Vana & Nuovo
A sourcing and storytelling partner for hospitality and design projects, bringing Europe’s most distinctive makers into memorable spaces
What We Do
Across Europe, there are exceptional artisans and producers whose work is not always visible through conventional sourcing channels. Their value lies not only in what they make, but in what stands behind it: skill, material knowledge, regional tradition and techniques refined through generations of practice.
Vana & Nuovo brings this work into hotels, restaurants and interiors that call for objects with character, quality and a sense of origin. We find and vet makers, shape each sourcing process with care, and guide projects from first conversation to final delivery. For clients who want the context behind the work to become part of the guest experience, we help translate it with clarity and restraint: the maker, the material, the technique or the place it comes from.
Our role is to make exceptional European craft easier to discover, understand and bring into spaces where it belongs.
For projects where provenance matters
How We Work
Vana & Nuovo works in three stages, from discovery to delivery to the story guests encounter in the space.
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Every project begins with understanding what your space needs, what kind of object or material would serve it, and why that choice matters.
We research and vet producers against your brief, drawing on our network and wider regional knowledge. You receive a considered shortlist with context on the maker, materials, production capacity, lead times and indicative pricing.
The work of finding the right maker is where many projects either succeed or quietly fail. We do it with care.
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Once a direction is chosen, we manage the relationship between you and the producer from first agreement to final delivery.
That means a single point of contact, clear communication, regular updates and practical oversight of the details that can otherwise make international sourcing difficult. The goal is a professionally managed commission that arrives as intended, without requiring you to navigate an unfamiliar producer relationship alone.
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The objects are only part of what your space communicates. For clients who want the provenance of what they have sourced to become part of the guest experience, we offer written producer profiles, guest-facing copy, sourcing notes and staff briefing materials.
The exact format is agreed around the needs of the project: what the guest should understand, where the story should appear, and how much should be said. For projects where atmosphere is built through both objects and narrative, this helps make the sourcing visible, meaningful and complete.
What We Source
Vana & Nuovo sources textiles, ceramics, glass, tableware, dining objects, paper goods, stationery and decorative pieces for hospitality and interior spaces.
Some are everyday objects that quietly improve how a space functions. Others become focal points: hand-thrown ceramics from a family studio, woven textiles produced on the same loom for generations, blown glass from a workshop whose techniques have barely changed over time.
We do not offer a fixed catalogue. Each project is built around the brief, through carefully selected makers whose work combines exceptional craft, reliability and a genuine connection to place.
How We Select Producers
The makers we work with are not selected for skill alone. What matters is the relationship between their work, the places they come from, the materials they use and the traditions they carry forward. Every producer in the Vana & Nuovo network reflects at least two of the following principles:
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Every craft tradition belongs somewhere. Its techniques, materials and forms are shaped by a particular landscape, culture and history.
The producers we work with have strong ties to the places where they live and work. Their practice is rooted in regional traditions or cultural contexts that give their work a distinct sense of place.
For your project, this brings objects with a specific geographic identity: pieces rooted in somewhere real, rather than inspired by everywhere at once.
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Craft knowledge is carried by people. It passes through families, workshops, apprenticeships and communities, often over generations.
The producers we value are part of that longer human transmission. Their work is not only skilled; it belongs to a living chain of knowledge.
For your project, this brings work with a deeper story behind it: pieces made by people who understand not only the technique, but the tradition and community from which it comes.
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Some materials are inseparable from the craft traditions they represent: a local clay shaped by generations of ceramic knowledge, a regional fibre woven through longstanding textile practices, or a material whose character is understood through a particular way of making.
The producers we work with have a serious relationship with their materials and understand how origin, process and use shape the final object.
For your project, this brings material depth: pieces whose character comes not only from how they are made, but from what they are made of.
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Not every craft tradition survives through uninterrupted practice. Across Europe, industrialisation, historical events and social change have weakened or disrupted many forms of making.
The producers we value play an active role in sustaining these traditions. Some preserve inherited methods. Some revive practices that have been lost. Others create contemporary work that gives traditional knowledge a meaningful place in the present.
For your project, this brings objects that contribute to a living cultural landscape: work that supports the continuation of European craft heritage rather than simply referencing it.
Standard sourcing can make even beautiful spaces feel generic. Exceptional European craft brings the depth and character that make a place feel singular.
Meet the Founder
Vana & Nuovo was founded by Ave Lauren.
For more than a decade, Ave worked across Europe, North America and the Middle East on questions of regional development, human mobility and economic recovery, moving between governments, international organisations, academia and communities navigating change on the ground.
Her work often returned to one underlying question: how do places keep their character in a world shaped by movement, change and reinvention?
Over time, part of the answer became visible in the workshops, studios and small businesses that continue to carry regional heritage forward: textile makers, ceramicists, glassmakers and other producers whose work is rooted in skill, continuity and conviction.
Ave’s experience with people and places shaped by movement also informs why these objects matter. In a mobile world, rooted objects can carry memory, belonging and a sense of place across borders. They can make a hotel, restaurant or interior feel not only well designed, but connected to somewhere real.
Vana & Nuovo grew from that understanding. Today, it helps hospitality and design clients discover exceptional makers across selected European regions, building trusted relationships and bringing their work into projects that value quality, authenticity and a strong sense of place.
Discuss a project
We would be pleased to hear from you.
Whether you are sourcing distinctive pieces for a hotel, restaurant or interior project, exploring a potential collaboration, or would like to understand how Vana & Nuovo works, please get in touch.
Tell us a little about what you are working on, where the project is based and what you are hoping to source. We will come back to you as soon as possible.
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