WE are in a room covered wall-to-wall with heavily bound volumes holding records of fabrics and accompanying swatches from 1859 to the present day, as well as boxes containing little notebooks detailing the “recipes” for fabrics – all taken down in neat, almost print-like handwriting.

The room is the heart of Casa Zegna, a 1930s building in Trivero Valdilana, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, that was once the family home of Ermenegildo Zegna, founder of the eponymous label. Located next to the Zegna wool mill, Casa Zegna is today a historical archive and cultural centre that tracks the story of the famous Italian luxury menswear brand born in 1910.