Ex-Gucci designer Sabato De Sarno: ‘I’m not interested in hype. I’m interested in how things are made’

Milan (CNN) — If Sabato De Sarno were to distill the past year into a single idea, the gift of time might be it. After a short but widely scrutinized tenure as creative director at Gucci — where his restrained aesthetic struggled to gain commercial traction during a broader downturn in the luxury sector — he has been moving across the worlds of design and art with new projects at a more deliberate pace. Perhaps it’s his way of gently pushing back against the fashion industry’s tendency to reduce careers to their most recent headline.

“I was there 19 months,” he said of Gucci, “but I’ve worked in fashion for 23 years.”

His departure, announced by the house in February 2025, came abruptly, and a surprise to many. But since leaving Gucci, he’s kept busy, from partnering up with a Milan-based initiative during Pride Month to present the film “Il Capitone” by Neapolitan director Camilla Salvatore, to creating “Napoli Infinita,” a book celebrating his hometown, Naples, through the works of more than 35 contemporary artists.

Now, during Milan Design Week, he is curating “INSIEME,” an exhibition bringing together twelve Italian artisanal companies, from glassmakers and ceramicists to weavers and stonecutters, to make visible what usually goes unseen: the process of making things.

As De Sarno puts it: “I kept thinking about how, when you go to an exhibition or a fair, what you usually see are finished objects. What interested me with ‘INSIEME’ was turning the attention on everything that comes before that, everything that leads up to the final piece: the mistakes, the decisions, the timing, and those moments when you have to choose a direction and can’t go back.”

“More broadly, it’s something that applies to fashion, too,” he added. “Today, everything revolves around the product, while what goes into it is often overlooked. We’re living in a moment dominated by images, where speed seems to matter more than anything else. But I’m not interested in hype. I’m interested in how things are made.”

Set within the former changing rooms of Piscina Cozzi, a historic indoor public swimming pool in Milan, “INSIEME” — meaning “together” in Italian — aims to do just that. Participants range from storied names such as Venini, Rubelli and Henraux to lesser-known ventures like Bottega Vazzoler and Artieri 1895, alongside Bonacina, Fornace Brioni, Glas Italia, De Castelli, Solimene, Fratelli Levaggi and Amini.

Among those who helped shape the curation were design duo Tipstudio, which oversaw the exhibition design; French artist JR, who contributed a site-specific installation magnifying the artisans’ faces across the building’s façade; and Vanity Fair Italia, which produced the show.

The exhibition moves through a sequence of narrow corridors and intimate chambers, where surfaces are partially veiled. In one hallway, Henraux presents three slabs of unfinished marble. Left deliberately unworked, the focus is shifted away from the final object and toward the material itself. Elsewhere, Solimene juxtaposes an original Sirena made of ceramic, sourced from its archive in Vietri sul Mare, Salerno, with a contemporary version created for the exhibition. Presented side by side, the two reveal subtle differences in form and execution, tracing how a single idea can evolve over time.

The result is a show that places people, rather than products, at its center.

“I like to pay attention, to spend time with things and others, to go deeper. It’s always been both the starting point and, in a way, the end point of everything I do,” said De Sarno. “Even when I was at Gucci, that didn’t change. From the outside, everything may seem fast, but for me it never really was.”

It’s an approach that may seem at odds with the fashion industry, where he also worked for other major Italian luxury houses, including Valentino, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana. But fashion often thrives on snap judgements, fleeting trends and rapid consumption. “If everything is reduced to a quick opinion – ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – it loses meaning,” he said. “I want to build, to shift perception. There’s a difference between something that lasts 24 hours and something that lasts longer. I’m interested in the latter.”

With more room to breathe, De Sarno has begun to reassess his own instincts, to examine what genuinely excites him, and why. Even his relationship to art has shifted. “I’ve always been passionate about it,” he said, “but I realized that many of my choices were aesthetic. Now I have the time to study. When I go to an exhibition, I don’t just spend 20 minutes and leave. I stay.”

He also remains a devout lover of fashion. “I still feel stimulated by it,” he said. “Having the opportunity to step back allows you to observe more closely. I believe fashion is still important and powerful, and I would like to continue working in it. But for me, people matter. Who you work with, and who you have around you, is important.”

Reflecting on recent history, De Sarno has no regrets. “I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done,” he said. “I’ve met incredible people, and I believe in the importance of being seen.”

On his exit from Gucci, he said, “I understand why people ask,” but he’s started to grow weary of the subject defining him. “It was an important project. But it was one chapter.” And he would make the same decisions if given a chance to turn back time, he said. “If I am who I am today, it’s because of those choices.”

Asked what comes next, De Sarno said: “I see myself simply as Sabato. Someone with different interests, creating conversations with people who are experts in their fields. I’m not an expert in art or design. What I’ve enjoyed is entering into those conversations and letting projects emerge from them. I don’t really feel the need to define it with a title.”

He’s already planning an upcoming exhibition for June, with the photographer Ambrosia Fortuna, exploring the lives of trans people and documenting their transition journeys.

In De Sarno’s view, the past year has been a rare opportunity to recalibrate. “I’m a positive person,” he said. “In life, what can seem like a detour often opens more interesting doors and leads to more interesting paths. For me, it’s been beautiful.”

“INSIEME” is on show during Milan Design Week until April 26.

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