Contained in the Gucci Archive, The place Heritage and Innovation Meet in Florence

FLORENCE – These fortunate sufficient to go to the Gucci Archive are in for fairly a number of surprises.

A Gucci paper knife? A lighter formed as a tiny equestrian boot finely detailed with the GG brand? These are only some of the discoveries elegantly displayed in one of many rooms of Palazzo Settimanni, the place the archive has been positioned since 2021.

There’s loads extra on this space of the constructing, from shaving, magnificence and stitching kits to desk units and fountain pens, porcelain tea units and hip flasks, to call a number of.

In fact, these are dwarfed by the dizzying vary of Gucci garments and equipment current throughout the 5 flooring of the constructing. Gucci exceptionally opened the archive for its cruise 2026 present on Might 15, in a second of transition following the exit of Sabato De Sarno in February and the arrival of newly appointed inventive director Demna after his Balenciaga swan tune high fashion present on July 9 and his begin at Gucci shortly thereafter.

 In actual fact, chief govt officer Stefano Cantino says “selecting Palazzo Settimanni for the cruise 2026 present is a deliberate gesture. The archive is a residing testimony to over a century of creativity, craftsmanship, and innovation. It’s the place our roots and our future come along with readability and goal.”

The archive shouldn’t be open to most of the people as a result of, Cantino says, that is “an intimate area, one which calls for time, care, and emotion. We welcome passionate researchers and true model connoisseurs, as a result of coming into the center of Gucci isn’t one thing you buy — it’s one thing you earn.”

The venue is open to guided excursions, pals of the home, purchasers, celebrities and the press and to college students in collaboration with Polimoda and Bocconi College, for instance.

Against this, Gucci has a devoted public exhibition area in Palazzo Gucci within the metropolis’s Piazza della Signoria, the previous Gucci Backyard. Guccio Gucci based the model in 1921 in Florence, which stays central to its identification.

Palazzo Settimanni, on Through delle Caldaie, dates again to the Fifteenth century and is nestled within the Santo Spirito neighborhood, within the space referred to as “Oltrarno,” on the left financial institution of the Arno River. That is the place artisans and artists had their workshops, and by the sixteenth century, following the Medici household’s transfer to Palazzo Pitti, that they had established themselves close to the residences of the aristocratic households gravitating across the political and banking dynasty.

Regardless of its grandeur, over the centuries the palace proved to be a versatile construction, able to accommodating additions, splits, partitions, modifications of possession and use. The constructing was acquired by Gucci in 1953 — a milestone yr for the corporate, which noticed the demise of its founder. That yr, Gucci additionally opened its first retailer exterior Italy, in New York, and launched its first moccasin.

Through the years Palazzo Settimanni turned an integral a part of the model, serving as a manufacturing facility, a workshop and a showroom. Conservatively restored beginning in 2018 beneath the lead of former president and CEO Marco Bizzarri and then-creative director Alessandro Michele, it has housed the Gucci Archive since June 2021, serving to to mark the home’s a centesimal anniversary celebrations that yr.

The archive now contains 46,000 items plus paperwork, look books and editorials — each bodily and digital.

“What struck me probably the most after I first visited Palazzo Settimanni was how tangibly you possibly can really feel the soul of Gucci,” says Cantino of his first go to to the placement. “It’s a layered narrative, the place historical past and keenness, magnificence and creativity, previous and future repeatedly intertwine.”

Cantino believes the archive is “in the beginning, a spot of belonging.” Requested what sort of feelings he thinks the placement triggers, he says “it conveys a way of deep affection for our heritage and a forward-looking perspective. It’s a shared legacy for all those that have formed Gucci’s story over time.”

A memorable remark that stayed with him as soon as got here from an Italian customer who stated “that they had by no means skilled a spot the place tradition, style, magnificence and historical past coexisted in such good concord.” This comment “speaks to the distinctive emotional stability of the area,” Cantino says.  

Of the curatorial method, the chief says the archive “is formed by a steady technique of analysis and renewal. The shows evolve repeatedly to spotlight completely different sides of Gucci’s identification — bringing ahead parts that resonate with the current whereas remaining deeply rooted in our heritage. It’s by no means static: every object contributes to a story that’s at all times transferring ahead.”

The work of all inventive administrators, from Tom Ford by Frida Giannini and Michele to De Sarno, are represented within the archive, which “displays Gucci in its entirety, and which means honoring each inventive director who has contributed to creating our legacy modern and related. It’s a dynamic evolution, and simply as we protect the work of the generations of artisans who’ve formed Gucci’s identification, we additionally have fun the inventive visions that proceed to outline our journey,” Cantino says.

By the way, the primary Gucci menswear present by Ford as inventive director was held right here in 1995.

Throughout the 5 flooring, which embody the bottom flooring and the basement, all of the buildings collected in latest instances had been stripped away in the course of the restoration to disclose nineteenth century decorations, 18th century trompe l’oeils, late seventeenth century frescoes and even earlier ornamentation.

The primary alteration was the restoration of the central portico to its authentic proportions, eradicating a cover within the entrance corridor that had been added within the Nineties, a transfer which permits for extra mild. Native specialists had been recruited, who, for instance, painstakingly produced every terracotta flooring tile in wood-fired ovens — one after the other. Intriguing particulars embody handles that replicate a pair of scissors.

The archive is split into themed areas. On the bottom flooring, in a single room dubbed “the Swan” for its lovely fresco depicting the waterbird, Gucci highlights three of its iconic luggage — from the very first Bamboo relationship again to the tip of the Nineteen Forties to the primary examples of the Jackie 1961, and the primary Horsebit from 1955. Row after row they replicate the evolution of every of Gucci’s signature luggage by the years, introduced in several variations and supplies, bridging the previous with the current.

The oldest bag, a velvet clutch with a floral sample, dates again to the tip of the Nineteen Twenties.

On the bottom flooring there’s additionally a window show devoted to its signature internet motif in inexperienced/crimson/inexperienced and in blue/crimson/blue established within the mid-Fifties.

One other signature code, the diamond sample from the Nineteen Thirties, first seen on hemp suitcases, advanced into the GG monogram in 1969. A style present of a males’s and girls’s assortment solely embellished with the monogram was held that very same yr on the Smithsonian and people designs are additionally introduced on the archive.

The GG brand has gone by modifications over time, from the rounded motif in 1971 on the Blondie bag to interlocking on the model’s first perfume in 1975.

Baggage can be a part of the placement’s treasure trove, from the trunk relationship again to the tip of the Nineteen Thirties to the primary printed canvas baggage and luggage trademarked in 1959, and suitcases with the patterns of pinecones and pomegranates. Small leather-based items and jewellery are on show in a salon close to the suitcases.

Scarves, attire, textile designs and footwear are proven on the primary flooring. There’s a focus  on the Flora scarf, which was created in 1966 when Princess Grace of Monaco put in a request for a colourful and exuberant design and Rodolfo Gucci, son of the founder, requested  illustrator Vittorio Accornero de Testa to help.

The motif was painted by hand, impressed by the flowers blooming naturally in Tuscany and by Fifteenth-century artist Sandro Botticelli’s “Allegory of Spring.” The flowery composition required 37 distinct colours, every utilized by separate printing steps. The motif impressed the model’s first silk gown in 1969 and has been reimagined by Gucci’s completely different inventive administrators over time throughout the classes. There are additionally 58 authentic watercolor designs by Accornero de Testa on show.

Forward of the cruise present, Cantino stated returning to Florence and to Palazzo Settimanni was “each a tribute and a declaration of intent,” describing the archive “as not merely a repository of our previous; it’s a residing area the place Gucci’s identification codes are preserved and reinterpreted by an ongoing dialogue.”

The selection of the placement in his view reaffirms Gucci’s “bond with the cultural and artisanal heritage that defines us, whereas projecting it into the long run with coherence and ambition.”