Artist Sophie Kitching gives us the low-down on her expressive Bulgari collaboration

Have you been wondering about those artful accessories floating around various fashion weeks as of late? Those handbags with painterly masterpieces splattered across the fine leather? They’re part of Bulgari’s ‘Serpenti in Art’ capsule to celebrating the Serpenti symbol’s 75th anniversary via a range of limited edition handbags.

For the 'Serpenti Forever' capsule, Bulgari has tapped three contemporary artists, Sunwoo Kim, Zhou Li and Sophie Kitching for their painterly strokes of genius to reimagine its emblematic snake. Producing two iterations each, the capsule comprises six different designs each available in 75 copies.

33-year-old US-based artist Sophie Kitching first came in touch with the brand last year. “They saw a project I did during the Frieze New York Art Fair with the Champagne brand Ruinart,” she explains. A special commission for their ‘Maison 1729’ exhibition, the painted series of Magnum bottles – unique art pieces – prompted Bulgari to choose Kitching as the US artist for its Serpenti in Art project. “I felt very honoured as this would become my first collaboration with a luxury fashion brand."

While Kitching was given a total 'carte blanche', for her vision, she wanted to create a bag that would embrace and pay homage to Bulgari’s distinct identity. “Their unique approach to accessories is deeply rooted into the history of their fine Italian jewellery maison,” she says, and as such, the source of inspiration was infinite. “I had many different ideas based on my own art practice,” she says. “I felt strongly connected with their bold use of colour as a means of expression.”

Kitching landed on the duality of the snake and its power of transformation as her main source of inspiration. “And the opposite forces between night and day, life and afterlife, inside and outside, became a guiding thread for this special project,” she adds. Her painting series 'Invisible Green' was the launching point, nature having always been central to Kitching’s art. One of her very first sketches depicts the Serpenti icon in a new environment," with floral and vegetal elements overlayed in a myriad of colours, serpentine branches and leaves evoking the movement of the snake. “And pointillist dots of paint which I felt were representative of the scales of the snake’s skin,” she says.

In the 'Invisible Green' bag, colour is the foundation, embellished with glimpses of fuchsia, cadmium red and ochre. The Snakehead closure – the first time Bulgari uses this type of clasp – has a chrome mirror finish, which reflects the nature-inspired brushstrokes. “I really love the contrast with my painting as it feels futuristic,” notes Kitching.

The second design was inspired by her 'Nocturne' paintings, which nod to the musical compositions of the 19th century.” From a photographic sense, they act as a functional negative to the brighter paintings on blank canvas and delve deeper into the representation of light,” describes Kitching.

Using black ink, mixed with neutral tones and the colour Payne’s grey as a backdrop, fragments of abstracted nature are painted on the surface in oil paint, Japanese watercolour and pastel, in carefully selected earthy shades enhanced with notes of turquoise, Venetian red, and bright yellow. On the 'Nocturne' bag, the Snakehead appears quite powerful, as Kitching paired multicoloured scale enamel inserts with yellow jade, green and orange aventurine and malachite eyes.

Kitching explains how “the creative process was slightly different from other projects,” as she needed to adapt my two-dimensional paintings onto a three-dimensional object. “This was really stimulating, but in the end, I was still working with flat sewing patterns to translate my pictorial compositions onto leather.”

Opting for an innovative printing technique, which Bulgari hadn’t used before, Kitching was able to emulate a textured finish that truly resembles a painted surface. “I felt a strong need to see first-hand the production of the finalised prototypes,” she notes on her involvement in the production process. “Seeing all the people involved in the creation of such a luxury handbag is awe-inspiring: it is a perfect balance between artisanship and innovation.”

Each person who will acquire one of the 'Serpenti Forever' limited-edition handbags will also receive their own unique NFT. As for Kitching’s NFT, “it takes the form of a short animation, which traces the narrative of our collaboration with three-dimensional renderings and hypnotic imagery.” “This was a very new medium for me,” she continues. ”I am amazed by the fact that, when you bring your phone up-close to one of the handbags, a unique digital page is prompted on the screen and takes you on a whole new journey.”