Santiago Barberi Gonzalez of Nancy Gonzalez Has Passed Away

Santiago Barberi Gonzalez, the president and creative director at Nancy Gonzalez, has passed away. According to WWD, the Gonzalez family confirmed his passing on Friday, but did not give further details. Barberi Gonzalez was the son of Nancy Gonzalez, who founded her namesake luxury handbag line, which has become known for its exotic skins, in Colombia. She began selling the bags in the U.S. in 1988 at Bergdorf Goodman. Shortly after, Barberi Gonzalez handled the reorder from Bergdof Goodman as a 22-year-old college student. In June, Barberi Gonzalez unveiled a 25-style range of exotic skin shoes he designed for the label in Italy, which launched in December.

In addition to being the face of the brand in the U.S., Barberi Gonzalez was also an avid art collector and brought on artists like Kaws Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Jim Hodges, Raqib Shaw, Dr Larka, Richard Phillips, Mickalene Thomas, Josephine Meckseper, and Will Cotton to make one-of-a-kind custom bags with the luxury label that were auctioned off at amfAR and raised over $300,000. His own art collection included some of these artists, like Lawrence Weiner. John McCracken and Louise Lawler can also be found in his collection. “Once I had a very sophisticated Swiss art dealer come to my house and she said to me, ‘If I didn’t know this was your house I would think it was owned by a wealthy Belgian woman,'” Barberi once told The Daily. “I said I’d take it as a compliment because they are very elegant.”

Update: Nancy Gonzalez sent out a letter to the industry this evening to express sadness over the loss of her son. The full letter below.

“Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that we reach out to you today about the passing of our beloved Santiago.

Santiago was a creative genius, he was a rare talent, with a great passion for his craft, his art and his family.

He was a great man with great humanity, generosity of spirit and kindness with a depth not often seen. He was one-of-a-kind.

Whilst it is tremendously sad, we want to take this opportunity to thank all of his friends, associates and clients on his journey and we will continue to honor him with the brand.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope you can join me in celebrating Santiago’s life and legacy today as we put him to final rest.

With my warmest personal regards,

Nancy Gonzalez”