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 The
Foundation was started in 1971 by Fidalma Lisio, the daughter
of Giuseppe Lisio, who on his death left her the most famous hand-made silk industry in Italy (photo). Giuseppe Lisio had begun work in 1906 hoping to
revive the climate of the traditional artist-artisan's workshop
and to restore the splendour of Italian renaissance weaving.
He was highly successful and between the first and second world
wars his manufacture was held in great esteem. He numbered some
of the most important courts of Europe among his clients together
with Gabriele D'Annunzio and Gio
Ponti.His cloth designs were inspired by Italian renaissance painting and by medieval iconography but were also taken from samples of the original materials which he collected. After Giuseppe Lisio's death the manufacture also started the industrial production of cloth of the highest quality. Fidalma wanted to separate the hand- from the mechanised production so that the Foundation , with its independent administration and control, became heir to the hand looms and to the rich collection of designs from the old manufacture. Its role was to continue producing cloth with the old techniques, too expensive for the commercial market and otherwise destined to disappear in a short space of time.  The Foundation now houses a collection of tools, an
archive of fabrics, designs and drafts which can, for the most
part, still be used today. In addition to these it has Giuseppe
Lisio's collection of old textiles, comprising some 350 pieces
dating from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the mid-nineteenth
century, of particular importance for the study of traditional
techniques. Photo:
fragment of fifteenth-century Florentine polychrome velvet, adapted by G.Lisio for his three piece "Medicean"
velvet. This same motif is used as the symbol of the Foundation (right). Some of the hand looms have been adapted for teaching purposes: the Foundation now offers its pupils the use of six Jacquard looms, each adapted to a different weaving technique: lampasses, damasks, velvets, cloth with a double warp. |
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