LIFESTYLE
My Favourite Things
Photo - Kris Micallef
Decorator, writer, editor, curator: there’s little Michele Tufigno doesn’t dabble in, and pretty successfully at that. After practicing law for nine years, he quit to set up Studio Tufigno, a creative consultancy firm that is quietly carving a niche for itself in the field of bespoke and meticulously researched interiors. Dominated by a refreshing use of colour and a refusal of the mundane, his eclectic and cosmopolitan style graces private residences and members’ clubs with unabashed glamour and a dash of uncomplicated patrician elegance. We’ve asked Michele to share some of his favourite things, spanning from the obscure to the decidedly popular; here’s his cream of the crop.
Film
I confess: I still buy DVDs. There’s nothing quite like the psychological comfort of knowing that you can whip your favourite film out of a little box and watch it whenever you please, and no one will convince me otherwise. I’ve always been fascinated by classic Hollywood: the stars, the costumes, the music, the gargantuan sets and that Mid-Atlantic accent which is so artificial yet oddly comforting. Watch ‘Auntie Mame’, ‘Ziegfeld Girl’, ‘The Ten Commandments’ and anything with Elizabeth Taylor or Anna Magnani in it. I first watched ‘Farewell my Concubine’ aged 10 with my grandmother; it’s beautifully shot, incredibly deep and very, very inappropriate for an impressionable child. Nothing beats binge watching ‘Downton Abbey’ or ‘Call my Agent’ when I’m tired. And ‘The Goonies’; I love ‘The Goonies’.
Books
Scent I’ve been told I tend to smell like a cross between a church and a Turkish bath, and I quite like it that way. I’ve been wearing Chanel’s ‘Égoïste’ on and off for close to 18 years now, but I often like to venture into new, though comfortingly familiar, territory. Penhaligon’s ‘Halfeti Leather’ and its beautiful bottle is a new favourite [penhaligons.com], as is the ‘Oud’ by Acqua di Parma [camilleriparismode.com]. Give them a try instead of the usual citrus-based scent; they smell divine in the Maltese heat and we’re closer to Cairo than to Copenhagen anyway.
76 - EBM MAGAZINE - No 15
What with Malta being a relative book desert, I have to find mine online or whenever I’m abroad. I tend to buy few clothes, but there’s always space for books in my suitcases and I can always temporarily colonise a friend’s till we land safely in Luqa. Read Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’, ‘À Rebours’ by Joris-Karl Huysmans and ‘I Leoni di Sicilia’ and ‘L’Inverno dei Leoni’, the first two instalments in the Florio Saga by Stefania Auci. I can’t wait to receive Guido Taroni’s latest photographic adventure, ‘Safari Style’ [vendomepress.com]: his spectacular work is regularly featured in Cabana Magazine too [cabanamagazine.com]. Subscribe; you’ll thank me later.
