Bottega Veneta is an Italian luxury goods house best known for its leather goods. Founded in 1966, it was purchased in 2001 by Gucci Group, now a part of the French multinational group PPR

PPR (company)

PPR is a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands. The company was founded in 1963 by the businessman François Pinault and is now run by his son François-Henri Pinault. It is quoted on Euronext Paris and is a constituent of the CAC 40 index...

. Bottega Veneta is headquartered in Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...

, in the Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

 region of northeastern Italy.

History

Bottega Veneta was established in 1966 by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro. The name Bottega Veneta means “Venetian atelier” and the company was begun to produce artisanal leather goods. The company’s artisans developed a leather-weaving technique, called intrecciato, that remains a signature of the brand.

Over time Bottega Veneta’s renown grew, thanks to the quality of its craftsmanship and the appeal of its discreet, no-logo design. In the 1970s the company began advertising with the tag line “When your own initials are enough”. By the early 1980s Bottega Veneta was a favorite of the international jet set. Andy Warhol, who did his Christmas shopping in the New York boutique, made a short film for the company in 1980s.
Renzo Zengiaro left Bottega Veneta in the late 1970s. Michele Taddei departed a few years later. Vittorio and Laura Moltedo (Laura had previously been married to Taddei) moved from New York to Vicenza to run the company. Over time, Bottega Veneta’s fortunes declined and by the 1990s the brand had abandoned its understated ethos and ventured into more trend-driven fashion territory.

The most recent chapter in Bottega Veneta’s history began in February 2001, when the company was acquired by Gucci Group. Creative Director Tomas Maier

Tomas Maier

Tomas Maier is a German-born designer who is currently Head of Creative Design at Italian luxury goods company Bottega Veneta, a subsidiary of the Gucci Group...

 came on board in June of that year. and presented his first collection, for Spring-Summer 2002, that fall. The German-born Maier, whose resumé includes positions at Sonia Rykiel and Hermès, set about returning the brand to its original identity. He removed visible logos from the brand’s products, highlighted the signature intrecciato weave prominently, and returned the company’s focus to artisanal production.
In the years since, Bottega Veneta has introduced additions to the collection, including fine jewelry, eyewear, home fragrance, and furniture, while continuing to offer an assortment of handbags, shoes, small leather goods, luggage, home items, and gifts. Bottega Veneta presented its first women’s ready-to-wear runway show in February 2005 and its first men’s runway show in June 2006. Today, ready-to-wear and furniture presentations are held in the corporate offices in Milan.

In the summer of 2006, in recognition of the importance of artisanal craftsmanship and the diminishing number of master leatherworkers in Italy, Bottega Veneta opened the Scuola della Pelletteria, a school to train and support future generations of leather artisans.

Boutiques

Distribution of Bottega Veneta products is global, encompassing Europe, Asia, and North America
through more than 140 of its own stores. Wholesale distribution in select specialty and department stores is complemented by a growing number of Bottega Veneta-owned boutiques, currently located in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, France

France

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, United Kingdom

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, Malaysia, Switzerland

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Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Germany

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, Russia

Russia

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, Turkey

Turkey

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, Denmark

Denmark

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, Sweden

Sweden

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, Lebanon

Lebanon

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, Lithuania

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, Ukraine

Ukraine

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, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Hong Kong

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, Guam

Guam

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, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

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, Philippines

Philippines

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, Thailand

Thailand

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, Kuwait

Kuwait

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, India

India

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, United Arab Emirates

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, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

.

Advertising campaigns

A list of artists have contributed to the creation of Bottega Veneta’s advertising portfolio. Collaborations include Alex Prager (Spring 2011), Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin

Nancy "Nan" Goldin is an American photographer.-Life and work:Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts suburb of Lexington, to middle class Jewish parents whose ideas, moderately liberal and progressive, were put to the test when on April 12, 1965 their eldest...

 (Spring 2010), Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...

 (Fall 2009), Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan was an American photographer. His work was recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as multiple grants from the NEA...

 (Spring 2009), Todd Eberle (Cruise 2009), Nick Knight

Nick Knight

Nicholas Verity Knight is a former England cricketer. Knight's middle name was in honour of the 1930s English Test bowler Hedley Verity who was killed in World War II and is a distant family relation...

 (Fall 2008), Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood

Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBE , born Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon...

 (Spring 2008), Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer.-Early life and education:Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children. She is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe. Her father's...

 (Fall 2007), Tina Barney

Tina Barney

Tina Barney is an American artist photographer best known for her large-scale portraits of her family and close friends, many of whom are well-to-do denizens of New York and New England....

 (Spring 2007), Lord Snowdon (Fall 2006), Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore is an American photographer known for his deadpan images of banal scenes and objects in the United States, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography.- Life and work :...

 (Spring 2006) and Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia is an American photographer. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Afterwards diCorcia attended Yale University where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Photography in 1979. He now lives and works in New York, and teaches at Yale University in New...

(Fall 2005).

External links

• Official website