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  • Giuseppe Lisio was born in 1870 at Roccamontepiano in the Italian province of Chieti. After many years of experience in the silk-weaving sector, working for the “Luigi Osnago” company of Milan, he opened his first shop in Florence in 1906, backed by a workshop with a small number of handlooms.
    His intention was to ensure that one of the most illustrious sectors of Italian craftsmanship, a tradition with roots in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, continued to flourish.
    Paintings by the great Italian artists, works of decorative art, and above all surviving examples of woven silks of the past were the sources from which Giuseppe Lisio drew inspiration in developing the range of patterns and designs he used for the firm’s production.

    The Company quickly achieved tremendous success in Italy and abroad, its trademark a byword for fine craftsmanship and products of the highest quality.

    With the opening of a second shop in Rome, the move of the workshop to Milan and the opening of the Milan shop in 1924, the Manifattura LISIO continued to grow and the 1920s and ‘30s saw considerable expansion of the collection and the creation of new types of textile.
    In 1943 the bombardment of Milan caused serious damage to the building Lisio had commissioned as a home for himself and to house the company workshop; the four LISIO shops – in 1933 a retail outlet had also been opened in Paris – had to close; and on 16th April 1943 Giuseppe Lisio died at his home in Rapallo.

    In the general recovery of economic activity after the War, LISIO too started up again, re-opening shops and the workshop, first under the direction of a nephew, Teodoro Olivieri, and then of Giuseppe’s daughter Fidalma. Commissions revived and came from many different sectors, from the cinema and the theatre to period costumes and full dress ceremonial, from restoration to liturgical vestments and accessories and to a vast range of domestic furnishings such as wall-hangings, curtains, counterpanes and upholstery fabrics for chairs and armchairs.

    In 1971 Fidalma Lisio set up the Fondazione Arte della Seta LISIO with the intention, through its didactic, cultural and manufacturing activities, of perpetuating the ancient art of hand-weaving textiles in silk and precious metals.
    The end of the 1980s and the following decade marked an important turning-point for the LISIO Foundation
    – the period saw publication of the first issues of the house journal “Jacquard”, which brings together interdisciplinary contributions from historians of textiles – woven fabrics, costumes, lace, tapestries – news of experiences and experiments in secondary school and university environments and of textiles in the arts;
    – the didactic activity of the Foundation was enriched with a series of courses specifically designed to meet the needs of scholars, conservators and restorers;
    – important cooperative ventures with Fashion Houses were initiated, for which the Foundation’s experts created a number of absolutely original textiles, with experimentation and creativity providing the driving force of innovative research while at the same time carefully cultivating the craft’s roots in the tradition of hand-woven silks.


    Today:
    The Fondazione Arte della Seta LISIO is a cultural foundation, whose purpose is to preserve and to promulgate antique silk weaving techniques, in particular velvets and brocades. Some of the textiles designed and woven in the Foundation’s workshops take their inspiration from traditional designs, others are absolutely original. Weaving is carried out entirely by hand, using silk and gold and silver thread but also new materials developed with the aid of the most advanced technological research.

    The Foundation works only on order and offers to prospective clients a collection of classic textile designs.
    One can choose those most appropriate for each type of interior, from the antique to the contemporary. The colours are traditional; they have not diminished in appeal over the entire history of interior decoration.
    For a specific order it is possible to realize any motif. Given an original sample, the Foundation is capable of faithfully reproducing any designs and technique.

    If thus offers a valuable service to the world of conservation and restoration of historic environments.
    These complex antique techniques can give fascinating and unexpected results with modern colours and designs. Suggestions for such new creations can come from the clients themselves, inspired by their own taste. Only manual craftsmanship, of limited quantities, can offer the possibility of creating such unique and personalized textiles.

    The Fondazione LISIO also promotes knowledge of the art of weaving, both ancient and contemporary, through specialist courses and publications.
    Finally, the Foundation’s premises in the hills surrounding the historic city of Florence house a specialist Library, the Archives and a Collection of Ancient Textiles. Not far away are a number of mini-apartments that can accommodate course participants, scholars and others associated with the Foundation.


    THE MANUFACTORY

    All the looms are of wood, they are hand operated and use mechanisms and systems which have not been altered since the last century. These techniques give the fabrics a quality and aesthetic results which are not possible with modern industrial looms. The pile of the velvet is raised by hand with an iron rod, and then cut as the weaving proceeds with a sharp blade by the weaver. Only in this way is it possible to obtain velvets with refined designs.

    In brocades, each colour is introduced separately with little shuttles, each introduced in its turn during the weaving process. In this manner the fabric can remain light in weight. The greater the number of shuttles utilized to create the motif, the slower the work progresses; both velvets and brocades can only advance by a few centimetres a day. For such elaborate techniques, only the most precious of thread materials such as dyed silk, gold and silver, are employed.

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