On my way to the Fortuny Factory

 I saw bells - doorbells that is.

I could just about hear the old fashioned 'ding dong' as I walked through the Campo della Carita. I think apartment buildings with tenants names written outside give a building true personality - so much more daring to have your name on the buzzer than a number or a letter from the alphabet. 

Call me nosey, but I stopped and read the surnames on the marble plaque. I wanted to picture what kind of people were living in this magical city of Venice; a city so different from any that I have lived in or known. Who were Signor and Signora Rebuffi of Number 1 and what were they like? Were they an old couple who had been married for thirty years, still in love and still sparkling together? Did they go out dancing on a Saturday evening or prefer to stay at home and enjoy watching movies? Were they newlyweds luxuriating in their first home and planning their future together? My imagination ran wild with romantic notions; it always has... 

I could see them both so clearly - I decided that they were an elderly couple. She is small, petite almost, with a soft pretty face - a face that is proud of the passage of time. Her wrinkles are worn with pride and honour, they have been earned loving her partner, creating a home, raising her children and indulging her grand children. A touch of sadness around the eyes suggests the loss of a friend or a distant tragedy but it is a stoic face - a face that is content with life and all that it has offered. He is older than his wife, his body a little more stooped, and has the aura of someone who is protective. Someone who is calm in the face of adversity and someone who has been content to live a simple life. His eyes are blue and still retain the twinkle of his former self and his hair, now white, is still his pride and joy. She is the dreamer; he the pragmatist...I could go on...

The reality is most certainly nothing like the make believe couple I describe, but I will never know, and I am content to look at my photograph of Venetian doorbells and indulge myself in a sentimental journey. 

I have digressed: I was on my way to the Fortuny Factory. 

It has long been a dream of mine to visit this former convent on the island of Guidecca, five minutes by zaporetto from the Galleria dell' Accademia. Any interior junkie will understand my desire to see first hand the home of these incredible fabrics. The showroom and gardens are open by appointment but the printing process and production methods remain a closely guarded secret.

Mario Fortuny first produced textiles in the early 1900's. He was inspired by his travels and by the great histories of Venice and Florence, of Asia, China and Greece. He invented pigments and techniques to give his fabrics an antique finish. Originally a painter, Fortuny was an artist that could adapt to the disciplines of sculpture, architecture and photography as easily as he could pick up a paint brush.

Fortuny first became famous in the fashion world with the 'Delphos' gown, a dress he designed in 1907 and modelled on the draperies of Greek sculpture. It was soon after this that Fortuny began work on the fabrics that are still in production today. 

The bolts of fabric in the showroom are available to buy or order by the metre and there are ex-sample fabric pieces for sale, like the one below, at a reduced cost. 

The thing about Fortuny is that it does cost a fortune - it is a fabric fit for Kings and Queens. To upholster a sofa, pad the walls or make curtains is for a very select crowd but a visit to Guidecca and the Fortuny Factory can be for anyone with an eye for beauty and a passion for fabric. 

I don't really know what the doorbells of Venice and the fabric of Fortuny have in common other than that for me, they both conjure up the history and romance of another world. xv