An article by the extraordinary textile designer, artist and textile culture historian, Graziella Guidotti, is put into my hands, subtitled: “Since ancient times, spinning and weaving have offered humankind protection and a way to represent themselves.” That is, two primary needs of humankind that are also extremely current. Her multidisciplinary talents extend to articles of this nature, exploring the interweaving of life and fabric and the infinite nature of our relationship to textiles.
I met Graziella at the inauguration of her exhibition Dentro il verziere at Lottozero. I stopped to watch the video interview and was immediately captured by the concepts she expressed, almost metaphorical for life. Inspired, together with a friend who is passionate about textiles, I went to visit her in her historic laboratory in viale Petrarca, a space brimming with looms, fabrics, books, tools and notebooks, almost as if composing a personal wunderkammer of weaving. “I am an expert in fabric structures” is how she defined herself and her work.
Graziella is 88 years old, and despite having studied weaving for 70 years, she tells me that she is “always intrigued by new weaves.” “Every time I study a weave, when I get to the end and think I have basically finished, a thousand other questions and challenges arise.” And perhaps this is the secret formula for her mental freshness and vivacity of vision: the continuous regeneration of her research.
She continues by telling me, “Now, I’m finishing a beautiful research on color, on how it is generated in the structure of the fabric, and from this, a new research has already emerged. I’m working to understand how to create complex designs with only 4 heddles (instead of 8, to favour the industry). I try to create fabrics with a very different appearances while using the same warp (vertical threads of the loom).” Graziella speaks to me with enthusiasm and shows me woven blankets that are the results of her experiments. She’s engaged in a continuous effort of re-evaluation, of what she knows and what she has not yet experienced.
Graziella, together with her daughter, welcomes and teaches weaving. “To those who come here to learn about weaving, I think I can give answers to everything.” And they come from all over the world. I ask her how long it takes to learn about weaving: “If you come to understand the weaves, it’s infinite; it never ends.” It’s as I thought: understanding the interweaving of threads is a metaphor for life.
The Dentro il verziere (Inside the Orchard) exhibition focuses on a series of precious brocades hand-woven by Graziella Guidotti over a 10-year period that tell the story of the Lady of Vergy, the subject of a 13th-century French chivalric poem that was later translated into Florentine rhymes in La Dama del verziere. On display at Lottozero, via Arno 10, Prato, until February 28 when, at 18.30, there will be the finissage and an artist talk by Graziella. Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm, Sat-Sun by appointment.
