A COOL ADDITION
SAMSUNG introduces its latest Bespoke refrigerator line-up to personalise your kitchen
SAMSUNG MALAYSIA ELECTRONICS INTRODUCES ITS REVOLUTIONARY RANGE OF BESPOKE REFRIGERATORS FOR MALAYSIAN CONSUMERS. DESIGNED FOR YOU, BY YOU – THE NEW RANGE OFFERS USERS MODULAR REFRIGERATOR OPTIONS THAT ARE CUSTOMISABLE TO FIT A PERSON’S AESTHETIC PREFERENCES AND KITCHEN WITH EASE.
“We are thrilled to bring this key element of Samsung’s Bespoke home appliance range to Malaysia, which will be the first of many more to come,” says Edward Han, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
“A fridge is central to a kitchen, and that’s why the new Bespoke will be perfect for those who are looking to personalise every aspect of their homes. Allowing you to personalise your fridge’s modules to suit your needs, Bespoke epitomises Samsung’s commitment to offering products that cater to consumers’ evolving lifestyles. We believe that the Bespoke refrigerator’s lifestyle-centric philosophy will resonate well with our Malaysian consumers,” Han elaborates.
The most appealing aspect of the Bespoke fridge is its modularity. With this concept, users can create an ideal refrigerator space by combining multiple modules of Bespoke units to fit any kitchen’s needs.
Locally, consumers can select from a 1-Door Flex or Bottom Mount Freezer or integrate them in any combination that meets an ever-changing lifestyle and storage needs. The ability to personalise goes further as the refrigerator comes in two variants: counter-depth or kitchenfit style.
Counter-depth style has a shallower depth and a wide size to achieve the same capacity as a standard appliance. With a larger door that requires a greater swing radius, this unique design reflects a strong sense of modernity. The kitchen-fit styles seamlessly into most contemporary kitchens by aligning with existing cabinets. The result is a refrigerator that achieves a built-in look.
Samsung Bespoke refrigerators come in over 20 original colours and seven finishes worldwide, allowing a wealth of permutations to turn the home appliance into an aesthetic focal point in any kitchen.
With custom coloured fridge panels and a wide choice of finishes, consumers can enjoy the confidence of being able to match the refrigerator to their kitchen’s colour palette. The adventurous may even choose to find an appealing contrast for a one-of-a-kind interior choice.
Currently, Malaysian consumers may choose pre-selected fixed-panel models of the Bottom Mount Freezer in Glam White with Glam Navy or
Glam White with Glam Pink. The 1-Door Flex is also readily available in Glam White with Glam Pink.
Beyond aesthetic appeal, the Bespoke refrigerator offers Samsung’s signature large capacity, convenience and powerful cooling performance. The PowerCool and PowerFreeze features offer a fast blast of cold or freezing air at the push of a button.
The innovation continues as the All-Around Cooling continually monitors internal cooling to ensure that food stays fresher for longer by being kept at the optimum temperature. A metal cooling plate in the rear wall circumvents the loss of cool air when the door is open and eases a quick restoration from heat loss when the door shuts.
In the freezer section, No Frost technology enhances air circulation to prevent the build-up of frost and ice. The freezer reaches its target temperature much faster, raises the cooling system’s durability and avoids power wastage on defrosting.
A hidden display panel enhances the minimalist design of the front, allowing the refrigerator room to blend into modern kitchens. The discreet control panel is easily accessible when the door is open, located at eye level and within arm’s reach. Opening the door triggers LED lighting, which offers bright illumination while keeping energy usage low.
Rounding off the hidden technology that makes the Samsung Bespoke refrigerator a masterpiece is the signature Digital Inverter Compressor. This feature adjusts its speed in response to cooling demand, allowing for greater efficiency and durability with performance levels continually regulated. It is also much quieter and consumes up to 50% less energy, backed by a 10year warranty.
With the Samsung Bespoke refrigerator, Malaysian consumers can look forward to investing in a visually stunning home appliance. Not only does the range deliver clever design solutions, but cutting-edge technology that is certain to improve your quality of life.
For more information on Samsung’s Bespoke refrigerator line-up, kindly visit samsung.com/my.
Created to inspire individuals to be more conscious of how their daily actions, thoughts, emotions, and overall lifestyle choices interact with their physical self, BANYAN TREE VEYA is breaking new ground in the realm of wellbeing. françois oosthuizen attends the launch of the first facility in Phuket
When trailblazing Banyan Tree Group announced the launch of a new wellbeing brand within its multi-brand ecosystem, the hospitality and wellness industries simultaneously raised a curious eyebrow. Banyan Tree Veya Phuket would be the global debut of this wellbeing-centered resort, pledging to offer bespoke programmes with an emphasis on what the brand calls “embodiment therapies”, built on Banyan Tree’s proprietary eight pillars of wellbeing. Created in direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Banyan Tree Veya aims to address a world with an urgent need for reconnecting mind and body on a daily basis. So, it’s off to Phuket to find out what this new Veya philosophy to achieve a healthier lifestyle is all about.
Actually, that’ s not entirely true, because I was first sent a questionnaire with 64 lifestyle questions to assess my state of wellbeing, to identify potential areas of improvement, and to create a highly personalised itinerary. As it turns out, completing the questionnaire proved to be very insightful in itself, as it made me rethink several of my own lifestyle choices – some of which are no doubt detrimental to my overall wellbeing. Yes, I am not always conscious of my dietary choices, and no, I don’t nearly spend enough time connected to nature. Nor do I get enough exercise – as in cardio. It’s as if I knew already what my assessment was going to reveal, but it was good to be reminded of my
weaknesses again – even if I knew the answers already.
For the sake of full disclosure, previous wellness retreats I have been on proved to be near catastrophic. For example, for a serious foodie like me – a self-admitted carnivore and pescatarian – following a plant-based diet even for a day is a kind of culinar y torture. Similarly, excessive physical activity and the customary do’s and don’ts of wellness retreats don’t excite me in the least. I just don’t respond well to rules. Fortunately, I would soon come to discover that the Veya approach is decidedly – and refreshingly – different.
For starters, Veya means ‘to weave’ – a safe space to charter your own path to wellbeing in an integrated way. The Veya experience is led by certified multidisciplinary wellbeing hosts around a three-step protocol of ‘Awareness’, ‘Discovery’, and ‘Sustenance’.
Located within the expansive grounds of Banyan Tree at Laguna Phuket – where the pioneering brand was first launched 28 years ago after Singaporean founders Ho Kwon Ping and his wife, Claire Chiang, came across a plot of wasteland that was formerly a tin mine, and subsequently embarked on an extensive habitat regeneration programme – Banyan Tree Veya Phuket consists of 23 one-bedroom pool repurposed pool villas. Measuring around 140 square metres (indoor and outdoor spaces), the villas, with their distinctively modern Thai touches, have been designed with optimal rest and restoration in mind.
Thoughtful in-room facilit ies are grouped in three categories. ‘For Your Rest’ includes organic cotton bedlinen, a pillow selection, black-out curtains, nightly aromatherapy, and a relaxing play-list to go to sleep to or wake up to. ‘Your Restoration’ includes a private swimming pool with heated jet pool, an outdoor practice deck, a well-being minibar, yoga mat, meditation singing bowl, and exercise stretch bands. Finally, ‘Online Well-being Companion’ comprises ‘Deep Breathing for Relaxation’ and ‘A lternate Nostril Breathing for Concentration’. For someone who places a high premium on a good night’s rest, the sleeping rituals get a definite nod of approval.
Another highlight is the treatments on offer at Banyan
Tree Spa; purposeful massages that address and alleviate real issues like stress, sleep deprivation, chronic physical tension, and mental fatigue with modern solutions. These draw on science-based techniques derived from years of research and exper ience, reliev ing the body of tox ins, tension, and mental strain.
The part that I was most concerned about – healthy cuisine – turns out to be a pleasant surprise. While Veya showcases plant-forward cuisine that weaves together Asian and Mediterranean influences with a creative flair and respect to the freshest ingredients, I am relieved to find that meat a nd fi sh h ave n ot b een o mitted f rom t he m enu. A variety of bowls, broths, and reinterpreted local dishes – around a ‘Fuel-Balance-Repair’ daily sequence – means every meal is an occasion to look forward to. Furthermore, resident ‘nutrition sommeliers’ assist guests in curating a tailored menu during their stay to fulfil dietary needs and preferences.
When it comes to well-being activities, guests are also spoiled for choice, and again, these are personalised around your needs. The Wellbeing Centre – a facility exclusively for Veya guests – features Thailand’s first-ever White Room for sensory detox and meditative practice, and a traditional herb farm-pharmacy workshop will be added soon, too. The activity calendar changes on a weekly basis, and includes a plethora of pursuits such as cycling, breathing and stretching classes, a nutrition workshop, posture alignment, sleep meditation, gratitude meditation, laughing exercises, yoga basics, and more.
The launch of Banya Tree Veya Phuket also coincided with the inaugural four-day Veya Circle event, a wellbeing programme led by a panel of internationally renowned wellbeing experts and visiting practitioners. Specialised activities – from ‘Nutrition for Vitality’ and an ‘Emotional Detox’ masterclass to a ‘Mindful Living’ workshop, amongst others – aim to introduce sustainable wellbeing practices and rituals that anyone can incorporate in their daily life, so as to maintain an optimal balance and harmony in one’s mind, body, and soul. These Veya Circle events will be held on a quarterly basis.
According to Renyung Ho, Vice-President of Brand HQ at Banyan Tree Holdings and daughter of Banyan Tree founders Ho Kwon Ping and Claire Chiang, the Veya exper ience is ultimately a personal journey and about disrupting our own patterns. “I think we are basically creatures of habit. When we are not conscious, we just keep on repeating these patterns. It’s the same reason why we are experiencing an environmental crisis as well. This personal journey is about having the intent to say, ‘I want to break some of those patterns, and I want to come back to the root of who I want to be’. Strangely, it can sometimes be hard to be who you really want to be. The key factor at Veya is that there’s no judgement, which is why I believe strongly in our ethos of ‘owning your presence’, and why we want to tell stories around people who have created their own personal path,” she says of this new endeavour that’s been dubbed her “baby”.
Reny ung ag rees that the wel lness industr y can be intimidating to some people. “There’s a certain stereotype of who you need to be, it’s rigorous, it’s all about healthy food… so there’s a kind of divide there which I don’t think is necessary. One of my intends with Veya is to go deeper into the creative aspect of expression. Wellbeing has this very strait-laced point of view, and in a way all of us are creative beings, we all express ourselves in different ways. A nd wellbeing is connecting to that expression w ithin ourselves, learning to listen to your intuition, learning to know which part of your lifestyle can change at any given time. So, being able to tune into that creative mindset – through creative play, creative experiences, through dance, and all these expressions that we kind of lose as we get older and more conditioned – I think is a fundamental part of wellbeing… the part of having the confidence to choose your own path.”
With the concept of ‘mindfulness’ being such a big buzzword in the wellness sector, she naturally also has her own opinion about it. “For me, personally, it is simply awareness and, secondly, compassion. I really believe that the next frontier of travel and discovery is going to be in the mind and how people are able to harness that. What I would like to see more of and what it means to me whenever I tap into my own mindfulness path is a connection to something that is larger than myself.”
As far as her long-term vision for Veya is concerned, Renyung has big plans. “I see it transforming part of Banyan Tree into another type of business focused around retreats, potentially coaching as well, and content and community, which means going beyond the hospitality-only model. My ambition for it is to evolve one area of our business beyond hospitality as we know it, the difference that it makes in someone’s life, and the changes they go on to make in their lives. That ripple effect is immeasurable.
“Ideally, in the future, it might be possible for you to be wherever you are, not at a Banyan Tree, but still experience Veya. There is so much we can do to touch someone’s life and continue to serve them – through merchandise, digital content, services, coaching, retreats… so, we are building a library with all these different touchpoints – any platform that enables us to reach our guests and deliver that to them, no matter where they are in the world.”
As for myself – and thanks to Veya – I have a new perspective of what it means to live a mindful life and being more conscious about everyday choices I make. Prior to my departure, a journey reflection consultation provided me with a personalised programme and lifestyle practices to continue my own wellbeing journey. At my own pace.