Luxury handbag brand OneSixOne has set itself a high bar if there ever was one. Its name derives from the decimal 1.61, an approximation of the golden ratio – the number that mathematicians, architects and artists alike consider to govern beauty.
Each season, the Spanish brand delves deep into that concept, creating a collection of 161 handbags developed closely with an international emerging artist, who lends his or her vision to OneSixOne’s harmonious leather forms.
‘We are doing something different,’ stresses Adrian Salvador Candela, the brand's founder. ‘It’s not just a superficial intervention in a bag – we are talking about a whole new project where each bag is the result of a creative process that reflects the deepest values of craftsmanship and combines the Spanish leather tradition with the most innovative technology.’
OneSixOne founder Adrian Salvador Candela and artist Anna Talens with the new collection
For autumn/winter 2016, OneSixOne has enlisted Anna Talens, a visual artist from Berlin who ‘has an enigmatic and curious vision’. Talens has applied her distinct eye to 'Endless', a collection that highlights her talent for ‘unsuspected details that generate new meanings’.
Talens is influenced by wabi-sabi: the Japanese philosophy that sees beauty in imperfect and incomplete objects. Here, she has used the Japanese kintsugi technique in her handmade gold-threaded crochet works, a fragile shimmering beauty that is reflected in the copper-coloured clutch of her collection.
Candela adds: ‘Many people identify craftsmanship with tradition, but I connect it to everyday activities, products and materials.’ To the OneSixOne founder, these products have an emotional and cultural component, one that is made visible beautifully in handbags, objects we use everyday.
There’s a story to tell in each collection, from the artists, to the individual language they’ve been building for years, and the travels to the south of Spain to closely develop the pieces with artisans. Each iteration of the project becomes a celebration of the artist’s ethos combined with the company’s values.
What Candela has to say about Talens’ touch on OneSixOne bags is sure to ring true for following iterations: ‘Without pretension and with a human imprint on all of her pieces, she makes pure poetry.’
Each bag combines Spanish leather tradition with innovative technology
For its latest collection, 'Endless', OneSixOne enlisted Berlin-based artist Anna Talens, who used her own Wind holders series (pictured left, Croché - Yellow sea urchin, 2007) as inspiration. Right, Endless hobo bag in mustard
Talens has adopted the Japanese art kintsugi technique to craft her collection. Pictured right, the Gaia bag in brown calf leather
Endless hobo bag in mustard (left) and grey
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the OneSixOne website
-
All-In is the Paris-based label making full-force fashion for main character dressingPart of our monthly Uprising series, Wallpaper* meets Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø of All-In, the LVMH Prize-nominated label which bases its collections on a riotous cast of characters – real and imagined
-
Maserati joins forces with Giorgetti for a turbo-charged relationshipAnnouncing their marriage during Milan Design Week, the brands unveiled a collection, a car and a long term commitment
-
Through an innovative new training program, Poltrona Frau aims to safeguard Italian craftThe heritage furniture manufacturer is training a new generation of leather artisans
-
The 3D-printed biobased opticals inspired by French cinemaThree new sustainable styles draw on the sultry French Riviera setting of Schneider’s 1969 thriller La Piscine
-
The Mediterranean coastline inspires Chanel’s Cruise collectionThe collection features trousers cascading with ruffles, bouclé skirts which unbutton to the thigh, dresses in fine transparent lamé and shiny Bermuda shorts
-
Falke’s high end hosiery balances tradition and modernity -
Architecturally-aligned bag brands for raising up your wardrobeThe Wallpaper* edit of sculpturally sublime emerging bag brands – S. Joon, Osoi, Numen and Yuzefi
-
Wicker bags weaving style magic for summerWe’ll soon be embarking into our sun-drenched summer destinations, so it’s natural we’re craving stylish, beach-ready pieces
-
Hide time: Church’s launches inaugural leather goods collection -
Blue print: Fontana Milano 1915’s ‘A’ bag collaboration with Wallpaper* -
Singapore bling: the handcrafted splendour of Llora's handbag designs
