“Inspirations come as they wish...sometimes you’re looking for them, sometimes they happen unexpectedly,” says Rosita Missoni of how her Missoni Home collections take shape every season. For the 2016 range, inspiration came while selecting one hundred dresses from Missoni’s 63-year-old archive for the retrospective Missoni, L’Arte, Il Colore at the MAGA museum in Gallarate, Northern Italy in 2015, which is now on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. “We were mesmerised by the preciousness of the pattern on a silk dress with fringed cape from 1971,” says Missoni. “It was a pattern inspired by the Orient, designed in the 70s for both fashion and home [and] so evocative that we decided to reclaim it for the 2016 collection.”
Pieces from the 2016 Missoni Home collection, including those crafted from wool, produced and distributed by TJ Vestor.
“The intricate pattern, brilliant hues and complex textures of the new design epitomise the exceptional approach Italay’s ‘Master of Colour’ takes to textiles in the home.”
Re-imagined and renamed Oriental Garden, the intricate pattern, brilliant hues and complex textures of the new design epitomise the exceptional approach Italy’s “master of colour” takes to textiles in the home. Since its inception in 1983, the Missoni Home collection has expanded to accommodate every aspect of domestic life from bedding and towels to rugs and upholstery fabrics, soft furnishings, furniture and accessories, always with a focus on colour, pattern and luxurious texture.
Discover Missoni’s works of art in its exhibition, Missoni, Art, Colour.
As one of the first fashion houses to expand into the realm of interiors, Missoni has applied to them the same principles that have seen it grow and prosper for six decades in the often fickle arena of fashion: innovation, a singular vision and a sense of wonder at the endless possibilities of textiles as a vital, energetic force in design. As a family-owned company, an intimate and impassioned approach drives both the fashion and interiors side of the business. “The authenticity of our furniture comes from a personal touch and the overall approach that we devote to living: no aspects excluded,” says Rosita.
Merino wool is a consistent feature throughout the Missoni Home and fashion collections, due to its natural performance, strength and comfort. Research revolves around unusual constructions and fibre blends of Merino wool, with a focus on texture, layering and embossing. Wool is a preferred fibre as it is versatile, practical and retains the essence of its shape. It can be rendered in multicolour beauty – the Missoni hallmark – and multiple textures that can range from soft and weightless to dense and mutable. Wool is also used on outdoor fabrics, for thick and soft woolly throws and poufs, and can be made waterproof or flame retardant.
“This tactile experience has great value for us, as a chance to manually experience the fibre; to turn it, feel it.”
Much of the Missoni Home innovation comes from textiles company T&J Vestor, which produces new and exclusive fabrics for Missoni Home and is run by Rosita’s brother Alberto Jelmini. “It may seem trivial, but we still do high quality,” says T&J Vestor CEI Jelmini. “We look for the current take on tradition, and gently innovate it. But we also want to have fun, not to feel the weight of nearly a century of business behind us,” he explains.
Pieces from the 2016 Missoni Home collection, including those crafted from wool, produced and distributed by TJ Vestor.
Balancing a proud history with technological advances is key to the success of the company founded three generations ago in Golasecca on the Ticino riverside. “Whilst focusing mostly on the Missoni Home brand, we have refined and improved our skills and expertise,” says Jelmini. “From our origin in beautiful embroideries, we are now committed to re-discovering the fine soul of the fabrics and workmanship, developing unusual weaves and by advanced research of dyeing and printing. In short, we collaborate to realise the continuous inspirations that my sister Rosita expresses and pours into her home concept.”
For Missoni Home 2016, T&J Vestor created waterproof fabrics with vivid pictorial tones (the Floral Galaxy and Tropical Fish textiles) and high-performance flame resistant cloths that are so vivid and lively Rosita named them ‘Fireworks’. “The search for such a sophisticated textural character is a balancing act between manufacturing know-how and profound textile knowledge, with the aim to give the fabric a third dimension and structural strength whilst highlighting and observing the stylistic imprint,” says Jelmini.
Despite her love of colour and pattern, Rosita says decorating the home should begin with a neutral palette. “I would say that the first step is to focus on neutral colours: only when you’ve created the initial harmony of the living room you can start playing with the carpets, shawls: overboard with the colours,” she says. “You cannot move a sofa with the same speed with which you change a blouse so it’s important to find a background order and then have fun mixing in second place.”
Missoni Home took a playful approach to Knitown, the installation Rosita Missoni created earlier this year for Milan Design Week with her daughter Angela Missoni and artist Aldo Lanzini. Designed as a “mesh city”, the installation featured a town of knit houses in different shapes and sizes in the Missoni Home Solferino showroom in Milan. “This tactile experience has great value for us, as a chance to manually experience the fibre; to turn it, feel it,” says Rosita. “On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile we wanted to make a dynamic contribution, something contemporary for the city of Milan; a touch of glamour and sense of taste.”
But Missoni Home is not stopping with knit houses. The next step is Missoni Baia, a 56-story residential tower in partnership with OKO Group. Amenities in the 146-unit building will include an Olympic size pool, wellness spa and fitness centre as part of the development overlooking Biscayne Bay in Florida. “The building is called Edge Water, and is a huge space overlooking the water,” says Rosita Missoni. “We will use the Home collection to furnish and equip the hall, and various areas throughout the building of the resort. (It’s) a beautiful and exciting challenge, a step into the world of hospitality.”
Missoni, Art, Colour is on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London until September 4, 2016