Tomas Maier (born 1957) is a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
-born
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
. From 2001 to 2018, he served as
Creative Director
A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...
at the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
brand
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta () is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Milan, Italy. Its product lines include ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, and jewelry; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrances.
History
Found ...
.
[Pascale Denis (June 13, 2018)]
Bottega Veneta creative director Maier standing down
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
''.
Early life and training
Born in April 1957 in
Pforzheim
Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
, West Germany, Maier was raised in a family of architects and attended a
Waldorf school as a child. From there he headed to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where he trained at the
Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
Career
Maier's early professional experience includes designing for several fashion and luxury goods houses in France, Italy, and Germany, including
Guy Laroche
Guy Laroche () (16 July 1921 – 17 February 1989) was a French fashion designer and founder of the eponymous company.
Biography
Laroche was born in La Rochelle, and began his career in millinery. From 1949, Laroche worked for Jean Dessà ...
,
Sonia Rykiel
Sonia Rykiel (; ; 25 May 1930 – 25 August 2016) was a French fashion designer and writer. She created the Poor Boy Sweater, which was featured on the cover of French ''Elle'' magazine. Her knitwear designs and new fashion techniques led her t ...
, where he designed menswear for eight years, and
Revillon, where he spent four years as creative director.
For nine years, Maier was a
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
's
ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à -porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...
designer at
Hermès
Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, since ...
, where he also designed
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...
goods and accessories. By 1999, he quit his contracts and moved to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Bottega Veneta, 2001–2018
Maier was appointed by
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...
to become the Creative Director at
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta () is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Milan, Italy. Its product lines include ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, and jewelry; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrances.
History
Found ...
in June 2001,
when the company was acquired by the
Gucci Group
Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragrance ...
(which merged with PPR in 2008 and became
Kering
Kering () is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent.
The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963, b ...
in 2013).
During his time at Bottega Veneta, Maier presided over an expansion of the brand. He presented his first collection, which consisted solely of accessories, in September 2001, a few months after being hired.
In the first two years, he oversaw the opening of Bottega Veneta flagship stores in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Paris,
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. He also added a small selection of women's and men's ready-to-wear pieces to the seasonal presentations. Among the product categories that Bottega Veneta now offers, in addition to women's and men's ready-to-wear collections, are accessories,
jewellery
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...
,
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
, seating, tabletop, desktop,
luggage
Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...
,
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
,
eyewear
Eyewear consists of items and accessories worn on or over the eyes, for fashion or adornment, protection against the environment, and to improve or enhance visual acuity.
Common forms of eyewear include glasses (also called ''eyeglasses'' or ''s ...
,
fragrance
An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently vol ...
and
watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
es. Maier helped found an artisan school, La Scuola della Pelleteria, in
Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a th ...
in 2006. In addition, St. Regis Hotels in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
as well as
Park Hyatt Hotel in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
offer Bottega Veneta suites.
In 2014, Maier and Bottega Veneta partnered with the
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese publication ''Casa BRUTUS'' and launched an initiative to raise awareness of the potential destruction of Modernist buildings in Japan due to economics, politics, and the preparation for the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
.
Under Maier's leadership, Bottega Veneta tripled its revenues and exceeded $1 billion for the first time in 2012 before revenues fluctuated in the following years. By 2017,
Saint Laurent overtook Bottega Veneta as Kering's second-biggest source of revenue; Kering announced Maier's resignation on 13 June 2018.
''Tomas Maier''
Tomas Maier established a
swimwear
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, wom ...
label in 1997 with business partner Andrew Preston, and an online boutique was launched in 1998.
Since then, five eponymous stores have opened in
Palm Beach,
Bal Harbour
Bal Harbour is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The population was 3,093 at the 2020 US Census.
History
Since the 1920s, the Detroit-based Miami Beach Heights Corporation—headed by industrialists Robert C. Graham, Walter O. Briggs, ...
,
East Hampton, and New York City. The collection is sold at over 100 stores in more than 30 countries.
On 19 November 2013, Kering announced it was investing in Tomas Maier's own label to "infuse it with the capital needed to ramp up expansion, including the addition of more company-owned boutiques".
, the private label generated about $10 million annually from swimwear,
knitwear
Knitted fabric is a textile that results from knitting, the process of inter-looping of yarns or inter-meshing of loops. Its properties are distinct from woven fabric in that it is more flexible and can be more readily constructed into smaller pi ...
, and
jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
.
In 2018, Tomas Maier teamed up with Japanese
casual wear
Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasisi ...
retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
er
Uniqlo for a one-time-only resort-focused collection. The Tomas Maier brand was shut down in 2018, definitely ending the cooperation between the designer and Kering.
Tomas Maier, the brand, is shutting down
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Tomas
1957 births
German fashion designers
Gucci people
High fashion brands
Living people
Waldorf school alumni