“When I was a child, going to the stationery store and finding pencils, pens, notebooks, games, meant bringing a dream into my daily routine. They were fine, well-made objects that spoke of craftsmanship and that, though part of my everyday life, were able to give off a magical, mysterious and wonderful aura. For this reason, presenting the Gucci Lifestyle collection in Milan through the Gucci Cartoleria is a sort of consecration, a tribute that was right for me to pay. So, I imagined a small cabinet of curiosities, a Wunderkammer, like the cave of Ali Baba, that could accommodate these everyday objects and return them to a fairy-tale dimension. I could have included them in the collections long ago, but they were not strictly related to clothing and accessories. That’s why I wanted to build a whimsical space where they could be laid out, to restore to everyday life that sense of wonder that makes them so dear to me.” – Alessandro Michele
Product Notes
The collection, which will be available starting September 10th in select Gucci stores and on Gucci.com, includes a large selection of stationery items, such as notebooks with covers in Gucci supreme canvas or in Gucci’s Demetra™* material, an innovative development from the House’s own technicians and artisans. This material is created using the same process for tanning with animal-free raw materials that are from renewable and bio based sources. Created using the same skills and processes as in tanning, Demetra combines efficient processes and animal-free raw materials, largely derived from renewable and bio-based sources. The notebook and notepad pages are made from FSC-certified pure cellulose paper, and the cover of each model carries a motif – a graphic pattern, floral design or Disney character – that is then repeated on the pages, edged in blue, red, green or gold to match the colour of the binding and the ribbon marker, each bearing the GG watermark. The Gucci logo is hot-stamped on the inside.
The notebooks are complemented by the hexagonal notepad, again made from GG supreme canvas or Demetra™, with each page made of FSC-certified pure cellulose paper and featuring Gucci motifs on the cover and inside. Pages are edged in either blue, red, green or gold. For those who are fond of hand-written letters, the Gucci letter case contains 20 envelopes and 20 cards featuring a Gucci print on the outside. A stationery set with a notebook, 20 envelopes and 20 cards is also available.
To write on such distinctive and precious stationery, the House has developed a new pen, designed following the rules of “Divine Proportion”, with the proportional relationship between cap and barrel being an expression of the golden ratio. The refillable pen, presented in a Demetra™ carrying case, is in brass with low lead content, plated in either palladium or gold, using a nickel-free galvanic process.
Pencil cases are also available, either in GG supreme or Demetra™, with different patterns. A zip-up case matches a set of coloured pencils that can be rolled up, with brown leather trim and a green-red-green House Web stripe fastening. This last item comprises 40 hexagonal Caran d’Ache coloured pencils in cedar wood, each with a hot-foil logo and stars stamped by hand, making each pencil a unique piece.
Six graphite pencils are included in the two styles of hand-made pencil boxes – oval or oblong – created using FSC-certified pure cellulose paper. Both pencils and boxes are patterned with Gucci designs. The offer of writing implements is completed by a selection of glass-domed paperweights, produced by an Italian glassmaker. The presence of microbubbles and cloudiness guarantees that they are hand-crafted, with a base made from Demetra™ featuring iconic Gucci decorative elements alongside a hot-stamped Gucci logo.
For leisure and entertainment, there are games and playing cards in classic Gucci style. The card decks that come in cases covered in GG supreme (single or double deck) feature a mythical landscape on the back, while those supplied in cases decorated with the graphic Geometric G print have the same print on the back. The cards are made by Modiano, a celebrated and historic Italian company founded in Trieste in 1868 by Saul David Modiano, a merchant from Thessaloniki, Greece.
The House has also developed a hand-crafted dice set, made in Italy in bio-resin using traditional manufacturing techniques. The resin features a mix of colours for a marbled effect, making each die unique; each face is digitally printed with stars (in lieu of the customary dots) and decorative GG symbols. The case holding a set of five dice is covered in GG supreme canvas or in Demetra™, the latter in a choice of plain black or two versions of Geometric G print – red or yellow.
Briefcases containing either a poker or a backgammon set also make great gifts. Their shape is inspired by briefcases from the ‘70s housed in the Gucci Archive in Florence. The sets include chips hand-crafted from bio-resin for a marbled effect, making each piece unique. The cases are offered in a brightly coloured Geometric G pattern or in GG supreme canvas, with brown leather handles and trim.
In the category of playful and useful items, fans made of wood and satin silk printed with iconic Gucci patterns come with cases featuring the same motifs. For the discerning traveller, there is a set containing sleeping masks, pillow and mules crafted from environmentally sustainable silk and viscose, printed in a variety of House designs. Slippers too have been developed for maximum comfort, and each pair may be stored in a drawstring pouch in a matching print. With the well-dressed globe-trotter in mind, Gucci has also created a garment carrier made from water-repellent linen, treated to be rain- and stain-resistant, and offered in a variety of prints, complete with hanger.
Finally, satin silk pyjamas feature different House prints and come in a printed silk pouch with an inner Gucci label featuring the same print found on the garment.
*DEMETRA is an EU trademark application filed by Guccio Gucci S.p.A.
