December 3, 2020 |
What defines an It bag? We don’t know the exact criteria, but if the likes of Rihanna, Dev Hynes and Petra Collins have all flung one across their shoulder, we’re pretty sure that cuts it.
Founded back in 2018, Medea is the Milan-based accessories label making the sort of understated shopper bags that stars across the globe are desperate to get their paws on. The brand is a product of twin sisters Camilla and Giulia Venturini, 32, who come from a small town near Garda Lake, Italy. Named after Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1969 film, Medea “reaches back in time to the multiple personae of the Greek goddess,” say the twins. “Elegant, beguiling and sensuous.” The design due consider their brand signature, the structured leather shopper, like a blank canvas for both colour and artistic collaboration – with past team-ups including London-based label Kiko Kostadinov and legendary American photographer, Nan Goldin.
“We love to collaborate with people, it’s in the DNA of Medea,” say the pair. “The process has always been smooth and organic, it’s an exchange between two parts that have a mutual respect for each other’s vision.”
Small village life, with no internet access growing up, meant the sisters were able to shape their own personal sense of style throughout their adolescence. They each spent 10 years working in various aspects of the creative industry before deciding to knuckle down on making their own brand. “We had so many different experiences across art and fashion and we felt it was the right time to gather both our knowledge and influences and try with our own project,” they explain.
Whilst you may dread the thought of working with a sibling, Camilla and Giulia believe its the key to their success. “The understanding and coherency between us is very strong. On top of being sisters, we are twins and this makes everything even tighter,” they affirm. Aside from the occasional squabble (which they say is always squished a minute or so later), the pair’s working relationship is shatterproof. “We communicate constantly and get to do things much faster because of our special bond. There is no real split between tasks, we both do everything.”
With a slew of exciting new collabs currently under wraps, the sisters believe Medea is quickly evolving from being merely a brand, to a fully-fledged platform for experimentation for other designers and artists. “In our minds, it is becoming more than a bag. It is becoming a statement.”
Photography courtesy of Medea.
