Дизайнер Марсела Велез запустила бренд House Number.01, вдохновленный сакральной геометрией и домом Демны

What do Demna’s former Swiss residence, sacred geometry, and Swiss healer Emma Kunz all have in common? They all served as the underlying inspiration for Marcela Velez’s newest numerology-driven venture, House Number.01. Launched today, September 9—a.k.a. 9/9, nine being the number that represents completion—the made-to-order brand marks a new chapter for the handbag designer, one that centers slow, intentional design. “I wanted to create a product that is more than just a physical material product or a fashion object,” Velez tells Vogue. “Each bag, each piece, has a beautiful story and a specific frequency of energy because every single element has been thought of with a very specific intention.” Velez first entered the handbag scene in her early 20s in 2012, when she and fellow Colombian designer Melissa Losada cofounded M2Malletier, a celebrity-loved sculptural bag brand marked by its signature metal handlebar design. Over the course of a decade, the two built a successful business; however, the pandemic happened, life got slower, both became mothers, and priorities and inspirations began to shift. The duo eventually closed the brand at the end of 2022, at a time when Velez felt the market was “oversaturated” with trendy It bags. “Melissa, my ex–business partner, and I just went in different directions—we both got married, had children,” says Velez. “I wanted to focus on my son and motherhood, and then I moved to Switzerland from Barcelona.” Now in Switzerland, Velez turned to an unexpected source of inspiration for her next endeavor: the home she purchased from Demna, Gucci’s mononymous creative director. “My creative life changed when I moved here,” Velez shares of the home she now inhabits with her family in the remote, wooded outskirts of Zurich. The house was originally designed by Swiss contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone as a Japanese and European craft-inspired live-work space. During his time there, Demna told Vogue that he took inspiration from the magical serenity of the forest, and Velez has now done the same: “The moment I moved here, my creativity was born again. I discovered this new life in nature surrounded by beautiful animals, insects, and flowers.” Both the house and its environment have led to intense research into the field of sacred geometry, including naturally occurring numerical patterns such as the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio. Additionally, the surrounding village, Würenlos, is home to the Emma Kunz Museum, a center dedicated to the work of the 19th-century Swiss geometric illustrator and healer—“there are no coincidences,” says Velez. And so, House Number.01’s first silhouette, the Spiral, was born. The Spiral, a collapsible bucket bag, is the first in a series of eight silhouettes that will launch over the coming months in cities across the globe. (First up is the brand’s inaugural presentation in New York City at Casa Valle for a select group of industry in-the-knows and VICs.) Only 50 bags will be available for order of each kind, for a potential of 400 bags total. “I didn’t want to launch them all together because I think each piece deserves real attention,” says Velez. Each style is handcrafted in Italy and, like M2Malletier’s signature metal accent, features a metal spiral motif that can be customized in either sterling silver or gold—with an additional option of pavé rare gems—to pair with one of 18 available colorways. For Velez, this untraditional endeavor is much more akin to crafting a commissioned sculpture than building another wholesale contemporary fashion label—and she intends them to be treasured heirlooms: “I really want the customers who buy this to feel they’re purchasing art, to feel that they’re going to buy this bag and have it displayed in their house as if the bags are little sculptures.”