Interview with the owner of RUBELLI - a company that produces magnificent fabrics, known throughout the world

Passing the gallery

Interview prepared: Angelina Vin

Magazine: H (65) 2002

SALON: Your name is Lorenzo - the same as the founder of RUBELLI, which was founded in 1858. Is it a family tradition or a coincidence? - Yes, my great-grandfather's name was Lorenzo. This is a tradition that obliges. The name is really very sonorous and causes interesting associations.S: You presented a new collection in Frankfurt at the exhibition Heimtextil-2002. Which motifs of classical art and modern design do you prefer to use in the manufacture of fabrics? How they reflect the philosophy of the name RUBELLI? - The activities related to the production of fabrics are very extensive, and we are simultaneously releasing many collections. Maybe, RUBELLI better known all over the world as a company that produces classic fabrics, we have saved and keep different techniques of hand weaving. For example, the famous velvet and brocade are produced in small pieces 40-60 cm wide, the price of which is from 1000 dollars per meter. We also produce fabrics with original drawings of the XVI, XVII, XVIII centuries, similar to which are in museums. We also reproduce real museum samples. Best-selling fabrics are made using traditional techniques and modern ones. LISIO - one of the brands RUBELLI - is completely classic and is located in Florence. Fabrics are made from sketches and paintings of the Renaissance. And we are now offering a new series of fabrics, in which absolutely magical images are presented - copies of the Florentine frescoes. Byzantine decorative motifs are also our favorite theme. Cooperation with the famous House of Stylists and Designers BISES, which is closely associated with fashion and creates home collections for VALENTINO, is another important area of ​​our work. The art director of the new creation - the Lario collection from BISES - is Erasmo Figini. Lario is dedicated to the bright, gentle landscapes of Lake Lario. The fabrics themselves belong to the classical direction, the so-called "Roman baroque" with calm Mediterranean motifs, but they also contain extravagant play of bright crimson shades, which testifies to the original idea.S: How do you assess the development of current trends? - Now there is a rejection of the classics, the desire for the avant-garde, innovative in nature. But the classic, in my opinion, is eternal in the USA, Italy, Russia, although I sympathize with new, fresh, futuristic tendencies. The classic has been tested for centuries, it has something inexplicably close, from which a person cannot refuse and what he always strives for. Yes, many people arrange their home in the manner of interiors from modern magazines, but then they feel some kind of cold, do not like it and return to the classics. For example, dresses from VERSACE, VALENTINO is very original, but the girls put them on for 2-3 evenings and then hang them in the closet for a long time. So is the modern fashionable situation: there is a need to change it very often - once a week, per month. Therefore, people prefer to have something softer, more relaxed, not flashy, not so aggressively demanding a shift in the house, and this is the realm of the classics. Yes, the classic was, is and will remain one of the trends. In addition, the classic interior can be easily modified.S: What basic principles do you follow now when choosing new designers? - We try to use new people with an original way of thinking, a fresh look at the world, who are able to combine their vision and perceive the spirit of refined classics, because we cannot do things that are completely contrary to our philosophy, the Italian international style. Sometimes there are conflicts between working designers and administrators, because non-creative creative people are very hard to understand. The main mission is the concentration of ideas and their implementation in fabrics, their compliance with architecture, interior, furniture, lamps, etc. The brilliant quality of design, products, perception of new ideas. To be on top of luxury in a modern and classic sense. To meet the needs of not only the wealthy strata of society, but also the middle class. For example, a collection of cotton fabrics with the addition of polyester fibers Trevira - a lower price level, but high quality. Often people do not know about it and think that RUBELLI worth only thousands and thousands of dollars. Trevira fibers (special polyester with fireproof properties) are easy to use. Fabrics with such a composition are popular both in hotels and in private interiors and are not as expensive as silk, some types of viscose or flax. We started working with Trevira fifteen years ago, starting with a casino project in Venice. They used the famous damask fabrics mixed with Trevira, because in a casino people often get nervous and extinguish cigarettes on the curtains, which can cause a fire. The drapes of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow are made of the same fabric. It resembles plastic, but there are not as many artificial fibers as it seems, but the effect of stunning luxury is created! Although Trevira is 100% polyester, we are currently developing new first class fabrics for expensive liners and hotels in Europe.S: What kind of couturier do you prefer? - Recently, interesting research makes GIANFRANCO FERRE. ROMEO GILI even uses our fabrics in men's clothes, which is quite rare: they are characteristic of women's fashion. CHRISTIAN DIOR prefers bestseller - San Marco damask fabric, which is made by hand. Of course, our fabrics are the object of close attention of the royal houses of Europe and Asia: Spain, Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and others. Here is a postage stamp on which the portrait of the now reigning Queen of Denmark. She's a big fan RUBELLI and dressed in a dress made from our fabric. She has a lot of clothes from our materials. In addition, she personally chooses them for the decoration of their palaces.