When Lorraine O'Connor approached us to work on her great-grandfather’s story, all our team knew was that the Salvatoris had run, once upon a time, a large department store in Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain.

But with each oral history interview, and with each piece of research unearthed at archives nestled in London (the British Library and the national archives), Paris, Corsica, the United States and Trinidad, we consistently discovered astounding nuggets, each one more dumbfounding than the next.

This book chronicles Joseph Salvatori's crossing from Corsica to the Americas in the late 1800s with no more than 35 francs to his name, the building of a vast business empire, and a life of such consequence that Charles de Gaulle goes on to personally acknowledge him in his memoirs.

A story of such stature and flair needed to be complemented with some specific stylistic devices:

1. A colour palette informed by the impression Corsica left on us: yawning yellows (Pantone 143), moody reds (Pantone 7427), and blues (Pantone 285).

2. Fonts we felt best represent the Salvatoris: the good-natured Optima combined with Caslon Pro.

It was a pleasure working on such a multifaceted and awe-inspiring story and we thank Lorraine and the entire Salvatori family for allowing us to document their legacy.