Borbonese, Istituto Marangoni Team Up on Talent Search

Italian luxury accessories brand Borbonese is launching a project in collaboration with several international schools aimed at expanding its horizons and dialoguing with the new generation of creative minds in order to reach a younger audience.

Called Officina Borbonese, the project kicks off this month in a partnership with Milanese fashion school Istituto Marangoni. About 70 students from the master’s programs in Fashion & Luxury Brand Management and Fashion Start Up will be selected to study and analyze the Borbonese brand and will be asked to pitch new ideas in terms of style, traditional and digital communication, as well as marketing strategies focused on both European and international markets, such as India, China and Korea.

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“Officina Borbonese was born to find a contemporary way to communicate the brand’s core values,” said Borbonese chief executive officer Alessandro Pescara. “We would like Officina Borbonese to be a laboratory of both creative ideas and product research. We have in mind a sort of Desk Design Thinking, a space dedicated to creativity, which brings new interpretations of our iconic products, but also new forms of communication, an exchange between the company and the school, getting the world of production and creative imagination closer.”

In particular, Pescara highlighted the fact that an established company can capture the attention of younger generations only through a vision speaking the same language of that specific community and culture.

Founded in Milan in 1935, Istituto Marangoni has helped train over 45,000 professionals in the fashion and luxury fields, including top designers ranging from the late Franco Moschino and Alessandro Sartori, now artistic director of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, to Paula Cademartori and Maurizio Pecoraro, among others. In addition to Milan, Florence, Paris and London, the fashion and design school currently operates locations in cities including Miami; Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, and Mumbai.

Borbonese started out in Turin, Italy, in 1910 under the ownership of Umberto Minestrone and Edoardo Calcagno, supplying necklaces, bracelets and other accoutrements to Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Fendi, Galitzine and Ungaro. Known for its bird’s-eye pattern, the brand has expanded adding over time different product lines such as clothing, fur items, home decor, complements and linen, aiming to create a true global lifestyle offering.

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