Zegna, the new book "Born in Oasi Zegna" at Milan Design Week
“The second best thing we do is clothing. The first is Oasi Zegna" , this is the beginning of a journey through the pages of the new volume published by Rizzoli, "Born in Oasi Zegna", and in the history of the brand.
The cover is rough, and has veins that look like those of the bark of a tree; the first, of the over 500 thousand planted for the reforestation of Oasi Zegna , dates back to 1929. An immense project that extends for over 100 square kilometers between Trivero, Biella , where Ermenegildo Zegna 's company was founded in 1910, and Valle Cervo. And today it finds new life and inspiration in the pages of the book, "Born in Oasi Zegna" , published by Rizzoli , with the creative direction of Laura Decaminada. It will be presented in the Zegna Headquarters during the next Milan Design Week , with an immersive installation capable of transforming the pages into real places, to be explored, even through vegetation, so as to complete an ideal sensorial journey begun in the volume.
In fact, already from leafing through the pages, the book transmits strong sensations. Tactile, first of all, because it alternates different types of paper - FSC, certified environmentally friendly paper - which under the fingertips recall the softness of wool, from which in some cases it was obtained, which together with cashmere and vicuna are the signature of Piedmontese company. The book begins with a proclamation: «Born in Oasi Zegna» is the home of our values. It reveals our history, and the vision of Ermenegildo Zegna , who transformed ideas into fabrics, created a forest, a road and a community, creating the path where our journey began. His ecological thinking is at the heart of our company, and still lights our way to tomorrow." In fact, the presence of the founder is constant on the pages. We always see him impeccable, wearing a suit and Barbisio hat, with a walking stick. Or on the new Panoramica Zegna , (road no. 232 then under construction).
He had the driver leave him at the highest point to travel backwards, monitoring the progress of the work. And again in the years in which he launched social welfare policies, between 1932 and '39, when a medical center and an after-work club with sports facilities were created in the company for the workers, but also for his own community. All told with strokes of colour, photographs, and the moments of wool processing, details of tailored garments. And then the factory with the siren's whistle (handwritten on the photo) that calls the workers to gather, the sheep scattered across the expanses of Mongolia and the llamas of Peru. An analogue tool - this book - which becomes a contemporary container in the words - the texts are by Chidozie Obasi - and in the illustrations by Paolo Bacillieri, Cecilia Carlstedt, Giuseppe Ragazzini. And also because the story is read through (in the literal sense of the word) the pages which are transparent or translucent, or have small portholes that allow you to see the following ones.
Portholes that recall the transatlantic where Ermenegildo Zegna and his son Aldo , travelling to the United States, showed off their Italian-made clothes for the first time, before landing in the Big Apple in 1938, where they founded the Zegna Woollens Corporation , as told by comic "Ermenegildo Zegna's trip to New York" , inserted between the pages of the volume. Not the only insert, there are many others: such as reproductions of newspapers of the time, postcards from the past, advertisements from the 1980s (such as the one for silk balaclavas). All following the cycle of the seasons, which seem like those of life, in a loop that can be accessed at any point in the volume, opening it at random, playing, having fun discovering the many suggestions. The book, in fact, is not only a re-enactment of the past, even if we find the first Zegna logo or the first shop in '39, the ready-to-wear in '60, and the boutique in rue de la Paix in Paris in 1980 ; or the one in Beijing, the first of a men's luxury brand in China. And then the new century, with the creation of the Zegna Foundation and seven years later the Headquarters in Milan, designed by ACPV - Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel . The many fashion shows - also in the Oasis - and an ever closer connection with the world of art. And always with that of nature. The common thread remains the sense of responsibility towards the territory, which has been the guiding principle since its foundation, which over the years has brought together people and the environment, values (to be spread) and well-being, in an ethical model constantly seeking beauty. Seeds that have been entrusted to the earth to make them germinate through future generations, as an entrepreneur and as the guardian of a unique place. The Oasis is in fact a model of environmental awareness, among snow-covered landscapes and rhododendron blooms in the Biella Alps, guardian of biodiversity and expression of an enlightened way of doing industry. For this reason, they say «the second best thing we do is clothing. The first is the Oasi Zegna" .
