A Venetian Shoemaker with a Passion for Tradition

The Venice biennale this year is especially important for René Caovilla, the Venetian shoemaker. Its shoes will represent Italian footwear in the Luxus exhibition. The creative director of René Caovilla is Edoardo Caovilla, the grandson of the founder. Caovilla’s Instagram posts show his delight that the brand is on show in Venice, depicting him with his family, his friends and celebrities such as Peter Marino, the architect, against the background of some of the famous sights of the city. Here, Caovilla talks to #legend about the brand’s recipe for longevity.

Independence has defined your success.

Yes, my father has satisfied his interests and this has been a huge advantage for us, in terms of quality. He did not spend his life travelling around and marketing. He had other projects to follow. The brand has strong DNA today because it was his taste and he grew a business which maintained an incredible niche.

As creative director, how do you balance the old and new for René Caovilla?

Between the two wars in Europe, my grandfather had a vision that in the future, there should be a market for what we call luxury or the expectation to have something aesthetically nice. My grandfather was a visionary, my father has been a poet and I’m keeping this branding in these times of globalisation. Today, we are more connected but in different ways from before. I’m trying to understand all of this and put it together with my aspiration for the company. In today’s world, I don’t think a creative director remains in his office and says, “Ladies, buy black and white.”

Caovilla shoes are such a feminine product but have you ever considered men’s shoes?

I think it would be a good business opportunity but I never work for numbers. I am the head of the family. In the long term, I think there are amazing brands in the men’s sector and the women’s and when you are cool, you can make whatever you like. But I’m not sure it’s something good as a long-term strategy for us.

You’ve opened a shop with On Pedder in Hong Kong but it has no bags. Why?

We present only our shoes for two reasons. First, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are not markets where people want to wear exactly the same embellishments. Secondly, the company has developed bags and jewellery, but one shouldn’t overstretch. It’s dangerous if you care about what you’re doing. You could enlarge your category but that’s only when the new category is made better than the way it was before. When you consider the attention and quality that goes into our shoes, it’s not easy to surpass or excel them. We are developing jewellery and bags but for myself. Everything and everyone needs a learning curve. Only when that curve ends will I present new categories. My first goal is to create value in the long term. Thanks to the previous generation, we don’t need money. We have been profitable. My goal is not to maximise the business but consolidate the brand equity.

Your brand has just released a line of sneakers.

The customer is changing. Many customers are very active, work all day, wake up early, and if they are in love with the brand, we need to remain close to them from the moment they wake up. So this type of sneaker is developed with just a touch of Caovilla. It has good characteristics and we have an amazing result. Today Caovilla shoes reach women everywhere around the world. We support the Peggy Guggenheim museum in Venice. There is creativity, passion and excellence. We are young, metropolitan and feminine. I prefer that each customer really knows the brand. It’s not for everybody.

Where’s your favourite restaurant in the world?

Taverno Paradiso Ristorante in Trapani. It specialises in fresh fish and pasta. It’s in Sicily, right at the tip of the western part of Italy, where the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea meet.

You have a vineyard, too.

We’ve had a vineyard since before I was born. There is a house where we also make and sell honey. We do other things apart from shoes. This is really interesting. Everyone loves the Italian lifestyle and René Caovilla customers, when they enter our world, should be part of this ecosystem.

What car do you drive?

I have a boat. I’m really proud of it. It’s called Galatea. She was one of the most beautiful sea nymphs in mythology, so beautiful that the captain who discovered her decided to marry her. The boat is a woman, a she, a her, and Galatea was an appropriate name.

This article originally appeared in the June 2017 issue of #legend magazine.