When we first approached the idea of creating a symbolic hand embroidery art brand, my mother and I were admiring one of our favourite works of art: The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.

As Italians, it is almost impossible to grow up without knowing this masterpiece. Over the centuries, it has become one of the world’s most enduring symbols of beauty.

There stands Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, emerging upon her iconic shell from the sea. Around her, delicate old roses float through the air before gently falling upon the sea foam, carried by the spring breeze. These blossoms, suspended between sky and water, immediately captured our imagination.

I remember saying that these were the roses I wanted us to embroider first.

Not modern hybrid roses, but Botticelli’s ancient blooms—flowers whose charm lies in their simplicity, with fewer petals, visible golden centres and a timeless elegance that still feels as enchanting today as it did five centuries ago.

In my mind, I could already picture them.

Only three or four roses scattered across a garment, as though carried by the wind. Some gently drifting upwards, others softly descending. Some white, some pale pink, and some delicately striped in both shades.

Before I had even finished describing the vision, our Artist of the Roses had already sketched them.

Simple in beauty, exceptional in soul.

The very first piece in the collection was a cropped blush-pink top embroidered with the first pair of Venus Old Roses. Through remarkable artistry in the use of thread and colour, each stitch recreated the delicate texture and gentle volume of softly overlapping petals, giving the flowers a painterly quality.

When it came to infusing the collection with its own symbolism, we chose to celebrate authentic beauty.

Inspired by heritage roses with their visible golden centres and fewer, softly overlapping petals, we wished to remind ourselves that beauty does not always lie in abundance. Sometimes, less truly is more.

While Botticelli’s masterpiece provided the poetic inspiration, the botanical illustrations of Pierre-Joseph Redouté offered an invaluable visual reference. We were especially drawn to historic roses such as Rosa gallica versicolor and Rosa tomentosa, whose open blooms, delicate forms and natural elegance beautifully echoed the character we sought to reinterpret through embroidery.

Little by little, the Venus Old Roses collection began to take shape, becoming a tribute to beauty, authenticity and transformation.

Like the goddess’s flowing hair, these roses seem to drift upon an invisible breeze. Delicate and ephemeral, mysterious yet peaceful, they whisper quietly through every embroidered stitch.

We knew then that the Venus Old Roses would never remain a single creation. They would blossom into a growing collection of symbolic embroideries, each carrying forward the timeless grace of Botticelli’s floating roses.