MILAN — Matthieu Blazy desires to be surprised, which is something he believes will result in all the time fresh creativity.

On this vein, Blazy, creative director of Bottega Veneta, just returned from a visit to São Paulo, where the brand held the newest chapter in its cultural exchange series The Square. Bottega Veneta touched down within the Brazilian city after Dubai and Tokyo last 12 months, celebrating local culture at Lina Bo Bardi’s iconic Casa de Vidro, or Glass House in English.

“As a worldwide brand, after we began The Square in Dubai, we were seeking to speak to a special audience,” Blazy, soft-spoken and thoughtfully selecting his words, explained in an exclusive interview.

“Often brands hold events to present their products, but I find it more interesting to begin a conversation in a special country, where the event is more local, in a shared way, where the experience does not rely on the product, and alluring a various group of individuals who’re experts in their very own field.”

The Square series brings together artists, guests and the general public in immersive, site-specific events that aim to stimulate curiosity and dialogue while championing Bottega Veneta’s values of craft, creativity and self-expression, he explained.

The Square São Paulo, which also marked Bottega Veneta’s 10-year anniversary in Brazil and celebrated the partnership with leading luxury developer Iguatemi, was curated with Mari Stockler. Blazy was adamant that he didn’t want “just a celebration or a store event [to signal the milestone]; I feel it’s very, very boring.”

Following the the custom square structures of Dubai and Tokyo, the event was held within the square setting of Bo Bardi’s landmark Modernist house, surrounded by a lush garden.

Blazy enthused about Bo Bardi, revealing his longtime passion for the work of the late Italian-born architect and still marveling at the chance to stage the experience in her house.

He gave Stockler carte blanche. “What she did was incredible and in addition very generous, she put herself in Bo Bardi’s shoes and checked out different horizons of creation in Brazil. Not only fantastic art, but additionally sculpture and music, gathering the artists in the home, as Bo Bardi would have done.”

Casa de Vidro was Bo Bardi’s first built project and private residence until her death in 1992. Accomplished in 1951, the home has been a gathering point for artists, architects and intellectuals each during Bo Bardi’s lifetime, and subsequently under the direction of the Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro.

Through the 11-day program that kicked off on May 24, artists and artworks from Brazil got here together to honor the legacy of Bo Bardi, explore her interaction with Brazilian culture, and have a good time Brazilian creativity in all its forms.

Blazy enjoys visiting art fairs, resembling Frieze, for instance, and knew about Stockler’s work through these events, he said. Along with her help, while he was knowledgeable in Brazilian art, he said he “discovered many others, and I trusted Mari to bring a recent standpoint. She went to Amazonia and located an incredible artist. I placed myself as a spectator as I used to be interested to learn as well. We’ve to trust the people we entitle; I don’t need to fall into the mono-vision of me driving the automobile,” underscored Blazy. “It’s not within the DNA of the corporate.”

The brand was founded by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro, who were followed by owners Laura Braggion and Vittorio Moltedo before Gucci Group’s acquisition in 2001.

“Selecting Mari allowed to bring diversity to the project, a special standpoint and for me to be surprised,” Blazy continued.

The initial idea was to have a good time Bo Bardi’s legacy. “There are a variety of stuff you read in books, but I had not fully experienced her space. Then I sat in her chair, I saw how she [designed the concrete and glass structure] of the Museum of Art in São Paulo almost 70 years ago but she brought a lot modernity.”

The museum’s foremost body is supported by two lateral beams over a 243-foot freestanding space. “She had a method to show the paintings on a concrete pedestal, on a glass which permits you to see the painting from back and front, and it‘s in no way didactic or following a timeline and you’ll be able to select your individual pace.” He marveled at “the liberty she gives to the viewer, the simplicity of the design and the efficiency of it, so, yes, I used to be surprised.”

The surprise was prolonged to concretely experiencing Bo Bardi’s house. “ that you just are in a monument, it’s as for those who were in a Le Corbusier [building] or in Machu Picchu, and it’s incredible architecturally however it’s very intimate at the identical time. You’re feeling it’s a domestic place; she was living there together with her husband, you’ll be able to imagine her in her house day by day. Yes, it’s a spot I might like to live in,” said Blazy, smiling. Bo Bardi cofounded the influential art magazine Habitat and in addition created jewelry, costume, furniture and set designs.

Blazy said that Bottega Veneta is “about timeless style” and that The Square “recognized how Lina’s ideas and aesthetics resonate to today, all the time reminding us of the transformative power of design and culture.”

The event was curated around 4 themed pathways related to time; geometry and spirituality; Brazilian counterculture, and the roots of samba style Bossa Nova, taking visitors through the home and garden.

Participating talents in The Square São Paulo included Arnaldo Antunes, Ibã Salles, Vivian Caccuri, Luiz Zerbini, Carlito Carvalhosa, Rosana Paulino, Alaíde Costa, Lenora de Barros, Cristiano Lenhardt, Leda Catunda, Ricardo Aleixo, and João Camarero. The event also featured works by Lygia Pape, Hélio Oiticica, Augusto de Campos, Mestre Guarany, and Surubim Feliciano da Paixão — in addition to Bo Bardi’s own work, writings and original furnishings housed in Casa de Vidro.

Stockler decided to ask the artists into the home and never stage a standard exhibition, but to immerse the works inside the house as if Bo Bardi had chosen the pieces herself, said Blazy. “I think [Bo Bardi] would have liked this approach,” he contended. 

Stockler is “always digging for brand spanking new artists,” said Blazy. He admitted knowing “the classic Brazilian artists and architecture,” but that he was desirous to learn more. The experience “needed to have an angle, it’s not for me to have an opinion on what she is proposing, I’m also challenged, and should embrace what she offered.”

4 books, based on The Square’s 4 pathways, have been published in a limited-edition boxed set.

Blazy admitted he enjoys art, but he also underscored he does “not need to be seen just as mental or cerebral. I also like pop, you’ll be able to talk rather a lot about art but in the long run it’s about an emotion, does it trigger me, do I prefer it or not.”

He also disliked the concept of artists working directly on the garments or on a bag. “I’m not thinking about this but I’m in the concept of juxtaposition, almost like [the German artistic movement] Bauhaus working with folks that can bring their stone to the edifice and if you mix voices, it may possibly create something that’s recent.”

For Bottega Veneta’s spring 2023 collection, Blazy teamed with Gaetano Pesce, but he underscored that he worked on the garments and Pesce on the set, resulting in the juxtaposition. Pesce created 200 chairs for the show in Milan, each with a novel resin finish, some with hand drawings, which were then displayed at Design Miami and available for purchase.

For Milan’s Salone del Mobile last April, Pesce created limited edition handcrafted bags for Bottega Veneta — his first time designing bags — as a part of the brand’s installation staged in a grotto made from resin and fabric. The baggage were figurative, and more artworks than not, because the Intrecciato weave showed two mountains with a sunrise or sunset behind made with airbrush and crochet techniques.

“I believed it was more interesting that I remove myself and never be involved creatively within the bag. The sketch was from Gaetano and the luggage were produced by Bottega Veneta; he worked directly with the artisans,” Blazy said.

The designer said inspiration comes from many various places and that he wouldn’t narrow it all the way down to his passion for the humanities, inherited from his parents, who each made a living out of it. “Yes, I take a look at art, I actually have met many artists in my life. But I also love silly magazines; sometimes a fantastic idea comes from Coca Cola bottles in a café. Nevertheless it’s true that due to my personal interest I’ll look possibly more at art than some movies. But inspiration is all over the place.”

Asked about his own artistic inclinations, he shyly said he paints, but underscored that it’s merely a hobby and that he wouldn’t show his works to the surface world.

“The Square format gives us total freedom, it gives us the likelihood to think with out a product and it may possibly go anywhere, and the advantage of anywhere is that culture is all over the place and there’ll all the time be something we are able to connect with,” said Blazy. “It could possibly take a special shape depending on the placement.”

He was pleased that The Square was open to the general public in São Paulo and said the format was one other method to have “great conversations” along with his design team beyond the clothes and accessories.

“We would like to carry this type of event every year – and we’d like to work on it for a 12 months, it’s not something you’ll be able to do on the last minute. It’s a great challenge and helps us to attempt to think out of the box,” Blazy remarked. The following location has not been set yet.

Since his promotion to creative director in November 2021, succeeding Daniel Lee, Blazy has left his mark on Bottega Veneta with modern and exciting designs and fabric manipulations, evolving the brand’s time-honed sophisticated leather techniques. He summed up his mantra with the easy statement that “craft is the essence” of the brand, and the handmade, artisanal skills are constantly stretched to seek out recent ways to surprise the designer himself and the client.

“The foremost idea is to deliver a fantastic product, that’s well made and that creates desire. If on top of that folks call it fashion, then I’m completely happy.”