A few weeks ago I travelled to Assisi, in central Italy, to visit Clouds, the knitwear factory that will be producing my work for the “Moda Futuribile” project.

Assisi is the native town of Saint Francis, a small, quaint village located on the western flank of Mount Subasio.

It has breath taking views over the surrounding countryside and an incredibly silent, spiritual atmosphere.

You can see Assisi from miles away as you’re driving on the motorway, it stands out as a white congregation of buildings on top of the mountain.

The whole town is built from this local white stone that I found particularly interesting: layers of hand carved slithers of rocks, thicker bricks eroded by time and smooth, long marble columns with finely sculpted incisions.

The architecture of Assisi made me think of chunky, felted knits, with organic, yet strong structures, like this Iris Van Herpen magnetic dress. 

The Dutch fashion designer collaborated with Jolan Van Der Wiel to create this new material from iron filings, resin and magnetic forces.

I also absolutely love these sculptures by Hirotoshi Ito: the stones he uses in his work become a malleable, soft material that fools our senses, a new substance created by a knowledgeable alchemist.

This garment from Issey Miyake s/s1985’s collection is very evocative as well, its light, quasi ethereal silhouettes suggests ideas of an ancient, strong rock.

I also really like the geometric simplicity of this cardigan by Anntian.

www.carlovolpi.co.uk