One silver lining to 2020? Many designers got a chance to pause, look inward and find new creative directions. One such designer is Isa Kauffman, who after working in accessories design departments at Prada, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga, decided go it alone and launch her own handbag brand called Dentro.
“I felt the need to create something from the core of my creative universe, “Kauffman said about launching her accessories line. “I wanted to work at a slower pace, take the time to collaborate with artisans, create something that to me was like a love letter to fashion actually.”
Dentro, which means ‘inside’ in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, “Not only resonates with my Brazilian origin,” Kauffman, who is based in Paris, explained, “but also ties in with our made in Italy manufacturing.”
She debuts her brand with four handbag shapes, each genderless. “I wanted to cover the basic functionalities of an everyday crossbody handbag, which is the mini Otto and Otto, a shoulder bag in the baguette silhouette and a big shopper which can double as a weekend bag.”
Styles range from $1,040, for the mini Otto, to $1,700 for the shopper tote, and will sell at H. Lorenzo, Farfetch and Dentro’s online shop.
“When I first started designing accessories after coming from a ready-to-wear background I was always very intrigued by the components and process of constructing a bag,” she said. “It is so complex and it takes such know-how, and in the beginning of my career I didn’t have this. This curiosity through the manipulation of a 3D object is what I wanted to center Dentro around.”