The Gianfranco Ferré Foundation headquarters

The Tortona area in Milan is a world-class hub where design, fashion and culture meet and merge: it became a pole of attraction for leading Italian and international brands, ad agencies, idea incubators, prominent designers and promising young talents which turned it in the three last decades into a real “creative district”.

"Tortona 37" complexGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

"Tortona 37” - home to the Gianfranco Ferre' Foundation since 2010 - is a mixed-use architectural complex consisting of five buildings set around a tree-centered courtyard, designed by Matteo Thun. It is part of a process of significant reuse of the territory, with the restoration of dismantled industrial areas as well as the construction of new buildings that reflect the structure of the old working-living compounds.

Entrance Gianfranco Ferré FoundationGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

The Foundation was created in 2008, with the aim of preserving and making available all the materials which document the designer’s career. It has also the goal of promoting and carring out projects related with Ferré’s style and design philosophy.

Here many things infuse the place with the Gianfranco Ferré style and above all with the designer’s rich and complex personality.
The interior décor is the work of Architect Franco Raggi, university classmate and close friend of Gianfranco Ferré. He is the same architect who cooperated with Ferré in designing other of the fashion designer’s offices, the headquarters on Via Pontaccio in particular.

Sketches archiveGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

One of the Foundation’s main activity is the creation of an archive that houses everything saved and kept during the span of Gianfranco Ferré’s work: photographs, sketches and drawings, film and video footage, press reviews, magazines, press releases, as well as the designer’s own writings lectures and notes. All go into the data base for an easy access both on site and via web.

Data baseGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

The database, which is continually being updated, presently contains more than 70,000 items. They are organized on the basis of a well articulated, yet easily usable system, specifically in terms of both subject matter and chronological.

Conference room Gianfranco Ferré FoundationGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

In the Gianfranco Ferré Foundation a multifunctional space hosts lectures, conferences, presentations, workshops, fully reflecting the style that connotes the entire headquarters.

Vestimentary archiveGianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano

In parallel with the activities related to the virtual database, the Foundation is responsible for the care and management of the vestimentary archive, which includes about 3,000 pieces of clothing and accessories from the Gianfranco Ferré Women’s, Men’s and Alta Moda collections.

Fondazione Gianfranco Ferré, From the collection of: Gianfranco Ferré Research Center, Politecnico di Milano
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