PB: You’ve really established yourself as a designer of our time who really is known for exotics. People go to you when they are looking for a great exotic bag.
CF: Right. I started with leather, and when I used to go to look for leathers, I would buy a bunch of pieces at a time. One time, I was going through the leather I just bought and at the bottom I found a folded up piece of snakeskin and thought, “Oh my god!” – that’s really how I got turned onto exotic skins. I hand-painted them, turned it into belts. But my leather guy didn’t have snakeskin scraps, he had to give me a name of someone else who cut boots out of crocodile and ostrich. So I would grab pieces and start my collage – all from pieces left over from the boots. Absolutely my treasure! And to this day, people make fun of me because I still hold onto all the scraps and try to use each piece.
PB: You use everything, nothing goes to waste?
CF: That’s right – nothing goes to waste. That is all how this became a business.
PB: This is your American Dream?
CF: Absolutely! Only in America. I thought I was only coming for one year, but I came to stay.
PB: Do you have a particular philosophy you use when it comes to your creations?
CF: I love art, I paint, but I think the main thing is to be able to transform everything into something else. I look at everything and see something else. All along it has been that way – the colors, the textures – the evolution of the materials. We like to push to the limit – constantly working to turn something into something else. I still make my own patterns and bags – I still do all that. I sit and stitch, hammer, work with the material. That is my pleasure I love doing it.
PB: Could you imagine yourself doing anything else?
CF: No. Here’s the thing, leather gets in your blood. Talk to anyone who works with leather, a shoemaker, whoever, leather gets into your system. I feel like it goes back to when man used to cloth himself. I guess I am prehistoric.
PB: NYC is also part of your blood?
CF: Yes, I love the energy that is here. Everything, the walking, the things there are to see, everything can be an inspiration. You don’t need to go too far.
PB: Do you still get to get home to Brazil?
CF: Not as much as I’d like, but I do go whenever I can. But, I have to go to Europe a lot. But NYC is my home.
PB: Your connection to Bendel’s is still thriving?
CF: Yes, it is still very strong. It is a different Bendel now, but still very involved.
PB: What are three things you can’t live without?
CF: Pair of scissors. I don’t need much, my colors, my dyes. It would be my work for sure, but obviously my babies, my daughters – 22 and 24. I guess they aren’t quite babies, but they are still my babies.
PB: Are they following a similar path?
CF: Yes, one of them is here with me – doing painting – doing her Masters at Parsons. I didn’t force, I didn’t ask, it just happened. And the other one works for Estée Lauder, she is a colorist and really loves it.
PB: Thank you very much Carlos, we really appreciate you taking your time to chat and show us around!
