Colors that grow with time

Hand-dyed fabric by Bertozzi

Bertozzi生產的桌布、圍裙、布包等,印上了美麗的圖案,有時是簡單的方塊或直線,有時則是細緻的花草。它們都非結結實實的,方塊的輕輕柔柔的漂浮在布料裡,浮沉之處有著多變的深淺色彩。至於葉薊圖案的,邊線或清晰或模糊,雖說不上不平均,卻有著微妙的差異。另外,一系列漸變色彩的,桃紅的、紫的、藍的,各自模擬著大自然,桃紅是花卉仙客來、紫是龍膽、藍是深海,色彩全都是隨意交疊著的。

如此自然而然的變化,非機械能做出來,而需由工匠親手印製而成。Bertozzi的歷史近百年,於意大利Bologna近郊的小城鎮創立,當地自民藝復興時,便開始在手雕的木板上塗上漆料,為布料印上圖案或染色。Bertozzi繼承了這手工藝,並將之應用在現代的生活製品之上。因為採用的是麻布,顏色尤其易於滲透在纖維之內,融和在作品之上,看來溫暖而充滿人情味。

雖是人手製作,Bertozzi卻不追求精緻又或巧奪天工的技術,他們寧願成品上的色彩看來是斑駁的、如水彩畫般化開的,更重要的是「久經歷練的」。精巧容易破損,世故的反而歷久常新。

Textile products like table cloth, apron and fabric bag all come with beautiful patterns, which could be simple geometric designs or fine floral prints. Instead of hardline color, the geometric patterns are outlined with fading color, which let them float daintily on the fabric. Similarly, the floral patterns are not drawn in a precise manner, but irregularly swinging between the subtle difference of sharp and blurry edges. The gradients of cherry, purple or blue color that imitate the colors of nature — the pink of Persian cyclamen, the purple of Korean gentian, and the blue of the deep blue sea — and randomly intersect with one another.

As machines are incapable of producing an organic presentation, the fabric has to be printed by the hands of artisans. The history of Bertozzi can be traced back to almost a hundred years ago in a small town near Bologna in Italy. The town has been practicing the technique of printing on or dying fabric with hand-carving stamps from blocks of wood from as early as the Renaissance. Colour can be easily absorbed as linen is used, and gives the fabric products a warm and heartfelt nature.

Bertozzi does not aspire to impress the world with exquisite and phenomenal techniques. The artisans allow the colour to freely spread and intersect on the fabric as if painting with watercolor on canvas, and because delicacy is fragile, only the sophisticated ones, as Bertozzi endeavors, can grow with time.

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