When Collette Dinnigan did a tour in Italy, she didn’t expect to find a kindred spirit

When acclaimed designer Collette Dinnigan decided to step back from her fashion career, she redirected her passion into interior design and homewares. For this, she draws inspiration from her second home, Casa Olivetta in Puglia, where she retreats two to three times a year to embrace the Italian way of life.

Mimi Thorisson and Collette Dinnigan in Turin, Italy.Credit: Earl Carter

In 2019, she struck up a friendship with French cook and author Mimi Thorisson when she signed up for one of Thorisson’s tours of northern Italy. It’s a friendship that continues to build, and one that sees the two powerhouses come together best at the kitchen table, bonding over plates of pasta, rich passata and refreshing negronis. Now Thorisson has contributed recipes to Dinnigan’s latest book, Bellissima.

Collette, tell us about meeting Mimi for the first time.
I’d heard that Mimi had moved to northern Italy from France and was hosting vineyard visits in Turin and peony farm stops as well as cooking classes. It felt right up my alley, so I signed up and brought my daughter, Estella, along. Mimi and I hit it off and laughed so much; we ended up spending five days together. She got me right away, and we became friends instantly.

How does Mimi inspire you?
Everything Mimi does in the kitchen looks easy and breezy. It takes me back to when I used to do Paris Fashion Week: it’s so complicated, but I’d try to make it look effortless. Mimi’s incredibly organised, measured and diligent when putting her recipes together. She’s a little aloof, and it comes across as nonchalance, but that’s the beauty in her delivery. It makes people feel at ease and very welcome. It’s like a spiritual thing; not religious, but a gentle pursuit of inclusion, as opposed to a superiority that puts people at a different level.

What do you have in common when cooking?
We love seasonal produce, and in Italy this is the only way to live. She’s perhaps more disciplined when it comes to cooking, as her life revolves around it; for me, food is part of my life, not my life. She taught me how to make borage ravioli and I shared my classic roast chicken dishes. It’s appreciation for each other’s recipes that connects us.

What does having a home in Italy say about you?
Italy is where I mix old-world with a modern twist. I am all about going into my garden and sourcing what’s nearby – it’s where I make passata and harvest olives to make olive oil. I visit Italy up to three times a year and feel so at home in our old farmhouse. The table is outside, the music is always playing, and we spend our time basking in the very different light at Casa Olivetta. I feel very relaxed and at ease there.

What happens when you and Mimi get together at an Italian dinner table?
When you’re with great company, you glow from the inside. Mimi, her husband Oddur, and Bradley [Cocks, Dinnigan’s husband] are charmers and bring people together with ease. We’re all very private but at the dinner table the conversation is comfortable. It’s where we share a wine, drink coffee and relax. Our tables are always very emotional, filled with laughter and lots of stories. There’s no shortage of opinions either!

Would you like to collaborate further with Mimi?
I’d love us to do a home table setting. I couldn’t think of a better collaborator – I’ll have to ask her. I have a new line of hand-made Italian ceramics that includes plates, platters and salad bowls, and I’ve also created a limited-edition candle for the release of my new book.

Mimi, what struck you about Collette when you met?
I was so delighted that Collette could join us as a guest on one of our tours. We immediately hit it off. It’s impossible to not be friends with Collette because she is so magnetic and energetic. We have a lot of similarities and many things in common.

Mimi Thorisson making wild borage ravioli with daughter Gaïa. Credit: Earl Carter

How did you become besties?
Collette is as passionate about food as I am. We went on a holiday to their house in Puglia in 2019 and had so much fun cooking together. It was filled with laughter and good times. Collette was showing me her recipes and I was sharing mine. It was very powerful in the kitchen and felt very natural for us to be there together. I’ve never met anyone who is so into her food – it’s all or nothing! Being asked to write a chapter for her book was an extension of our friendship. I’d love to one day collaborate with her on something for the home.

How does she impress you in the kitchen?
I remember her amazing tomato sauce with grilled tomatoes, the best salsa I’d ever had. It was one of those express things she did to impress me without trying. It’s the little things she does that are magical in the kitchen.

Why did you move to Italy, and how is living there different to France?
I am half-French and half-Chinese and grew up in Hong Kong. I moved to Paris when I was 18. Then my photographer husband and I spent many years raising our family [they have eight children] in a small village in the Médoc region. My career started when I began my food blog in 2010, and Italy was often our holiday destination. I was inspired to write my cookbook Old World Italian [published in 2020] because Italy felt natural to me. And I wanted to be based in Italy while I wrote it, so we found a place in Torino in 2018. The Italian people are very into family; it’s much stronger than in France.

In France, they focus on making food look sublime – it’s a different approach, more gastronomy. Italy is warm, the people are affectionate and their love, kindness and openness correspond with the way we want to live. Torino also has lots of French influences, so you could say I’ve found the perfect Italian city.

Tell us about your love of Italian homeware design.
We have started renovating the kitchen of our home. I love the wooden and marble floors of these old buildings – the architecture does all the talking – and I’m looking to incorporate Italian craftsmanship with a touch of modern into my dream kitchen set-up. I’ve always had rustic homes that combine French style and country chic with design influences from the 1950s – think Gio Ponti. That hits all the right spots for me.

Bellissima (Simon & Schuster) by Collette Dinnigan is out now.

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