Loewe’s New It Bag Is All About Your Favorite Four-Legged Friend—and Old-World Craft

The word of the day, thanks to Loewe, is marquetry: “decorative work in which elaborate patterns are formed by the insertion of pieces of material (as wood, shell or ivory) into a wood veneer that is then applied to a surface (as of a piece of furniture).”

That’s the official Merriam-Webster rundown. And here’s what happens when the ancient technique is redefined by the brand’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson.

In conjunction with the recent Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan, a new mini collection of crossbody bags that includes the vibrant four-legged friend style shown here borrows the craft’s basic tenets, using leather inlays to adapt patterns taken from archival silk prints and centuries-old Japanese wooden screens.

The team at Loewe tells us that “every source motif has been reworked, either magnified or abstracted, for a contemporary appearance, and different types of leather were used to produce a painterly effect, with varying textures and contrasting sections.”

 

Using marquetry this way isn’t new for the Spanish-heritage brand; they have a serious history with the mosaic-like process, but Salone del Mobile provided the team’s artisans with the opportunity to flex it in a fresh way. The technique, as applied to floor lamps, chairs, drawers and more, is ultra-inspiring—a true homage not just to the highly skilled craft but to the aesthetic of the Bloomsbury Group of early 20th-century London.

And don’t worry: even if you had been there, you wouldn’t have been able to purchase the leather-covered oak pieces because they were for exhibition only. Which makes the bags that much more desirable. They’re not just of-the-moment fashion accessories, they’re souvenirs from an exploration that was right in line with Loewe’s mission: “To push the expressive and technical capabilities of leather and transfer the knowledge of the house to new fields and uncharted frontiers.”

 

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—Laura Cassidy

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