Lydie

I was born in Montreuil, near Paris France, in 1961 and my parents were keen adventurers and travellers. At the age of 13, they sent me on my own to my auntie. She was living on the isle of La Reunion…a real paradise of freedom where I stayed for a whole year. In the meantime, in Paris, my parents were working and studying in order to plan and organise a sailing trip around the world. Back in Paris, I spent 2 years finishing my studies and work small jobs In 1976, we all sail to Madeira, it should have been the start of our world trip but there were problems and both my parents had to go back to Paris to sort out the issues. I was again left on my own for 8 months, looking after our ship. The trip never happened…
Back in Paris again, surviving on small jobs, I spent all my free time dreaming about new and wonderful places where I would love to go. In 1981 I took the Paris-Florence train to visit a potter friend of mine but during the previous night I had an extraordinary dream where I saw soft and beautiful valleys and hill tops emerging from the mist…as I arrived in Tuscany, these images were in front of me and I knew deep inside, that I had found my new home.
This is where I met Rudi. The father of my two children is passionate about trees, he worked for a global company that identifies and makes inventories of forests. We spent 3 years in Sri Lanka and 2 in Bangladesh, countries that have influenced greatly my taste and appetite for colours.
In 1992 I met Luigi, he is the owner of a theatre costumes lab in Rome. I discovered the world of textile and fabrics, textures and colours, it felt like stepping back into my childhood again, revisiting the sensations and memories of my travels…

My craftworks

I use mainly scrap fabric pieces from the Farani’s sewing workshop in Rome but also from upholstery’s workshops. In order to achieve specific colours and effects I dye myself some fabrics.
The adventure begins as soon as I touch the fabric piece, the texture reveal itself, my eyes alight on the colours and the cloth pieces come together, a landscape takes shape and I am going on a trip. I love to be transported into my creations and then comes the time to assemble the puzzle pieces. Slowly and meticulously through my fingers the scene softly takes its shape.
Fate led me to the discovery of the world of fabrics and today I continue my travels with passion following my inspiration.