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TALKING WITH CHIARASTELLA CATTANA
At the end of a long, quiet salizzada that forks into two, Chiarastella Cattana’s curated boutique of textile and homewares invited us in. We were struck by Cattana’s ability to connect her own designs to other makers throughout Italy, from rug makers employing centuries-old techniques to glass blowers pushing the boundaries of contemporary design. Chiarastella’s deep knowledge of and appreciation for Italian craft is obvious. She loves to reinterpret classical technique with a modern sensibility, including in embroidery and weaving. Her linens and textiles feel effortless and light, the perfect backdrop for summer meals and lazing around outside.
What is your name?
Chiarastella Cattana
Where were you born?
Milan
Do you have a favourite street to cross?
My favourite “street,” though in Venice we really only have one that is literally called “street”; everything else is a calle, a fondamenta or a salizzada, is the Zattere, the long fondamenta along the Giudecca canal leading towards Punta della Dogana and opening onto the Savn Marco basin, from where you reach the church of Santa Maria della Salute. Living in Venice changes your idea of walking: you are in a city, but moving on foot is your primary way of crossing it, so even when you walk fast you are still, in a way, strolling. On the Zattere you do this with your eyes running along the water; your gaze can travel far, and the walk keeps offering ever-changing views, colours and impressions, depending on the weather, the time of day. It is without doubt my favourite promenade.
What do you like most about Venice? (Or can you give us a reason to stay in Venice, and a reason to leave?)
I moved to Venice for love, coming from Milan, and the change was decisive. Venice is many things at once: it feels like a journey through time. Here nature, the lagoon and centuries of human craftsmanship come together to create what feels like an ideal city. As Le Corbusier said, Venice is “a miracle” and “a treasure on a human scale”, a model for every city of the future. Living here, you learn to feel the elements , the water, the tides, the winds , as part of your everyday life. I would leave for two reasons. The first concerns the way Venice is governed: its administration has not yet found the courage or the vision to truly safeguard this extraordinary treasure of humanity. The second is mass tourism, in which the less admirable sides of human behaviour tend to prevail, and the city is too often treated as an amusement park where plastic waste and a pervasive lack of respect dominate.
Can you name something representative of excellent craft?
For me, excellence lies in everything that is done by hand. We love embroidery, and I have been experimenting with classical stitches and techniques within a modern aesthetic. We have created light linen curtains where hand embroidery reveals the light through carefully placed openwork details. We are now working on a collection of contemporary embroidered cushions, each design like a photograph of the present translated into thread. At the heart of all this is the idea of excellence, and of always working with care, slowness and respect.
What’s one thing you consider aspirational?
What feels most aspirational to me is to keep building an ideal way of working, sharing my everyday life with my team, sharing and passing on knowledge, and continually raising the standard of what we do together.
