Milan
If Sabato De Sarno have been to distill the previous yr right into a single concept, the reward of time may be it. After a brief however broadly scrutinized tenure as creative director at Gucci — the place his restrained aesthetic struggled to achieve business traction throughout a broader downturn in the posh sector — he has been transferring throughout the worlds of design and artwork with new tasks at a extra deliberate tempo. Perhaps it’s his manner of gently pushing again in opposition to the style business’s tendency to cut back careers to their most up-to-date headline.
“I was there 19 months,” he mentioned of Gucci, “but I’ve worked in fashion for 23 years.”
His departure, introduced by the home in February 2025, got here abruptly, and a shock to many. But since leaving Gucci, he’s stored busy, from partnering up with a Milan-based initiative throughout Pride Month to current the movie “Il Capitone” by Neapolitan director Camilla Salvatore, to creating “Napoli Infinita,” a guide celebrating his hometown, Naples, by the works of greater than 35 modern artists.
Now, throughout Milan Design Week, he’s curating “INSIEME,” an exhibition bringing collectively twelve Italian artisanal corporations, from glassmakers and ceramicists to weavers and stonecutters, to make seen what normally goes unseen: the method of creating things.
As De Sarno places it: “I kept thinking about how, when you go to an exhibition or a fair, what you usually see are finished objects. What interested me with ‘INSIEME’ was turning the attention on everything that comes before that, everything that leads up to the final piece: the mistakes, the decisions, the timing, and those moments when you have to choose a direction and can’t go back.”
“More broadly, it’s something that applies to fashion, too,” he added. “Today, everything revolves around the product, while what goes into it is often overlooked. We’re living in a moment dominated by images, where speed seems to matter more than anything else. But I’m not interested in hype. I’m interested in how things are made.”
Set inside the former altering rooms of Piscina Cozzi, a historic indoor public swimming pool in Milan, “INSIEME” — which means “together” in Italian — goals to do exactly that. Participants vary from storied names reminiscent of Venini, Rubelli and Henraux to lesser-known ventures like Bottega Vazzoler and Artieri 1895, alongside Bonacina, Fornace Brioni, Glas Italia, De Castelli, Solimene, Fratelli Levaggi and Amini.
Among those that helped form the curation have been design duo Tipstudio, which oversaw the exhibition design; French artist JR, who contributed a site-specific set up magnifying the artisans’ faces throughout the constructing’s façade; and Vanity Fair Italia, which produced the present.
The exhibition strikes by a sequence of slender corridors and intimate chambers, the place surfaces are partially veiled. In one hallway, Henraux presents three slabs of unfinished marble. Left intentionally unworked, the main target is shifted away from the ultimate object and towards the fabric itself. Elsewhere, Solimene juxtaposes an authentic Sirena product of ceramic, sourced from its archive in Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, with a recent model created for the exhibition. Presented aspect by aspect, the 2 reveal delicate variations in kind and execution, tracing how a single concept can evolve over time.
The result’s a present that locations individuals, relatively than merchandise, at its heart.
“I like to pay attention, to spend time with things and others, to go deeper. It’s always been both the starting point and, in a way, the end point of everything I do,” mentioned De Sarno. “Even when I was at Gucci, that didn’t change. From the outside, everything may seem fast, but for me it never really was.”
It’s an strategy which will appear at odds with the style business, the place he additionally labored for different main Italian luxurious homes, together with Valentino, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. But style usually thrives on snap judgements, fleeting developments and fast consumption. “If everything is reduced to a quick opinion – ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – it loses meaning,” he mentioned. “I want to build, to shift perception. There’s a difference between something that lasts 24 hours and something that lasts longer. I’m interested in the latter.”
With extra room to breathe, De Sarno has begun to reassess his personal instincts, to look at what genuinely excites him, and why. Even his relationship to artwork has shifted. “I’ve always been passionate about it,” he mentioned, “but I realized that many of my choices were aesthetic. Now I have the time to study. When I go to an exhibition, I don’t just spend 20 minutes and leave. I stay.”
He additionally stays a religious lover of style. “I still feel stimulated by it,” he mentioned. “Having the opportunity to step back allows you to observe more closely. I believe fashion is still important and powerful, and I would like to continue working in it. But for me, people matter. Who you work with, and who you have around you, is important.”
Reflecting on latest historical past, De Sarno has no regrets. “I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done,” he mentioned. “I’ve met incredible people, and I believe in the importance of being seen.”
On his exit from Gucci, he mentioned, “I understand why people ask,” however he’s began to develop weary of the topic defining him. “It was an important project. But it was one chapter.” And he would make the identical choices if given an opportunity to show again time, he mentioned. “If I am who I am today, it’s because of those choices.”
Asked what comes subsequent, De Sarno mentioned: “I see myself simply as Sabato. Someone with different interests, creating conversations with people who are experts in their fields. I’m not an expert in art or design. What I’ve enjoyed is entering into those conversations and letting projects emerge from them. I don’t really feel the need to define it with a title.”
He’s already planning an upcoming exhibition for June, with the photographer Ambrosia Fortuna, exploring the lives of trans individuals and documenting their transition journeys.
In De Sarno’s view, the previous yr has been a uncommon alternative to recalibrate. “I’m a positive person,” he mentioned. “In life, what can seem like a detour often opens more interesting doors and leads to more interesting paths. For me, it’s been beautiful.”
“INSIEME” is on present throughout Milan Design Week till April 26.