Philosophy

I. Authenticity and Your Own Path

At a time when natural materials are becoming a luxury, when wood is replaced by something that merely has the color and texture of wood, when food is replaced by something with the taste and smell of food, and when things are becoming disposable, the desire for something real grows stronger. Something pleasant to touch, whose scent is pleasant to experience, something that brings aesthetic pleasure and lasts for years. Time can be spent with the people we love, creating something useful for society and for our families, or discovering something new and unexplored. This precious time, slipping away with every passing day, should not have to be spent searching for a replacement for something that has broken, torn, or failed.

Perhaps that is why we are so reluctant to part with the things that have become familiar to us, even when they are worn, as long as they still perform their purpose and have stood the test of time. Remember how good it feels to unexpectedly find old belongings of the people close to us: your grandfather’s camera, which he used to photograph your grandmother when she was still young, or a record player found in the attic and cleared of dust, the one your parents saved for so long to buy and whose music played while you were learning to walk...

It is difficult to explain, but these feelings cannot be compared with touching a new smartphone or the latest television made from some new kind of plastic. Just as no movie screen can ever reproduce the real sound and scent of the sea, no synthetic imitation can replace the tactile experience of touching real wood or leather. The feeling of what is real, its genuine taste, scent and touch, and live human contact can never be replaced by something that is merely similar.

As the years pass, we remember simple moments from our own lives because they are real and they belong to us. No one remembers scenes from a film about someone else’s story. In trying to resemble someone else or live like someone from an advertising brochure, we risk losing our own individuality and uniqueness. Only a few people have the courage to choose their own path, but those, and only those, are rewarded with the opportunity to create their own story.

Let us live our own real lives, experience our own genuine feelings and emotions, make discoveries that may not be grand but are truly ours, explore new sides and dimensions of the world around us, and create our own family values and traditions. It is genuine emotion and real experience that make our lives vivid, unique and authentic.

II. Controlled Chaos, Imperfection, and Sprezzatura

At some point, I gave a name to my approach to solving many problems that, at first glance, may seem to have no solution. I called this approach controlled chaos. Why chaos? Because chaos is the primary state of things. An uncontrolled system is constantly moving toward chaos. Throughout our lives, we try to bring order to our own system: our style, our mood, our balance and harmony. We try to bring order to the quality of our lives.

Somewhere alongside this exists the Italian idea of sprezzatura — deliberate effortlessness, where an appearance of ease is supported by complex and precise work. It is the same spirit seen at Pitti Uomo, where classic menswear elegance and elevated casual come together in an eclectic yet almost flawless look.

For me, this is not merely a way of dressing. It is a way of life and a way of thinking. You can wear ripped jeans with an Omega chronograph. You can own things with scratches and see those scratches as part of your life, because they preserve your most incredible stories. It is a manifesto, a reflection on the constant tension of always trying to preserve perfection. A perfection that does not actually exist in nature.

A well-known British physics professor explained in his programs about the Universe why perfection is such an unstable system. A system that is imperfect but very close to perfection is far more stable. This is not a paragraph in a book. These are our life stories. The smallest accident, such as the first scratch, and your system loses its status of perfection and goes clattering down the stairs. Accepting even the smallest possible degree of imperfection, on the other hand, makes the system significantly more stable. The system is you. The system is your state of mind. Your perception of life. It does not collapse because of chance, because chance already has a place within it. Yet you still work with random events and do not let them run free, thereby reducing their probability.

Somewhere nearby is the second law of thermodynamics and its entropy. Bringing order to chaos requires energy, while keeping a system in a single flawless state requires constant effort. But how does any of this relate to design? Like this: it relates directly.

Very often, a person feels a desire to create something, whether an object or a work of art. They feel something but cannot bring it into a clear and flawless physical form, exactly as they supposedly imagined it.

Design cannot be created from nothing. At first, it resembles a system of equations with countless unknowns. There is a feeling, a desire to create something, an image, a mood or a direction, but there is still no specific answer. What form will it take? What proportions should it have? How should the joints and connections be resolved? What material? What color?

The more answers you provide by choosing a particular form, material or detail, the fewer unknowns remain in the system. Gradually, you move closer to the solution. Remember how it all began: there was nothing. Just like in the Universe. At first, there was nothing. Only darkness over the abyss...

That is why imperfection is a way of reaching perfection. The path to perfection lies through imperfection, because perfection does not exist from the very beginning. It emerges through the first movement, the first choice, mistakes, corrections and the gradual ordering of chaos. Anyone who decides that they will immediately create something perfect is doomed to disappointment and self-destruction. Perfectionists know this feeling very well: the immediate and relentless desire to keep one particular micro-system perfect.

Accepting imperfection frees the system from excessive energy costs, makes it more resilient and gives it a chance to evolve. It gives you a chance to become better, to see flying trolleybuses, or to tow a piece of ice from Jupiter’s orbit behind your shuttle.

Dissimilarity, difference and non-uniformity are not only signs of reality and authenticity. They are part of the diversity of life. Diversity is a way of maintaining the balance of life on the planet. I, too, have many colors, shades and subtle tones. They create freedom of choice, different moods and different associations, and tell stories from life.