Two Beautiful Bottles and Two Short Films For Bottega Veneta's First Fragrance Launch.

Italian brand Bottega Veneta, long known for their stylish and beautifully crafted leather goods, has launched their first women's fragrance with films by Bruce Weber and Christian Weber and with two different but equally beautiful bottle designs; one for the Murano Parfum and the other for the eau de parfum.




The Films:


Captured by Bruce Weber under the artistic direction of Bottega Veneta's Creative Director, Tomas Maier, the first film for the scent features Nine d'Urso, the muse of the fragrance (and Natalie Portman doppelganger):



the print advertisement:


The second short film created for the launch of the brand's new women's fragrance, was made in collaboration with the photographer and director Christian Weber (also under the artistic direction of Tomas Maier and no relation to Bruce Weber).



This film, The Scent (shown below), is a visual journey which tells the story of the fragrance:


The Eau de Parfum:
Bottega Veneta, the eau de parfum, evokes the suppleness and sensuality of the house’s renowned leather goods. The fragrance, a leathery floral chypre, marries the olfactory language of the Venetian countryside—fresh meadows, mown hay, flowers, earth, and wood—with the gentle richness of leather in a creation crafted with the meticulousness of a master artisan.

The Eau de Parfum Bottle:


The Bottega Veneta bottles combine soft, rounded curves and powerful shapes, a smooth outside and an intrecciato texture on the bottom (reminiscent of their well-known leather weave):


The colors on the eau de parfum bottle are signature Bottega Veneta: a brunito cap and collar, an ebano logo and a skin colored leather ribbon clipped with a brunito butterfly:


The bottle itself, inspired by Venetian glasswork and the traditional Italian carafe, designed with an eye for timeless lines and resonant juxtapositions, is in every way a vessel of harmonious simplicity and perfectly balanced contradictions.

The Murano Parfum:
Composed by renowned master perfumer Michel Almairac, the Bottega Veneta fragrance reveals its signature character from the start. The structure of the fragrance is unique, a fine mesh of extraordinary raw materials whose individual scents are woven together to create a supple and harmonious whole.

The Murano Parfum Bottle:



The Murano bottle is a particularly pure expression of the quality and craftsmanship of Bottega Veneta. The flacon, designed by Creative Director Tomas Maier as a vessel for the parfum, is an object of timeless sophistication and contemporary functionality. The bottle is made of exceptionally fine glass hand-blown by artisans of one of the leading glassworks on the island of Murano.

A full line of scented products is now available, including perfumed shower gel and body cream:


Bottega Veneta

Unusual Blown Glass Fish Bowls By Roger Arquer.

This project presents fifteen different pieces that explore variations of the iconic image of a fishbowl. Each piece examines a topic or suggests a solution to a different issue, as human qualities are being attributed to a fish.





Thoughtful and yet playful, the hand blown glass FishBowls relate with Birdland and MouseTraps, two previous projects by Roger Arquer that also explore variations.

Under Candlelight tells us about candlelight floating on water for a romantic evening:


XS or XL tells us about relationships between big and small fish living together:



Dear Neighbor tells us about the delicate relationships we have with our close neighbors:


Pure Life tells us about purifying the water directly when refilling the bowl:



Chill Out / Warm Up tells us about how we can control water temperature adding hot water or ice in the small receptacle:


Russian Dolls tell us about how big the fish wants to grow. If it stays in the small bowl, the fish will keep small. If it goes to the big, it will grow:



Bottle Vase tells us about how we use objects for another purposes other than their original function:


Private Matters tells us about privacy for the fish:



Hanging From a String tells us about playfulness in an apparently threatening situation:


Do Not Piss Me Off tells us about the power to decide between the life and death of the fish:


Above Water tells us about sharing the water between the fish bowl and the plant:


Wishing Well tells us about cultural traditions related to throwing coins on wells or fountains:



About The Artist:

Roger Arquer was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1975. Graduated in Design at ESDI, Barcelona (1994-1998). A year after his graduation, he moved to New York City (1999-2003) to work as industrial designer. After New York, he moved to London to attend an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (2003-2005). During the summer break in RCA he worked as designer in Zurich (Switzerland). He set up his own design practice in London after RCA.

Since he was student he has received design awards, such as Opus Design Award (Japan), Coram Design (Netherlands), Adi-Fad (Barcelona), RCA Society/Thames Hudson Book Prize (London), among others.

He also has been exhibiting his work: Design Mart Design Museum (2005-6), British Council Design Exhibition (Milan 2005), aRChAeology at Royal College of Art (London 2005), or Park and Products at Serpentine Gallery (London 2004), On/Off Design Experience (Seoul 2005), among others.

all text and images courtesy of the artist.
Roger Arquer



In a funny little coinkidink, today's Google Doodle also takes place underwater where the fishies live, be sure to check out the post on the interactive Jules Verne homage here.

The Three AIR Aquariums By Design Studio Usin-e.

above: Air1 aquarium (top), Air2 (lower right) Air3 (lower left)


The newest AIR 3 Aquarium design (shown above) by Rémi Bouhaniche and Amaury Poudray of Lyon, France design studio Usin-e is the third in their series of modern laboratory glassware fish tanks.

AIR 1 Aquarium:



AIR2 Aquarium:





Each of the AIR series consists of a glass vessel perched atop metal legs. The first two AIR aquariums have horizontally elongated zeppelin-shaped blown glass (blown by Peter Pignat of Pignat glass) bowls perched atop metal legs.


above: Peter Pignat of Pignat scientific glass-blowing creating the AIR1 Aquarium.

The third is a test-tube like shape with a flat bottom and sheared off top, supported on an angle by white metal rods.

AIR3 Aquarium:





The AIR1 and AIR3 aquariums from a 2010 exhibit at La Bergerie, Marseille:


and the AIR2 aquarium at VIVID Gallery, Rotterdam, NL, 2010:



While it's true that these are impossible to clean, have no filter and are not the most fish friendly environments, they are beautiful as studies of material, space and balance.

Materials: Glass, metal
Size: diameter 15cm, 80cm X 25cm
Date: March 2010
Production: AD , Christophe Bailleux
Photos: Laure Mélone

According to the designers:
USIN-e is showing a new generation of Airs aquariums. It was on show for the first time at USIN-e’s exhibition, March 2010, in La Bergerie, Marseille. This aquarium is a glass bubble caught mid-fall by a metal structure. As other Airs models, Air3 was created using the techniques of scientific glassware. Hanging up in the air, Air3 tells us about weight and elevation.

About Usin-e (from their site):

Rémi Bouhaniche and Amaury Poudray are two designers based in Lyon, France. They received their degrees from Saint Etienne Art School , and went on to receive degrees in Industrial Design (BTS Design de produit) - Rémi in Marseille, France, and Amaury in Les Herbiers, France. Both studied abroad for 6 months - Amaury at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States, and Rémi at the School of Art, Design and Technology in India, Bangalore Srishti. They experiment with materials, welding, cutting, folding, covering, stretching, molding. They are always looking for craftsmen and industies with whom to develop trusting relationships to create new projects.
**French** Nous recherchons les liens qui unissent la matière, la forme et les compétences, L'objet devient un pretexte pour rassembler. La recherche de simplicité nous pousse à travailler en cohérence avec les techniques artisanales et industrielles. Conscients du détail, nous préférons l’action simple, le geste précis et juste. Ce qui avant tout nous intéresse c'est de créer du lien entre des choses qui apparement s'opposent; personnes, techniques, matières. Créer des paradoxes, de la tension et de la légereté, du vide et de la fragilité, à l'image du monde qui nous entoure.


Village des créateurs,
Passage Thiaffait,
19 rue René Leynaud,
69001 Lyon
contact@usin-e.fr

all images courtesy of Usin-e and Amaury Poudray.
Special thanks to DsgnWrld for bringing this to my attention

More Modern Aquariums and Fish Tanks
I have a thing for modern aquariums and fish tanks. I've compiled a shopping list with links to purchase some of the coolest modern fish tanks and aquariums available right here.