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