stumbled upon, or into rather, a set of circumstances allowing for a mutually excited introduction, in milan of all places.
an interdisciplinary opportunity, courtesy of attending a university with likeminded classmates at sciarc(southern california institute of architecture).
keyan and i host a dinner at his for lowertown during their los angeles stay on tour in 2024. while dining and vlogging on our macbooks, reed stumbles in (keyan and reed lived together at the time). a bit frazzled, we offer him to join our festivities, but he declines, grabs a beer, and scurries out. the sciarc students had finished their architecture finals that evening, so i presume he must have been busy with something of the sorts.
i am later told of reed’s debaucherous evening, drinking and celebrating with ari, chob, and luigi, founder of architecture practice armature globale and creative director for gr-10k.
luigi alberto cippini, a name passed around long before i knew anything about him. an enigma simultaneously admired and joked about with reed because of his unabashedly italian artist mystique, incomparably abstract bespoke taste, and uncompromising expression. visuals that could be dismissed by some as brutal, crude, bizarre, or unsettling invoke great joy and interest from us, due to his curated touch. there was a lecture of his at sciarc, that i unfortunately did not attend, but keyan did— he tells me that “it was more of a performance than a presentation, with several unacknowledged 2 second video snippets on slides with obscured imagery and harsh noise,” and other shenanigans of the sort.
we become acquainted via the internet and plan to meet at his studio in milan during our 2025 european tour.
(see: ette issue 003 for our adventures there.)
luigi and his intern, fiorella, walk us to his best friend’s clothing brand’s headquarters, in which we meet andrea and anna, completing the trio behind gr-10k. we are introduced to a studio working scrupulously, steeped in its idiosyncratic aesthetics, tastes that we admire and identify with— we play dress up and spend several hours conversing and discussing ideas for collaboration in the future.
a meeting almost a year and a half ago has since evolved into our first foray into fashion.
several months were spent brainstorming, ideating, messaging in a whatsapp groupchat, and sharing pdf presentations via video chat with poor wifi connection and drastic time zone differences.
anna was presented to us as the “unfuckwithable” boss. she comes from a background in manufacturing military and police clothing. her stoic, efficient, and pragmatic demeanor establishes the basis for what ideas are possible: how to progress the operation, use technical materials, and implement unorthodox fabrication methods. andrea would appear alongside her on our calls, eager and effervescent, smiling, spewing his winsome ideas, and proposing peculiar phenomena that were remarkably aligned with our sensibilities. everything he touches ends up being “cool”. this sense of kinship is rare for us.
we started ette so we can create objects focused on materiality, quality, forms, and silhouettes akin to what we seek in our own lives, with the intent to share that with others.
ette x gr-10k, a limited run of pieces refining precedents, with an emphasis on small gestures and details. designed for durability and utility; to be paired with anything.
releases online via ette.design and gr10k.com september 28th.