The art of hat-making
This book takes its readers on a journey through Italian fashion history – hat-making history, to be exact – and all through the lens of photographer Giovanni Previdi’s SX-70 Polaroid camera. He followed milliner Cappellificio Cervo over a period of several weeks in the picturesque Cervo valley of the Biella province to capture these extraordinary images. Capturing the essence of the textures and color intensities found in the natural fibers used to create unique pieces, The Art of Hat Making reflects on the importance of reembracing quality and durability to counter global fast fashion. Like his polaroids, photographer Giovanni Previdi highlights the art of patience and perfection to confront conveyor-belt philosophies.
Cappellificio Cervo is to the world of millinery what the analog camera is to the world of photography: a place of return to fine art and inimitable craftsmanship. It is the artistic integrity of this historic institution dating back to 1897, that photographer Giovanni Previdi has documented so beautifully in The Art of Hat-Making. Previdi spent several weeks following the ins and outs of the company’s hat-making process, focusing his camera on the ritual of seemingly simple gestures at the hand of makers whose craft was honed over generations. All this, in the picturesque Cervo valley of the Biella province, where the pure, uncontaminated water plays an important role in the making of both ordinary and high fashion hats.
Based in Bologna (Italy), Giovanni Previdi is a bookseller who discovered his love for photography upon purchasing his SX-70 Land Camera on eBay. Intrigued by the idea that an instant photo is not reproducible, he shoots most of his work on an instant or film camera. His photos have appeared in Italy’s biggest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, the official Polaroid Book (Chronicle Chroma, Los Angeles 2021) and Vogue. . Several of his portraits were displayed at the ImageNation International Photo Exhibition in Milan (2022).
Artist Review: Guillaume Sardin
Guillaume Sardin occupies an artistic space of wonder that is at once disciplined and childlike. A space where the warmth of a human hand overrides digital perfection, and the characteristic whimsy of his “narrative drawings” belie the deep skill that goes into the studied relaxedness of every line.
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