GUCCI | BAMBOO ENCOUNTERS

THE HOUSE REVEALS GUCCI | BAMBOO ENCOUNTERS FOR FUORISALONE 2025 IN MILAN

7 april 2025

The House is pleased to present Gucci | Bamboo Encounters, an exhibition curated and designed by 2050+ and its founder Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, celebrating the enduring legacy of bamboo in Gucci’s design history and identity. Set against the stunning backdrop of Milan's 16th-century Chiostri di San Simpliciano during Fuorisalone 2025, the exhibition showcases a series of unique contributions by contemporary designers and artists from around the world who were invited to reimagine bamboo in bold and unexpected ways. Gucci | Bamboo Encounters draws inspiration from the House’s innovative approach to craftsmanship in the mid 1940s when it began to use bamboo for the handles of handbags, notably the Gucci Bamboo 1947. In the following decades, bamboo became one of the House’s most celebrated codes, symbolizing much more than a design detail. Throughout Gucci’s history, the material has traced a unique path, adopting many roles and meanings to inspire the intertwined dimensions of art, culture, and design. The exhibition builds upon this rich heritage, exploring the lasting impact of the material and how it continues to bridge past and present in ever-evolving ways.

Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez pays tribute to the bamboo’s natural shape with his sculpture, 1802251226. Palestinian architect, artist, and researcher Dima Srouji reveals Hybrid Exhalations, showcasing found bamboo baskets with hand-blown glass additions. Kite Club, a Dutch design collective comprising Bertjan Pot, Liesbeth Abbenes, and Maurice Scheltens present Thank you, Bamboo, a series of kites made from contemporary materials and bamboo. In Scaffolding, Austrian designer Laurids Gallée reinterprets the material through his resin design pieces. Recontextualizing the theme with bamboo panels and silk fabrics, French artist Nathalie Du Pasquier presents PASSAVENTO. Sisan Lee, a Seoul-based designer and artist, incorporates traditional Korean aesthetics and contemporary techniques in his Engraved aluminum creations. Lastly, the back studio, featuring duo Eugenio Rossi and Yaazd Contractor, who are based in Turin and Mumbai, illuminate bamboo through a light installation, reflecting tradition and modernity with bamboo assemblage n.1.

Gucci | Bamboo Encounters runs from April 8-13 at Chiostri di San Simpliciano in Milan. Alongside the exhibition, Gucci and 2050+ will host a series of special talks open to the public, featuring conversations with the exhibition’s designers, industry guests, and creatives from April 8-10. Reservations to attend the exhibition and talks are available to book on https://bookingtool.globaltech.gucci/.

High res images can be downloaded here.

NOTES TO EDITOR

IPPOLITO PESTELLINI LAPARELLI

Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli is an architect and curator whose work encompasses technology, politics, design, and environmental practices. Formerly a partner at OMA, where his work focused on research and curation, scenography, and preservation, he founded the interdisciplinary agency 2050+ in Milan to deploy space as a medium rather than a goal. Together with 2050+ he has carried out various projects encompassing curatorial and research practices, exhibition design, scenography, and architecture. These include curating ‘Open,’ the 2021 Russian Federation Pavilion in Venice at the 17th Architecture Biennale and co-editing the accompanying collection ‘Voices. Towards Other Institutions’ (2021); ‘Synthetic Cultures’ at the 10th Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam; the development of various independent research projects such as the short films ‘Riders Not Heroes’ which were first presented at the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial; conceiving the scenography and set design for: ‘Nebula and Penumbra’ for the In Between Art Film Foundation in Venice, Donizetti’s opera ‘Il Diluvio Universale’ (Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo), the retrospective ‘Meredith Monk: Calling’ (Haus der Kunst, Munich), and the exhibition ‘Aquaria - Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea’ (MAAT Museum, Lisbon); as well as completing the architectural renovation and spatial transformation of: La Rinascente’s modernist icon in Rome, and the historic concept store 10 Corso Como in Milan. In 2018 Pestellini co-curated Manifesta 12 ‘The Planetary Garden. Cultivating Coexistence’ in Palermo and edited ‘Palermo Atlas,’ the preparatory investigation on the Sicilian capital (2018).

Between 2017 and 2022 Ippolito has taught at the Royal College of Arts in London ‘Data Matter,’ a research and design studio exploring the entangled relationship between data and the material world. Previously he has taught at TU Delft and held seminars at the Berlage Institute and the Politecnico di Milano among others. In 2023 he acted as President of the Jury of the 18th Architecture Biennale in Venice. His work has been shown and published internationally in various media, institutions, festivals, and exhibitions.

2050+

2050+ is an interdisciplinary studio based in Milan whose work revolves around diverse forms of critical spatial practices at the intersection of technology, politics, and the environment.

Founded in 2020, 2050+ has carried out various projects encompassing curatorial and research practices, exhibition design and architecture. These include curating ‘Open,’ the 2021 Russian Federation Pavilion in Venice at the 17th Architecture Biennale, and ‘Synthetic Cultures’ at the 10th Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam; the development of various independent research projects such as the short films ‘Riders Not Heroes’ and ‘Riders Not Heroes: Anatomy of a Delivery,’ which were presented at the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial and CCA Montreal in 2022; conceiving the scenography and set design for: ‘Nebula and Penumbra’ for the In Between Art Films Foundation (respectively 60th and 59th Art Biennale in Venice), Donizetti’s opera ‘Il Diluvio Universale’ (Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo), the retrospective ‘Meredith Monk: Calling’ (Haus der Kunst, Munich), the exhibition ‘As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories’ (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin), ‘Søylerommet - The Pillars Room,’ a permanent exhibition space for the Fredriksen Collection (National Museum of Norway in Oslo), and the exhibition ‘Aquaria - Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea’ (MAAT Museum,Lisbon); as well as completing the architectural renovation and spatial transformation of: La Rinascente by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in Piazza Fiume in Rome, the heritage building Multertor in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and the iconic concept store 10 Corso Como in Milan.

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ANTON ALVAREZ

Anton Alvarez (b. 1980) is a Stockholm based Swedish-Chilean artist known for his innovative approach to furniture and object-making. Oscillating between technological innovation and traditional craftsmanship, Alvarez’s sculptural forms challenge our perception of weight and gravity, appearing both of this world and utterly separate from it. His practice focuses on the design of systems, the creation of tools, and processes for producing sculptural objects and architecture. The technology created by Alvarez highlights the way in which an artist can become both craftsman and engineer, and the tension between these two roles. Alvarez continues to playfully push boundaries, creating works that are both traditional and unconventional, resulting in a unique and surprising sculptural environment.

‘1802251226’

Just as in the calculated systems of architecture, where element rests upon element, bearing the weight of our history, likewise bamboo reaches heights with force and velocity, governed by its innate structures and ligaments, rising from the water towards the skies. These load-bearing elements also form the foundation of Alvarez’s artistry, where structure becomes the visual, and the visual upholds the structure. A balancing act of collapse and stability. In traditional sculpture, the material often plays a subordinate role; it is a tool in the pursuit of establishing the final form. In Alvarez’s sculptures, however, form is subordinate to the material; the material dictates the ultimate shape of the sculpture. Conditions take a leap into formation, much like a force of nature. Nature’s organic forms have long guided human aesthetic sensibilities – the structures of growth, the movement of water, the ripples of waves – all shaping our perception of the world around us. This serves as a tribute to the essence of bamboo and to water, the driving force of all nature, to its ascending power and profound significance for humanity. Both defy circumstance, pushing through, up, and in between, providing stability and life itself – stable yet fleeting, restrained yet untamed, reliable yet wild.

**THIS IS A MAKING OF IMAGE_HIGHRES OF THE ACTUAL PIECE OF ART SHOT IN THE EXHIBITION SPACE WILL BE AVAILABLE LATER TODAY

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DIMA SROUJI

Dima Srouji (b. 1990) is a London-based Palestinian architect, artist, and researcher grounded in psycho-spatial practices. Embedded within her object-centered work, Srouji unfolds stories. She works with glass, text, archives, maps, plaster casts, and film, understanding each as an evocative object and emotional companion helping navigate cultural heritage in sites of struggle. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Art Biennale, Sharjah Art Biennial, Lagos Biennial, Sharjah Architecture Triennial, Islamic Art Biennale, Doha Design Biennale, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Ford Foundation, Tai Kwun Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe and others. It is held in collections at Stedelijk Museum, V&A Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe, Corning Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Art Jameel, Sharjah Art Foundation and the MIT. She is a graduate of Yale University and now leads the MA City Design studio Underground Palestine at the Royal College of Art. She was the Jameel Fellow at the V&A (2022–2023).

‘Hybrid Exhalations’

A series of found bamboo objects intertwined with hand-blown glass additions. The project celebrates the material, transforming the bamboo and merging it with the lightweight and joyful medium of glass. While the bamboo suggests the slow and meditative process of weaving, recalling the patience of artisans, the glass resonates a much faster and intuitive spirit. Hand-blown in Palestine by the Twam family, master artisans in Jaba’ between Jerusalem and Ramallah, the glass pieces were designed specifically for bamboo baskets. However, the process required the glassblowers to create the glass pieces without seeing the baskets, designed in anticipation of what would be found. Srouji collected the bamboo over multiple weeks foraging for unique baskets made by unknown masters all over the world. The collection celebrates these anonymous artisans. Uniting the two elements made for a beautiful moment when the glass arrived from Palestine in London. The work brings two traditions together, combining spatial and temporal modes, slow and fast paced, fragile and intricate. Creating a hybrid, the glass applique and the woven bamboo meet in an intuitive harmony.

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KITE CLUB

Kite Club (2020) is an Instagram account founded by Dutch product and textile designer Bertjan Pot (b. 1975), and Dutch still-life photographers Liesbeth Abbenes (b. 1970) and Maurice Scheltens (b. 1972). On @_Kite_Club_ they share their passion for single-line kites made from textiles, often incorporating sticks and fluttering tails. Kitemaking is a craft with a rich global tradition, which they study closely. However, they enjoy infusing their designs with a contemporary and innovative twist. What they love most about kites is the ability to bring an idea to life and suspend it from the highest point imaginable – not just in a gallery, but against the blue sky for all to see. For them, flying kites is a performance, a ritual, a social event. They are always happy to share their knowledge and help other creatives in making and flying their own kites.

‘Thank you, Bamboo’

“Without you, kite flying would not be what it is today. Your strength, flexibility and lightness have been crucial to the development of kites worldwide. Yes, we’ve moved on – now we use carbon and fiberglass rods and tubes for frames that were once meticulously carved from bamboo. Paper is replaced by synthetic materials like plastic and ripstop nylon, designed to withstand stronger winds and rain. But none of these innovations would have been possible if people hadn’t originally crafted kites from bamboo.” Kite Club

This contribution is a tribute to bamboo, blending contemporary materials like ripstop nylon, plastic, and tape with bamboo. It celebrates the joy of making and flying kites, merging the classic with the contemporary. While the ripstop nylon kites act as canvases for expressing ideas about bamboo, the kites made from tape and plastic demonstrate that anyone can build a kite using household materials.

Kites require wind to fly, but many can recall the experience of running with a kite on a windless day. The courtyard of the Chiostri di San Simpliciano, where the event will take place, is unlikely to have much wind. To address this challenge, a kite-flying machine has been invented. Long revolving bamboo poles will generate the necessary airflow to lift the kites into the air during the event.

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LAURIDS GALLÉE

Laurids Gallée (b. 1988) is an Austrian designer based in Rotterdam who creates distinctive, one-of-a-kind pieces that prioritize material and artistic expression over conventional functionality. Central to his creative process is a sense of playfulness, which dares to explore unexpected shapes and ways of manipulating materials. This approach uncovers the artistic depth within each piece, inviting a sense of wonder. Exposed to creative practices from an early age, Gallée briefly studied anthropology before graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2015. He spent the following years learning different manufacturing techniques, as a craftsman in art and design production. In 2017, he founded his own studio in Rotterdam. His work explores traditional and folkloric elements, reimagining them within the context of modern materiality, while also embracing today’s advanced manufacturing processes to create a contemporary fusion.

‘Scaffolding’

A recent trip led Gallée to notice the remarkable qualities of bamboo in practice, serving as the main inspiration for this project – particularly its use in scaffolding and simple support structures built through repetition. Bamboo is a material of resilience, yet there is grace in the way it holds weight. Gallée sought to capture that duality in these pieces by portraying strong parallel lines, self-imposing and layering over one another. The resin functions as both frame and space, capturing the bamboo mid-motion, as if suspended in time. Polished details allow light to reflect, giving shape to the structures while the negative space softens them. This interplay creates a sense of submersion and resurfacing, which informed the choice of deep blue – a color that reinforces stillness, quiet depth, and the gentle gestures within the material. This work also engages with function, or the suggestion of it. The pieces exist in an in-between state, inviting interpretation rather than dictating their use. As with every project from Gallée’s studio, it is driven by curiosity and a focus on exploration and materiality.

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NATHALIE DU PASQUIER

Nathalie Du Pasquier (b. 1957) is a French artist, born in Bordeaux. In 1979, she moved to Milan, where she began working as a textile designer. A founding member of the Memphis Group, she left design in 1987 to dedicate herself to painting. Her work revolves around objects and object landscapes, gradually evolving into elaborate constructions composed of abstract elements, which have become the central themes of her more recent paintings. She regularly exhibits her work in Italy and abroad.

‘PASSAVENTO’

Inspired by traditional furniture from Asian countries, Nathalie Du Pasquier reimagines bamboo through the image of a folding screen. For this project, she designed a self-supporting panel measuring 80 x 180 cm, with two legs fixed into slightly heavy bases. When several panels of the same size but with different designs are assembled, they form a partition wall that resembles a traditional folding screen, but one that does not fully obscure what lies beyond. These panels are lightweight and easy to move, with four in total planned for the installation. What intrigues Du Pasquier about bamboo, a material she has not worked with before, is its natural form – it is not sculpted but simply cut to the desired lengths, with the tubular sticks becoming part of a construction game. They are assembled in a way that feels entirely natural while remaining upright. On two of the screens, she has chosen to add small curtains, onto which she will print enlarged images of bamboo stalks – much larger than those used in the panels. These prints will be on silk, specifically satin, creating a deliberate contrast between the rough, somewhat wild craftsmanship of the panels and the delicate, precious quality of the silk – an important element of her vision for the project.

Recently, Du Pasquier has been exploring drawings of straight lines, and she has realized that the bamboo constructions she is imagining function, in a sense, as drawings through which the wind will pass.

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SISAN LEE

Sisan Lee (b. 1995) is a Seoul-based Korean designer and artist specializing in interior design, furniture, and sculpture. He is drawn to the singular beauty of nature, which contrasts with standardized industrial production. His work explores the intersection of nature and artificiality, balancing primitivity and modernity. Lee collects stones, wood, and metals from natural and urban landscapes, preserving their purity while integrating them into his designs. By emphasizing material authenticity, his pieces stand apart from conventional industrial objects, reflecting a deep respect for raw materials and their inherent characteristics.

‘Engraved’

Lee aimed to reinterpret bamboo, a material long associated with Gucci, through a modern sensibility while incorporating traditional Korean aesthetics. As a designer born and active in Korea, Lee connected bamboo imagery with the profound sense of space in ink-wash paintings and the restrained beauty of Joseon porcelain. Believing that Korean aesthetics are realized not through ‘addition’ but through ‘subtraction,’ Lee chose to express bamboo metaphorically using relief and intaglio techniques rather than directly rendering its form. The piece was created using the aluminum casting technique, a method frequently employed in Lee's work. As molten aluminum is poured into a sand mold, it gradually forms a natural and primitive texture over time.

The bamboo patterns engraved onto the aluminum surface were finished to reflect light, while the remaining flat areas were roughly sanded to create contrast within the same material. The engraved traces of bamboo across the broad surface serve not merely as decoration but as an element that amplifies the presence of emptiness, emphasizing a refined sculptural beauty. This approach does not simply replicate the shape of bamboo but reinterprets its symbolism from a contemporary perspective, harmonizing nature and artificiality, tradition and modernity. Through this work, Lee seeks to ensure that the bamboo – etched into metal with a foundation in Korean minimalism – transcends being a mere decorative motif and instead acts as a bridge between tradition and modernity.

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the back studio

the back studio (2019) is a duo featuring artists and designers Eugenio Rossi (b.1996) and Yaazd Contractor (b. 1996), based between Turin and Mumbai. the back studio blends industrial construction with hand-blown neon creations to produce sculptural and functional assemblages. Drawing inspiration from the omnipresence of architecture, which shapes our daily interactions, their work explores the tactile yet stubborn materiality of architectural forms. By highlighting often overlooked or invisible elements of architectural processes, the back studio challenges conventional perspectives. Their creations embody a dialogue between contrasts – where the near-forgotten craft of cold cathode glass working meets the rapidly evolving world of digital mass fabrication. This unique fusion speaks to both the enduring legacy of traditional techniques and the ever-evolving future of design.

‘bamboo assemblage n.1’

the back studio’s latest work for this exhibition explores the intersection of bamboo and light, merging traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. Bamboo, renowned for its strength-to-weight ratio and rapid growth, serves as the structural foundation for this installation. The duo explores various diameters of bamboo, highlighting its versatility and inherent beauty. In contrast to the natural material, the precision of cold cathode glass working introduces a vibrant, dynamic quality to the pieces, reflecting a tension between tradition and modernity. Bamboo, deeply embedded in cultural history, is paired with mass-fabricated, high-tech hardware, creating a dialogue between the past and the future. This fusion speaks to the evolving relationship between sustainability and technological progress, suggesting a future where both coexist. Fascinated by the industrial age’s focus on mass production and planned obsolescence, the back studio’s work responds to the shift in the post-industrial era toward sustainability and enduring solutions. They look to indigenous, low-tech practices that prioritize harmony with nature and the longevity of materials. By drawing on both ancient wisdom and modern techniques, they create a dialogue between the old and the new, encouraging a re-evaluation of how the future is shaped.

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