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Fondazione Fashion Research Italy has secured in Bologna the textile design heritage of a well-known converter from Milan, widely contended for among many foreign buyers.
With 30,000 print patterns and over 5,000 volumes connected to creative research for fashion, it constitutes the most important corpus of the F.FRI archive and a precious testimony to the refined tradition of the Italian textile sector.
Fondazione Fashion Research Italy has secured in Bologna the textile design heritage of a well-known converter from Milan, widely contended for among many foreign buyers.
With 30,000 print patterns and over 5,000 volumes connected to creative research for fashion, it constitutes the most important corpus of the F.FRI archive and a precious testimony to the refined tradition of the Italian textile sector.
The consistency of our textile archive
Our online and physical textile archive collects:
16,000 textile designs on paper and 9,000 on fabric, created between the end of the 1970s and the mid-2000s by the most famous international graphic studios, including Giuseppe Spadacini, D.R., Farkas Ortensi, Nuova Idea and Studio Lanati;
5,000 antiques, including drawings, sample books, colour charts and clothing items, dating from the mid-19th to the 1930s, purchased for study and research mainly on the French antiques market;
2000 proof cards, precious testimonies of the activity of the textile printers, of which they contain precise annotations;
86 sample books, ancient and contemporary repertoires of drawings and print patterns with heterogeneous subjects;
204 colour variant books, which collect the print tests carried out to find the desired colour combinations;
106 engraving notebooks: a real window into the world of the converter from which all this precious material comes.
A journey into the world of textile design
Collected in over 40 years of studies on trends, the textile designs of the Renzo Brandone Fund are the result of the creative work of the most skilled Italian and international textile designers, carefully selected to satisfy the refined requests of fashion houses, in search of the perfect print pattern for the latest collection.
The creations, coming mainly from the textile design studios of Como, allow us to discover surprising graphic variations, the result of the lively encounter between visual and manufacturing traditions from all over the world. From tribal motifs to African kikoy, from patterns inspired by Indian saris from Rajasthan to traditional teardrop designs from Kashmir. But not only that, we pass through Chinese ikat and Japanese kasuri and again, among the inspirations of the artistic avant-gardes, up to Western Pop culture and the graphics of the Memphis group.
Conservation of textile designs
In order to ensure optimal protection and preservation throughout time, these textile designs are kept in two rooms specifically designated for paper and textiles, in which ministerial standards are rigorously applied, such as absence of light and controlled temperature and humidity.
The custom-made compactable shelving, in addition to antique materials, houses hand-drawn designs on fabric, hung side by side to encourage intuitive consultation. The original wooden drawers, once furniture of the converter from which the archive comes, continue to house the large textile drawings, while the rest of the possessions are placed in special aluminium drawers, capable of protecting the materials on paper from microorganisms and degradation phenomena.
A general attention to the conservative aspects to be balanced with the organizational needs of a living archive, consulted and moved daily by creatives and professionals in the sector who make it an authentically contemporary heritage.
Cataloguing and digitalization
The F.FRI archive has been the subject of an important digitalization campaign to make the extensive possessions available for immediate consultation by professionals.
51 macro-areas and 576 thematic subcategories guide the designer digitally through the history of textile design from the end of the 70s to today, allowing him to identify the subjects of greatest interest, to then be able to view them live with the assistance of our staff.
Those who, before requesting a consultation, would like a preview of the available materials can access our online textile archive for remote browsing.
The origins of the fund
This significant heritage bears the name of the previous owner, Renzo Brandone. Born in Milan in 1941 into a family of fabric makers, after his studies he followed his father by working in the Sisan converter company in Pontremoli. An experience that allowed his passion for printing and textile design to grow, deepened in contact with his partner at the time, the brilliant Gerolamo Etro, and culminated in his converter, Silkin, in 1978. An adventure at the service of large fashion houses searching for customized ideas for their collections which, in over 40 years of activity, has given life to this extraordinary collection.
Offered services
We offer consultation assistance service to guide our guests in exploring the different search methods of our catalogue software and allow them to identify the graphics, patterns and moods best suited to the creative project. Upon request, we can provide high resolution scans.
Access mode
The textile archive of the Fashion Research Italy Foundation is upon appointment as a place of study and research for the style offices of fashion and design companies, who will find reasons for updating and inspiration for their future style research.
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