Gucci Goo

In the interim since my last post we made a visit to the Gucci factory just outside of Florence right as Pitti Uomo was going on. The Gucci factory is unlike any other we have traveled to (D&G, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace ALIAS, Zegna, Moreschi, Ducati, etc.) because it is so organized and yet so oriented to the craftsman. Each work station was personalized for the individual operating there, without being precious or distracting. The most surprising thing I learned was not the cost of the albino alligator skins from post-Katrina Louisiana, but rather the production process of the bags themselves. Gucci is known for having highly structured bags, unlike their sister company Bottega Veneta, whose form melts like butter in your hands. The inner component of this firm structure? Newspaper! I kid you not, if you were to cut open your grandmother's Gucci bag, you would find a piece of history archived inside. Newspaper acts as a support much like paper mache, and as a former student of architecture who once formed bricks out of nothing but shredded newspaper and water, I can attest to its strength.

Moving on from the Gucci factory itself, we went down the street to the ground floor of the house of a family who has worked for Gucci for three generations. They are basically subcontractors, but work solely for the Gucci Group. With the exception of Bottega Veneta bags, which are crafted specifically in Vicenza by hands that have been trained in their dedicated school, the rest of the companies from the Group often have their precious bags assembled and finished in this work studio. At various craftsmens' stations, we met family members and employees of various stages in their careers working on everything from YSL's Y-Mail clutch, to the Alexander McQueen skull-clasp clutch, as well as the Gucci Indy Bag. Needless to say, the design does not occur on site, nor do bag designers work for multiple brands. However, one can immediately see the benefits in the supply chain of having manufacturing synergies between your brands- in this case, having technicians and craftsmen who are highly specialized and capable of creating an immaculate handmade product for the various brands within the Gucci Group.

After seeing so many "Made in Italy" labels operating overseas, it's nice to see a brand that stands behind their label. As a single bag can take up to thirty hours just to assemble, the craftsmen are truly experts at working with various leathers (not for Stella, of course) and other materials that might come their way. It was a great process to witness!

Driade and the Death of Italian Craftsmanship

Just before Design Week and Salone del Mobile kicked off here in Milan, we had the chance to meet Elisa Astori, the Managing Director of Driade.  Driade began in the late 60's by producing finished pieces of furniture, and now designs and produces furniture, kitchens, objects and complements for total living systems.  With 45 internal designers, and frequent external collaborations, Driade's focus is on exploring aesthetics to provide an ecclectic living experience. Design collaborations first began in Japan in 1989, as the company began to search for creativity, design critiques, cultural personalities, and so on with the intention of bringing emotion to clients through their environment, and to anticipate and precede trends.  The Japanese contact was made by chance through a need to resolve highly technical production issues.  Next retail partnerships were formed for distribution, and then the Japanese architect Toyo Ito was introduced to the company designers.  Through this collaboration, Ito embarked on a new scale of design, and Driade's new design aesthetic evolved.  The strong Japanese aesthetic within Driade set the rythm for ecclectic and multicultural design inspiration, and the company next collaborated with designers from China, using traditional materials in new ways.  This year, the company began it's collaboration work with designers from India.

Distribution currently exists in 84 countries predominantly in Europe.  The company is pushing for new growth in emerging countries, especially through these strategic design collaborations.  By always working between high design and industrialized materials (such as plastic), the company balances a high-low dimension, and introduces many smaller household elements handcrafted around the world in various native materials as complementors.

The company is interior design-based, with experts in many materials, thus taking the company from a product-focused strategy to a total corporate identity.  The business model is therefore design-based, with production outsourced to various specialized manufacturers, and the majority of resources and attention centered on the design process and results.  The outsourced manufacturers are now increasingly located in Eastern Europe or the Far East, and as the design teams are increasingly international, what is left of the "Made in Italy" business model is the design culture of the brand and the company.

According to Astori, the world is rapidly changing, and there is no emerging generation of Italian craftsmen, as many young Italians are encouraged to pursue a professional degree and often wish to leave the country upon graduation.  Driade's current prototypist is now 70 years old, and while several students have taken a very short internship with him from design school, there is no apprentice program in place, no placement system, and apparently no interested applicants (if there were interested applicants, they would have a hard time making their interest known, however).  Therefore, there is no one to invest in for local training in the traditional craft of Italian furniture production, and if Driade were to depend on the craftsmen of Italy for design and production it would be bankrupt in 5 years when the craftsmen stop producing.

Versace ALIAS Prototyping Center

After our tour of Zegna, we stopped in at the ALIAS factory to have a look at the latest Versace samples and prototypes. The center was founded in the late 70's by Gianni Versace, who wanted to have a place to focus on the creation of innovative new models. Versace has no real consistency in color, shape, silhouette, etc., because of their philosophy of innovation, and so there is a strong need for prototyping, which allows for the learning process in each new design. While ALIAS creates various prototypes for the upcoming collections, it creates one sample collection with some replication for sales campaigns around the world, in addition to some made-to-measure pieces for very special clients. There is a direct link to ALIAS from the design office in Milan, from which Donatella and her team send very detailed sketches for another team of patternmakers to translate. Most prototypes are made first from paper, then from canvas or another cheap materials that has the same fabric weight and similar movement to the final fabric desired. Prototypes and then samples are produced in size 38 long for testing and sales campaigns, and then another round of samples are made in size 42 as the basis for manufacturing. (The goal is to have a long, slender silhouette for sales, but to produce clothes that fit "real women" in the manufacturing process.)

There are three collections per season: a pre-, main, and runway collection. The last collection was inspired by a trip to Berlin where Donatella's design team came across the collage works of artist Tim Roeloffs. The artist was asked to study Versace designs and icons and blend his own inspiration from Berlin into a collage. The artist mixed traditional versace colors (bright yellow and pink) with industrial colors and images from Berlin, in addition to quirky components such as his and Donatella's dogs. The collage was transferred into a print for fabric, which the collections key dresses were made from. Aplica flowers inspired by 1960s wallpaper (which was frequently referenced by the late Gianni) were sewn onto the dresses to further the 3D element of the collage.

We were lucky enough to have a private fashion show by the lovely fit model, and caught a glimpse of the extensive archives located above the production floor. The archives contain little treasures from every collection throughout the history of the fashion house, and serve as inspiration for new garment models or as references to technical details.

More information on Tim Roeloffs and the collection can be found at http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/tim-roeloffs-collaboration/2115