When Patrizia Mosconi was designing the logo of Home – the division dedicated to furnishig and styiling of Gentili Mosconi – she took inspiration by the Italian Navy training vessel, the Amerigo Vespucci, as the model for the stylised tall ship she needed. “My father made scarves, ties and other personalised items for the Navy’s ships many years ago. I worked in that sector.
They were given as gifts to guests and visitors or enthusiasts would buy them as souvenirs. One of the ships was the Amerigo Vespucci. I even sailed aboard her and that world stayed in my heart,” she says before describing how she and her husband Francesco Gentili set up the original luxury textile company in 1988.
“Francesco and I started off in one room. Everyone thought we were crazy,” she laughs. Today, Gentili Mosconi is one of Italy’s leading manufacturers of haute gamme fabrics and accessories. “Then came high fashion,” she adds a mysterious expression on her face, remaining tight-lipped on the subject of who exactly the company’s designer clients are. However, her smile says it all: big names each and every one.
Ten years ago, driven by her passion for creativity, Mosconi launched the company’s Home division. “Working in fashion meant we had an entirely different visual than anyone working in furnishing where the themes tend to be pretty basic. One year flowery prints will be in, the next year it’ll be stripes. But at the top end of the fashion work, everything is extremely dynamic. You experiment, you invent, you create innovative new textiles and combinations. So we were doing stuff we thought was gorgeous and we decided to make it available for interiors too”. It proved the perfect move as these days, high fashion and soft furnishings go hand-in-glove. But the passion for the sea and boats still burned.
“I immediately tried to get an entrée into the nautical work. Some of my earliest jobs were for the Ferretti Group and I also did Norberto Ferretti’s yacht too. But my first ever yacht was a Pershing.
Other yards, owners and yacht designers followed and now I’d say we’ve worked on a few hundred in all”. Those craft span everything from Itamas to Rivas, Ferrettis, Mochis, Custom Lines and even a Palmer Johnson.
“How do we start? It depends. It might be that the owner comes to us directly or maybe the yard. Then we bring them our work which is displayed in their showroom. Sometimes the owner wants to keep things absolutely secret so the yard sends us samples of the materials used aboard – for the floors, furnishings, and so forth. And then I create the boat. I work with four others – all the staff in the Home division are women. We do a presentation with hand-drawn sketches. I love drawing my creations myself.
Or sometimes we’ll do 3D with fabric samples and the sequence of the various spaces. It’s the kind of work that affects the whole boat, accessories included. Even towels for the beach club. So there’s a sense of continuity not just in the colours but, most importantly, in the whole look. And that’s what lends elegance. That and using all kinds of textiles and combinations – even very unusual ones”. For one of her latest projects, Patrizia Mosconi was contacted personally by Tilli Antonelli for the Wider 150, for which she created a combination of linen, silk and horsehair.
“Well, for a bed coverlet for a Pershing we even soaked the fabric in mud! I love experimenting and doing things that are a little nuts!” she laughs.
Homes, boats and even yacht décor are all in Patrizia Mosconi’s future. “I would love it. I adore solid wood but I also like using all kinds of different materials.” Various shades of grey, brown accents, petrol blue, orange contrasts are favourites.
But most of all Mosconi adores natural colours. “When I am looking for variation for a textile, I just look out the window. The good Lord was really an artist when it came to creating the endless hues of nature, so I always find what I need to help me create. Because I love giving expressing the creativity I’ve been given”.
