FENDI, a luxury brand based in Rome, Italy, announced "Hand in Hand" in October 2020, a grassroots partnership project with artisans across Italy to celebrate its longstanding appreciation for Italian handcraftsmanship. Beginning with the legendary "Baguette" bag, designed by Artistic Director Silvia Venturini Fendi in 1997, this unprecedented project showcases the time-honored techniques of applied arts specialists.

Drawing on the skills of artisans across Italy, FENDI continues its long history of reinterpreting the iconic shape of its iconic "Baguette" bag. The Hand in Hand project brought together a diverse group of ateliers and workshops to interpret the Baguette using regional craftsmanship, elevating the handbag's traditional structure into a genuine work of art. Produced in an edition of 20, the Baguette is engraved in gold on the inner pocket with the name of the ateliers and a special ’’FENDI hand in hand’’ logo.

"I am working on special projects with selected artisans from different regions of Italy. The first piece was the leather Baguette bag that was shown on the Fall/Winter 2020-21 runway. It was made in Tuscany by one man who handcrafts all his small leather goods in small batches. He makes everything himself. It is made from very natural vegetal leather and there are no stitches, just glue. My goal is to discover the best artisans still working today from all regions of Italy and then expand this project globally." - Silvia Fendi, Fendi Artistic Director

The name "Hand in Hand" animates this unique collaboration, representing the encounter between the hands of local artisans and the hands of Fendi. Ancient, handmade skills and techniques of enormous value meet in these one-of-a-kind pieces. Beyond the artisanal creation of Fendi products, this project also marks an important step in establishing a strong human network to preserve and transmit the rare skills, creativity, and savoir-faire of local artisans throughout Italy.

The newly announced "Hand in Hand" journey begins in Trapani, Sicily, where master goldsmith Platimiro Fiorenza, a Living National Treasure of UNESCO, works. A jeweler and goldsmith, Platimiro specializes in the art of red coral, preserving a local art form since the 12th century. Handcrafted in his atelier, the "Baguette" features a unique facade made of red coral pieces, making it one of the most precious "Hand in Hand" projects. The sides are crafted from soft leather, while the front and back are made from polished metal panels cut into a geometric pattern. The coral is arranged in a retro-incasso (retro-cut) technique, reminiscent of a small box used to hold valuables.

Trentino Alto Adige, located in the Alps near the Austrian border, is home to the ancient tradition of peacock feather "kilwork" embroidery. Peacock feather embroidery, known as "Federkielstickerei," is an artistic technique in which cut feather stems are used to decorate leather. This technique, which dates back to the Middle Ages, gained importance in the 19th century as a way to decorate traditional costumes called "Tracht." Costumes at the time were status symbols, and decorated belts could cost as much as two horses. In this alpine tradition, artisans don't use bright, shimmering plumes, but instead use naturally falling long white feather stalks (quills) that are trimmed onto the flexible material to create raised embroidered designs on perforated leather. Often reserved for decorative belts, shoes, and saddlebags, third-generation atelier Federkielstickerei Thaler applies this technique to a black vegetal leather "baguette" with body, handle, and strap for its "Hand in Hand" partnership. It evokes the traditional costumes adorned with floral quillwork from the Tyrolean mountains.

https://youtu.be/ycynCrGbvoA
In Sorrento, Campania, overlooking the Bay of Naples, intricate inlay techniques have been discovered in Benedictine monasteries dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries. In this delicate craft, called Tarsia Sorrentina, artisans carve and assemble minute pieces of contrasting wood to create tabletop music boxes, jewelry boxes, picture frames, and other precious art objects. Through a partnership with Stinga Tarsia, a family-run workshop in Sorrento town center, the "Baguette" was created for the "Hand in Hand" project, featuring a structured "Baguette" made of briarbur wood veneer panels inlaid with a clean FF logo pattern in pale maple and a glossy finish. Neapolitan Baroque motifs—flowers, leaves, and griffins—reflect the craft's traditional design, framing a floral grid of FF logo inlays, and finished with soft gold hardware and linen-colored crocodile handles and straps. Located in Varese, an industrial city in the lush northern Lombardy region, master luggage maker Bertoni Valigeria is a powerhouse of modern leather craftsmanship. Since 1949, Riccardo Bertoni and his sons have been creating custom trunks and luggage made to measure in their in-house atelier for clients in Italy and around the world. This "hand-in-hand" partnership transforms the "Baguette" into a miniature trunk. Bertoni Valigeria has created a structured model with three drawers: a functional jewelry box in FF chamois leather, encased in an emerald-green "Baguette" crafted from crocodile leather polished with precious agate. A wide strap adds an extra touch of luxury.

Dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries, there is a Byzantine tradition of hand-cut mosaic tilework. It is an artistic technique in which tiny glass or ceramic pieces are assembled into precise patterns and pictorial scenes that cover walls, floors, and ceilings. This particularly complex technique requires great precision and patience. Inspired by the city's captivating mosaic heritage, the Akomena Spazio Mosaico workshop in Ravenna, Emilia Romagna, has been operating since the late 1980s. Mimicking the golden eight-pointed star symbol of Ravenna and representing the starry sky of the Mausoleum of Gallia Placida, the All-Over Star mosaic adorns this unique "hand-in-hand" "baguette," featuring delicate tesserae glass pieces backed with gold or silver leaf. Furthermore, the mosaic decoration extends across the strap and FF buckle, its warm glow also shining on the inside of the bag, which is lined with golden lambskin.

https://youtu.be/dmoCJmvHEmw
Piedmont, located on the border between France and Switzerland, is the home of Bandera embroidery. This embroidery style, known as "needlework," features colorful raised wool and cotton threads on a white honeycomb fabric. It was used to decorate everything in aristocratic homes, from tableware to curtains, pillowcases, bed trimmings, and other soft furnishings. Since the 17th century, embroiderers have traditionally stitched bright floral patterns, while the Rococo era adorned subdued fabrics with chain and satin stitches, using light and dark threads to create soft gradations. Pralormo Design, founded by Consolata Pralormo in the 13th-century Castello di Pralormo, has brilliantly breathed new life into this centuries-old craft, which nearly disappeared in the 1960s. The atelier's playful "Baguette" is based on the Maison's iconic FF jacquard and features traditional patterns such as flowers, leaves and curled ribbons made from twisted wool yarns in pink, blue and green.

https://youtu.be/rCaIRtlue_8
The small mountain commune of Champorcher, in the Valle d'Aosta region of the Aosta Valley in northwest Italy, has revived the art of handweaving undyed, durable linen cloth embroidered with red motifs from local natural fibers. This family tradition, similar to cross-stitch, has been perpetuated by the Lou Dzeut women's cooperative since 1989. The "Baguette" project combines lettering, geometric and floral patterns. The cooperative owns several antique wooden handlooms. While weaving on the loom, the weaver's hands and feet must move in sync, like the gears of a machine. Numbers and letters were often used to teach this craft to children, and here a historical episode emerges in the repetition of the inscription ’’FENDI ROMA1925’’, featuring Fendi's iconic "pequin" motif in traditional Valdostin azure embroidery.

Northeast of Carnia, in the province of Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Hand in Hand project heads to Carnica Arte Tessile, a family-run weaving workshop specialising in cotton and linen jacquard brocade fabrics. Since the 1700s, this region has had a tradition of home weaving on family looms. The motifs of these delicate pieces, bordering Carnica Alps, are inspired by alpine flowers such as thistles, mountain lilies, and eryngium alpinum, and are woven from European linen and Egyptian cotton threads. The "Baguette" features Fendi's Cerrissima stitching over a beige "Cuoio Roma" leather grid, featuring a pale blue fabric adorned with Fendi's signature beige mountain daisy design. Outside Genoa on the Ligurian coast, the medieval tradition of filigree silversmithing is alive and well in the town of Campo Ligure. More than 30 workshops still meticulously work on decorative folded silver threads. By applying this precious structural technique to the "baguette", the Effe-Erre atelier has created a beautiful, lightweight silver cage design. A delicate silver lace frame surrounds the swirling filigree. A delicate silver pendant hangs inside, replacing the bag's internal pocket. The façade is adorned with a brushed silver FF buckle and is secured with a laminated strap.

https://youtu.be/oKsv5owgoAk
The small town of Anzi, in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, is located high above sea level in the Potenza Hills. Since the 1950s, Salesian nuns have pioneered a revival of openwork embroidery, incorporating a decorative combination of tonal cut-out lace motifs and cotton floral thread embroidery on white or natural linen. For the "Hand in Hand" project, the Ma.Ma Creazioni women's cooperative created this delicate natural linen "Baguette" cover. A colorful bouquet of local wildflowers—rosehips, daisies, violets, and lilies of the valley—is arranged in a symmetrical design and surrounded by curled ribbons of openwork azure. This unique "Baguette" cover elegantly conceals a white "Baguette" in Cuoio Roma leather, trimmed with bright orange leather piping and a Celerissima stitch FF buckle.

Fendi's "Hand in Hand" project is an important step in the brand's commitment to the artisans throughout Italy who continue to give life to traditional production techniques. These local workshops and ateliers are at the heart of the "Made in Italy" movement. Fendi believes that now is the time to preserve and develop this ancient craft on an international scale like never before. By working together, we can celebrate unique Italian creativity and preserve ancient crafts for the future.

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