This past November the Ritz-Carlton presented me with the opportunity of a lifetime to fly to Berlin to interview 6 time F1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton, as part of their ongoing partnership with Mercedes-AMG Petronas. I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to return to one of my new favorite cities to spend the day with one of the most talented, multi-faceted, disciplined and revered athletes of our generation.
Admittedly I was pretty nervous over the prospect of sitting down with Lewis for a one-on-one conversation, so I decided to paint him a custom Moleskine notebook with a portrait of his two English Bulldogs, Roscoe and Coco, as a gift to hopefully break the ice. You can see the gift below and also click on the image above to watch our interview together.
Nerves aside, I was so genuinely excited to speak to him about his interests, career, and wholly optimistic outlook on life. I have followed him for some time now and had an inkling we’d get along really well. As it turns out, we did! We covered everything from his favorite cities, to his fashion design process, and our mutual interest in soundbaths and meditation.
What made the experience even more special was that we were in Berlin for the 30th Anniversary of the fall of the wall. The city was that much more alive than it normally is, displaying a remarkable public art installation by Poetic Kinetics called “Visions in Motion” pictured above. 30,000 handwritten hopes and memories were written on ribbons, suspended in the sky, blowing in the wind. A truly stunning work of art.
After mine and Lewis’ one on one, we headed out into the city for an art walk with Berlin native, and world renown visual artist, Christian Awe. We headed first to the East Side Gallery, over to the Oberbaum Bridge for a look at the Molecule Man sculpture then back to the Ritz-Carlton Berlin for a mixology class at their famous Fragrances Cocktail bar.
Below you can see my illustration inspired by the experience at Fragrances, where you get to smell a plethora of different perfumes to determine which cocktail to try. It was such a cool experience and an amazing way to end such an otherworldly day! This was truly one of the greatest #RCMemories of my life and I’m so grateful to the Ritz-Carlton team for trusting me as a partner to interview Lewis.
