For a long time, “bespoke” was a luxury reserved for the few who could not only enjoy it, but also pay for it, and who were also endowed with infinite patience given the delays waiting lists cause for those who want a unique piece just for themselves. A luxury that aimed to imply superiority, that served to distinguish, to identify and to draw boundaries (written about as far back as Honoré de Balzac's series “La Comédie Humaine”).

If personalisation in the past was reserved for privileged circles, resting on the sublime art of craftsmen and belonging to the luxurious world of prestigious labels, there was also another form that has evolved over time. The one that appeals to our desire for uniqueness and originality. Giving your tastes and preferences free rein, getting creative and dazzling has today become both possible and easy.

There are plenty of examples on the luxury front, from fashion and accessories to the automotive industry. Lamborghini, for instance, has its Ad Personam customisation program which allows each customer to enhance their car by choosing almost infinite combinations, from colours to materials: from the seat logo, hand-stitched rather than embossed, to the initials stitched inside the vehicle’s interior, and even the option of displaying a colour on sample. Ferrari does the: the Maranello-based company offers its customers the chance to specify every detail of their car’s outfitting: first using their configurator, then choosing one of their specialist customisation programmes based on what they want.

Aurora, the iconic pen brand, has recently opened a store in Milan, at 17 Via San Pietro all'Orto, that also features customisation, where customers can request initials and names to be engraved on the cap in store. As for stationery, Moleskine offers the option of ordering your own agenda with a customised cover online.

In homeware, 24 Bottles let you request a range of flasks and mugs with an added a name or phrase. Kasanova, the chain of stores specialised in household goods, has also launched a personalisation service for both in-store and online purchases. “Customers”, explains Angelo Meregalli, the chain’s trade marketing manager, “can request personalised dedications, phrases and names to be printed on several selected items. This year, for example, Christmas baubles with season’s greetings chosen by customers and baubles for pets with their name engraved on them are selling very well, as are personalised thermal bottles, pots, coffee makers, water bottles, woks, etc., that can be engraved with phrases chosen by the customer”. Delivery lead time for custom items is 4 or 5 days, but a major change is planned for 2022. “We're planning to have a customisation corner in our stores”, Meregalli points out, “to satisfy customers who are looking for customisation across a wider range, including, for instance, textile items such as towels, bathrobes and much more.”

The revolution that has made this democratic expansion of the concept of “bespoke” possible is in customisation machines. Simple machines which are mostly small in size because, when we think of personalisation, we need to think of a range of well-defined solutions for printing, embroidery, engraving and adding patterns. Solutions that will be well represented at PTE 2022.