Page 28 - Damianos Sotheby's International Realty Magazine Vol. 3

PROFILE BRUNELLO CUCINELLI
“The Lord.” Yet, he says, it wasn’t being self-made that consequently shaped his attitude to giving. It’s the experience of witnessing how his father lived.
“Seeing my father suffer in his work, how every day offered up some kind of humiliation, how he was living in a contemporary form of slavery, left a stamp on me for the rest of my life,” says Cucinelli. “I knew I wanted a company that gave employees dignity, not just in working conditions but also in being part of something bigger.” As an example, the idea to restore the Torre Civica came from his employees.
“Those early years of life are so formative. I have more money now, but I don’t feel much different about it, except that more funds means the realization of more dreams,” Cucinelli explains. “It’s funny, but my father still isn’t really able to comprehend my wealth because he gets by on €500 ($528 U.S.) a month. When he sees us taking on a [philanthropic] project, he thinks it costs a few thousand, rather than tens of millions. But he appreciates the value of donation. He under- stands the point.”
In his line of work, Cucinelli believes that philanthropy is good for business, but only because a new consumer sensibility is developing in which a brand’s actions—ever more transparent—increasingly count for as much as the quality of its wares. He cites the growing appreciation for what he frames as Epicurus’ insistence that we need to use everything the land gives us without consuming it.
Cucinelli insists that despite Warren Buffet’s challenge to the wealthy to give away at least 50% of their money, he doesn’t feel under any social pressure to do so. “No,” he insists, “not as a company, as a family or as an individual. When I was a young person, I always imagined that I’d someday have the ability to give back. To me, what I donate is simply what is due.”
Brunello Cucinelli at home with his wife, Frederica, and their daughters.
26