In recent years, we’ve witnessed Braun Büffel steer towards a more contemporary and artistic direction. Case in point: Its Spring/Summer 2022 collection references Swiss-born, New York-based artist Ugo Rondinoneʼs oeuvre. Perpetuating this vision, the leather goods purveyor enlisted the help of an NYC-based 3D artist, Steven Baltay, for the Braun Büffel Spring/Summer 2023 campaign and collection, dubbed Inflate to Life.

Known for his hypnotic work revolving around beautiful and complex 3D artistry that flutters between the spaces of familiar and surreal, logical and absurd, Baltay created a world that melds reality and virtual ‒ portraying individuals traversing a surreal landscape where seemingly inanimate objects inflate to life.

While dreamlike, it is “a manifestation of the design process [for this season]: the coming-to-life of ideas with close consideration of Braun Büffelʼs brand pillars‒ explore, experience, and evolve,” Braun Büffel highlights.

Like the previous Spring/Summer collection, Inflate to Life takes inspiration from the pared-down aesthetic and undulating lines of modernist architecture and interior forms, exploring the understanding between design and function in the making.

The result is a curated collection of wearable art that also nods at the German Maisonʼs dedication to exceptional craftsmanship and superior leather. An ode to art and its heritage, the collection houses Meyer and Louche ‒ two classic, debonair series that come in various functional bag styles like briefcase, iPad sleeve, waist pouch, backpack, messenger bag and tote.

It boasts primary colour accents and architectural silhouettes paired against the formality of luxurious leathers including luxe ultrasoft leathers, formal box leathers and experimental texture leathers. The versatility and juxtaposition only emphasise a nouveau-luxe-design aesthetic while embodying a shift into experimental connoisseurship, away from blind consumption.

(Images: Braun Büffel)