Fitting tribute

A new homeware collection from Berluti is a high-spirited homage to modern European design

Already an established maker of fine leather accessories and menswear, Berluti has found added purpose under Kris Van Assche, its artistic director since 2018. Having revived 17 pieces of original Pierre Jeanneret furniture for last year’s Design Miami, upholstering them with the brand’s Venezia leather, Van Assche is now launching a Home & Office Objects collection that brings together creativity, heritage and craftsmanship. The new offerings, featuring leading European designers from multiple decades, include Werkstätte Carl Auböck’s desk accessories, magazine rack and wastepaper basket, alongside Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s ‘Cartoccio’ bowls, originally created for Milanese silversmith San Lorenzo. The latter’s forms, evoking elegantly crumpled sheets of paper, have been given a fresh spin with the addition of Venezia leather on the outside, a fitting complement to pure silver. Van Assche has also commissioned designer Simon Hasan to create five vases, with statuesque silhouettes achieved using a 15th century crafts technique that boils leather in a wooden mould. The collection is testament not only to the versatility and allure of Berluti’s premium leathers, but also to Van Assche’s vision for a brand that honours tradition while staying on the cutting edge. Available from November 2020, berluti.com

Left, Berluti’s Home & Office Objects collection stretches across seven decades, from 1950-2020, and is a reimagining of some iconic designs by Werkstätte Carl Auböck and Afra and Tobia Scarpa to include the fashion brand’s Venezia calf leather, as well as a new commission of five vases by Simon Hasan