by Barbara Palladino
Located in Palazzo della Mercanzia, at the very heart of Florence, Gucci Garden straddles reality and the imagination, summing up the different souls of the iconic fashion house. The brainchild of creative director Alessandro Michele, the space is home to an exclusive boutique offering unique pieces, the Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura restaurant, and the Gucci Garden Galleria exhibition area.
The latter was designed like a full-fledged museum, and celebrates the historical archives and contemporary vibe the brand has developed over the past few years, thanks to Michele’s brilliant vision. The exhibition is divided into theme-specific rooms, defined in collaboration with critic Maria Luisa Frisa.
For example, “Guccification” celebrates the iconic “double G” as well as the other modern forms of expression that have identified the brand in the collective imagination that lives and breathes on social networks, such as “Guccy”, “Guccify” and “Guccification”. “Cosmorama” tells (and shows) the story of the relationship built over the years with international jet-set stars.
On the second floor, “De Rerum Natura” pays homage to natural history museums and Michele’s passion for animals, insects and verdant gardens. Inside “Ephemera”, the video projections and items on display reminisce about the maison’s heritage.
Further along the itinerary, “Chamber cinema” is a small auditorium with red velvet curtains, soft lighting and a screen for experimental movies – such as the preview of “Zeus Machine/Phoenix”, a short film by ZAPRUDER filmmakersgroup.
The Gucci Garden Galleria is a nonconformist museum: it starts from the classic museum’s iconography, but revises it and adds the twist of the fashion house’s innovative canons, leading the visitors into a hypnotic space that is brimming with marvel. A vision that extends into rooms such as “Détournement”, “Bagology”, “Ouroboros”, “Cosmic Colors” and “Jardin d’Hiver” – inviting us like the studio of an enlightened alchemist, room after room, to discover the mythology Gucci has built with wonder.
Gucci Garden
Palazzo della Mercanzia
Piazza della Signoria, 10
Florence
Photos via:
http://www.gucci.com
Guccification
Cosmic Colours
Détournement
Chamber Cinema
Ouroboros
Cosmorama
Jardin d'hiver
De Rerum Natura
The Gucci boutique
Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura restaurant
