MILAN — In pursuit of creating timeless Florentine artistry, Carlos Mota, the Venezuelan-born New York-based interior and design consultant and founder of home decor firm Casamota, has teamed with heritage Florentine firm Loretta Caponi.
Loretta Caponi founded her company in 1967. Following her death in 2015, Loretta’s daughter, Lucia Caponi, took its helm as creative director. On Wednesday, the company told WWD it worked with Mota on a trio of collections of linens and accessories inspired by art, nature and lifestyle. The line includes embroidered bed linens, placemats, napkins, towels and tablecloths that imbue Mota’s love of art and nature with the finely crafted linens for which Loretta Caponi is famous.
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Mota, a well-known New York City interiors and design consultant, founded his home decor atelier Casamota after meeting an embroidery workshop founder, Neha Malhotra, in Mumbai in 2019.
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Mota told WWD that he met Caponi through a mutual friend and he was drawn to the traditional essence of the brand, a go-to for wedding trousseaus — which is a dying practice.
“The most important thing is the embroidery all done by hand, because I feel like that’s like a dying breed, everything is so fast paced. I’m happy to preserve it,” he said.
The capsule’s Mobile collection is marked by gold tones and energized lines, while the Natura collection is recognizable for whimsical, traditional details like bees, butterflies, flowers and fruit. Finally, The Lucky Us collection was inspired by the universal symbol of luck and the Loretta Caponi logo, the clove.
Guido Conti Caponi, the grandson of the late Loretta Caponi and current chief operating officer, said the two share the same appreciation for nature and details, adding that a homage to his mother Lucia’s signature ladybug has been woven into most of the company’s embroidered products.
“In Carlos’ works there’s always a unique research of details as well as a rich selection of ideas and a lot of inspiration. So we easily found out that we were aligned on a similar aesthetic and love for art nature. It’s been an easy, fun and productive collaboration,” Conti Caponi told WWD.
Conti Caponi explained that the family-run firm’s home business represents about 40 percent of its revenues, with 40 percent generated by ready-to-wear and the rest split between kids and menswear. As for international sales channels, he said “we are not looking to be everywhere,” and continues to sell in Harrods and online platform Abask.
“Let’s say that we keep developing this line, this luxury linen collection, because we have been approaching the hospitality business, we are now trying to focus more on specialty stores and department stores that have a limited luxury linen section,” he said, adding that the brand has been expanding in the U.S., its main market.
Conti Caponi’s grandmother Loretta was born in 1924, and started taking commissions at 14 years old.
Today its headquarters are located a few steps away from central Via Tornabuoni in the beautiful frescoed 13th-century Palazzo Aldobrandini Di Lippo, which the Caponi family restored. The store includes an atelier and houses all of the brand’s collections, which span home, men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, loungewear and innerwear and, since 2019, a delightful children’s corner.
One of the brand’s staples is the long “Fiocchini [small bows]” nightgown, inspired by an original piece of the early 1900s — which continues to be a bestseller. Loretta Caponi was a pioneer in rendering innerwear garments that could be worn outside the house — and the bed. Cue her “Loretta” model, with a smock embroidery and neck ruffles.
The exclusive capsule of Loretta Caponi in partnership with Carlos Mota will be available to purchase on Loretta Caponi’s website from Feb. 1. Both Caponi and Mota will host an event feting its upcoming debut in New York City on Wednesday.