from €98.77
With this Club we thought it was time to talk about one of our favourite places, Genoa, the city where our journey began and which somehow remains in our inspirations like a background.
We'd love to take you by the hand through the creuze of this city full of treasures to discover, which seems as impenetrable as the faces of its inhabitants, faces of sailors burnt by the wind and the sun, faces of people who arrive here from everywhere and sometimes stop because they are enchanted by it.
Genoa with the scent of sea and jasmine, with the hubbub and scent of focaccia from the alleys and the sound of ships in the distance. Made of steps, caruggi, sea-view terraces adorned with herbs.
Genoa is made of stone and slate but it is filled with colour in the walls of the old city, and in the evening it is bathed in the clear blue of the sky reflecting on the dark sea, immediately deep because the seabed is made of cliffs.
Thinking of these twilight colours, we searched through the works collected by The Genoeser Association, which tell the story of Genoa through the eyes of artists from all over the world, and found the perfect illustration for the mood we had in mind, PICA's Opera No. 8.
In Genoa, the cuisine is traditionally simple, flavoured by many wild herbs like Thyme, which become sovereign like Basil, or which arrived by ship in the Middle Ages like Marjoram, which is called erba persa here because it is said to have come from Persia.
So we thought we would also put some of these wonderful “smells” to tell the story of our city, in the form of seed bombs made of recycled paper, which you just have to plant and wait for them to germinate to savour their essences. La Casa di Tania prepared these bombs for us with a mix of herbs dedicated to this club.
The bombs will arrive enclosed in a delicious jar... which is actually not a jar!
Agnes Ceramics made these powder-blue enamelled stoneware cups for us, which are perfect for having a coffee... in Genoa, breakfast is usually focaccia and coffee... but you can use it however you like.
What you find in the Club:
It is possible to add other skeins in the special colour we have created, just choose from the drop-down menu.
Shipments will take place from 23/6
Collaborations for this Club:
We have been following the works published by The Genoeser Association for a long time, because they manage to tell the story of our city through mixed visual arts works with the most diverse styles... and it seems to us a perfect idea to collect all the facets of Genoa, which reveals itself among hidden glimpses, alleys and shadows. The illustration we chose is described this way by the artist, Carlos Lalvay Estrada.
We are great lovers of mugs in all shapes and forms, and of more or less long breaks even just for a coffee. Agnese's style in making her collections convinced us immediately, because it is simple and essential, made to work but at the same time has the beauty and uniqueness of the handmade. We felt that these values were a great fit with the theme of Genoa, partly because of the colour... although in fact all those in her collection were perfect to evoke this mood, partly because of the spirit of freedom and functionality that is really part of being Genoese.
We had been saving the idea of the “seed bomb” for a while and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to send, through our club, a little bit of the scents and flavours of our land around the world. Tania makes these bespoke bombs and was invaluable to us as she created each promise-filled sphere from recycled paper.
A special title for this club:
The Muri de Mainae are the faces of sailors, sung by Fabrizio De André in that great poem that is Creuza de Mä. They are the scarred faces of those who live at the mercy of the sea and the wind, inscrutable, with their gaze always turned to the horizon, wanting to return to land but always dreaming of setting off again towards new creuze - be they the cobbled, sloping streets bordered by walls, or the silvery streaks that the wind creates on the surface of the sea, taking us on real or imaginary journeys.
We recommend that all yarn is washed by hand. This ensures it’ll be beautiful for as long as possible and will wear well. When you’ve finished your project, dunk it in a sink of lukewarm water – with a no rinse wool wash if that takes your fancy, leave it to saturate for a while, then roll it up in a towel to squeeze out excess water and pin out flat to dry.
As with all textiles and all yarn, sometimes colour can come out. It can be caused by a difference in the water ph used to wash the item, detergents, or an over-saturation of dye that hasn’t quite finished rinsing out.
All of our hand dyed yarn is rinsed by hand in the sink, and each batch is soaked, then individual skeins are rinsed to make sure no colour bleeds. This isn’t foolproof though, and occasionally skeins in darker colours can bleed a little. In case it happens simply put your yarn or finished item in a pan (that you won’t use for food), add water and a generous glug or vinegar or citric acid, and then slowly bring up to heat. It should be simmering but not boiling. Then turn the heat off, put a lid on the pan, and leave it – ideally overnight. You should find that the water is now clear, and all that remains is to rinse your yarn. If the water isn’t quite clear, rinse it anyway – much like with hair dye, there can be excess dye which needs to run off.
