The Gucci Museo, a public devoted to the iconic Italian luxury designer, is located in the heart of Florence inside Piazza della Signoria, just stairs from the Palazzo Vecchio. One of the first issues visitors see is a plaque with the thought expressed by Aldo Gucci, son of founder Guccio Gucci, back in 1938. It reads: "Quality is remembered long after price is lost or damaged. "
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To be sure, anyone who spends €24, 000 (approximately $37, 200) inside new crocodile Jackie bag will not likely forget the price any time soon. But the adherence to quality above all else remains a new Gucci legacy in a way that can still wind up as witnessed today.
A tour of their company headquarters in Casellina, thirty minutes drive from the museum, is not to help the public, which is why Gucci now has your own travelling artisan program that mails five craftspeople from the factory with respect to demonstrate the handiwork required for realization a high-end handbag. Five are to appear March 29 and 32 at Holt Renfrew's new Gucci boutique in Toronto's Yorkdale E-commerce shopping Centre.
At Gucci HQ with Casellina, corporate departments are covered upstairs while the craftspeople, or artigiani, work below. This is where future plastic packaging designs – often sketched by just creative director Frida Gianinni or even to – are prototyped into biological samples that end up on the runway. Home entertainment system . where all the company's exotic templates are cut.
More and more, chief executive officer Nobile di Marco's strategy has associated steering the brand away from logoed something, which means that there is more of a focus in today's times on crocodile, alligator, ostrich and then python. At Casellina, a workstation is covered in brilliantly bronzed and painted versions of each. A particular tour guide points to the plastic tag with the tip of every crocodile hide producing certification according to the rules of the Custom on International Trade in Vulnerable Species (CITES). In 2004, Gucci appeared to be one of the first companies in its sector throughout launch a voluntary certification course of along its entire production cycle in the area of corporate social responsibility. Several years later, it became the first in the luxury-goods field to achieve official CSR official certification regarding the supply chain of its house goods and jewellery.
But to return to the crocodile leathers, which are brought in from different parts of the world (including the United. S., Africa and Australia) however are tanned in Gucci's tannery with Santa Croce Sull'Arno, near Pisa. Undyed, the crocodile leathers are going to be colour of asphalt; subtle variance also mark each hide. Under-going these nuances can be a challenge to the artigiani, who must pick the largest parts of each hide as well as figure out how they will match up. Crocodile, alligator and then ostrich are all cut by hand by tool called a fourreau. A special piece of equipment is used for the python because of its sensitive scales.
Aside from the prototypes, Gucci is unable to assemble its bags at Casellina. Rather, it has developed, in a well-oiled system of local outsourcing, long-standing working relationships with a variety of Tuscan suppliers what people still perform nearly every step personally. Among the elements that are formed and then finished at one nearby oe-style are Gucci's famous bamboo only deals with, first introduced in 1947 and then experiencing somewhat of a moment a lot more. A bamboo workstation, used commonly for R&D and demonstration objectives, can be found at Gucci HQ. The sections – all grown so that they would be between 14 to 16 cm in diameter and half a metre in length – are curved utilizing an upright flame and then blow-torched to offer an extra them their caramelized finish (ofcourse not unlike crème brûlée).
In this corresponding space, two special-order trunks are usually also on display; both were made entirely personally by Paolo, an artisan owning been with Gucci for two quite a while. One of them – a monogrammed pads version – would retail relating to €28, 000, while the larger stands out as the model – made from 28 templates – might cost a whopping €250, thousand. The pieces are just two a example of Gucci's unique brand of luxury, your own glamorous repertoire that includes everything from the valuable Flora print designed in 1966 relating to Princess Grace to a customized, monogrammed Cadillac Seville circa 1979 (on view at the Museo).
The recognition lustre and occasional excess, nonetheless , are really just by-products of the company's business model. Whether you're Sophia Loren or not, knowing that its handbags in addition products are still made by hand will be gives them their unique value.
These Gucci Artisan Corner runs Strut 29 and 30 at Holt Renfrew Yorkdale in Toronto.
