Galib Gassanoff

Galib Gassanoff is the founder and creative director of Institution, an independent Milan-based ready-to-wear label focused on preserving craftsmanship from Azerbaijan.

Born in 1994 to an Azerbaijani family, Gassanoff was raised in Borchaly on the outskirts of Tbilisi, Georgia. He moved to Milan at 18 to study fashion design. Gassanoff founded Institution in 2024, combining traditional handweaving techniques with contemporary design and Italian sartorial know-how, working with natural fibres such as silk, cotton, wool and leather.

Institution was awarded CNMI Fashion Trust Awards in 2025 and 2026 and was a finalist for the LVMH Prize in 2026.

Previously, Gassanoff co-founded Milan-based ready-to-wear brand Act N°1, based on an aesthetic rooted in multicultural storytelling and tailoring. In 2017, Act N°1 won the Who Is On Next? competition organised by Altaroma and Vogue Italia. In 2019, the label was awarded a grant from the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Fashion Trust.