Loro Piana brings Argentinian tradition to Design Week with "Apacheta"

Loro Piana is known for cultivating a special relationship with the places farming the materials of their collections, from Cashmere from Mongolia to The Gift of Kings, and wool from Australia and New Zealand. From April 20 to 23, on the occasion of Milan Design Week, the brand's Interiors division has decided to host Argentinean artist Cristián Mohaded in its headquarters for the project "Apacheta," inside the Cortile della Seta, transforming the space into a fantastic reproduction of the Andes. It is a unique opportunity to learn more about the history that intertwines Italian tailoring and the Argentine mountains, accompanied by two outdoor installations in Piazzetta Brera and Via Montenapoleone, 27. 

The apacheta, giving their name to Mohaded's installation, originally originated as piles of stones that can still be encountered today on the numerous paths of the Andes. For centuries, adventurers stacked these rocks from the plains near high mountain passes as a sign of thanks to Pachamama. Over time, the large number of wayfarers who decided to pay homage to Mother Earth by adding a stone to the pile turned these into actual towers, a symbol that through its imposing height, irregularity, and strength of the rock reflects the intensity of the prayers of the adventurers who built them. Working with Loro Piana Interiors, Mohaded has captured the values of his land and the Maison creating an interior design project that imbues these naturalistic objects with timeless artistic relevance. «This project is undoubtedly another link between the brand and Latin America,» explained Mohaded, «a unique, dreamy landscape that challenges the imagination of each of those wandering souls, who travel and encounter those monumental tower-shaped constructions, animated by the colors and memory of living land. In which we feel represented by each of the parts that make up the whole. "Apacheta" is a message addressed to our Pachamama, it is history, it is culture, it is honesty and respect.»

The designer's hometown, Catamarca, is also the place where vicuña, the animal fibre protagonist of countless Loro Piana collections, comes from. This is the town that intertwines the brand's heritage to Mohaded's DNA, a connection celebrated during Design Week with innovative spirit. The savoir-faire of Loro Piana and the breathtaking beauty of the Argentine landscapes embrace in a warm encounter in Milan, erecting twelve towers of up to eight metres, covered with waste fabrics from previous Loro Piana Interiors collections. The dialogue between nature and tailoring is central to this project, but it also leaves room to shift the focus towards sustainability, demonstrating the regenerative role that circular fashion can play by reusing discarded materials. The twelve towers decorate the rooms of the Cortile della Seta together with sofas, poufs, benches and tables, elements that instead of creating visual conflicts with the landscape brought to life by Mohaded, fit harmoniously into the rural context, seeming themselves to be rocks, albeit characterised by soft wooden curves. To these materials is added ceramic, dyed in the typical shades of the Argentine lagoons, from red to white. 

Open to the public throughout Design Week, the installation represents an exceptional opportunity to visit the Loro Piana headquarters. In front of "Apacheta," visitors will be able to immerse themselves in a landscape far removed from the urban chaos of the city, thus becoming adventurers for a day. For the director of Loro Piana Interiors, Francesco Pergamo, the collaboration with Mohaded was the result of a shared passion for craftsmanship and materials research. «Everything he creates starts from this, and we thought he was the right artist to whom we could entrust our own materials,» said Pergamo, «when we saw the project, we were immediately certain that it went beyond expectations. Cristián managed not only to put all his magic into the materials, but also to infuse the design with all the values we shared.»