Aquazzura Celebrates Art of Hosting With Tableware Launch
MILAN — After owning established statement sneakers sported by Hollywood’s A-checklist actresses and royal households, Aquazzura’s founder Edgardo Osorio is placing his feet underneath the table in property interiors by launching a collection of tableware.
To be offered through Milan Design and style 7 days, the inaugural line is element of the Aquazzura Casa undertaking Osorio initially launched in 2020, when he tapped designer Fiona Leahy as co-creative director to create the residence business.
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If at the time the expansion into household furnishings could have appeared a stretch for a brand rooted in luxury footwear, Osorio pressured hat the thought truly dates again to the inception of the corporation in 2012.
“When I started Aquazzura, I have often needed it to be a life-style brand and which is why I named it this way,” claimed Osorio, who dreamed up the moniker though staring into the crystalline waters of Capri, his most loved island.
“So it was about Italy, summer time and La Dolce Vita, observed in a fashionable way. That’s how I imagined it and I have generally imagined it would have been so considerably a lot more than just sneakers. It just took me 10 a long time [to do it],” he included with a laugh. “The funny factor is that [home design] is definitely a challenge of like and passion, not necessarily something that tends to make a great deal perception. Perhaps it would have manufactured a lot more feeling to launch baggage initially, or men’s footwear but I’m so passionate about tableware and interiors that I just truly preferred to do it. And it felt like the suitable time in the very last few of a long time, I had the time to devote myself additional to it.”
Mattia Aquila/Courtesy of Aquazzura
Even if Osorio initially approached the earth of interiors in 2017 — when Aquazzura teamed with British household decor label de Gournay on the creation of a special wallpaper and a matching constrained-edition shoe capsule — the idea of a structured launch concretely materialized correct ahead of the pandemic, as the designer wished the task to be portion of the initiatives marking the brand’s 10th anniversary this yr. Though waves of lockdowns may have slowed the production procedure, they also sparked the market’s booming desire for the category.
“I believe people rediscovered the art of internet hosting and acquiring company home. It’s a stunning expression of appreciate: You’re taking the time to make one thing beautiful for your mates and your relatives. It is so great to create an ambiance and put the new music so some people today can loosen up and really feel at ease… It is a great deal extra private and personal in comparison to going to a cafe,” he said.
In his circumstance, he perfected his web hosting skills also thanks to Leahy, whom he achieved decades in the past. Founder of her eponymous layout line, the Irish-born Leahy is well recognised in the sector thanks to her tie-ups with famous people and makes, together with Louis Vuitton, Christian Louboutin, Stella McCartney and Aquazzura alone, for which she has created events, gatherings, dressed home windows and meal tables.
“She’s kind of the queen of tablescapes. When we were being carrying out dinners and functions, we constantly put so considerably appreciate into the tables and they have been constantly a large achievement, folks genuinely desired to acquire them or know far more, so [Aquazzura Casa] was form of a normal evolution of it,” claimed Osorio.
Mattia Aquila/Courtesy of Aquazzura
“As for me, I have often truly deemed myself as a artistic human being that would make vogue but I’m not a vogue human being for each se. I’m so considerably much more interested in interiors, design and style and arts in different other fields,” ongoing Osorio, who enjoys going to antique fairs, flea markets and auctions for inspiration. “So this environment has normally been a been a component of me, and you can see it even when you enter my shops. All of them are various: I’m very concerned in the style and design and I like to explain them as my minor dwelling rooms in every town.”
For just one, the keep he opened in Capri in 2020 was motivated by the vivid spirit of the island, that includes seaside motifs, pastel hues, coral sculptures and a hand-painted ceiling depicting local symbolic elements these as lemons, oranges, flowers and ship ropes.
The tableware selection bowing this week will consist of some of these motifs, in addition to other signature codes of the brand name, these kinds of as the pineapple decorating on Aquazzura shoe soles and packing containers that Osorio selected as a symbol of hospitality, elegance and luck.
Mattia Aquila/Courtesy of Aquazzura
Divided into 4 themes, the tableware drop involves “Tutti Frutti,” a concept linked immediately to Capri as China items and tablecloths are adorned with lemons and cherries the “Jaipur” line, defined by white China mixing graphic accents in cobalt blue, pink and burgundy to floral and fruit motifs, and the “Cherry Blossom” assortment of fragile celadon environmentally friendly and powder pink plates, tureens and trays shelling out tribute to Japan’s sakura season.
Adding to the floral reference, the “Secret Garden” line injects a present day spin into dinnerware and fabrics influenced by 18th-century China. As element of this topic, a constrained-version kitchen made by Florentine historic corporation Officine Gullo and hand-painted with the similar botanical motifs will also be unveiled at Fuorisalone. The special household furniture marks Osorio’s second collaboration with Officine Gullo, soon after the two parties teamed up to develop the designer’s own kitchen past yr.
But to believe that Osorio commenced his venture in interiors from kitchen and tableware for a preference towards this location of the residence would be a mistake. “I essentially started out with the kitchen simply because I really do not like to be in it. Ever,” he explained bursting into a chortle. “So when I was building it for my dwelling, I desired a house where by I preferred to be in, that manufactured me satisfied and comfy.”
Mattia Aquila/Courtesy of Aquazzura
The designer thinks that his knowledge speaks for a ton of people today, as he noted that there is a “really significant hole in the sector for form of tablescapes that make you desire, that provide the Italian dream to your table.”
“When I believe about my beloved sneakers, they are the types that make you smile, that when you dress in them you already truly feel you are on a vacation or somewhere else… I experience the similar can be used to tableware,” he said. “It’s so wonderful to see a gorgeous plate or desk environment when you are possessing breakfast, it would make you smile and can alter your day,” he ongoing, underscoring that these merchandise can final for many years when compared to fleeting fashion tendencies.
The class is established to introduce Aquazzurra to a greater audience, which is just one of the motives why Osorio does not see his foray into homeware as a facet venture, conversely to other manner rivals.
“We started off a individual corporation, we have 4 collections, we have around 400 stockkeeping units, together with linens, China, Murano glassware, gifting objects. There’s one thing for everybody and you can purchase a entire table or just a mug, there are so many techniques to method it.”
When the catalogue is by now set to be expanded with candles, atmosphere scents and, commencing subsequent calendar year, cutlery, the holistic technique to the class is seen as a crucial asset by the designer. Osorio pointed out that whilst many providers in the subject are specialized in certain products, to current properly-rounded and by now-curated tables can make the presenting extra obtainable to inexperienced people and facilitate the shopping encounter. To additional assist customers, Aquazzura will generate tutorials on how to established up tables and enhance them in distinct ways, launching on its on the internet store together with the assortment.
Mattia Aquila/Courtesy of Aquazzura
The bodily rollout will kick off from the brand’s flagship in Florence, which will be revamped with an added 2,153-square-foot surface opening in September. As a final result, it will make for the largest Aquazzura retailer all over the world and carry the household variety, alongside with forthcoming new style types.
In addition, the tableware line will be carried at the brand’s keep in New York, when the business is eyeing a strategy of international stores-in-shop as very well as corners within its present retail network to dedicate to the undertaking.
All round, Aquazzura collections are dispersed in 300 doors throughout 58 international locations. Together with boutiques in Capri, Florence and New York, the brand name has stand-alone merchants in Milan, London, Miami, Doha, Dubai and São Paulo, and is set to start models in Madrid and Paris soon.
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