Designer opens bag of tricks
By Patsy Yang |
April 27, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ORIGINALLY from Florence, living in New York and working in Paris, Leonello Borghi never stops challenging himself and establishing new trends in leather goods.
The artistic director for La Maison Lancel in Paris was drawn from an early age to the world of accessories in his home city Florence. Thanks to Italian manufacturing magnate Gino Ferruzzi, Borghi had a chance to get into his factory, touch the leather and cut patterns.
"It was love at first sight. The feeling of the leather got me hooked," he said.
He later worked for Prada and even collaborated with Giorgio Armani on his inaugural accessories collection. While having designed for big names like Ralph Lauren and overseen design for other luxury brands, in 2001 Borghi realized his childhood dream and launched his premier men's accessories collection.
His bold experimentation with exotic materials and unorthodox design techniques puts him in a league of his own. His relentless pursuit of the perfect marriage of form and function in accessories was recognized in 2004, when he was awarded the Rising Star Award for Accessory Design by The Fashion Group International.
Since taking the position as artistic director of Lancel two and a half years ago, the designer has divided his time between New York and Paris and poured his energy into the legendary brand. This means putting his own brand on hold.
We met him on Tuesday at the opening of Lancel's first concept store in Shanghai, the largest in Asia.
Borghi has created the Premier Flirt "Shanghai'' edition bucket bag, exclusive to the Shanghai concept store on Huaihai Road M.
Q: How did you approach the job? How much was rejuvenation and how much was your personal aesthetics?
A: The beginning was to get into the vintage archive, so I first established a vintage department. We have full-time people looking around the world for our bags from the beginning. We have over 1,000 vintage bags, some from 1876.
For me it was a challenge, so I often spent time in museums trying to understand how Madame Angele Lancel used to think. If I understood how she thought and how she looked at women that could help me in my job.
My goal was to understand how to take the DNA, the spirit of the brand, and then make it more contemporary. Of course, I inject my personal design aesthetics in materials, colors and innovation in shapes. I'm crazy for materials and I like challenges. If I see a material that's really hard to work with, you can be sure I would go for that. I like to play with colors that are a little more daring and not so easy because it's a way to educate customers.
Q: How do you decide on projects?
A: It all happens naturally and spontaneously. When there was a big Brigitte Bardot exhibition in Paris, we dined with a journalist friend of BB. I said it would be great if we could do something with Brigitte Bardot. He said just send her a letter. We did and to our surprise, she said she would love to collaborate with us.
Q: In design, what comes first? Material, function or style?
A: What comes first is always the story. When I design, I never start from the bag itself. The bag is the result of the story in my mind. For materials, I always try for exotic materials that are very challenging and require different techniques. We have used exotic skins such as eel, water snake, chicken's feet, and stingray. I feel that when you touch the leather, something happens on a sensuous level, which goes back to emotion. I work with emotions.
The artistic director for La Maison Lancel in Paris was drawn from an early age to the world of accessories in his home city Florence. Thanks to Italian manufacturing magnate Gino Ferruzzi, Borghi had a chance to get into his factory, touch the leather and cut patterns.
"It was love at first sight. The feeling of the leather got me hooked," he said.
He later worked for Prada and even collaborated with Giorgio Armani on his inaugural accessories collection. While having designed for big names like Ralph Lauren and overseen design for other luxury brands, in 2001 Borghi realized his childhood dream and launched his premier men's accessories collection.
His bold experimentation with exotic materials and unorthodox design techniques puts him in a league of his own. His relentless pursuit of the perfect marriage of form and function in accessories was recognized in 2004, when he was awarded the Rising Star Award for Accessory Design by The Fashion Group International.
Since taking the position as artistic director of Lancel two and a half years ago, the designer has divided his time between New York and Paris and poured his energy into the legendary brand. This means putting his own brand on hold.
We met him on Tuesday at the opening of Lancel's first concept store in Shanghai, the largest in Asia.
Borghi has created the Premier Flirt "Shanghai'' edition bucket bag, exclusive to the Shanghai concept store on Huaihai Road M.
Q: How did you approach the job? How much was rejuvenation and how much was your personal aesthetics?
A: The beginning was to get into the vintage archive, so I first established a vintage department. We have full-time people looking around the world for our bags from the beginning. We have over 1,000 vintage bags, some from 1876.
For me it was a challenge, so I often spent time in museums trying to understand how Madame Angele Lancel used to think. If I understood how she thought and how she looked at women that could help me in my job.
My goal was to understand how to take the DNA, the spirit of the brand, and then make it more contemporary. Of course, I inject my personal design aesthetics in materials, colors and innovation in shapes. I'm crazy for materials and I like challenges. If I see a material that's really hard to work with, you can be sure I would go for that. I like to play with colors that are a little more daring and not so easy because it's a way to educate customers.
Q: How do you decide on projects?
A: It all happens naturally and spontaneously. When there was a big Brigitte Bardot exhibition in Paris, we dined with a journalist friend of BB. I said it would be great if we could do something with Brigitte Bardot. He said just send her a letter. We did and to our surprise, she said she would love to collaborate with us.
Q: In design, what comes first? Material, function or style?
A: What comes first is always the story. When I design, I never start from the bag itself. The bag is the result of the story in my mind. For materials, I always try for exotic materials that are very challenging and require different techniques. We have used exotic skins such as eel, water snake, chicken's feet, and stingray. I feel that when you touch the leather, something happens on a sensuous level, which goes back to emotion. I work with emotions.
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