Italia Invita 2013

 

The 6th International Italia Invita Forum of Textile Creativity has updated their website to include the theme and competitions for the next Italia Invita Forum in Parma, Italy on May 10 - 12th, 2013.

Techniques covered at the next Forum will include: Embroidery, Lace, Quilting, Knitting, Crocheting, Felting, Cross Stitch, Weaving, Straw Plaiting, and just about any other textile art.

The theme will be: Intreccio Internationale which is difficult to translate into two words."Intreccio" is a weave, a plait or braid, a plot (of a story), an intertwining or interweaving - of paths, lives, things. The way they have explained it on the English general info page of their website is as follows:

...the theme is “Intreccio Internazionale” because we will search the path that “the thread” has made, prior to materialize into an art, a technique, a precious artifact. An invitation to retrace the steps through which every single work of each school has reached perfection, thanks to contamination with other techniques.

As usual, there are two competitions open to the public with the entries being displayed during the Forum:

The topics chosen for 2013 are ‘circle’ and ‘internationality’: one as a symbol of unity, of what has no beginning and no end, and the other as the basis of the “growth” due to the exchange between different cultures.

The Squaring the Circle competition is open to individual quilters, groups and associations and the International Circle competition is open to anyone who wants to use any textile method to create a themed piece.

Prizes include a Juki sewing machine, a Juki cutting and sewing machine, Aurifil threads and €1,800.00 in vouchers to spend at the Italia Invita Forum in the vendors section.

I was waiting until they had made the rules available in English on their website to tell you about this but I have learned that the rules will not be made available in any other language than Italian. This seemed strange to me for an international competition and event. I received this response to my query from Fiere di Parma, the company that hosts the event:

The rules are only in Italian because the competition is reserved only for Italian citizens due to issues with the Government.
Unfortunately, the law does not allow Italy to organize international competitions and so we were forced to deal with this limitation.

There will be workshops and classes that you can register for and attend and I am told that a list of these will be available in the next couple of weeks.

A list of exhibitors and vendors will become available after the new year.  So check back to the Italia Invita website often for updates.

In other posts I have told you about previous editions of Italia Invita Forums:

Italia Invita - Part One - 2003

Italia Invita - Part Two - 2005
Italia Invita - Part Three - 2007

Italia Invita - Part Four - 2009
Italia Invita - Part Five - 2011

Truly, if you get the chance to go, make the effort. No where else can you get so many Italian needlework schools, teachers, techniques and supplies at a single event.

Upcoming Needlework shows

I have been asked by several readers if I know of upcoming events in Italy relating to needlework. Some are busy planning their holidays and wish to incorporate a needlework event or two into their stay in Italy. It's a lovely idea and makes for a memorable time.

Abilmente presents their Creativity Fair in Vicenza, March 1 - 4, 2012. This is a big craft fair not just dedicated to needlework.
http://www.abilmente.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1764&lang=en

Trecce, Intrecci, Merletti - an exhibition of Braid Embroidery, Cantù Lace and Aemilia Ars Needle Lace at the Villa Smeraldi, 15km outside of Bologna. March 11 - 25, 2012. 

HobbyShow is big craft fair in Milan, March 16 - 18, 2012. Needlework is included but not the dominant theme of this fair.
http://www.hobbyshow.it/milano/

Festa Del Ricamo - sponsored by Casa Cenina, this year's theme is the Sampler. June 2 - 3, 2012. Contest details and other related information can be read here:
http://www.casacenina.com/blog/the-details-about-our-contest-the-sampler-of-my-life.html

The Hand Embroidery and Artisan Weaving Exhibition will be held in Valtopina, on August 31 - September 2, 2012. The theme for this show is: Green Monuments of Umbria - the trees. If you would like to participate in their competition for this show, you must make a tablecloth for six settings, executed in a technique of hand-embroidery or lace of your own design. For more details, see their website:
http://www.mostravaltopina.it/concorso/

The International Biennial Lace Exhibition of Sansepolcro will be held September 8 - October 28, 2012. This year's show is dedicated to the Emancipation of Women. Download the program in English and Italian here (click on the words: "Regolamento e bando di concorso").

The Ago Magico show and market will be November 9 - 11, 2012 at the Parco Esposizioni Novegro about 10kms outside of Milan. This show is dedicated to artistic embroidery and sewing.
http://www.parcoesposizioninovegro.it/lagomagico/

Italia Invita has just announced the dates for the 6th edition of their Textile Creativity Forum which will be located in Parma, May 10, 11, 12, 2013. They haven't announced the theme or events and attractions yet as we're still a little more than a year away from this one, but stay tuned, these things will be forthcoming soon.
http://www.italiainvita.it/

That's all that I've got for now. I will post again with any additions that I discover. Please post a comment if you know of an event that I've missed or if you visit any of these events, we'd love to hear about them!

Italian Holiday

Well, if you've been wondering what had happened to me, I've been in Italy for a month!

I just got back and haven't unpacked yet but I wanted to give you a little preview of things to come...

I visited Bologna (needlelace piece from the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte Museum in Bologna):

...Sicily (sign for the Drawn Thread Work Museum in Chiaramonte Gulfi):

...Sardinia (Byssus Museum in Sant'Antioco):

...Parma (Puncetto stand at the Italia Invita Textile Forum 2011):

...and Florence (Palazzo Davanzati Museum and the trapunto quilt reproduction stitched by Silvana Vannini):

It was a needlework-themed holiday and I saw and did so very many lovely things!

Special thanks to Elisabetta for the photos of Bologna and Sicily! 

Please be patient while I get myself organized and start to answer all your emails!!

Parma Embroidery

I really like textured needlework and Parma Embroidery is a very textured technique. The principle stitch is a composition of three parallel rows of Chain Stitches with two rows of Buttonhole Stitches worked over the first and second and second and third Chain Stitch rows with the festoons resting against each other down the middle of the band.

Sound complicated? It's not.


As with any technique however, practice improves stitch tension and curves can be a bit tricky – you will need to compensate in your Chain Stitch rows.

Here are some photos of works from Emporium Magazine, 1926, Vol. LXIII No. 374. Both are cushions:



The Patronato dei Lavori Femminili Parmensi (the Society of Parmese Feminine Works) was formed in the early 1920s providing a means of support for the women of Parma through needlework. Under the direction of Bianca Bonfigli Bignotti, the women were set to work embroidering Romanesque designs from local cathedrals, baptisteries, ornate doorways and sculpted friezes.

They chose heavy, natural or undyed linen fabric and natural cotton floche thread and went about "sculpting with the needle". The stitches chosen to best imitate the relief effect of the motifs are attributed to the talents of Irma Lanza Balestrieri.

In 1925 the Society produced a book which was revised and reprinted in 1926 called: Motivi Ornamentali dei Nostri Monumenti Studiati per L'Applicazione al Ricamo (Ornamental Motifs of Our Monuments Studied for the Application of Embroidery).

Parma Embroidery earned a Silver Medallion in Florence in 1925 and a Gold Medallion at the Mostra dell'Artiginato e delle Piccole Industrie di Firenze (Artisan and Small Industries Exhibition of Florence) in 1926.

All traces of the Society are lost after the Second World War but Parma Embroidery is mentioned in needlework manuals produced in the second half of the 20th century. You can even see something in English in the Anchor Manual of Needlework reprinted by Interweave Press in 1990.

Thanks to the extensive research of Manuela Soldi, in 2009 the second edition of Motivi Ornamentali dei Nostri Monumenti Studiati per L'Applicazione al Ricamo was reprinted with a well-documented introduction, some pictorial images from other Italian publications of the epoch and even some technical instructions done by Liliana Babbi Cappelletti. You can get this publication from Elena at Italian Needlecrafts.

Yvette has posted a great picture on her blog of how your curves can look, once you have mastered this stitch!

Italia Invita Forum - Part Four - 2009

As I am trying to figure out how I can afford to go to the next Italia Invita International Lace and Embroidery Forum in 2011 (they have news on their website about events), I have been writing a series of recaps of the previous Forums in 2003, 2005, 2007 and now 2009.

My digital camera decided not to work the first night so I have no photos of my own. For this Forum I was able to attend as part of Vima deMarchi Micheli's Italia Mia tour. We arrived in Parma the new location of the Forum the night before the event and I saw many familiar faces on the streets of Parma as we did a little sight-seeing.

The theme for the 2009 Forum was "Italian-Style Weddings" and all exhibitors were asked to produce a Bomboniere in their specialty technique.

This is a Sicilian Drawn Thread Work Bomboniere from the Forum 2009 book:


This is a Punto Antico Bomboniere from the Forum 2009 book:


The event was three days, although the first day was restricted to students of the workshops while the public was admitted only on May 9th and 10th. There were 11 workshops which admitted a maximum number of 14 students. Techniques included were: Parma Embroidery, Casalguidi Embroidery, Punto Antico Embroidery, Filet Lace, Aemilia Ars Needle Lace and six courses in Bobbin Laces: Ligurian, Cesena, Rosa del Salento, L'Aquila, Contemporary and Colour Coding designs. You can read more about the workshops here on the old Italia Invita website, most of the links are no longer active but there is still a lot of information on the pages that remain.

The major difference between previous Forums and this one was that the group Italia Invita had turned over the actual running of the Forum to the company Fiere di Parma. Parma is a city of exhibitions and this company specializes in running shows. As the event had become too large for the seven women of Italia Invita to manage, this move was logical. There was quite a bit of talk however among Italians about how Fiere di Parma didn't understand the clientele for this particular show. Our group of North Americans however, enjoyed it immensely.

The atelier mini-workshops were offered as before, although they had been limited to two per person in total – in 2007 you could take two per day, for a total of six. I debated heavily on signing up as I remembered being totally overwhelmed in 2007 and not retaining much. In the end I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to learn something and attended one on Puncetto and one on Sicilian Drawn Thread Work. I didn't finish either piece and I can't even find them now to scan them for you.

The Forum was situated in one corner of a massive building where an Antiques Market was being held. We had to pass through the Antiques Market to get to the Forum so of course we investigated all the antique embroideries and laces and stitching equipment that we saw along the way.

Once again the Forum was split into two sections, one for Schools and Associations and one for Merchants. There was the display of all the Bomboniere made in the various techniques of embroidery and lace; a display of several bridal bouquets make of flowers and ribbons (embroidered or made of lace); the competition for Italian residents this time was Textile Dominos which were mounted in a wall display; a stand dedicated to Elisa Ricci and the recent reprinting of a collection of antique pattern books complete with modern stitched examples using the antique patterns;


DMC's stand had stitched examples from their antique pattern books and the Encyclopedia of Needlework, they also released a new line of pearl cotton and gave away samples. The new pearl cotton is called Retors d'Alsace [Alsatian Twist] and is a revival of an old product that they used to carry in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Fratelli Graziano had an interesting display of mannequins at the dinner table all dressed in Graziano linens...


The first day was hot and crowded but everyone's enthusiasm kept us going until we collapsed into bed way past midnight and then got up to do it all over again the next day. The frenzy to see everything was contagious and groups or individuals would meet mid-aisle and grab each other, and literally drag each other off to see something marvelous. I bought without looking. Totally taken up in the conviction that it whatever it was, I needed it and I could look at it later. Even as we gathered to leave, I ran off to buy one last piece of fabric and then had to run to catch up to my group as they were exiting the building. I was sorry that this event wasn't open to the public for three days like the previous one, but then to tell the truth, I couldn't really have fit anything else in my suitcase! This time, instead of leaving clothing behind, I bought a second bag at the outdoor market in Florence which was our next stop on the tour after the Forum.

This edition of the Forum saw over 6,000 visitors. The irony? The Italia Invita Forum occupied a small corner of the building while the Antiques Market occupied the rest of what was a huge pavillion. That weekend the reported number of visitors for the two events combined was over 10,000.

As before there was a book called Merletti e Ricami Italiani Forum 2009 [Italian Laces and Embroideries]. This book has an article on the history of Bomboniere; photos and information on all 63 Bomboniere; and there are also the designs and/or charts for most of them.

Thank you Isabella for the photos of the booths!

Italia Invita - Part One - 2003

Italia Invita - Part Two - 2005

Italia Invita - Part Three - 2007

Italia Invita - Part Five - 2011