Meet the Designer - Lisa Corti
We are thrilled to be one of the few shops in the United States that offer tablecloths by the well known Italian designer, Lisa Corti. Her style is distinctive, her quality is superb and her color combinations are unlike any that I have seen. The exquisite cotton fabric is breezy, perfect for summer!
Lisa also is a fascinating woman. She was born in Asmara, Ethiopia (now Eritrea) where she lived until she was 19. The beauty of the African people is imprinted in her memories: their ancient decorative tradition and the brightly coloured costumes worn by the local women. These recollections all naturally belong to her cultural background, the medium from which her stylistic choices and the creativity of her work originate.
Lisa and her daughter, Ida, first traveled to India in 1976. There, they discovered that India shared a certain affinity with the Ethiopian world, especially when it comes to cloth, ornaments and colors. Over the years, Lisa traveled extensively to the villages and cities throughout India, studying the fabrics and patterns of each region, transforming her own designs, materials and colors.
For Lisa Corti, taste and beauty are not only aesthetic objectives, they are also essentials that fill up her daily life. Geometry is a constant, as are the elements of nature, the intense colours, the transparencies and weightlessness of the fabrics. Lisa invents things that she enjoys; she does not chase after fashion but goes for the sense of color, light and shapes, in the constant search for symmetry between ancient and contemporary Western cultures.
Today, Lisa is known for her weightless, transparent cottons printed in India using amazing colors. The fabric is woven on traditional looms and hand printed with carved wood blocks that been used for thousands of years.
In her own words:
"Ask me about my work and I will tell you about my passion for colour, a love that has roots in far away lands, in my childhood in Africa. Women dressed in colour, only one colour, moved into the light as if gliding. Mysterious angels in cobalt, pink, yellow, green, violet. I have always carried them within me. It seems incredible, yet that cobalt, that pink in the sun are something I thrive on.
Then I discovered India. I found the essence once again in the sweet organza, the impalpable glossy coloured air, the fragment of a cloud to be touched and used. Pure colour that comes to life as substance, it is weightless and runs, cheerful and gentle, stopping at a central point. It winks and cannot be ignored. These are my tapestries.”
Enjoy exploring the world of Lisa Corti....You will set an amazing table!
