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Bottega Veneta invests in next generation

Bottega Veneta is taking matters into its own hands when it comes to the limited amount of available expert craftsmen. The luxury company is joining forces with local trade school Scuola d’Arte e Mestieri di Vicenza to establish a three-year education programme for luxury handbag maker hopefuls. The programme will first start this October. The brand’s chief executive Patrizio Di Marco said that craftsmen, especially pattern makers, were increasingly hard to come by and the company had therefore decided to resolve this problem itself. “There are things that you do with your hands that no book can teach you,” he told WWD last month. Bottega Veneta bags typically take days to make. Di Marco said the initiative was important for the cultivation of the next generation of artisans, whom he calls “the beating heart” of the company.

The school the company has teamed up with has a history dating back to the 16th century and offers a wide range of courses in jewellery making and creative product development. Some of its teachers will work on the Bottega Veneta programme in classrooms provided by the institution. “This (initiative) is not just the result of a lot of collaborative work, but also the development of a partnership between the world of education and the world of companies,” Augusto Peruz, the school’s president, said at a press conference. During the first two years of the programme, students will be taught to cut and hand-stitch leather and other skins by Bottega’s artesans. The third year will focus on pattern making. After each year of study, students can opt to continue or enter a low-level Bottega factory position as an intern. The tuition is free. Students will also receive theory in the history of fashion and the use of animal skins, will be taught English and follow computer technology lessons. The importance of the artesans was reaffirmed by creative director Tomas Maier, who said in a statement: “We, as designers, have never imagined something that these crafts-people couldn’t produce.”

www.bottegaveneta.com
7 August 2006

Bottega Veneta most prestigious brand

Bottega Veneta is the most prestigious luxury brand of 2006, beating Hermes and Armani to the punch. A study by US research facility The Luxury Institute, in which wealthy consumers participated, showed that the understated Italian brand was the big winner.

The relatively low awareness level of Bottega Veneta, at 21 percent, as opposed to Hermes at 55 percent and Armani at 74 percent, proved to work in its favour, as it showed enormous potential for the Italian brand.

Wealthy customers were asked to rate 21 leading luxury fashion brands, based on their perception of the brands' reputation. The brands included were: Armani, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christain Dior, Coach, Dolce e Gabbana, Faconnable, Fendi, Ferragamo, Gucci, Hermes, Hugo Boss, Izod Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Versace and Yves St Laurent.

Five hundred households participated in the survey.

www.bottegaveneta.com
24 April 2006

Bottega Veneta goes for gold

Bottega Veneta is on the fast track with expected annual sales of $238.7 million (£136.6 million). It appears it will make the deadline parent company Gucci Group set for it six months early.

Once a minor brand, Bottega Veneta is now surging forward with the introduction of a new fine jewellery line. Since 2002, the Milan-based fashion and accessories house has launched tableware, furniture and costume jewellery.

The fine jewellery collection debuted on the fall 2006 catwalks. Creative director Tomas Maier paired the yellow and white gold and diamond pavé pieces with chiffon dressed in black and chocolate brown. The pieces are all handmade in Maier's hometown of Pforzhein in Germany. Craftsmen take five days to create one necklace, according to WWD. This has to do with the house's signature woven or “intreccio” look, which requires hand-spinning the gold fibre to create braided pieces which are then used to make links in a chain. Finally the pieces are tumbled for 48 hours to achieve an antique finish.

“This isn't the kind of jewellery you can do in-house,” Maier told WWD. “We did look around Italy (for a manufacturer), but didn't find the one-of-a-kind quality we were looking for, and that is what Bottega Veneta is associated with.”

He added that each piece of jewellery is unique because each chain link is irregular.

“For me, there is no time limit in the making of jewellery,” he said. “Whatever it takes is good, and that's what our clients really appreciate.”

The initial collection includes necklaces and chain-link bracelets, but Maier said that the present offering will be expanded. “For the show, I wanted to convey a very precise message, but in the future, I will certainly add fancy diamonds and coloured stones,” he said.

Maier also has plans to include earrings, rings, and bangles in collection. Prices range from $20,000 for a gold bracelet to $108,000 for a long necklace with pave diamonds.

The sale of the jewellery collection will be limited to the flagship stores in Milan, New York and Tokyo.