Bottega Veneta today opens ‘A Poetic Conversation’, an interactive poetry installation at the Rowing Club, Shanghai. The installation features several thousand editions of the anthology In Such a Staggering World (Yao Yao Huang Huang De Ren Jian) by Yu Xiuhua, arranged in a three-dimensional Bottega Veneta brandmark. Over the course of the day, members of the public can visit the installation and take home a copy for free.
One of China’s most-read poets, Yu Xiuhua was born in 1976 in a rural village in Hubei Province. She began writing in her 20s and rose to fame in 2014 after a poem published on her blog, I Crossed Half of China to Sleep with You, became a viral sensation. The work caught the attention of Liu Nian, an editor at leading Chinese literary journal Poetry, who reprinted some of her other poems.
Since then, Yu has published four anthologies and won prestigious Chinese literary awards. She is the subject of a documentary film and has recently collaborated with British dance producer Farooq Chaudhry OBE on a choreographic interpretation of her work. Yu writes with a raw, confessional style, building a dialogue with her reader. Her poem combine straightforward language with fragmented imagery and evocative stream-of-consciousness verse. Rooted in personal experience and rural life, the work holds an everyday immediacy while contemplating themes of love, freedom, and disability.
Yu was born with cerebral palsy, which impacts both her mobility and speech. Her poems attest to the physical and emotional challenges of her condition, while also redefining perceptions of disability in China with her frank evocation of romance and desire, and
articulation of her own agency.
For Bottega Veneta, Yu’s work is a powerful example of the self-expression that is integral to the brand’s founding values and ethos. Known for its iconic slogan When your own initials are enough, the house has celebrated authentic individuality ever since it was established by a group of artisans near Venice in 1966. With a no-logo philosophy, Bottega Veneta designs never overburden with branding, but rather empower each wearer to be whoever
they want to be.
This ethos comes to life in ‘A Poetic Conversation’. As members of the public pick up their copy of Yu’s anthology, the Bottega Veneta trademark slowly disappears. What remains is the poetry and each reader’s response to it. In Such a Staggering World becomes a companion on an individual journey, in the same way that Bottega Veneta bags adapt to the wearer as they move through their day and the world.
The special edition of In Such a Staggering World also comes with a fold-out When your own initials are enough poster, as well as a bookmark featuring a new Yu Xiuhua poem inspired by the tagline.
‘A Poetic Conversation’ will be Bottega Veneta’s second event this year with a prominent poet after the brand hosted a performance by Patti Smith during Milan Fashion Week. With a long history of engagement and advocacy across the arts, the brand identifies in poetry a freedom of personal expression and interpretation that resonates with its design philosophy.
