Fendi Unveils “Fonderia Fendi” at Design Miami 2025

Rome’s iconic luxury house FENDI unveiled its special centennial project, “Fonderia Fendi,” at Design Miami 2025, celebrating 100 years of craftsmanship, creativity, and innovation.

Led by Argentine-born artist and designer Conie Vallese, the project brings together Italian artisanal heritage with a contemporary expression of feminine strength and vitality. The result is a series of sculptural works that merge traditional craftsmanship with an artistic sensibility unique to Vallese.

A Tribute to Italy’s Artistic Legacy

“Fonderia Fendi” pays homage to Italy’s celebrated participation in the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. To realize this ambitious project, Vallese collaborated with five renowned Italian ateliers, working across bronze, ceramics, glass, leather, and textiles. Through these materials, she created pieces that are both romantic in spirit and architecturally structured.

The sculptural language recalls the iconic 1994 illustration “Les Cinq Doigts d’une Main” by the late Karl Lagerfeld, which symbolically depicted the five Fendi sisters. Vallese’s work echoes that poetic tension—precision handcrafted detail paired with expressive imagination—connecting the brand’s past and future through a powerful visual narrative.

A “Salotto” Brought to Life

The exhibition space is conceived as an intimate salotto, a living-room-like environment enveloped in soft, cocoon-like light. A gentle palette—rosy bronze, sorbet yellow, and anice blue, tones associated with Rome—sets the overall mood, while textures that embrace the beauty of imperfection add depth throughout the installation.

Pastel-toned opaque glass, tufted carpet reliefs, and layered ceramic glazes create a painterly presence, allowing the space to blur the boundary between object and environment.

Where Craft Meets the Fendi DNA

Across the exhibition, 3D-sculpted lily motifs appear throughout Vallese’s objects, balancing the weight of solid bronze with elegant, hand-drawn curves.
Fendi’s signature Selleria stitching is embedded through embossed details and leather applications, subtly dissolving the line between industrial structure and artisanal touch.

The aesthetic draws from the cultural dynamism of the Roaring Twenties, shaped by Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Modernism. This interplay embodies Fendi’s current identity—one where heritage and innovation coexist on the same horizon.

A Special Peekaboo Made for the Exhibition

In celebration of the project, Fendi also commissioned Vallese to reinterpret the maison’s iconic Peekaboo bag. The piece features diagonal stripes in soft yellow and blue calfskin paired with hand-carved ceramic details, designed as a reversible model.

This exclusive edition is limited to five pieces and will be available only at the Fendi boutique in the Miami Design District, underscoring its rarity as an art-object-meets-handbag creation.

A Century of Fendi Through Art and Craft

Through “Fonderia Fendi,” the maison revisits its foundational pillars—craftsmanship, femininity, and the cultural richness of Rome. The merging of materials, techniques, and artistic expression presents a clear view into the aesthetic direction Fendi is poised to explore in the years ahead.

Exhibition Highlights

Bronze Lily Screen

A movable room divider featuring 3D hand-carved lilies in solid bronze, paired with Cuoio Romano leather and Selleria stitching—an emblematic piece of the collection.

Anice Bronze Bench

A three-seat bench showcasing bronze lily carvings and Selleria stitching, finished with anice blue leather.

Sorbetto Bronze Chair

A sculptural chair in sorbet yellow leather, accented with bronze lily motifs and Selleria stitching.

Bronze Lily Sconce

A wall-mounted light featuring a 3D sculpted lily in solid bronze, adding a dramatic focal point to any space.

Ceramic Pedestal Series (Sorbetto / Anice / FF Ceramic Cube)

Created by Officine Saffi Lab, the series features custom pedestals finished with cream, sorbet yellow, and anice blue glazes, adorned with lily motifs and the FF logo.

Anice Ceramic Pedestal II (H52cm x W78cm x D52cm)

A five-sided ceramic pedestal combining matte and satin high-fire glazes in cream and anice blue. Lily motifs and FF logos subtly emerge from the surface, creating a refined visual texture.