The world of Bruno Cucinelli Inside the world of Italian fashion designer Bruno Cucinelli. Brunello Cucinelli, 58, was born into an Italian farming family and from the age of five wanted to be an engineer, but during his engineering degree he began to sell coloured cashmere to women. He is now known as 'the king of cashmere', with an eponymous luxury fashion brand selling womenswear, menswear and homeware based in Italy, with more than 500 employees and a turnover of €242 million in 2011. He has three London stores as well as a concession in Harrods - his sweaters can cost up to £1,600. He lives in a 14th-century castle in Solomeo, a medieval hamlet near Perugia, with his wife, Federica, their younger daughter, Carolina, and his mother-in-law. Their elder daughter, Camilla, lives nearby (brunellocucinelli.com). Routine I get up at about 6am and have a typically Italian breakfast of a cappuccino and a croissant. Then I spend an hour and a quarter swimming and 25 minutes doing Tibetan yoga, which gives me a real boost of energy. About 15 years ago I was going through my library and rediscovered this book (pictured) on Tibetan yoga that a martial arts teacher gave me. I have done it ever since and have given the book to all my friends. According to the monks it helps to exercise thoughts of eternal youth, and many people note health benefits, such as hair growing back. Four years ago I couldn't read my mobile phone display without my glasses and now I can, so there must be some truth in it. Starting out In 1978, with a bank loan of only half a million lire, I found a knitwear factory willing to manufacture my sweaters. The success was instant, and to meet the growing number of orders, I was forced to make people believe I had 72 employees. In fact I was a one-man band, packing and dispatching the sweaters myself. Often I would answer the telephone using voices of non-existent secretaries and factory workers. Back then cashmere was worn only by men and in dark colours, so I decided to introduce pastel-coloured cashmere to the women's market, which turned out to be my big break. Philosophy This has been my passion since I was 16 and I still go to debates twice a week. Marcus Aurelius [the second-century Roman emperor] is my inspiration. He said to remember that this could be the last day of your life, so be in peace, but plan as if you would live for ever. Last year I was awarded the Italian equivalent of an OBE, which is the highest order an Italian man can be awarded, but my honorary degree in philosophy is worth more to me. On the wall I have sacred paintings dating from the 1300s that I bought at auction. Not everybody is a fan of these things but I am. My favourite is the Madonna and child with monks either side (pictured). I also have more modern paintings of the great men of my life, such as Aristotle, Constantine and Mercury. They share my home with some marble busts of great thinkers such as Socrates and Marcus Aurelius (pictured) that I am also very fond of. Music Wherever there's music around, I'm fine. The best for me is Mozart's Requiem, but I like Beethoven, Chopin, all of them. I like nothing better than putting on any of their music and watching the fire for hours in the evening with a cigar and a glass of cognac. I like Trinidad cigars because they are not too strong; Romeo y Julieta ranks second. Jokes A great pleasure of mine is playing practical jokes. Not vulgar ones, just funny, joyful jokes. There's a friend of mine who comes to the local cafe with a tiny black dog, and another man who has the same dog as him but in white. When my friend went up to the bar from his table we swapped the black dog with the white one, and when he came back he thought his dog had turned white. It took him five minutes of staring at the dog, speechless, before he realised. Cars I have had my white Jaguar for 25 years and I recently bought a beautiful grey 2006 Bentley coupé. I think it is the best car in the world. I buy these cars as it is my dream to use them and then to leave them as an inheritance for my grandchildren. When I take my evening walk, I stop and look at my Bentley and say to myself, 'How is it possible to create such a beautiful object?'