I have known Ted Moncreiff for 15 years. He first assigned a bargaining story to me when he was an editor at Condenast Traveler way back in 1996. He continued assigning longer and longer pieces as Executive editor of Traveler. And sent me to places far and near: Laos (Vientiane and Luang Prabang), Cambodia (Siem Reap and Phnom Penh), Yunnan China (Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-la), Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), Singapore, Malaysia, and much. He assigned me 6000 word stories on Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore.
Then Ted left to join Newsweek as Executive editor. When Newsweek was bought, Ted joined W as Executive editor and assigned me a profile of Indian artists Subodh Gupta and Bharti Kher. I spent a couple of days with them, interviewing them and writing up the profile. Got paid but the piece didn’t run. Perhaps Ted leaving the magazine had something to do with it.
Now Ted is the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg Pursuits, the luxury lifestyle magazine affiliated with the Bloomberg empire. He calls me every now and then and we shoot the breeze. It ain’t the lunches he treated me to at Balthazar or DB Bistro Moderne, but it is something. People ask me what I miss about my life in the States. Well, I miss lunching with my editors for one.
When Ted called a few weeks ago, I told him about this brand, Moynat, that I had written about for FT’s Vanessa Friedman. I heard about it because the creative director, Ramesh Nair, is Indian and had previously worked at Hermes. I paid attention to it because its Pauline bags are amazing, and it is one of the few brands founded by a woman: Pauline Moynat. When I was in Paris, I had dinner with Ramesh and his lovely wife, Rachna.
When Ted asked for ideas for short, front-of-book pieces for Pursuits, I thought of Moynat. Here it is below. If any of you know an interesting maverick man in his 30s-40s who has reinvented himself, done interesting things, and is obviously hugely successful, please let me know. I’d like to see if he can be profiled for Bloomberg Pursuits.
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