BOTTEGA VENETA TURNED ITS MILAN STORE INTO A CAVE

by Juliette Eleuterio 7 months ago

by Juliette Eleuterio 7 months ago 3 min

After commissioning the Italian architect and artist Gaetano Pesce to create a space for Bottega Veneta’s Summer 2023 show, the two have joined forces again to create a unique store space. Titled “Vieni A Vedere”, translating to “Come And See”, the site-specific installation spanned all over the Italian brand’s Milan store.

Given complete creative freedom, Pesce decided to turn the store into a grotto, an artificial yet picturesque cave made out of resin and fabric. Guests were invited to, one by one, enter and travel through the cave which was shaped like “the outline of a figure shooting for a basket”, says Pesce. The artist goes on to state the mission of this installation was to highlight the fact that “In this case, the victory is discovery,” and “opening new ways for design”.

In addition to the artist’s installation, which took place between April 15 and 22, Bottega Veneta have released 2 bags for the occasion. Titled “My Dear Mountains” and “My Dear Prairies”, the limited edition pastoral bags created in collaboration with Pesce was his first venture of the kind. “I wanted a bag with an optimistic view. There is a capacity to realise anything at Bottega Veneta and this bag opens up a way to express future design”, said Pesce.

The bags themselves feature the picture of the mountains and its surrounding sunrise or sunset behind, embracing Pesce’s storytelling approach to his art. Bottega Veneta’s classic leather Intrecciato technique is introduced in a completely new way, following the artist’s sketches. The bags were also made with 7 different greens shades of lamb and calf leather to bring to life the pictured prairie’s natural grass.

Commemorating the collaboration, each visitor has been gifted with a poster drawn by Pesce. Speaking on the whole event, Pesce highlights the importance of artistic freedom by saying “We need to not only follow function and utility through design but to explore the personal and unique rather than the purely practical”.