Luca Missoni in his family's factory in Varese, Italy.
Luca Missoni is the son of Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, who founded the Italian fashion house in 1953. He grew up playing in the factory and began designing his own motifs at an early age. Today, he helps run the company—which now includes home furnishings and hotels—and also directs the Missoni Archive.
Last May, Home & Design caught up with Luca at the Washington Design Center, where he spoke to a full house and revealed Missoni Home’s 2012 line, available in DC at Stark.
How are you inspired to create a new textile?
To create a surface that has depth and feels three-dimensional, you can use color or contrast or the texture itself. It all refers to organic, natural things like rocks, woods, stones, flowers. Between art and nature there’s plenty of inspiration.
What new materials are on the
forefront in textile design?
The history of textiles is so vast and already refined to a point that it’s difficult to find something new. There are some interesting developments in the arts and also in the practical design of objects made from things like plastic bottles or recycled cans. We are not much into those things, but it’s fun to see them as the new organic kind of material.
How much planning goes into the process?
Textiles are always interesting because you never know what you’re going to come up with. Experimenting is the most fun because you make unexpected discoveries. It’s about trying to get an idea with color or pattern to use maybe as a towel, or as a carpet, or as a coat. In the end, experimenting is the most important thing.