FENDI celebrates its centennial with Fonderia Fendi, a collectible design showcase created by Connie Vallese that reinterprets Italian craftsmanship through a contemporary lens.

To commemorate its 100th anniversary, FENDI presents Fonderia Fendi, an unprecedented project exploring feminine strength through Italian artisanal traditions. Conceived by Argentinian designer and artist Connie Vallese, the showcase debuts at Design Miami 2025 as a reflection on materiality, collaboration, and the legacy of Italian decorative arts.

Inspired by Italy’s participation in the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, Vallese invited five Italian ateliers to create unique pieces in bronze, ceramic, glass, carpet, and leather.

The project engages in dialogue with Les Cinq Doigts d’une Main, Karl Lagerfeld’s 1994 illustration portraying the five Fendi sisters as protagonists of a unified creative gesture. Vallese’s vision takes shape in collaboration with FENDI’s leather workshops, the historic Fonderia Battaglia foundry, the ceramic studio Officine Saffi Lab, the artisans of CC-Tapis, and the Venetian glassmakers Barovier & Toso.

 

 

Conceived as an intimate salotto, the installation transforms the Design Miami space into a serene environment bathed in soft, diffused light. Within it, hand-shaped organic forms crafted in monumental natural materials come into focus.

Among the highlights are bronze pieces adorned with lilies: a sculptural bench, an occasional chair, a room divider, and a wall sconce, each traced with a raised interpretation of FENDI’s iconic Selleria stitch. In dialogue with the spirit of the 1920s—when Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism converged—the works incorporate FENDI’s leather savoir-faire through pure planes of cuoio Romano and the House’s signature stitching.

As a final gesture, and in continuation of a seven-year tradition, FENDI invited Vallese to reinterpret the iconic Peekaboo bag. The limited edition—presented at Design Miami and at the Design District boutique—introduces a reversible version crafted in pale yellow and blue diagonal-striped calfskin, accented with hand-sculpted ceramic details. Only five pieces will be available exclusively at the FENDI boutique in Miami Design District.