Saint Laurent’s CEO Francesca Bellettini, who is also Kering’s deputy managing director in charge of brand expansion, attended the opening ceremony on Friday December 15, confirming the workshop’s crucial role for the label. “Bringing together the development of both accessories and leather goods, the atelier will be an environment for sharing expertise, generating ideas and encouraging experimentation,” said Bellettini. “The atelier will work exclusively on the most specialised items and complex projects, those requiring the highest level of technical expertise,” the label indicated in a press release, adding that the workshop will be home to “Saint Laurent’s many different R&D projects,” paying special attention to “materials and components innovation.” The site also hosts a school that will train new generations of artisans, and where the label will hold special courses for its leather goods specialists.

Saint Laurent said the new workshop is “a centre of excellence for repairs and after-sale support. The atelier will provide product repair and refresh services for [Saint Laurent’s] European customers, while at the same time training the staff of its worldwide repair centres, in order to ensure quality and service consistency on a global scale.” Saint Laurent said it is planning to employ “over 500 artisans and specialist technicians” at the new facility. The bulk of the label’s leather goods output, nearly 95% of the total, will continue to be manufactured by other workshops and specialist contractors, chiefly based in Tuscany. Saint Laurent’s new atelier is housed in the Palazzo delle Finanze, a former public building that never became operational, having been left unfinished and abandoned. The reinforced concrete, bunker-like structure was built in the early 1990s, and was earmarked for the region’s fiscal administration. Now owned by Italy’s state-controlled investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), via its CDP Real Asset SGR, it is being entirely regenerated, for a total investment of over €30 million. In 2020, CDP announced that Saint Laurent had signed a contract to rent the renovated building, without specifying the costs nor the term of the lease.