The Inspirati

Growing up in his family’s hilltop country home 15 minutes from downtown Florence, Pietro Franceschini's idyllic childhood instilled in him an appreciation and respect for the objects with which we surround ourselves. His aesthetic point of view continued to take shape through architecture studies first in Italy, then Portugal, Egypt, France, and finally the US. In researching these differing schools of thought in diverse cultural contexts, Pietro was actively seeking to inform his eye from as many angles as possible.

Months before the pandemic began, Pietro decided to pause his burgeoning career in architecture, and shift his focus to the creation of artful furnishings and objects. He returned to his ancestral home in the countryside to birth new visions that sat at the intersection of classical, timeless aesthetics and youthful, irreverent exuberance. When the time came to explore production, the global shutdown prevented him from meeting manufacturers, and so he turned to digital artists to help bring his pieces to life in surreal contexts, which he shared with a growing following on social media. What began as a digital solution to assist him with creation in the real world has now become an important part of the Pietro Franceschini brand. Pietro sees these virtual vistas as a new way to communicate, one which allows design to soften its grip on functionality and move closer to art. 

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It comes as no surprise that Christian Larson, the creative half of the founding duo behind the imaginative Swedish undergarment brand CDLP, cut his creative teeth with early careers in visual world building: first editing, then directing.

Growing up outside Stockholm, Christian studied drumming from an early age, and his sense of rhythm is perhaps the strongest visible through line in a career that has spanned multiple industries. You can see it in his award winning editing on projects like the Grammy and Emmy-nominated concert film 'ON THE RUN' featuring Beyoncé & Jay-Z, and projects for Lady Gaga, Daft Punk, Abba, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Dior. That same sense of rhythm won him the director chair on ad campaigns for Cartier, Jimmy Choo, Pepsi, Mercedes-Benz, and Nowness, as well as music videos for Sigur Rós, Kylie Minogue, Icona Pop, and Swedish House Mafia. 

When Christian’s directorial career was keeping him frequently on the road, his best friend Andreas began traveling with him. One day they found themselves in a hotel room in Rio, chastising each other for their mutually terrible choices in underwear, and an idea was born. The quest began to develop a superior product to what was on the market, a product crafted from better materials and made in Europe, where they could have control over their manufacturing process. Once an unconsidered, boring, ’non-decision' purchase relegated to the sock drawer, CDLP won early support from men of all ages, who finally felt sexy in their improved undergarments.

Over the last six years the brand has grown to include swim and loungewear, and a women’s line launched a few months ago. True to his rhythm, Christian’s video campaigns are masterfully shot and tightly edited… Not to mention the CDLP mixtape series, which is fantastic.

We caught up with Christian to chat about curiosity as a driving imperative, why hotels make the most cinematic backdrops, and how an unexpected moment, like seeing 35 millimeter film for the first time, can alter your perspective and cement your commitment to a creative destiny.

Slide on your best underwear, and enjoy this conversation with the brilliant Christian Larson.

Presented by NUVO Magazine.

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For jewelry designer Rosh Mahtani, the quest to create modern heirlooms originated in her love of one of humanity’s greatest stories: Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Growing up in Zambia before moving to London, her desire to express herself through a creative process brushed up against the outsider experience of the immigrant, and it took time to manifest as the destiny she was entitled to and could find a medium for. It was in a literature class at Oxford University that she discovered a sense of belonging in the Divine Comedy’s opening lines: which paint the picture of a young creative, lost in a dark wood, trying to find his way in the world.

This exploration of loneliness and personal identity led her to create her jewelry brand, Alighieri, from a desire to make others feel less alone, and more in touch with the unifying nature of our collective human experience across the ages. While Alighieri has gone on to become revered and sought out internationally, Rosh’s works are entirely manufactured in the UK. In 2020, Princess Anne presented the self-taught designer with the Queen Elizabeth the second Award for British Design, the first time this prestigious honor has been bestowed upon a designer of jewelry.

We discussed why the vulnerability of imperfection creates closeness, how artists can influence each other across time and media, and the romance of an individual’s relationship to objects, from a family’s “cave of treasures” to astronauts carrying talismans to space for luck and strength.

Presented by NUVO Magazine.

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If you hold the belief that the artist, by definition, lacks structure, discipline, or business sense, you really need to know Sebastian Errazuriz. Raised by a stoic kindergarten teacher mother as one of four boys, the high testosterone level in his home was contrasted by a massive appreciation for creativity. His art professor father, a man who would be moved to tears when conducting imaginary orchestras, created the arts program that children in Santiago, Chile learn from age 5 to 18. As his guinea pig, Sebastian’s childhood was marked by the kind of rigorous training in the arts that is usually reserved for star athletes or aspiring concert pianists.

Before he was 30, Sebastian became the second living South American artist to have his work auctioned within a Sotheby's sale of Important Twentieth Century Design. He is recognized for public art installations around the world, from Chile’s national stadium to New York’s Times Square, works that aim to arouse new perspectives and conversations about society’s relationship with technology, immigrant labor, or religious extremism.

During our conversation, Sebastian reflected on speaking art as a first language, why the art world compels its superstars to lie, how his creative process sometimes reminds him of other climaxes, and why you should never ask, and always offer.

Presented by NUVO Magazine.

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Stitching together a new kind of vision where pattern meets purpose, JJ Martin and her brand La DoubleJ are combining aesthetics and spirituality to bring expansive joy to the worlds of fashion and home decor. Originally launched in 2015, La DoubleJ has now grown to encompass ready-to-wear, accessories, home, bedding, and tableware, and has collaborated with partners from goop and Laduree to Cucchi, the Milanese pasticceria where JJ, for many years, sat writing her articles... The only person in Italy, in public, on a laptop.

JJ gives eloquent advice, not only on how to match patterns in our outfits and on our dinner tables, but also on how to identify and address our behavior patterns in life. In recent years her devotion to spiritual development has crossed over into her designs, notably in her first boutique, which opened in Milan in the Spring of last year, and features paper lotus leaves hanging from the ceiling, mannequins in mudra pose, and a sacred grotta with a pantheon of goddesses. Her perception of the divine feminine serves as an empowered rallying cry for a more balanced world, and her tough love approach to spiritual investigation reminds us that it’s all there for us, but we have to manifest it for ourselves.

We discussed degrees of maximalism, spiritual quickenings, elegance under pressure, and what it means to surrender, even if you’re kicking and screaming through the process.

Presented by NUVO Magazine.

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While Tom Dixon is a household name in British design, and even a living, breathing symbol of the country’s aesthetic today, there is no denying that he has forever been a true original.

Born in Tunisia, and raised in Morocco and Egypt before moving to England, Dixon’s exotic early influences ignited a quest for a new way of seeing and, in due course, of making. This drive has taken him around the world in search of inspiration, channeling creative awakenings into luxurious light fixtures and free spirited furniture.

Tom filled us in on the highs and lows of the convergence of Covid and Brexit, which led not only to supply chain disruptions, but also to an intense period of creation in a green house owned by the oldest orchid business in the world, which revived the kind of play intrinsic to his early career. We discussed the beauty to be found in the first of something, being motivated by surprises, and why you should go to as many parties as possible.

Please enjoy this conversation with the unparalleled Tom Dixon, presented by NUVO Magazine.

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As one of the world’s leading experts on meditation, Light Watkins has delivered over 500 wellness-centric talks, lead countless workshops and retreats, and taught thousands of people to meditate. He hosts a weekly podcast called At the End of the Tunnel, and has published three books: The Inner Gym, Bliss More, and Knowing Where to Look: 108 daily doses of inspiration, which comes out today.

We spoke with him about the unexpected messengers that guide us on our individual journeys, how the real practice is in the field of life, not the meditation class, and how the muse shows up when you do.

Light Watkins // https://www.instagram.com/lightwatkins/?hl=en

Knowing Where to Look // https://www.amazon.ca/Knowing-Where-Look-Daily-Inspiration/dp/168364770X/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=light+watkins&qid=1619731036&sr=8-3

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Amor Towles is a master novelist. His second book A Gentleman in Moscow spent 104 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Rules of Civility, his breakout debut, is also a Times bestseller, and together the two books have been translated into more than 30 languages, selling more than 3 million copies to date. This comes as no surprise. Amor’s writing is elegant and soul stirring, leaving you feeling more engaged, more aware of life’s expansiveness.

This conversation was a reminder that returning to the creative boundlessness of our youth can happen whenever we choose, that following our curiosity can lead to greatness, and that exceptional literature can be written with the audience in mind.

Amor’s third novel The Lincoln Highway comes out October 5th. You can preorder it here: https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Highway-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0735222355

Amor Towles // https://www.instagram.com/amortowles/?hl=en

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Joe Holder is a true unclassifiable. If you’ve only known him as a master trainer on Nike’s app, or a wellness columnist for GQ, or the guy getting Naomi Campbell through lockdown workouts on her Instagram, it’s likely you haven’t experienced the full breadth of Joe. 

In the short leap from college athlete to one of the most influential coaches in fitness and sports, he picked up a client roster of creative powerhouses like Virgil Abloh, Heron Preston, Bella Hadid, and Ricardo Tisci, but getting fashion’s a-listers into their best physical shape has turned out to be only a ripple on the surface of Joe’s impact.

His overarching philosophy, The Ocho System, is based on eight core components for wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, financial, social, and environmental. After years of fitness crazes that seem to cause as many injuries and lifestyle imbalances as six packs, this holistic approach is a breath of fresh air. This is not a man who has time to take shirtless videos at the gym. He’s too busy reading James Baldwin and trying to galvanize America’s underserved communities to commit the radical act of self preservation and build the foundation for a lifetime of good health.

We talked about what it was like to teach the first Masterclass on wellness, how the more blessed you are, the more obligated you become to lift others up, and why it is so important to stop and listen to the music.

Joe Holder // https://www.instagram.com/ochosystem/

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If you have even the slightest interest in cars or the culture that surrounds them, chances are you already follow Ted Gushue on Instagram. The fact that he was brought home from the hospital in a red Porsche 911 was a beautiful piece of foreshadowing, as he now serves as the editor in chief of Type 7, a platform he created with the brand to expand the Porsche world as it relates to art, architecture, design and overall culture. 

Ted lives by the credo, “If you don’t do it today, you’ll just be a year older when you do,” a philosophy which has manifested itself in an inspiring life driven by asking questions, telling stories, and feeding his boundless curiosity. We discussed his years navigating the New York social scene as a DJ and nightlife reporter, how a phone call from Graydon Carter supercharged his career as an editor, and how going 65 miles an hour head first down a hand made skeleton luge ice track in Eastern Switzerland can really satiate your need for speed, even if your mom, understandably, does not approve.

Ted Gushue // https://www.instagram.com/tedgushue/?hl=en

Type 7 // https://www.instagram.com/type7/?hl=en

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