Inside the glossiest factory in the world

Florence has the almost unnerving knack of being more beautiful, more stylish and more bewitching than you remember each time you visit. But while fantasy-land Florence can be discovered via walks along the Arno and visits to the Uffizi, the real reason it is such an extraordinary place to visit is its 500-year history as Italy's home of style and creativity. Milan may be the brain and brawn of the Italian fashion industry, but Florence is where designers go to dream.

Nowhere is that more clear than at the glossy, clever Gucci ArtLab. A 37,000sq m hub dedicated to creativity, craftsmanship and innovation, it is staffed by a workforce of almost 1,000 (many of whom are so physically perfect, I thought they were models rather than designers, cobblers and bag makers).

The beautiful shoes and luggage being created soon set me straight. ArtLab is like Santa's workshop for fashion lovers - a place where ideas for new Gucci products are born, and then turned into top-secret prototypes. Walking around the ateliers, you get a glimpse of the heel heights, bag shapes and wallet colours we'll all fall in love with in about 18 months' time.

Over the past century, we have seen the rise, fall and rise again of Gucci. Beloved of Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy and Sophia Loren in the 1960s and '70s, it then tumbled out of favour with the fashion crowd until a young Tom Ford was hired as creative director in 1994. The 21st century followed a similar pattern, with the brand becoming somewhat marginalised until Alessandro Michele became creative director in 2015 - his 1970s androgynous aesthetic catapulted it back into the spotlight, where it has stayed ever since, and today Gucci is worth a whopping £15 billion. Michele departed in November but the brand retains its force.

'ArtLab epitomises our desire to connect dots,' explains Gucci board member Antonella Centra. 'Its mission is to meld art and craftsmanship together - we want to nurture our designers so they can be as creative as possible.'

ArtLab is certainly the glossiest factory in the world. Even the exterior has been hand-painted, featuring work by artists who have collaborated with the house, including London-based portrait painter Unskilled Worker, digital artist Ignasi Monreal, illustrator Angelica Hicks and photo­grapher Coco Capitán.

Inside are two large recreation rooms where the glamorous workforce gathers for lunch, and to attend talks on the state of the fashion industry or digital innovation. One wall is covered in a display of Gucci's most famous products, as well as foosball tables, a long espresso bar and armchairs and sofas. It's what I imagine the Googleplex to be like but with fewer geeks and more flair.

The ArtLab was developed to help meet the demand for anything with the Gucci brand name - a demand that has skyrocketed in the past seven years. The house already had manufacturing hubs and design studios, but really needed somewhere that brought the creativity and the making together - and Florence, given the Gucci family's ties to the city, was the fitting choice.

Sadly there is no evidence that there were Guccis making silk purses for the Medici dynasty - but the family does claim to have been in the Tuscan city since 1410. Certainly the enterprising Guccio Gucci left Florence for London as a very young man at the turn of the century and got a job at the Savoy Hotel as a doorman. While humping suitcases up and down stairs, he learnt what high rollers look for in leather goods. On his return to Florence, he put that knowledge to good use, and by 1921, he had opened a shop on Via della Vigna Nuova selling luggage.

Walking around the ArtLab 100 years later, you see that same emphasis on touchable materials and individual creativity. The manufacturing floor is divided into shoes and bags. In the former, strips of colourful leather are laid out in rows, and visitors can watch the progression of a boot from sketch, to leather swatch, to half-finished design to immaculate end product. Along the way, the strength of its sole is tested by a robot leg that stamps it on the ground like a flamenco dancer.

In one small lab off the long white corridor in the bag section is a man who makes all the bamboo handles for the 1947 collection. He warms the wood until it is bendable and shapes it into an almost unbreakable arc, before darkening the handle with a flame, drying it and coating it in resin.

There is something wonderful about witnessing such individual skill in an era of mass manufacturing, but it is the more futuristic parts of the ArtLab that are truly astounding. A climate chamber tests trainers in sky-high and sub-zero temperatures. In one corner is a 3D printer capable of creating a perfect Gucci prototype in plastic. 'It can take anything from 20 minutes to several hours for it to make the hardware for Gucci accessories - but the degree of detail is incredible,' says our ArtLab tour guide.

ArtLab opened in 2018, but the press is being allowed inside only now. In the meantime, the boffins here have created innovative materials such as Demetra (a sustain­able leather-like vegan material used as a component in certain luggage lines), and collections such as Gucci Off The Grid, which uses recycled materials to make accessories. 

The brand's new eco-friendly packaging has also been developed by the same technicians. 'We are trying to make sure sustainability is embedded within all products,' says Centra. 'At the heart of ArtLab lie innovation and luxury craftsmanship, essential for the past, the present, and the future of Gucci. It is a place where tradition is preserved and passed on.'

Arguably, however, the most important work is being done at the Gucci Ecole de l'Amour. This is a programme for talented young designers, who are paid to work and learn at the Gucci ArtLab for six months, with the possibility of a permanent job at the end of their apprenticeship. It's both a recruiting ground and a way of ensuring that ancient and rare skills are handed down to a new generation. 

'For the first time in our industry's history, there is a shortage of young people who know how to craft a pair of shoes from leather,' says our guide. 'It's something we need to rescue because the whole Made in Italy industry is based on this work. We need to combine tradition and innovation for a specific purpose, because this industry is nothing without the people that will be driving it into the future.'

One of the young students shows me the prototype bag she has made, which looks as though it belongs in Selfridges or Harvey Nichols, but which is destined to live out its life at the ArtLab unless it is picked for a moment of catwalk glory. Another gives me a perfectly crafted leather key ring that finds its way back to London in my suitcase - and now makes me hanker for Florence each time I open my front door.