A collaboration between Monaco’s MyCrown Collection and artist Jane Gemayel has resulted in a limited edition series of hand-painted ceramic plates, with part of the proceeds donated to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
The project brought together MyCrown Collection founder Sophia Vaharis-Tsouvelekakis and Monaco-based artist Jane Gemayel to produce 50 individually numbered plates titled Follow Your Heart in Monaco. Each plate was hand-painted by Bader Tabet, adding a distinctive artistic signature to every piece.
The collaboration reflects the Collection’s ongoing focus on craftsmanship and cultural storytelling, while also contributing to causes that align with Monaco’s values.
Contribution to the Prince Albert II Foundation
Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of this series, totalling €10,000, has been donated to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. The funds will support the Foundation’s global environmental work, including the protection of marine ecosystems, biodiversity preservation, and sustainable resource management.
A collectible with purpose
The Follow Your Heart in Monaco plates serve as more than decorative art objects. Each piece symbolises a fusion of local creativity and environmental awareness, with the donation contributing directly to the Principality’s most prominent philanthropic institution dedicated to the planet’s future.
Monaco Inspire, organised by the Jeune Chambre Économique (JCI) Monaco, is set to return this autumn, on November 29th, at the Méridien Beach Plaza.
Following a successful debut in 2024 that attracted over 100 attendees, the event is once again bringing business leaders, investors and ambitious start-ups together under one roof.
The day-long programme is focused on project leaders, start-ups, entrepreneurs and investors who are looking to turn their ideas into action.
For this second edition, Hanna Derrien, President of JCI Monaco, and her team have assembled an impressive roster of speakers.
Three inspirational voices
Leading the speaker lineup is Kelly Masson, founder and CEO of Les Secrets de Loly, who built her natural haircare brand from her Parisian kitchen with just €1,500. The company specialises in natural haircare for textured hair and has been recognised as France’s ‘Most Beautiful SME’ by Challenges magazine, with distribution now extending internationally.
Masson also serves as a judge on M6’s ‘Qui veut être mon associé?’ and has written ‘La puissance de crore en soi’ (The power of self-belief). With over 170,000 followers, she will share growth strategies and practical entrepreneurial advice.
Pierre Frolla brings a unique perspective as both a four-time world record holder in freediving and founder of the Académie de la Mer. His session will explore how to manage pressure, build cohesive teams around strong values, and innovate while staying true to one’s mission.
Rounding out the trio is Damien Calamuso, representing the Monaco-based swimwear brand Banana Moon. Founded in 1984, the company has grown into an international reference present in over 50 counties. Calamuso will share on building a strong brand identity, constant innovation, and strategies for taking a local brand to the global stage.
Attendees can look forward to inspiring talks, meetings with mentors and investors, and valuable networking opportunities. A highlight will be the pitch competition, where entrepreneurs can present their projects to a panel of experts. Registration for the contest closes on October 15th.
A new exhibition opened at Monaco’s Quai des Artistes on October 7th inviting viewers to contemplate an uncomfortable dinner party scenario, and in doing so, revealing much about power, morality and the darker corners of history.
French artist Rice presents ‘Tous Ego’ throughout October, featuring works that are “colourful and playful” yet “offbeat and cynical”. At the heart of the exhibition are two striking dining table scenes that pose a simple but unsettling question: which table would you sit at?
Two tables, one choice
The first table presents the favourite meals of Napoleon, Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Mao, Saddam Hussein, Stalin and Kim Il-sung. Each dish and drink has been meticulously researched. These are their actual preferences, historically accurate down to the smallest detail. “This kind of artwork is done to remind us that something that could look very sympathetic, isn’t always,” Rice observes.
The alternative? A picnic with Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Ernest Hemingway, JFK and Marilyn Monroe, each with their final meal. Again, every plate is faithful to historical record, but this is a gathering at life’s end rather than the height of power.
The juxtaposition is deliberate and disquieting. Would you dine with dictators in their prime, or join beloved icons knowing it’s your last? It’s the sort of question that lingers, revealing much about the viewer as the viewed.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, Mickey Mouse appears caught in a trap but instead of cheese as bait, there’s a bitcoin. The image captures something essential about contemporary culture; even childhood innocence isn’t immune to our obsession with wealth and digital fortune.
The dining tables, photo by Monaco Life.
A travelled perspective
These works spring from a worldview shaped by displacement. Born in the Paris suburbs, Rice moved to the south of France where he realised “the sun makes everything beautiful and sometimes hides another reality. That of a consumerism which exalts…but doesn’t necessarily make you happy.”
This awakening led to nearly seven years travelling through Asia, particularly in India, and South America. “Being elsewhere offered me another perspective on things as well as other elements of language to tell our daily story,” he explains.
Returning to France, an artistic encounter in Saint-Paul-de-Vence proved radical. Working alongside an established artist, Rice gradually moved “from the opening act to the main show,” launching himself as a visual artist determined to transform objects into political statements.
His subjects are drawn from travel and daily life, presented as childlike stories that actually reveal much about “the adult work, which isn’t always glorious”. Gun barrels get parodied, medicine reimagined, artworks subverted.
The exhibition launches L’Atelier du Quai des Artistes, a new monthly programme at the restaurant featuring painters, sculptors and photographers. Under Monaco-based artist Anthony Alberti – better known as Mr One Teas – direction, each exhibition runs for one month at Quai des Artistes, 4 quai Antoine 1er.
A French photographer and pilot who uses a 16-metre silver veil to capture the movement of wind is bringing her work to Monaco later this month.
Isabelle Lindbergh, granddaughter of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, will display two series of photographs at Espace 22 gallery from October 27th to November 9th.
The exhibition, titled ‘Between Realms & The Spirit of the Wind’, features images taken in locations including Saint Barthélemy in the Caribbean, Iceland and Peru. In each photograph, the long silver veil billows and moves with the wind, creating striking visual effects against natural landscapes.
Lindbergh’s approach stems from her desire to make the invisible visible. Trained at prestigious Paris art schools including Gobelins and ESAG Penninghen, she combined technical precision with a poetic sensibility shaped by her aviation heritage. Her grandfather’s transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis directly inspired the title of her first series.
‘The Spirit of the Wind’ was shot primarily in Saint Barthélemy and explores themes of freedom, femininity and nature’s raw power. The newer work, ‘Between Realms’, takes the concept to more dramatic settings including volcanic terrain and high-altitude locations across Iceland, Peru and the Caribbean.
Photo from the collection ‘Spirit of the Wind’, credit: Isabelle Lindbergh
Lindbergh describes the veil as a way to make invisible air currents visible, and uses it as a symbolic bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. Her background as a pilot informs her approach to capturing these fleeting moments in remote locations. Her images are printed using piezography, a monochrome technique that adds particular depth to the work.
The gallery, located in the heart of Monaco, will host an opening reception on October 27th starting at 5pm. The exhibition will then be open daily from 11am to 7pm until November 9th.
A Frenchman who posed as an Irish aristocrat has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Nice Criminal Court for his role in a multimillion-euro fraud that reportedly involved luxury yachts, offshore accounts and high-society circles stretching from Monaco to Panama.
According to Nice-Matin, Thierry Fialek-Birles, aged 36, was convicted on 26th September of fraud, forgery, use of forged documents and money laundering. He was also fined €300,000. The court heard that he had deceived French actor and director Dany Boon out of nearly €7 million through a series of fictitious investments and marine management schemes.
Monaco connections under investigation
Fialek-Birles, who presented himself as Lord Terry Birles of Ireland, is now also reportedly the subject of a separate investigation by Monaco’s justice authorities, who have issued an international warrant for suspected money laundering linked to funds that allegedly passed through the Principality. The Nice-Matin report states that the Monegasque inquiry extends to one of his former partners and that investigators believe part of the missing money may have been routed through local accounts.
A con built on Riviera respectability
According to The Guardian, Fialek-Birles cultivated an image of wealth and sophistication, telling acquaintances that he had studied at Oxford and that his girlfriend worked as an adviser to the Prince Albert II Foundation. He was known to frequent yachting circles between Monaco, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and the Côte d’Azur, and appeared, by all accounts, entirely at ease in those surroundings.
In 2021, he reportedly met Dany Boon in Monaco through former America’s Cup sailor Marc Pajot, and offered to oversee the maintenance of Boon’s newly purchased 21-metre yacht Umaren. The actor subsequently transferred €2.2 million to a Dublin-registered company, South Seas Merchants Mariners Ltd Partnership, for yacht management and insurance. Later, he was persuaded to invest a further €4.5 million in what was described as a tax-free financial product allegedly linked to the Central Bank of Ireland.
Both the investment and the company were found to be fictitious. When Boon asked to withdraw his money, he was reportedly told the business had been sold to an Italian family — which, investigators later confirmed, did not exist.
Arrest and trial in Nice
After disappearing for more than two years, Fialek-Birles was arrested in Panama in February 2024 following an Interpol red notice, according to The Guardian. He was extradited to France in the summer of that year.
During his trial, Nice-Matin reported that he appeared composed and articulate, telling the court that he spoke seven languages and wished to “make amends” by releasing €9 million allegedly frozen in offshore accounts. Prosecutors rejected this claim, arguing that much of the stolen money had been spent on luxury goods, property and artwork.
The prosecution sought a six-year term, describing Fialek-Birles as a repeat offender with a history of deception. The court sentenced him to five years and imposed a €300,000 fine, citing the “scale and sophistication” of the fraud.
Wider implications for Monaco and the Riviera
The Nice-Matin report adds that Monaco’s separate investigation remains ongoing and is focused on tracing any funds that may have moved through the Principality. It comes amid heightened scrutiny of financial transparency laws in Monaco.
Some restaurants are born from grand ambitions. Others are created from something more: a feeling, an atmosphere, a bittersweet memory you want to hold on to for just a little longer. Anahi emerged from the latter category.
The story begins in 1990s Paris, in a former butcher shop in the 3rd arrondissement. There, a charismatic woman named Carmina Lebrero created something unique. The space was tiny, just 25 seats, but what it lacked in size, it made up for in soul. Word spread quickly. This wasn’t just another Argentine steakhouse, it was somewhere people felt truly alive, where evenings stretched long into the night.
Riccardo Giraudi, a restaurateur who’s dined everywhere from Tokyo to New York, became a devoted regular. “I’ve never spent evenings like the ones I’ve had there,” he said. In 2017, captivated by what he’d experienced, he took over the address, bringing in architects Humbert & Poyet to refresh the space while preserving its welcoming spirit. The formula also remained unchanged: exceptional meat, an intimate setting, and a feeling of warmth.
This summer, that same spirit arrived in Monaco. The new address on rue du Portier brings Anahi’s Argentine cuisine to the Riviera, allowing more diners to experience what made that small Parisian butcher so beloved.
Anahi arrives in Monaco
When walking into Anahi Monaco, you immediately understand what drew Giraudi in that tiny Parisian butcher shop. The space is both elegant and comfortable, decorated with velvet couches and chairs in deep, rich tones, giving you that nostalgic feeling of a warm Christmas night.
The lighting, blending perfectly together with the decoration, is low but never gloomy, putting you in that sort of place where conversation flows as freely as the wine.
Anahi Monaco, photo credit: Marion Butet Studio
However, it’s the meat that is still the star of the restaurant. The kitchen works with top quality cuts, cooking them over charcoal in the traditional Argentine manner. The technique might seem simple, but their Black Angus cut, which arrives with a charred exterior and a rose interior needs no fuss to speak for itself.
The menu also includes playful openings such as Mini Churros with caviar, and an Empanada de Carne Cortada filled with beef fillet and charred vegetables.
Meanwhile, the restaurant’s service is as inviting as its menu, attending to every need before it arises, always attentive but without hovering, creating the perfect environment.
Perhaps the reason for Anahi’s success is they understand that great ingredients need little interference. Or perhaps it’s the warmth of the place, or the hospitality. Well, whatever the alchemy, it works.
