Tomas Maier: London Calling

Tomas Maier creative director of Bottega Veneta has set his sights on London - bringing his own eponymous line to the capital for the first time as a shop-in-shop at Harrods.

"Over the next five to ten years, we will be expanding our wholesale and retail network internationally," Maier told us. "It will be interesting to serve the clients directly in different countries and see how they respond to my aesthetic."

Business aside, just what is it that Maier - who launched the label in 1997 and commenced a partnership with luxury conglomerate Kering in 2011 - finds so appealing about London?

"The good manners - such an easy way to make the day-to-day so much more tolerable. I think the lifestyle we promote corresponds well with the London lifestyle… You also have some of the best museums in the world."

Thomas Maier

What is that lifestyle that he is promoting?

"The Tomas Maier woman is unfussy, active, smart and self-assured. One who is confident enough to know what works for her," elaborates Maier, for whom the brand is about a sense of "me-time".

And what does he do in his own "me-time"?

"I like being outside, walking on the beach. I prefer to go to a museum exhibition if I am in town."