Rocco Pistolesi: “We acquire things that do not burden our lives, but decorate”

In Russia, the Rocco P brand has been known for 13 years. Designer Rocco Pistolesi flew to the opening of the NOONE boutique in Moscow personally, not being afraid of the capital's fashionistas, bad weather, or annoying journalists. From Italy, he brought a craftsman who sat and sewed shoes right at the opening. Evgenia Bubnova asked questions to the “strange designer who starts all business on Tuesday”.

- Rocco, how do you like Moscow?

- In Moscow, I feel at home. I have been constantly coming here for over 10 years. And the decision to promote my brand here in Russia, I made back in the distant 1997 year.

- How did this happen?

- I felt a change, both social and political. I was curious to see what this market is like, how people react to such products, what generally happens. in Russia. And then it turned out that all my clients became my friends. And now I come to friends, as to my home. I am absolutely my own person in Moscow.

- Was it the same in Italy?

- Yes. I have almost family relationships with clients. We have parties together, eat, dance, have fun.

- When did you start your business in Italy? How did you become exactly who you are now?

- I started very young, in our family this is the second generation of shoe makers. My parents kept a small shoe workshop. They opened it in the 1957 year, so I practically grew up in a shoe workshop, I breathed this air. For me, the smells of glue and shoe polish are not just smells, they are aromas. It is logical that in my youth I continued my training in shoe craftsmanship, while simultaneously studying foreign languages ​​on my own, and graduated from the Design Institute in Milan. My first independent collection appeared in the 1983 year. And my brother and I sold it ourselves.

- Your potential buyer, client, friend, as you said, is different in Italy and in Russia? Does the fashion that you introduce in Italy take root with us?

- Everything is exactly the same. I have friends everywhere. And the assortment is the same everywhere. The same thing that you see here is represented in America, Asia, and Australia. As for fashion, then ... I would not use the word "fashion" at all, it does not apply to me. I just do things. They seem fashionable to some, but that doesn't matter. Fashion is something that needs to be handled very carefully. You know, I hate the words fashion and trend. They force you to look somewhere on the surface and not into the thing. And they greatly restrict freedom of choice.

- You sew both men's and women's shoes. Which one do you like to design?

- I have no preferences. I like both of them, but I always start with the men's collection. And the female is already born from her.

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“How Eve was made from Adam's rib ...”

- So it turns out. Probably due to the fact that I'm a man. At first I think about myself. (Laughs - FR.) I have a lot of oddities. For example, I start all things on Tuesday. This happens spontaneously. I checked: for twenty years the same thing!

- When creating a collection, do you take into account global sociocultural trends?

- Yes. I am very attached to what is happening in the world.

- And what is happening now?

- In my opinion, the world is awakening from hibernation, which lasted for many, many years. It seems to me that in the 1970's some kind of human being was killed. And we are very lucky that there was an economic crisis. This is not even an economic crisis, it is a crisis of values. The crisis of our civilization, which has gone too far in consumption. People must return to natural things. The crisis caused them to wake up from this heavy dream. People begin to look more at the essence, and not at the shell, begin to think about something real.

- And what were the reasons for this global dream?

- We are all tired of the fact that everything in the world has been reduced to some kind of absurdity. The world had to return to some reasonable things. We buy and do absolutely unnecessary things, we waste money, we spend resources. And we acquire things that do not decorate, but burden our lives. Therefore, I try to create light, simple things in order to return to the essence itself. My new collection is primarily easy to implement. People should return to what the heart tells them, not the advertisement. I am for simplicity.

“However, you make shoes that are inaccessible to the masses ...”

- My shoes will never be available to the general public, because I do everything manually! This is by definition not suitable for the general public! I am an artist who offers images, they are born of the imagination, and not dictated by considerations of commerce. I have no advertising, I have no promotion. Nevertheless, very many people know me.

- And how do you monetize your creativity?

- I adhere to one single principle: we should not work at a loss. For many years I have a chance to become a millionaire (if not a billionaire) in a very short time. Now I have 40 masters working. It was enough to transfer this production to China, there to mechanize it and use cheaper materials. Then tomorrow I would be a millionaire! But I don’t need it. I am an artist. I wake up in the morning and feel like the owner of my own life. I want - I will do something yellow, I want - I will do green. This is only my choice, no one has power over me. For me, the most valuable thing is freedom.

- How much do 40 masters have to work to shoe and Moscow, and New York, and Stockholm, and all other cities? - The fact is that collections end very quickly. We have regular customers, but even at their whim we are not trying to produce more than we can. We close the order when our physical abilities are exhausted. This is an abnormal phenomenon. (Laughs - SR.) We make no more than seven pairs of shoes of the same model per day. But in all we produce 90 – 100 pairs daily, and in a year we produce no more than 26 thousand, working all days. We have an 9 hour work day, and we traditionally break off for two months in the summer.