In the finest tradition of retailers, Giorgio Armani lives “over the shop”, on the upper floors of the bustling Milan office block that houses the headquarters of his worldwide empire. The loft-style apartment wraps around a central courtyard with his gym on one side and living rooms on the other. Bedrooms are arranged below.

“I’ve lived here for 25 years and I’ll never leave it,” says Armani. “Yes, it is close to my work, perhaps too close, but this is my world. I have other homes, each with its own character, but this is my stock house where I keep most of my treasured possessions. It is my ‘home’ home.”

Although surrounded by the heat and noise of the city, the cool, calm rooms manage to convey the tranquillity one would expect to find in a country villa. The greenness helps too, with a roof terrace and a leafy garden to the rear which is overlooked by terraces shaded in cream canvas awnings.

“My home is not perfect,” says Armani. “If you look at some of the arrangements here they may not seem to sit together comfortably, but this place is about my past, present and future, and these objects and pictures are special to me.

“From time to time I rearrange things, and often take objects away, but somehow they make their way back. My home is about memories: there are things I have picked up on my travels, presents that have been given to me and mementoes of friends and family who are no longer with us.”

Armani picks up a black glass heart from among an array of stones, polished pebbles, hunks of green glass and crystals on his black angular desk in the corner of the main living room. It seems strange that this master of understated design should be such a hoarder. Armani’s hands caress the surface of the heart, enjoying its cool smoothness. These shapes and natural objects, he explains, inspired the gem-like stone caps on the Armani Privé perfume range.

The desk is one of a number of pieces by Thirties designer Jean-Michel Frank. “I love that time, it was the most beautiful period for clarity in fashion and home design,” he says. It has been said in the past that Armani was inspired by his mother’s classic dress sense and the limited palette of muted colours that she wore, so did his family home also influence this apartment and his Armani/Casa interiors range? “No,” he says. “I came from a simple home in Piacenza, which was a rural town at that time. Life then was quite insular, and at the end of the war resources were scarce and only rich people could afford to travel, but I loved the cinema and the films of that time; they were my way of escape.”

Over the brown oak Ginza dining table, one of the designs found in his Armani/Casa collection, is a large painting of a dancing girl in harem pants. “This used to hang in the entrance of the cinema in my home town. When the cinema closed down, they gave it to me.” And there it hangs in pride of place between two oriental-style black lacquer and rice-paper lanterns.

Although the scheme of the living space is simple – walls and ceilings are clad in bleached-wood square panelling and the floor in polished black marble – the wall beside Armani’s desk is covered with framed photographs, illustrations and paintings.

An image of entwined arms by Man Ray is a favourite, as is a Herb Ritts image from an early Armani fashion campaign, and a black-and-white photograph of an androgynous-looking Michelle Pfeiffer in an Armani tuxedo.

Among the several drawings of Armani himself is a cartoon by English artist Gary. “I love this one,” says Armani with a rare smile. “I think it looks most like me – the eyes and nose are good. The other drawings are perhaps too romantic, too glamorous.”

Armani’s passion for nature is illustrated by his extensive collection of “little beasts” or small animal figures, from which he selects three on a shagreen-covered side table. As well as a bronze African hippo, he points to two of the other figures. “My niece Silvana gave me this carved wooden elephant.

I love the detail of the texture and the folds of skin that have been carved by some local artisan. I picked up this opaque stone camel on a trip to a market in Tangier. Sometimes I walk through a market and my eye is attracted to something. I edit and select as I go along, and when I find something I like, it doesn’t have to be expensive. Sometimes, the most simple and naive things appeal.”

On an iroko and aluminum cube display unit near the hall are antique ivory bangles from Africa, and bronze and ivory crabs. “My zodiac sign is Cancer, so I have a collection of crabs,” he explains.

He is clearly drawn to the cat family. Two huge bronze tigers stalk across the living room, two more feline forms are in the hallway of the lower living quarters and a number of panther carvings sit on side tables and shelves. “Tina Turner sends me a panther each Christmas. Either she has a huge stock of them or she forgets that she has already given me one,” he says with a brief but engaging grin.

Then he picks up a snowstorm globe of New York, winds up the music box in the base and sings along to the first few bars of New York, New York. An air of levity filters through what has been, up to this point, a whirlwind and business-like tour of his apartment. One senses that behind the rigorous façade of a man who has created one of the world’s largest and most successful fashion empires is a person who is most relaxed and content at home, surrounded by the things he loves and the memories they hold.

Armani/Casa, 113 New Bond Street, London W1 (020-7079 1930). Armani/Casa’s Bridge kitchen and For Him/For Her bedroom collection is being launched this week at the London Design Festival (www.londondesignfestival.com)

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