Cinque Terre doesn’t announce itself loudly. It reveals itself slowly. Five seaside towns scattered along the Italian coast, each built into the cliffs, with colours softened by years of sun, salt and sea air.What stands out to me isn’t how bright the towns are, but how worn they are. Faded yellows, washed-out blues and greens, each one carrying a little more character with time. Nothing feels overly perfect, and that’s what makes it beautiful.

I’ve always believed longevity is the highest form of design. They should become more personal with time, collecting the marks, memories and moments of the people who wear them.

Walking through Cinque Terre with a camera, you start to notice that you’re never really capturing perfection. You’re capturing something that will never exist in quite the same way again. In many ways, that’s how we see clothing too. Made to be lived in, worn often, and given a little more character with every passing year.

Some garments begin with a silhouette, others with a fabric. This one began with an edge. While developing the Blanket Stitch Hoodie, I kept coming back to the idea that most construction details are designed to disappear. I wanted to do the opposite and make the finishing part of the design itself.

The contrasting stitch frames the hoodie, giving a familiar silhouette a little more character without overcomplicating it. Getting the balance right was the difficult part. It needed to feel considered rather than loud, with the pocket and boxy shape working naturally within the same idea.I’ve worn the first sample most days through winter, and that’s probably the best test I could have given it. It’s an absolute gem of a piece. Wear it well, wear it often, and hopefully one day pass it on.

There’s a certain machine I seem to find everywhere in Italy. From the cafés of Milan and Florence to the little spots along the coast, they all seem to have one thing in common: a La Marzocco. I started noticing them long before I knew anything about the company behind them. They’re on almost every yacht I’ve worked on too, quietly producing the coffee that gets everyone through the morning.

So I decided to look a little deeper: Founded in Florence in 1927 by brothers Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi, La Marzocco has spent nearly a century perfecting its craft. Every machine is still made in Florence, carrying with it a strong sense of Tuscan craftsmanship and an obsession with detail.

What I find most interesting is that the machines have never really needed to chase trends. They’re built from durable materials, designed to be used every day, and somehow become part of the places they live in. You see an old La Marzocco behind a busy café counter and it rarely looks out of place. If anything, it looks better for having been there.Maybe that’s what I like about it. It’s another example of something being designed well enough that time becomes part of the design.

For more insight into the brand’s design philosophy, listen to this episode of CRAFTED with Chief Product Designer Stefano Della Pietra.