Inside Gucci’s ‘Bamboo Encounters’ exhibition at Fuorisalone 2025 in Milan

The exhibition highlighted the works of the Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez; Palestinian architect, artist and researcher Dima Srouji; Kite Club, a Dutch design collective comprising Bertjan Pot, Liesbeth Abbenes and Maurice Scheltens;  Austrian designer Laurids Gallée; French artist Nathalie Du Pasquier; Seoul-based designer and artist Sisan Lee; and lastly, the back studio, featuring duo Eugenio Rossi and Yaazd Contractor, who are based in Turin and Mumbai.

“Gucci’s use of bamboo in its bags, including the Gucci Bamboo 1947, inspired me to research the historical use of bamboo for basket making. I love the idea of holding nature in the palm of your hand, shaping organic materials into inanimate forms that, over time, become cherished emotional companions,” says Srouji, whose work, Hybrid Exhalations, showcased found bamboo baskets with hand-blown glass additions. “The Gucci Bamboo 1947 handbag, much like a woven basket, serves as both a vessel and a mediator—it holds a private space within, and its exterior is what faces the world. Carrying that contained space by your side as you move from one place to the next is conceptually really interesting, as that personal contained void moves next to you along the journey. This dual role of containment and exposure reflects how we navigate personal and public identities, carrying fragments of our inner world while presenting a surface to those around us.” Srouji adds that the combination of glass with bamboo gives her a sense of weightlessness and lightness that sparks joy. 

Read also: From Blackpink’s Jisoo wearing Dior to Rihanna carrying Gucci, how celebs style their luxury bags

When asked what aspects of bamboo have inspired her, the Palestinian artist quips, “I love the anonymous artisans that have been weaving bamboo baskets worldwide through multiple traditions and techniques. Through my research, I fell in love with the different characters in the baskets. How the bamboo is handled tells us a lot about the patience and personality of the person behind the pieces.”

The Dutch design collective Kite Club’s piece Thank You, Bamboo, a series of kites made from contemporary materials and bamboo, is a nod to their roots. “We have been making and flying kites as teenagers before our creative practices started. Making kites feels a bit like returning to our roots and where our creativity started. Both studios, Bertjan Pot and Scheltens & Abbenes, are applied art practices where we often work on commission. Kite Club should always feel like a hobby where the most important people to please are us. In that sense, kites reflect freedom in many ways,” the collective expresses. Although kites have been made with bamboo for ages, Kite Club admits they are more used to working with glass fibre and carbon fibre for their kite frames. “[And yet,] Switching back to bamboo was much easier than expected, and these will probably not be the last kites we made with bamboo…The great thing about kites is that technique and design both work together…We will keep making kites with bamboo frames and thank bamboo for its strength, flexibility and lightness!” Pot, Abbenes and Scheltens unanimously declare.

Gallée, who reinterpreted the material through his resin design pieces titled Scaffolding, was drawn by the bamboo’s strength, texture and the precision of its parallel lines. “But beyond its aesthetic qualities, what fascinates me is how nature has ‘manufactured’ this near-perfect material,” he says. Gallée envisions this aspect; its simplicity and immediate usability will become increasingly important. “Bamboo has been used for millennia as a low-tech construction material, but now, in contrast to objects that simply emerge from a printer, it has the potential to thrive as a more natural alternative.” 

The Austrian designer also believes that technical precision is integral to the creative process. “Mastering the details almost always leads to better work, so I don’t see creativity and technicality as separate,” Gallée says, explaining that his work, Scaffolding, requires a deep understanding of materials and complex manufacturing techniques but that, in the end, the process should never overshadow the result. The final piece–the experience it creates–matters more than the technical challenges behind it.

Alongside the exhibition that ran in April, Gucci | Bamboo Encounters hosted a series of special talks open to the public, featuring conversations with the exhibition’s designers, industry guests and creatives.

NOW READ

A Fashion Odyssey: James Reid’s style journey with Gucci

Inside the Gucci family villa in Rome, now with a reduced selling price of US$13.02 million

Bea Alonzo reflects on her career, life, love and learning to move on