Abaca, palm leaves, raffia, linen, silk, wool, cashmere.
A passion for natural elements and a love of traditional craftsmanship drive the new CMO 2022 collection from Élitis. These fibres are woven and enlarged on hand looms, by craftsmen who perpetuate ancient gestures handed down from generation to generation. For some years now, Élitis has been developing CMO, a line that is characterised by a continuous search for unique and innovative fibres and original processing techniques. Many creations are available including coverings, fabrics and materials suitable for covering lampshades or sliding walls. What they all have in common is rare and painstaking craftsmanship.
With this collection, Élitis places respect for the ecosystem in which the plants are grown and harvested to provide the fibre at the forefront. Indeed, these are plants that play very specific roles in their environment: for example, they contribute to maintaining biodiversity, they are a support for the soil and provide shelter for birds. Irresponsible use of these plants would compromise the health and specificity of the natural areas in which they are found. For this reason, only specimens are chosen that can be used sustainably, guaranteeing rapid regrowth and non-invasive cutting. Nothing different from what has been done for centuries by traditional craftsmen, who work and respect them as raw materials that can feed local economies compatible with nature conservation.
The idea of sustainability is also realised in the preservation of traditional handicrafts, bearers of virtuous gestures towards the environment. For this reason, CMO works to protect the rarest handicrafts, made in remote villages, with the use of unique plant fibres and ancient craft techniques, often handed down from father to son. CMO thus offers its contribution in perpetuating these unique skills, so that this wealth is not lost to industrialisation.
From nature to the craftsman, who works it in a strictly manual way. This is the ‘short chain’ that passes through the fibre before it undergoes hours of processing, during which the craftsman puts all his know-how at the service of a fabric that often requires a whole day’s work to be made. Nature, after all, demands patience, a virtue that characterises the craft of spinning the fabric, twisting, weaving or braiding the threads.
Among the wallcoverings in the collection is Wall Rafia 3, this material allows the composition of real handcrafted paintings to penetrate. In these creations, ingenuity is everywhere, guiding the craftsman’s hand to create surprising patterns and volumes: rosettes distributed in zigzags, overlapping fringes of Polynesian inspiration and a totem motif. Wall Palm 2 allows the palm tree to be presented in its sophisticated version. Still crowned by its natural authenticity, it is woven here in a fine, dense weave, carried by the craftsman into a world that exudes refinement. The fibre appears in its most minute details, along every millimetre, worked following a virtuous know-how where even the pigments vibrate, through a delicate and sublime palette: natural, chalk, taupe, sand, nude.
Among the fabrics, on the other hand, Abaca 2 stands out, characterised by organic and architectural shapes, smoothed by hand with shells, and in which the fruit of an ancestral encounter between man and his environment is perceived. These creations are suitable for wall panels, screens or furniture, but are not intended for curtains.
In the Palm 2 creations, the palm expresses its authenticity through visual weaves: striped, mottled and woven on traditional looms, it remains a timeless and delicate natural material. The craftsman reveals its purity and finesse while at the same time exploiting the unique advantage of light to give the piece real depth. Source instead focuses on a world of softness embodied by linen, silk, cashmere and wool. These natural fibres express all their delicacy and warmth in this collection, with enveloping textures that boast great comfort and an element of contrast combined with the raw strength of the fibre. Authentic comfort in close contact with nature and rare craftsmanship.
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