In 1983, Marco Campomaggi made a pivotal decision: to craft artifacts that endure over time and tell unique, personal stories. His bags don’t wear out in a season; instead, they gain value when passed down from generation to generation. The foundational values of the company, which make the product so effective, include a desire to return to origins, perseverance, sacrifice, and the pursuit of an intimate, discreet elegance necessary to create authentic beauty. Marco Campomaggi himself and his company were born in Teodorano, a village nestled among the hills of Forlì, where he observed and learned the culture of craftsmanship from his fellow villagers since childhood. Men and women excelled at creating furniture, various tools, and, of course, the incomparable handmade cappelletti pasta, imbued with genuine character. This deep connection with his roots and the territory is distinctly reflected in every creation of Marco Campomaggi. “Teodorano 25-02-1961”, this date and place of birth, along with his zodiac sign and the drawing of Teodorano Castle, constitute the designer’s signature, present on every product, like a genuine identity card.
Given the background of this fashion project where, “My equipment was in a shoebox, I didn’t know leather or fashion. I sold on a promenade in Cesenatico,” can we talk about a love at first sight between you and the world of leather?
It wasn’t a love at first sight with leather specifically; it was more about discovering a talent I had in my hands. Leather was a living material that responded perfectly to modifications to turn it into a certain type of product.
So can we say that the material element of leather was a sort of exploration for you?
More than normal leather, it was vegetable-tanned leather, meaning that it doesn’t kill the leather, is more conducive to handling, becoming even more interesting after the artisan’s work. It’s a material extremely willing to be worked, even more so than regular leather. It changes with light, with use, has a very long life span… it has a longer-term vision, not typically associated with fashion bags.
Can we then say that Campomaggi items are intended for passing the torch from one generation to the next? How does this ethic work despite the continuous change of times, tastes, and trends?
Yes, this has always been my dream; I created bags thinking that they didn’t have to be trendy or follow the trends of the moment, but they had to represent an identity that could endure over time. This is the ideal necessary for a particular bag to pass from one hand to another, from father to son or mother to daughter. A bag that has belonged to different generations acquires incredible value. The ethic works because the products are more tied to a certain lifestyle than to fashion. My idea of a bag isn’t linked to the concept of a “container” that reassures me for that specific season or fashion trend, but it should help me better tell my story. I’ve always cared about making products that could help people who appreciate them tell their own story.
So the dynamics of “no waste” have always been intrinsic within your creative project. There’s no need for a manifesto because the craftsman has always had this dynamic in creation.
I, like many others, have always had this intention, that is, to create a product that could have valid reasons to be preserved over time. Also, because, in the end, this is the first ecological act. Today there’s much talk about ecology, and my idea of it is the ability to buy less but better, but above all to conserve and repair. Our world suffers greatly from the disposal of products that can still be repaired. If we start behaving this way, we will probably become much more ecological than we can be by recycling. Ecology is a very serious matter, and humans often are not.
It has always been a thing of arts and crafts, when everything naturally follows. Preserving is a natural dynamic for human beings, as is creating and enjoying something. This almost bulimic consumerism of today clearly loses these values, but it’s also nice to know that realities like Campomaggi are born with certain solid pieces that take you back in time.
Campomaggi was born with these values because they have always belonged to me, and I see that they are increasingly appreciated by many others. Today there’s this great need to own your own taste; here I’m talking about fashion. Fashion is a continuous succession of trends and therefore of impulse purchases or purchases not too tied to one’s own taste but to the fashion of the moment, and this in some cases harms not only the people themselves, always in search of something they don’t have, but also the whole world because with this system, many things are produced that need to be disposed of. Disposal is the world’s first problem. Companies are based on the consumption of things rather than on conscious purchasing. I’m convinced that the world needs something else, products bought that last longer, which surely cost a little more but ultimately result in something durable.
Your bags seem to tell stories. Is there a particular bag that you’ve designed that has a special story or meaning behind it?
I made a bag that my mother carried, and it always reminds me of her. I named it Agnese, like her, and this bag has become an icon, and I value it very much. It constantly reminds me of her.
Everything is handmade in Italy, a huge added value, in such a personal way as to seem imperfect, bags cut without patterns, wrinkled leathers to be polished “at home.” In the midst of these “imperfections,” have you found a balance that makes the product work?
I didn’t use a pattern when I started because not even knowing what this job was, I didn’t know the tools of the trade. Now, of course, they are cut with CAD machines. The company has grown and is equipped with automated processes. Then what makes the difference is the finishing operation where everything is done by hand with brushed creams and then with natural dyes. This makes the bag a unique piece because it has always different finishes. This cream applied with a massage by people trained in our company really makes the difference. A living material like leather responds to the hands’ operation in a different but extraordinarily interesting way. Our products adapt to the person using them. Let me tell you something that just happened to me; I was just in the repair department where bags are repaired, some are 10 or 15 years old. There’s one they’re repairing today that’s 38 years old, a bag bought on the famous promenade by a lady. I saw it after the repair, and I have to say it looks like new.
Since all Campomaggi items have a community value but above all a dimension that is then directed to the product that makes the object something that lasts forever, what is the future perspective that your company wants to achieve?
So we’re investing in the American market because they appreciate our product a lot, so definitely within this year, we intend to open a legal position in the United States. We already have an agent and a person from the company working in Los Angeles who is starting to do a job that will allow us to better tell the story of Campomaggi and its products. Then I’m very happy to have my daughter, Sofia Campomaggi, working with me in the style office; she’s doing a great job and shares with me the taste and philosophy behind this product, so I feel comfortable even from the point of view of the continuation of this company on a family level. What I would like is to transfer these principles to young people, which is why I often invite schools here to the company in Forlì to understand what we do but above all to make them understand why I make products like these, why it’s important to discover your own taste and take ownership of it, why that product and not another. Through the company, I want to transfer the know-how, the experience we have gained over all these years. Campomaggi is a thought more than a product. I am absolutely convinced that young people are interested in the thought, what comes before, which feeds everyone’s dream perhaps even more to be cultivated than the product itself.