Rubelli and Peter Marino, perhaps one of the most famous interior architects (also because of his biker image), together again to create a textile project. The first episode, Peter Marino for Venetian Heritage, launched in 2019, paid homage to Tiepolo: three silk jacquards inspired by the painter’s liquid imagery (and in fact Tiepolo is the name of one of the three fabrics).
This new collection is wider-ranging, both in terms of themes – ten fabrics, all different – and in terms of originality and inspiration: an encounter between the erudite work of Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, the French ceramist who died in 1910, and the chromatic sensibility of Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese. The results are areas of dense, volcanic bright color. Brushstrokes that in turn lead into still other artistic ambits, such as Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting.
Marino was in Venice for the opening of the Biennale and many related events (like the Dior gala dinner, a benefit for the international non-profit organization Venetian Heritage, for which Marino is the president), and the designer had a chance to preview the collection.
“Dalpayrat worked in the 1890s, but contemporary ceramics hasn’t moved very far beyond what he was doing,” Marino explains, alternating English and Italian. “150 years later he is still very timely. When someone has such a spirit of modernity, I am fascinated. I knew that I would have to do something about him, someday. I have also been inspired by the colors of Veronese, because his color sense is so full of joy. His colors are those of a garden. So this is a combination that hasn’t yet been done.”
“I like the scale of these fabrics, the size of the design, which is not too small,” Marino continues. “I imagine them being used on furniture, for curtains, or also on the wall.”
The name of the collection, Second Firing, the moment of fusion of the glaze, is a direct reference to the art of pottery. “The glazes are like water, this folly of Venice. When you make things here, everything arrives by sea, even the nails. Couldn’t they ship them in by pigeon?”, the designer laughs.
These fabrics are “chromatic cascades” (as Marino puts it) made in cotton (with splashes of metal) on an eco-nylon structure. The project is almost like alchemy, and was developed during the pandemic period.
“I decided to use a computer, a tool of which I’m not very fond, only for video conference calls: it was the only way to work.” So from monitors to samples sent by courier, a collection has taken form which is a true ode to joy.
