Santiago Gonzalez, Connoisseur (Part II)
Zip-top Crocodile Briefcase
Santiago Barberi Gonzalez, president of Nancy Gonzalez and its men’s offshoot Santiago Gonzalez, opened up to NMdaily about his passion for art and the ways it inspires his work on the family business of luxurious, buffed-crocodile accessories. (He’s Nancy’s son.) His lifelong study of art informs his approach to product design, interior design and his choice of personal accessories.
What he carries: My European PR let me use this bag [Zip-top Crocodile Briefcase] two years ago and I never took it off. It’s the only bag I have… I love it, I take it everywhere. I use it like a tote, and I mistreat it, and I like it when it gets soft, it’s nicer as it ages. I put so much stuff in it, it’s usually packed. I brought a bunch of books to the office in it today.
Zip-Top Crocodile Toiletry Bag
Style Credo: I like permanent things… great places, great interiors, great furniture pieces, great pieces of art, they don’t expire, its just horrible things that expire they’re just not right, good things don’t need to expire, a great jacket doesn’t expire, great shoes don’t expire in quality or design, wonderful things just don’t expire.
Gonzalez' desktop
What’s on his desk: I have to make a (store in) Taiwan and finish a store in Harrods, then I have to open three other stores in Korea, and they all have to be different. I always have my color palette to remind me of what has to sit within these stores, so I don’t go to crazy with color. But this is the desk I use for inspiration and what books I’m looking at.
The reception room of the showroom in New York.
Assembling the reception room: I buy through my affection for pieces. I’m never decorating. It’s always about the piece… Whether something more historic like the Andre Arbus parchment daybed from the Forties, or the reworked, contemporary chairs from Martino Camper… This table by Nada Debbs and panels from contemporary artist Aaron Young… If it holds its own as a piece then it will belong. They have to have integrity. The object, like the bags in the collection, has to stand alone.
Invitations to art events
Art events dominate his social calendar and travel plans. Recently: I went to Anselm Kiefer’s studio in L.A. and Paris; and I saw the Robert Longo show at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris; and I saw the Jean Michel Othoniel show at the Pompidou; and the preview of the art deco auction that’s going to be at Christie’s in Tokyo; the Mona Hatoum show at White Cube… I love all art, not just contemporary, but I like contemporary art because I think it’s really good to buy what’s being produced while you’re alive. If you can meet the designers or the artist it’s particularly special. And since you’re buying it as it’s being produced, you have the chance of getting the best pieces.
Zip-top Crocodile Duffel
Shop Santiago Gonzalez.
All photos by Jessica Antola.
