Gucci Presents Five Icons of Italian Craftsmanship for Milan Design Week
An exploration of Italian mastery that has defined Milanese design over the eras.
Gucci is participating in full force for Milan Design Week. Created from an idea of creative director Sabato De Sarno is a special project titled Gucci Design Ancora, which is also co-curated by Michela Pelizzari.
This week saw the official launch of the immersive exhibition at Gucci’s flagship store in via Monte Napoleone in Milan, where the brand showcased five icons of Italian design. The re-edited and customized pieces were showed off in the immersive exhibition conceived by Spanish architect Guillermo Santomà.
Amongst the exhibition, Gucci showed off the “Storet” by Nanda Vigo for Acerbis (1994, reedition 2020), the “Clessidra rug” — Portaluppi Pattern Project by Nicolò Castellini Baldissera (great grandson of Piero Portaluppi) from an iconic design of Piero Portaluppi, edited by cc-tapis (2024), “Parola” by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni for FontanaArte (1980), “Le Mura” by Mario Bellini for Tacchini (1972, reedition 2022) and “Opachi} by Tobia Scarpa for Venini (1960, reedition 2021). Michela Pelizzari explained of the pieces showed, “Through Design Ancora, Gucci doesn’t simply celebrate old icons, it creates new ones. he aura emanating from the brand spotlights five pieces by Italian masters that are perfect from a design standpoint but less known to the general public.”
The objects chosen to be apart of the Gucci Design Ancora were brought to life to represent the golden age of Italina design. It denotes the important relationship between designers and brands, craftsmanship and industrial production. All objects are re-edited in Rosso Ancora, the red hue chosen by De Sarno to mark the beginning of Gucci’s new creative chapter. The pieces are shown at the Gucci Milan flagship against a curved wall in green, a color also chosen by Sabto De Sarno as the backdrop, to create a sense of blurring boundaries while creating a metaphysical space in which each object appears on its own, displayed as an idea rather than as a mere product. Take a look at the pieces above.
