Essence of luxury
Gucci Decor provides room to give your house a delightful makeover, writes Meera Murugesan
PLAYFUL, quirky and artistic. Gucci Decor, the collection of furniture, furnishings and decorative items from the well-known fashion house is designed to bring the eclectic, romantic aesthetic of the brand’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, to life.
It’s an opportunity to dress your living space in a creative, fashionable and fun manner.
Reflecting Gucci’s magpie attitude to design, the pieces in the collection display a multitude of motifs that one would recognise from the catwalk.
It’s a joyous combination of hues, patterns and designs, leading to a decorating approach where there are no rules.
Pieces of text make occasional appearances and the influence of the Gucci lexicon is ubiquitous, with florals blooming abundantly and creatures appearing everywhere, whether on chairs, cushions or teapots.
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
There is no intention here to prescribe a particular look but instead, Gucci seeks to provide elements that allow for living spaces to be customised.
The collection is made in Italy and displays a firm commitment to craft and the artisanal skill associated with Italian makers — in essence, Gucci Decor celebrates the rich culture of Italian art.
The eye-catching porcelain pieces for example make use of the difficult process of porcelain firing that requires manual adeptness and a high level of expertise.
And many of Gucci’s porcelain creations necessitate the use of hand-painting — the black snake handles on its vases for example require approximately five hours to paint and are coloured by hand.
New mugs, tea cups and candle holders also come decorated with fresh artwork such as the macro rose and stars patterns and are joined by large-scale candle holders that can be repurposed as storage pieces or flower pots once the wax has been used up.
Porcelain ashtrays too are intended to have multiple uses, as are the heartshaped porcelain boxes (with surprise, hidden interior patterns), circular 3D incense burners and the change trays in the shape of a pair of hands.
Keys, coins and trinkets can all find a home in these special objects, which between them display a wide array of Gucci symbols and patterns, among them the star eye, Herbarium, stars, macro rose and mystic cat designs.
ORDINARY BECOMES EXTRAORDINARY
Along with craftsmanship Gucci Decor also likes to champion traditional household objects and furnishings, reinventing them by passing them through the Gucci lens.
By looking at things in a new way, the brand is able to make something ordinary, extraordinary. Thus, pieces that were once part of many interiors, but have fallen out of common use over recent years, have been rediscovered in a celebration of the beauty of the past.
For example, there are large, patterned, cylindrical umbrella stands and also handmade laundry baskets colourfully decorated (one with the “Black Cat” image and another with the cameo print).
Blankets too also been reclaimed by Gucci with vintage floral designs. Blankets come in many different sizes, with fringed or satin borders, and some feature contrasting, patterned backs. A particularly striking version has a plain velvet front in black and a quilted back exhibiting the motif of the tiger cards.
Cushions also get a makeover and are now offered in animal forms — shaped like a cat’s head, an owl, bee or butterfly, for example. New patterns, like the teddy bear cross stitch motif and rising star embroidery, join the existing range of embroidery on velvet cushions and the jacquards that also feature on cushion fronts.
After the addition last year of the capitonne porter’s chair in coloured leather or velvet, with a drawer at the bottom (based on the high-backed and canopy-covered chairs used in medieval England and later in France), Gucci Decor now introduces a shell-shaped armchair inspired by ‘50s Hollywood.
It makes use of a wood grain pattern, especially striking in moire (the wood grain design is also available in more classic velvet); the shell-like armchair comes in several colours and has embroidery (butterfly, owl, flowers) on the seat.
There are also new versions of existing armchair and dining chair styles, and an entirely new selection of low stools in printed and jacquard fabrics. Other portable furniture includes metal folding tables, and here the offer has been expanded through the introduction of new imagery: the “Hypnotism”, Flora and new mythological prints.
Finally, the assortment of unconventional wallpapers in vinyl, paper or silk has been expanded to feature many more Gucci prints and patterns, such as the Tian, grotesque lion, tapestry and tiger face designs, and a new interpretation of the renowned Flora print.
Gucci is also pioneering augmented reality technology that enables customers to see what pieces from the Gucci Decor Collection will look like in their own spaces. By going to the Gucci Decor section on the Gucci App, people can select from a range of featured items and then “place” these products into their own spaces in real time, bringing up the image on the screens of their mobile devices.
This technology, created for the launch of the Gucci Decor collection, has since been updated to feature new products. Gucci Decor is available in Gucci flagship stores and Gucci boutiques, online at gucci. com and in selected specialty stores.