralito generation (corralito referring to the frozen savings accounts of Argentina’s middle class during the profound financial and economic crisis of 2001-2002); Martin decided to leave Argentina at that time with a musician friend and try his luck in Barcelona. He soon found work as a percussionist, performing electronic music in exclusive clubs around Europe, and later producing and composing music for DJ’s. 
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Jeremy Baker & Liliana Forrester Baker - Puesto Viejo
  “Puesto Viejo” appears in bold black capitals on the white gate. A dirt road leads towards horse stables and a polo pitch further down. A good-looking blond man comes jogging our way. It is Jeremy Baker, former trader at Goldman Sachs in London’s financial center: man with a long-acquired taste for nature, high adrenaline sports and adventure. No wonder that during his first visit to Argentina in the nineties, Jeremy fell head over heels for the pampa’s, polo, and future wife Liliana. A few years into the new millennium, after Argentina’s financial and economic crisis, Jeremy fulfilled a long-time wish to do something substantial with the bonuses earned at the bank and his love for the sport of polo.  
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Leon Lightman - The Argentine Experience - Closed Door Restaurante
  Leon Lightman, the creator of the Argentine Experience has an open face and a warm, unpretentious demeanour. He is confident and cheerful and interesting. Sharing cool experiences with kindred spirits make up the feel-good factor for Leon. Leon comes from a traditional privileged background. An English family of generations of accomplished doctors and lawyers where academic averages were seen as the only graduating measure for relevant intelligence. Growing up as a hyper-active, badly-behaved middle kid of five siblings, Leon was not exactly interested in test scores. It was only when he was send to board at the Geelong Grammar School in Australia, with its strong emphasis on sports and social life, that he could switch on academic effort.  
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Federico Martin de Arcos - BAIRESVAN
  Federico Martin de Arcos of BAIRESVANS, has twinkling blue eyes on the verge of a smile--if he’s not already smiling at you. He gesticulates to underline his words, though most of the time both of his hands are firmly on the wheel of one of his vans, driving clients around Buenos Aires or some other interesting destination further afield. After some nerve-wrecking experiences with local chauffeurs steering their vehicles through Argentine traffic as if on a bumper car circuit, swearing at local politics while staring at you in the backseat, with Federico you will feel safe and happy. He’s a genuinely nice guy. Porteño in heart and soul, Federico knows every little street corner and loves to reveal the real secrets of the city and its people to each passenger who rides on one of his Baires Vans.
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Gonzalo Bazterrica - Ocho Once - Restaurante Puerta Cerrada
  Gonzalo Bazterrica opens the door of his home at El Salvador. He has a husky voice, is attractive and welcoming but he doesn’t overdo his act. What you see is what you get is what you feel, basically, when meeting him. The entrance of the old Palermo mansion has a high ceiling, stained glass windows and black and white tiles. The antique cabinet overflowing with pots of organic honey, chutneys, olive oil and wine looks promising. Gonzalo sums things up for us in a simple equation: His house at El Salvador (1+7) + (5+6)=811, and becomes closed door restaurant Ocho Once at night time. The five step menu served in the living room with the original pinotea-wooden floor, the mirrors and the soft lighting, or outside on the patio with the pots full of flowers, is exclusively prepared with organic products.  
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Sophie Lloyd - Shop Hop BA
  Fashion is a means of individual expression for English Sophie Lloyd, founder and owner of Shop Hop BA. Fashion is not about sheepishly copying the latest catwalk appearances, it is about finding your own style. Sophie is having coffee in her favourite bar around the corner from her house in Palermo. She is wearing a gorgeous mint-green cape, sixtyish with big buttons. Sophie loves vintage, and this cape certainly owns the style but no, here is a brand new and fresh find at one of her many BA private-showroom-contacts, the best kept secrets in town. The green color contrasts beautifully with her light blond hair. Sophie is not your standard fashion doll; she is soft-spoken and modest, it’s obvious that she is very committed and responsible in her work. 
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Agustin Chicou - Patagonia Chopper
  Agustin Chicou of Patagonia Chopper, modest and down to earth, is the youngest brother of six siblings. Some of his family became musicians, there are a psychologist and a pilot. Agustin himself studied and worked in radio production. When his pilot brother got the idea to set up Patagonia Chopper and asked him to collaborate, he just couldn't say no. Agustin keeps his feet firmly on the ground taking care of coordination, product development and promotion, while his brother is up in the sky flying his passengers over the endless streets of Buenos Aires, the vast plains, waterfalls or icebergs, sometimes reaching the borderline cordillera. The complementing between the two is seamless. Agustin loves to create products and packages around their private planes and helicopters, renovating the offer every year. 
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