“Craft and Creativity” is Bottega Veneta’s founding crest. Faithful to this ethos, the luxury fashion house announces “Accademia Labor Et Ingenium,” an academy set to flourish creatives and designers through education by its master ateliers.
An emphasis on craft is at the heart of the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta. True to their philosophy, the House announced the 2024 opening of an academy, where masters teach the brand’s secrets to budding creatives and designers.
The academy, “Accademia Labor Et Ingenium,” derives its name from Bottega Veneta’s original crest, meaning “Craft and Creativity.” Prospective students can enroll in January and begin training in March, enroll in April, with the course starting in June, or enroll in July with training beginning in Oct. The House will invite 50 students each year into their atelier’s world, with guaranteed employment at Bottega Veneta once the students complete the course. At last, a window into the nearly impenetrable barrier of high fashion employment.
Students will learn from five masters who already hold the artistic codes of Bottega Veneta. Lessons include producing different bags and insights into the luxury realm, including growing professional communications. The school will also upskill and reskill existing Bottega Veneta employees.
Accademia Labor Et Ingenium will reside at two locations in Italy: a new site in Povolaro Dueville and Bottega’s existing atelier in Montebello Vicentino. To benefit the local Veneto region’s creativity and impart the Made in Italy heritage, the school will collaborate with regional partners.
The academic institution reflects not only the values of Bottega Veneta, which go back to the brand’s founding in 1966 but also the values of the House’s creative director, Mathieu Blazy. Since his appointment to creative director in 2021, Blazy’s approach to design has always been craft-focused. “The pleasure of just making—just working on clothes and silhouette without any commercial idea really got me back on track,” Blazy told Vogue. To Blazy, Bottega Veneta is a house, not just a band.
Although the academy is the House’s most intimate form of education, it is not their first educational effort. It has already collaborated with Venice’s Università Iuav di Venezia for a seven-week masterclass of eight students led by former Bottega Veneta apprentice Ruggero Negretto.
Blazy aspires to pass down the tradition and knowledge of today’s creatives to the next generation. Bottega Veneta’s Accademia Labor Et Ingenium corroborates that the House is more than just the brand and its commercial appeal. The individual and craft mold the House into the creative powerhouse it has proven to be for the past 56 years.
All images courtesy of Bottega Veneta.
