The Gamberini Backpack: a small architecture between street art and futurism

The Gamberini Backpack wasn't made to sit in a window: it was made to move with you. I designed it in 2016.

The inspiration: street art in the Eighties

I looked at the cuts of Eighties street art, the culture that taught the world that any surface can become communication: a wall, an underground carriage, the back of a woman crossing the city.

The silhouette of the backpack is the neutral ground. At its centre, the oval frame holds the cameo the way a wall holds a mural: it catches the eye, it changes when you change it, and in ten seconds the wall is a different one.

The futurist side

There is a second influence, and it comes from further back: futurism. Balla and Boccioni turned lines into trajectories and volumes into energy. I wanted the backpack to follow the body without stiffening it — pure dynamism, as they called it.

Every curve, every tension in the hammered leather lets the movement through.

A shape to live in

I wasn't looking for a bag to look at: I was looking for a small architecture to live in every day. The leather wraps and protects, and the cameo at the centre is the mark you carry through the crowd.

The Gamberini Backpack holds strength and lightness together. It's my tribute to Bologna, and to you who cross it.