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Andrea Grossi

‘Welcome to DeusLand’

The project ‘Welcome to DeusLand' is a collection that talks about a future society and the future of human being. Andrea’s excitement to work with leather is expressed in his personal desire to become a conservator of Tuscanian leather tradition from the perspective of future innovation mixed with the heritage of leather making.

Growing up in Tuscany, Andrea feels passionate about renewing the culture of leather and craftsmanship. Taking part in the prestigious Hyeres festival, Andrea presented the extended version of his graduation collection ‘Welcome to Deusland’, bridging craftsmanship of denim and leather.

“I tried to combine leather technology and craftsmanship, combined with laser cutting, embossing and bonding to create modern and ground-breaking manipulation. I wanted to work with ECCO Leather because of their incredibly innovative approach to leather. This state of mind does not exist in Tuscany.”

Andrea’s collection showcases vegetable tanned leather in combination with sustainably aged denim, utilized through a technique called Wake wash. Working with visionary companies like ISKO and Tonello allowed Andrea to further explore environmentally responsible treatments. Wake is 100% sustainable using only organic and fully compostable raw materials. Applying denim treatments to vegetable tanned leather created a slightly shrunken look and subtle tan, without influencing the leather’s suppleness, entering the leather industry into the technical world of denim.

For Andrea, creating this look underlines the importance of taking responsibility as a young designer to work green and sustainably. He created his collection utilizing the entire amount of leather provided, using every scrap of leather. No waste and multi-purpose design supporting both the quality and functionality of product.

“To innovate in a market of leather goods, you need to make a good design and holistically design all components of a product to become really sustainable. I wanted to work with ECCO Leather for their responsible ways of working and transparency as a leather innovator. The development of DriTan™ technology shows their future-forward approach to improve tanning processes. The need to break with the traditional way of developing and using leather is not a choice anymore but necessary.”

The concept behind ‘Welcome to Deusland’ is based on the creation of a character from Andrea’s childhood. Fascinated by video games and manga, trying to recreate the illusion of a perfect manga-like body and simulating this fake virtual perfect human being.

“Through my artwork I notice and describe the “Occident’s Chaos” with parallelism between Nazism and church, ideologies that have led the populations for a long time in a wrong way. What is our ideology today?”

Applying several layered techniques, the combined application of artworks was achieved through leather embossing, lasering and engraving with a 3D printer in a combination with digital print. The heritage effect of lasering and aged leather in combination with the high-tech appeal of digital printing created a leather garment with a strong attitude. Garments can function as shields with means of expression like a manga character.

Through the engraving process, the leather appeal changed to a subtle ashed look, adding to the illusion of a real body tattoo. The designed artworks are a reproduction of Andrea’s actual tattoo’s which hints to his desire to really become this ideal man and the closeness of possibility created.

Two pairs of gloves, created in partnership with Causse [Chanel] complete his collection of futuristic silhouettes, bringing together traditional craftsmanship and leather innovation.

Andrea Grossi

Andrea Grossi

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