For many, lockdown proved a time of innovative communication, with many keeping in touch via webcam chats and distanced shouting. For Kris Van Assche, his contacts book is a bit more refined than most, and this time of isolation saw him touch base with American ceramic artist Brian Rochefort, culminating in Berluti’s the designer’s first collaboration at the helm of the 125-year-old house.

Sharing ideas, creative processes and a joyful optimism, the designer and artist found common ground in their love of vibrant technicolour and artisanal craftsmanship. Renowned for his technicolour eruptions inspired by volitile volcanoes, Rochefort’s ceramic vessels evoke a sense of dense movement and unpredictability. For Van Assche – a ceramics collector himself who owns one of Rochefort’s works – these gloopy, bubbling artworks offered a new creative angle for him to direct his Berluti vision.

Within the collection, the artist’s color-saturated patterns translated across silk shirts and textured knits – caught in an imperfectly stunning state of explosion – while rich patina motifs transformed the brand’s iconic footwear silhouettes, evoking the unpredictable glazing that defines Rochefort’s work. For a designer known for his precise lines and structured approach, this seasonless collection proved that there’s beauty in embracing a bit of chaos.