The historic Florentine artisanal leather brand creates new bags for the Palazzo Strozzi guides
On the occasion of the “Rothko in Florence” exhibition, Il Bisonte presents a new special edition dedicated to and designed specifically around the needs of the Palazzo Strozzi guides and educators. Crafted from the brand’s iconic vegetable-tanned leather and high-quality cotton canvas, the bag is light, spacious, and versatile; it will accompany those who help visitors discover beauty and will do so with Il Bisonte’s unmistakable style.
The creation of this new bag continues a long-standing collaboration between Palazzo Strozzi and the historic artisanal Florentine leather goods brand which — from 2008 until the eve of the pandemic — designed a “bag of wonders” for every exhibition, reserved for children and families. Inside were maps to help visitors find their bearings, raw materials to try their hand at being artists, coloring pencils, magnifying glasses, games and quizzes conceived by Palazzo Strozzi’s education department to make every visit unique and unforgettable.
All of the Il Bisonte for Palazzo Strozzi Art Bags are preserved in the brand’s historical archive, alongside an extraordinary collection of over 3,000 bags and accessories that illustrate the brand’s history and recount its inexhaustible capacity for innovation. For the entire duration of the exhibit, a wide selection can be viewed (by appointment only) in the splendid rooms overlooking the courtyard of Palazzo Corsini al Parione, just a few steps from Il Bisonte’s historic flagship store.
The creation of this new bag continues a long-standing collaboration between Palazzo Strozzi and the historic artisanal Florentine leather goods brand which — from 2008 until the eve of the pandemic — designed a “bag of wonders” for every exhibition, reserved for children and families. Inside were maps to help visitors find their bearings, raw materials to try their hand at being artists, coloring pencils, magnifying glasses, games and quizzes conceived by Palazzo Strozzi’s education department to make every visit unique and unforgettable.
All of the Il Bisonte for Palazzo Strozzi Art Bags are preserved in the brand’s historical archive, alongside an extraordinary collection of over 3,000 bags and accessories that illustrate the brand’s history and recount its inexhaustible capacity for innovation. For the entire duration of the exhibit, a wide selection can be viewed (by appointment only) in the splendid rooms overlooking the courtyard of Palazzo Corsini al Parione, just a few steps from Il Bisonte’s historic flagship store.
Some of the educational bags produced for Palazzo Strozzi were invented entirely from scratch, such as the “Magician’s Hatbox” created for the trompe-l’œil exhibition (2009), the multicolored cube designed for Picasso (2011), and the inflatable-raft-inspired bag created for the major Ai Weiwei retrospective (2016). Others are iconic brand recreations, prompted by the exhibit’s theme or one of its symbolic works. Examples include the picnic basket recalling the Impressionists’ en plein air painting sessions (2008); the classic Doctor’s Bag refashioned in tapestry-like fabric to evoke Catherine de’ Medici’s famous wall-hangings (2009); the crossbody decorated with Renaissance motifs taken from Bronzino’s paintings (2010); the merchant’s purse dedicated to Sandro Botticelli (2011), a re-edition of the brand’s iconic Sabrina; the unmistakable briefcase redesigned to feature Guggenheim masterpieces (2016) and Lucio Fontana’s famous slashes (2018); and the handbag dedicated to Marina Abramović (2018).
“We are delighted,” explains Hideo Shiomoto, COO of Il Bisonte, “to celebrate this new chapter of a collaboration launched 18 years ago by our founder Wanny Di Filippo, and to once again be part of the daily life of a palazzo that has been a source of continual inspiration for our designers and a point of pride for the city where Il Bisonte was born.”
