MILAN — Veneta will not hold a runway show in Milan this season but it is nonetheless planning an event to mark the opening of its new headquarters in the city during fashion week.
Before unveiling the first collection by newly appointed creative director Louise Trotter, who joined the Italian brand at the end of January from Carven, following the departure of Matthieu Blazy for Chanel, the event on Saturday will honor Bottega Veneta’s “commitment to cultural advocacy, which dates back to 1966 when the company was founded,” said chief executive officer Leo Rongone in an exclusive interview.
“We feel honored and excited, this is really an extraordinary and important landmark in Milan,” Rongone said.
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Originally the site of the Teatro della Commedia and then the Manzoni theater, the building, which stands on Piazza San Fedele near the Duomo cathedral and the La Scala theater, was built in 1870 and was restored by Bottega Veneta, which started the works during the pandemic.
The building was renovated by Belgian architecture firm Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen.
“We really wanted to respect the spirit of the theater. It was an incredible stage for many world famous actors and actresses, including Sara Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse, and also for notable works by the likes of Luigi Pirandello and Marta Abba,” Rongone explained.
Blazy staged his first runway show for the brand in the location in February 2022, while it was being renovated, but there are no plans to hold shows there going forward. “This is a unique locus of Milanese art, architecture, and culture, and is meant to be a cultural hub for both internal and external audiences,” Rongone said.
He said the building’s “rich cultural history was a major draw” for the brand, which established several partnerships over the decades across arts, architecture, design, dance, performance, photography and print publishing.
“By restoring and refurbishing it, our intention was to give the building a new life, honoring its unique history,” the executive said.
Spaces that formerly constituted the theater foyer and underground vault rooms were transformed into an expansive showroom spanning over three floors out of the total seven. The showroom is centered around a large atrium on the ground floor, which will also serve as the building’s cultural and performance space.
“We wanted to keep the central stage as it recalls the ancient foyer and atrium, but adding modern brand references and visuals also from the stores such as the oak wood that adds warmth,” Rongone said.
Throughout the building, terrazzo flooring highlights traditional Italian craft and nods to the brand’s roots in the Veneto region.
The building comprises offices and meeting spaces, too, and part of the Bottega Veneta team moved to Piazza San Fedele. Others remain in the headquarters in Milan’s Via Ercole Marelli.
In line with parent Kering requirements, the building meets all contemporary technological standards and is on track to achieve platinum LEED energy certification, the executive said. The project maximized the use of recycled and sustainable materials and integrates high-performance energy and water-saving measures throughout the building.
During the event on Saturday, Bottega Veneta will host a special addition to the global tour of Correspondences, by Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith.
Correspondences “is an ever-evolving creative collaboration that combines Soundwalk Collective’s field recordings from remote and resonant spaces around the globe with Patti Smith’s poetic reflections,” Rongone said. “Together they create a unique body of work merging sound, image, reading and film.”
Based between Berlin and New York, Soundwalk Collective, founded in 2001 by Stephan Crasneanscki, joined by Simone Merli in 2009, has worked with numerous artists including Nan Goldin, Jean-Luc Godard, Philip Glass, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe.
Specifically for this performance, Smith will debut a new piece paying tribute to Italian architect, designer and photographer Carlo Mollino, and his last interior project, Casa Mollino in Turin.
“Mollino has long been a great source of inspiration for creatives, designers and artists including Patti Smith,” Rongone said. He enthused about the apartment in Turin designed between 1960 and 1968 because it combines Mollino’s interior and furniture design, photography and sculpture “reflecting his many passions and interests,” Rongone said. “For many it is the ultimate realization of Mollino’s aesthetic vision. For us at Bottega Veneta, Casa Mollino represents pioneering Italian design, created in the same era as our own founding in 1966.”
Rongone explained that Mollino kept the apartment project secret, exploring and developing his ideas in “a uniquely personal and expressive space — one that could almost be an interior manifestation of our signature slogan ‘When your own initials are enough.’“
The apartment is rich in references and symbolism, including the transition and change represented by the butterfly, which is a motif that has also played a part in Bottega Veneta’s design history, introduced as a print on leather in 1975.
“We decided to ask our artisans to each create one butterfly which will exposed during the event, celebrating transition and change, bringing together these aesthetic and symbolic associations,” Rongone said.
