March
8, 2008
Sunday,
March 09, 2008
Edoardo Mantelli
of Tocca, Retreats to
The
ANNOTICO Report
Edoardo
Mantelli, originally from
Mantelli spends his working week at the companys
glamorous headquarters in
Gabriella adds:
"We discovered that the place had belonged to Joe Eula, a renowned fashion
artist considered the fastest pencil in the field. He sketched for Halston and Yves St Laurent and his drawings were seen on
the pages of The Sunday Times and American Vogue. With our background in
fashion, it seemed like a sign that the house should be ours."
Little
March
8, 2008
Italian-born
Edoardo Mantelli, creative director and chairman of
the fashion label Tocca, spends his working week at
the companys glamorous headquarters in New Yorks West 22nd Street,
but on Fridays he "emigrates" to "a little bit of Tuscany",
a two-hour drive away in the Hudson Valley. As skyscrapers and bumper-to-boot
traffic give way to pastures and forests, Edoardo, his model wife Gabriella and
their children Stella, 5, and Rocco, 4, slip into the leisurely tempo of rustic
living, focused on their 18th-century wood-and-stone house near the colonial
town of Hurley.
I used to
come to this area to go rock climbing," says Edoardo. "Its unspoilt, with a wild, limestone landscape which in many
ways reminds me of
Gabriella adds:
"We discovered that the place had belonged to Joe Eula, a renowned fashion
artist considered the fastest pencil in the field. He sketched for Halston and Yves St Laurent and his drawings were seen on
the pages of The Sunday Times and American Vogue. With our background in
fashion, it seemed like a sign that the house should be ours."
This isnt a pristine, tidy place - its full of
spiders," says Edoardo as he walks up the steps of the porch to the front
door. "There are no fancy modern bits here. The house was built in 1720 by
two Dutch brothers and much of it remains as it was. The old smokehouse now
contains the pump for the swimming pool, but the well has stayed and we drink
the water from it. The wooden floors were historically repaired with beaten
copper patches, and many of the windows have panes of original handblown glass".
The second
sitting room was Eulas studio and has been left much as it was when he
lived here. We seem to have similar taste, which was good for us because when
he died his family had trouble selling the place. Other viewers were freaked
out by the amount of work that needed to be done to make it into an
upstate weekend residence, but we liked it just the way it was."
Although the
bones of the house remain unchanged, much of its embellishments are Mantellis, and reflect
his laid-back style. Originally from
Mantellis own
passions include a love of old leather, especially pieces with surface
decoration of tool work and stitching. By the back door aged cowboy boots rest
on a bench, and worn leather chaps hang on wooden pegs. Further along the
passageway is the steamroom, furnished with a simple
bench, scrubbing brush and pail. At the window of the adjacent drying area a
length of embroidered white voile is casually pinned to the frame and a simple
china jug rests on the sill.
In the entrance
hall an old Stars and Stripes flag hangs on the mellow wood walls. Stairs with
well-worn balustrades lead up to the bedrooms and bathroom. The four bedrooms
are dressed with antique quilts and old linen sheets. Stone walls are left
exposed or clad with broad wooden planks and painted white. The furniture is
minimal, and of the homely, practical wooden variety.
Much of the Mantellis time at the house is spent outdoors.
"Theres a river at one side of the plot and the garden is amazingly
well planted," says Edoardo. Sitting around the scrubbed wood table by the
raised open hearth, aromatic logs burning in the grate, it doesnt
take too much effort to imagine you are in a Tuscan farmhouse, enjoying la
dolce vita.
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