Patrick Grant, who won the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund prize, has revived Savile Row’s E. Tautz as a rtw label, relaunched Norton & Sons, and is a judge on BBC Two’s “The Great British Sewing Bee.”
What inspires you?
There is very little that doesn’t inspire me; whether it’s obvious stuff — the collections in the London museums and galleries, painting, sculpture, photography, 20th-century architecture, objets d’art, curios — the more obscure or the more commonplace; a Restoration-era comedy, the worn-out doorway of a northern working man’s club, the seats on the bus, a poem about Hull [England]. You can find inspiration and beauty in everything if you look at things the right way. The E. Tautz Instagram has just become a sort of visual scrapbook for the stuff that makes me think or smile.
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What is the E. Tautz aesthetic?
I like simple things, beautifully crafted in wonderful materials. I don’t like fuss or gimmick. I think if you engineer a garment well, think deeply about its construction and the choice of cloth, it’s hard not to produce wonderful clothes.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to do everything. If something sounds like fun, I am very likely to give it a try. In the normal course of things I like to cycle (countryside preferable but a lot of city, too), I mountaineer, I play board games, I cook, read, listen to music, visit galleries and museums, watch films. Usual stuff. What I don’t do much of is sleep.
Where do you like to travel?
I like wild places; I feel happiest with mountains and sea. I love to spend time in the Scottish Highlands and islands, the Scottish borders, the British and Irish national parks, and the great wilderness areas of North America. I enjoy the peace after the bedlam of London and the fashion world.
What was the last book you read that inspired you?
I’m currently reading “Ayoade on Ayoade,” a hideously funny, farcical parody of the film world, that vaguely puts me in mind of the equally brilliant “1066 and All That.” The originality and frankly peculiarity of his thinking makes me want to try harder to be more thoughtful and original in everything we do.
Was there a museum exhibit or an art gallery that you visited recently that inspired you?
The recent Anselm Kiefer show at the Royal Academy was breathtakingly beautiful and deeply thought provoking. Six months on, it’s still in my mind.