Enrico Colle, Director of the Stibbert Museum, will be among the protagonists of FOCUS ON a FIRENZE HOME TEXSTYLE 2022

Enrico Colle, Director of the Stibbert Museum, will be among the protagonists of FOCUS ON, the new FIRENZE HOME TEXSTYLE space dedicated to live events, to explore, analyse, and discuss the main themes of textile furnishing.

On Monday, 4^th April 2022, at 10:00, Colle will give a lecture on Textile Furnishing at the Stibbert Museum. This event will offer the opportunity to present one of the collecting areas of Frederick Stibbert, focusing on the collection of 15^th-19^th-century textiles. Stibbert’s passion for textiles is documented by his rich collection and by their layout inside the museum, showing the lavish taste of late 19^th-century noble residences.

How does it feel to be the director of an important museum such as the Stibbert – a chest of countless treasures and a great destination for collectors, researchers, art historians, and enthusiasts coming from all over the world – which, during health emergency, was mentioned by the New York Times as one of the first five museums in the world to follow on Instagram?

“It means a great commitment to coordinate cultural, restoration, and promotional activities, not least a fund-raising activity for the maintenance of the premises which, in these last years, has become very challenging. Given the great amount and variety of the artifacts that require extraordinary conservative interventions, the conservation and restoration of works of art is becoming increasingly important when we decide to exhibit works which were kept inside the warehouse for a long time to recreate the atmosphere of a 19^th-century house-museum. It is a rearrangement programme that was already started by the previous museum directors and that I am currently completing with the restoration of some last rooms, set to bring them back to the original splendour desired by Frederick Stibbert. This restoration and repair work is combined with the promotion of the same collections, both through temporary exhibitions and new social media channels, managed by younger museum officials, which earned the museum a special mention from the NYT”.

Could you make us any anticipation about the story of the fabric you selected to represent you at Unique Texstyle – la Stanza delle Meraviglie (The Room of Wonders), a special project by Firenze Home Texstyle 2022 paying tribute to unique and iconic pieces between tradition and contemporaneity, which sees the participation of museums, historical manufactures, and art, fashion, and design academies and institutes?

“The velvet fabric presented was probably manufactured in Genoa and is part of the collection of the most ancient textiles. These textiles were chosen by Stibbert to integrate his rich collection of clothing – mainly from 18^th century – made with fabrics produced also in the previous centuries. These fragments of ancient textiles were also used to complete the evocative museum layouts. Some of them were inserted in clothes created for the Renaissance figures that still catch the imagination of visitors for their amazing realism. In other cases, as probably for the velvet fabric exhibited, textiles were used to decorate the environments to evoke the splendour of mansions of the past centuries.

“Textiles are everything”. These words were pronounced by Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto who, along with Kenzo and Issey Miyake, is among the greatest Japanese stylists of all times, boasting exhibitions in the main museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The Montughi Villa, home to the Stibbert Museum, hosts precious textile furnishing made according to the taste and aesthetic preferences of its owner, the eclectic Frederick Stibbert. What remains of his distinguishing style in today’s world of fashion and home décor?

“Stibbert particularly loved textile production, both in the clothing and furnishing field. He arranged textiles all over his house-museum, using modern wallpaper in the inhabited portions, and choosing ancient fabrics for the museum environments. For instance, he chose a wallpaper in Neoclassical style for the Louis XVI Living Room, precious damask for the Yellow Living Room, while all the doors and windows were decorated with brightly coloured silk drapery, all produced by manufactures of his time. Probably, what remains is the taste for contrasting colours and the desire to insert stylistic elements from different cultures and to make them coexist in spectacular ensembles. Still today, these contrasts are reproduced also in the essentiality of interiors designed by contemporary stylists. That is why Frederick Stibbert is still an inexhaustible source of inspiration for all those who are involved in design”.

 

(Fiamma Domestici)