From the runway at Polimoda, the prestigious arts school in Florence, to a high-profile collaboration with Jovana Benoît, Haitian designer Gianni Gonzales is making a name for himself among the most promising new faces in luxury accessory design, blending traditional craftsmanship with a contemporary vision.

Raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Gianni Gonzales discovered his passion for fashion as a teenager, developing an early obsession with shoes—a passion that would later define his entire creative path. At 19, he made a bold and decisive move to settle in Italy, where he enrolled at Polimoda, one of the world’s most prestigious fashion schools. It is, in fact, the only one with a fully equipped lab dedicated to crafting leather accessories such as shoes and handbags.