Page 73 - Bilancio Sostenibilità Ratti 2020_en

Ratti Group
Sustainability report 2020

fabrics, given their fragility, need to be conserved The promotion of visual arts
in accordance with specific rules; for this reason Since 1995 the ARF has organised the CSAV
the ARF is moving ahead with a photographic (Artists’ Research Laboratory) programme, a
campaign and the electronic filing of the items in workshop that seeks to deepen knowledge in the
its textile collection. field of art from both a theoretical and a practical
Through the Foundation’s website it is possible to point of view, supporting experimentation
access, free of charge, the multimedia catalogue amongst young artists from all over the world in
and to consult the collection virtually without dialogue with established artists.
damaging the textiles. The Ratti Foundation has also launched, in
partnership with Ratti, the ARF project Artist
There are currently around 30,000 files, a figure Limited Series for a series of limited editions. The
which is constantly being updated. artists involved in the project are internationally
Added to this heritage is a library of more than famous.
7,800 books specialising in textiles, fashion, Finally, in 2020 Ratti hosted “Iconostase”, an
visual arts, applied arts, and a rich collection of architecture which is a mobile and modular
magazines. museum. It was installed in 2019 and was located
in Ratti’s business park, between the office
In 1995 ARF also contributed to the creation of the building and the factory. In welcoming into its
Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan production facility the work by Yona Friedman,
Museum of Art in New York, with a space of 2,300 Ratti underlines its link with the world of art and all
m3 housing the textile collections of the American those values which form part of the tradition and
museum. the history of the company.

Pattern books project

The Fondazione Provinciale della Comunità from the point of view of collective sharing, wisdom
Comasca ONLUS (non-profit organisation) selected and knowledge. The restoration, which has received
and co-financed the Ratti Foundation project for the approval from the relevant authority, concerned
restoration of ten pattern books that form one of the seven volumes from the Lyon company Chavent
most important focal points in the textile collection. Père et Fils, whose pattern books the ARF possesses
The pattern books represent a corpus that is one of from 1865 to the mid 1930s, with sketches, test cards
the largest in the textile collection of the Antonio and fabrics, as well as a number of volumes from the
Ratti Foundation, spanning from the middle of the Alsace region.
1800s to the 1980s.
The work was carried out by specialised restorers
Their content is extremely varied, ranging from and involved various phases: from dry cleaning the
fabrics for women’s garments to ribbons, neckwear samples to repairing tears and closing gaps, from
and miscellaneous volumes. With regard to textiles restoring the parchment to retouching the decorated
for garments, the books often belong to very paper, to reinstalling the spine to sewing the
well-known manufacturers and cover the entire span booklets together.
of production, both with regard to historical period
and the various phases of manufacturing. The success of Antonio Ratti Foundation’s candidacy
in the tender would not have been possible without
The state of conservation of the volumes was the generous donation received from Ratti SpA
extremely fragile, and without dedicated action which, right from the start and with enthusiasm,
there was a risk of losing this heritage. The object recognised the value of the restoration project and
was to restore their structural integrity and make supported it, sharing the costs and, in this way,
them readable again, so as to bring newly to fruition, making financing possible.

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