Riviera, the new collection of foldable bags by Lidia Muro

Lidia Muro is a project created by the designer of the same name. Her firm honours culture and heritage through its products. Riviera is the name given to her new collection of folding bags. We talked to her.

The designer has been working in the world of textiles and design for 15 years. Her passion and ambition took her to London, where she studied the Master of Textile Futures at the prestigious Central Saint Martins School. Later, she worked in Paris for numerous Maisons and renowned brands such as Stella McCartney, Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, Céline or Kenzo and designing fabrics for the textile manufacturer Clerici Tessuto in Italy.

Bucket bags in leather and tulle from the Riviera collection.

Horse: When you started in the world of design and textiles, was your goal to create your own brand?

Lidia: Not really. My goal at that time was mainly to work as a designer for big luxury brands in Paris, to learn from different experiences. The idea of creating my own brand didn’t come until very recently, and in a very casual and natural way when I started trying to do more personal things in the workshops while doing freelance work for other brands. And somehow I hit upon this idea of making folding bags. And one thing led to another.

Her designs breathe the sea of her childhood on the Basque Coast and reflect the knowledge she has acquired throughout her career. From her time in London, her taste for the surprising and different stands out; from her experience with big firms, a classic and elegant aesthetic, and from her apprenticeship with Clerici Tessuto, a sense of colour and material, and a sensitivity towards beauty.

H: With the amalgam of knowledge, after your extensive professional career and continuous training, how do you create your own style? How would you define it?

L: In my case, style comes in a totally unconscious and intuitive way. Certainly there is a previous idea that accompanies me, but in general I don’t have a clear design purpose.

“I create as I make things, when I see the craftsmen working in the workshop. And that’s where almost all the ideas appear, surrounded by the materials, seeing how others work with their hands, I appropriate and link the different techniques… and new things emerge”.

Sometimes in the workshops it’s hard for them to understand and follow me, as I turn the way they normally do things upside down, but sometimes -not always-, it works. And I also think I have a strange intuition for colour, and I love to combine colours and generate suggestive and perhaps different associations.

In addition, Lidia Muro decides to add the art and contemporary aesthetics of the early 1930s to her products, as that is where her inspiration to create high quality and infinitely durable leather goods comes from.

H: What process do you follow when creating a design and making it?

L: The ideas come to me when I work in the workshops or when I travel. When I travel, I get my first inspirations, I soak up what I discover and I get to clearly visualise lines of future designs. So many that I am never able to develop when I return from them.

“Actually, the first idea for this brand project came on a trip between the Atlantic of the Basque Country and the Mediterranean of the Côte d’Azur”.

But I rarely work on ideas during these. I limit myself to soaking up the aesthetics and sensations. Then I try to sketch them. Then I try to shape them with materials and finally execute them in the workshops.

Her signature is characterised by an avant-garde approach and an intrinsic beauty that comes from the functionality of her bags: foldable and with a rich and unique colour combination. Lidia Muro’s colours this season are vibrant, surprising and evoke some of the works of art produced on the French Riviera by excellent artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Léger or Bonnard.

H: Nowadays, we often see that beauty is more important than functionality. An example could be the case of mini bags, where functionality takes a back seat. Do you think there should always be a balance between beauty and functionality in accessories?

L: Not always, some accessories are clearly ornamental and are perfect just like that. However, I always remember trying to create designs that have another function beyond their own, and even multifunctional designs.

Riviera, the name given to its new collection of bags, stands out for its combination of practicality, exclusivity and beauty. It is made up of colourful compact bags with graphic shapes that fold and expand in continuous reference to the works on canvas and sculpture of great artists based in the Mediterranean. One example of this is the SS 21 cotton canvas bags, which are a tribute to the sailor T-shirts that Picasso used to wear on the Mediterranean coast.

Stripes take centre stage in the Riviera designs. They embody the spirit of 1930s seaside holidays and the international movement in architecture from the 1930s to the 1960s.

H: How do you see the woman who carries your bags? Have you thought about a men’s collection?

L: I think that any woman can carry my bags. To be more specific, I suppose she has a certain inclination towards culture in general, art, crafts…. She is restless and likes to discover new places. Shetravels. And of course these bags are very practical for travelling, but they are also visually attractive and allow her to “travel in style”. I can also imagine that she has a certain ecological conscience.

“I haven’t thought about a men’s version yet, but I’d like to…. to be continued!”

The material of the Riviera bags is 100% upcycled leather. No new leather is produced, Lidia Muro selects surplus production from luxury brands. In this way she reinforces her motto of ‘luxury with a conscience’. The designer is committed to sustainability, using ethical and sustainable practices for all stages of the production of each accessory.

All her creations are handmade by expert leather craftsmen in Ubrique, a town in Andalusia known internationally for its tradition of fine leather goods.

Capsule collection with Bistra Pisancheva

On 16 April, the designer presented a capsule collection with Bulgarian artist Bistra Pisancheva. The project is called ‘The Eastern Side of Riviera’.

H: What would you highlight from the experience of creating ‘The eastern side of Riviera’ capsule collection?

L: We started by doing a lot of tests with different yarns, colours, shapes…. I think we both surprised ourselves.

“The Eastern Side of Riviera was born from the coming together of two restless people and the desire to do something together without knowing exactly what it would be”.

The process of building the project has been very beautiful and enriching.

This is a series of handmade folding bags in recycled leather, handmade with natural materials and bobbin lace. It presents the fusion between the Bulgarian artist’s mastery of lace making and Lidia Muro’s avant-garde stylistic skills.

H: Your designs always mix culture and aesthetics, what do you get out of working with Bistra Pisancheva, who therefore has a different culture to ours?

L: Different cultures are always an inspiration. And aesthetics is a fundamental part of every culture. I value what is different in each culture, what makes it unique. And I think that diversity and plurality is what makes us more interesting, and makes us curious about each other, and in a way brings us closer. Working with people from another culture allows us to even better understand our own. It can certainly be more complicated at times, because we don’t always share the same codes.

I loved the experience of working with Bistra in her country, in her home. It allowed me to understand her better, to approach her work, her ideas, her plasticity in a different way. And thanks to this proximity, I understood her country better.

“Exchanges are always rich and necessary” – Lidia Muro

Both collections are available on their website.

Orders are shipped worldwide free of charge.