“Nowhere in the world is there a concentration of arts and culture, so intense and inspirational, as in Florence. This is why we aimed to reconnect with the roots of the brand by addressing our history in a contemporary manner. The talents we have scouted to develop this project come from leading schools and offer a fresh perspective and unusual interpretations.”

Laudomia Pucci

Set in the heart of Florence, a city so inextricably linked to the memory of Italian Renaissance, lies the home of the iconic Florentine brand, Emilio Pucci. Palazzo Pucci, located in Via de’ Pucci 6, is a 13th-century structure which has been transformed into a multi-disciplinary centre of fashion and design education: a living archive celebrating the important past of the brand, as well as producing new cultural actions aimed at nurturing contemporary creativity. When Emilio Pucci started the brand in the late 1940s, the palazzo served as design studio, offices, workshops, and showrooms. In 2017 the company headquarters were moved to Milan, and Laudomia Pucci, daughter of Emilio and the heart and should of the project of preservation of the family brand heritage, was instrumental in deciding that the palazzo would be reinvented as a way of preserving the Marquis Pucci’s legacy.

Initiated in June 2017 and opened to the public during the April 2018, the Emilio Pucci Heritage Hub is a site dedicated to nurturing brand culture and history by celebrating the Pucci brand and its iconic heritage: a bridge between the past and the present, with the aim of opening up to the different possibilities for the future of the brand.

As an ongoing project, the Hub is aimed at connecting employees and partners of the brand with the Pucci universe by acting research center for brand DNA and an incubator for special projects. It is for these aims that Palazzo Pucci was remodelled to suit its new scope with rooms dedicated to its brand codes. Pucci’s most iconic print, Vivara, has indeed been given a dedicated space within the Palazzo, with a wallpaper installation.

The Hub has many souls: not only it is a place to preserve and study the history of such an important brand for Italian fashion and cultural history; it is also the home of the brand’s DNA, a safe space where its culture and history are kept alive and a place where fresh new talents are fostered. Indeed, The Hub is a highly dynamic venue for fashion and design education that is allied with some of the foremost institutions in the industry, with ongoing partnerships with Stanford University, École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL), Central Saint Martins and Polimoda.

As part of LVMH, over the years Pucci participated to the project Les Journées Particulières, a series of events that showcases the diversity of the conglomerate’s numerous maisons to the public. This has been instrumental in presenting the rationale behind the creation of the Hub and the importance of its work to the industry in general.

An important part of the archive is not in Palazzo Pucci in Florence. Another very important venue for the history and contemporary activity of the brand is Villa Granaiolo, the Renaissance-era Tuscan residence owned by the Pucci family since the sixteenth century. Its minimalist architecture is an elegant and subtle juxtaposition between the original white Roman façade and windows framed in Florentine stone. The villa presides over the splendid Tuscan countryside, midway between Pisa and Florence. Along with the Palazzo Pucci, Villa di Granaiolo was one of Emilio Pucci’s favourite properties, where Laudomia Pucci decided to transfer a part of the brand’s archives to the premises and create a private museum in 2011. In addition to private museum, the villa houses the “Talent Centre”, a multi-purpose space dedicated to training young talent, providing a unique space for students and professors wanting to experiment and express their creativity in the fields of art, fashion and design.