05 Dec Sophisticated Italian textiles, harmonic union of tradition and innovation: we visited the Rubelli Group
Since the Venetian Biennale Arte has finished recently, we decided some weeks ago that we have a break and as a team-building event we also visit the labyrinth of the Venetian channels. On an early Thursday morning after waking up, without being fresh but being joyful and excited, we started our trip to Venice. After some hours of driving and consuming some nice cups of coffee we arrived at Venetian parking lot, from here we continued our journey by vaporetto to the closest stop from our accommodation. This short cruise on the water was an ideal opportunity to inhale the view and atmosphere of Venice which made us fully dematerialised to start the long weekend in the city. To acquire the place’s mood even more, we started walking towards our apartment on exciting cobblestone-covered streets while holding our suitcases, the bridges in every hundred metres gave the finishing touch to our way. After a fast refreshment we jumped into the vortex of the city on foot of course, collecting kilometres on our step-counters.
On the day of arrival we didn’t plan to visit the exhibition, since only some hours were left until the evening, but we like spending our time as productively as possible, so our guides had organised a pleasant afternoon programme for us. Our first visit lead to the wonderful showroom of a Venetian entrepreneur family of five generations, the Rubelli Group, who make, produce and sell textiles. The Ca’ Pisani Rubelli can be found not far from St. Mark’s Square. It is a very special building, as it has three functions: there is a museum which presents historical archives, a breathtaking showroom and the family also lives here. Amongst their products we can find mostly silk,brocade, damask, velvet and jacquard textiles but besides fabrics, stylish wallpapers and exclusive furniture are also on their range. We’ve been working with this company whose name became the synonym of luxury in the world of textiles for years, that is why this day they showed us their new capsule collections and we also had the opportunity to visit the interesting Historic Archives.
In this part of the museum they have 7000 textile documents from the end of the 15th century until the first half of the 20th century. The collection became this huge during the last century, we could examine early sketches and fabric preparation drawings besides which we could see such specialities as the hand painted weaving techniques. We were able to admire the valuable silk velvets made for the Royal Family at the beginning of the 20th century and also cooperations with famous artists like Gio Ponti or Vittorio Zecchin. While we were watching the exhibition we met a lot of new information, this is how we got to know that the little valley textiles they’re not only successful amongst the Royal Families but nowadays the film industry also likes working together with them. So the sharps could have met some unique collections in the Harry Potter, The Game of Thrones and the Marie Antoinette films. We can’t be surprised that this group is an irreplaceable source of new and creative ideas and collaborations.
This soft harmony between tradition and innovation can also be seen in the production processes, too, since the creation of high-quality textiles necessarily consists of the production. When we talk about the duality mentioned above, we mean, that in the weaving factory close to Lake Como we can find high technology, modern and innovative jacquard power looms, but also some restored looms from the 18th century. The brand new machines are able to create natural and synthetic threads (burnproof, in and outdoor fabrics). The old fashioned looms stand for the tradition of ancient textiles and are nowadays often required by customers-as handmade velvet is a real speciality in a home. The production has become various, getting closer to the contemporary style without giving up the themes which have made the Venetian textiles famous in the past centuries.
The Rubelli Company is always trying to create new and surprising textures during their collaborations, so they introduce capsule collections regularly when they cooperate with talented Italian artists or people who are strongly attached to Italy.
Stepping into the showroom we could admire Peter Marino’s brand new capsule collection under the title‘Second Firing’. This series is available in 10 colours and is created by three silk jacquards. “There’s a city which has a unique light because of the great amount of water”-said Marino whose inspiration was given by the sparkling of the dancing sunshine on the channels, joyful series of lively curves appear on his fabrics this remind us to the rough sea. Their colours are on the palettes of shiny creams, light pinks and icy blues inspired by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s painting. Marino, the president of the Fundation of Venetian Heritage, was the best choice to personalise Venice’s spirit. He introduces a new point of view by realising and using his abilities and knowledge, that’s why he is an innovative and worthy part of the Rubelli products.
An other capsule collection, which we could have admired at the exhibition in Milan, is the series of Luke Edward Hall entitled Return to Arcadia, in this collection Luke blooms jacquards and presses inspired by his garden at the gate of London and adds some of his passion to Greek mythology, art and history. The thirteen completely different fabrics are original, fresh and modern variations of traditional patterns to which the archives also gave inspiration-besides the designer’s garden. Luke was willing to create the classic imagination to an enchanting and playful world on behalf of an innovative and energetic collection. His planning started with hand-drawn sketches, the geometric patterns and lines were drawn by hand which were recreated digitally and multiplied on textiles and the final result became a brand new approach.
After the new things we had a break in an armchair covered by the textile called Pila 47, it is available in Rubelli Casa and was designed by Nava+Arosio Studio. The armchair requires a new way of sitting where textile is the main characteristic, it can be varied from the whole supply of the Rubelli, so it can be personalised to each customer and interior. For the first sight we might think, Pila 47 is structureless, but looking closer we can see its form is continuously changing: if you open it, it’s a clear geometric form, but it becomes a comfortable chair if you let its side down. The structure is a wooden seat with a strengthened wool-covered base, where wool gives hardness to the back and so lets it to ho back to the starting point.
It was hard to say goodbye to this curved, hugging armchair, but our day came to an end, so we set off for an evening walk in Venice. We enclosed the day on a terrace on Saint Marc’s square with live music and a nice glass of prosecco.
