Remembering Giorgio Armani’s Legacy in Design, Interiors and Hospitality

MILAN — When Giorgio Armani unfurled his first home collection, packed with soft streamlined designs and his trademark neutral palette 25 years ago in Milan, he said the philosophy behind it was simple. “There’s not a lot of difference between a piece of furniture and a piece of clothing: both have to feel good when you come into physical contact with them,” the designer, who died at age 91 on Thursday, said at the time.

While he wasn’t the first to enter into the home and design sphere — Ralph Lauren and Gianni Versace had tested the waters before him — his lifestyle vision rose forcefully on a global sphere and was over the years embraced by real estate and hospitality developers, culminating in 2010 with his first hotel covering eight floors within Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

That opening was quickly followed by the opening of the Armani Hotel Milan on Via Manzoni in 2011. In 2014, it was announced that he would brand a 60-story oceanfront condominium tower in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., designed by Argentinian architect César Pelli.

His participation in Milan Design Week here in the early 2000s and the formation of his interior design studio in 2004 contributed greatly to Milan’s reputation as a modern design capital and spurred the wider fashion industry’s participation in the home sector.

“We should always remember Giorgio Armani for the clarity of his vision and his quiet, everyday pursuit of excellence. His work embodied rigor and restraint, seeking forms built to endure. Behind those essential choices lay a rare blend of genius and discretion — a belief that style should never eclipse the individual. These principles remain a touchstone for our design community,” said Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile.Milano, the international design tradeshow.

Patricia Urquiola, the Milan-based Spanish architect and designer known for her work with world-renowned names like Cassina and luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Buccellati, said Armani’s death leaves a palpable void in the community and Milan as a whole.

“With Giorgio Armani, we lose not only a great maestro of fashion but a figure who embodied the spirit of Milan. His language of elegance [was] essential and timeless. His philosophy [was one] of harmony, restraint and authenticity. Milan was his stage and his mirror: rigorous, international, yet deeply human,” she told WWD.

Armani Casa marked its 25th anniversary this year and, in April, the brand unveiled a striking collection that spoke volumes about Armani’s admiration for the Far East — a recurring influence and inspiration over the years. The new lineup was more decorative than in previous iterations, bringing the amount of craftsmanship and detail to couture level.

Dubbed “Oriental Inks,” the collection was displayed during Milan Design Week at the sprawling Armani Casa store in the city, and was also displayed in the 15 shop windows.

In 2024, Armani opened his company’s new building at 760 Madison Avenue in New York, which was entirely redesigned to include residential units, the new Giorgio Armani and Armani/Casa boutiques, and an Armani/Ristorante, which opened in November.

Bendis Ronchetti Illulian, who together with his brother Davis runs the Milan-based carpet company Illulian, said that in the ’80s, their Himalayan-made rugs caught Armani’s eye. He later commissioned them for his own home and later for Armani Casa and numerous projects for his various residences. The firm worked closely with him to create unique pieces from the start.

“For Illulian, collaborating with Mr. Giorgio Armani has been both a privilege and a great fortune: not only a passionate client of our antique Chinese rugs, but above all one of the first to believe in our vision of contemporary and custom-made rugs.” 

Armani’s foray into the food and beverage world in 1998 served as a precursor to his interior design endeavors but greatly established his design vision. The group started with the opening of a restaurant in Paris, which served as the launching pad for the development for the design concepts of the Armani Ristorante and Caffé, Emporio Armani Caffé and Ristorante, and Nobu in Milan. Today, 20 locations are punctuated throughout the globe — from Milan to Tokyo and from Monaco to Dubai.

Over the years, he developed strong working relationships with some of the most prominent architects and interior designers in the world, like Peter Marino and Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas, who conceived the designer’s Manhattan and Tokyo boutiques, and Tadao Ando, who designed the Armani theater on Via Bergognone in 2001.

Doriana Fuksas said the duo’s friendship with Armani grew over the years, through numerous collaborations, creative exchanges and travels, where they “turned cities where we worked into laboratories of ideas and beauty.” They first met Armani in Hong Kong when he was 70 years old. “He was in the prime of his strength, beautifully tanned and observing us with keen attention and curiosity.” Armani, she said, was unique for his precision and razor-sharp decisiveness.

“Giorgio was a quick-minded man, exceptionally intelligent, with a rare quality: the ability to change his mind if someone proposed something interesting. Every gesture revealed an extraordinary attention to detail, a capacity to grasp what was yet to emerge, and to bring it to life through design and fashion.”