Five questions with

Margherita Maccapani Missoni

Margherita Maccapani Missoni is our dear friend and founder of the jersey clothing brand Maccapani. She owns more than 20 Laguna~B glasses (including most of our Limited Editions) and loves to mix and match her collection over her family table daily. This month, we visited her at her home in the countryside near Varese, Italy. An active, curious mind, Margherita finds beauty in the unexpected. The best shopping? At flea markets.

Interview Caterina Capelli

Photos Alessandro Trevisan

Styling Erica Toffanin

What’s your definition of creativity? And how do you express yours?

I think it’s a very healthy mode of emotional expression. I really like to make things with my hands, crafty little works. At one point in my life, I was a little depressed, so I started making sculptures with Legos. I bought a lot of individual Lego pieces and started making rounded vases, which was very difficult. I really like working with my hands, and I can express myself much better when I have limited means. Anything that is reused and recycled is very much in my wheelhouse. I kind of panic if I have unlimited choice of colors or tools... Even in my work, which is half creative and half entrepreneurial, it’s the same. For example, the idea to make only jersey clothing, a strategic choice of Maccapani, is a boundary within which I like to work.

What inspires you?

It's hard to say. In general, it's life that inspires you, and it's always important to always do and see new things and to meet people. People and dialogues are definitely a great source of inspiration. My balance comes from the place I live, in the countryside. In more chaotic cities like New York, you see a lot of things, but you don’t really have the time to absorb them because you can’t get bored.

In our work, we often question the role of luxury in today’s society. What’s your opinion? Can luxury be separated from consumerism?

Yes. Mostly now, since everything is for sale (even regarding status), true luxury lies elsewhere. But time is the greatest luxury today, isn't it? Wealth allows one to pay and delegate to others almost anything, granting significant freedom. For me, though, luxury is a mental thing... For example, local, truly local purchases – which you can only make if you are in that specific place, not necessarily during a faraway trip – that is the ultimate indulgence today because they imply knowledge and time.

Would you describe yourself as a collector?

Yes, a collector, an accumulator... I've always collected fake flowers, especially margherite – daisies – which everyone always gifted me, and that, eventually, I also began to love. I also collect hair accessories, ceramics, glass, paintings... I buy so many things. In 2024, when I will move out of this house, I think it will be a time of great mental cleansing. I come from a family of very serious and messy accumulators; I am more of an archivist. Now, it's time for decluttering. But yes, I definitely feel like a collector. I would like to transform this side of me from accumulator to curator, picking and selling objects instead of selecting and keeping them all for myself.

Where do you find the things you collect?

Flea markets, auctions... Ebay. But mostly at flea markets, where I always go with my children. This afternoon, for example, I'm taking my eldest to a friend of mine who is an antique jewelry dealer. My son says he wants to intern with him when he grows up. Because of me my kids are really into flea markets; they love the idea of “treasure hunting.”

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