Talbinio Berluti

At the age of 14, Talbinio learnt the family job, while studying architecture. Father and son had complimentary roles: Talbinio, intellectual, imaginative and Torello, the hardworking craftsman.

Talbinio sketched his designs everywhere: in restaurants, on paper tablecloths, in notebooks, on book covers. His father worked with his hands, like a sculptor. He too was a man of designs- outlines, sketches and ideas. In the early forties, together they originated laced mocassins, which would become one of the Maison Berluti's iconic emblems.

In 1959, Talbinio launched luxury ready-to-wear shoes. With the innovation of luxury ready-to-wear shoes and their more affordable prices, the Maison Berluti was able to attract a clientele of creative young artists with more limited means. Because of the ready-to-wear collection, a greater number of people were able to wear Berluti footwear, which in turn enabled Berluti to expand.

Talbinio tirelessly expanded the enterprise that his father had left in his hands. He was a cultivated man and his engaging conversation flourished with his friends and clients. These special friends and clients attachment to the Maison Berluti was also due to the very Italian ambiance and sense of enjoyment they found there: Sergio Leone, Jean Cocteau, Edith Piaf...

Between 1960 and 1980, Torello developed Berluti restlessly. The educated and generous visionary transmitted to his young cousin Olga, a larger and more global Maison.