New Landscape
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English translations
New Landscape
della Roggia, a word that in some
regions of northern Italy indicates the
artificial canals used since ancient
times to bring water to the mills and
fields. Located between the Natisone
and Torre rivers, at the beginning
of the century Manzano was a small
border town with an agricultural
tradition, which quickly became
famous all over the world for being
the heart of the Friuli chair district.
Torri Lana, meanwhile, is located in
Val Gandino, near Bergamo, an area
of wool and silk factories with
a millinery tradition. The headquarters
was built in 1885, as the inscription
on the brick wall recalls: at the time
the driving force of the machinery and
frames was the water from a stream
that still flows alongside the building
to this day.
Design entered the history of Torri
Lana when the company began
to specialize in the production of
furnishing fabrics in the seventies,
collaborating with some of the major
companies in the sector. More or
less in the same period, Billiani was
undergoing the transition to its third
generation: after having produced
curved and padded wooden chairs for
more than half a century, the company
started to mass produce, and then to
focus on design. Evolution, in both
cases, is synonymous with growth.
Growth based on precise visions and
values: neither Billiani nor Torri Lana
will ever compromise on the quality
of their raw materials – wood in
one case, natural yarns in the other
– in the name of the most authentic
sustainability of those who simply
know only one way of doing things:
doing them well, respecting nature
and people.
This is how, in a historical moment
in which it is more important than
ever to plan the future with foresight
and attention to the community,
Billiani has found in Torri Lana the
ideal partner for the new collection
of fabrics designed by the company's
art director, Cristina Celestino: an
exploration in a new and different
field, but similar in terms of culture,
tradition and know-how – from
channels that seem like roots, colours
that recall nature, and threads that
intertwine.
The images on these pages were taken in Italy, in the provinces of Udine and
Bergamo. The landscape that is home to the seating, close to the Tagliamento river,
is that of the fortress of Osoppo, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a complex architecture
born from the stratification between different defensive structures built since the
Middle Ages. The concrete platform is the result of the redevelopment project
signed by Pierluigi Grandinetti, who, in the 1990s, improved the usability of the
oldest remains according to a contemporary conception of an archaeological park.
The images of fabric processing and wood processing were taken respectively
in the Torri Lana plant, in Gandino (Bergamo) and in the Billiani headquarters in
Manzano (Udine). The photographic report, carried out simultaneously, tells how
the Billiani product was born, has evolved, and is in constant improvement.
