Casa Sinchetto: inhabiting time, distilling connections

There are projects born to occupy space in the market. And then there are projects born to safeguard a human space.

When we met Casa Sinchetto, we didn’t find “just” a producer of artisanal gin and liqueurs. We found a real home, even before a brand. A place shaped by relationships — children playing, friends gathered around a table, an idea of hospitality that is not a strategy, but a way of being.

We tried to bring all these ingredients together into a single recipe: an interview.

A conversation that weaves together origin and vision, time and slowness, craftsmanship and relationship. A dialogue that starts with gin but reaches much further — into the way we choose to inhabit the world, to welcome others, to build connections that remain even after the glass is empty.

Because, like any good recipe, this one is not only about what it contains — but about what happens when it is shared.

Did Casa Sinchetto begin first as a place, or as a product idea?

At what point did you realise you weren’t “just” making gin or liqueurs? The name Casa is a strong choice. What kind of home did you want to evoke — and for whom?

Was there a specific gesture, moment, or concrete need from which everything began?

Casa Sinchetto was born as a place: it is our home, which we have always imagined as a space for welcoming, building relationships, weaving connections. It has always been this way. And when — during the 2020 pandemic — we were no longer able to invite people into our home, we decided to bring our home into other people’s homes.

We first did this by publishing a series of videos on social media — through the Casa Sinchetto profile — playfully recreating what we had lost (a canoe race on the balcony, an improvised beach in our living room, our children competing in swimming Olympics in the bathtub…), trying to show that the lack of physical contact had not turned into a lack of relationships for us.

In the months that followed, as shared social life slowly returned, we devoted more and more time to what had initially been a pastime — homemade gin and liqueur production. Those recipes accompanied our return to “normal” life, to the hospitality we had missed so much, to evenings with friends gathered around the table.

So yes, if we had to identify a moment — a concrete need from which everything began — it would be the months of lockdown and those immediately after, when we opened our home in a different way and began to see our Spirits as something more than a simple hobby.

The brand name — Casa Sinchetto — therefore came naturally. This is our idea of home: an open place, where we meet and get to know people, where worlds that feel close to us — and worlds that are different — are welcomed in, so that we can learn from one another and build something together.

Time is central to your processes: cold infusions, slow macerations, waiting. Was this a technical choice, an ethical one — or even a political one?

In a market that demands speed and numbers, how do you defend slowness without turning it into rhetoric? 

It’s true: the market demands speed and numbers. It focuses on results that must be immediate, measurable, and, if possible, striking.

We like to think about time as the ancient Greeks did: Kronos — linear, chronological time — and Kairos — the right moment, the opportune occasion, the special instant. In other words, we see time as both quantity (Kronos) and quality (Kairos). And we believe both are essential, that one cannot exist without the other. The challenge is to transform chronological time into meaningful moments.

On the one hand, linear time is indispensable to our production processes. It is a strict time that must be respected in order to achieve quality products. On the other hand, knowing how to slow down, to savor waiting without rushing, to be aware that time itself contains beauty — this is what allows us not to be overwhelmed by performance anxiety and to enjoy what we do without turning passion into obsession.

It’s not a radical-chic pose; it’s simply our way of inhabiting life.

What does craftsmanship mean to you, concretely, in your daily work?

Is there a stage of the process that the public doesn’t see, but that is decisive for you?

For us, craftsmanship simply means that everything — after being desired, imagined, and designed — is made by hand. From sourcing the spices, chosen with care and intention, to production — infusion, filtering, bottling — and finally packaging.

And it is in this last phase that something small but meaningful happens: each bottle is truly unique and personalized, because the batch number on the label is written by hand. It’s a symbolic gesture, but also a practical one — a way of saying that we are present in that bottle, and that within it there is our desire to enter into a relationship with the person who will taste our product.

In your texts you often speak about conviviality, friendship, and intimacy.

How do these values translate into a glass? Do you design your products with a specific moment of the day — or a specific kind of relationship — in mind?

Are you more interested in surprising or in accompanying? And why?

Conviviality, friendship, and intimacy are values that belong to us and sustain our personal and family life. It is around our home table that we experience authentic relationships; it is at the table that we reflect on the day, share our joys, and speak about our struggles.

Our products are designed precisely for shared moments — whether at home or in a bar. Accompanying is certainly our priority, in the etymological sense of the word (cum panis, “sharing bread”). And sometimes, to accompany also means to surprise — and to be surprised — to notice a nuance or a detail that had not been perceived before.

Casa Sinchetto is also a symbolic place. How important is the idea of “entering” a space for you, even when your products are enjoyed elsewhere?

In what way does the idea of home influence how you welcome people, collaborations, and dialogue?

As we mentioned before, human relationships are our priority. Entering someone else’s space — or welcoming others into ours — is what makes us feel alive, because we believe that a great richness is hidden within every encounter.

In practice, this means telling the story of our products to people, not just selling them. It also means building collaborations with realities that feel aligned with our vision.

Thanks to our collaboration with Manuela and her Trattoria POP* — which for us truly feels like “home” — we try to minimize waste. Manuela is an exceptional chef who not only enhances our products by incorporating them into her cuisine, but also reuses our “production leftovers” to flavor her dishes, creating a form of circular economy.

Our collaboration with Heimat also stems from a shared vision: placing people at the center, understanding hospitality as care for places, relationships, and experiences, and building bridges to contribute to a more inclusive society. We fully share Heimat’s project and hope that our products can help make the experience of Heimat’s guests a special one.

Another important aspect for us is the philosophy of “return and reuse.” Whenever possible, we ask our customers — both businesses and private individuals — to bring back empty bottles so we can give them new life and put them back into circulation. It’s a sustainability pact with our clients, a shared commitment to caring for the environment.

* Trattoria POP, Via Spotorno 45, 10126 Turin, Italy

In your view, what brings together very different projects — hospitality, food, artisanal spirits — when they share the same ethic of making?

What role do small projects that choose care over scale play today?

If Casa Sinchetto were a room in a larger house, which room would it be?

We believe that what unites different projects sharing the same ethic of making is care — attention to the person. And this is certainly easier in small realities, where numbers matter less than human relationships.

Small projects are what keep us grounded in reality, what sustain us through effort, what help us not feel alone. There is an Indian proverb that says, “A falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest.” We believe small projects are that silent forest — and that the quiet sound we do not hear is what will ultimately save us, both as individuals and as a human community.

If Casa Sinchetto were a room in a larger house, it would surely be a large living room warmed by a fireplace, filled with sofas and rugs to sink into, with music that sometimes plays softly in the background to accompany conversation, and other times blasts at full volume to make us dance wildly. A bright room, with large windows opening onto the world and a door always open to let that world in. And — of course — Gin & Tonic for everyone.

What do you hope remains with people after they’ve finished one of your gins or liqueurs, when the glass is empty?

Is there one word that feels especially yours today?

We would love to leave people with the curiosity to get to know us, the desire to meet and share a conversation. We believe in relationships. We believe in the value of difference, which is never a limitation — on the contrary, it is always a richness. And we believe that only together can we grow, both as individuals and as a society.

We care deeply about words, because we hold a profound conviction: words generate thoughts, and thoughts generate the world. We can only feel — and truly live — what we are able to name.

So our word is the one we chose as our name: home. In all its facets. At home, we share our truest joys and our deepest struggles. At home, we welcome others and also find space to be alone. At home, everyday life unfolds.

Starting from this word, we try to do our part in building a world that is welcoming, open, and attentive to people. We do so in the way we know best: by opening our doors and offering good products, in the hope that many people will build authentic relationships while enjoying a Ginchetto.