Interview

• What is your educational background?

  My grandmother was a seamstress, that’s why my father became a tailor. He married my mother – who came from a family of tailors, too – but she was an embroiderer. I was born in a room in our house, and all through my childhood, every breath I took, I breathed the air of an artisan’s workshop.

• Did you learn from a master?

  Not at all. When you grow up in a workshop, you learn first hand, by imitation. It’s like a natural school. Nobody told me how to sew a suit or a jacket. Sometimes you get bored of hearing the same old speeches everyday – even at lunchtime and at dinner – but I guess it must have all been absorbed. And now it is probably me giving those speeches!

• Why was high tailoring born in Naples?

  In the 16th and the 17th century, Naples was the most important city in the whole of Italy, not just of the south of the country as we are today. Our competitors were people from Paris and from London – everybody wanted to be the most elegant of all, the standards were very high, and Naples contained many of the best.

• How does your craft innovate?

  I’m from the old school, I work all day long in my workshop without technology – trying to make all my customers happy. But I understand the importance of social media, too: we can be the best tailors, but without good communication skills and without the reach of being able to find discerning customers, our craft goes unnoticed and the traditions will falter.