Milan Design Week: Five ‘icons of Italian design’ get Gucci Ancora update

Adapted iterations of five iconic Italian design pieces have been unveiled at Gucci’s flagship store on via Monte Napoleone, Milan, where this year’s design week is currently underway.

From April 15, an exhibition at the location, conceived by Spanish architect Guillermo Santomà, will house the objects that “represent the golden age of Italian design”, albeit with re-edited pieces that now come in Gucci’s staple Rosso Ancora, the red shade that has defined the first collections of the brand’s latest creative director Sabato De Sarno.

The interior objects, all of which will become available to purchase on Gucci’s website from April 21, include a 2022 re-edition of Le Mura by Mario Bellini, a modular sofa design with shapes reminiscent of Roman walls; the Clessidra rug featuring the geometric Portaluppi Pattern Project by Nicolò Castellini Baldissera; the Storet sculpture by Nango Vigo for Acerbis; the Opachi vase by Tobia Scarpa; and the 1980’s Parola table lamp, designed by Gae Aulenti and Piero Castiglioni.

The way in which the collection has been exhibited, against the backdrop of plain neon green walls, was also intentional according to Santomà. In a release, the architect said: “If we had put the objects all together, we would have created a living room. Instead, we decided to remove the boundaries given by how we use these objects and create a sort of limbo. Floating objects don’t have meaning or a function. They are just shape, materiality, colour.”