Gianni Maitan, entrepreneur, photographer and designer, launched his new brand at the latest edition of Mipel, providing the attending audience with an original tactile and emotional experience.
Launched at the 95 th edition of Lineapelle, the new project carried on by Gianni Maitan made its debut at last edition of Mipel. The naturalist photographer and CEO of Gemata, the latter a leading company in the tanning machinery sector, described in detail the project for a handbags collection that embodied his “Africa blues”.
Gianni Maitan, designer of the new collection of bags and accessories that celebrates his passion for photography and wild animals.
Can you tell us more about this project?
This enterprise is a sort of pastime, even if I have toyed with this idea for years: to print my pictures on leather, in order to give life to a range of bags that might result into a global exhibition of animal photos. Said idea has turned into reality and the attendance to Mipel, a last-minute decision, confirms my desire to gain visibility, by launching the product on the market.
Why did you choose Mipel?
At the beginning, the idea was to rely solely on an e-commerce website, where customers could have the chance to customize their own bags by choosing among the available options in terms of picture subject, material and nuances. Later on, I understood the critical importance of a marketing strategy entailing exhibitions’ attendance and magazines advertising. Our article must reach stores too, must be admired first-hand, in order to truly understand its quality and distinctive appearance.
What kind of feedback did you get?
These creations aroused a lot of interest and curiosity, even of potential competitors! The product on display was unique, beautiful and eyecatching: other attending brands complimented me as well. The fairly large exhibition space gave me the chance to showcase almost the entire collection of samples, in addition to the latest prototypes: a few soft bags and three “minimal backpacks”, entirely hand-finished with full-grain, semi-finished leather.
What are the distinctive traits of the GM Venezia’s product?
Besides complying with the long-standing craftsmanship tradition nurtured in Veneto, handed down from father to son for generations, our creations boast a cutting-edge technique for the digital reproduction of the exclusive animals’ pictures taken by Gianni Maitan.
Each photograph tells a story: from the safaris in Africa, my first love after Italy, to the trips to Canada and Alaska, on the lookout for bears, or to Japan, where I focused on foxes, the latter an animal playing a key role in local folklore. Before reaching the laboratory specialized in digital printing, the hides, purchased from Arzignano-based tanneries that are Gemata’s customers, are subjected to a further treatment aimed at improving the quality of the photographic performance. We have chosen classic lines as well as shapes that can enhance the beauty of pictures, the true leitmotif of the entire collection.
In addition to the standard models featuring the traditional machinefinished leather, we have developed some prototypes using full-grain, semi-finished hide, either smooth “crust” or tumbled one with natural grain. Each article is an exclusive creation, featuring a longer, more delicate processing cycle compared to standard craft manufacturing: the parts making up every single bag are cut and the main piece is sent to the digital printing laboratory. All the others are hand-dyed, one by one, by using water-based anilines developed by Fenice, a firm headquartered in Valdagno, so as to make leather softer to the touch. After the drying and ironing phases, said elements are then assembled and stitched in a different workshop. Finally, the bag is touched up manually in order to even out and to adjust the picture’s colours.
Basically, the final result is a product synonymous with skilled craftsmanship, unique and customized, as if it were a work of art. www.gmvenezia.com