MASSIMO Trulli is the name of a top Italian designer whose trendy bags and home furnishing pieces are sought after. It also happens to be the name of a new lifestyle retail concept store that just opened at the LRI Design Plaza along Nicanor Garcia Street in Bel-Air II, Makati, and carries a good collection of Massimo Trulli’s leather bags and artistic furniture and furnishings.
Massimo Trulli’s leather pieces—including handbags, pouches, belts, wallets and luggages— are famous for their colorful pop-art renditions which are reflective of the avant garde images of the ‘50s and ‘60s. So with the exquisite chairs and tables, which customers can use while shopping in the store.
Massimo Trulli Fashion, Food & Wine Concept Store is unique in the sense that it is a fashion boutique, a furniture store, a restaurant and a wine bar all rolled into one. Aside from the signature bags, leather goods, chairs and tables by Massimo Trulli, the store is also a gourmet restaurant serving globally inspired cuisine, such as Spanish tapas and French cuisine, which they can enjoy while seated on exquisite Massimo Trulli leather chairs with the faces of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe and partaking of the food on glass-topped Massimo Trulli tables.
“We want everyone to have that unique Massimo Trulli experience,” says Atty. Gale Atienza, one of the owners of the unique establishment, which has a deli that sells wheels of exquisite regional Italian cheeses and Prosciutto San Daniele ham.
A wine bar also stands in a corner of the store, and behind it is a temperature-controlled wine cellar. A good selection of Italian wines is available for sale, most of which can also be ordered by the glass.
“In other restaurants, only the house wines are available by the glass. But if you want a particular kind of wine, you have to buy the entire bottle. Here in the store, we make a number of wines available by the glass for everyone to enjoy,” explains Adriano Stefanutti, one of the owners and wine director and consultant of the concept store.
The wine bar serves Italian wines starting at Php200 per glass, and the choices of high-end wines available in the wine cellar range from Php6,800 to Php80,000 per bottle. Some of the brands cannot be found elsewhere.
Massimo Trulli had been Atty. Gale Atienza’s friend for over 10 years now. They first met in Massimo’s gallery, then they met again after that. She bought some bags from him, and those bags had been hits among her friends. So, after establishing a wine company with Adriano Stefanutti, who first came to Manila as an embassy official, and they decided to open a retail store, Atty. Gale thought of marrying a fashion boutique featuring Massimo’s handmade, limited-edition bags and furniture with a restaurant and wine bar. She sought out Massimo, who readily said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Massimo Trulli Fashion, Food & Wine Concept Store formally opened its doors to the public last Friday, February 27, 2015.