Cristina Mariani

MEET THE MAKER

I am a textile artist specializing in contemporary tapestry, with experience in hand and jacquard weaving, embroidery, natural dyeing and shibori. I collaborate with museums and galleries exhibiting my works in Italy and abroad, for about a year also with the fashion house Jil Sander for the creation of prototypes and unique or limited series pieces. I teach tapestry and weaving courses. I continuously deepen the textile culture in every aspect, from the artisan and technical-design to the artistic and anthropological one.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE PART OF CRAFTING BUSINESS PROGRAMME?

Because currently I feel lost, I can’t find new clients and develop useful strategies for my business, I don’t lack creative ideas and technical skills but I often feel disconnected from the world of work and from colleagues, reluctant to actively network. I believe that a refresher program that delves into issues of promotion, marketing, finance and communication can be the support I need to continue to believe in my dream.

WHAT ARE YOUR FEEDBACKS?

I very much appreciated the opportunity to participate even though I am not an experienced artisan company but an artist / craftswoman who is trying to give body and structure to her idea of ​​a business amid a thousand difficulties and doubts. The tools offered for this purpose were many and extremely useful, especially the marketing part of which I was rather fast. I would have liked to participate more actively but the format and time did not allow me, I prefer to calmly look at the materials and possibly write and ask for explanations. It would be nice to network between artisans and designers who have followed the course.

Given my training (contemporary art + weaving on a technical level) I found it particularly useful to apply the Design Strategy to the development of a project: the use of mood boards and the visualization of emotions are little or no practices used in art, only the final stage of development is declared (preparatory drawings, the study of materials) which immediately translates into the work, direct expression of concepts and intuitions. The error, the reconsideration, the deviations are natural accidents of the path, there is a component of “faith” in the process. The risk is to apply this “non-strategy”, since it is the only one that is known, to a business idea making it totally ineffective. The business idea needs clarity, coherence, and strategy.

FIVE THINGS YOU’LL BRING WITH YOU FROM THE EXPERIENCE:

• Writing my goals allows me to be clear and consistent, my Statement of Purpose helps me like a compass
• Creating mood boards and visualizing emotions helps me develop my product better
• The formal and value heritage of tradition can be reinterpreted in line with contemporary trends
• Marketing is not something exclusively linked to production and sales but represents the culture of knowing customers and their values
• Jean Blancheart’s phrase “I’m a pirate, I like to cross the boundaries between art and crafts without showing my passport“