The Cloisters of San Simpliciano, constructed between the 15th and 17th centuries, are peaceful, meditative spaces in the heart of Milan, with remnants of frescoes adorning the arches along the colonnades in the smaller of the two and a formal Italianate garden in the larger. From April 8 to 13, they are joined by “Gucci | Bamboo Encounters,” an exhibition envisioned by the fashion brand and curated and designed by interdisciplinary agency 2050+ and its founder, architect Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, that includes installations, furniture, and objects inspired by bamboo, a material that has played a significant role in the company’s history and also speaks to contemporary issues around what and how designers create today.

But first: Why bamboo?

In 1947, Gucci began making handbags with bamboo handles and created an instant It bag. As the story goes, founder Guccio Gucci’s son was known for his bamboo walking sticks. At the time, leather was scarce because of WWII and he realized that Gucci might be able to use bamboo as a substitute. The fashion house’s artisans began experimenting with the material—which is extremely lightweight, strong, and pliable—and eventually created handles out of them by gently bending the stalks with fire and then applying many coats of lacquer. The design was a success. Celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, and Jackie Kennedy wore the bamboo-adorned bag in its early years and it continued to appeal to stylish, sophisticated people like Princess Diana and, more recently, Beyoncé and Harry Styles.

While handbags are the most famous of Gucci’s designs to incorporate bamboo, the fashion house also made shoes, canes, umbrellas, plates, forks, and even pens out of the grass. “Throughout time, bamboo became a code within the brand,” Laparelli tells AD. “It’s a connective thread.” After combing through Gucci’s archives, Laparelli became fascinated by all of the ways that creative directors at the company used the material, like Tom Ford molding bamboo to create a metal chain for a handbag he designed and the domestic objects the brand produced in the 1970s. These explorations became the foundation for “Bamboo: Decoding an Icon,” an exhibition Gucci and Laparelli are also staging in Shanghai through April 20.

For Milan Design Week, Gucci and Laparelli wanted to continue investigating bamboo, as what the architect saw in Guccio Gucci’s initial interest in the material—as a possible substitute for a resource that was no longer as readily available—was a very contemporary way of approaching design. Today, designers might not be contending with scarcity as a result of wartime rationing, but there are a host of other issues that are challenging the way that they make things, from sustainability to ethical manufacturing and beyond. The same properties that made bamboo interesting to Gucci in 1947 remain appealing and full of potential for exploration today.

“The practice of designing the 21st century is not just about designing objects; it’s about investigating materials, supply chains, narratives, and histories,” Laparelli says. “It’s not really about the outputs per se, it’s about the process.”

With that in mind, Laparelli invited seven designers and studios who are known for exploratory and research-based practices to create something using bamboo. Each of them brought something from their own personal history and how they approach design to the brief.

To wit: The Swedish Chilean artist Anton Alvarez looked to the streams and waterways that are found in bamboo forests and created an abstract bronze fountain, made from an extruded mold. Dima Srouji, a Palestinian architect and visual artist, collected anonymously made bamboo baskets she found in markets around the world—everything from baskets meant to hold flowers, eggs, or catch fish—which she then adorned with glass sculptures produced by artisans in the West Bank. Sisan Lee, an artist based in Seoul, used bamboo to mold embellishments on a series of cast aluminum chairs, tables, and shelves, which nod to how Korean aesthetics often reflect a process of subtraction rather than addition. Meanwhile, Kite Club, a Dutch design, produced a series of expressive, playful kites that demonstrate how lightweight the material is. When the breeze flows through the cloisters, the kites float, showing off their gravity-defying nature. Other bamboo-influenced objects on display include a neon light sculpture by The Back Studio, resin furnishings by Laurids Gallée, and textile works by Nathalie du Pasquier.

In addition to the installations, Gucci is also hosting conversations throughout the week between the makers. As fascinating as the objects are, the concepts and research behind them are more interesting to Laparelli. “To me, it’s not even important to say this project is beautiful or not,” he says. “It’s what it stands for: It’s participating in the discussion of what the design practice is, or can become, today.”