On the occasion of her last trip to Italy, Stefania Stroppiana, founder and creative director of Stefania Esse, had the opportunity to meet the talented Gisella Tamagno with whom she spoke at length about the so-called “thread arts”. It was the latter who shared the touching story of Valentina Cavandoli , a woman ahead of her time, who she learned about during her research.
She was active in the 1920s in Turin at the Casa del Sole, an institution that hosted children from poor families whose parents were suffering from tuberculosis. Among the various activities she taught them was a particular hand-made weaving of threads , a technique which later took its name: Cavandoli . The children also learned by working on commission for external clients who paid to buy their creations. Once they reached 15 years of age, the children had to leave the institute, but before letting them go Valentina Cavandoli made sure they found suitable work and gave them the money they had earned during their formative years. Despite coming from particularly poor families, they could thus start adult life with security.
These photographs portray, in addition to an original bib of the time, some of those children engaged in a Cavandoli lesson in the garden of the institute. The story behind this last image is for Stefania Stroppiana a reminder of how “the how” makes the difference.
