Stefano Ricci, a symbol of high Made in Italy craftsmanship around the world

Our interview with the well-known entrepreneur

His passion for travelling has deeply influenced his style, by being a source of inspiration for his clothing’s sophisticated details, but also for all his other creations. Stefano Ricci is the symbol of 100% high Made-in-Italy craftsmanship across the world.

There is no head of state, prince, top manager or great sportsman who doesn’t own a collection of his handmade and hand-sewn suits or of his fine silk ties from which it all began. A pioneer of beauty, Stefano Ricci has always defied the rules of fashion, both the too ordinary or the too sensational ones. A Florentine by heart like few others… and yet ‘a man of the world always in the world’ who transformed his passion for the earth’s remotest corners into the Explorer project, which brought him and his collections from Iceland to the Galapagos Islands, from Mongolia to Cambodia and as far as the Land of the Incas, always accompanied by some of the world’s most famous photographers. We are talking about the great traveler Stefano Ricci who, in 2022, celebrated 50 years of business in Luxor and has always been transforming his travelling experiences across the world into pieces evoking luxury, elegance and timeless taste, thus, testifying to an art that celebrates Italian beauty and craftsmanship in its every form.

When did you visit Dubai for the first time?

Thirty years ago. Dubai in those days was a beautiful picture that is still stamped in my memory. It was a calm, peaceful, pleasant and, even back then, very elegant city. I remember that my wife Claudia and I, after having spent twenty days in a tent in Tanzania, as much as it was beautiful and comfortable, were happily surprised the moment we stepped into the 500-square-meter apartment at Dubai’s Burji Al Arab! Dubai has always been ten years ahead of the rest of the world.

The Fall Winter 2024-25 Collection takes men’s elegance to the extreme land of Mongolia (ph. Chris Rainier)

How is your Dubai today?

We have two lovely shops in Dubai, one at The Mall of the Emirates and one at the Atlantis at The Palm. In Abu Dhabi, we have a shop at the Avenue in the Etihad Tower.

Every Stefano Ricci boutique is an aesthetic experience…

I have always personally designed my shops and supervised the selection of materials and production of furniture and furnishing objects. For the interiors, I use only two materials, in addition to crystal glass: grey sandstone and briar-root wood. The grey sandstone is quarried in the Mugello area: a plateau to the north of Florence and the homeland of the Lords of Florence, the Medici family, who ennobled the use of this stone. The stone is quarried and still processed by hand by local skilled artisans, the stonecutters. An age-old craft which, unfortunately, is disappearing: through the Stefano Ricci Foundation, I have financed a stonecutters’ school because, otherwise, this craft will be lost forever. Even the dark brown briar-root wood furniture and coffered ceiling evoke the Florentine Renaissance. Details change, but the materials are always the same.

Stefano Ricci boutique at The Dubai Mall

How did the Stefano Ricci Interior collection start?

More and more customers asked me to create for them the same objects and furniture they saw at my shops. It was only natural to extend our vision to a luxury lifestyle which includes living spaces, business, passions and leisure time.

Style and manic attention to details and materials, so typical of the Stefano Ricci style, are in demand even in the luxury residential market. What are your most interesting projects in this field?

In Italy, in my Tuscany, we designed the Presidential Suite of the Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte on the exclusive Versilian Coast. Located on the hotel’s second floor, the suite room features materials recalling our brand’s identity: Californian briar-root wood surfaces and contrasting precious marbles. It is an elegant balance that reflects the image of our boutiques. We have also recently inaugurated the largest suite room ever built in Central Italy: it is in the tower of the medieval Castle dominating Castelfalfi, an age-old village converted into a luxury resort surrounded by one thousand hectares of woods and hills. This place is an increasingly exclusive international destination for those longing to seek refuge in nature and history. And, last but not least, another project of this kind is the Yacht Club on the island of Sindalah, in Saudi Arabia. It was a Florentine architect whom I think highly of, Luca Dini, who designed the whole island and told me about this project for the first time. We were invited to take part in an international competition and I’m proud to say that my two sons Niccolò and Filippo submitted the design which was chosen by His Royal Highness in person.

Terrace of the Sindalha Yacht Club

Why did you decide to take part in the Sindalah Yacht Club project?

Because I see this project as a jump forward thirty years into the future. The island’s marina offers 86 boat docks and 75 mooring buoys offshore, but this is not my job. For the Yacht Club’s interiors, I designed elegant Italian-style rooms by using fine materials like white Carrara marble, briar-root wood surfaces and handmade fabrics provided by Antico Setificio Fiorentino (the age-old Florentine silk factory dating back to 1786 that Stefano Ricci purchased in 2010, editor’s note). We created a new color for this project, Blue Sindalah, used on the precious crocodile skin which the sofas are covered with.

Restaurant of Sindalha Yacht Club

You own a leading crocodile skin workshop, a symbol of excellence across the world. How does this know-how translate to the production chain?

In terms of choice, selection, treatment and processing. Being able to assess the value of the skins to be used, as well as the quality of our artisans, led us to the top of this market niche across the world.

Excellence has deep roots…

Our company’s greatest heritage are the artisan workers. Some of them have been with us for 40 years! I am increasingly committed to handing down their know-how to the newest generations.