Tutta Foglia: the bespoke blanket for the winter terrace

The third and final chapter of Marta Lavinia Carboni's capsule collection for Senato Hotel Milano.

TUTTA FOGLIA is a blanket in 100% extra fine virgin merino wool designed by Marta Lavinia Carboni and produced by Lanificio Leo for the charming dehors of Senato Hotel Milano.
 
The Italian designer, who grew up between London, Paris, and Milan, where she now lives and works, has this time furnished the hotel's outdoor spaces with a precious blanket made by Lanificio Leo, the oldest textile factory in Calabria, founded in 1973.
 
We interviewed her to find out about the inspiration behind the project.

How did you come up with the idea of making a blanket?
  
Senato Hotel Milano has a wonderful indoor garden where, even in winter, you can enjoy a cup of herbal tea or a glass of wine in contact with nature. I had recently collaborated with Lanificio Leo on another project, and the idea of a blanket for hotel guests to wrap themselves in when they want to be outside, even on days when the air is colder, came naturally to me.

Why green?
 
The idea was to tell the story of the ginkgo leaf, a symbol of the hotel, through the evolution of color as it grows. The leaf is born with green leaves that slowly turn to a bright yellow. It was this peculiarity of the leaf that led Goethe to call the Ginkgo Biloba "a plant which is all a leaf", hence the inscription on the side of the blanket.
 
The fan shape makes it distinctive and it is a symbol of hope, rebirth, and resilience, but it was the color change that fascinated me and I wanted to tell the story through the blanket. Normally the leaves change color with the arrival of autumn, but they fade a little, instead, the Ginkgo is as if it lights up.

How is it processed?
 
Lanificio Leo has a century-old tradition and is an excellent combination of traditional know-how and innovation. In the case of Tutta Foglia, the blanket is produced on an electronic knitting machine using a jacquard piqué technique with three colors, two green and one yellow, which are woven together to create the shade.
The design, made by hand or computer, is processed in bitmap and then transferred to textile cad, where each pixel of color becomes a gesture that the thread will make on the needle.

Discover Marta Lavinia Carboni's other projects for Senato Hotel Milano
Piatto Unico
Senato Mug