Zuccon International Project and textiles company Dedar launch an important new collaboration with the creation of the GEA collections, a selection of new natural fabrics that form part of the Rome-based firm’s wide-ranging stylistic research effort in the field of interior design.

The ongoing process of creative research and experimentation with different scenarios pursued over the years by Zuccon International Project recognises that Dedar – the Italian textiles company and a top industry player with its state-of-the-art fabrics – is its ideal partner for exploring in greater depth the important subject of materiality and the conversation around fabrics whose naturalness, spontaneity and strong decorative impact become central, signature elements.

“I’m very pleased with this encounter with Dedar. First of all, it’s a company with a growth and development path very similar to our own, starting with the date of its foundation, in 1976, when my parents (naval architects Gianni Zuccon and Paola Galeazzi) designed their first boat, but it’s also one in which I find a strong affinity in terms of sustainability, linked to a corporate work ethic that’s very important for our company,” said Bernardo Zuccon.

The partnership process began with Zuccon’s desire to focus on certain types of materials already used by Dedar, with the aim of pointing up the theme of nature in this collection of fabrics. They are fabrics that embody the desire to return to the origin of the material, completely abandoning the concept of pure decoration in order to rediscover in certain fabrics – through the combination of different fibres or using a different percentage of cellulose – an almost primitive form that itself becomes the focus of the stylistic message.

Born out of this is the collection named GEA – the Italian for Gaea, the goddess of the earth and the origin of life in Greek mythology – which features three different fabrics selected from the range and customised by Zuccon with a series of special colours.

“GEA testifies to a return to a more primitive image,” explains Bernardo Zuccon. We’ve adapted this collection into three sub collections – Teti, Phoebe and Arge [Tethys, Phoebe, Arges] – the names of three of Gaea and Uranus’s children. Tethys and Phoebe were two titans, while Arges was a cyclops. These names represent the meaning of this creative exploration: Tethys, wife of Oceanus, represents the bond with the world of the sea and we’ve assigned to it all the most neutral colours. To Phoebe they attribute the founding of the oracle at Delphi and to this we’ve associated the warmest colours: beige and brown. The Arge collection – for the cyclops they said made Zeus’s lightning bolts and was an excellent blacksmith – is associated with the darker colours, including dark grey, black and dark brown. In this play of materials, our focus has been on a series of assessment parameters: strength, the ability to adapt to damp environments as found on boats, and durability, with many fabrics originating from recycled materials. The materials chosen are made of natural fibres, particularly linen and cotton, which are the most common elements in the collection, but also Topinambour silk with its strongly accentuated materiality. There are also different types of fabric, such as jacquard, that give the yarn a three-dimensional feel, which is a feature perfectly in line with the style we’re looking for.”

Alongside Gea, as well as selecting fabrics already in the Dedar range, Zuccon has created a new pattern, Arké, a name that defines the concept of principle and origin, the primigenial power that dominates the world, a connection with the elements that represent nature: air, water, earth and fire.  This symbology was applied within the fabric that defines this pattern composed of a linen yarn and a polyurethane thread that defines the design. “I didn’t want to work on a design that was only aesthetic, but wanted to create a pattern that reconnects to the story telling in this collection. The idea at the core of this project doesn’t want to be linked exclusively to a message but tries to act as the narrative of a wider-ranging research path in which the authenticity of the material becomes the protagonist.”

Arké is presented in three colours: Terra di San, Avorio d’Africa and Spago Diligo.