Altobello on the References That Raised Him
We chatted about the lived experiences, early introduction to hip hop and Italian culture, and strong women that inform his process today.
When I came across Altobello’s work - floor length furs, unique chain links, and the like - I assumed that he was something along the lines of a third generation furrier or jeweler who came from the means to allow for this type of work. This assumption stemmed from not only my perception but also from the belief that these industries largely consist of family-owned businesses that have been around since the 20’s, keeping generation after generation financially secure.
After connecting with Joseph through Instagram, we scheduled a call to dive into his craft and what led him there, which is when I discovered that this story I made up was just that - not real.
Joseph wasn’t a child running around his dad’s fur factory after school, his mother wasn’t draped in chinchillas, and he didn’t visit his grandparents at their home on the countryside during his summers.
In fact, some of the first memories he shared were of his upbringing by a single mother, along with his sister, in the basement of his grandparents’ home. Before building a career as a designer in the fur and jewelry industries, Joseph spent his time observing the lifestyles he saw on TV, watching Rap City and 106 & Park after school, paying close attention to the heavy presence of long spinner chains and oversized leathers and boots.
I wanted to understand the processes behind the work he exhibits today and how they’re influenced by his lived experiences and interests, particularly the references he sources.
Discussing his childhood, it’s evident that he holds the women in his life in high regard, and reminisces on the time he spent with his grandmother, specifically recalling the times she’d bring him along to shop. “Growing up with my grandmother, we went to a lot of boutiques together. That’s what I did in my childhood. She’d look at custom-made dresses. That’s where I got my intro to custom-made pieces”.
It was his grandmother who instilled in him the belief that “as long as you have on a clean shirt, ironed of course, your hair is cut, and you’re put together, that’s what matters before any label or logo”.
There was a stark contrast in what Joseph’s grandmother exposed him to during these boutique visits and what he saw his mother wearing on a daily basis. His grandmother, he notes, wore loud pieces and was a bit more playful in her approach to fashion. His mother, whom he calls his best friend, preferred a classic look - timeless and elegant. The different styles both contributed significantly to his idea of refined taste.
His sister, a pillar in his life, was a major presence, guiding him and reminding him that in order to be more, he had to see more. In true older sister fashion, she introduced him to travel in an effort to broaden his horizons. “She was really the first one to remind me that there’s more than where I’m from”, adds Joseph, emphasizing her impact on his life.
Joseph’s perspective during this time, around 7 years old, comes up frequently during our call, which speaks to how formative the early years were for him. It was roughly this year that he seems to have been initially influenced by 50 Cent (they share the same birthday) and hip hop culture at large. This span of time also followed his mother’s return from a brief period of living in Milan, which altered her approach to style. With her arrival came an emphasis on dressing him in Italian-made garments that were reminiscent of a nonno, not a kid growing up far away from Italy. “She would take me to these Italian boutiques, and all the stuff was very tailored and elegant, but I was young so I wanted to wear 3XL tees and Rocawear, Pelle Pelle. There was a little bit of a battle getting dressed, but eventually she just kind of let me do my own thing. As I got older, I kind of realized that both were good, you just have to know how to mix them and be versatile as a person”.
Like many kids whose looks were governed by the rappers in Vibe magazine or anywhere during this period, for that matter, he wanted a pair of Air Force 1’s and sweet-talked his way into getting them.
“Air Forces are dear to my heart. In the area I grew up in, everything mattered; the way you laced your shoes, if you had a gold chain - I’m talking elementary school, very young - how clean your shoes were, how the pants fell on the shoe, just everything about how you presented yourself. With Air Forces, I always wanted a pair so bad, but my mom would just not budge. She didn’t see the point”.
He mentioned the price of Air Force 1’s and we went back and forth for a minute trying to recall how much they were actually going for in the early 2000’s. Our memory served us differently, before I realized that the prices he was throwing out were in CAD, not USD.
“I wanted the high ones with the strap…I remember my grandmother gave me money for my birthday, and I was like 'no, no can we just go to Foot Locker?’…so we went to Foot Locker and got them, and my mom was so mad. I really ran those into the ground”.
We concluded the Air Force talk noting how hard you had to work to keep them clean. To me, this aspect was one of the most intriguing. It was, and will always be, symbolic of the significance of one’s presentation to others.
According to the timestamp on the recording, we were only 7 minutes and 34 seconds into our call and I already understood where his affinity for self-presentation began.
Despite having differing views on dressing compared to his mother and grandmother during his upbringing, the ideas merged harmoniously in his mind as he aged. “Everything comes full circle; maybe if you didn’t appreciate something or you didn’t have the knowledge to when you were younger, as you get older, you end up developing an appreciation and realization for their worth. I couldn’t see it from that perspective growing up as a young kid, wanting to admire different rappers and magazines that I collected - XXL, The Source. I had a CD collection, DVD collection, loved movies - that’s where I used to look at the booklets, rip out the pages, and take on those references”.
Taking on these juxtaposing aesthetics with little means was ultimately the path to career discovery. “When you don’t have a lot, the only thing you have is your pride and your style, the way you look”, he said. “In the early days, I remember touching up and altering everything that I got my hands on, cutting, tweaking and adding materials where they’re not supposed to be just because it was an easy way of having something customized that no one else did”, he added.
This continued on with jewelry, and resourcefulness was the keyword. He’d buy more pendants to put on his one chain because he couldn’t buy multiple chains. The connection between past and present is super clear; Joseph has always enjoyed the challenge of improving the state of something.
As we begin to explore his late teen years during our call, he pauses to share the story behind the name Altobello. When he was 16 months old, his mother changed his last name to “Altobello”, which was his grandfather’s last name. She knew that Joseph was made for more than the last name of a father that was never there for him. His grandfather was born and raised in Puglia, Italy, and prioritized teaching him about their culture and family history. He showcased men dressed in well-tailored suits, driving flashy cars, echoing the meaning of “la bella figura”, further introducing Joseph to the depths of Italian culture.
Now armed with this insight, we shift our focus back to his life as a teen. He decided to begin testing the waters and producing work that was the culmination of all the things that had influenced him up until then. He started a clothing brand when he was 16 years old but didn’t really know what he was doing. Regardless, it would serve as good practice for his future work. His dream, not surprisingly given his aptitude for enhancing the visual appearance of things and learning how to create a demand for it, was to mix fashion and business. He did end up studying business in university, then found himself styling, working on shoots for the Off-White™ flagship in Toronto.
He started adding fur trims to his parkas, and had already been making his own jewelry pieces. He fairly quickly became synonymous with the things you wouldn’t find on a store rack in the city.
“I’m a presenter. I like to present things. I like the final touches and details, so I wanted to have something that I could make for people. I’m also a very sentimental person, so I like things that have engraving or monograms, because it just makes it more special to me”, he added.
He began consulting and remained dedicated to styling for various projects, ultimately realizing that people were coming to him for his eye above anything else. This evolution led to heightened curiosity about his personal custom pieces, with people asking “what is that?”, to which he replied “I made it custom”. Consequently, the follow-up question became “oh, you do customs?”.
From there, without any family backing, Joseph began connecting with factory owners and families that were in the business for decades, finding mentors that saw themselves in him. Showing genuine passion and respect for the craft and exhibiting strong character were the keys to collaboration and success, so to speak.
He acknowledges the effort required to build those relationships. “It takes time for people to build trust and grow with you. People have to see that you’re a genuine person. You have to make sure you’re in it for the right reasons and that there’s passion behind what you’re doing. Lastly, take care of the people you work with.”
The Process of Custom Pieces
I asked Joseph to walk me through the technical process of making custom fur and jewelry pieces for clients, which typically spans 4 weeks, with all materials sourced and made in-house in Canada.
First, Joseph and the client communicate about the vision for the piece; the details will depend on the client’s height, body shape, and size, and review if they want a collar, button placement, hood or no hood, short or long length, or any other decorative touches
In the case of a fur custom, the palette selection takes place, the client’s measurements are taken, and a pattern is made
The fur pelts then go through a grading and matching process, and once everything aligns, cut and sew begins
A fitting to allow for detailed adjustments and alterations ensuring a perfect fit then takes place; if the client is local, it will happen in person, but if they’re elsewhere, Joseph will fly out to fit them
Once the fit is perfect, the lining is then inserted along with grading labels, the signature Altobello label and a personalized monogram script done by hand
Lastly, the piece goes through a glazing process for a natural sheen & luster look, and is picked up by the client or delivered by hand
I asked him about the importance of high quality, considering it was one of the earliest lessons he absorbed as a kid. Before I could even finish my sentence, he replied, “I quality control and check each piece thoroughly. If one thing is off, I’ll restart”. This is a true testament to the profound significance of quality to him.
You can view some of Altobello’s customs for high profile clients, here.
Getting into the headspace to do your best work is a very personal thing, and an intimate part of someone’s process. I know what it looks like for me, but I always wonder what it looks like for others; it feels a bit like a secret. I asked Joseph what he’s doing when he’s in the thick of his own process.
“I have headphones in all the time - the wired ones - and I’m listening to 50; Hustler’s Ambition, God Gave Me Style. It’s me and my phone. I’m always writing down ideas”, he said. Some of his other favorites are “Who I am” by The Diplomats and “G's Up” by Max B & Jim Jones.
“It takes me back to that time; it reminds me of everything from back in the day. The way they wore things, how fly furs looked back in the day, mink bombers, it definitely gave me insight”.
Referencing this era of the early 2000’s might not be the most original place to look for inspiration, but I think that’s what is most fascinating about it. The outcome of your work is shaped by your perception, the influences you’ve encountered, and how you integrate your references into your life.
Despite being such an important factor, Joseph’s references don’t begin or end in the early 2000’s. “I feel like people use the internet as a reference too much. There’s only so far it goes online (what he personally shares), but there’s a lot that people don’t see. There are the hours of books that I go through, and references that I go through to pinpoint ideas. You have to go way far back, before the internet existed, and study times that we didn’t live in. For example, fur was huge in the 80’s. I look at things like Blackglama ads - Blackglama was the finest mink in the world - so I start off with things like that”, he said.
He stresses the importance of honing in on what you’re trying to reference and researching throughly. “It’s more than just a screenshot. You have to dive into the pages and see it through. When you’re trying to reference something, you should pull every single book about it to look at - more than half of the work is the research. From there, you can really start sourcing and working towards becoming a master at the craft”.
This led to a quick exchange on the process of self-discovery, which is where I believe it all really starts, evident during our communication. The process of finding out who you are and deciding how you want to convey it to other people has a say everywhere else in your life. In this area, I feel that how you do anything is how you do everything. Joseph’s story is a perfect display of that.
Keeping that perspective at the forefront, he shared a few quick notes on his essential components for optimal results, saying, “make sure to get everything tailored; self-love and self-care are important”.
He ended our conversation with a special anecdote. Years back, his grandmother gifted him a gold cross pendant and promised to get him a chain to wear it on. Unfortunately, she passed away before she could fulfill that promise, so to honor her memory, he bought his own chain - a gesture that spoke volumes about his dedication to the people and things he loves.
