Gucci Is Entering the Décor Market with a Richard Ginori collection. Alessandro Michele is looking to expand Gucci across a multitude of platforms.
Richard Ginori, with a strong tradition of more than 280 years of history, is an expression of excellence in Italy and in the world in high art manufacturing of porcelain. In 2013, the Gucci luxury house purchased Richard Ginori 1735, ensuring that the company will remain true to its Italian heritage of producing the finest porcelain. This September, the luxury porcelain brand is launching a new collection of tableware and candle holders designed by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele. In fact, this is Gucci’s first foray into the decor market area.
According to Gucci, its new Décor range is a lineup of furniture and decorative pieces designed by Alessandro Michele to personalize home spaces,featuring the House’s design motifs, patterns and codes. Gucci Décor will be launching in September on gucci.com and in select Gucci and specialtystores.
Velvet square and rectangular cushions from the new Décor line feature intricate motifs, including the Angry Cat, the tiger head and the Kingsnake, hand-applied to the pieces in a process that takes approximately 10 hours to complete. The highlights include an oval tray with a Kingsnake and a metal folding table featuring the Gucci Bengal motif. The Chiavari chair, a Ligurian design crafted from wood with a lacquered red finish, features the velvet upholstery is embroidered with a cat head, and clusters of flowers. The intricate motifs are embroidered and then hand-applied.
Gucci’s Herbarium print with a whimsical Toile de Jouy design of cherry branches, leaves and flowers, inspired by a vintage fabric, appears on porcelain mugs from the new Décor venture. The lids feature a hand holding a ring and a rooster.
There are also candle holders with Gucci patterns, such as geometric chevrons and the talismanic “eye” design. Animals from the Gucci Garden – bees, butterflies and cockerel heads – are rendered in porcelain in 3D topping the lids of pots. Small incense holders feature 3D stag beetles, and bees support incense sticks. According to insideretail, the collection includes scents in the form of candles and incense: Inventum (ancient damask rose blended with Taif rose), Fumus (birch, orange leaves and beeswax), Herbosum (tomato leaves, aromatic plants, long grass, basil and lemongrass) and Esotericum (Seville oranges, jasmine, leather and salt).
“Refectorium – the art of conviviality in the Richard Ginori tradition”: this is the title of the exhibition curated by Richard Ginori in the refectory of the Convent of Giaccherino, in Pistoia, the Italian Capital of Culture for 2017 (to 21st October 2017).
It is a journey that pays homage to Richard Ginori’s exceptional production of porcelain and its history. The unique skills of its craftsmen, the tradition and artisanal craftsmanship of the Manufacture, but also the great art of hospitality, the conviviality and the all-Italian savoir-faire that have characterised the history of Italy for over three hundred years.
All of Richard Ginori works exhibited demonstrate the essence of ‘made in Italy’ excellence, as recognised in Italy and around the world: From the 1700s, the Tulipano (Tulip) decoration produced by the Ginori Manufactory – originals displayed are from the Richard Ginori historical archives that inspired the decoration of the most important European manufacturers; the Oro di Doccia Collection which is contemporary hand-decorated porcelain work, reinterpreting the original ‘Galli Rossi’ decoration dating back to around 1770; the Granduca Coreana Collection, a hand-decorated china porcelain service which is a reworking of the original decoration entitled Fiori Coreani dating back to the middle of the eighteenth century. From the 1800s, the Trionfo del Sole Vase, a re-edition which stays faithful to the original ceramic-glazed and bisque porcelain, with the form of the so-called Medici Vase, introduced in the Ginori Manufacture in 1811, whilst the decor comes from a relief of the sculptor Giovanni Casini and was presented at the international exhibitions dating from the 1860s.
