Rebecca Caratti’s editor’s letter: July/August 2019
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12th Jun 2019
This issue’s celebration of Italy, family and design is a subject close to my heart. My grandparents emigrated to Australia from Italy in the 1950s — and I grew up with that hard-working migrant sensibility. I can honestly say that I’m where I am today because of what I’ve learnt about the bonds of family, which, as everyone knows, provides the foundation of Italian culture.
When I arrived in Sydney from Perth as a fresh-faced and utterly naïve 21-year-old, I got my first job through a family connection — designer Carla Zampatti, my grandfather’s beloved cousin. Carla was not only instrumental in nurturing my love of fashion, which led to a career in publishing, but she also welcomed me into her home and took care of me the way Italian families are renowned for doing. It’s so special to feature Carla’s incredible vision, which continues to inspire me today, in this issue.
On my first visit to the Fanuli store in Sydney’s Mosman, I was both awed by the luxurious collection of Italian and Australian design and struck by the familiar warmth of a loving Italian family. I was greeted with a big smile by eldest son, Fabio, and noticed his father, Giuseppe, and mother, Maria, coming in to visit their sons. Italian design culture has been so pivotal to the evolution of Australian design, so I wanted to celebrate amazing Italian design dynasties, and businesses driven by the closeness of family, both locally and internationally.
Our Italian issue also highlights Vogue Living’s annual coverage of Salone del Mobile — the world’ s premier design fair in the gorgeous city of Milan. Creative director Natasha Allen, deputy editor Verity Magdalino and style editor Joseph Gardner all had their feet on the ground this year to bring us the crème de la crème of innovative design, from our spectacular 32-page Milan Report to a guerilla-style photo shoot on the city’s streets showcasing a curation of standout designs. Salone del Mobile always reminds me of what design means to Italians, and what Italian culture has brought to the world. As Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Emanuel Farneti puts it in his thoughtful essay introducing our special report, design is simply in Italy’s DNA.
Our Italian reveries continue with a peek into some of the country’s most sublime homes, from the fabulous eclecticism of Margherita Maccapani Missoni Amos’s home in Varese to the delightful rusticity of Pasquale Junior Natuzzi’s trullo in Puglia.
And for those of you jetting off to Europe this year for your annual summer break, consider one of the world’s oldest cities, Matera — once declared the “shame of Italy” but now a European capital of culture.
I hope this issue feels just as special for you as it does for me.
Buona lettura!
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