Endorphins were flowing. Dopamine rushes were happening left, right, and center. Muscles, of course, were flexing. Welcome to the book launch of Assouline’s Technogym: The Art of Wellness, held at the luxury Italian brand’s New York City flagship in Soho. Surrounded by sleek, state-of-the-art fitness equipment that seems transported from the future—the brainchild of award-winning designer Antonio Citterio—guests (or at least the ones not counting calories) imbibed Cipriani’s famous bellinis and munched on meatballs while dancing to the appropriately playing techno (obviously) music blasting like we were at a high-intensity work-out class c/o DJ Mei Kwok. Indeed, Edoardo Alessandri, son of Technogym founder Nerio Alessandri, told us “techno music is my passion—it’s perfect when I do weights.” If you’re looking for get-swole motivation, Kwok says she’s “lovvving ‘Pump It Up’ by Endor. I played it at fitness class and it was a banger!”
Everywhere you looked there were beautifully toned bodies and bold-faced names, including model Coco Rocha (who tested out the $9,000 Unica lat pulldown machine), everyone’s favorite Queer Eye hunk Antoni Porowski wearing sporty stripes, global shutterbug Karl Ndieli, our own Martine and Alex Assouline, and Emmy recipient, Real Housewive, and journalist Carole Radziwill, who declared “Females don’t necessarily associate lifting as exercise for women, but it’s the best kind as you get older.” They also don’t necessarily meet their significant other while they’re raising the heart rate. Says Kwok, “I have talked to a guy at the gym because I usually look like sh*t when I’m there. She’s not cute working out.”
Celebrating Technogym’s 40th anniversary, the book was the real star of the show, as evidenced by the long line to flip through the display copy’s pages, which, said founder and CEO Nerio Alessandri, “[take] the reader into a journey on how Technogym has introduced design, art, and beauty in its industry.” That through-line was certainly appreciated by actor Paul Wesley (you may know him from his long tenure as the broody bloodsucker on The Vampire Diaries, and more recently, as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk), who admires the brand’s “storied history,” telling Culture Lounge that his New York hotel’s gym was filled with Technogym equipment—”when I see their machines, I know this must be a nice hotel.” Asked about his work-out playlist, Wesley says it depends on his mood: “When I’m feeling a little angry and aggressive, I put on hip-hop, and when I’m in a more peaceful mindset, I listen to really dramatic, slow musical scores by Hans Zimmer.” The chiseled star, who’s the co-founder of Brother’s Bond Bourbon, also revealed that after a night of drinking his premium whiskey, he often goes to the gym the next morning, “because I feel like I have to sweat it out.” [This editor, unfortunately, did not get a run in on a sculptural Technogym treadmill when he woke up post-party.]
Investor Daymond John, of Shark Tank fame, is also a big fan of Technogym’s space-age equipment, praising the company’s Unica unit: “You can do so many things with it and it’s so beautiful.” And he’ll be around for Technogym’s next forty years, too, saying his fitness goal was “to live until I am 120.” The businessman’s prognostication: “If you can stay alive for the next five years, the way that longevity, bio-hacking, and fitness is going, you will have no excuse to not be healthy.” We told John we’d see him in 2065, hopefully to toast another Assouline book collaboration with the brand—this time commemorating Technogym’s eightieth birthday.