Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

Swide sat down for a stylish chat with Luisa&Tine, the 2 women behind the handbag brand.

Not a bar code, but a creative code that comprises fresh and original handbag designs. L for Luisa, T for Tine and 180 for their 1m80…. Half French and half Italian, a degree in art & fashion, a love for Rome and Luisa&Tine launched their brand sometime ago and set up their partnership in the Italian historical city. The creative duo is very representative of what a working woman is today and what she needs and fancies. Thinking of a new design means imagining what these two would like to grab and wear. Inspired by street life moments as well as confirmed contemporary artists such as Anselm Kiefer, their creations are “so real” and concrete. They are of the present and reflect innovation as much as they are practical. The focus is on materials, painting on exotic skin for instance is typical of Luisa&Tine. A new take on luxury fabrics to fade the shine and the glitz… Dress them down in appearance. To wear these handbags is to discover a new friend that reveals its quality day after day.

 

The collection includes various sizes and styles; carry-all bags like the CITADINE, a reinterpretation of a doctor briefcase, or clutches treated like school black boards. In a word, there is what we need for a wardrobe update or a fashion serious fix.
We love the bags, met with the girls for a Swide interview; from this cool chat we know a bit more why LT-180 is a unique and promising label and why Rome is a great city for fashion arty collabs’.

1. How did you meet?
L&T: We met at a party held at the Villa Medici 8 years ago.

2. Where did the idea of creating LT-180 come from?
L&T: We both graduated the same year; during the following summer we were painting together and decided to use our creativity to design bags. On and on, we made it to set up our brand LT-180.

3. Why Italy and why Rome?
L&T: Simply because we met in Rome and we both live there. Moreover we are both half French/ half Italian. We now live between Paris and Rome.

4. What does Made in Italy symbolises do you?  What does it implies? Is it still a strong trademark?
L&T: Made in Italy is a stamp that confirms quality and categorises a product as valuable. It is a value assurance for customers. Italy is not the only country to offer serious and well done manufactured production however as we live in Italy it makes sense to produce in this country.

5. Is there anything special and inspiring about Rome, when Milan seems to be the fashion centre in Italy?
L&T: Rome is not a fashion centre and therefore it is a great place to let creativity flows, free from the pressure of demand. Rome’s classicism is just perfect for us, the walls, the streets reflect art history and recall tradition.

6. What are you favourite spots in Rome?
L&T: For breakfast, Calisto in Trastere is great. It is very inspiring to kick off with a new day there, the crowd is a cool mix of Romans and outsiders. For a friend catch up the restaurant Osteria Chiana, is the address. We enjoy going to museums a lot, such as the Macro, Palazzo Delle Esposizioni but not only. San Lorenzo is great to walk through and discover small galleries showing emerging artists. Walking, talking, you might end up having dinner with some artists or meet with some friends at Caffe della pace, the Roman “rendez-vous” spot.

7. Do you travel a lot?
L&T: Travelling is a source of inspiration, a breath of fresh air. Discovering new things, get new ideas, are essential to renew and grow in your style design.

8. What are you inspired by?
L&T: We made our first collection by painting on canvas, very much inspired by German artists Anselm Kiefer. Everything inspires us; street life comprises a lot of things to be interpreted. It all goes down to how you see the world around.

9. Why have you chosen to follow Anselm Kiefer’s creative rule:  destroy to recreate?
L&T: We love to work on fabrics, to find something special and to transform it. By painting on snakeskin we made it look less refined. A lot of our clients ask us about fabrics and often do not believe us at first when we tell them that it is leather. The power of alteration gives a total new look to this classic and overused material.

10. Do you think about women and their urban lives and then design the perfect bag or do you first have the idea of the bag and then define the details?
L&T: We represent “the woman” who wears our purses. When we create it is always about us and how we want a bag to be.

11. Are you two complimentary?
L&T: Definitely, we seem to be the perfect match, for both of us it would be unthinkable to work in duo with somebody else.

12. Why bags?
L&T: The first creative idea was finalised on a handbag but we would love to push our designs further into other product lines.

13. Is fashion more an accessory than an outfit?
L&T: For us fashion is more a way of wearing things, a way of putting a look together.

14. What are you favourites fabrics?
L&T: We don’t have a favourite fabric; for now we are very much into raw materials, we follow our ever-evolving instinct.

Swide’s 5 Q/A

1. A bag: a friend or a slave?
L&T: A friend

2. Size a design or design for a size?
L&T: It depends, but for now maybe a size for a design.

3. A shoe or a bag addict?
L&T: We are both so our answer is definitely both!

4. Bags on hands or hands on bags?
L&T: Both!

5. Big or small?
L&T: Both!

 

Interview by Delphine Hervieu.

Source: www.lt180.com

TAGS: lt 180 LT-180 LT180 luisa & tine luisa tine deisgners handbag citadine interview women creations anselm kiefer german italian french rome handbags bag bags leather snakeskin exotic skin new clutch fashion wardrobe magazine online luxury magazine fashion magazine dolcegabbana dolce gabbana dolce&gabbana dolce & gabbana stefano domenico dolce gabbana fashion design made in italy luxe luxury fabrics a doctor brief case