FENDI Presents “Rock the Craft” at the Palazzo FENDI Milano

At the newly opened Palazzo FENDI Milano, FENDI unveils Rock the Craft, a sensorial encounter where material, craft, and tradition converge. Set within the 1930s-inspired atmosphere of the FENDI Atelier on the palazzo’s third floor, the exhibition celebrates the poetic tension between heritage and innovation.

For this visionary encounter, FENDI invites Edoardo Piermattei, one of Italy’s most compelling contemporary artists, to collaborate with the Maison’s legendary leather and fur artisans. Together, they embark on a journey through the evolution of craft: an exploration of gesture, form, and transcendence.

Rock the Craft unfolds as a living performance, where creation itself becomes art. Visitors are invited to witness the alchemy of material in motion. Piermattei’s manipulation of pigmented cement, applied with a sac à poche technique—a method borrowed from the delicate world of pastry decoration—imbues the medium with unexpected softness. The resulting sculptural forms echo the architectural vaults that the artist designed for each floor of the palazzo, linking space, surface, and soul.

FENDI’s artisans then translate these motifs into tactile masterpieces, crafting leather and fur tablets through intricate inlay techniques: each one a meditation on touch, texture, and time.

In parallel, a customized white canvas Peekaboo bag emerges as a piece of wearable art, an emblem of sculptural softness and the dialogue between artist and artisan. Joining the FENDI Peekaboo Artist series, it stands as both object and idea. In a nod to sustainability, offcut materials from past collections are also reborn into a limited series of made-to-order Peekaboo bags, inspired by Piermattei’s distinctive vision.

More than an exhibition, “Rock the Craft” is an act of creation in real time, a vibrant fusion of artistry and savoir-faire that reaffirms FENDI’s commitment to craftsmanship as a living, evolving art form.