I
Margherita Bassani
born and raised in Milan, graduated from the European Institute of Design (IED) as an interior architect. I started working in the field of furniture, first in the family shop and then in 1985 with my Archi sign in the Ticinese area.
Here, having always been a lover of beauty and the new, I joined big brands of Italian design with small emerging artisan companies. Over time, I also began to include ethnic items, unique colonial and non-colonial pieces, which I went to find during my research trips between Bali, India and Morocco.
My clients worked in fashion, design, photography: soon Archi became an obligatory point of reference for those who wanted to design and furnish their home in the Milan of the 80s and 90s.
But I also had other projects ...
At that point, India had already conquered me: there, in fact, 5-6 months in a row each time for several years, I could meditate in peace, savoring the magic and mysticism that were breathed in the air. Today I can say it: it is a country that I have explored far and wide, from North to South, from East to West, almost always traveling alone, sleeping wherever it happens - from the jungle hut to the 5-star former residence of Marajà - all this using every possible means of transport: train, plane, bus, scooter, rickshaw, private car with driver. Wherever I turned, I couldn't help but admire and envy the beauty of local women, wrapped in their colorful saris: hence the irrepressible temptation to propose those colors, prints and fabrics in Italy too.
No sooner said than done! I wandered through the markets of Delhi, Jaipur and Bangalore in search of ideas, finding dozens of silk and cotton fabrics in the most unusual and amazing colors: transparent gauze, organza of precious silks in a thousand shades of color. At times exhausting and tiring searches that at a certain point led me to discover the existence of Khadi , the traditional fabric that is prized and revered by all Indians. For this reason, in 2000 I moved for three months to the rural state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India: an area particularly renowned for loom fabrics, thus settling in a small village to learn and closely follow all the processing on looms.
My "laboratory" was on the terrace of a house, surrounded by palm trees, banana trees and monkeys that occasionally swooped between us, messing up work and workers. An idyllic and decidedly natural situation where my first real production took shape: the most poetic and precious, born in the shade of the palm trees with only the noise of the looms, the birds singing, the children playing around there. The result was a unisex collection, minimalist and almost Zen, based on shirts and tunics, Thai fisherman's trousers and kurte (the typical Indian tunics with a Korean collar).
My first thousand items arrived from Madras to Genoa by sea, crammed into a container: a big gamble considering that I still didn't have the faintest idea of how and to whom I would sell all those goods!
Fortunately, I immediately found private individuals and shopkeepers who fell in love with my clothes, and so I was able to sell everything I had produced within a couple of months. So comforted, I returned to India and settled in Jaipur, the "Pink City" of Rajasthan. I began to produce fabrics with my designs, using the traditional block printing technique: wooden stamps carved with figures of flowers, leaves, animals or geometric designs, with which the artisans manually print the fabric after various color passes.
INDIA
“Those who love India know this: it is not clear exactly why they love it. She is dirty, she is poor, she is infected; sometimes she is a thief and a liar, often smelly, corrupt, merciless and indifferent. Yet, once you meet them, you can't do without them. It hurts to stay away from it. But such is love: instinctive, inexplicable, disinterested. In India other thoughts are thought ”. (Tiziano Terzani)
I fully agree with this beautiful description of Terzani. Yes, because I too have suffered the same indecipherable charm by visiting and experiencing that magnificent country. It happened in 1997, the year of my first visit to India. I started in search of myself: an inner journey started in a Maharashtra Commune, through meditation and awareness techniques, after which nothing was the same as before. It was the busiest six months of my life, where I also planted the seeds for Margo's birth.
So I found myself, almost for fun, buying some precious fabrics with which to make the first items of clothing. Yeah, but how? Luckily I came across a very good tailor who made the first models I designed: long organza skirts, silk shirt dresses, kimonos and trousers.
Result: I returned to Milan with a suitcase full of unique pieces and within a week I sold them all to my friends, enthusiastic and amazed at the same time by that precious exotic commodity. That was just the beginning of many other trips and as many suitcases that emptied in an instant when I returned: the first lucky sign of my future as a stylist and entrepreneur.
THE MARGO STYLE
A garment by Margo is inspired by a particular way of being: the freedom not to follow trends but rather to create your own style.
Colors and prints create a mix of tradition and innovation able to reveal the different souls of the wearer: from the minimal (purity of lines, fine fabrics, natural solid colors) to the romantic-folk (skirts and long summer dresses, bright colors , striped or floral prints); from Ethno-chic (kimono with traditional fabrics, Pantapalazzo, precious hand-embroidered shawls) to City Wear (plain-colored suit, trousers and shirt with a masculine cut).
All in the name of strictly natural fabrics in silk, cotton and wool.
Today you can find the Margo line in various points of sale throughout Italy: shops that are always attentive to the refinement of the product and its durability, to the uniqueness of prints and fabrics, to the sustainable craftsmanship behind it.