Bag, Medium bag, 2015, textile designed 1997

During her years as the head of research and development for the Milan silk weaving firm Mantero Seta, Luisa Cevese became discouraged by the constant production of waste, especially selvedge waste. In industrial weaving, the weft is typically shot across on a jet of air, leaving a tail on each side. A blade running alongside the newly woven fabric cuts off this “false selvedge”; typically it falls into a basket or bucket beside the loom or is wound on a cone. In a modern textile mill, 4% of the weft thread is wasted.
Cevese started her brand, Riedizioni, or re-editions, working exclusively with these selvedges, embedding them in polyurethane to make a durable, waterproof material for totes, purses and wallets. Today her concept has become so widely admired that she is invited to collaborate with mills around the world, with waste products as diverse as damaged fisherman’s nets, leftover lurex, and bran hulls from a Parisian bakery. But selvedges remain her favored material. This so-called industrial waste looks like a fringe of silk, and Cevese uses it to make colorful, irregular stripes which contrast with the milky translucence of the polyurethane she embeds them in. The unexpected juxtaposition of a precious luxury material and one that is considered functional and cheap also appeals to her, creating a hybrid material that elevates the value of both components.

Bag, Medium bag, 2015, textile designed 1997; Designed by Luisa Cevese (Italian, b. 1955); Manufactured by Luisa Cevese Riedizioni; silk, polyurethane; H x W x D: 48.3 × 43.2 × 11.4 cm (19 × 17 × 4 1/2 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2017-42-1