Gucci Presents An Icon: Gucci

As audience opinion about what makes — and who should make — Gucci Gucci, the House does what one should in uncertain times: return to the tried and true. In their case, Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon, explores the legacy the Gucci Bamboo 1947 bag represents in an introspective exhibit opening this week in Shanghai, China.

Curated around a 78-year timeline, Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon reaffirms its title as seven rooms unify enduring qualities of bamboo for both House and material virtues embedded in Chinese culture — integrity and endurance. Bamboo’s bend-but-don’t-break practicality emphasises resolute strength contained in artisanal pursuits of desire. It could be argued that looking back on durable techniques that innovate forward is how Gucci regenerates itself regardless of a subname creative director. The title above the doorway reads Gucci after all.

Shanghai’s Sunke Villa hosts Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon as each room magnifies past and present through stories of everlasting artisanship. Room number one is ‘The Whispering Grove,’ which offers an examination of bamboo as a global species. Bamboo stalks are installed in immersive, breathable states while an AI-generated video elevates bamboo from nature to supernature. Next, ‘Anatomy of a Bag’ stages a forensic approach to constructing the Gucci Bamboo 1947. Spanning 13 hours and 428 stages, a room becomes a lab where individual materials are observed in periscopic detail for any visitor on site. ‘Crafting a Legacy’ places Florence in a Shanghai-reconstituted Gucci ArtLab atelier where a film by David Rappe brings the Gucci Bamboo 1947 assembly line to life with its artisans. ‘Bamboo Codex’ and ‘Threads of Connection’ are windows to the wider world of Gucci Bamboo 1947. Each room explains and extrapolates how the bag engaged society over 70 years. Past plus present equals future in Gucci’s ‘Metamorphosis’ room. Generative AI projects mutable aspects of the Bamboo 1947. Multidisciplinary artist Francesco D’Abbraccio transforms the bag into a tea kettle or gaming console where every stage of transistion retains the evergreen bamboo handle. Room number seven reconsiders the Gucci Bamboo 1947 bag as an athletic metaphor. Ancora Red resurfaces to illuminate a luxury gym, showing how artisanal exertion transmits the future of physical fitness.

From bamboo-curved designs influenced by Gucci’s equestrian appreciation in post-WWII Florence, to Gucci Bamboo 1947 revitalised in mixed media artistic interpretations just four years ago, the House’s renowned symbol of timelessness showcased in Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon is a no-brainer. Bamboo as a fulcrum to fuel Gucci’s future is further exemplified by interactive works from artists Sybil Montet, Francesco D’Abbraccio, Christian Kondić and Yanran Chen. These artists elevate a panorama of time and technique that ensures legacy is justly defined inside the House, not by the noise outside.

Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon is open from 1 April to 6 April at Sunke Villa in Shanghai.