Very humbled, moved and honoured to collaborate as a ‘guest artisan’ with the famous brush manufacturer Simpson.
When I met Mark Watterson (Managing Director of Simpson) during a trade show in Bologna – after a 360° discussion surrounding the wet-shaving industry – it was very clear that we should start this special shaving brush project. And now here we are – hand carved Oak handles coming from Southern Italy. Centennial selected wood hand filled with the exclusive Simpson High Mountain White Manchurian Badger.
Unique pieces for your shaving experience – these brushes will no doubt go on to be very sought after collectibles.
‘Simpson are absolutely delighted & honoured to collaborate with famed Italian craftsman Raffaele Talarico to produce a Limited Edition run of 100 uniquely manufactured shaving brushes.
Talarico brushmaking – A story with strong and rugged roots.
A hand carved shaving brush is an object that someone has thought about, worked with his hands and in the end produced, thanks to his dedicated & refined craftsmanship. A handcrafted product embodies the essence of its creator.
Master craftsman Raffaele Talarico draws inspiration from his Southern Italian Calabrian origins, roots that are reflected on his face in an expression that seems to be that of Calabria’s mountains, from the rugged land that climbs up to the sky, dark and secret, or that which softens in wild and rolling roundness, ready to be embraced by the sea.
Raffaele beautifully describes his philosophy:
“I choose a natural and warm material like Oak wood and often the shapes of my brushes gently reflect the natural curves of their origins. I try to create and model in each brush my passion, love for my family, enthusiasm for a work that is beautiful and emotional for me.”
A Talarico shaving brush encompasses all this, passion, roots & tradition.
Raffaele approached Simpson in the early part of 2018, sure in his own mind that only a hand-tied Simpson Manchurian Badger knot would be befitting to install within his hand carved handles.
Mark Watterson (Managing Director of Simpson) recollects:
“Raffaele met with me during a trade show in Bologna, his passion & enthusiasm were immediately evident. We discussed many things surrounding the wet-shaving industry & it was very clear that we had to come up with an opportunity whereby we could work together on a shaving brush project. Here we are a few months later & we couldn’t be happier with the end result” There is no turning or power tools used in the handle manufacturing process – all handles are hand carved. After giving them a rough design with different rasps and files Raffaele starts the sanding process up to grid 240. All handles are numbered and unique pieces. The raw handles are then bathed for up to one week in a mix of three different oils. This is made for keeping them waterproof. After another week of drying the lacquering process commences – three layers of lacquer with intermediate sanding up to grid 800. To finish we arrive at the polishing process, a mixture of Pomice powder and Carnauba wax.
The handles were sent to the Isle of Man to be hand filled with Simpson’s uniquely sourced High Mountain White Manchurian Badger. These brushes will no doubt go on to be very sought after collectibles.’
Source: Simpson website
Pennelli Talarico 