During my studies at Polimoda in Firenze, Italia. We traveled to Casellina, right outside of Florence to experience the House of Gucci. Here is a behind the scenes look at what goes into making the infamous leather Gucci Bag.

Another one of the MANY amazing experiences I had in Florence was to tour the House of Gucci. A mere hop, skip and a jump from Florence is where some of the world’s most talented leather craftsman reside. Gucci was established in 1921 in Florence by Guccio Gucci. He began selling leather luggage. He attracted international clientele in the 1930’s, many of which were horse-riding aristocrats. Which in turn he began to develop the Horsebit icon. These influences shaped the brand and icon that we know and love today. Luxurious leather goods produced by Italy’s finest master craftsmen, every piece is still handcrafted in Italy.

This machine cut out pieces of leather by using tiny streams of water.

The final product!

This man was using a machine to slice the leather in order to make it thinner.

Some of the leather laying around... Mostly alligator!

There had a lot of small scraps laying around that we got to take. Can you imagine a bunch of emerging fashion designers fighting for Gucci leather??

Here are some more traditional Gucci fabrics...

Here is the Iconic Horsebit pattern and hardware.

One of the most interesting innovations that the House of Gucci created was burnishing cane to create the handle of the Bamboo Bag. We were able to witness the iconic bamboo handle being burnished or molded into the U-shape. It is heated in a certain way and them bent to form the handle. I don’t have any photos which pains me. I must have been mesmerized by the process!

Here are some of the Bamboo Bags.

Ciao Ciao for now....

Gucci World