DAY 44, PORTO CERVO. 9.35 A.M
Dear Sailor,
Before creating Bombelli, I spent time observing and experiencing the world of water: its movements, its rituals.
I wondered—and I still ask myself—:
What makes us leave and why do we return?
(If we do return)
The most obvious answer came from a technical object with a simple shape: the stainless steel thimble.
It is present in every port, on every boat.
It can be giant or tiny.
The thimble serves to protect and extend the lifespan of ropes, preventing friction on board.
But above all, it allows one to moor or cast off.
To depart, or to remain connected to the shore.
This handling, its function, and all the imagery surrounding it appealed to me.
One summer, I was on an Atlantic island and I walked into a small marine hardware store.
(It is something like a hardware store for sailors, fishermen, or yachtsmen:
you find everything you need there to repair your boat, navigate, hunt, or fish.)
I found thimbles of various sizes, then we tested them with the workshops in Florence.
They immediately brought light to the bags like a piece of jewelry.
The thimble became a playful object designed to accompany movement,
I took it off the boat and the docks, transforming it to give it another function.
Little by little, it became a detail, then a signature on each of the bags.
It met leather, neoprene, canvas, and, of course, rope.
Today, it has become an element of the Bombelli language.
I like the idea that an object can travel from the deck of a boat to the body.
Once upon a thimble.
See you soon on the waves!
Arnaud
PS: 11 million km² is the surface area of the French maritime territory.
—
