What is Golden Goose’s Haus of Dreamers? The Italian luxury streetwear brand kicked off the 60th Venice Biennale by opening its ambitious art and culture space, aiming to inspire the next generation

May 16 , 2024

Golden Goose is known for its sneakers ... and the fashion brand recently unveiled its impressive Haus of Dreamers space. Photo: Handout

Fashion

Founded in 2000 before the casual streetwear and sneaker trends truly took off in the 2010s, fashion brand Golden Goose is known for its signature ‘imperfect’ shoes, craftsmanship – and imagination

After 6 long years, Golden Goose finally unveiled its Haus of Dreamers in Marghera, featuring an archive of over 50,000 shoes, including its collaboration with the late Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton

Venice has long been a place for dreamers. La Serenissima, or the most serene, as the Venetian Republic is often called, is considered a place filled with a magical sense of possibility. It was within this dream world, in the town of Marghera, that Italian high fashion trainer and athleisure brand Golden Goose was born in 2000.

Boats along the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, in March. Photo: Bloomberg

The meticulously handcrafted shoes launched at the perfect time, just before the casual streetwear and trainers trends took over the world in the 2010s. Other luxury brands quickly tried to make their way into the market, but Golden Goose had already filled the niche. In the years before street style became big, the ready-to-wear brand became famous for its iconic, made-in-Italy trainers whose bold trademark look includes an embossed star and a distressed, imperfect finish. The shoes are also synonymous with the idea of dreaming – the Golden Goose brand as a whole is built on creating “a community of dreamers who believe in the power of togetherness”, according to the brand.

Golden Goose just unveiled its Haus of Dreamers in Marghera. Photo: Handout

It was in Marghera that founders, husband and wife duo Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo, established the brand over two decades ago. It was also in the industrial port town that Golden Goose just launched Haus of Dreamers, a sprawling 54,000-sq-ft physical and digital – or “phygital” – cultural space. It exemplifies the brand’s heritage and values: the emphasis on craftsmanship, the belief in free-flowing creativity and the idea, as embodied by its renown worn-looked trainers, that there is impeccable beauty in imperfection.

On April 19, Haus’ launch kicked off the 60th Venice Biennale – and Haus Week – with a star-studded event. It was immediately followed by two days of public workshops and performances.

Haus aims to unite creatives from various disciplines and backgrounds, according to the brand, while emphasising the Golden Goose DNA. The complex encompasses the brand’s core values of culture, craftsmanship and art through an academy, an archive, a library, an auditorium and an exhibition area called the Hangar.

One of the spaces inside Haus of Dreamers. Photo: Handout

The new home seeks to become, as the brand’s opening statement called it, “a global cultural platform” that serves Golden Goose’s growing global community of dreamers.

“We are providing a new home for the brand’s community of dreamers, uniting creatives of multiple disciplines and backgrounds,” said Silvio Campara, chief executive officer of Golden Goose during the opening.

Egyptian artist Youssef Nabil with Golden Goose CEO Silvio Campara. Photo: Handout