Professor Paul Callaghan's interview with Kim Hill on national radio was an interesting article about Innovation in New Zealand. Wool to Weta. The article centres on a new book that Callaghan has authored.
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Just as our time in Italy was drawing to a close we were provided a unique opportunity to meet with Luciano Barbera, the creator of the Barbera Mill and Luciano Barbera brand and founder of the Biella Master of Noble Fibres Programme.
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Blog Part 7
Reda is a 4th generation contract manufacturing mill based in Valle Mosso (about a half hour from Biella) with strong ties to the New Zealand and Australian Merino Industries. To better understand issues with growing Merino fibre, Reda purchased three Merino properties in NZ (Otamatapaio, Rugged Ridges and Holbrook) transforming their operation into a vertically integrated business and providing better insight and control over the type of wool they desire.
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Blog Part 6
After a session with Mr. Leo Rogna earlier this week, we visited Inco an Ermenegildo Zegna suit (CMT) manufacturing facility in Novara. Here we were shown how this premier high end brand produces the finest suits for their own and many other global brands on contract (such as Armani, Gucci, Tom Ford, and Yves Saint Laurent).
Inco is an older facility than the much larger production plant in Switzerland, but still remains competitive and manufactures extremely well made hand produced products.
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Blog Part 5
Wednesday, day three, and today we visited Lanificio Cerruti the high-end luxury Milan-based brand of clothing by Nino Cerruti (who trained Giorgio Armani).
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It was a full house at AUT last night, with a crowd of over 80 ranging from architects to economists packing into the small lecture theatre to listen to Dr Janis Birkeland's talk on positive development and sustainable architecture.
The mixture of disciplines in the audience was a good sign of how sustainable planning is beginning to be taken seriously - a stark contrast to the stories Dr Birkeland told of starting out only to be met with indifference from both planners and environmentalists.
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Blog Part 4
This afternoon we meet with Mr. Leo Rogna, the product manager at Ermenegildo Zegna to talk a bit about Italian design, the fashion industry, and to discuss opportunities for our merino which he calls “the life fibre”. We meet Mr. Rogna at his very cool, modernist style studio near central piazza in the old town of Biella.
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Blog Part 3
The second day of our trip started with a site visit to the impressive Loro Piana Woollen Spinning Mill in Roccapietra (the first of two visits to Loro Piana’s set up in northern Italy). Like many of the mills in the area, Loro Piana was established here because of the soft and light quality of the water which is an important component for manufacturing superfine textiles with exceptional handle. In the early days the rivers in the region were also used turn the looms in the mill.
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Blog Part 2
On our first day in Biella we visited Pettinatura Italiano; the largest commissioned scouring/combing mill in Europe. This place, like many we were to see in Italy, is steeped in tradition. NZ Merino arrives here from Cirque Terre (the main port for northern Italy) where it is checked for quality then stored in the warehouse prior to processing.
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Designer Blythe Rees-Jones of Locus Research Ltd is in Italy as a recipient of the 2009 Biella Merino Ambassador scholarship. This is the first of a series of posts about his experiences on the study trip.
Alessi, Ferrari, Piaggio, Alfa Romeo, Armani, Boss, Luciano Barbera, Loro Piana, Ermenegildo Zegna and Gucci all have two things in common - Italian style and quality.
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