Perhaps not everyone knows that René Caovilla is one of the oldest luxury shoes companies in Italy. deEverything started in 1934 when Edoardo Caovilla, Luigi Voltan’s apprentice, the first shoemaker in the zone Riviera del Brenta, near to Venice, had the idea to create luxury shoes by combining his expertise in the field with his passion for couture. At the beginning, there were only his wife, in charge of embroidering shoes by hand and four craftsmen in a small room. In the Sixties, it was René Caovilla, Edoardo’s son, who took the lead of the family company, after studying design in London and in Paris.
In the following decades, Seventies and Eighties, he began working with the finest names of high fashion, from Valentino Garavani to Chanel, going through Christian Dior: his reputation is widening more and more and his attention to details turns itself into the desire of creating jewel shoes. A crucial step in the history of the company that is now managed by Edoardo Caovilla, the founder’s grandson.
The short directed by Astrologo brothers dives us into the heart of Maison René Caovilla, in the majestic Villa Pisani, built by the famous Venetian architect of the 18th century Palladio, completely surrounded by vegetation, in the middle of the Riviera del Brenta: this is the view you can admire from the factories where those marvellous creations are manufactured.
The architecture beauty of the Villa inspires the shoes beauty. History, tradition and innovation interlace one another in the storytelling that unveils us the backstage of this iconic Maison of luxury Made in Italy, luxury Made in Venice.
From the drawings to the “small hands” of the craftsmen to the precious stones inserted one by one like in the jewels manufacture, we are conveyed by this process that leads to those masterpieces of traditional craftsmanship preserved in the wonderful René Caovilla archive.
Here, we can find the brand’s DNA in an extraordinary collection of shoes, creations from the Forties until today: the allusions to Venetian art, from the past of the painters of the 17th century like Tiziano and Veronese until the modern Biennale, until the current Biennali, are highlighted by the most talented craftsmen’s skills.
Venice is a city that knows how to move on without ever losing its commitment to its genetic code as well as René Caovilla’s craftsmen are able to create exquisite shoes thanks to their expertise and their traditional skill but also to their capacity to adapt to new technologies.
That’s why every René Caovilla shoe is no longer a simple fashion accessory and turns itself into a piece of art, an expression of the Venetian dream.
