Alan Faena, Argentine hotelier and real estate developer, is the founder and President of the Faena Group. His luxury hotel group has developed pioneering properties in his native Buenos Aires, and in Miami Beach, changing the face of hospitality in those cities. His Miami Beach hotel has earned the prestigious five-star award from Forbes Travel Guide for the third consecutive year. The 56-year-old multi-millionaire has put out a book, published by Rizzoli. It is his memoir entitled, Alan Faena: Alchemy & Creative Collaboration: Architecture, Design, Art.
In the lavishly illustrated new book, Faena, who opts to wear only white, offers a peek into his life behind all the glory. Therein, he reveals his history of deeply Jewish family roots. As per the Forward, Faena divulges that he comes from a long line of “deeply devout rabbis” on the side of his Moroccan-born mother. His maternal grandfather was a kosher butcher, and his great grandfather advised the king of Morocco.
Faena is known as a visionary, he began his career at the age of 19, founding the fashion label Via Vai. In his book, Faena writes that he too taps into his spiritual side, and applies it to his work: “We’ve always been priests, drawing into ourselves and looking for answers in the divine.” His latest prophetic inspiration has been Faena Bazaar, an unparalleled rooftop shopping venue in his multi-billion-dollar mid-Miami Beach waterfront “Faena District”. The four-story menagerie is a new shopping concept, situated across from his namesake hotel in Miami. It offers a whirlwind of galleries, pop-ups, and stand-alone shops by designers from around the world. “Retail is in a strange moment,” Faena explains. “With everything I do, I want to offer an experience. We give our guests art, we give them theater, we give them design. Here, we give them product—our way.”
The Forward questioned Faena about how religious his upbringing was. “Spiritual commitment was very strong in my bloodline, almost like a gene,” he responded in an email. When asked by Forward what he wants readers to take from his new memoir, Faena wrote: “Always follow your dreams and anything is possible when you have a strong vision and speak from the heart.” In the same email interview, he responded that he would like to be remembered: “A dreamer who created destination landmarks for personal expression and cultural interaction around the world. I like to think that in one hundred years people will be able to see my creations.”
