Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, and Loro Piana honor design icons in Milan

During the Milan Furniture Fair, luxury houses prominently showcase projects that draw heavily on heritage, collaborating with pivotal figures in design. Many leading labels have opted to reissue the celebrated historical works of design luminaries, particularly Italian, reinterpreting these pieces in opulent versions that align seamlessly with their unique brand identities and universes.

Under the visionary guidance of its creative director Sabato de Sarno, Gucci has elegantly infused five iconic objects, particularly from Milan’s design renaissance, with its new emblematic burgundy hue, “Rosso Ancora.” His aim was to redefine the concept of iconicity by linking it to the house’s identity. This innovative “Gucci Design Ancora” project, in collaboration with Michela Pelizzari, founder of the creative agency P:S, is exclusively available by appointment at its flagship store on Via MonteNapoleone for the duration of Milan Design Week, concluding on April 21.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of an apple green carpet—unveiled at their latest runway show—the installation, crafted by Spanish architect Guillermo Santomà on the first floor, showcases these five curated pieces. These works include a vase from Tobia Scarpa’s “Opachi” series, crafted in 1961 for Venetian glass maestro Venini, and the “Parola” lamp, a 1980 creation by design stalwarts Gae Aulenti and Achille Castiglioni for FontanaArte.

Available solely by order are items like Mario Bellini’s “Le Mura” leather chaise longue, designed in 1972 for Tacchini, Nanda Vigo’s “Storet” drawer unit from 1994 for Acerbis, and the “Clessidra” rug. This last piece, created specifically for this event by Nicolò Castellini Baldissera, Portaluppi’s great-grandson, echoes the architectural elegance of Piero Portaluppi and is produced by the company cc-tapis.

 
Saint Laurent, another Kering brand making its first appearance at Milan for Design Week, is also celebrating a luminary of Milanese design. As part of its cultural and artistic project, Saint Laurent Rive Droite, conceived under the visionary leadership of creative director Anthony Vaccarello, the Parisian label has forged a partnership with the Gio Ponti Archives and the Anala and Armando Planchart Foundation to revisit the designer’s creations from the 1950s. During a period that heralded the revival of Italian design, Gio Ponti crafted the avant-garde Villa Planchart in 1957 for a Venezuelan couple of collector in Caracas, a marvel of modern architecture.

Ponti also designed a porcelain dinnerware set adorned with symbols and motifs from the villa, such as the sun, crescent moon, polar star, and iterations of the letter “A,” as a homage to Anala and Armando. For its production, Gio Ponti enlisted Italian artisans, including the esteemed Florentine manufacturer Ginori 1735, where he once served as artistic director, now a part of Kering’s portfolio.

Leveraging the existing synergy within the group, Saint Laurent initiated the reissue of twelve original plates from the Villa Planchart Segnaposto collection by Ginori 1735. Each plate, unique and hand-painted, has been reproduced in a limited series of 20. This exclusive collection will be available on the brand’s website, at the Saint Laurent Rive Droite boutiques in Los Angeles and Saint Laurent Babylone in Paris, and temporarily during Design Week by appointment at the Milan boutique on Via MonteNapoleone.

Capitalizing on the significant attention and media coverage generated by the Furniture Fair, Saint Laurent selected a truly enchanting venue for its inaugural showcase—the ancient convent of the Basilica of San Simpliciano, nestled in the Brera district. The exhibition features the plates within a striking canopy of tall cylinders, arranged in the first cloister, while the grand 16th-century cloister with its lush garden was exclusively reserved on Monday evening for one of the most elegant gatherings of the Design Week.

Loro Piana has selected a storied Milanese design icon, Cini Boeri, a distinguished female figure in the golden age of design spanning from the 1950s to the 1970s. This year coincidentally marks the centenary of her birth, aligning with the centenary of Loro Piana, the cashmere specialist now under the LVMH umbrella. At the furniture fair, this synergy is spotlighted at Loro Piana’s Milan headquarters with the installation “A Tribute to Cini Boeri,” realized in partnership with the Cini Boeri Archive.

Renowned for its exquisite textiles, Loro Piana has expanded its interior design division, focusing primarily on textiles through custom interior solutions for private clients using fabrics from its collection, and by forging partnerships in the maritime industry with yacht builders. The brand also boasts a sophisticated assortment of throws and cushions, alongside a newly introduced range of decorative items and tableware. Although furniture constitutes only 20% of Loro Piana Interiors’ revenue, it is an increasingly significant aspect of the business, uniquely developed through collaborations with external designers, as demonstrated by this latest initiative to reissue Cini Boeri’s designs.

The reissued collection includes the “Strips” series (the zip-off bed and modular sofa) and “Pecorelle” armchairs from 1972, “Botolo” swivel chairs from 1973, and the “Bobo Boborelax” longue-lounge sofas from 1967. These emblematic pieces from the seventies have been luxuriously reimagined in Loro Piana fabrics, including 100% Merino wool, Pecora Nera wool, cashmere, and cashmere fur. Crafted by Artflex, which also handles their distribution, these pieces will be available at Loro Piana Interiors boutiques in Milan and Paris, with sofas priced from 10/11,000 euros upwards.

Bottega Veneta, following its collaboration last year with the late designer Gaetano Pesce, is celebrating Le Corbusier this year by reissuing a singular piece: the iconic “LC14 Tabouret Cabanon.” Originally crafted in 1952 by the legendary architect after repurposing a beached whiskey crate, this simple stool, distinguished by an oblong hole on each side, was designed for his cabin in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera.

Creative director Matthieu Blazy previously featured these stools in his Fall-Winter 2024/25 runway show. For this innovative design initiative, the house has reissued the stool in two distinct materials: one in burnt wood, drawing inspiration from a traditional Japanese technique, and another in leather, intricately woven using Bottega Veneta’s signature Intreccio technique and vividly varnished in red, yellow, blue, or green.

These limited-edition stools, produced by Cassina in partnership with the Le Corbusier Foundation, comprise 100 in wood and 60 in leather, with 20 of each color. The stools are priced at 2,500 euros for the wood versions and 12,000 euros for the leather ones. This week, they are showcased at the Palazzo San Fedele during the Milan Design Week, in the “On the Rocks” installation curated by Matthieu Blazy, which anticipates the venue becoming the new headquarters for Bottega Veneta from September onwards.
 

This tour of Milan under the banner of historical design concludes with the noteworthy initiative by Fratelli Rossetti. Eschewing the common practice of reissuing past designs, the esteemed shoemaker chose instead to pay tribute to a design legend by inhabiting the poignant studio of Achille Castiglioni, now a foundation, to showcase its latest footwear collections.

The space, preserved for decades, stands as a testament to the origins of Italian design. Visitors are enveloped in an atmosphere brimming with creativity, where wooden squares remain affixed to the walls amidst a backdrop of photographs and sketches, and large tables overflow with an array of projects and artifacts.

“We have consistently participated in the Furniture Fair, initially by showcasing young designers in our boutique windows and later through bespoke installations. When my father established the company’s headquarters in 1965, I was delighted to discover his choice of the iconic Arco lamp by Achille Castiglioni,” remarked Diego Rossetti, the brand’s president. “I have always regarded footwear as a genuine design artifact, celebrated for its functionality and craftsmanship,” he concluded, reaffirming the brand’s dedication to design excellence.