Matthieu Blazy
Creative Director, Bottega Veneta
NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, or the Italian cartoon character Calimero, a small chicken who carries his belongings in a sack over his shoulder. He inspired the Kalimero bag. Both these influences were important parts of my childhood, and they still speak to me a lot in terms of freedom, movement, [and] going places.
WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, ALBUM, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE?
For a movie, it would have to be Splash or There Will Be Blood. For a book, either Richard Avedon’s In the American West, or Je Dors, Je Travaille, a catalog of the French artist, sculptor, and ceramist Valentine Schlegel.
““For me, craft is a timeless technology. It never needs to be improved, but it can always be reimagined.””
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURE?
I hope to contribute to a bigger conversation about how we relate to what we wear. I’d like to encourage an appreciation of style and responsibility, versus fashion and disposability.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY? LESS OF?
More design that champions craft and the human touch. For me, craft is a timeless technology. It never needs to be improved, but it can always be reimagined. There is something very beautiful in the gesture of making things that are cut, sewn, and woven. It’s a primacy of touch, and it creates a much more intimate—more enduring—connection for the wearer.
in your life?
