BIO | michaeltonello

ABOUT

Michael Tonello grew up in Massachusetts, amidst the windswept dunes and ever-encroaching tourism of Cape Cod. He attended New York City's Fordham University for almost a full day, before beginning an ambitious field study of New York socialites in their native nightlife habitats. A few months later, armed with a vast array of discotheque expertise, (but no longer possessed of parental financial support), he made his way out to San Francisco. The West coast would be his home for five years, and the start of his career in hair and makeup. Eventually co-founding a successful company -- an innovative advertising collaborative called TEAM -- Michael returned to his native Massachusetts, settling into the artists' colony of Provincetown. But a chance job assignment in Spain would prove fateful, and Michael went from P-townie to expatriate in a flash, resettling in Barcelona. Pressed to find a profession that didn't necessitate working papers, he turned in his make-up bag for a laptop. Quickly finding his niche as an eBay luxury reseller, he soon after began his lucrative relationship with all things Hermes.

His memoir, Bringing Home the Birkin, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in 2008 and is now in its 17th printing, and published in 13 languages.

Michael is also c0-founder of the luxury fashion brand, Respoke.