The Gucci of Furniture Design and How it Never Happened

The year was 1984. The month was June, and Chicago’s Merchandise Mart was the site for NeoCon 16. Then and there was when my employer, Kimball International, introduced an executive furniture collection called Firenze, designed for the Artec division by Paolo Gucci.

In Firenze’s 1984 press kit, I wrote that Artec and Paolo Gucci gave “substance and direction to a brave new concept” in executive furniture. We accomplished that objective. What happened to end it was outside our influence.

Delving into Firenze’s story meant recruiting help from administration, development, marketing, and sales perspectives. Thankfully, I found colleagues willing to share their insights. I served on the Firenze PR team as the publicity and media liaison, often working in New York City.

In the 1980s, Kimball International wanted their Office Furniture Division (OFD) to compete across all wood casegoods segments. With the mid-market and value-market covered, the OFD acquired Group Artec and its office system that emphasized wood detailing.

After dropping ‘Group’ from the name, OFD leadership began transforming Artec into a high-end contender. Additions of up-market designs followed.

Perhaps Paolo Gucci would design for Artec the equivalent in office furniture to what made Gucci an iconic fashion house. What embellished his background for our needs was discovering that Paolo’s work at Gucci included designing furniture for their shops and offices.

Gucci’s star power appealed to Office Furniture Division leadership at Kimball International. From my friend in sales administration: “It was about Kimball International trying to connect with the finest names possible,” he said. “Creating the Gucci association compares with the Kimball Piano Division’s approach to Bösendorfer.”

The company remade Kimball into the world’s best-selling piano brand after acquiring it in 1959, but top artists remained unimpressed. So, in 1966, the company acquired Bösendorfer, the renowned Austrian piano maker and a favorite among virtuosos, to boost the status of the Kimball Piano Division. It is easy to imagine how OFD leadership envisioned Paolo Gucci accomplishing the same for Artec.

Paolo’s life experience informed his most significant contribution to Firenze, as appraised by a colleague who led the marketing effort. “I’ve always thought the idea was using Paolo’s concepts and knowledge of exotic materials in a very high-end collection for the executive suite,” he said.

Secrecy enveloped the project, with Paolo traveling to Artec’s Indiana headquarters as Paul Gelder. The subterfuge succeeded because few in the U.S. knew members of the Gucci family by sight.

All my colleagues agree that the Paolo Gucci we met was a dignified, soft-spoken gentleman steeped in Florentine style. Some attended a Kimball dinner in Chicago with Paolo and his wife Jenny, a cheery British socialite. A colleague said, “They both put everyone at ease, were most gracious, and didn’t take themselves so seriously.”

My colleague said of other meetings with Paolo, “He never conducted himself as anything but a gentleman, never giving us any of that nitwit persona as portrayed in the movie.” My friend refers to Ridley Scott’s 2021 film, “House of Gucci.”

Writing in Air Mail, Tom Ford observed that Paolo could be eccentric, but “his overall demeanor was not like the crazed and seemingly mentally challenged” man in the film. Mr. Ford was creative director at Gucci for ten years, starting in 1994.

Artec’s association came at an opportune time for Paolo. He had been out at Gucci since 1980. Oddly, court filings from the firm revealed ways Paolo’s work contributed to Gucci’s success, contradicting family statements about his poor performance.

Paolo was courting work under his name in 1983 and possibly earlier. In 1984 Maurizio Gucci, the firm’s president and Paolo’s cousin, suggested forming a design partnership apart from the family business. Maurizio’s offer of a venture with Paolo as chief designer sounded genuine but wasn’t.

Reality hit Paolo in what became the last of the tedious meetings with his cousin’s lawyers. He tossed the proposals aside and started his design business.

We established Paolo as the ideal designer for Artec, one well-matched to what our research identified as the celebrity CEO. These corporate leaders desired surroundings that reflected their stature, preferences, and working styles.

Field research with Firenze prototypes and materials samples suggested that Paolo and the design team nailed it. Focus groups described Firenze as a “well-thought-out product that’s right for the times,” adding “the attention to detail is appealing.”

As for relevance to CEOs, they said, “Gucci made choices for the leader, not the follower.” Much of the Kimball/Artec showroom presented fully tricked-out Firenze vignettes, embellished with marble, granite, and veneer inlays, with detailing in leather, suede, and high-gloss polyurethane colors.

Under the ultimate quality control, production orders would be bench-built at Artec’s factory. One of my colleagues in development remembers seeing beautiful renderings of upcoming Firenze casegoods, seating, and accessories. Then an unexpected turn halted the entire program.

Lawyers acting for Gucci Shops dumped letters on Paolo’s clients demanding they “cease and desist” activities or face trademark infringement litigation. The letters enjoined parties from discussing or disclosing information about projects, processes, or results involving the Gucci name.

My colleague recalled that “the mood around Firenze suddenly changed.” There were hushed conversations and tempers on edge. Next, he said, “Everything went dark.” That was in 1986. “We had to cut ties with Paolo,” said a colleague involved in sales administration. “We weren’t allowed to use the Gucci name because Paolo didn’t have rights to it.” Both colleagues agreed that losing the use of the Gucci name marked the beginning of the end for Firenze. In a 1988 court ruling, Paolo received a partial victory on name usage. It came too late for Firenze.

Kimball International leadership regrouped and focused Artec on an enhanced version of its panel system that launched as a solid success in 1988. Kimball Office Furniture Co. added design-driven casegoods, and National, the OFD’s value-priced offering, refined its look and product range.

Nevertheless, Firenze remains a prominent memory of my seven years at Kimball International.

My heartfelt appreciation to those who lived the Firenze experience and took the time to share their memories. —Stephen Witte, stephenmwitte@gmail.com.