THE TRAVELLING ARTISAN
An Industrial designer and professional pattern maker, I decided to become a shirt maker after working for many years at Ralph Lauren as a product developer.
The answer to re-defining the perfect bespoke shirt, (which was challenging from both an aesthetic and a technical point of view), was to twin the understated British elegance with Italian attention to quality and detail. It was then that my background in product development and pattern making helped me to put together an attention to style with technical knowledge in creating a product that is at the same time sophisticated and cut for a client's needs.
Quintessentially British features like bold stripes and decisive collar stands together with Italian luxury cottons and handmade details are enriched by regular visits to Paris, Rome and Venice. Each Travelling Artisan shirt is a creation and conceptualised during the first appointment with the client going through fabric, cut and features to help him achieve his personal style.
I draft an individual pattern for each client giving attention in the first place to the shoulder slope and armhole height before sewing a muslin using a long basting stitch. During the fitting I first fit the body in order to rectify shoulder's slope and balance and then I set the sleeves changing the pitch individually to make sure they are attached accordingly to client's posture.
It is only at this stage after removing any draping from the fabric and traslating the fitting into the pattern that I start cutting the fabric and sew the shirt.