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Lee Broom x wedgwood s highlights from baselworld s florence’s oldest silk millFabric of time
What do Leonardo da Vinci, a Chinese empress and Moscow’s
Kremlin all have in common? Hannah Lemon delves into thearchives of Florence’s oldest silk mill to find out

INTERIORSLegend has it that Empress
Lei-tzu, the young wife of theChinese Yellow Emperor,
discovered silk while sipping acup of tea. Sitting under theleafy bows of a mulberry tree, asilkworm’s cocoon dropped into hercup. The heat of the drink forced thesilk to unfold and the young empress
watched in awe as the magical thread
unravelled, and she immediately
determined to weave it. Sure enough, it
made the perfect fabric, and soon
Lei-tzu taught her ladies-in-waiting how tofashion garments from these fine fibres. Thus,
she became known as the Silkworm Mother.
Of course, the more likely story was that Catholic
missionaries brought sericulture back from China
to Europe in the 12th century. One of their finaldestinations was Florence, a city that would flourish
in the silk trade from the 14th century onwards,
bringing enormous wealth to merchants.
Florentine silk continued to prosper during theRenaissance and well into the 18th century. Somuch so, that during the 1700s, a group of noble
families clubbed together to establish a single
workshop for their looms, patterns and fabrics
located on Via dei Tessitori (the street of weavers).
And so, Antico Setificio Fiorentino (AntiqueFlorentine Silk Mill) was born.
In recognition of the importance of this factory
and to toast increased silk production, in 1780 theGrand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II donated several
looms, which still work today. Thanks toacquisitions by Marquis Emilio Pucci in the 1950s
and subsequently Stefano Ricci in 2010, the futureof the remarkable handcrafted tradition remains
alive, as do the centuries-old Florentine techniques.
Today, Renaissance damasks, brocades andtaffetas are woven on 12 looms – six handlooms
dating from the 18th century and six semimechanical looms from the 19th century. The
quality of the fabric is guaranteed by various
phases of delicate workmanship: the hand dying,
the preparation of the antique looms, yarns thatare specially prepared for Antico Setificio
Fiorentino, no chemical treatments and thelengthy weaving process.
It doesn’t stop there. The Antico Setificio
Fiorentino uses a unique orditoio (warpings l u x u ry l o n d o n . c o. u k smachine), designed by
Leonardo da Vinci forembellishments; as well asa loom for silk trimmings
and another for custommade fringes.
As is to be expected of such meticulous
creativity, the silk products are sought after by
every luxury institution from royal palaces tonational museums – the Amalienborg Palace inDenmark, the Royal Palace of Stockholm,
Moscow’s Kremlin and Villa Medici in Rome, toname a few.
You don’t have to be a royal to get a slice of theaction though; bed, bath and table linens,
bespoke services, and limited edition evening
wear can be found on the lower ground floor at
the Stefano Ricci menswear store on South Audley
Street. And it’s all thanks to an imaginative
empress and her cup of tea.
Antico Setificio Fiorentino products and services areavailable through Stefano Ricci, 56 South Audley Street,W1K, stefanoricci.com
OPPOSITE: THE
Guicciardini Loom(1786), Photo credit:
Stefano Ricci/ASF by
Bernardo Conti
top RIGHT AND
INSET: Weaving theiconic Broccatello
Michelangelo, made ofsilk and linen threads.
Photo credit: Stefano
Ricci/ASF by Egon
Ipse; textiles fromthe Antico Setificio
Fiorentino, Photocredit: Stefano Ricci/
ASF by Marco Curatolo
left: Spool changing
during the processingof the Doria fabric,
Photo credit: Stefano
Ricci/ASF by Rossano B.
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