Six hands to turn paintings into wearable works of art. Miriam, Arianna and Teresa Gardoni are three sisters, architects, protagonists of CNA Storie of July.
But the real protagonist is him: grandfather Vincenzo, an Espressionist painter who passed on dozens of sketches and canvases to his granddaughters, which are now revived, reinterpreted by the three sisters on precious silks, in the form of scarves sold around the world.
“Our work is a remix of what is Vincenzo Gardoni’s production,” Miriam explains. “We transform his paintings and give life to new stories. Stories that are printed on different media, particularly silk.” In the center of Parma, in Piazza della Steccata, one of the city’s most characteristic squares, the Gardoni sisters have turned the same atelier where their grandfather loved to paint his canvases into a workshop.
For Miriam, Arianna and Teresa, Parma and the territory are synonymous with belonging and at the same time with a drive toward new markets. “The idea of art that travels the world allowed us to create a collaboration with a company in Parma, standard bearer of made in Italy, which believes in the value of the territory. It saw in the artwork and remix of us Gardoni sisters a way to convey beauty, genuineness, attention to the environment and the territory.”
It saw in the artwork and remix of us Gardoni sisters a way to convey beauty, genuineness, attention to the environment and the territory
Gardoni silks are the synthesis of high craftsmanship and innovation. “We use digital processes to make the designs, but hands are always the support to get from conception to finished product. We call ourselves artisans because our training is manual, linked to “savoir-faire”: just as it used to be done. We call ourselves digital artisans because we are a bridge between artisans with the professionalism and background most rooted with the past and young people, who want to approach this world,” Miriam explains.
And it is from the meeting with CNA Giovani Imprenditori that Miriam has had the opportunity to pick up many insights for her business. “It is a relationship of collaboration, but also of great exchange, which allows us to know different realities, but also similar to ours. A path that allows to increase one’s skills, encourages exchange, collaboration, always in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship, linked to the environment, welfare…”
From this overlook on Piazza della Steccata Vincenzo Gardoni found inspiration for his works. “Besides painting, he had a large production of writings,” Miriam recounts. Among his writings we found the desire to pass on this artistic work so that we could make something extraordinary out of it and spread it. We feel this responsibility to continue into the future, always accompanied by his memory, but also by his great desire. Which is the first engine that moves us.”
