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The black Gucci Horsebit 1955 medium shoulder bag with a curved flap and gold Horsebit hardware on a pale stone ledge.

Gucci

Gucci began with Guccio Gucci’s luggage shop in Florence in 1921. Its history runs from travel goods to signatures such as Diamante canvas, the bamboo handle and the horsebit.

A Florentine beginning

Guccio Gucci opened his first shop on Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence in 1921. Before returning to Italy, he had worked as a porter at London’s Savoy.1,2

Objects for travel

The Florence shop began with luggage. In the late 1930s, Gucci introduced canvas for greater durability; the patterned Diamante fabric became a forerunner of the later interlocking-GG motif.1,2

Bamboo and the horsebit

A curved bamboo handle gives the Bamboo 1947 bag its silhouette. The bamboo is shaped by hand over an open flame. The house also identifies the Horsebit 1953 loafer and Horsebit 1955 bag as icons.1,2,3

The essentials

Founded
1921, Florence
Headquarters
Florence, Italy
Official site
gucci.com
Sources and citations (6)
  1. History of Gucci
  2. Storia di Gucci
  3. Gucci Icons: The Making Of
  4. History
  5. The Making of the Gucci Bamboo 1947
  6. Horsebit 1955 medium black 602204 1DB0G 1000

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