Moving from a Small Town to Building a Worldwide Lifestyle Brand with Creative Director Matteo Perin

I am here with my good friend, probably my best friend in Verona, Italy, Matteo Perrin. Hello, Matteo. Glad to talk to you here as we wrap up the year. How's things in Verona?

Hello, Larry. Thank you for having me. Things in Verona are nice right now. It's quite cold, and so, of course, it's one of my favorite times of the year. So you can layer up with some good clothing.

Yes. Now, here's the deal, folks. Mateo is an amazing young man. He started in Verona, and I'll let him tell you the story, but he's developed his own brand in the luxury lifestyle style arena because of the contacts he has, because of where he was, because what he wanted to do. But Mateo can. I'll let him describe it. When he talks about luxury lifestyle. He knows how to create whatever it is you want for yourself. If it's shoes, clothes, you know, male, female, shoes, clothing, accessories, all, all the way to the bags, which is a very complex type thing. And people who. The reason people work with Matteo is we agree, we pretty much universally have the opinion the quality of his products are better than you would get at Louis Vuitton, Hermes, or at least equal to Hermes and places like that. And so he is like the best of the best with the cloth and everything. And so he's developed a niche for people who just like things their own way, and they want to be different and they like special stuff, and they worked hard enough in life to be able to afford special stuff. And if you are like that, you'll probably get to know Matteo somewhere along the way. And he's uniquely positioned at the place in the world that has access to these finest craftsmen that can make this stuff. So anyway, Matteo, welcome and introduce yourself to everybody. Where are you now? What do you actually do now? And then we'll go back out where you were when you started.

Okay, well, thank you, Larry. So, yeah, my name is Matteo. I'm from Verona in Italy. We're one hour inland from Milano, right between Milano and Venice, below the Alps. I grew up here in a very, very small town. And basically what I do is I'm a lifestyle designer. And when I say lifestyle is not because, you know, I design your lifestyle, but I actually design things to go with your lifestyle. You know, sometimes in the process of doing that, we do create a better lifestyle for the person because they realize, you know, things that they wanted to do or how they wanted to do it and how they wanted to enjoy life. But, you know, I'm lucky enough to be able to design, you know, express My point of view in design, you know, with the mind of the customer.

And you do, you do have a website. You do trunk shows around the world. And if people wanted to come and see, they could contact you through that website or they could go to one of your trunk shows. You had a trunk show out at my gallery in Aspen this summer. We're talking about doing that again this coming summer. And we've talked about possibly a trunk show here this winter in Palm beach, where I'm going to have January and March have I guess basically a pop up. And so if people want to come see your stuff, that's how they can kind of connect with you or they'll send you an email to kind of see what is the level of quality and what are the kind of things. And a lot of times it's somebody in your life you want things for. But when you started this. But let people know the kind of example of the kinds of things you've done for people. We won't, of course, you know, confidentiality is not going to give you the names of his clients and all, but the kinds of things and the kind of fun you've had and some of the friends that you made, then we could go where you started. But I mean, Mateo is on, Mateo is well known folks with people who can afford these things. So that's why I really wanted to get him on here, so you could meet him and hear some of the things that went on in his mind that allow him to start from nothing. You know, he was in the right place, he had the right family, but you know, that doesn't mean he had a business, you know, and so he's made his mark because of the work he's done and the kind of way he's looked at things. But the some of the top end experiences you've had in your, your life that you've been able to do that, that really were thrilling for you. What would you say are some high points for you?

Well, you know, when people say lifestyle, like some of the things, sometimes I remember the first time I had a person ask me, you know, they wanted to create a better experience for their family, for traveling. And again, coming from a small town in Italy, I never had a luxury to go on one of those private jets and this person had a couple and so they basically asked me to go in, check their planes, measure, you know, their spaces and create items for each person that normally would travel. You know, so blankets, pillows, pajamas, you know, things that match the plane interior but also match the Personality of who's in it and on top of it, you know, do, like, have all the items that people would bring on the plane kind of match. So let's say this. When they got off of plane in Paris or London or Moscow or Singapore, they wouldn't look sloppy. You know, they all kind of, you know, all the bags had a, you know, certain feel. And so that, I mean, honestly, that was one of my first big projects that I was very excited about because it was very new and had to deal with different personalities and different people.

Yeah. And the thing is, the whole idea of, I'm sure it's a new thought for a lot of people, but the idea of having your own designer, people have their own cooks at their house, they have their, their own people who do special things for them. And so this is just in that, you know, interior designer, if you have a house, things like that, landscape architect for your yard, if you're doing a big thing, architect to design your new house. But this is like for your lifestyle, the clothes you wear, the shoes, the appearance, the colors, the, you know, it's. And if you're out there and you've been like me, where you've been looked all over, like where you earn the right to be able to get something nice and you want something nice, but then you waste a lot of money buying stuff that's not that nice. That's where a guy like Mateo comes in. And so how did you start? Let's get into the journeys. That gives a picture of where you are. And we have it, you know, just taking a few minutes to get that on the table. But so if you're a, you're a top level actor, musician, whatever, business CEO, those are the kind of, you know, those are the worlds where Matteo is comfortable in operating. People that have their own business, been successful, you know, and what we're doing is when you want to go. I, I think, and this is part of your story, Matteo is your business is all about helping people who want to go beyond the basics. You know, just get by. I mean, you can go to Walmart, you can go to the cheapest store and get tennis shoes and clothes and pajamas and blankets and this, that and the other, if that's all you want. But people who get their own business, I mean, they can get a job somewhere, but they want a special job, they want to own it. They want to be able to make the decisions. They want control of their life, the extras, they want more. They want to make a statement with their life and a business side. And so, you know, this is a matter of just translating another step of making a statement in life and enjoying things. This is not about need. This is about. And this podcast is how the thinking that's beyond just, you know, just survive, you know, just eat, you know, beans and crackers and wear clothes from the Goodwill, and that's all you need. But that's existing. That's not living, you know, that's not flourishing. And so the idea behind this thing is for people who want and have earned the right to be able to do those kind of things, not just for themselves, but for family and friends and all. I mean, this is, you know, that's the world that Mateo operates in. But how did you get into that world? Where did you start? When in your life did that idea of doing something like this occur to you?

Well, I would say it started when I was young. And, you know, I know a lot of people say this, oh, I started when I was a little kid, but it actually, my grandmother had a very close friend of hers in Rome, and she had a very small apartment in Rome that he, Angelo, her friend, helped her, you know, buy. And Angelo happened to be a master tailor. And when I was young, he was in his early 80s, and he was still making clothes. And I remember, you know, spending a lot of time at his apartment because it was bigger than my grandmother's. And, you know, I would see pictures of people I didn't know then because I was young, but, you know, Henfrey, Bogart, Cary Grant and some of the, you know, Italian politicians or famous people. But he was basically had made a lot of suits for a lot of these famous people back in, you know, the Dolce Vita era of Italy. And he was actually one that helped me point me and my future to where it is now, because I used to wish I would. I would become like him, like a tailor, someone that could actually make it, you know, with your own hand. And I remember when I was 12, he said to me, you know, after he asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him, I said, angela, I want to be like you. And he told me, no, don't do that. I was very upset. But after a few minutes, he explained. He said, listen, since you're six, you hang out with me in my, you know, tailoring shop, and all you do is draw. So why did, you know, why the hell do you want to make stuff? And I said, well, because it's beautiful. And he said, listen, you can always find people like me. But finding people like you who have ideas and who can draw from scratch, from nothing that is harder. So it actually opened my mind more. And, you know, that was one of the things that got me started and realized that I can actually create something just from an idea and then finding someone who could do it and, you know, so my first things when I was young, I was 14, I had finished school here in Italy, and I decided I wanted to experience something different. I felt Italy at that time was not going to give me what I needed and wanted. So because of a family friend lived in Los Angeles, I was able to go and stay with her for a little while. And I started painting blue jeans, you know, on Hollywood Boulevard. So that was something that probably couldn't happen now. But back then it was quite fun for a 14 year old from Italy, from a small village. It was. When I say small village is really small, 7,000 people.

Is that how big Verona is?

No, no, I mean, I live outside, outside of Verona.

Okay, all right.

It's about 15 minutes drive, but it's still, it's very small, you know.

And so what was. So that was a couple of years after your head obviously started spinning once your friend, the master tailor in Rome, put that in your head. And I guess you were starting to work on options of how you could make that happen fast. Right?

Yeah. I mean, as part of it, you know, as a, as a young kid, I like to draw, I like to paint. So it was kind of fun for me to paint on clothes because it was something that I would wear. And, you know, I realized, especially in Los Angeles, it was very interesting because that's one thing that I love about the Americans, the culture is people ask. They see something they like, they just ask. They don't, like, go on. Like, Italians would probably go look at you and think, wow, that's so cool. But never ask. They'll just go on and, you know, instead Americans will just ask like, wow, where did you get your jeans? Where's your jean jacket from? Where's your shirt? And so I would say, oh, I painted it. And that's how people. That's how I actually was able to start.

So what get talk again? The idea of moving from a town of 7,000 people halfway around the world, I guess it's halfway around the world to get to la. Now, you said you had a friend there or you had.

Yeah, my family had a friend that she was also from Verona, but moved there through, you know, marriage. She was working for Disney and, you know, so my family was okay with me moving there because they had someone they could trust, of course, because I was young.

But how about school? How about things like that?

It's just I actually at that, at that time, I had completed all the, how do you say, legal school requirements.

The requirements for high school. So you finished early, in other words?

Yeah, because in Italy at that time you could finish at 14. Now it's. Now it's 16, the basic. But back then it was 14.

What kind of plans did you make as a kid to make this launch? You know, how long did you plan to do? It was an impulse thing.

It was. I'd say it was quite impulsive because I started going to a school here in Italy that I didn't like. You know, my parents liked because they wanted me to be an accountant, have a good job, stable, that kind of stuff.

Right.

So I went there for one and a half week and then I just laugh.

So you completed the basic requirements for like a high school diploma. Now it was like going on, get your advanced training. They had you all set up to be an accountant. And, well, you did, you, you did good to last that long. And so anyway, the. You hit the ground in la. Did you have a plan for the G, you know, painting jeans on the sidewalk when you got there? Did you just say, I'm going to get there and figure it out? Because 14 is not even an age that you can get a job. You know, I think you have to be 16 to go to work in a lot of most places that, you know, with big companies.

Yeah. I mean, I basically did not have a plan. I liked basketball, so I figured I would just come there, go play basketball, maybe become a big star. Then after the first week, I went to a playground and this kid that was even smaller than me basically dunked on my head. And I realized that was it. I was like, okay, that's, you know, I'm not growing any much, probably. And yeah, in Italy, maybe I was worth it, but in, you know, in Los Angeles, it was a different game. So I still, you know, enjoy to play as, how do you say, as a hobby or, you know, sport, love. But, you know, so I just, I just started, like, wandering around and just enjoying the city. And after a week, people just started asking me, like, where did I get my jeans? And things like that. When I would say I made them, I mean, I wouldn't say I made them. I had a piece of paper because I didn't speak English. I could read English pretty good and write okay. And I could. I would definitely could not understand the Los Angeles, you know, accent. In Italy, we learned British English. So it was very, very tough for me at the beginning. For three months, I basically would go around with written things in a little book. So if people asked, I would just open a book and show them, like.

And so eventually this turned into a business for yourself.

Yeah. Yeah. So I realized when the first people asked me if I could paint something, I asked for $5 because, you know, at least I know I could go and get some McDonald's. And. Yeah, you get a. Get a bus ticket back to the house. And then, you know, people started, you know, asking me to do a few more and this. And then I guess people appreciate it and, you know, start giving me $10 and say, oh, keep the chains. And so. Yeah.

So how long were you doing that?

I did that. I did that for about a year. You know, I started. I used to just lay down on the. On the floor. And then I started doing maybe a little bit more from home, because if they were more complicated than, you know, also, the boulevard was not so pretty every day.

Yeah.

Then.

Oh, you ought to see it now. But sunset, right?

Yeah, sunset or Hollywood Boulevard. Either one.

Yeah.

So.

At some point, what was going on in your mind from that? What do you. What would you say you learned from that? What can you. What would you say you learned that you would want to tell your children or people who are coming up that caused you to move forward? Because that's a bold move. It's one thing to have a thought, it's another thing to act on it, and it's another thing then to learn. You know, you go out there, you can't speak the language. You know, all you have is your clothes that you had drawn on, and people would ask you about that, and so that turned into something. But when did you get the idea I could go back to Italy and do this on a bigger scale? Especially. Especially you're still a young teenager.

Yeah, Well, I mean, the idea of going back to Italy took a lot longer. You know, it. You know, for a long time, I just was just enjoying. You know, I was a kid. I was 14. I. I was 15, 16. I just enjoyed painting, and I realized I could make some money doing it. And, you know, and then I would also, at times, I moved around the US A little bit. You know, different states, different cities. I kind of was on a very explorer kind of, you know, very adventure mind. And I love painting, so I kind of did both. I wanted to go see Portland. I would go there and I would paint some stuff There and then move.

And you're picking up the language as you went, right?

Yes. Yeah. After three months, I was able to answer people when they asked me a question.

Yeah, that's got to be a big help. Now the thing is, you moved around. Now you're moving around, you're getting away from your comfort zone of having a friend's house. So you must have made some pretty decent money, had some pretty good confidence about expansion. You know, entrepreneurs have that adventuresome spirit. And what did you say to yourself? Were you getting. Were things going bad in la or what was the lure of another town? A lot of times entrepreneurs cannot explain why they do what they do, but the more. Usually there's a reason and the better you get at recognizing the things that you did, you know, the reason behind it, the better. And so you had this adventure, but when you. You must have had the idea when you moved to the US that of exploring and doing other things. You probably didn't move to LA with the idea of, this is where I'm gonna stay.

I mean, honestly, I kind of thought LA would be my thing because, you know, Lakers and, you know, basketball and movies, all that stuff when you come from Italy. But honestly, at the beginning, a lot of my moving was, let's say, was due to girls. You know, I would meet a girl, she was from another city, and then I would go home. Maybe I should go check out Chicago.

Yeah, maybe.

Yeah. You know, that's honestly a lot of the time, the moving. But I. I've always been a very outdoorsy guy. And even in Italy with my parents, we would, you know, travel and see the country. So I like the idea for inspiration to go see different places because I remember like a time, you know, I had to go to Montana, and then I remember just sitting there looking at all this field with cows and different colors and stuff. And then I made a pair of leather paints that were, you know, in different color leather. So it was kind of reminding me by the cows. It's silly, I guess, but that's just what designing is.

Yeah. I mean, it always seems stupid until you pull it off and then everybody loves it, you know.

Right.

You're like, every great idea is dumb in the beginning, you know, to somebody anyway, and can't be done until you do it. But now. So that's another key. Your parents gave you lots of exposures to different things growing up.

Yeah.

And so where in Italy, for people who don't know Italy, where, you know, where would you go to get inspired? Of course, Florence is Right down the road.

Yeah. I mean there's two. There's these things. So Verona is a Roman city. It was the Roman north outpost. So it's over 2,000 years old. We have a smaller size arena. Was actually A Coliseum is 80 years older than the one in Rome that.

Was the first Coliseum was built in Verona.

Yeah, so it's still standing. So Verona has a lot of history. Plus we got the Alps and the Dolomites. My dad is a rock climber. He stopped free climbing like no ropes when I was born, but he was still climb with ropes. And so of course I grew up in the Alps very often. And Valpolicella is one country here. Then, you know, you have Venice. Italy is small, so it's like the size of Florida. So you can go to Venice in one hour, Milano and Florence in two hours with lots of art. My mom is an art major, so at least I grew up learning a lot about paintings.

And other side of other side of Milan, you got Lake Como. We've had conventions at Villa d'. Est. And George Clooney has his place a little bit higher up there.

That's right.

So a lot of different things, a lot of things to stimulate you. Plus going down south to the Amalfi coast, Naples, all of things like that. Rome, plus it's a great place for art and creativity and things like that. Not so much for accountants, but. But now. So what would you say? So what I'm picking up was that you picked up the atmosphere, the inspiration. You got inspired at an early age by art, people creating things. You're always drawing. So you found something that fit in with what you. You had a natural talent and you did it all the time. People like wonder, what should I do in my life? It's like, well, what do you wake up in the morning and think about? You know, what do you find yourself doing? If there's a magazine rack of all kind of different magazines, which magazines do you go and look at? Now, I'm not just talking about recreation like basketball, but you know, you look at basketball, check it out, you know, if you like basketball, sports, fishing, this, that. Go see if you can be great at it. But you're gonna. Usually you're going to find, no, it's got to be something more substantial. But you got to sort through these things of things that interest you. And that's one of the greatest gifts you can give for kids is exposures to a lot of different things and support them when they're ready to go. The thing is, like when they're ready to go take a big step. The parent can either be a problem to hold them back, but when possible, go ahead and encourage them. You know that like you said today, today would not be a good time to send a 14 year old to LA with.

I mean, honestly, I was lucky enough that my parents understood me as a person.

Right.

Because, you know, like, I felt like I was ready and if they had probably stopped me, I would have probably run away and done it anyway.

Yeah.

So knowing the fact, you know, it took him a few months because I started in September 97 when I wanted to leave, and I really left on 1-3-98, you know, so it took my parents a little while and they wanted to figure out where I could stay and with who. And, you know, that way they, they felt they had some control. I wasn't just going to, to live on the street.

Yeah. And the idea of there is at some point you got to launch, you got to go, you got to find out for yourself. You got to see with your own eyes, you've got to come to your, your own conclusions. Like your, your parents could have said, Mateo, get serious. You'll never be a basketball player for the Lakers. Get serious. You're not going to be the second coming to Magic Johnson. You know, the thing is. But you would have never believed it. Here's the thing. Reality is the greatest teacher. And you can't really talk people into things, but you can get them in a situation where they can try their stuff and then let reality send them a lesson, whether or not it's possible or not possible. And if it's totally not possible, if the person has a brain, they're going to recognize it. If they don't have a brain, there's no reaching them anyway. But people with intelligence are going to run into a brick wall and say, okay, I'm not going to do that again. I'm going to go over here. But the idea is be heading somewhere that appeals to you. So anyway, I've got some ideas of things I want to talk about next time, Matteo. But thank you, thank you for sharing and showing us behind the scenes of what it's like to launch a. You know, you did something absolutely unique, but when you have, you build something absolutely unique like you're doing, it's got to come from a unique place, it's got to come from a unique motivation where you do things and then it takes shape over time. And so I want to get it to. I understand your thinking, I understand some of the ingredients that went into that, but I want to see now how that evolved. The thing is to have an idea, have experiences, but do they evolve? Do you improve? Do you fix things and get it where you're making a little money? Are you going to stop there, or are you going to now leverage that information into something that could be more productive and pay off bigger for you? So thanks so much, Mateo, and look forward to next time.

All right, thank you, Larry. Ciao.