The Green Soul of Zegna - the Dream of Zero Waste Possible

“At Zegna, we have taken care of the world we live in from the beginning, following in the footsteps of our founder Ermenegildo Zegna. This is our company mission, based on a constantly-evolving thought: looking at the future with the belief that our actions today will shape our tomorrow.”

---

---

At Zegna, social and environmental responsibility have been our roots for 110 years. When they were founded in 1910, Ermenegildo Zegna’s dream was not just to create the world’s finest textiles but to make his hometown and the world around it a better place, ensuring the highest-quality products without compromising the quality of life for future generations. His vision is still the heart of everything we do. The environment is at the core of our efforts: we believe the very best garments can only come from the best natural resources, and that these resources need to be cared for. The advanced vertical integration of our business model facilitates our journey towards a sustainable product and holds us accountable for responsible practices and processes.

2020 marks our 110th anniversary. On this landmark year, we are proud to renew our sustainability pledge, exemplified by OASI Zegna, where our Lanificio Zegna was established and our green philosophy was ignited. OASI Zegna is a unique model of our environmental consciousness, a territory that now covers 100km2 from Trivero to Valle Cervo in the Alpi Biellesi, which would not have been possible without the visionary approach of our founder.

---

“In an ever-changing world, luxury companies can simply adapt to changes or choose to be a positive force in driving these changes. Our responsibility is to leverage our past to build a better present and future. This carries over into everything we do, following our founder’s legacy. I’m very pleased that Zegna is part of the Green Pea project, partnering with Oscar Farinetti who shares the same sustainability ethos with us”, says Gildo Zegna, CEO of Ermenegildo Zegna.”

---

Meanwhile at Z ZEGNA, we continue to push the boundaries to explore sustainable fashion solutions, and use recyclablematerials to create the Z ZEGNA FW20 #Usetheexisting Nylon Padded Jacket and Vest. The extra-light recycled nylon stuffing creates feather-like comfort, whilst outstanding weaving and craftsmanship ensurewaterproofing and warmth. The streamlined design is ideal for outdoor adventures and city life alike, with functional details such as a patch pocket on the chest, zipper side pockets covered by a sleek, peach-skin technofabric shell, and a drawstring at the bottom. A carefree choice for contemporary gentlemen to mix and match, the Z ZEGNA FW20 #Usetheexisting Nylon Padded Jacket and Vest come in four colour options: black, red, bright yellow and dark green.

“Morethan a simple project, #UseTheExisting is a state of mind,” says Artistic Director, Alessandro Sartori. “The main goal is to rework the fashion system in order to reduce our ecological footprint. At Zegna, we are trying to reuse resources in order to not waste any materials in the production chain. It is a mission and a vision in which we are investing a lot. This is the principle behind the latest and future collections.”  

Together, wecan build a better tomorrow.

For more information, please visit: www.zega.com

ZEGNA AND LEICA JOIN FORCES IN A COLLABORATION TO BE LAUNCHED GLOBALLY

Fashion meets Photography: the exclusive collaboration between Zegna and Leica Camera, the legendary German camera manufacturer, yields a capsule collection of high-end camera accessories, possibly the most refined to date. 

Debuted in January 2020 on the runway of the Ermenegildo Zegna XXX Winter 2020 Fashion Show, this highly expected capsule collection finally comes to life. 

Designed for the modern photographer, in search of the most beautiful image but equally attentive to the subtle details of handmade craftsmanship, the collaboration strengthens the link between two expressions of art and creativity, reflecting a broader dialogue between the two brands. 

Zegna Artistic Director Alessandro Sartori, a photography enthusiast and authentic Leica lover, has always been inspired by photography as a creative language that he often visually uses as a reference for his collections. His own passion led Zegna to a collaboration built upon the mutual expression of creativity and innovation, craftsmanship and technicality which further cements Zegna’s reputation as a global luxury lifestyle brand. 

The collaboration collection consists in PELLETESSUTATM camera holsters for Leica Q2 and Leica M cameras; PELLETESSUTATM protectors for Leica Q2 and Leica M cameras; functional crossbody bags called Insta-Pack, inspired by photographers’ attitude that fit almost all Compact Leica cameras (Leica V-Lux excluded) and the Leica CL with the 18mm ‘pancake’ Leica lens; carrying and wrist straps; Leica keyrings and round wallets (both for coins or the Leica Q2 lens cap) that feature luxury details and precious touch of the PELLETESSUTATM collection, an iconic Zegna special woven nappa, result of an innovative Ermenegildo Zegna research aimed to recreate precious fabric using extremely thin strips of selected nappa leather in place of fabric yarns.“

“Zegna and Leica share the same values and very deep integrity and quality towards the excellence of their own products; my wish is to build up a long chapter together. The vision and the DNA of Leica have always been genuine, an obsessive quest for quality, extremely refined research, a very unique approach towards not only the world of camera and photography but mostly towards the craftsmanship and a distinctive syntax” says Alessandro Sartori, Zegna Artistic Director. 

“What a wonderful addition: The creation of a Leica camera, moving images and a Zegna garment is unique and outstanding. Both brands share the same humanistic approach for values, design, sustainability, and quality” says Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Leica Global Director Art and Leica Galleries. 

The Zegna and Leica collaboration collection are distributed globally in an exclusive selection of Zegna Flagship Stores (such as New York City, Paris, London, Milan, Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, Ginza, Isetan) as well as in 60 select Leica stores worldwide.

The collection is also available on-line, on zegna.com and leica-camera.com. 

KUKAN DESIGN AWARD 2020

On November 13, 2020, the Kukan Design Awards ceremony was successfully held at the Tokyo Design Center (Gotanda, Tokyo). Due to the global pandemic, only winners and invited parties were invited to celebrate in the ceremony.

Kukan Design Awards were established to connect with the value of spatial design toward the future. Co-organized by DSA (Japan Design Space Association) and JCD (Japan Commercial Environmental Design Association), it is recognized as the most prestigious spatial design award in Japan.

The winning project "Shibuya Sky" and "Fukadaiji Garden Restaurant Maruta" and "Kumamoto Castle Special Tour Passage" have been awarded as "KUKAN OF THE YEAR 2020", the grand prize of this year.

KUKAN OF THE YEAR 2020

---

Winning Project: Shibuya Sky

Design by: Tadao Kamei / Takeyuki Katsuya / Shibuya Station Area Development Planning Joint Venture (Nikken Sekkei), Keisuke Arikuni / RHIZOMATIKS

Photographer: SS Tokyo, Kenichi Suzuki, Keita Sinya (ROLLUPstudio.)

---

Winning Project: JINDAIJI GARDEN Restaurant Maruta

Design by: Shunichi Furuya/ FURUYA DESIGN ARCHITECT OFFICE

Photography: Shinkenchiku-sha

---

Winning Project: Kumamoto Castle Reconstruction Observation Path

Design by: Yuzuru Tsukagawa + Shun Hori / NIHONSEKKEI

photography: Kenji Masunaga

---

KUKAN DESIGN TALK

The moderator, Mr. Naoki Iijima (JCD Director), held a discussion session with three champions of KUKAN OF THE YEAR 2020.

---

GOLD PRIZE / 2020

• KATACHI TO KURASHI

  Hokuto Fujii / hokkyok Inc.

• Wako Main Bldg. / Multiple

  Jun Musashi / Wako, Hokuto Ando / we+, Toshiya Hayashi / we+

• mother's+

  Junichi Yokoo / TAKENAKA CORPORATION

• Shibuya PARCO - HULIC building

  Yuuji Hamano, Yoshiharu Kabe, Nobuhiko Kakitani / TAKENAKA CORPORATION

• The Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu

  Ryu Kosaka / A.N.D., Nomura Co., Ltd

• ARTIZON MUSEUM

  Hiroshi Yoneya, Ken Kimizuka / TONERICO:INC.

• “HANEDA SKY CAMPUS” Headquarter of Azusa Sekkei

  Kazuyuki Watanabe / Azusa Sekkei

• International Dorm-City

  Expert Member, Kanagawa University Campus Development Planning CommitteeKukan Design Awards

---

For more information about KUKAN DESIGN Award, please visit: https://kukan.design/

TIFFANY & CO. Unveils Plans For A Contemporary Glass Addition Atop Its Classic Fifth Avenue Flagship Store

For the first time, Tiffany & Co. is revealing exterior renderings of the transformation underway at its Fifth Avenue flagship store. The upper addition (floors 8, 9 and 10) of the 10-story architectural icon located at 727 Fifth Avenue will be completely reimagined from office space originally constructed in 1980, into a new exhibition, event and clienteling space.  Surrounded by a curtain of undulating glass complementing the classic limestone façade below, the contemporary structure above this historic building echoes the height and grandeur of the flagship’s timeless main floor. Construction began on Tiffany’s flagship transformation in spring 2019 and is estimated to be complete in spring 2022.

For the first time, Tiffany & Co. is revealing exterior renderings of the transformation underway at its Fifth Avenue flagship store and is estimated to be complete in spring 2022

“The Tiffany & Co. Fifth Avenue flagship is arguably one of the most beloved and well-known luxury retail spaces in the world. It's a place where so many have memories of important moments in their lives, filled with emotion and anticipation of the extraordinary,” said Reed Krakoff, Chief Artistic Officer, Tiffany & Co. “Tiffany’s newly transformed flagship will reflect the future of our brand while honouring our 183-year legacy.”

View fullsize

Surrounded by a curtain of undulating glass, the upper addition will be transformed into a new exhibition, event and clienteling space

A holistic transformation of this magnitude has not taken place in the building’s 80-year history. Tiffany is embarking on the project in partnership with a renowned architectural firm, The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Led by Partner Shohei Shigematsu, OMA New York is engaged in specific aspects of the transformation–including a reimagined upper addition. 

The ambition for the design of the new upper volume is to create a vertical continuity with the existing structure, while also setting it apart as a bold and innovative addition to the building. The corniced parapet of the original building will be mirrored by a slumped glass façade above. The eye is drawn upward creating a gentle transition between the two structures. This ribbon-like design detail brings a sensuality to the building, instilling a softness among the curtain walls of the building’s neighbours. 

The recessed glass exhibition and event space will echo the feeling of the main floor with its column-free, double-height ceilings. The expansive glass facade brings an openness to both sides of the building and opens up to an outdoor terrace that will offer guests a view from the world’s most famous intersection for luxury retail, and up Fifth Avenue to Central Park.

View fullsize

The grandeur and essence of that majestic space will remain and continue to awe guests as they enter the renovated store in 2022, offering an evolved luxury retail experience

The expansive Tiffany flagship was a symbol of modern architecture when it was built in 1940. The grandeur and essence of that majestic space will remain and continue to awe guests as they enter the renovated store in 2022.  An evolved luxury retail experience will draw consumers inside once again and inspire them to journey from the main floor up through the entirety of the building. 

In the interim, the Tiffany Flagship Next Door located at the adjacent 6 East 57th Street will continue to serve as Tiffany & Co.’s home, showcasing the entire breadth of the Brand’s extraordinary collections, until the original flagship’s completion in spring 2022. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.tiffany.com

The modern expression Cadillac House, designed by Gensler, Shanghai, China

Gensler redefines Cadillac House in Shanghai

with a sleek silhouette and defines it with a magnetic personality. 

In Shanghai, China, Cadillac China and Gensler’s Shanghai Office sound a clear note of great latitude in expressing Cadillac House’s individuality, thus giving it the leeway to embrace deconstructivism and digital technologies. 

Cadillac has a longstanding history now and Cadillac House is at its tender age, who is born in the ‘Me’ Generation wherein its birth is intended for exploring the stronger relation between new-technology trends and aestheticism and Self-expressing. 

And Gensler, in modern expression, would care to render any visit to the House into a journey of exploration of modernism and futurism. Xiaomei Lee and Peter Weingarten, Co-Regional Managing Principals at Gensler Greater China, said that The Cadillac House project exemplifies Gensler’s One-Firm-Firm culture through combining the expertise of a global network and cross-practice collaboration from retail design, digital experience design to interior design and architecture disciplines, to leverage the power of design to create a better world.’

Nestled on a small peninsula with a lovely pool encompassing around, the House could be perceived as a vehicle-like gemstone mined out of a lake. Installed in 7,000 rectangular stainless steel plates, the façade unveils its true charm as the dusk falls — ribbons of LED underneath the metallic husk twinkle bright and Cadillac, the sign, emits beautiful light — and it dawns on you ‘what a glittering site!’.

The House is equipped with durable solar panels, with the sustainable conversion from sunlight to electricity.

There could not be mere one single merit that natural light could engender. The House features skylights purposefully for the use of optimising light penetration into the inside.  

Inside, the consistency of refinement and luxury will hardly astound you to see the discontinuity of an air of nobleness. Moving through a wondrous entrance, you will be greeted with an open-plan foyer emerging before you. 

Awaiting are the Cadillacs. They are waiting for customers who take an avid interest in carrying a sign of luxury home. Gensler realises the idea of establishing a platform for Cadillacs to showcase their specialties, and, underneath a massive spiral staircase or in the centre of a lobby will you set your eyes on a different individual.

Standing still for a moment with eyes riveted on the Cadillacs, you will smell of classic aroma of dark roast coffee, which is tantalizing in the space, and that aroma is a high-profile fixture in a luxurious locality. A timber-and-concrete spiral staircase leads from the open-plan foyer to the second level and the third, dispensing with columns offering the verticality to offset the smoothness of the ribbon-like spiral.Three floors in total, Cadillac House rings the change with a linear arrangement of ‘past-present-future’, having a theme fixed on every floor but in a way that the ‘future’ is in the middle and the ‘past’ in the top floor. 

Level 2 focuses on the theoretical possibility of multi-sensory interactive technologies. Adopting multiple ways to open up a novel opportunity for customers to a body-syntonic end, is actually, grounded on the basis of VR and 3D printing.

Technologies are an invariably trend-propelled force. There is a patch of the area which is characterized by a cluster of slender cuboids with digital screens embedded, which is named ‘Digital Forest’. The name could be conceived as a variation of ‘Concrete Jungle’ because these columns have a bearing on their architectural counterparts.

A hallway is imbued with a notion of the time tunnel, through which you are capable of having a panoramic view of the growth of Cadillac.

Cadillac sets the bar high and it is estimated that over 3000 songs have included its namesakes on purpose to indicate that Cadillac is synonymous with automobile sleekness and a sign of wealth. Richard Chang, Greater China Retail Practice Area Leader at Gensler said, ‘‘We are proud to be working with Cadillac on designing such an important project. And the AIA award is great recognition for all the hard work to bring the project into completion.’

Project credits:

Project Name: Cadillac House

Location: No. 2199, Jufeng Road, Jin Qiao, Pu Dong, Shanghai, China

Architectural and Interior design: Gensler (Gensler’s Shanghai Office)

Date of Open: 27/3/ 2019

Site area: 6493㎡

Photographer: Blackstation & CreatAR

Leica Camera AG and WhiteWall announce collaboration

Leica Camera AG and WhiteWall have announced a collaboration between the two companies. In the future, the premium products of the prominent and multi-award-winning photo lab will also be available in selected Leica Stores around the world. Leica customers will then be able to enjoy the benefits of the extensive portfolios of both companies and a comprehensive range of premium photographic products and services, from expert advice and services to ready-to-hang final prints, all from a central location.

At the end of October, the opening of the new Leica Store and Leica Galerie in Maffeistrasse 4 in Munich, will set the ball rolling for the collaboration and will make it the first Leica Store with space reserved exclusively for the presentation of WhiteWall’s range of products and services. Customers can look forward to professional advice on everything from fine art prints to individualized mounting and framing options for prints in gallery quality and order them there and then. The integration of the WhiteWall services portfolio in Leica Stores in Los Angeles, Rome, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Wetzlar is already nearing completion. Further locations are scheduled to follow.

‘Leica Camera and WhiteWall have been involved with one another for many years in a collaboration based on mutual trust and respect that is reflected in the successful realization of numerous projects, most recently, the current exhibitions celebrating the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) 2020. We are particularly pleased about the expansion of our Store portfolios with premium products and services from WhiteWall is a perfect complement to the photographic experience in our stores’, reports Matthias Harsch, Chairman of the Executive Board of Leica Camera AG.

‘We are very proud to have such a long-established company like Leica as a partner at our side and the opportunity to realise our latest project together with this premium brand’, says Alexander Nieswandt, founder and Managing Director of WhiteWall.

‘As a photo lab, we concentrate on uncompromising premium quality for connoisseurs of all genres of photography. Indirectly, our broad and diverse selection of print products expands the Leica portfolio and opens up previously untapped international markets for WhiteWall. This is the beginning of an exciting time for us all’, adds Nieswandt.

About WhiteWall

WhiteWall is the best photo lab for all lovers of photography. 

Founded in 2007 by Alexander Nieswandt, over 13 years of professional expertise in the photofinishing market have since established WhiteWall as one of the world’s leading photo labs. WhiteWall is a team of dedicated specialists who unite cutting-edge technologies and traditional printing and finishing methods. WhiteWall’s award-winning gallery-quality is based on first-class substrates, high-quality mounting, and handcrafted frames made in our in-house manufacturing department.  

WhiteWall has 180 employees in more than 13 different countries. All products are produced and shipped to more than 50 countries from the company’s over 7,500 m2 professional lab in Frechen, close to Cologne. With more than 20,000 customers from the professional photography sector and flagship stores in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin, WhiteWall ranks among the global players in its market segment. Three TIPA World Awards, including ‘World’s Best Photo Lab’ in 2020, highlight the premium character and quality of WhiteWall products. 

About Leica Store Hong Kong Causeway Bay

“Leica Store Hong Kong Causeway Bay” is Hong Kong’s first flagship store on Pak Sha Road in Causeway Bay, a destination bringing together premium cameras, coffee, lifestyle products and artworks in the city. Designed by renowned design studio LAAB Architects, through the integration of Hong Kong’s cultural characteristics and photographic elements, the flagship provides a new and extraordinary photographic art experience for Leica customers and photographers. The art gallery regularly exhibits works of famous international and local photographers, allowing people to enjoy shopping and a variety of fun activities. 

About Leica Camera

Leica Camera AG is an internationally operating premium manufacturer of cameras and sport optics products. The legendary status of the Leica brand (from Leitz Camera) is founded on a long tradition of excellence in the construction of lenses. Combined with innovative technologies, Leica products continue to guarantee better pictures in all situations in the worlds of visualization and perception to this day. Leica Camera AG has its headquarters in Wetzlar, in the state of Hesse in Germany, and a second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. The company is internationally represented by its branch offices in Australia, China, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA. New and innovative products have been the driving force behind the company’s positive development in recent years.

For more information: please visit: Leica Camera