Paula Cardemartori

The "It" Italian Brand

Pilar García de la Granja. 17/03/2015

A designer of Italian-Brazilian origin, Paula Cademartori is the founder of the eponymic luxury bags brand. A constant made-in-Italy advocate, Paula moved to Milan in 2005 to complete her Industrial Design studies following the achievement of a master degree in Fashion Accessories at Istituto Marangoni, as well as a Young fashion manager certificate at SDA Bocconi. After working at the style office of Versace, in 2009 Paula participated to the Vogue Talents competition, included in the list of the 140 emerging talents of Vogue Italia. The year 2010 saw the establishment of the Paula Cademartori high-end bags brand, which debuted with the Spring-Summer 2011 collection.

«I launched my eponymic brand in September 2010 with the Spring/Summer 2011 collection and I had my debut that year in Paris at Première Classe – Jardins Des Tuilleries – during Paris Fashion Week. I have decided to create my own line because I’ve always been attracted by fashion and especially by accessories, since I was a child and used to play in my grandmother’s closet with her bags, shoes and jewels. This passion brought me to Italy, a decision certainly not easy at all, but with determination and hard work I can say I have crowned what has always been my biggest dream, to build my own company.» Paula says to TheLuxonomist.

COCCA Multicoloured napa clutch with neon patent leather inserts and metallic maxi-buckle closure. Click to buy

The success of her creations is founded on an aesthetic vision focused on utmost care for details, combined with the determination to carry out production in Italy. Each bag is conceived as a design object to own and cherish. The precious seal of each model is a metal buckle, personally designed by Paula supported by her background in jewellery and industrial design.

Her bags are currently sell in more than 160 high-end points of sale in the world, including US, «Currently the collection is available at Elodie K – Los Angeles, Opening Ceremony – Los Angeles and New York, Coltorti and Capretto – Miami, Marissa Collection – Naples, Katia boutique – Houston, Boyds – Philadelphia and Bloomingdale’s – Boston; but I’m constantly hardly working in order to increase the brand’s presence in the US market».

Indeed, Ms. Cademartori saw her fortunes change when her bags were featured in episodes of the TV series “The Carrie Diaries”, the prequel of “Sex and the City” in 2013. A change point in her life and business. In less than five years, Paula has built a respectable accessories business set to generate $2.8 million in 2014. Her beautiful and ionic designs are not cheap at all, between $1.000 to $2.500 and up is the prize for having the hottest clutch in the market. In Spain, finally her Spring/Summer 2015 collection is available at Gallery boutique in Madrid.

Paula Cademartori and «The Carrie Diaries». Click to buy

«We present two collections of bags divided into PRE and MAIN, which means four times arriving in the stores, to guarantee a continuous presence and visibility. From the new Fall/Winter 2015 collection I introduce a Small Leather Goods Line and a Shoes capsule with the aim to increase and complete the product offer. All my products are Made in Italy, because i think this is an added value in terms of quality«, Paula added.

Obviously the key in her bags are the colorful designs, but not only. Materials processed in Italy, exotic leather mixed with urban metal made them «unique and recognizable pieces«. This is important, because after the investment you really want everybody knows what are you wearing.

«Faye» and «Petite Faye». Click to buy

Paula also told us about her favorite materials to work with… «For the materials it depends, I love going to the trade fair as LineaPelle, Anteprima, Premiere Vision to get new inspiration in terms of material, colors and details in order to create unique pieces that perfectly reflect my own style«.

Inspiration…. Where the inspiration came from for Paula? Her bags are different but all have some in common. You can tell. This is the real secret that makes a brand something else, a real luxury brand, like the Bottega knot.

Kylie Minogue brings the pow factor with her Paula Cademartori clutch, «Yasmine». A transparent plexiglas clutch with a front plaque in multicoloured enamelled metal and maxi-buckle closure. Click to buy

Her inspiration «came from everything that impress me and thrills me. I try to bring something new in every collection and it takes a long research to find always new elements. I use to take inspiration from the most diverse creativity fields, specially art and photography. And the most important thing for me is to understand and study what people is carrying at the moment, which are the market’s needs. When I create my collection I have always in mind the intention to realize the perfect desire object«.

You can buy one of this beauties through online platforms such as Net-a-Porter, Modaoperandi, BySymphony, Runin 2 just to name a few.