Invicta Vlogs
2017 Fashion Design Trip to Italy - Blog 5
On day five the group travelled by coach to Como. The first stop was the luxury fabric and award winning manufacturer, Canepa, still a family owned business. After watching a video about the company and their award winning processes for sustainable production one of the production staff took the group for a tour of the high quality automated jacquard weaving production carried out on that site. This was followed by a tour of the vast archives of designs where companies such as Prada and Dolce and Gabbana visit to select new designs for inclusion in new collections. Both the curator and conservationist spoke to the students about their work. The company employ over 200 digital designers and the group visited the design room to see the original artwork painted out and then the digital modifications carried out to develop the designs for print production. The visit enabled students to put much of their subject theory into practice.
The group then went into the centre of Como to enjoy the streets, the cathedral and excellent ice cream!
After a walk around the side of the lake the students visited the Ratti Fondazione set in a beautiful villa still owned by the Ratti family. An outstanding archive collected by Mr Ratti a very important Italian Textile manufacturer who had collected fabrics dating from the very earliest Coptic Textiles. The Curator Francina Chiara took the students through a ‘Made in Italy’ tour of textiles from the 15th Century Renaissance Italy and finishing with work by the ‘Prince of Prints’, Emilio Pucci. After a short time enjoying the view of lake Como from the villa the students returned to the coach for a return to Busto and a farewell Pizza party.
