This is why the traditional “white fair” takes place just after the Christmas festivities, and no longer only concerns brides-to-be, who were once intent on setting out trousseaus, but enthuses all lovers of home textiles.
At the beginning of the year, moreover, the invitation is to throw out the old to make room for the new, and worn-out household objects are but a metaphor for a broader meaning (remember decluttering , as a start to tidying up?). It is no coincidence that, under the label “fiera del bianco”, the market offers bargains not to be missed, precisely for household linen and textiles. fiera del bianco home textiles
In photo - white fair home carpets
Traditionally, this was the period preceding the wedding season, and thus the time of maximum work for the preparation of trousseaus, a custom still handed down albeit with appropriate modifications.The wedding trousseau included everything needed for optimal housekeeping: sheets, bedspreads, nightgowns, towels, bathroom mats, dish towels and tablecloths.
Today, well beyond wedding engagements, we can all participate in new white fairs, discovering current promotions on all products in this much-loved sector.
Pictured - strictly white
white fair the home carpets Fabrics fascinate with colours, textures, “falls”, they give a tactile pleasure, even before the visual.Between clothes and home textiles, we may not realise that we are constantly surrounded by textiles in our lives and in our daily lives. And so it has been since ancient times.
Spinning and weaving - wool, cotton, linen and silk - are fundamental arts. It seems that the first loom (a heald comb loom) dates back to at least 2000 B.C. in Egypt, but the earliest known yarns, with which ropes, nets or cloth were made, date back at least 34,000 years.
It is the “feminine” art par excellence, perhaps because it is an activity compatible with being at home and looking after children.
In ancient Greece, all women, from goddesses to queens and even slaves, were dedicated to weaving.
The most famous is perhaps Penelope, with her ingenious web stunt, as recounted in the Odyssey. The queen, left alone in her palace in Ithaca, only agreed to a new marriage once she had finished a cloth that she wove by day and unravelled by night.
With this celebrated stratagem, she deceived the princes pretending to the throne, and was able to prolong the wait for the return of her king, Ulysses, proving herself cunning as well as faithful.
In photo - Penelope's web
The history of the world through weaving
Tracing the history of weaving, and of textiles in cotton in particular, means touching the history of the whole world, so much is present in time and in all peoples.A fascinating story that serves as a “thread” for countless episodes.
In modern times, those opening with the discovery of the New Continent, we find the first links between India, Europe and the Americas.
The great American plantations grew from a seed that came from the sea route to India discovered by Vasco de Gama in 1497, who circumnavigated the Cape of Good Hope.
Cotton cloth produced there quickly became fashionable in Europe. The cotton cloth was called “Indian calico” or “cottonine”, a fabric that crept into the homes, wardrobes and “even the beds” of English ladies, as some commentators of the time irritatedly remarked. In 1766, cotton accounted for 75% of the British East India Company's exports.
Inextricably linked to the history of cotton is the whole story of slavery in America. Even cotton was the bargaining chip for the odious market in human beings that made this industry possible.
In photo - the designer bathroom rugs Olive
Cotton, innovation, industry
The key to the success of the cotton fabrics market was the technological innovation that was stimulated in the 18th century by spinning and weaving. It was realised that faster and cheaper industrial processes had to be aimed for, in a competition between European industries and Indian producers.In England, the first flying bobbin (1733), the multiple spinning machine (1764), the water loom (1769), the steam spinning machine (1774) and Edmund Cartwright's mechanical loom (1785), the first steam-powered textile machine, were invented.
Thanks to these inventions, the time for spinning was reduced by up to 50 times compared to the manual work still carried out by the Indians, and the cost of English cloth was lowered, making European products absolutely competitive.
British industry prospered and conquered the entire world market. In 1862 the country was home to two-thirds of the world's spinning mills, and as much as one-fifth of the population was involved in the textile industry, which produced about 50% of exports.
While the British product was extremely competitive against Indian competition, the critical factor was the supply of raw material, which came from the colonies.
Colonies and mass production
Until the 19th century, cotton processing was only one of the household budget items, a supplement to the farmers’ income.The colonialists, on the other hand, needed more consistent and regular production.
The factories in the cities could only work well if there was a constant supply of cotton. In 1850, cotton accounted for 60% of American exports. The 80% of the cotton used in England came from North America.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, in response to the ‘hunger’ of British factories, cotton became intensively cultivated. Consequently, the slave population grew disproportionately, doubling in Georgia by 1790, and tripling in South Carolina.
“Slavery and cotton are the warp and woof of American success” reads an editorial in “The American Cotton Planter” in 1853. The emancipation sanctioned - only on paper - by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the Civil War, did not stop the cotton industry, which instead began a new era in America: that of domestic production.
From being an export commodity, cotton began to be processed in textile mills located directly on the plantations. The fabrics produced there became considerably cheaper than those in England.
Pictured - the mechanical looms also used to create carpets for the home
Weaving in Italy
And in Italy? In the 13th century cotton was certainly known, actually not much used, because wool and silk were preferred, but its trade was flourishing.In Cortona and Arezzo there are factories where cotton was processed. Jumping back centuries, we arrive at the cotton crisis of the American Civil War, which had serious repercussions on European industry.
The unification of Italy (1861) made it possible to eliminate duties between states, and the domestic market became very fruitful, although not very competitive compared to the productions of other countries, so much so that to stem the competition the Italian government in 1887 decided to place a heavy duty on foreign manufactured goods.
Local industry was able to satisfy domestic demand, and this grew, thanks to the emergence of a new taste at the end of the century that favoured cotton over linen. One way out of the English competition were the markets of the countries where our emigration was directed, in particular Argentina, then undergoing great industrial expansion and with massive Italian emigration.
A trade cooperation agreement was soon established between the two states. Cotton cultivation in Argentina increased from 3300 hectares in 1914 to over 62000 in 1923.
Italian textile exports rose from just under 2000 quintals in 1874 to over 267 thousand in 1910, and to 585 thousand in 1928. A large number of workers were also leaving Italy, the skilled labour that the textile industry needed.
In photos - Italian emigration
Do you like these carpets?
Do you want to know your nearest dealer?Enter your postcode and your e-mail address to receive a list of shops in your area.
Error: Contact form not found.
