Bethan Laura Wood creates a pastel dreamscape to launch her new collaboration with Serapian

When the leather goods house Serapian first rose to prominence after its founding in Milan in 1928, its vibrant bags quickly appeared on the arms of jetsetters from Rome to Monaco. Since its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, the brand has upheld a reputation for craftsmanship and quality, supported by its artisans in its Tuscan atelier.

What distinguishes Serapian from the many accessories labels across Italy, however, is its proprietary Mosaico technique, a hand-woven process inspired by the mosaic motifs that adorn churches and monasteries in founder Stefano Serapian’s native Armenia.

Recently, the brand has introduced a fresh interpretation of this signature style through a collaboration with British furniture designer Bethan Laura Wood. The resulting collection debuted at Milan Fashion Week S/S 2026, accompanied by a dreamlike installation at Villa Mozart – Serapian’s Piero Portaluppi-designed headquarters – conceived by Wood herself.

Bethan Laura Wood interprets Serapian's Mosaico

For the new line of bags, Wood drew inspiration from the Japanese Bokashi printing method, in which illustrations are layered over subtle gradients of ink, creating tension between sharp outlines and soft fields of colour. She applied this principle by dyeing leathers in either single tones or gradual colour shifts, then threading contrasting strips through the Mosaico pattern.

'It allowed me to create a beautiful interplay of tones,' she explains. Among the freshly launched styles, she points to the medium-sized ‘Confetti’ model: 'The body of the bag is a plain colour with different gradient ribbons running in and out, creating this feeling of confetti falling down.'

To stage the presentation, Wood enlisted several of her longtime collaborators. She unveiled a new edition of her ‘Kaleidoscope-o-rama’ carpet – a hexagon of swirling forms reminiscent of the childhood toy – originally launched with CC-tapis earlier this year, now reimagined in pastel shades of pink, yellow and purple that echoed the bags’ palette.

The space was illuminated with her ‘Temple’ sconces, designed for Nilufar gallery in 2015, mounted on diamond-shaped boards in butter yellow and turquoise. In front of them stood a series of plinths inspired by molecular structures: diamond-shaped metal frames suspending glass orbs in vivid hues, created with Pyrex specialist Pietro Viero and accented by rippling glasswork from Murano’s Barbini Specchi.

Following the presentation, the plinths will find their way to select Serapian boutiques, extending the installation beyond fashion week.

This marks Wood’s second collaboration with Serapian. At the ‘Doppia Firma’ exhibition during Milan Design Week 2025 in April, she presented the ‘Mosaico Bokashi Landscape Paravent’, which sparked the idea of translating that concept into leather accessories.

The folding screen, displayed again at the presentation, was formed of undulating panels meant to evoke clouds at sunrise, shaded in delicate pinks and blues achieved through interlaced ribbons – the very same technique and palette that now dreamily washes across the brand’s new collection of bags.