The collection is called Gesto, Architecture of the Hand. It starts from the wicker weaving of Montecchio, a village near Orvieto. The idea was to take that weave off the clothes and build it at the scale of the room, as a corridor the guests walk through.

The set is a tunnel of wicker, twelve metres long and three and a half metres high. The strands rise from the floor along both sides, bend overhead and loosen into a tangle that hangs over the room. Inside it the mannequins stand in two rows, 1.70 metres apart, facing each other across the main passage. At the far end the stone steps of the hall stay clear, and the last look, a long dress in raffia fringe, stands alone on them under the arches.

Eight Minimal Lighting profiles sit inside the canopy, among the strands, so the light reaches the clothes through the wicker and drops its weave on the floor as a pattern of thin shadows. Small Astera lights run along the sides. The tone is warm and low, close to the colour of the straw. Around the tunnel the hall is held back, so the columns and the frescoed ceiling read as depth. Only the steps at the end take a cleaner frontal light.

The presentation was produced with Karla Otto. Innscena wove the wicker and built the tunnel. Ivan Russo was lighting designer for Blearred and Eleonora Peronetti set designer, with Cecilia Magnozzi as set assistant.

Photos courtesy of Karla Otto.

Twelve metres of straw, and one dress at the end.