For Milan Design Week 2025, Gucci celebrates bamboo with the exhibition Bamboo Encounters. Curated and designed by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli of interdisciplinary design studio 2050+, the historic Chiostri di San Simpliciano transforms into a space devoted entirely to the love for bamboo.
This exhibition is part of Fuorisalone, the city-wide satellite programme of Milan Design Week, known for its more conceptual and site-specific exhibitions. The large cloister of San Simpliciano – also known as the cloister of the two columns – is part of the basilica complex in the heart of Milan. It’s a still place, peaceful by nature. During the Salone, that silence holds something new.
Why Bamboo?
Back in 1947, when postwar Italy faced scarcity, Gucci artisans experimented with bamboo—creating their now-iconic bamboo-handled bags. That single design choice became a House code. Over the decades, it has returned in accessories, jewellery, shoes, and furniture. For this Salone del Mobile edition, Laparelli invited seven artists and studios to reimagine bamboo. Each installation moves between sculpture, craft, utility, and imagination.
“The practice of designing the 21st century is not just about designing objects; it’s about investigating materials, supply chains, narratives, and histories.”
—Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli
From Scaffolding to Kites
In Hong Kong, I’ve always admired how bamboo scaffolding is still practiced by experts. You’ll see them walking on high bamboo grids with incredible confidence.
Dutch collective Kite Club—still-life photographers Maurice Scheltens & Liesbeth Abbenes, together with designer Bertjan Pot—presented one of the most charming pieces of the exhibition. Their installation Thank You, Bamboo shows what bamboo can do when it’s light and playful. Using ripstop nylon, plastic, and bamboo, they created a whole family of kites. When the breeze flows through the cloisters, they perform a happy, curated dance. A single kite floats in the wild bamboo grove. Two others fly in the central garden. And under one of the archways? Dozens of cheerful kites hanging from the ceiling. It was the most joyful moment of the show.
In another part of the cloister, architect and designer Dima Srouji presented a series titled Hybrid Exhalations, combining foraged bamboo baskets with hand-blown glass additions. It’s a dialogue between the fragile and the sturdy—a beautiful togetherness.
What I loved most were the kites. Playful, light, modern. A simple idea, executed with love. From Tom Ford’s sculpted bamboo chains to Guccio Gucci’s bamboo walking stick, this material continues to hold stories—of scarcity, invention, and eternal beauty.
For more: www.gucci.com | www.2050.plus
All images taken by author, courtesy of Gucci.
