It was only after I had actually lived in Venice that it struck me all of a sudden how the whole city – especially during the warm summer months – feels like one great big living room, an extension of home. This was such a new and exciting sensation, but then I thought, "Hang on, that’s odd, why am I walking about in my own living room carrying a handbag?" So, I found some water repellent fabrics in a local remnant shop, cut them out, stitched them together, devised a strong, slim handle, and there it was: a new kind of bag for my life. A bag that could go anywhere and do everything, from parties to dining out, from shopping to travelling, you name it. It was the perfect all-in-one item: elegant, timeless, functional, versatile, durable and light.

Twenty years of trying and testing have gone by since that moment of inspiration. Then I met Nina Alessandri, a creative spirit and native Venetian, who  straightaway fell in love with the concept and said she’d join me. While we were doing the photo shoot, the humour of the Nouvelle Vague – the French art film movement of the late 1950s – captured our mood; that’s when the narrative came to life and with it, a name, so now we are ready to share the ‘nouvellebag’ with you.

- Gioia Meller Marcovicz

Nouvellebag is entirely manufactured in Italy using top quality, sustainable and, when possible, recycled fabrics from the most renowned Italian textiles producers.