Chieri-Firenze Knot
This year too, the Fondazione Chierese per il Tessile e per il Museo del Tessile is taking part in the “Archivissima” programme by presenting the “Nodo Chieri–Firenze” Project at the “Night of the Archives”, the result of the collaboration launched in 2021 with the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio.
On Friday 9 June, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, the Study Room of the Chieri Historical Archive (Via Giovanni Demaria 10, Chieri) will be open to the public for the viewing of a special design from the “Serra e Carli” collection and the velvet samples that reproduce its motif in textile form, thanks to the skilled work of the prestigious Florentine manufactory.
The event will be attended by Elena Baistrocchi, Director of the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio; Melanie Zefferino, President of the Fondazione Chierese per il Tessile e per il Museo del Tessile; Laura Vaschetti and Laura Davin, respectively Vice-President and Head of the Historical Archive; Marinella Bianco, archivist at Acta Progetti and collaborator with both Foundations; as well as Lisa Fontana, textile artist and teacher, Sara Cavaliere, young restorer of textile materials and artefacts, and Vincenzo Tedesco, Head of the Historical Archive of the City of Chieri.
A tempera design from the 20th-century “Serra e Carli” Chieri collection was studied at the historic Florentine manufactory in order to create its woven version in warp and weft. The “Nodo Chieri–Firenze” Project involved the development of the technical design for weaving the original motif on a Jacquard loom, punching, tying and mounting the cards, inserting the wires into the loom, and finally weaving and finishing. The result is a splendid cut velvet, produced in three colour variations – blue, red, and green.
«Coniugando le diverse tradizioni di due eccellenze manifatturiere, quella di Chieri più orientata al cotone, e quella della ricca Firenze, più focalizzata su lana e seta, si è completato il percorso creativo appena abbozzato in un disegno del XX secolo che era rimasto solo rappresentazione grafica di una “idea per stoffa” - spiega la Presidente Melanie Zefferino - La sua realizzazione contemporanea, oltre Chieri, infonde nuova linfa vitale all’Archivio Storico dell’ente fondato nel 1997 da Armando Brunetti (1934-2015) con l’intento di preservare la cultura del tessile per le generazioni a venire». Al contempo, l’iniziativa congiunta presentata ad “Archivissima”2023 è un arricchimento anche per la Fondazione fiorentina che deve la sua esistenza a Fidalma Lisio (1910-2001), la quale ha voluto salvaguardare e trasmettere l’Arte della Seta trasformando la Manifattura di Giuseppe Lisio in Fondazione nel 1971, e portandola nel III millennio.
The “knot” that links the Chieri Archive and the Florentine weaving tradition is the result of a collaboration that can be seen as a “journey” between two cities with a strong textile vocation, as well as between two realities that combine historical memory with contemporary development.
The “Nodo Chieri–Firenze” Project therefore fits perfectly within the thematic framework of Carnet de voyage of “Archivissima 2023”, where “the journey is exploration… a movement that would not exist without the account of what has been.” Thus, the patterns imagined in a design and woven on a loom have become “living signs, in which emotions resonate, without which everything would remain a silent mark.”
