Joe La Placa’s whole life has been immersed in the world of art whether as a painter, musician or gallerist. Listening to him talk about the start of his career in New York after studying at the School of Visual Arts, I could not help feeling how much I would have liked to have been there. Hanging out with Andy Warhol in the factory, working with The Sugar Hill gang in his producers studio, constructing early synthesiser electronics, painting and helping Jean-Michel Basquiat with his work, Joe’s foot print appears in the corner of one piece adding no doubt to its million dollar value.

I caught up with Joe at 22 Grafton Street in his current role as Director of the Cardi Galleryproudly showing me his latest show of Mono-Ha artistswhich he is hoping to sell as a whole to a serious collector. As far as I can see Joe never stops, running both the Mayfair and Milan branches of the gallery, looking after his family and still managing to squeeze in some time for recording original melodies on his guitar.

Talent and the drive for success is in the genes, his grandfather a humble cobbler from Palermo arrived in Manhattan to became a large shoe manufacturer, his mother was a successful opera singer and his father a scientist. This mix of business acumen, artistic flare and analytic focus is a rare one that has stood Joe in good stead. His early painting work consisted of immaculately drawn moire patterns on a huge scale, a visual metaphor for sound waves amongst other things and definitely with a ‘wow’ factor.

Joe’s love of the artisanal explains his passion for Dashing Tweeds, his favourite suit is in our Grey Spark design, a grey worsted Merino cloth with a broken check in wool and Japanese cotton. The design started life being hand woven by Kirsty in our London studio before production in the Scottish Borders. For Joe this  design ideally marries the two worlds of a Mayfair director with artistic luminary.

For those of you with an artistic streak be it creative or collector then Dashing is what you need to wear. Bespeaking a suit is a collaborative affair so do drop by our flagship shop at 47 Dorset Street, Marylebone to see our latest collections. If you would like to book a Made to Measure appointment please click here.