A conversation with Swann Hostein, founder of CANDID, on the front-row yacht experience built around the Principality’s most refined makers, and a Monaco Grand Prix that actually tastes like Monaco.
Swann was born in Monaco, and her affection for the Principality runs through everything she does. With CANDID, she has built one of the most considered hospitality offerings of Grand Prix week – a luxury yacht experience with a front-row view of the circuit, placing the makers, chefs, distillers and producers of Monaco and the surrounding Riviera firmly at its centre. We sat down with her to talk about authenticity, craft, and the small choices that make a great race week feel truly local.
Let’s start at the beginning. What is it like to grow up in Monaco?
Strange and wonderful, in equal measure. It is a very small place, you know everyone, you walk everywhere, the sea is always present. There is an intimacy to it that surprises people. For those of us who grew up here, Monaco is not just the luxury postcard the world sees. It is home, with bakeries and neighbours and quiet corners we have loved since childhood. The Grand Prix has always been part of that – the cars echoing off the buildings, the whole city going through an incredible transformation each year. It is woven into the rhythm of life here.
When did you start thinking about hospitality differently, about what an authentic Grand Prix week here could feel like?
Honestly, from the inside. I worked within F1 hospitality for several years before founding CANDID, and that is where I noticed something interesting. Most of what guests experience during this week – the yachts, the terraces, the brands behind the bar – is flown in. Many of the operators arrive in May, set up, and leave. What’s poured into your glass tends to be the big global brands we all know very well. None of it is bad, but very little of it is here. The idea evolved through many conversations with my friend and business partner Kirill Logachev, whose background spans more than a decade in Formula 1 hospitality and entertainment worldwide. We kept returning to the same thought: Monaco itself – its makers, flavours and people – deserved to be more present in the Grand Prix experience.
Tell us about CANDID, where did the idea come from?
It came from love, really. Monaco is a tiny place with an extraordinary community of chefs, distillers, designers, start-ups – people doing exquisite work in very small batches because they genuinely care about it. They are at the heart of what CANDID is. When you step aboard our yacht, the gin in your glass, the beer in your hand, the sunscreen on your skin, the food on your plate, all of it tells you something true about where you are. It is, in a way, a summer love letter of the Principality.
Curating an experience like this must take real care and time.
It does, and it is honestly the part I enjoy most. We meet the producers, taste with them, listen to their stories, build long relationships. The chef we work with is in my opinion one of the most exciting cooks on the French Riviera, known for his vibrant, colourful creations and fresh Mediterranean flair. Everything we serve is small-batch, made with serious care for the ingredients and for the environment that surrounds us. That kind of partnership grows over months of conversation. Slow, joyful, exacting work.
For a reader who has not yet experienced the Grand Prix from a yacht in the harbour, what should they picture?
Imagine being ferried across the water by private tender as the engines start somewhere in the distance. A glass of champagne is placed in your hand along the way. You step onto the yacht and you are inside the circuit, close enough to feel the cars in your chest. The hours flow from there: a relaxed Mediterranean lunch, easy conversations, and as the racing day softens into evening, the deck transforms into something gentler – music, sunset, an aperitivo of beautiful local things made well. Across the weekend you can move through three rhythms: Friday’s anticipation, Saturday’s qualifying, Sunday’s release – all from the same elegant vantage point on the water.
You also have a background in fashion design. Does that influence CANDID in any way?
In values, and in aesthetics. I run my own fashion label, and what drew me to that world was a respect for craft, for authenticity, for small choices made with intention. Those are exactly the convictions that shape CANDID today. Our manifesto talks about curiosity, attention to detail, the belief that difference is something to celebrate. The makers we work with live by those same values. They work slowly, in small quantities, because they care about what they create. When everyone around a project shares that mindset, the result feels right to a guest, even if they cannot quite say why.
Where do you want to take CANDID next?
Monaco GP is the most beautiful showcase imaginable. The world arrives in our harbour for a few days each year, and CANDID becomes a meeting point where the creative community of the Principality can connect with that audience: founders, collectors, and the companies who host their most valued guests here. The longer vision lives further out: helping these small Monaco brands travel and grow together, internationally. The ripple effect, across the whole community, is what excites me most.
Last question, what do you want a guest to feel when they step off the yacht on Sunday evening?
That they were truly in Monaco. That they tasted it, met it, and want to come back – for the place, as much as for the race. The finest memories are always candid.
