We meet Lali Panchulidze, Deputy President of the Aristocrazia Europea cultural association.
Lali, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Georgia, but I have been living in Italy for many years now. I work in public international relations, where I manage a rich network of contacts in representation of the Bagrationi-Imereti Royal House of Georgia and Armenia, and I am the deputy president of the Aristocrazia Europea cultural association, which gathers over 600 families of ancient lineage that made the history of modern nations.
You work with fashion and luxury, but heritage and charity too. What is luxury to you?
Luxury should be considered not just in simple financial terms, but for the right philosophical, aesthetical and symbolic value it has – as excellence, as mankind’s search for the perfection of things.
When we talk luxury goods, we first and foremost refer to men’s and women’s minds and skills, to years of study and work, to a search for the best materials and crafting techniques.
Luxury is beauty and wealth, and when paired with respect of the environment and social justice for all workers in the chain, it is also ethics and aesthetics, like a religious prayer, a thanksgiving to God.
An unusual, absolutely intriguing perspective. Has your Eurasian culture shaped it?
With a mix of Georgian culture, Caucasian anthropological origins and Orthodox religion, my roots are undoubtedly crucial to my identity, and to my life too, both from a professional and a social point of view.
Georgia is the legendary land of the Argonauts’ Golden Fleece, the Amazon warriors, the Silk Road. My homeland, Sakartvelo, is the heart of the Caucasus, in the middle of Eurasia – the natural border and passage from Mediterranean Europe to the East, to Persia, India and China.
We wear clothes of fine, colorful fabrics, and our food has intense flavors and spiced fragrances. Our historic wines, renowned all over the world, are delightful poems of love and war, and our traditional banquets and toasts are moments of peace, reflection and thanksgiving.
What does your job involve?
I take care of relations, events and the promotion of highly professional, accurately selected private businesses in fashion (clothing, accessories and jewelry), yachts (new and secondhand alike, in excellent conditions), premium Italian and Georgian food and wine, historic and luxury dwellings all over Italy (castles, villas, palaces and penthouses), and antique, modern and contemporary art pieces.
I mainly work with Russian, Arab and Chinese clients who intend to invest in Italy, and I even personally take them on exclusive, tailored guided tours.
But I also help everyone wishing to diversify their work and invest in Georgia in particular, and the whole Orthodox world in general.
I had a look online to learn more about you, and found a long list of noble titles – a Byzantine aristocrat, a Georgian noble, a Russian countess, a royal dame, the baroness of Tkibuli … I also read the history of your eminent ancestors: templar knights, princes, patrons, generals, governors …
I am proud and grateful for my origins, as everyone should be for their parents and ancestors if they did well, regardless of the role they played in history and society.
We should have a solid, spiritual bond with our heritage, and a careful respect of it, and should never inappropriately boast the titles that our predecessors earned.
True nobility is only personal – that of our soul, culture, education and style, which is love of luxury as much as help for the less fortunate.
