In a well-planned move that should only prove fruitful for the British luxury firm, Asprey has tapped accessories designer Bruce Hoeksema to be its new creative director. Hoeksema, the former president of Valentino USA and founder and designer of the Rome-based VBH accessories label, which he will continue to design, had been consulting for Asprey over the past year. Under his tenure, he designed two best-selling handbags for the brand: the Darcy bag and the 1781 (the former has an eight-month wait list).
Hoeksema told WWD his goal is to create “beautiful, chic, luxury pieces — which are not so easy to find today. Asprey has such an incredible name and heritage — and there is so much potential here.” He added that he’s as passionate about the smaller categories such as china and crystal as he is the leathergoods.
A little history about Hoeksema: he left Valentino at the start of 2001 to set up VBH, which stands for V. Bruce Hoeksema, in 1999. In related new, Asprey has opened a 1,500-square-foot pop-up shop in Southampton, N.Y. at 45 Main Street. The shop will sell gift items and summer china, crystal, silver and leather.