Katkoot Italia.
Mercer Talks: ISSUE 03
Photo: katkoot italia
Katkoot Italia is a wine brand that's built like a sculpture practice, where the bottle's metal base is meant to outlive what's inside it.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan brought a decade of working alongside Rick Owens and Michele Lamy into the design; Francesco Vittorio Bassan brought the vineyards and a refusal to let the aesthetic outrun the wine itself.
A decade in, the brand now moves between the Biennale and the tables of friends who'd rather keep the base than the bottle. We sat down with both brothers to talk about how it started, what they still won't compromise on, and the latest 0.0 collection.
The full conversation is below.
I originally found out about you - I think I tried some of your wine when I was in Paris for Fashion Week in 2024. I went to dinner at Rick Owens' house, and I was so fascinated by the concept of the bottle as a sculpture piece itself, and the ashtray as well.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
When did you guys start? How did you come up with this idea? Because I know you're an artist, Giovanni, and Francesco, you're the sommelier - so what really made you decide, okay, let's collaborate and do something with both of our skill sets?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
I want to go back to where you started. Giovanni, you're in Paris, Francesco, you're in Italy. So what did communication look like as you were trying to build this into what it is now?
Especially you, Giovanni, within the Rick Owens universe, which is very; and I won't say avant-garde, because that word is being overused - but it's a very different world than the delicate practice of the sommelier side of things. Though maybe not so different at the same time. I think that's what makes it interesting, and there are really two points to explore here.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
So what does the business side of it look like - colliding art and commerce?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
katkoot italia
What's the idea behind the limited edition? And are you continuing to make wine actively - or did you source these grapes, bottle everything at once, and only have that limited run until you sell out?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
There is a lot to it; especially these days. I watched a YouTube video about wine bottle design, and it was all about the label, everyone competing for your attention. But you took the opposite approach - flipped it on its head and put the 'label' at the base.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
The idea of the bottle as a sculpture, combined with the limited bottling and keeping it within your circle - friends in the creative field, very specific events and activations - means there's never an abundance of it everywhere;
Whereas with a natural wine, even if the bottle is beautiful and expensive, you'll throw it away if there's no meaning behind it.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
"For us, it was about pushing past those boundaries and creating something in our own vision. "
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
On your website you talk a lot about this idea of equal and opposite.
I'm curious where that comes from - whether it's rooted in your relationship with each other, your existence across the art world and the wine world, or what it means to you more broadly, as a brand and as individuals.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
katkoot italia
The way you're moving wine as an artistic endeavor into the creative industry is something I find personally exciting. Drinking socially - whether alcoholic or not - is such a central part of what we do, whether it's at an event, a fashion show, or a concert. So I'm curious what you think the connection between wine and the creative field really says about where we're going as an industry.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
To follow up on that - I want to go back to a Women's Wear Daily article from August 2025. Francesco, you said: 'The artisans and collaborators who are at the heart of this project are the silent protagonists of every piece, whose work, patience, and precision make every bottle a masterpiece.'
And I want to ask how do you maintain those relationships and keep growing them as the brand scales and more collaborations come into play, especially the one you were mentioning last time?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
"Our parents worked 14, 16 hour days, and we grew up with that mentality. Respect for the work, respect for the people around you, that's always been the priority."
I want to go back to a specific moment. Giovanni, you're at Lenny Kravitz's place and you spot your own ashtray there. Was that the moment it clicked for you? That feeling of, wait, something real is happening here? Because everyone has that moment where it suddenly makes sense. Was that it?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
How do you decide when something is right for the brand? What's the threshold - how do you know when a new direction fits and when it doesn't?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Once you add a wine to the collection, do you continue it every year?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
You started in 2018, and we're almost in 2027 now. What do you think has changed since then? And what still frustrates you - whether that's how people understand wine, or anything within the art world, given how central art is to Katkoot.
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
katkoot italia
In almost ten years, have you noticed anyone in the industry trying to do something similar?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni, this one's for you. You work with Rick and Michele - furniture built to last centuries. The ashtray, the incense holder, everything carries that same essence. How do you think the design ethos you absorbed from the Rick Owens world, especially with Michele embracing you so early. The basement, all of it, I read everything, the ID article too - how did that bleed into KatKoot?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco, I went digging - Outlander Magazine. You mentioned that when Callum spoke to you about his sobriety, you immediately told him about the new project and the collaboration. And a big part of that conversation was about transparency, specifically around the bottle. So two things: what does transparency mean to you at this stage of the brand, and how do you think the Outlander collaboration moved things forward in terms of what you're trying to achieve?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
It connects to what Francesco was saying about feeling real and intentional, not compromised. So what do you think actually represents compromise in non-alcoholic wine today? Because personally, when I look at what's out there, I don't even have the words for it - but you know it when you see it.
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
How do you keep the community intact as you scale? As more collaborations come in, how do you retain that intimacy and transparency you've built? Because this isn't just about acquiring customers - it's about making them want to follow what's next. The next gallery, the next project.
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
"transparency also means something bigger for us - zero alcohol, zero sugar, nothing hidden."
The brand name means two things - a nickname, and something small and precious. How do you maintain that sense of preciousness when the vessel itself, the metal base, is not a precious material by nature? The glass versus the metal - how do you keep something precious when the object holding it isn't, at least in the traditional sense?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
I'm curious what the winemaking process actually looks like. When you're working with grapes from France and Italy, where is the wine primarily being made? And Francesco, how involved are you in the approval process?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
And where does the actual creation of the bottles happen - the bases, the ashtrays - is that all done at headquarters?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
katkoot italia
Francesco, another quote - Outlander again. I'm just doing my job. You said: 'Once the bottle is finished, the base remains with you, evolving naturally into a part of your everyday life.'
I want to ask you both individually - if someone drinks Katkoot for the first time today and keeps the base, three years from now, how do you see it staying with them? And what's the emotional value it should carry after three years of living with it?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Is every base a little different, even within the same wine?
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
How would you define the brand in one word? What would it be?
Giovanni Leonardo Bassan:
Francesco Vittorio Bassan:
katkoot italia