The novelty of Venice Fashion Week is Ornamenti, the first exhibition of handcrafted and artistic accessories for fashion and lifestyle, at Palazzo Sagredo on the Grand Canal from 26 to 28 October 2022
Venice Fashion Week, the week of sustainable fashion and high craftsmanship presents emerging and sustainable Italian and international brands. Among the most relevant appointments: Atelier Aperti (22 and 23 October) the weekend of sustainable shopping, and Ornamenti, the salon of design and handcrafted accessories that will be held in the Sala della Musica of Palazzo Sagredo from 26 to 28 October from 10 am to 6.30 pm.
The city of Venice is creating innovative models for the transition to sustainability. Its millennial history of enlightened merchants and entrepreneurs, innovative also in the management of quality and durability standards of fabrics and products, shows that Venice has always been a “slow” factory of ethical fashion.
The salon creates a concentrated and intimate space in a historical palace, rich in works of art, where buyers and visitors can discover the excellence of Venetian craftsmanship and ateliers des métiers among suites and frescoed rooms while participating in the events of Venice Fashion Week. The curators have selected Italian and foreign exhibitors, small handicraft realities, and start-ups that produce accessories of high stylistic and artisanal content for people and their home environments.
Ornamenti responds to a precise need of buyers of multi-brand fashion boutiques: to add new labels of unique, handcrafted accessories to the clothing collections, characterising the shop and supplementing the offer of global luxury brands with exclusive, customisable products for the shop. Ornamenti also responds to a new interest on the part of fashion diffusion showrooms in artisanal collections that express the best of Made in Italy.
The artisan brands on show at Ornamenti
- Laboratorio Donà
Qwerty bags
Immersed from a young age in the world of handcrafted design, growing up in an atmosphere steeped in research and perfection, Patrizia Donà founded her label Laboratorio Donà (later renamed Donà) in 2012, which immediately gained attention from the fashion world for its Hommage a Remington bags, inspired by the typewriter of the same name. This gave rise to the Qwerty collection: Elemental, Limited, and Unique.
- In Barberia
Optical workshop
Antonio Battaglia and Marco Andreoni opened their first optical shop in 2018 near Piazza dei Signori, in the historic centre of Treviso. Their love for Venice led them to open another store in Calle Fuseri (nr. 4373) near Piazza San Marco, where with professionalism, passion, and research they produce their completely handmade glasses. This year they also present their new collaboration with designer Nicola Zanella.
- Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua
Bags and cushions
In the most hidden part of Venice, the city’s oldest handicraft atelier has been dedicated to the production of fine fabrics for four centuries. Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua carries on one of the oldest traditions in Venice: brocades, damasks, lampasas, satins, and velvets are produced with the ancient and original 18th century looms, flanked by exclusively manual and artisanal processing of the raw materials.
The company, which has been awarded the title of Impresa Storica d’Italia, is still run by the Bevilacqua family and is located in the Santa Croce district.
- Le Coq Porcelaine
Porcelain set ANIMAE Project
ILSA – Le Coq Porcelaine presents Anime Project in Venice, a porcelain dish set as a hymn to human beauty, the uniqueness of the individual, and a tribute to the courage and fortitude of women.
What sets this collection of six bread plates and six round porcelain plates apart and makes it unique is the uniqueness of the decoration, created by an Italian designer. Six female faces with a proud and vibrant looks are depicted on the plates.
Such a precious and special design literally ‘inspired’ the company to start a parallel initiative, the ANIMAE Project. The initiative aims to facilitate job placement for women coming out of situations of violence and help them achieve complete economic independence.
The Animae collection supports the work scholarship project of D.i.Re, Donne in Rete contro la violenza, the national network of Anti-Violence Centres and Shelter Homes that support over 20,000 women every year. The purchase of this collection contributes to supporting women on their path to freedom.
- Kanz Architetti
Design objects
The multidisciplinary architecture and design studio in the Dorsoduro district of Venice has been run by Antonella Maione and Mauro Cazzaro since 2014. Their creativity ranges from planning to the restoration of residential architecture, commercial interior design, temporary exhibition design, and product design.
- Fugu Bag
Bags
Geremia Siboni is the designer of Fugu Bag, the line of bags on show at Ornamenti that originate from two great passions: the sea and sustainability. His first Fugu shoulder bags were in fact born from the recycling of disused mainsails and jibs from sailing boats. Today, his collections are enriched with coloured velvets made of 100% polyester from recycled bottles, contrasting grò trimmings on the edges, fancy fabrics, and metal chains.
- Lunardelli Venezia
Design objects
Lunardelli Venezia is a historic wood design company in Venice. The strong and passionate bond to Venice gives its founders, siblings Agnese and Sebastiano Lunardelli, the creative idea, and shape that enriches the collection of the family carpentry workshop, now a centre of high craftsmanship in furnishing objects and lamps.
Know-how is combined with glass and other noble materials, where traditional Venetian craftsmanship is reinterpreted in a contemporary approach and vision with a focus on sustainability.
Great excitement this year for Sebastiano Lunardelli, awarded the title of MAM, Maestro di Arte e Mestieri by the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.
- BVL Venezia
Hats and bags
Growing up amidst antique looms and precious fabrics, young designer Giulia Bevilacqua creates her own line of bags, hats, slippers, and garments under the BVL Venezia brand, using the renowned family velvets of the Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua.
The intuition is a fusion of ancient Venetian traditions and precious fabrics created for the furnishing of historical residences in a youthful and jaunty key, with the addition of embroidered leathers and stones, entirely Made in Italy.
Three special projects
- Martina Vidal‘s Wunderkammer
The Martina Vidal Venezia atelier dresses the Sebastiano Ricci suite in Palazzo Sagredo with the art of Burano lace. Hand-woven lace once again takes centre stage in international fashion. Atelier Martina Vidal narrates the sustainable lifestyle in the Venice lagoon between culture and history, promenades, fishermen, and colourful houses, on an island that has always inspired international artists and creative people.
- Confartigianato Venezia presents 7 Venetian artisans
Seven Venetian artisans from Mario Berta Battiloro, Lamon marmi, EstroDiverso, Coltelleria Lena, Artefact mosaic, 4Nove di Francesco Pavan a L’ambra riflessi d’arte.
- Seven lamps for seven craftsmen from Venice illuminate Ornamenti
Seven Venetian designers have chosen their own lamps to illuminate the Ornamenti exhibition space.
Conferences, workshops, and fashion presentations
This section of Venice Fashion Week also presents at Palazzo Sagredo fashion presentations by sustainable designers and brands and a series of conferences with the protagonists of sustainable fashion to address various themes: from consumer education to sustainable tourism and the training of new artisans.
Wednesday 26 October
11 AM | Upcycling, creative recycling of clothes and accessories
Conference Tailors and stylists organised by Confartigianato Imprese, Confartigianato Imprese Veneto, and EBAV with a talk by tailor Demis Marin of the Ramosalso atelier and Valentina Bonafé of EstroDiverso.
7 PM | Romeo de Julieta
Argentine designer Julieta Cardozo presents the European premiere of her Romeo de Julieta collection of evening dresses embellished with embroidery and appliqués handmade by local artisans. Followed by an inaugural cocktail reception in the Ornaments salon.
Thursday 27 October
11 AM | The value of artisan collections for fashion buyers
A round table with the Camera Buyer association and David Clementoni, founder of the B2B marketplace Italian Artisan, with the presence of eco-designer Tiziano Guardini and the Venice Fashion Week 2022 manifesto, illustrator Jacopo Ascari.
3-5 PM | Brand Presentations
Endelea, Mirco Giovannini, Gaiofatto, Hélène Kuhn Ferruzzi
7 PM | Fashion show | The colours of sustainable fashion
Venice Fashion Week presents the award-winning ethical fashion start-up that combines contemporary design with African tailoring, employs 13 Tanzanian seamstresses, and revisits Maasai fabric patterns.
The MG Atelier Folleria tailoring collection by Mirco Giovannini: an example of Italian craftsmanship put at the service of a volcanic and innovative creative talent.
A vision of luxury understood as well-being in harmony with the environment drives the designer to explore new ways of designing and presenting collections in a sustainable way, such as the use of 3D fashion design for her sartorial collections.
In the rhythm of colour of the painter Hélène, there is action, movement, and fire. Her works are paintings, tapestries, silk or velvet stoles, cushions, kimonos, and mermaid dresses that she paints using the techniques of Mariano Fortuny and her master and husband, the Venetian painter Bobo Ferruzzi.
Friday 28 October
10 am | Breakfast Workshop | Communicating craftsmanship
At Palazzo Sagredo a meeting with entrepreneurs, tailors, designers, and the creatives present at Ornamenti, with speeches by Alessandra de Nitto, Director of Editorial Projects and Events of the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, Judith Bradl, digital creator, brand ambassador and expert in vintage fashion, Laura Scarpa and Lorenzo Cinotti, founders of Venice Fashion Week.
12 NOON | A lecture by Carlos Tieppo
Venice Fashion Week celebrates the career of Carlos Tieppo, creative director of the Sartoria del Teatro La Fenice, who will tell us about working behind the scenes of a great theatre, interviewed by Alessandra de Nitto of the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte.
6 PM | The St. Regis Hotel | A cocktail with Franco Puppato
The Arts Bar at the St Regis Hotel overlooks the Grand Canal. Here many of the international clients of Franco Puppato, the undisputed master of handmade men’s suits in Venice, have spent pleasant hours. On Friday 28 October, The St. Regis will pay homage to the Maestro who has dressed stars and royalty in his atelier in San Marco since 1964 and was awarded the MAM, Maestro d’Arte e Mestieri award by the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte and the Arbiter prize, the Oscar of Italian tailoring.
Cover ph. Marta Formentello for Eleonora Lastrucci.
Photos courtesy of the brands taking part in Venice Fashion Week – Ornaments.
