My Luxuries: Carlo Brandelli

Signature style?

I’m partial to a one-button, single-breasted grey flannel suit. It’s a timeless classic; restrained and elegant. A one-button jacket has the best symmetry as the button falls in the centre of your torso, which elongates your line. A man should be discreet and not stand out too much.

How do you dress up?

A silk scarf for evening is always a good idea. I like dark navy with a white spot. The material dictates the level of formality, so for a real occasion a black mohair suit with black silk inset lapel or pocket detail lends expression.

Most coveted timepiece?

One of my ambitions is to design my own. I’d like to use a Zenith movement because they’re generally considered to be one of the finest pieces of engineering across the industry.

Favourite view?

Any still scene of a seascape; the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto knows how to capture that emotion perfectly.

Dream home?

I’m lucky enough to have a house and a studio near a small town called Castell’Arquato in Reggio Emilia, south of Milan. It was designed in the 1970s with a back wall of glass that overlooks a medieval hamlet and old castle. The house’s location means that within two hours you can ski, be on the beach or find yourself in the centre of Florence.

Favourite architect?

It has to be Carlo Scarpa or Louis Kahn. Their use of geometry and proportion was groundbreaking and they were early adopters of what’s now known as the Russian art movement suprematism.

Favourite artwork in your collection?

Bridget Riley’s Fragment 6, a Plexiglass spot print. My first art project, Squire, in the mid-to-late 1990s was a multi-aesthetic space with art in the outer gallery and suit design in the inner space, and this artwork is the only piece I kept from that time.

Artists you admire?

The list is endless; I love the work of Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Naum Gabo. If I had to choose however it would probably be Carl Andre; he came from simple beginnings and thought in such a pure way about what art was or could be.

What do you collect?

I am and have always been a collector of many things. My collections are vast and wide-ranging, from shoes, watches, olive oil and luggage, to art books, religious iconography, murano glass, pencils, vinyl… although in recent years I’ve tried to pare things down.

Favourite meal?

My daughter Lola is training to be a chef, so I have to say something made by her! Until then, it’s anything from Fera at Claridges.

Design classic?

A few years ago I became friends with Fulvio Ferrari, who is the curator and custodian of the Carlo Mollino museum in Turin. Mollino was a genius and a polymath, working as an architect, designer and photographer. To me his 1949 Arabesque table – which was based on the female form – was decades ahead of everyone else in terms of sensitivity and process of thought.
Source: Telegraph