Bottega Veneta brings poetry to life in Shanghai
Apr 24, 2025
A new installation at the Rowing Club invites visitors to take home words from Yu Xiuhua, one of China’s most-read poets, while the brand’s logo fades away
Bottega Veneta opened an interactive poetry installation in Shanghai called ‘A Poetic Conversation’. You walk into the Rowing Club and see thousands of books stacked in the shape of the brand’s logo. Each book is a copy of In Such a Staggering World, an anthology by Yu Xiuhua.
You pick up a book. The logo changes. With each visitor, the brandmark disappears a little more. The poetry remains.
Yu Xiuhua’s story starts in rural Hubei. Born in 1976, she began writing in her twenties. In 2014, her poem I Crossed Half of China to Sleep with You went viral. Liu Nian, an editor at Poetry, China’s leading literary journal, noticed her. More of her poems reached a wider audience.
Since then, Yu has published four anthologies. She has won major literary awards. She is the subject of a documentary. She worked with Farooq Chaudhry OBE, a British dance producer, on a choreographic project.
Yu’s poetry is direct. She writes about daily life, love, and disability. She uses plain language. Her poems are confessional. She shares her experience of cerebral palsy—how it shapes her body and her speech. She writes about romance and desire. Her work challenges how people see disability in China.
The installation lets you take her words home for free. Each book comes with a fold-out poster and a bookmark with a new poem inspired by the same phrase.
Why does a fashion house give away poetry? Bottega Veneta’s slogan is “When your own initials are enough”. The brand avoids loud logos. It wants each person to express themselves. The installation matches this idea. As the books leave, the brandmark vanishes. What remains is the poetry and your response to it.
This is not Bottega Veneta’s first event with poets. Earlier this year, the brand hosted Patti Smith for a performance in Milan. The company has a history of supporting the arts. It sees poetry as a way to encourage personal expression.
What do you take from a poem? What does a brand stand for when its logo disappears? The installation asks these questions. You leave with a book in your hand. The logo is gone. The words stay with you.
If you visit the Rowing Club, you do not see a fashion show. You see people reading. You see a brand making space for poetry. You see a logo fading into the background. You see words finding new homes.
