WITH

Mary Katrantzou

Bvlgari’s first-ever creative director for leather goods and accessories

 

How do you create a coveted handbag collection for one of the world’s most beloved jewelry houses? We asked celebrated designer Mary Katrantzou, Bvlgari’s first-ever creative director for leather goods and accessories, when she was here to celebrate the launch of her collection.

 

What was the overall spirit that you wanted yo bring to these collections in your new role?

“I think it’s so important that within leather goods and accessories we still tell the story of Bvlgari. For the past year, i’ve been deep diving into the archives, you realize that God is in the details at Bvlgari. There’s so much there in the symbolism, in the syncretism of the Bvlgari icons, that you want to bring into leather goods and accessories.”

 

Have you unearthed anything from the archives that you are looking forward to re-introducing?

“I was looking at Diva’s Dream and i came across an image of Jean-Christophe Babin at the Thermal Baths of Caracolla in Rome, over this incredible mosaic floor that Bvlgari helped restore, and i realized that this pattern, i’d seen before at the Bvlgari Hotel in Rome. And it became the starting point of this collection because I felt that with bags, we always lacked a pattern we can own. There was always Serpenti, but not a pattern that can sit alongside Serpenti and then eventually become its own pillar.”

 

Why were you drawn to that particular patten?

“What i love about it, is that it’s deeply connected to Bvlgari’s Roman roots, but it’s also such a feminine motif and so versatile that it connects to different cultures and has different meanings for different people. So, that’s something that already existed in Bvlgari’s universe, but i think when i saw that pattern, i couldn’t unsee it and it’s one that i think really belongs to the history of Bvlgari and our connection to Rome. ”

 

 

 

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