It is midnight. From the fourth floor of my room at the Hotel Pendini, I am watching a store display window being changed for a high end store. The window is hinged to open out onto the sidewalk. Workers are busy cleaning the glass, installing electrical fittings as the new window display components sit on the cobblestone street wrapped and cushioned for shipping. It is an elaborate and shiny display!
I am in Florence, Italy on a textile tour arranged by The Tour Studio. It is a workshop for textile designers, weavers, fibre and craft lovers, which includes visits to handwoven textile studios and exclusive fabric houses in Florence, regional Umbria and Perugia. In addition, we will visit Antico Setificio Fiorentino and have a five day workshop at the Lisio Foundation on Jacquard weaving. There was some homework to do to prepare for the Jacquard weaving
workshop. I immersed myself in learning about tessellating designs. My Jacquard sampler is below woven with a Lampas technique. I also tackled weaving on the velvet loom which was wonderful, too. It has been a privilege to have this experience and will stimulate some new ideas this year.
There hasn't been much time for gelato. There is so much to see. Like this exquisite velvet pillow woven at the Lisio Foundation.
