The Pleasure Of Leisure

"I love our bathroom because I’m a bath fanatic – I love starting and ending the day with a bath – it’s where I go to relax and think."

“I sing, I play the guitar, I’m now acting and I love it. I also love ping pong and mimicking accents, dialects and languages. Oh, and dancing.”

"Through cinema we understand ourselves and others, in cinema we can try things out, imagine futures, relive pasts, a place where we can escape our feelings and face them too, we laugh, we cry, we forget life for a while, but whatever it is we are changed somehow."

“Sunday is a day off to do the domestics. I will cook a big meal and then read a good book. Then listen to Reggae music whilst doing the ironing and dishes. Dub, especially”

"As a child, I did not play much. I was always dreaming, drawing and painting, as far back as I can remember. Painting makes me forget, puts my ego to sleep, and that makes me feel very good. That and my other passion of gardening are the only times when I stop thinking."

“I love my things. So many things. But it’s probably my map of the world I cherish most, which I bought when my girls asked me very sweetly if Africa was in South America.”

“I’m most inspired in my studio. When I am practising every day. When I stop, my inspiration goes down. I don’t believe in divine inspiration or romanticism. I believe in daily work. That’s what inspires me.”

“I really like chromium oxide green – a more recent discovery. It’s kind of a subtle green, not immediately reminiscent of a cartoon frog.”

"Earth is my element and I'm using it everyday with ceramics. I love working with my brush to fill my element as well, which is play."

"We love the spontaneous dancing that seems to constantly happen during breakfast, whether it is Vigù dancing to “lambada” or Gabriele teaching her a waltz. I love to cook “huevos rancheros” while watching my favourite dance show."

"Fire is the tool of transformation and translation. It represents this kind of dual nature of being constructive and destructive in the work."

"Early in life I realised that I would not fit in anywhere. It's not my purpose in life to fit in. I do what makes me happy and nourishes my soul and those along with me on this journey."

"I paint mostly using my imagination and so have got to fill the well, when I find myself uninspired I usually realise I’ve been on my phone too much. I love people watching, female artists, and nature too."

"Cheese came to me by chance, it wasn’t a meditated decision."

‘I love autumn, I feel more alive when the temperature drops”

"I looove to wake up with the sun and the palm trees, it really changes your life!"

“I can confidently cook two things: eggs - any sort of eggs, mind you. I never met an egg I didn’t like. And pasta with jarred sauce.”

“You never know what is around the corner. Stay open and ready, the best thing may happen to you really soon!”

"I have got a superhero power… I can lip read!"

"There are few greater pleasures than spreading Nutella over a cornetto and dipping it into a glass of fresh whole milk."

"Eating in bed is my biggest guilty pleasure. It used to be just a regular non-guilty pleasure until I started house-sitting a friend’s place, and nothing will make you feel guilty like eating in someone else’s bed."

“I like themes that are inclusive and can feel a bit silly. When I was younger some of my art was quite political. A different depth. In more recent times, I like paintings that make people feel something.”

"If I had to describe myself, I would say that I am passionate, generous, idealistic and often frustrated with the cynical nature of reality."

"I think Christmas is a funny excuse to get people together to show each other how much you care through food and presents. It’s really something we could do more than once a year!"

"You don’t want to cook a full English unless you’re camping—because the romance of roasting mushies and tomatoes over an outdoor fire is too good to pass up."

"My Dad taught me to appreciate bread— just by witnessing how he appreciated a fresh loaf. He grew up in Naples, Italy, and didn’t have much, so he really savoured simple things. When I was younger I asked him why he ate his ice cream so slowly and he just said, “what's the rush?”

"I’ve learned that you need to be kind to yourself first and foremost as no one is perfect and mistakes will be made. It’s the correction that is more important than the act of making a mistake which applies to fatherhood and being an entrepreneur."

“It feels luxurious to have things that not everybody does, things that really do mean something to you.” 

“I am a good, old-fashioned New York City kid. My introduction to nature came from observing how weeds break through the concrete and how life seems to spring from the cracks in the cement.”

"The idea of female empowerment is to understand that nobody should ever disrespect you, and that our community of women is our greatest ally."

"We do like a breakfast, and I don’t fully understand people who don’t eat it."

"My daughter was born on a Sunday. It doesn't get better than this, does it?"

"My dream dinner party theme would be a Mid-century garden party. Think Slim Aarons meets Michael Correlone’s party on Lake Tahoe with the big band in The Godfather Part II."

"By getting in the sea. It gives me so much; a leveller, a source of energy and a place to be away from it all, in the moment. It’s never the same."