Zanellato: The Timeless Style of the Alchemist of Leather Designs a Future of Beauty Through Craftsmanship Intelligence
Born from the crafts of yesterday, the future of beauty is safeguarded as a promise in every Zanellato bag, rigorously handmade with exclusive, natural leathers and details that speak the language of craftsmanship from times gone by, gently opposed to the frenzy of today.
A success born from a quality that can first be discovered through touch, feeling the incredibly soft leathers of the Postina®, Dotta®, A Spasso®, and Mondà® models, but also perceived through scent, with an essence based on iris, leather, and almond peels – created in collaboration with an Italian perfumer – that evokes talcum powder and childhood memories. It’s an invitation to open the wardrobes of emotional memory, unfolding in the inspiration of Maison’s signature models, all tied to Italian trades and stories, starting with the now-legendary ‘Postina®’, a reinterpretation of the classic mailbag design and a tribute to the famous movie “Il Postino.”
A bag designed with strict adherence to golden proportions and dedicated to an ancient profession, just like ‘Dotta®’, inspired by the historic bag of family doctors and conceived as a homage to Ernestina Paper, the first woman doctor to graduate in Italy. For Franco Zanellato, the most authentic ideas emerge when reconnecting with one’s roots, as in the case of ‘Mondà®’, a tribute to the rice huskers of the Po Delta, whose typical basket has been reinterpreted in a modern way with a typically Italian retro touch.
Here, the tribute is not only to Italian history and professions but also to the cinema that immortalized them, such as the rice-husker Nives, portrayed by Sophia Loren in the famous 1954 film “La Donna del Fiume.” Another great classic of Italian living, the walk through the city center, has been turned into a pop industrial design tote bag: ‘A Spasso®’, inspired by a model worn by the charming Beppa Zanellato, the protagonist of the Italian Dolce Vita, rediscovered by her grandson Franco in an old family photo.
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It is not only the stories that speak to the authentic path of Zanellato in Made in Italy but also unique details such as the engraving of the postal stamp, issued in 2011, present on the iconic Postina® model, which bears the first recognition by the Italian Post as a true Icon of Made in Italy worldwide, embellishing each bag as a unique and inimitable jewel. The stamp is engraved on a 19kt gold-plated plaque, crafted with a unique artisanal technique, just as Zanellato’s care for its bags is unique.
These bags are not only timeless design icons but also bearers of unique values, deeply rooted in the finest history of our country to build a future grounded in true beauty, the kind that lasts. Like the stories of those who came before us, like the timeless bags passed down from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter. Treasures to be preserved through time, symbolized by the jewel-lock closure made by skilled goldsmiths, with an intricate study of the mechanism derived from haute horology. Franco Zanellato studied every tiny detail of this mechanism, even giving it a particular sound upon closing: the tick it produces recalls the perpetual and continuous passing of time, in a challenge to the passage of time through “perpetual” details.
A story of values and beauty also evoked by colors such as Venetian Red, Doge Orange, Grey Terraferma, and Laguna Blue, which are a tribute to Venice. Yet another way to tell a story of culture and quality, reaching its peak in exclusive leathers such as Centauro, a bull leather with a round, embossed grain, slightly dented, obtained through a long manual process with chisels, developed over time thanks to Franco Zanellato’s vision. Inspired by the texture of Sicilian orange peels, Centauro is aesthetically unique and boasts exceptional technical characteristics, such as high resistance to fire, tearing, and abrasion.
Because some stories, like some bags, are forever.
