Claudia Schiffer Has Us Buzzing About Butterflies

The name Claudia Schiffer may call to mind the glamorous catwalks of New York, Paris, London, and Milan, but the supermodel spent her formative years in the German countryside, near the banks of the Rhine River. And, as an adult, her home base is not a flashy flat in London, but a sunlit Tudor manse surrounded by verdant fields and farmland in rural England.

These bucolic memories are what inspired Schiffer’s latest collection for Bordallo Pinheiro, a storied Portuguese ceramic maker with whom she first collaborated in 2020. Her new pieces, which are ideal for informal entertaining, still include her signature design of butterflies but this time in a more earthy palette, with colors like cinnamon and tawny.

We sat down with Schiffer to discuss her inspiration for the new pieces, her favorite summertime dessert, and how she loves to entertain guests this season.

Architectural Digest: What made you initially want to collect Bordallo Pinheiro?

Claudia Schiffer: Years ago, I was given a Bordallo Pinheiro cheese platter, which was really playful, and we used it all the time. So I started collecting more Bordallo pieces, to use and give to friends. I love how the designs cleverly represent creatures and objects found in nature, and the colors are so vivid.

Your previous collection for Bordallo also used butterflies. Why did you want to continue working within that theme?

I have always liked the idea of transformation, which the butterfly symbolizes for me. I know something about it, having been a shy teenager who suddenly found herself on runways, TV shows, and billboards around the world. Butterflies are innately elegant, adapting, and evolving. I try to prioritize health, happiness, and wellness, which I find by being with my family and close to nature, so it’s no accident that my designs always reference the natural world.