GARDEN

LI EDELKOORT x EL ESPARTANO

We are pleased to announce Li Edelkoort's special collaboration with the esteemed Argentinian rug manufacturer El Espartano, to be launched at Rossana Orlandi Gallery during the 2024 Salone del Mobile.

Having historically focused on residential carpets, in recent years El Espartano entered the contract market, collaborating with designers in the public and hospitality sector and producing innovative colourful designs. With a focus on natural fibres, especially locally sourced wool, the complete manufacturing cycle is run in house, from spinning and dyeing to weaving and backing. The vertical integration at El Espartano's 30,000 square-metre state-of-the-art factory allows the company to maintain high-quality standards while optimising designed-to-finished production time. By embracing an interdisciplinary perspective where art, design and textiles meet, El Espartano has become a market leader, including through its Design Lab which partners with designers and artists on a wide range of projects. Hence the invitation to Edelkoort, the trend forecaster, textile advocate and publisher of Bloom Magazine.

  
Taking the GARDEN as inspiration, Edelkoort explains, “Design today should have a healing component. In the garden, one can project a moment of happiness by following the sinuous fluidity of leaves, contemplating the blooming of corollas or being surprised by the unfolding majesty of a flower... With thought processes buzzing like bees around the secret life of flowers, pollinating creative energies along the way.” Ten lively designs were cultivated in partnership Sergio Machado and Lili Tedde. Edelkoort explains further, “Since nature is part of culture, reinforcing us since the beginning of creative expression, we decided to create a perpetual childish garden inspired by outsider art, with the naïveté of wildly drawn blooms, cut-out leaves, collaged botanicals and a flowerbed daybed. Works of visual hope from the contemporary inner garden.”

Venue:

Rossana Orlandi

Via Matteo Bandello, 16

Milano 20123, Italy

Metro: Conciliazione 

Dates:

April 14th: Press Preview (upon invitation)

April 15th—21st, 2024

Hours: 

9:30 AM—8 PM (until 5:30 PM on April 17th)

portrait by Thirza Schaap

Li Edelkoort

Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she founded the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. She is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s fashion brands, advising the group on creative innovation and sustainable practice. In 2022, Edelkoort collaborated with Polimoda in Florence to establish an innovative new textile masters called From Farm to Fabric to Fashion.

@lidewijedelkoort @worldhopeforum @newyorktextilemonth @edelkoort.editions