Creating Fendi Fashion As Architecture For Spring/Summer 2024

 

It’s not every day a Fashion House recognises architects as auteurs, but if you can design a towering skyscraper you can design a bag, right? In the case of Kengo Kuma it appears to be true, as he’s left his mark all over the Fendi Spring Summer 24 collection. His materials of choice was washi paper, woven bamboo, birch bark, and Tuscan olivewood. It’s not your typical fashion materials but it fits with Kuma’s passion for working sustainably and surprising everyone with what organic materials can do with recent technological advances.

 

 

“I’ve always thought of Kengo Kuma as a master of naturalist architecture.” says Artistic Director Silvia Venturini Fendi “He was one of the first to understand the importance of building nature into architecture both inside and out.”

 

 

“Nature and craft have always been at the centre of my work as an architect and a designer. When Fendi asked me to reflect on their bags and shoes, I thought of them like small architectural projects on a human scale.” says Kengo Kuma.

In particular the pieces he had a hand in designing were the Peekaboo, the Baguette Soft Trunk and the Flow sneaker.

 

 

Kengo has also worked closely with Grand Seiko on their Grand Seiko Boutique Paris Vendôme as well as the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi where craftsmen are inspired to produce tiny works of horological art.