Hospitality Design - November 2016 - 117

make a difference with ideas of my own and today
with Italia Independent Group and Garage Italia
Customs, I can definitely say that what I dreamt as
a youngster is a true business and financial reality.

We took a gamble with the first ever carbonfiber eyewear and that pair of sunglasses with their
high price-to date, my best marketing idea-
made a breakthrough on the eyewear market.

Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat: what did you
learn in your years at these leading car
companies?

You have worked with some great
brands-Adidas, Ducati, Gucci. What's
the key to a successful collaboration?

Cars are my biggest and timeless passion. I was
born with them, and I have been lucky enough to
work with the best car manufacturers. I could not
compare the work in Fiat to Ferrari and Maserati.
They are very different stories, and different
historical moments.
Fiat was probably the biggest, most heartfelt
challenge. I chose to go back at its lowest and most
difficult moment. There was no money, so we had
to work on ideas with zero budget. We succeeded
in something pretty incredible, as [everyone can
see] the turnaround: Today we speak about the
Fiat Chrysler Group. It has been the greatest
school as we had to transform the company
through the force of the ideas and the people.

Tradition and innovation-which are part of
Independent Italia's DNA-are also core values to
all the brands we have partnered with. They have
the common goal of making products that have
a story of powerful innovation, be it shoes and
sunglasses with Adidas, or the Big Bang Unico
Italia Independent with Hublot [matching watch
and pair of sunglasses sets].
The same is true of the partners I seek
for Garage Italia Customs. Pagani, BMW,
Lamborghini, and many others are exceptional
partners, which want to defy boundaries to come
to market with the best ever personalized products.

Why go into the sunglasses business
with Italia Independent? How do you set
yourself apart?

I have been customizing and [have] tailor made
my cars for the last 18 years. Today, most of our
daily life can be personalized-from a lighter to
the cover of an iPhone to a food menu to a car-the
possibilities of choosing how to make a common
object yours are endless.
The financial business around the
personalization of all that moves-planes, boat,
cars, bikes-is huge and of constant growth.
The U.S., where I aim to bring my Garage Italia
Customs in the next year or so, has a huge desire
for this.

Italia Independent's eyewear collaboration with Adidas Originals

I will be quite brutal in my answer but I don't
follow fashion, and as much as you may not
believe me, I am not interested in it. I closely
follow innovation and all that happens in arts,
music, creativity. Curiosity is the essence and
the core to any successful venture, project, or
company.
I work somehow with fashion and I am
happy for the collaborations we have done over
the years, but I don't follow trends and designers.
I have always designed most of my own
wardrobe, and I think that sometimes a simple
white T-shirt is the most elegant of things. There
are certainly some excellent designers out there,
but I look at style, not fashion. Style is foremost a
way of behaving with and toward others.

You travel quite a bit-do you have a
favorite recent trip?
Sea and boats are what I consider real holidays.
They recharge me like no destination I have
recently touched, mostly for work.

What's next for you?
Carpe diem is my go-to rule. The future is for
fortunetellers. I like being pragmatic and living
the moment in all I do.

The Italia Independent store on
Milan's Via Monte Napoleone

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117

Photo by ALDO FERRERO

Vision is what, to me, has to underline every object
and product. What better product for a vision than
what is in itself the king of it? I knew that the
eyewear sector was something where we Italians
always had excelled over everyone else. I also
knew it was a sector where innovation played a
huge and key part, and I had always dreamed of
coupling the automotive experience I had with the
skills of the eyewear sector.

How did your customization idea come
about?

You are known in the fashion world for
your personal style-you created a line
called Lapo's Wardrobe with Gucci, and
ﬂaunt tailored pieces from Rubinacci,
Anderson & Sheppard, Huntsman, and
Caraceni. Which fashion inﬂuencers do
you pay attention to?

Hospitality Design - November 2016

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