Carl PICKERING

When a young Carl Pickering moved from his birth city of Sydney to Venice in 1980 to study Italian postwar architecture, he told his parents he’d be away for a year. Now, more than four decades on, he’s still in Italy. The pull of the country’s layered history and its ability to wear this history on the sleeves of its buildings created a lifetime love affair for Carl, who, alongside his husband and business partner, Claudio Lazzarini, has built a phenomenal global architecture firm. Together the duo travel the world designing cozy Swiss ski chalets, contemporary French seaside villas, and Ottoman-inspired mountain spas in Lebanon. We chat to Carl about creative travel, finding inspiration in the small details, and his most beloved Travel Playbook for where to see grand architecture and contemporary culture in Rome.