“Do you know Huginho” was the mating call of the true Eurotrash during the three decades since Hugo started coming to Bali in 1979. But he was so much more than the “point man for the jetsetters.” He loved the Balinese with a passion and was a great supporter of Balinese dance and the arts. His various Balinese homes in Sanur and Iseh were always temples of high Balinese colonial style. His was as interested in securing good wives for his Balinese houseboys as he was in good husbands for the Miller girls; he was as kind and courteous to my mother, Mavis, over the years, as he was to Diane Von Furstenberg. In the 1980s he hosted and organized the best August parties ever and it must be said that August in Batujimbar at least is just not the same since Hugo went into semi-retirement, with health problems, five years ago.
He invented the John Lobb tartan shoe bag as gentleman’s kit pouch, the magic mushroom birthday cake surprise, the west Batujimbar tradition of having ancient Javanese retainers slip on ones’ bedroom slippers at 'reveller' (Sir Henry Rawlinson would have blushed); he decreed Bombay (Mumbai) bloomers with Sumba blanket sash still de rigeur amongst the male Batujimbarites and wannabes at Balinese adat functions; he was a special adviser to Adrian Zecha on matters Almanac de Gotha; he owned Sanur Beach between Tuan Donald’s house and the Tanjung Sari, between 1730 hrs and sunset; he made Café Batujimbar, the in spot in its early days; he went only once to Graham Robertson’s Museum after he ruined the Donald Friend Estate; he coined the phrase “Pop Ibunda” for Cecilia Papadimitriov; he launched Papus and Arief (not that they needed any more launching) in Venice, Havana, Rio, Rome, Paris, London, New York; he once went to East Java on the antiquities trail with this writer and Stephen Little and never once lost his block. His mother and his best friend Julio Santo Domingo both died last year and his delicate heart took two blows that one imagines lead to an early demise. He died young but inspired―with his wit and his enthusiasm for life―so many people younger than himself that his memory will live on in the hearts of his followers for a long, long time.
Selamat Jalan Beli Bagus!
Made Wijaya, Mertasari, Bali, 7 Septemper 2009
He invented the John Lobb tartan shoe bag as gentleman’s kit pouch, the magic mushroom birthday cake surprise, the west Batujimbar tradition of having ancient Javanese retainers slip on ones’ bedroom slippers at 'reveller' (Sir Henry Rawlinson would have blushed); he decreed Bombay (Mumbai) bloomers with Sumba blanket sash still de rigeur amongst the male Batujimbarites and wannabes at Balinese adat functions; he was a special adviser to Adrian Zecha on matters Almanac de Gotha; he owned Sanur Beach between Tuan Donald’s house and the Tanjung Sari, between 1730 hrs and sunset; he made Café Batujimbar, the in spot in its early days; he went only once to Graham Robertson’s Museum after he ruined the Donald Friend Estate; he coined the phrase “Pop Ibunda” for Cecilia Papadimitriov; he launched Papus and Arief (not that they needed any more launching) in Venice, Havana, Rio, Rome, Paris, London, New York; he once went to East Java on the antiquities trail with this writer and Stephen Little and never once lost his block. His mother and his best friend Julio Santo Domingo both died last year and his delicate heart took two blows that one imagines lead to an early demise. He died young but inspired―with his wit and his enthusiasm for life―so many people younger than himself that his memory will live on in the hearts of his followers for a long, long time.
Selamat Jalan Beli Bagus!
Made Wijaya, Mertasari, Bali, 7 Septemper 2009
