Slam Jam to Launch Archive Filled With Memorabilia
MEMORABILIA GALORE: Streetwear is by definition ingrained in subcultures and underground movements and Luca Benini, the founder of Slam Jam, is indisputably a custodian and a witness of that cultural scene and its style since the ‘80s.
The streetwear maven, who’s catapulted such brands as Stussy and Alpha Industries to Italian and European fame by establishing the Slam Jam company in 1989, is now opening up his personal archive for general access.
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The Archivio Slam Jam will combine a physical experience setting up a dedicated space at the company’s headquarters in Ferrara, Italy, and a digital iteration, a website gathering all the memorabilia and knickknacks Benini has collected over the years.
Curated by Nationhood, the multidisciplinary studio founded by Achille Filipponi and Matteo Milaneschi which offers curation and consulting on editorial design, magazine creation and digital projects, the archive will include objects spanning from old-school sneakers to vinyl records, magazines, clothes and artworks.
Over his 30-plus-year career Benini is said to have amassed around 30,000 objects, including 10,000 vinyl records, hinging on the countercultures and club scenes from ‘90s New York, London and Italy.
Launching on Thursday at archivio.slamjam.com the archive will debut with 100 pieces on show that are set to increase by monthly drops of about 50 pieces each. They will be displayed online as an infinite scroll combining a cinematic and marketplace-like aesthetic.
Last December, Slam Jam said it was debuting its private label brand called (Un)corporate Uniforms, centered on the concept of uniforms as a means to show one belongs to a precise cultural movement.
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