FACING THE RIALTO BRIDGE, WHERE THE WATERS OF THE GRAND CANAL WIDEN TO EMBRACE THE BEATING HEART OF VENICE, A VISIONARY HOSPITALITY PROJECT REAWAKENS THE CITY’S AVANT-GARDE SOUL.

HERE, IN A REALM SUSPENDED BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE, A CONSTELLATION OF ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, AND NEW ARTISANS CONVERGES TO UNVEIL POSTVENEZIANITÀ: THE SHAPE OF VENICE TO COME.

Cookman was born in Venice, California.
Our flagship store stands on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a street named after Abbot Kinney, the man who created “Venice of America” on the California coast more than a century ago.
As a young man, Kinney traveled through Europe and was deeply inspired by Venice, Italy. Years later, he carried that inspiration across the Atlantic and the American continent to the Pacific coast, where he created his own vision of Venice in California — complete with canals, bridges and gondolas.
That history has always been part of the place Cookman calls home.
More than a century later, something remarkable has happened.
A brand born in California’s Venice has crossed the ocean in the opposite direction, returning to the original Venice and meeting Venice M’Art in one of the historic palaces of the city that first inspired Abbot Kinney.
It feels as though a circle that began more than 100 years ago has finally been completed.
But the connection between Cookman and Venice M’Art goes much deeper than the name “Venice.”
At the heart of Venice M’Art and the Venice Venice Hotel is an interest in bringing different worlds together and creating something unexpected from that encounter.
Sunday Pizza is a perfect expression of that philosophy.
Inside the sophisticated surroundings of a historic Venetian palace and five-star hotel, something wonderfully simple and familiar happens: people gather around pizza, listen to vinyl records, talk, exchange ideas and enjoy music together.
The contrast is unexpected — but somehow completely natural.
Cookman was born from a similar idea.
Our clothing has its roots in something highly functional: workwear created for people working in kitchens. But Cookman took those clothes beyond the kitchen and brought them into everyday life, street culture, music, art and fashion.
In both worlds, something familiar is removed from its expected environment and given a new context.
Perhaps that is why Cookman and Venice M’Art were naturally drawn to each other.
And there is one more chapter to this story.
More than a century ago, Abbot Kinney looked at Venice, Italy, and reimagined it on the California coast.
Today, the direction has been reversed.
TM Paint, an artist connected to Cookman and California’s Venice, looks across the ocean toward the original Venice and reimagines the city through his own artwork for the Cookman × Venice M’Art collection.
Then, Venice inspired Venice.
Now, Venice looks back at Venice.
What began more than a century ago as one man’s fascination with a city has, in a small and unexpected way, come full circle.
For us, Cookman × Venice M’Art is therefore more than a collaboration between two brands.
It is a meeting between two places that have been connected for more than 100 years.
Two Venices, recognizing something in each other again.
A love story more than a century in the making.
Venice inspired Venice. Now Venice returns to Venice.