We at MR PORTER have always considered craft and artisanship something of a Holy Grail. If a brand or designer can combine this sort of skill, care and attention to detail with an ethos that brings the tradition forward into the contemporary sphere, then it’s very likely that it’s a brand or designer that we have wanted to stock or write about, or both.

It’s with great excitement, therefore, that we can today announce Modern Artisan, a partnership between our parent company YOOX-NET‑A‑PORTER (which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2020) and The Prince’s Foundation, a charitable body established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2018. True to the foundation’s goals of promoting community via training in specialist and traditional skills, the project will bring together students from Italy and the UK to create a sustainably produced, high-quality collection of men’s and womenswear using luxury Italian and British fabrics, set to launch across YOOX, NET‑A‑PORTER, The Outnet and MR PORTER in 2020.

Taking inspiration from both the 500th anniversary of the death of Mr Leonardo da Vinci – and, in particular, his ideas about colour and geometry – as well as YNAP’s historic data on customer preferences, the collection is being designed by six Italian students from Milan’s Politecnico di Milano before being manufactured by British production students at the dedicated textile and manufacturing facilities at Dumfries House in Scotland. As such, it will add to the wide range of existing educational programmes currently running at the House to benefit the local community, which includes courses in traditional building methods, horticulture, science and heritage crafts.

“The Modern Artisan collection will be an important expression of how talent and technology can work across boundaries and borders,” says YNAP Chairman and CEO Mr Federico Marchetti. This project, part of a long-term partnership between YOOX NET‑A‑PORTER and The Prince’s Foundation, will help equip a new generation of skilled men and women to fuse traditional craft with digitally infused creativity and, importantly, to do so sustainably, following the example of HRH The Prince of Wales, who has dedicated the last 40 years to building a more sustainable future.”

Ultimately, the project aims not just to produce an exceptional collection of clothing for the luxury market, but to prepare these emerging talents for work in the wider industry. Profits from sales of the collection will go The Prince’s Foundation, so it can continue in its mission to foster such talents.