The products of the workshop

Shoes, watches, glasses, bags and accessories: all made by hand, in leather, hide and wood.

The workshop no longer sells. The pages below tell what was made, in the words of the person who made it.

The idea of being able to work even without electricity was the philosophy my father followed all his working life: to be free to work with “only” a good idea, the materials and the right tools to make it real.

The idea was the starting point of every creation, ours or a customer’s. The main materials were hide and leather; adhesives and other chemicals were kept to a minimum, to protect the environment and keep quality high. The tools, often made by hand when needed, were mostly produced by the craftsmen of the workshop.

Shoes

The product for which my father became famous around the world. The shoe collections made over the years in the workshop were our pride, the starting point from which he began many years ago, and they made shoes “signed” with his name a synonym of quality and excellence.

The choice of fine materials and the fifty-two stages of work, done by hand as they always were, following the tradition my father handed down, made the shoes very comfortable and built to last.

Like works of art, they were unique pieces, designed and built on the shape of the foot of whoever would wear them: not “a pair of shoes”, but “his pair of shoes”.

A suede ankle boot in the middle of a half-circle of coloured miniature shoes

A suede ankle boot with a tiny red miniature shoe

An open “Little Shoes” wooden box with rows of miniature shoes

A black and white two-tone shoe; on the sole, handwritten, the names of Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson

A honey-coloured leather lace-up shoe, with the welt stitching in view

Watches

The Bottega Vasì® watch line was unique of its kind. In its hand-stitched leather case lay a watch born of passion and made with care by the hands of our craftsmen.

Leather for the strap and for the dial meant the watch “lived the day” with whoever wore it. Weather, time and the body shaped it until it took on the smell of its owner: nobody would have one identical to yours. The dial was minimal, without today’s technology, for a timeless product.

Only two models, for men and for women, in three colours. Natural, for customers who care about being rather than appearing. Ebony, with darker tones on strap and dial, which gave the watch “spite” and character. Leather brown, for the most eccentric: in that version you never went unnoticed.

A leather watch with its triangular case and rolled pouch

A leather watch lying in its open pouch, with a handwritten text

A watch on a triangular case of natural leather, with an engraved text

A watch on a triangular case of dark leather

Glasses

A product born in 2012 and made entirely by me, following an idea my father left drawn on a sheet of paper. A project Vasì would probably have wanted to carry out himself, with the right care and with his wish to turn a piece of leather into something more.

I took that sheet and those notes as my own and began refining the shape of “that leather”, making it look more and more like a pair of glasses, simple and unique. From the meeting of my father’s personality and mine two models were born: a sportier version, where the vintage lines of the frame are “dressed” in leather, and a more elegant line in which precious leather takes centre stage.

For those who want something more than a pair of glasses: a new feeling on the face, as only leather can give.

Four pairs of leather-covered glasses: yellow, green, red and brown

Prescription glasses with a brown leather frame

Bags

Natural, soft, useful, comfortable, amazing: the first five adjectives that came to mind holding a Bottega Vasì® bag.

A single hide and a single seam to build it created incredible shapes, each one unique and unrepeatable. The idea was to make the bag, the accessory born to carry objects, free of any object of its own: the simplicity of its essence and the uniqueness of its shapes gave it soul and personality.

Many colours, many leathers, different sizes: bags for him and for her.

A pale leather shoulder bag, made from a single hide

A large black leather bag with plaited handles

A brown leather satchel with a shoulder strap and a wooden button

Accessories

This is where the eccentricities and ideas lived, made freely by the craftsmen, following their own instincts. The only limit to the imagination was the choice of materials: the workshop loves leather and adores hide, and from these came rings and bracelets in different shapes and colours, key rings and other objects.

One day, walking into the workshop, I noticed that the door of my office had been taken away. A little incredulous, I waited before looking into it: if someone had removed it, there had to be a good reason. In the afternoon I found it back in its place, but it was no longer the same: it was completely covered in leather. It took a moment, a flash of lightning, to understand that the door reflected our whole philosophy. That door had become Bottega Vasì®.

Two leather diaries, brown and blue, tied with string

Two stitched leather balls and a spiral leather object

A round leather tin holding polishing wax

An open leather case full of glasses, watches and accessories

Product photographs: Giorgia Vlassich and Serena Marinucci.