Bottega Veneta Marks 50 Years of Intrecciato with ‘Craft is our Language’

There are few design signatures in luxury menswear as instantly recognisable—and quietly potent—as Bottega Veneta’s Intrecciato leather weave. This year, to mark 50 years of the technique, the house presents Craft is our Language, a campaign that honours the artistry behind Intrecciato and the gesture at the heart of craft itself: the hand.

Photographed by Jack Davison and choreographed by Lenio Kaklea, the campaign brings together artisans, actors, athletes, musicians, and designers—each a master of their own medium, each offering their hands to a celebration of making. Among them are Jack Antonoff, Dario Argento, Zadie Smith, Troy Kotsur, Neneh Cherry, and tennis player Lorenzo Musetti. The list spans generations and disciplines, but what links them is the shared language of skill, discipline, and touch.

If you’ve ever carried a Bottega Veneta woven tote or admired the sculptural heft of its accessories, you’ll know that the house doesn’t shout. There’s no logo. There’s no monogram. Intrecciato is the identity. Introduced in 1975, it remains the most articulate expression of the brand’s ethos—subtle luxury, extraordinary technique, and refined eccentricity.

This campaign places that technique front and centre. Not as ornament, but as language. The act of weaving—the intertwining of leather strips into form—is reimagined as a gesture of exchange, connection, and continuity. Artisans sit opposite cultural figures in the campaign films, hands moving in conversation, not in competition. It’s a dynamic that breaks down traditional divisions between artist and maker, suggesting that real luxury lies in the blurring of those lines.

Among the campaign’s cast, two names stand out for their ties to Bottega’s legacy. Edward Buchanan, who served as Design Director in the late ‘90s, helped introduce the brand’s first ready-to-wear collections. Lauren Hutton, meanwhile, made fashion history in American Gigolo when she appeared with an Intrecciato clutch—bringing Bottega Veneta to international attention in a single, effortless frame.

Fifty years on, Intrecciato remains synonymous with the house and, arguably, with the best of modern Italian design. It’s deceptively simple: woven strips of leather, refined into form with artisan precision. But as Craft is our Language reminds us, simplicity can be sophisticated, and tradition needn’t be static.

As part of the anniversary, a limited-edition book will launch in September, offering a visual “dictionary” of 50 hand gestures that represent the values and vocabulary of Bottega Veneta. Consider it an homage to both the craft that defines the brand, and to the wider culture of Italian expression—gestural, lyrical, timeless.

For men who care about materials, who respect heritage without being bound by it, and who understand that style is most powerful when it’s understated, Bottega Veneta continues to offer a masterclass in modern elegance. Here, craft isn’t an add-on—it’s the story itself. And in that story, the hand always leads.