North Italian fabric manufacturer Bonotto is returning to their roots and at the same time giving luxury fashion fabrics a new lease of authenticity and craftsmanship.
For their ‘Fabbrica Lenta‘ (the slow factory) range, they have unearthed the looms as well as dye techniques their district made its name with in the early 20th century. With that, in a sense, Bonotto returns to artisanal roots its founder had built its reputation on, although that was in a different discipline: hat making.
Giovanni Bonotto, grand-son of the factory founder, and who owns and runs the factory together with his brother Lorenzo – says about the concept:
“People made fun of me at the beginning because I would travel around textile districts where so many companies were folding and buy disused machinery from the 50s and 60. […] With the technologies we have recuperated, the worker’s craftsmanship is an essential part of the industrial process, which has an extraordinary impact on the final product, in the fabric’s weave and surface. […] All our 200 workers are master craftsmen.”
The fabrics they now produce in the Fabbrica Lenta are reminiscent of what textile manufacturing was until not too long ago: only 75cm width, produced on old (‘antique’) Japanese looms, and in some cases from wool sheared from Italian native breeds in the vicinity of the factory.
Of the project they say themselves
“Fabbrica Lenta”
è un nuovo modello manifatturiero che rivaluta la cultura delle mani: si produce di meno ma a regola d’arte. I nostri maestri artigiani tornano ad utilizzare le tecniche del dopoguerra dove la mano si vede e fa la differenza.
è un manifesto contro la standardizzazione industriale e la produzione in serie a basso costo.
Noi italiani abbiamo perso la sfida del costo industriale ma il nostro DNA è l’eccellenza della bottega rinascimentale.
E questo il nostro valore.
English translation:
The ‘slow factory’ is a new manufacturing model that re-values the culture of hand-made: it means producing less, but according to the best practise of craftsmanship. Our master craftsmen use the techniques from after the war, where the result of hand crafting makes all the difference.
It’s a statement against the industrial standardisation and overly streamlined manufacturing at very low cost. We Italians may have lost the competition by price, but our DNA is found in the excellence of quality of our Renaissance craftsmanship heritage.
This is where our value lies.
This said however, Bonotto’s entire production – beyond Fabbrica Lenta – is focused on bringing the craftsmanship and expertise back into textile production that was lost a little bit over the past decades and increased automatisation.
Bonotto, of course, is however first and foremost a high-end speciality textile manufacturer with some of the most distinguished Italian designer brands as their clients. But their awareness of quality, craftsmanship and the value of expertise is certainly inspiring.
