Given the unprecedented collective experience we’ve all endured over the past couple of months it’s more important than ever to look ahead to the future with a sense of hope and optimism. A difficult ask perhaps for many of us where talking to clued up friends in order to get their perspective on the future is always a good idea. Which is exactly what we did here at Proper when we recently had a natter with our good friend Lorenzo, who also just happens to be the president of C.P. Company. So read on and we hope this ace interview brings you as many good vibes and genuine rushes of jacket based excitement as it did for us. Oh big thanks to Lorenzo and everyone at C.P. Company for the much needed dose of Italian warmth and positivity. Forza C.P.!
Proper Magazine: Hi Lorenzo, how are you and how’s the current lockdown situation in Italy?
Lorenzo Osti: I’m safe and fine thanks. I hope you are too! The situation is getting better now. It has been dramatic in the last few weeks but lockdown has worked and cases are dropping quickly as is the pressure on hospitals too. It seems the worst is behind us, but we still need to be very careful.
How has the pandemic affected the day to day running of C.P. Company?
Day by day working has changed dramatically: we’ve been working from home for more than a month now. But honestly, it’s worked well. We had a slow down in the product development due mainly to the lockdown of labs and factories, but the rest of the activities carried on smoothly. Without forgetting the tragedy of this pandemic, I think it has been useful to experiment with a new way of working. I hope we can all take home some lessons from this.
And how has it affected you personally? Have there been any benefits to self isolation?
We, I can say I’ve enjoyed it! Of course I miss many things, but for me, I used to be always on the move so it has been beneficial to stay home and enjoy my kid 24/7. I think we’ll both bring with us some good memories of this time.
Over the past few years C.P. Company seems to have really upped the ante in terms of its product and fabric development. What’s been the driving force behind this exciting new era of progressive and innovative design at C.P?
The driving force is our product and design dream team: Stefano Polato, Harvey, Pungetti and other young talents. They have been able to significantly push forward the innovation.
We’ve also seen some amazing graphic prints resurfacing from the earliest days of C.P. being integrated into new designs. Can we expect to see any more of these well loved prints making a comeback?
I agree, CP has a great heritage of prints and it’s one of the areas that I feel we should improve more. I’m happy with the significant steps ahead we made in the last season, but I also think we still have a lot of rooms for improvement. So the answer is yes: expect more and more graphic prints
Speaking of comebacks, I believe the Metropolis jacket is coming back next season are there any plans to bring back more pieces from the Urban Protection range or maybe even some of the transformables?
Yes, the Urban Protection range, renamed “Metropolis Series” will be permanently part of the CP collection from now on. I think it is one of the most significant steps in the evolution of the brand and incredibly actual.
As a personal request please can you bring back that amazing reversible cord field jacket as well?
I love it too but as you probably know, I don’t like to influence the designs as the team is by far much more acknowledged and talented than me. But I can ask to create a one-off just for you!
We’ve also seen some amazing C.P. Company hookups with the likes of adidas, Patta and One Block Down, are there any more collabs in the pipeline?
Yes, there are more to come. Actually we had to delay our previous plans due to the Covid, but you will see more coming in 2021.
How is the Massimo Osti Archive these days and what is your current favorite piece in there?
The archive is in great shape. In MOA, my fav piece is always the ICD+Philips vest + coat, the first wearable electronics. So fun to see it now, with almost 1kg of HW, but at the same time still very fascinating.
BTW a few month ago we finalized the acquisition of the full C.P. company archive from the previous owner of the brand. It’s made of almost 20, 000 garments. We are now classifying and refurbishing the garments and looking forward to showing you something!
Ever since the archive exhibition we did together in London three years ago, people have been asking me when are we going to do another one? I know it’s perhaps not the best time to be planning a big event but do you think at some point in the future we’ll see another Osti Archive Exhibition in the UK?
Actually we have plans for the 2021, C.P. Company’s 50th birthday, but due to the covid we are re-arranging the dates and the set-up, so I can’t disclose anything just yet. But stay tuned
What does the future hold for C.P. Company?
I can’t foresee the future, but I can say we have a lot of exciting ideas and plans! I think there is a lot of room to grow an experiment. I see the future of C.P. being very exciting!!
