Gauthier Borsarello: ‘My indulgence? I have a little nap in my office’

My personal style signifier is wearing a mix of tailoring and vintage clothing. I wear as much vintage as I can to understand the fit, fabric and construction, so I can see what looks and feels good for my work at Fursac. I wear mostly old French work trousers, 1950s American sweatshirts and many different jackets. I try to find modernity and coolness in old French garments – it’s not easy, but it’s very interesting.

The last thing I bought and loved was a Rolex Oyster Perpetual 14208 in gold, with a riveted bracelet, from 1995. I bought it from Mr A, an Italian watch dealer. I love the proportions – 34mm is just perfect for the Oyster case. I have a collection of around 15 watches and I wear one every day. I go modern for technical watches and vintage for small, fancy gold ones. My favourites are my Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse and Piaget Altiplano from the 1970s, or my modern Rolex Daytona, Submariner or Oyster Perpetual 36mm coral dial.

The place that means a lot to me is Brittany. My heart is there; to me it’s the most beautiful place you can go. It’s like Great Britain in that there’s a lot of wind and rain, but if you sit down in one place, you have 10 different landscapes in front of you in 10 minutes. So that’s what I love to do – sit by the sea and watch the clouds moving. That’s enough for me.

And the best souvenirs I’ve brought home are some huge ceramics by Georges Jouve that I found in Brittany; museum pieces that I was really happy to bring back to Paris. They look like big stoneware jars, with what we call “potter’s teardrops”. Next I’d like some pieces by Élisabeth Joulia or Robert Deblander. I love the fact that ceramics are just simple earth made into proper pieces of art by the touch of the artist. The material becomes secondary, and only the talent and poetic power of the artist makes the difference.

The items of clothing I’ll keep to pass on are my leather jackets from Schott. I have the made-in-America ones, the classic flight and motorcycle Perfecto jackets. When you buy them brand-new they are super-stiff, so I’m breaking them in, and I hope one day I’m going to say to my son, “you can take it if you want”. It’s a piece of clothing that never dies.

The best book I’ve read in the past year is À la recherche du temps perdu by Proust. I try to read 10 pages every day, but I can’t say that I am really succeeding. I do love all the little Proust editions published by Gallimard; short and sharp formats that are way more aligned with my taste.

My style icon is Claude Brasseur, mainly because I don’t want to talk about Gianni Agnelli and the Duke of Windsor any more. My father always told me that I look like Brasseur, and he comes from an era that I love, when the French started to put American clothes on. My favourite movie with him is La Boum with Sophie Marceau – he’s wearing a Rocky Mountain jacket with slightly flared Levi’s trousers and La Camarguaise boots. It’s absolutely perfect. My other icons are Liam Gallagher, Charles de Beistegui and Yul Brynner. 

The best gift I’ve given recently is an embroidered bag that was handmade in France by Jean Laumet, a very gifted tailor, for the birth of my best friend Thomas’s son. It’s a white, heavy-duty canvas boat bag with the baby’s name embroidered in dark green.

And the best gift I’ve received recently is time with the people I love. It sounds cheesy, but it’s hard to surprise me with something material – I am after moments, laughter, emotions. I bought a table at Ader, the auction house, with this in mind – to bring all my loved ones together.

When I retire, it’s my dream to buy a double bass and start playing again

I listen to classical music every day. I used to play the double bass, and I got my first job when I was 20 playing at the National Orchestra in Toulouse. I’m a small dude but I have huge hands, which is good for that. I don’t play any more, but it’s my dream to buy a double bass and start playing again – when I retire, I guess.

In my fridge you’ll always find food for the kids, and the rest I order – I hate to cook. I’m really a peasant – I like potatoes, butter and ham. I don’t like sugar, I don’t drink coffee – only hot water all day long.

I’ve recently discovered Saint Antoine, a by-appointment antique dealership in Paris run by my great friend Jean-Baptiste. I love to buy from him because we talk for hours about quality, history, culture and artistic direction. I traded a lamp by Atelier Marolles with him for a King Midas Rolex.

I couldn’t do without my hi-fi speakers, which are my own brand that I founded with my brother, called GBBH Audio. My brother is a genius, and he made these speakers that won an award many years ago, but they were extremely big and complicated. I suggested we make some of similar quality but for everybody, all handmade in France. They can work with Bluetooth or you can plug in your iPhone.

An indulgence I would never forgo is renting brand new cars when I travel. I don’t have a car in Paris, and I don’t like old cars because they’re complicated to take care of. So when I travel, I just order a brand-new German car – a Mercedes-Benz or BMW – that’s powerful. That, and taking naps – like 20 to 30 mins, which I do even in the office. I close my door and I have a little nap in my Le Corbusier chair, then go back to work. I am a big sleeper.

The last item of clothing I added to my wardrobe was a 1940s French chore jacket in herringbone indigo linen, from the Puces flea market. I go there every weekend, or whenever a rare piece pops up – the dealers call me directly when they have one, because they know I’ll never say no.

The last meal that truly impressed me was at Racines, an Italian restaurant in Passage des Panoramas in Paris’s 2nd arrondissement. It’s like a cantine to me – I try to go every week, it’s so good. It’s the perfect balance between simplicity and sophistication. I usually order a couple of starters then a “light” dessert.

An object I would never part with is my 18-carat-gold bee pinkie signet ring. I melted down the Catholic jewellery I got when I was born – a medal, a chain and a bracelet – to create this ring when I was 19. To me, the bee represents hard work, modesty, respect for hierarchy and Napoleon, who was a self-made man. Those values are critical to me.

The one artist whose work I would collect if I could is Mark Rothko. My father is a very intellectual man, and even though we didn’t have money when I was growing up, we read a lot of books about art, and we would go to the flea market every weekend; he would teach me about furniture and everything else. I remember him pointing out a huge red and orange Rothko at my music school. What I like about the work is that his style goes with everything, which sounds basic or simple, but it’s not. 

The grooming staple I’m never without is Horace for skincare and shaving. The brand was started by my friend, and when you are a man, all you want is a friend to tell you what skincare to use. So I use the cleanser, the moisturiser and the shaving cream, and that’s the only thing I do. That, and the fragrance Pour Un Homme de Caron. Horace Purifying Face Cleanser, £13, Mattifying Face Moisturiser, £15, and Shave Cream, £9. Caron Pour Un Homme de Caron, €121 for 125ml EDT

My favourite room in my house is my dining room. I haven’t decorated the room really, so it feels very organic – maybe that’s why I like it so much. I wanted something very empty, so I bought a table at Drouot because it needed no chairs thanks to its integrated benches. It makes the room very clean. Then I put all my books on the floor and got some lamps including a metal one handmade in England by Elliot Joan Rivers Barnes, a young designer I like.

In another life, I would have been a painter or an antique dealer. I dream about having a beautiful house in the countryside with everything inside it for sale, sourced from Instagram, eBay and other places.

The best style advice I’ve ever been given is “no more than two colours”, from my mum. She was never particularly cultured, but she always focused on the fact that we should never look poor. She had some basic rules, like no holes in the socks, never blue and green together, never black and navy-blue together… and voilà, that’s still how I dress now.

The style moment that changed everything was the second world war, because it marked a shift in the way we see clothes in France. Before that, you dressed for your role in society. So if you were a baker, you had a grey suit; if you were a churchman, you wore black; if you were a worker, you wore blue. The Americans brought in the notion of “cool”, with T-shirts and 501 jeans. It took some time to become the norm in France, but it slowly changed European style.